Konad Princess Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I got a package this morning. Guess what was in it! The Konad Princess polishes from WowSoCool I showed you the other day. I've been having some Konad fun playing with a few of them today to show them to you. Since my aim was to show you the polishes, I didn't keep track of the plate numbers. I was lucky I could keep track of what I was doing at all! One down side to all Konad nail polishes is that they're not labelled with a name or number, so you just have to remember what it is. I was able to do that today, but a week from now, I'm not so sure!

Two of these are a far cry from my best work, one due to the polish and one due to me getting sloppy at the end. I'm showing them to you anyhow just to show you the colors.

We'll start with what my left hand looks like right now (I only did my left hand on all of these, since you can't see me right!). It's H&M You Rock My World as a base (silver holo) with Violet Pearl Princess Polish over it. This is the one where I got sloppy - sorry about that.

The next one is off because of the polish, which was Jungle Green Konad Princess Nail Polish over a base of Barielle Swizzle Stix. For some reason, this one just really stuck to the stamper and it took two passes and ridiculous pressure to get the stamp. Bummer, because it is really cool in the bottle. The good news is that it's the only one of he batch that gave me trouble. The picture's not blurry, the lines are. Sorry if I hurt your eyes!

Okay, now we have the crappy ones out of the way and you've seen Violet Pearl and Jungle Green. On to more successful swatches!

The next one is what my right hand is (it's the mani I did this morning). It's a hot look, the mismatched hands. Anyhow, it's inspired by a 1974 kitchen - a base of Sally Hansen Salon Forsythia (Spring 2009 Tracy Reese) with Olive Green Konad Princess Nail Polish stamped on it. I really like this one. Harvest gold and avocado all the way!!!

The last one is a base of Revlon Pink Again with Coral Blue Konad Princess Nail Polish over it. I like this pattern a lot - if you look closely and know what you're looking for, you can see that it's knit stitches. I knit (or did, my supplies are packed away), and the individual stitches on patterns are exactly like this Konad stamp.

That's it for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Nubar Diamont Testing and Two Colored Konad Stamping

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I decided to take a stab at a little more advanced Konad fun, and do a little testing of my new found love, Nubar Diamont Top Coat.

I started out with a base manicure of two coats of Revlon Plum Attraction nail polish, which is one wicked purple, but it's been seen before so I didn't take pictures of it on its own. I topped it with my one coat of Diamont, and then let the tests begin!

The first test was of a claim that my contact at Nubar made about it - after months during which I would not try Diamont because I didn't know it was quick dry, I had a conversation with the rep where I was assured it was indeed quick dry, and the claim was made that I'd be able to Konad over two coats of polish in three minutes. That's a lofty claim, with my runner-up top coat, SpaRitual Tout de Suite, requiring a wait of five minutes per coat of color (here, ten minutes), so I assumed it was an exaggeration. Today, I timed three minutes, then started stamping with a Revlon Chrome, and much to my surprise the stamping did not mess up the base nail polish. Test one passed!

Having boosted my faith even more in this magical Diamont, I gave it another test - I changed my mind about the polish to use for my Konad stamping. I had just finished my left hand, and I soaked a piece of felt with acetone-based remover and swiped the Konad patterns off of all five nails, leaving the Plum Attraction just as it was. It dulled the shine, but Diamont kept the base nail polish on. I was so happy with it I did my second review on Total Beauty about it! That was the testing...

On to the more advanced Konad fun! I thought I'd take another shot at two-colored stamps, which I haven't tried to do in quite some time (and wasn't tremendously successful with before, if I recall correctly). I used Konad plate M59, and for the stamping I used H&M You Rock My World and Sinful Senorita (silver & pink holos), which my friend Kola sent me from Sweden. The trick was actually painting two different polishes on one engraving to make a two-colored stamp. I picked a simple pattern, so I did alright this time! Here's the Konadicure.

That's the update for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

What Could Be Better Than Gold?

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I decided that after my recent dark, girly, and silver manis, I was in the mood for a gold.  Then it occurred to me that I have a gold that's better than gold - a gold holo!  This one, H&M Creme de la Creme, came to me from Sweden, a surprise from a dear friend.  I just received it in the last week, and hadn't used it yet, so it seemed just perfect for today.

I used two very thin coats over a base coat and topped it with Seche Vite.  I must say that as I was applying it, I was grateful that these aren't available in the US, for they'd do some damage to my wallet if they were!   It applied just beautifully, and the need for a second coat was questionable.  I absolutely love it!  Here's Creme de la Creme on its own.

 

 

The light bright enough to show the true color of this polish washes out the holo effect to some degree - it's very sparkly.  I'd need lower light and poor focus to show that, and I decided not to hurt your eyes with such a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I then decided to add a little Konad fun.  For the polish, I chose black to accent both the gold and the sparkle, and after much debate, selected a pattern from plate M32 that I've had my eye on for quite some time but have never had the nerve to use.  It's a little play on the racing stripe mani, but with a Valentine's Day feel to it.  My stamping job is imperfect - if I took the time to line up the patterns absolutely perfectly, the Konad polish would have dried too much to apply.  Imperfect as it is, I'm quite pleased with it.  Here's my final mani.

 

 

One noteworthy little fact I ran across in Konading today: I added a few more drops of thinner to my Konad black, enough to make it about the consistency of a regular thick polish.  It's so pigmented that thinning didn't affect the stamp, but I discovered upon adding the final coat of Seche Vite that there was none of the streaking that usually occurs with adding top coat to Konad polish.  I'll carry that happy little discovery over to my other Konad polishes as well.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader!  Until later, love and nail polish to you!