Quilted Glitter - Simple Nail Art Tutorial

Hello Polish Girlies

Today I wanted to share a very simple design with you, the quilted glitter. This is such a gorgeous sparkly design, which will look great in the sunshine. To create the look you can use any two complimentary polishes, just follow the simple steps below.

What I used:

1 x Shimmer Polish 'Karen' (Can be purchased on Esty Shimmer Polish)

1 x China Glaze 'Something Sweet'

1 x Seche Vite Topcoat

1 x Roll Of Striping Tape (Purchased from eBay)

Step 1:

Apply 2 x coats of the glitter polish on the thumb and ring finger, paint the remaining nails with the China glaze polish. Finish with the Seche Vite topcoat then allow to dry for approx 20-30mins.

Step 2:

Cut the striping tape into small strips and place them in a criss-cross fashion over the glitter nails. Make sure the tape is firmly stuck to the polish and that it has not lifted anywhere. The smallest amount of lift will cause a gap in the lines.

Step 3:

Paint two coats of the China Glaze over the nail and striping tape.

Step 4: 

After 1 min slowly remove the striping tape from the nail, you should then be left with gorgeous clean glitter lines. If there are any missing bits you can fix this by gently carving the line with a cocktail stick. Once your happy with the design clean up the nail edges with nail polish remover, or an acetone dipped cotton bud. Allow the nails to dry for a further 5 mins then apply the Seche Vite topcoat, the Seche Vite will seal the design without smudging it and will even out any bumps. Finally apply cuticle oil to the surrounding skin.

Comments Please!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this design, is this something you would wear?

Check out what other british nail bloggers are up to this week!

Swatch: Essie 'Dj Play That Song' & 'Boom Boom Room'

Well...Hello Essie

When I first saw this range I was very excited as I don't own many neon polishes. I told myself that this collection was exactly what I needed for summer... so I closed my eyes, held my breath and pressed 'buy it now' which resulted in purchasing the full collection. In one little click I'd blown almost half of my monthly polish budget. Damn you Essie!!

After receiving the set I am happy to say the colours are fantastic. Each colour is a unique shade, maybe not neon in the traditional sense of the word as I would say they fall more under the 'Brights' category, but hey that's a matter of opinion isn't it? Either way they are bright, fun and they scream summertime!

So let's begin, from left to right...
'Bouncer it's me!', 'Shake your $$ maker', 'Saturday disco fever', 'DJ play that song', 'Bottle service' and 'Boom boom room'.

The two colours that everyone keeps talking about are 'Dj play that song' and 'Boom boom Room', so I'll cover them first. The other colours I'll review over the next couple of posts.

Simple Glitter Polish Removal

Hi Glitter Girlies

We all love glitter, that is until when it comes to removing it am I right? Well fear not there is a solution and it doesn't involve soaking your fingers in Acetone (Foil Method).



Follow this simple tutorial and your glitter polish will come off quicker than your socks!

Step 1.
Use a brush to paint a layer of PVA glue onto the bare nail. Do not use a base coat, this will act as your base.

Step 2.

Allow the glue to become touch dry, it should dry clear and smooth like below. Be patient it will take a few minutes longer than your normal base coat to dry.

Step 3. 

Next, paint your nails with your favourite glitter polish. Seal the polish with Seche Vite topcoat, this step is very important as the Seche Vite will lock the all the layers together. The PVA base won't effect the longevity of the manicure however, I did find having a long soak in a hot bath was a bad idea! It lifted soon after. 

Step 4.
When ready to remove simply dig under the polish with an orange stick, the polish should lift and you can peel it off just like an orange! Or save a lot of time and have a long soak in a hot bath! 

I think it is better to soak the hands first in warm water and then peel, it should come off in one quick peel and not involve too much scrapping. A dry peel without soaking first will look like in the photo below and will involve some gentle scrapping.

Comments please!

I would love to know how you get on with this method. I have had great results and I'm looking forward to a sparkly summer! 

China Glaze 'It's a Trap-eze' Dupe

China Glaze 'It's a Trap-eze' is from the Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away Collection, was released in Dec 2012. Today the polish is quite hard to find and even has a few polish girls lemming after it!

For this reason I thought I would share this dupe with you, in my opinion it is identical in every way and it's a real challenge to tell the two polishes apart, but don't just take my word for it check out the pics below! 

This is Golden Rose Jolly Jewels '115'. I applied two coats and no topcoat. As you can see it is jam packed with multi coloured glitter and has a sheer milky base.

This is a side by side comparison of the two polishes. China Glaze 'It's a Trap-eze' is on top. To view the original source of the top Photo Click here  What do you think?

Still not sure? Here's a close up!

Conclusion: 

In my humble opinion Golden Rose is as good as a dupe gets. The polish was easy to apply and being so densely packed with glitter it covered well. To top it off the polish comes in a really cute, flat square bottle. The Jolly Jewels range contains around 17 different glitter finishes. I am a little tempted to try more from this range, it is not the cheapest of polishes I paid £4.90 + postage off eBay, so I am pretty sure that I won't be buying all 17!

Comments Please!

Let me know your thoughts on this polish.

Disclaimer: The It's a Trap-eze photo is not owned by Cupcake Candy. To view the original source of the photo click here. No watermark was removed from the photo and It was used for comparison only.

Pretty Polish Storage - Tutorial

Hello my lovelies!

Today I am very excited to show off my new polish homes and show you how you can make your own!

You will need:

1 x Ikea Helmer (£25)

1 x Cardboard box (Supplied with Helmer)

1 x Med Paint Brush

1 x Bottle of PVA glue & water (or Mod Podge)

1 x Old Plastic Container 

1 x Wallpaper Sample

1 x Stanley Knife

Step 1:

Fold a large piece of cardboard in two. Place the wallpaper sample on top of the cardboard and then place a drawer front on top of that. Using the drawer as your template cut around it with your stanley knife. Repeat this step 3 x times. 

Step 2:

This step can be done in two ways, if you have Mod Podge then skip to Step 3. If not mix 1 part water to 1 part PVA glue (School glue), this essentially makes a Mod Podge type of paste.

Step 3:

Using the paint brush generously coat the back of the wallpaper with the glue paste. Place the drawer front downwards on the wallpaper whilst applying some pressure, slowly lift the drawer up and the paper should be stuck to the drawer. Wipe any excess glue from the drawer and smooth the paper to remove any air bubbles. Allow the paper to dry (approx 30 mins) and then attach to the cabinet. 

Conclusion:

I am so in love with my little cabinets, they look very designer and I doubt anyone would guess they cost (£25!). Wallpaper sample was purchased from eBay for (99p). It is also worth mentioning that the Helmer is also available in red or silver

Of course I am not sure how happy my shoes are now they have to make way for my other obsession!

Comments Please...

I would love to hear your thoughts on my Helmers. 

Barry M Croc Effect Swatch Review

I have to say I am not a fan of crackle nail polish, I don't like that 80's graffiti look. It's far too messy and being very OCD I just can't handle it! That said when I saw a swatch for Barry M 'Croc Effect' I just had to have it. It is more of a cracked look and reminds me of either a broken window or lightening bolts. This is a very edgy look and the end result is a pretty cool piece of nailart.

Application:

The instructions are different to regular crackle, allow the base polish to become touch dry (not fully dry) before you apply. You will need to time it right or you won't get the effect, if the base is too wet it becomes gloppy and too dry it won't crack at all.

The application was easy, I only needed one coat to create the effect. An important thing to mention is the effect doesn't happen instantly. The cracking takes a little bit of time to develop, around 5-10 mins and dries to a matt finish.

What I used:

To create this look I applied 1 x Coat of Barry M 'Matt White', 1 x coat of Barry M 'Black Croc Effect' and finished with Seche Vite top coat, which smoothed it all out and gave a super shiny finish. The ring finger is Leighton Denny 'Pink Promenade'. 

Conclusion:

I am glad I made this purchase as it is a brilliant effect. I did notice it cracked differently over different polishes, sometimes you got big cracks like in this mani, and on other polish it was more of a hairline shatter look, probably due to the different drying times of each of the polishes. This polish also comes in burgandy, I am very tempted to get it! I think they also bought out a limited edition orange last Halloween which is called Web effect, I may go hunt that one down on ebay. In my opinion Barry M are leading the way in the UK and I cannot wait to see what they come up with next.

Comments:

Please let me know your thoughts on this manicure, or can you recommend another cool effect polish.

W7 Salt & Pepper Swatch



This polish has been on my most wanted list since last year. It is easy enough to get hold of, and being W7 is very cheaply priced (£1.95) 15ml. You can get it from Nail Polish Direct they offer free delivery with no minimum spend! It is a white base polish with thousands of tiny black glitter pieces. It reminds me of an Indie polish. I particularly love the way the top layer still shows the bottom layer of glitter pieces, which look like they are suspended and are more greyish in appearance. The application is good, it is very easy to apply and you will only need 2 coats to be fully opaque. I also liked the way one coat looked, it was a little more sheer but looked quite cute and still had thousands of tiny black dots.

The only thing I can find to moan about is because of how much glitter is contained within this polish, removal  is no walk in the park! That is unless you try the method shown below.

Comments please!

I would love to know your thoughts on this swatch.