OPI Axxium Soak Off Gel Lacquer with Tip Overlay

Hey Guys,

Hope you have all had a great week?! Mine has been crazy busy - which I like, but looking forward to a chilled weekend :)

This blog update is using OPI's Axxium Soak Off Gel Lacquers and Soak Off Overlay Gel.  I have also used white tips.  I thought I should give them a full test run and as I have a wedding to go to on Sunday I thought I would do them in advance to see how the wear as I will not have time to soak them off before! I have used tips as Axxium SOG is not strong enough to sculpt, I broke my thumb nail, and it also made it easier for the French finish, as I was in a bit of a rush and didn't want to have to deal with smile lines!!

I am also using the new Silver Glitter that was brought out a few months back.  It also comes in gold, and does have some lovely holographic pieces. I have not done it justice with applying it to the tip alone, it really is very lovely!!

The only trouble I had was building an arch with the overlay gel, this could partly be because I was doing them on myself and can never get my brush angles right!  The nail shape is not as good as if I were doing on a client, but I hope this gives you a good idea of how the system works - this follows on from my encasing post a few months back!

I will keep you posted with how they wear!

Have you tried Axxium SOG yet?!

Claire xxx

For these nails I used: Base, Overlay Gel, White Well-less tips, Princesses Rule, Silver Glitter and Top Sealer.

I prepped and dehydrated my nails

I sized and prepped tips

 Applied tip with adhesive

 Cut and shaped tips

 Applied base gel

 I love my performance tips - so thin!!!

 Applied overlay gel

 Refined shape and sanitised ready for the colour

 Applied first coat of Princesses Rule - a cute shimmery pink

 Applied Silver Glitter to the white free edge

 I applied another layer of Princesses Rule because I like it and then sealed the nails with top sealer

 All finished!

OPI Axxium Soak of Gel Lacquer - 'My Private Jet'

Hey Guys,

Hope you are all having a great week?! I have just broken my thumb nail really badly and it hurts so much!! I caught it whilst doing up my shoe lace(!). At least it is Wednesday and we are over half way through the week!

Last weekend, a lovely friend of mine was complaining about her nail polish chipping all the time ever since removing and growing out the damage from her NSS Arcylic enhancements.  She is quite heavy handed and I suggested she tried a soak off gel as she did not want to return to the traditional enhancements and did not want tips or sculpts applied.  OPI Axxium Soak off Gel Lacquer seemed the best choice as she could apply the matching lacquer should she be able to chip or peel it off.  I do also offer Shellac, but feel that the OPI Axxium SOG is  harder wearing.

We went for 'My Private Jet' to match an outfit she was wearing.  She was amazed at how thin her nails are with the SOG applied, that it was 'dry' instantly and has promised to keep me posted on how she gets on with it!

The colour is lovely with a great sparkle too it - great for understated glamour.  The only problem I have with the gel lacquer is that it is not as opaque as the colour and this can require an extra colour coat.  We have applied the standard method for these images.

Have you tried Axxium OPI Soak Off Gel Lacquer?! What's your favourite colour?!

Claire xxx

TNOTD! Essie 'Perky Purple' Toes

Hi Guys,

The flip flops are out in force around London (despite the thunderstorms) and I needed something on my toes that was bright but not too obvious for my meetings.  So I chose Essie's Perky Purple!  I love this colour, and have blogged about it before, but here it is for lovely summer toes!!

I know that they are not very neat, but as some may know I am still recovering from surgery and reaching my toes is a little tricky!!

Hope you are getting sunshine where ever you are!  What colour are you wearing?!

Love,

Claire xxx

NOTD Essie 'Pretty Edgy' with OPI Silver Shatter

Hey All!

Welcome to my lovely new followers :) Please let me know your thoughts!

Today's nails are Essie's 'Pretty Edgy' Green with OPI's 'Silver Shatter'.  Last week I managed to go the week with out using any of my shatter top coats, but today I could not resist - I wanted to 'jazz up' my polish but didn't have time for any nail art - so here it is!

Claire xxx

Weekly Blog Round Up - Week 13!!!

Hey Guys, 

Check out this weeks Blog Round Up!

Have a lovely weekend!

Claire xxx

Sharon had everything looking rosy

Dawn showed off her talent for water marbling

Theresa shows us her Gelish Silver Fade

Grace enjoyed some Strawberries & Cream

Claire impressed us with her magnetic nail varnish  

Sarah has something fishy going on!

Lady Luck is getting ready for summer

LCN Magnetic Nail Polish

Hey Guys,

Hope you have all had a good week?!  I have been very excited to try out the LCN Magnetic Nail polish ever since I found out about this.  I think that this is a great product for kids, and for when I do nail parties for 10 year olds - we now do not have to worry about gems that can come off, or stickers that just look, well, like stickers!!

I bought the full starter kit as I could not decide what colours and magnets to get.  The kit comes with 8 lacquers, 2 magnets, a carry bag and instructions.  I have to say it is a good colour range, and the product is so simple to use - one thick coat of lacquer and hold the magnet over the nail (very close) for about 10 seconds - then hey presto you have a pattern!

I have been super busy this week, so have not had a huge amount of time to play around with these, but here are a few pictures!  I used nail pops rather than my nails (i have Shellac still on) and this wasn't the best idea as the magnet is more suited to a natural nail and not as large as the pops - but you get the idea!

 Starter Kit

 Magents in the starter kit - the images they produce are shown on the top

 Dark Grey colour - lovely coverage with a shimmer

 After holding the magnet over it

 How I held the magnet!

 Wonderful deep purple with a great shimmered lighter colour seen through the magenet

 Attempting 2 colours!

 With the star magnet held over...I messed this up a bit but looks cool!

 Silver colour - this is one coat

 I held and moved the magnet around all over this nail.

The 4 I had time to do!!

Have you guys tried this lacquer out? I am looking forward to seeing how it wears and will update as I use it more!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!!

Claire xxx

Shellac 'Black Pool' and 'Iced Coral' Step By Step

Hi Guys,

Hope that you all have had a great weekend.  I have a very busy week ahead and decided to Shellac my nails so that I am able to leave them untouched for the week!  I could not decide on what colour to use, so I decided to go for black (Black Pool) with the effect colour Iced Coral.  This gives the black a lovely green shimmery effect that I really like!  This effect can be used over all the colours, but I find that using it over black really stands out.

Thanks for reading!

So this is what I used:
Shellac Base, Top Coat, Black Pool, Iced Coral and preped with Scrub Fresh after my cuticle detailing and nail shaping (not that I have much free edge!!)

 and this is what I did....!

I applied my base coat and cured

 I applied one coat of Black Pool Shellac and cured

 as you can see Shellac is really thin, and the thin coats allow for nails to feel polished, rather than thicker than gel.  It is important to remember that Shellac is a hybrid polish and NOT a gel!

 I then applied a second thin coat of the colour Black Pool to ensure full opaque coverage and cured

Once the Black was cured I applied Iced Coral Shellac over the colour and all over the nails.  You could use a dotting tool or stiping brush if you just wanted to add accents and detail to the nails.

 You can see that just one coat (which is all you will need) completely transforms the colour.

I then used a separate brush lightly moistened with alcohol to swipe in a French line.

I cured the whole hand one I had applied the Iced Coral and swiped in the French line

To finish I applied a thin coat of Shellac top coat and cured

My finished nails!