Magis Foil Removal Wraps

I had to take my gels off today as I have big nail plans for tomorrow!  I ordered the Magis Gel Foil Removal Wraps a few weeks ago and I have not yet used them as I have been using up a load of the Shellac remover wraps.  I broke them out today and was impressed.  They are a lot more economical coming in a pack of 500, and although they don't look as 'professional' by comparison, they works very well, and it means you don't have to mess around with soaking pads and then holding them in place and using tin foil.  They are folded over at one end to avoid any sharp edge on the finger - and look like mini highlighting foils with a lint free pad attached.  I always use OPI Expert Touch to remove enhancements, as I have found this to work well for me.  My Axxium SO overlays came off well in 20 minutes using these, and I will be using them on clients going forward.

Magis do L&P remover wraps as well, which I will also be giving a try and I will let you know how I get on with them :)

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Claire xxx

Weekly Nail Blog Round-Up - Week 1

Stacie of kawaiinailart has been pulling together a weekly blog update - I hope that you find this helpful, and is a great chance to share your ideas with fellow bloggers - thank for organising!!

Emily let her chocoholic tendencies get the better for her with this Cadburys manicure

Julie was inspired by the spring and showed us this beautiful butterfly design

Jen showed us how to use our Konad plates in a more inventive way with this manicure

Stacie was in an angelic mood this week with her angel wing manicure

To celebrate her starting a blog Claire is having an OPI Giveaway

Shella was inspired by furry creatures and this lovely little bear manicure was the result

Linda had fluffy bunnies and baby chicks on her fingers this week

If you would like to be included in future round ups please visit here

What great ideas these guys have! Hope you enjoy the weekend reading!!!

Claire xxx

Nail Art using OPI and Polycolor

After enjoying my Axxium Nail Art Workshop with OPI - I purchased the books from Dynamic Nail Art (based in the US) and spent this evening trying out the designs on my nail pops - which are really useful for displaying nail design ideas.

I used polycolor acrylic paints, which I have so far found the most useable paints available - and I do not think are terribly expensive as you can mix the colours really well - these can also be used for one stroke painting (something I am still working on!).

It is best to buff the colour pops as I find lacquers and gel adhere better. I have an old flex file that I use for this.  I also used a UV cure top coat to ensure longevity.

The pictures below are the ideas that I got from the books - these are by my hand but not my ideas:

 'At First Sight' with Magenta, Gray, Black, White and Crystal

 'San Tan-Tonio' with Magenta, Black and White

 'At First Sight' with Grey, Yellow, Black and Primary Yellow

 'Lady in Black' with Blue, Grey, Yellow, White and Crystal - this one didn't turn out how I wanted it - will try again later this week!

'San Tan-Tonio' with Black, Red, Blue and Yellow

I am working on some other designs not from the books, and will upload these with a 'tutorial' over the weekend.

Hope you find these helpful!

Don't forget to enter my opening giveaway!!

Claire xxx

Axxium SOG Update

I am so indecisive as to what to do with my nails at the moment!  Last night I played around with my OPI Axxium Gel and tried to do dramatic smile lines with 'Lady in Black' and 'DS Radiance'.  I think my nails are a little to short, and also didn't really have the ability to do them on myself - but I don't think they look too bad - I will have another go at the weekend!  I have done these with dark pink tips with a client and they were much better - practise will make perfect!

I added crystals, to try and enhance then nails, but don't think they have helped.  The also slid a bit in the top sealer.  I used the regular sealer and perhaps should have used the thicker one.  

Anyway, I hope these have given you some more ideas!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

Claire xxx

Opening Giveaway

To celebrate the opening of my blog which, thanks to you lovely people has received over 600 view in 6 weeks - I have pulled together a giveaway to say thank you and so that one of my lovely followers can try out some of the latest products in time for summer!

This Giveaway includes:
Lumos Base & Top Coat
OPI Katy Perry Collection - Black Shatter Top Coat & Last Friday Night (Blue Glitter)
OPI Texas Collection - Don't Mess With OPI (Green) & Y'All Come Back Ya Here? (Orange Sorbet)
and a few extra bits...to help make them extra special and keep your nails healthy!

All the items have been purchased myself, and are products that I use as part of my own nail service.

The Giveaway closes at 5pm GMT on Sunday 10th April and is open worldwide (to those countries that accept lacquer).  The winner will be chosen using www.random.org.  All form entries are counted once, any blog and/or twitter announcements count for a further entry each! You must be following me publicly to enter.

If you have any questions or do not want to use the form below, you can email me directly at: toptwentynails@yahoo.co.uk

Good Luck!!  Claire xxx

This Weekends Nails

I had a lazy afternoon and painted my nails with this lovely Essie 'Perky Purple' and topped it off with Roccoco's Gold Leaf Topcoat.  The top coat is quite pricey, so I do use it quite sparingly.  My nails are not in the best condition having had a variety of enhancements on the over the past few weeks, so I used a coat of OPI's 'Nail Envy' and a base coat using 'Ridge Filler' to prevent my polish from looking too lumpy and chipping.

The polish is the same consistence as my other Essie polishes, which is thinner than that of OPI and Chanel.  The coverage is great, although the colour is not quite a bright as it looks in the bottle.  I bought this colour in America last summer, and have only just got round to trying it out!

To finish, and to smooth over the gold I floated a thick coat of Lumos, followed by 'Rapid Dry' and 'Drip Dry Drops'.  My nails were touch dry within 5 minutes!

Just thought I'd share :)

Claire xxx

OPI Texas Collection 2011

My nails are in a terrible state - please do not let the condition effect your view on the products I have used!!  My gels are too thick and I did not have time to soak them off - and really could not wait to have a play with the colours!!

I ordered the Texas Collection last we and received it this afternoon and could not wait to get home to give it a try!  I have heard and seen some very mixed reviews about this collection, and I have to admit I was really unsure how these would turn out.  So far I would have to say I am very impressed - and think there is a lot of scope to use these for many different looks.

Lets start with the collection display, I bought display A as I do not keep stock.  The stand is lovely, and unusual looking - you most certainly cannot miss it!

There are 12 colours, split in to six types.  There is a 'Sorbet' style for six of them and a collection of six opaque colours.  The sorbet styles colours are reds, pinks, orange and purples - looking at them on the brush they look very much like the 'Juicy' lip glosses!!  I started off doing my colour pallet:

 The green colour - 'Don't Mess With OPI' is very similar to Essie's 'Pretty Edgy'.  All the others are different to polishes I already have in my collection (see Collection page).

I was quite impressed with the coverage - given that most reports I have seen describe them as very thin. I have only used 2 coats on each nail with top coat.  I will say that they are slightly runnier than the usual polish but nothing unmanageable.  Any streaks are covered with the second coat.

Using the colour pallet can show the colours differently as they are white, so I have a play with different colours and layers on myself (OPI on Facebook talks about different uses and suggests layering).  Please note that I have encased stars and glitter on my nails at the moment - the colours do not have stars in them, although a couple have a shimmer (Austin-Tatious Turquoise and It's Totally Fort Worth It).

Above, from top to bottom I have used one coat of each of the following (note I have note used top coat):

Don't Mess with OPI and Austin-Tatious Turquoise - Great colour, slightly stonger that Austin on its own

Louvre Me Louvre me not and Houston We Have A Purple - A juicy take on the already lovely purple

OPI Red and Guy Meets Gal-Veston - A great colour, slightly muted the red and looks luscious

Lucertainly Look Marvelous and Do You Think Im Tex-Y? - Not too sure about this, slightly brown in colour - but sort of works :)

On my thumb I tried Glitzerland with Y'All Come Back Here - Orange over gold - not too sure what I think of this one!?!

My right hand I only tried two colours - as suggested by OPI I used Alpine snow with Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em - I was very impressed with the colour over the white - it really jumped out with one coat and I would suggest this for those that want a more opaque look - but do let the base dry a bit!  I also tried Lady in Black with Big Hair...Big Nails - nothing to really report on this, but looked nice, although subtle.

Following advice I have seen I painted my nails with a glitter - in this case OPI and Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'.  

I thought this would look good over the stars and holographic glitter I have in my gels - and was loving them...but really wanted to test the layering...

The colour was completely transformed (maybe I did use too much Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em?!?).  This did work though, the colour is not too thick and has added a depth to the already wonderful Teenage Dream. I will be trying these out on clients.

Overall I cannot give a complete view as I only just got these, but I will update you on how I get on both on myself and clients.  I was pleasantly surprised given some of the review I have read, and do think that come the summer this Sorbet/Jelly look will be popular, and will also look great on toes.

Hope this has helped you!  Do let me know if you have played around with any other more successful layering ideas!!

Claire xxx