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Mani Monday with Essence: The sponge effect
If you’re a big Essence fan (and I’m sure you are… I mean, who isn’t?!) you’ve probably eyed their totally swell ‘I love trends‘ color trend nail polishes. Every time I pass an Essence stand, I swear it’s like I can hear the bottles calling my name! Yes, I agree, I need to get my head checked. But hey, from pretty pastels to sophisticated nudes to alluring darks, the color trend palettes are enough to make any nail polish lover swoon!
This week, I want to show you guys one of my favorite polishes from the color trend ‘The Pastels’ range. It’s the #13 called ‘Ice to meet you‘ – a fitting title indeed! This striking ice white paint is really eye catching and not something I would expect in a pastels range. It goes on easily and has a dope opaque consistency. I likey!
When I did a bit of a smudge on the pinky there I considered covering it up with a glossy top coat but then nahhhhh. Look at how pretty this paint is without any top coat… smudge or no smudge! The finish is rather matte-y with a soft glitter hue. I can’t describe any other way than “It looks icey, yo”.
I felt like pairing it up with last weeks review, a fave from the The Darks collection called ‘Happy New Green‘. Using a nail art sponge (but you could use literally any sponge) I sponged the dark color on top of the pretty white, to give it a grundgey effect. The result:
You could finish it off with free hand nail art, stamping or even some stickers.
I liiiiked it juuuust the wayyyy iiit arrrre. *cough*What do you think? Would you try something like this at home?
Essence will be giving away a fabulous gift at the end of the month, so you need to keep your eyes peeled every Mani Monday for chances to enter!
Gain more entries on every Mani Monday post this month! Simply comment on each post sharing what your favorite thing about that specific mani is. Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled to my Facebook page on Monday, 5th September to see if you’re the lucky winner!
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Mani Monday with Essence {Enter our giveaway!}
So as you may know, August has officially been dubbed “Womans Month”. And while this holds no specific perks for me, in my household, (gifts. I want gifts), it’s still a pretty darn good reason to celebrate! I am woman! Hoohaa!*cough*
Okay, now that I’ve settled down, allow me to explain the rest of this month’s festivities: For the month of August, I will be featuring special manis inspired by my friends over at Essence. They have a bunch of “I’m not really a nail art expert but I wana try” stuff in their ranges and I can’t wait to show you my favorite picks and also a couple of really easy ways to make your nails look amazing! Acrylic for what?!
Oh and, drum roll: Essence will be giving away a fabulous gift at the end of the month, so you need to keep your eyes peeled every Mani Monday for chances to enter!
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Nubar’s Lekker Nail Lacquer
This week I attempted a mani with a polish brand that I had never tried before: Nubar Nail Lacquer. Nubar is by no means a newbie polish. But my spreadsheet brain and I often opt for the brands that we know and are comfortable with. Not today. Check it out: -
DIY nail art using koki pens
Thats right. I said koki pens. Firstly, do people still use the word “koki”? Coz suddenly I am feeling a bit outdated. Secondly, yes, you can use your average fibre tip permanent marker to bedeck your nails! Let me show you how in this very easy leopard print accent nail tutorial.
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Essence The Gel ‘The Oil Slick’
I was super pleased when our friends at Essence sent us a variety of polishes to add to this year’s #ECMeetUp goodie bags. It’s no secret, I am a huge fan of the cosmetics house and love their nail polish range. So I totally aaacked when I found their ‘The Oil Slick’ polish in my goodiebag. I really wanted that one. How’d it get in there? 😉
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Nail Art: DIY scribbled nails
This past week was a crazy one. Hubstopher was sick, and you know how it goes when the man of the house does not feel well. We walked around on tippy toes and only spoke in whispers too each other… I mean, we couldn’t allow our foot steps and voices to influence the intensity of his man-flu! Anyways, things are back to normal (the Lord only gives you what you can handle and all that) and I could finally remove the polish from my nails on Sunday night after staring at the horrible chipped mess that it was, for far too long. I hate when my nails look unkept. Anyways, I spotted really cool nail art on Juanita and Michelles blogs last week and thought I have to try it out! They’ve dubbed it “scribbled nails” and it pretty much means that the design gives the impression of doodling. -
My week in pics: micro fashion, bridesmaid dresses and nail art
This week feels like someone literally took a drive down to a garbage dump, chose a few items, wrapped it up and wrote “Luchae’s week” on it. But then I check out my week in pics and realize that I am being an Aunty Moana – I am blessed, God is good and I have so much to be thankful for!
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Love on my nails!
What do you get when you pair up a sleeping toddler, an early evening and new episodes of The Voice? Well where I’m from it spells: Time to put some love on my nails!Since my Curly was sleeping and I had 2 whole episodes of singing to savor, I thought hey, why not maximise your time and do something with lots of colors. (Yes, I realize that my “lots of colors”, in this situation, is just 3 colors. Don’t judge my spreadsheet brain, okay?) Anyways, so I pulled out some of my favorite Sinful Colors polishes. See exhibit A:
Sinful Colors: Mint Apple, Love Sprinkles, Easy Going and Island Coral I started off with my gel look base coat because I wanted it to stay on for as long as possible. I then painted 2 coats of Easy Going on all my nails and waited for it to dry.I decided to do a gradient using Mint Apple and Island Coral and used a sponge to get the desired effect.
To do a gradient, simply apply strips of color to a sponge – yes even a kitchen sponge – and dab onto your nail. Try not to wait too long before dabbing – you want the strips of paint to still be fresh. I got this result after a few dabs:
Once the gradient was dry, I carefully added a heart decal which I found in my Love Sprinkles polish. A bit of a cheat, if you will.
Applied gel look top coat and ta daaaa! An evening well spent, I’d say.
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Glitter accent nails – Easy Peasy with Essence!
Ever feel like: “I should probably do my nails today because they are starting to resemble that of someone who lives on a mountain, oh wait I don’t have the time, who am I kidding”? Well sister, you’ve come to the right place! I felt that way just the other day and decided to pull out my good ol faithful Essence The Gel polishes to give my nails a new zest for life. Glitter accent nails were a must!
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Nail art stencils – An easy way to look as if you’re very clever {NailLinkUp}
How random is my post title? Well that’s how I feel this morning. Random. But anyways, I’m here to talk about nails. Actually, nail art stencils, to be more specific.
