Incoco Nail Polish Applique review!

Hi everyone!!

Hope you having an awesome start to your weekend!

I have a little review to show you today. Incoco kindly sent me a few of their nail polish strips to try out. They arrived the day before halloween, which was exciting because i had actually picked a halloween design in the hope they'd turn up before then :-D
They arrived just in time, because i wore these from Wednesday night, through halloween and up until last night. They held up very well, but unfortunately i have a wedding to attend today, so they had to come off last night. :-( *has a sad* - because these were freakin' adorable!

Onto the pics!!

 I picked the "ghost" design. They're called "spooktacular" and you can find them HERE. If you haven't already guessed, these are Glow in the Dark!

They come with instructions on the back, and also on a leaflet in the packet. 

These work a little different to you typical nail strips. These are used with real nail polish and are more flexible.

Incoco strips are made of three layers. A base coat, colour/design coat, and a top coat. You do not need to apply a base coat or top coat to these at all.

I picked out which one was the best fit for my nail and got them ready like so. You actually take the clear cover off before you tear them off the tabs that holds them all together.
*Incoco suggests to peel the backing paper off also before tearing them off the tabs, but i chose to do it this way got too excited and went ahead without reading the instructions. (I will do it the Incoco way next time and let you know which way was easier lol )

Also, unlike other nail strips i have tried, these have two sizes on each end, which was good, as i was in-between sizes on some. That also means, they will fit anyones nails.

Before you get started, lightly buff the tops of your nails to smooth out any ridges.
Then, after choosing the one that fits my pinky nail best, i took off the white backing paper and carefully placed the nail strip in place, starting from the cuticle. Line it up so it covers from side wall to side wall.
You have to be really careful with these, as they are very delicate. As you apply them, stretch them a little as you go so they adhere properly, and you don't end up with creases or wrinkles at the free edge.
I found that i ripped the first one i did when i was trying to reposition it, so be really careful!

Once it is in place and you are happy with it, give it a small stretch again at the free edge and pull down. Because these are so delicate, they are easy to tear off at the end if you choose, but otherwise use your nail file and lightly file the excess off in a downward motion.

It should end up like this.

Once your happy with that, smooth it all down again, to make sure you haven't missed any bits that might be sticking up i.e. cuticle area!

Repeat on all nails!
(mind my middle finger, i had a break, and did an acrylic overlay to save it) 

And your all done! As mentioned before, you don't need a top coat, as these already come with a topcoat in the layers.
I did these at night, so excuse the pics, but here are some sun pictures i took the next day.

And then in the dark!! These are amazing! The most glow-y ever! lol

This one was taken last night right after i finished them, my lamp was still on, on my desk!

Last one is how glow-y they are after being in the sun for no more than 30 seconds!!! Can't believe how fast they charge up. I couldn't stop going into dark areas of the house just to have a look at them lol

You can buy Incoco from their website. They have lots of different designs from nail colour, nail designs, french manicure designs to pedi designs and colours. The prices range from $7.99 to $9.99 which is a great price as these last for up to 2 weeks!

Products in this post provided for review

Kel xx

Halloween challenge 2013 - Ghosts

Hi all!!
It's that time of year again! It's halloween challenge time! The awesome Lacquer Dreams has created the awesome halloween challenge again this year.

Today being October 1st, it's Ghost time!


These are my little ghosts! I free handed these with Ulta3 Lily White and Ulta3 Black Satin, a dotting tool and small paintbrush. Pretty happy with how they turned out. I'm really not one for nail art. Well i love it but i suck at it hahaha

Bah! How cute is the little ghost on my pinky?!!



Kel xx

Aussie Nails Monday - Loki's Lacquer Smashing Jack!

Hi everyone!!
It's Aussie nails Monday again!! Wow, that week went quick! I actually have felt like crap all week, i burnt my tongue and throat on my hot chocolate last tuesday morning (yes, i really am that stupid sometimes) and have had a sore throat since, then my body decided it was time to get sick since i haven't been sick in almost two years... i was on a good run there! lol So almost over this damn cold and i will be all good but for today, i have had to find a past mani from one my folders. So sorry about that plus this mani was well overdue!

This weeks theme is "Glitter"

My dear Aussie Nails friend and polish maker Tara from Osirisandlokipainttheirnails made this special polish for me. I told her what i want in it and she made it! I also named it and she decided to then sell it on her etsy shop =)

Smashing Jack has large and small black and orange hex's, small white squares and yellow gold bar glitters. The bar glitter in it is very sparse (which is what i wanted) and hard to see against my yellow base colour. The base colour is Ulta3 Honolulu, which was three coats. One coat of SJ. 

I love this colour and am considering buying it in a full sized bottle!

Thanks Tara for creating an awesome polish!!! 

Kel xx

"This is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge: Witches!

Hi everyone!

First off, i haven't forgotten about my give way. It has ended and i have already drawn three winners. I emailed two of the three yesterday and the other i just got confirmation back on her entry so i will be emailing her tonight. So please check your emails to see if you have won because i haven't gotten any responses back and i don't want to have to redraw.

Anyway, onto tonight's mani which is "Witches"

Index to Pinky: Cauldron, Broomstick, Witches hat, Witches face with warts.

I got a little bit more creative this time, Witches was such a hard challenge to come up with something. I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.

See you soon! xx

"This is Halloween" Nail Art challenge: Gradient!

Hi everyone!

This was the part of the challenge i was most excited about. Today's nail art is Gradients. I have never done a gradient before so this was my first time. I don't think it was fantastic but i liked what i came up with.

I knew from the start what i wanted to do and i couldn't wait to get to this part of the challenge. haha. 

I got my inspiration from these little guys.... 

Candy Corn!!!

As some of you know, Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween that much. We are slowly getting into it which means we are seeing more and more spooky items and lollies across our shops. I went to Melbourne last weekend and had time made time to head to USAFoods (as we always do when we go to Melbourne) As soon as i walked in i saw a massive shelf with just Candy Corn stuff all over it. I have heard of it many times but never saw it before.

(sorry for the dodgy picture)

Unfortunately i didn't buy any as i can't eat them at the moment. Boo you braces!! =(  I really would love to know what the tasted like but i wasn't going to buy a whole bag just to try a few. Oh well, there is always next year!

Anyway, if you've made it this far, i guess i'll show you my mani now....

I used a make-up sponge lightly dipped in water to create this.

Yellow - Ulta3 Honolulu

Orange - OPI In My Back Pocket

White - Lily White

 I was happy with how my first attempt came out. I know it's not a true gradient as the colours changed in each line. I wanted the white to be a bit more opaque also. Not a bad try. I definitely want to try this some more =)

Let me know what you think.

See you soon!
Kel xx

"This is Halloween" Challenge: Bats!

Sorry for the lack of posts in between all the halloween posts. I will defintely try and get something else up this week. I have been pushed for time this week as you can tell as it is already 11:30pm haha

Also please don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already!! There are only a few days left!!!
ENTER HERE

Today's challenge nail art is Bats. I was really stumped as to what to do. I didn't really think there was a lot of different ways to do bats, even after looking at all the image plates i have for stamping, the bats were all similar looking. After stamping with those i wasn't happy so i took it all off and decided to start again and try freehand....

This is what i came up with. Pretty simple but cute i think.

 I freehanded the bats using a dotting tool and a small nail art brush and Ulta3 Black satin polish, i'm so glad this black polish is so cheap! I go through so much of it lol I also freehanded the "french tips" as you can tell lol. I did all of this over three coats of OPI In My Back Pocket which is my all time favourite Orange, which i also need to get a back up of!

Hope you liked and i'll see you again soon!!
Kel xx

This is Halloween Nail Art Challenge: Zombies!

Hi all!
Back for another Halloween challenge! Today's nails are Zombies.

I really had no idea on what i was going to do. I did some google searching and looked at everyone else's nails for the challenge and wished i could be as creative as some of the others! Seriously, you should see everyone else's!

Anyway, this is mine. Nothing to exciting, i actually thought these were pretty cute! lol These are probably more like dirty frankensteins lol.

I used Ulta3 Earl Grey as the base colour. 

Black and White as usual was Ulta3 Lily White and Black Satin and for the red i used China Glaze Scarlet, i even mixed in the tiniest amount of black to the red to give it a bit of darkness. Go me and my creativity! One coat of Seche Vite was added!

Hope you like these. I thought they turned out ok. I was pleased to at least come up with something lol

See you soon!
Kel xx

This is Halloween Nail Art Challenge: Jack 'o Lanterns

Hi everyone!
First of all, i just want to welcome the new followers to my blog! I appreciate everyone of you taking the time to look at my blog and to those that comment. =)
If you haven't already entered my giveaway, please do so HERE (i'll link when i can, my Internet is being a douche).

Anyway, onto todays nails!
Today's theme was Jack o Lanterns, or Pumpkins if you'd prefer.

This is my effort. lol

I used Ulta3 Black Satin as my black base colour for my index, middle and pinky fingers. I used Ulta3 Crazy as a base colour for my ring finger and stamped it with konad special black polish and Bundle Monster plate BM-224 from the second series. I love love love Ulta3's Crazy. It was actually the first Ulta3 polish i ever bought. If i could find another i'd buy it in a heartbeat. It's a little jelly like and a bit sheer but doesn't turn out too bad with this being three coats.

Excuse the messy clean up, my dodgy looking topcoat application, which i didn't notice until i was uploading photo's and my nubbin index finger. Just when it was getting to a nice length to actually start looking good with the rest of my fingers, it decided to break! Boo! 

An upside down shot just for the fun of it! 

Hope you liked and i'll see you soon. I was hoping to get another post up tomorrow but it doesn't look like i will have time to get it up, i'm heading to Melbourne early tomorrow morning and won't be back until Sunday night.
See you then!!!
Kel xx

This is Halloween Challenge - Ghosts

Hi everyone!
Just made it in time to get my post up for today's halloween mani challenge.
I just want to say first, Please don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE! Also, i have updated my blog sale too. A few items have sold but i haven't updated yet but give me a try anyway =)

Today's nails are "Ghosts"

I did this pretty quickly tonight. I did a mani yesterday but i hated it and hated it even more after photo's, so decided against it. I'm pretty happy with tonights 5 minute main effort lol

I am also trialing a new photo layout. Please let me know what you think. Do you like the first pic better or the second? I want to change up the way i take photo's.

For my Ghosts i used Ulta3 Lily White as a base colour not fully going up to the cuticle, not sure if that is the right thing to do or not lol

I then used Ulta3 Black satin and a dotting tool for the eyes, mouth and bits at the bottom to make it look like a sheet, IYKWIM lol

No top coat was added.

Hope you enjoy and get ready for pumpkins next!

This is Halloween Nail Art Challenge - Watermarble

Hi all! Back for another Halloween Challenge. Today's theme is "Watermarble"

Ok, So up until the other day i had never attempted to do a watermarble because i had heard of so many fail attempts and usually i'm kinda crap at nail art altogether so i thought i'd be crap at this too lol... But i definitely did want to try it sometime. What a better time to try than now.

This is my VERY FIRST attempt at watermarbling. I am super stoked it turned out... well, what i think is good. I have to practice more with slowly dipping in as i have a few bubbles here and there. 

This was done with Ulta3 Black Satin and OPI In My Back Pocket. Three drops of IMBP to one drop of Black Satin. 

I then decided it wasn't enough and i had an itch for watermarbling and to see what else i can come up with. This was the same outcome, i need to dip a little slower but not a bad outcome.

I used Ulta3 Lily White as my base colour. 

Black - Ulta3 Black Satin (i swear i need a lifetime supply of this)

Orange - OPI In My Back Pocket (and a back up bottle of this awesome colour)

Yellow - Ulta3 Honolulu

I hope you like my attempts at watermarbling and you will be seeing more from me in the future =)

Take care! xx