[Review] The Trend: Indie Brands (Cirque, Love Thy Polish, Rainbow Honey)

The Trend

Indie polishes have exploded in popularity all over the world in recent times. If you are a nail polish newbie, in short, indies are nail polishes made by normal people like you and me! Indie makers mix and match their own pigments, bases and glitters to create unique polishes in their own home. From plain polishes to holographic polishes to glow in the dark polishes, and with the growing number of indie brands in existence, there is certainly no shortage in the range of indie polishes available.

The Polishes

The products in my post today were sent to me free and for review by Femme Fatale Cosmetics, ‘an Australian stockist for top international indie lacquer brands’. You can also find them on Facebook here.

I received three products, two polishes and one cuticle balm, from the indie brands Cirque, Love Thy Polish and Rainbow Honey.

The Review

The first polish I received was Cirque Colors ‘Kaleidoscope’. I was incredibly excited over this full sized 13.2ml glitter polish and you can see why below!

It is an AMAZING glitter bomb polish with a clear base and an assortment of different sized shapes and coloured glitter. It is described as being a  ‘rainbow confetti made with over 30 different types of satin-finished glitter’. These include squares, hexes and diamonds that come in white, gold, red, orange, green purple and blue! The colours are fun and very vibrant which makes it extra special both in the bottle and on the nail!

This is one coat of Kaleidoscope over two coats of Sinful Colors ‘Snow Me White’. As you can see, the colours are very bright against the white base and it seriously looks like a party on my nails! I think the polish would look great over black or any other bright colours!

I loved that I didn’t find myself having to fish for glitter because there was plenty in the bottle and also with every brush stroke. The drying time was also fairly quick and I didn’t think the formula was too thin or thick.

For a good value of $13 you can find this polish on Femme Fatale Cosmetics here. This is a great option for anyone who loves rainbow or fun, coloured nails. I honestly love a whole lot about this polish and haven’t found anything bad about it yet!

I decided to pair this polish with a fun rainbow water marble accent nail!

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The next polish is Love Thy Polish ‘Royalty’. I received a cute, little 8ml bottle.

This is another amazing glitter polish which is described as being ‘a deep, vampy purple base with purple micro glitter.’ 

In one coat, this polish is a very sheer purple.

In two coats, the polish is wearable and appears as a lovely royal purple.

In three coats, the polish is at its best! It is becomes a very vampy purple, on the edge of being black but still subtly purple. The purple micro glitter has a glistening effect in light and gives a great sparkle!

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t quite capture the polish’s brilliance on camera. In light, the amount of sparkle is just perfect. I love my purple polishes and this is no exception!

In addition, the polish is not grainy at all and applies smoothly on the nail. I found that the polish was dry to touch very quickly, however after adding three coats I found that the polish took a long time to dry completely.

All in all, this is a great value polish for $10 which you can find here.  I really do love this polish and I have a feeling I will be wearing a lot because I love my vampy colours!

I paired this polish with a simple silver dot-icure because I absolutely adore the combination of silver and purple!

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Finally, I received Rainbow Honey ‘Holiday Paradise Cuticle Balm’. It is a cute, travel-friendly 0.07oz twist-up stick that I now take around with me in my purse.

On opening the lid of this balm, I was hit with a beautiful scent which truly reflected its ‘holiday paradise’ name. It is described as being a scent ‘reminiscent of a holiday kitchen, with notes of oranges, peppermint and cloves.’ And this is not a joke, I can smell each of these items with every whiff and it truly reminds me of the Christmas season!

If you are ever on the go, look down at your nails and think your cuticles need a lift, this is a great product to have. I smear some of the balm on my cuticles, then massage it onto my naked nails and also the skin around my nails. I found that it was very nourishing and acted as a great moisturiser to relieve my dry-looking cuticles.

For a cheap price of $5.50, I highly recommend this cuticle balm! You can purchase it here.  If you are not a fan of the holiday scent, it also comes unscented and in four other fragrances!

[Tutorial] The Trend: Chevrons

The Trend

The chevron trend has become a popular design for nail artists in the recent years. A chevron design incorporates an inverted V-shaped pattern and may refer to a series of zigzag-like designs or simple V shaped designs. The best thing about this trend is that it looks highly sophisticated but is fairly simple to accomplish. It can be done alone, paired with other patterns and works well with any colours!

The Look

This is the design that can be achieved with the tutorial below. This chevron print uses a self-drawn and self-cut tape technique. There are also other ways of creating chevrons but I will do tutorials for these in future posts.

The Technique

The polishes I have used in this manicure are China Glaze ‘Flip Flop Fantasy’, China Glaze ‘I’m Not Lion’ and Seche Vite fast dry top coat. You will also need scissors, a pen and some tape.

Before you begin painting your nails at all, some preparation needs to be done. Use a pen to draw a zigzag pattern on some tape. I use masking tape because I find it does not rip as easily when it is cut. Continue drawing these zigzags parallel to the first one. Carefully cut out these ‘zigzag strips’ and place onto the edge of your table.

1)      Paint your nails a desired colour, until it is opaque.

2)      Place the ‘pre-cut zigzag strips’ onto the nail, leaving gaps the same width as the strips. Press these down firmly.

3)      Paint your nails a second colour until it is opaque.

4)      While the polish is wet, remove the tape immediately. 

You can repeat the chevron design on all your nails or mix and match with various patterns! On my pinky and index fingers I placed one of the zig zag tapes about 1/3 of the way down my nail and painted the gold at the tips only.

For a more clean and professional look, you can buy pinking shears which enable you to cut the zigzags without drawing them.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Also, be on the lookout for future posts on other chevron methods! 

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Features and Suggestions

Suggestion #1: Go the black and white chevron! Pair this with some statement red and you have a fun and classy look!

These nails are by @graciezac on Instagram. You can also find her on http://itsallaboutthepolish.blogspot.com.au/

Suggestion #2: Combine the chevron design with 'watercolour nails'or gradients.

These nails are by @xxlovelauren on Instagram. You can find her on http://talesaboutnails.wordpress.com/

[Review] The Trend: Glow in the Dark Polish (Polish Me To Go)

The Trend

‘Glow in the dark’ or phosphorescence is a chemical process that has been incorporated into many products for marketing purposes and to captivate buyers. The upcoming trend these past few months has been glow in the dark nail polish! On Instagram you can find countless photographs of glow polish swatches and fabulous glow in the dark designs. After all, what better novelty is there to have with you all the time than nails that glow!?

In order for the polish to work, the polish is applied to the nail and must be exposed to some form of light for a few minutes. The polish will continue glowing, even after a few hours.

The Brand

Polish Me To Go has become a popular indie nail polish brand, which specialises in glow in the dark polishes. Each polish is hand blended and there are many amazing colours available. From pretty pastels to bright neons, there is a vast range to choose from. You can buy the polishes in singles or as a set, as minis or full sized.

Customers in USA can purchase these glow polishes here. 

International customers can purchase these glow polishes from the distributor ‘BeautySoFly,’ here. 

The Polishes

These polishes were purchased by me from BeautySoFly. This is the Pastel Mini set which consists of 6 mini 5ml bottles in a range of pretty pastel colours. 

The Review

All swatches consist of 2 coats of a white base, Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White,' and 2 coats of the glow polish. The photographs below were taken in artificial white light and in the dark. 

(Note: These polishes also have unique glows under UV light but these are not considered in my review.)

'Snow Glow'

This is a beautiful polish that applies white and glows a light blue. I was most impressed by the fact that the polish gave a blue glow. The glow itself was fairly decent but did not leave me astonished. 

'Oh Cool Blue'

Compare the previous polish to this one, which applies as a pastel blue and glows light blue. The glow on this polish left me amazed. It was bright, fun and both the raw and glow colours were amazing.

'Yell, Oh Mint!'

I would have to say that this is my favourite polish in the set. It applies as a pastel yellow, something I would describe as a faded highlighted yellow, and glows a freakishly awesome green colour.

'Pinky Promise'

This polish applies as a cute baby pastel pink and glows as a very pale pink. I was not left very impressed by the glow of this polish but at the same time, the raw pink colour is so cute!

'LOVEnder'

This polish applies as a pastel purple and glows as … a very feint white? I so wanted to love this polish because the raw colour was my favourite one by far. I think the colour is so unique, lying somewhere between a lavender purple and baby pink. However, the glow on this was quite dismal. 

'Honey My Dew'

 This polish applies as a gorgeous orange (very much like honey dew) and glows a yellow/orange colour. The glow was bright, but not as prominent as Oh Cool Blue and Yell Oh Mint.

The Verdict

I have to say that I really do enjoy the novelty of glow polishes! These Polish Me To Go polishes all applied matte, streak free and dried fairly quickly. I absolutely adore the naming of ALL the polishes, both relevant and cute. The raw colours in light were true to it being a 'pastel polish set'. The glow of some of the polishes were amazing and bright, while others did not work so well. 

One problem I did come across was that the glow formula would settle to the bottom after a period of sitting idly. The bottles did come with 2 mini metal balls, but I found that I had to shake the bottle vigorously for it all to blend.

Overall, I would recommend this polish set to anyone who loves pastels and wants to try the glow trend! You can also buy the polishes individually, and if so, I highly recommend Yell Oh Mint and Oh Cool Blue!

The next step up from having plain glow nails is to do designs on them. Draw a picture for a silhouette effect, or even combine the polishes for a rainbow glow! In the picture above I combined ‘Yell, Oh Mint’ with the Batman sign which I find so suitable and fun!

You can visit Polish Me To Go on Instagram for a collection of glow polish designs done by various Instagrammers!

[Tutorial] The Trend: Striping Tape & Triangles

The Trend

When it comes to nail art tools, there has been no other as helpful and versatile as striping tape. This glorious tape I speak of is less than a millimetre in width and is available in a vast array of colours. Striping tape is used by all types of nail fanatics to create flawless lines and straight edged shapes. Endless designs are possible with this tool but it's combination with triangles is what I will be focusing on today. 

The Look

This is the design that can be achieved with the two tutorials below. I know what you might be thinking right now. “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” This is certainly one of the most used phrases that people comment on my nail art work but as you can see, it is sure worth the effort!

These nails were 100% inspired by two amazing nail artists on Instagram @pixiedustz and @cassgooner (links and information at the bottom of this post).

The Technique

The items I have used for this look are OPI ‘Alpine Snow,’ ‘Mod About You,’ ‘Pink Friday,’ ‘Elephantastic Pink,’ ‘You’re a Pisa Work’ and Seche Vite top coat. I used a nail art brush in the size 3/0 which you can purchase at craft stores or something similar here. You will also need scissors and striping tape that you can purchase here.

Part 1

The first tutorial is for the design I have done as an accent on the ring finger. It may seem quite complex but when broken down into steps, it is actually quite straightforward!

1)      Paint a coat or two of white until it is opaque.

While you wait for this to dry, you are going to want to cut out several strips of striping tape as I have in the picture above. You can use any colour because we will be peeling the tape off in this manicure.

You want to ensure that your nail is completely dried before proceeding with the next step. I used a coat of Seche Vite fast dry top coat to assist in this process.

2)      Place a strip of striping tape across your nail in a horizontal manner.

3)      Place strips parallel to the previous strip. The space you leave between the strips will determine how big your triangles will be.

4)      Place a few strips at a diagonal to the horizontal strips.

5)      Place a few strips at a diagonal to the horizontal strips but in the other direction. This should leave you with a series of tessellated triangles.

6)      Imagine the triangles are in vertical columns. Paint the lightest colour in every second triangle of every second column with the nail art brush.

7)      Paint the third lightest colour to fill in the same columns.

8)      Paint the second lightest colour to fill in every second triangle of the remaining columns.

9)      Fill in the remaining triangles with the darkest colour.

10)    Peel off the strips in the reverse order that you placed them on!

In order to get your lines perfectly straight and not messy, you need to do steps 6-10 in quick succession so the polish is still wet when you peel off the tape. If the polish has dried already, go over the triangles again quickly!

Here is a pen and paper representation of the triangle formation I did. However, if you found steps 6-9 too troublesome, feel free to paint the triangles randomly with any colours you wish

At the end of reading all this, you are most definitely thinking, “ain’t nobody got time for that.” However, if you can manage to do this once on each hand, it makes a great accent nail (as can be seen above).

Part 2

The design I have done on the remaining nails can be achieved with the tutorial below. This design is a lot more simple but also very outstanding.

1)      Paint a coat or two of white until it is opaque.

2)      Place two strips of striping tape vertically aligned in the centre of the nail.

3)      Cut small strips of tape to form a zig zag formation between the two previous strips.

4)      Fill in the triangles with a small nail art brush with the second lightest to darkest colours.

5)      Paint the rest of the nail with the lightest colour.

6)      Peel off the striping tape while the polish is still wet.

An important point to make is that the small strips you make in step 3 should touch the two vertical strips. This is to ensure the whole ladder comes off as a whole when you peel the tape. It should look something like the picture above. If any small strips do not peel off together with the ladder, use tweezers to pull it off. 

Once all the nails are complete, top it all off with a good top coat. I hope that with the steps above you are able to achieve the look!

If I have inspired you to do a nail art design, I would love to see them in the comments below or tag #inspiredbynailsbynikkih on Instagram.

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Inspiration and Suggestions

Suggestion #1: Do the full triangle design on all your nails for a sophisticated and amazing look!

These nails are by @pixiedustz on Instagram. You can find her on www.instagram.com/pixiedustz. Her nails were half the inspiration to the nails I have done.

Suggestion #2: Pair the single line triangle design with various shapes and patterns for a unique look.

These nails are by @cassgooner on Instagram. You can find her on www.instagram.com/cassgooner. Her nails were the other half of the inspiration to the nails I have done! 

[Tutorial] The Trend: Floral Nail Art

The Trend

Floral nails have become an extremely popular trend over the past few years. Most people associate this particular design with the ‘vintage’ look and it is a very versatile technique. Floral is suitable year round and is an extremely popular look for Spring. 

The Look

This is the design that can be achieved with the techniques in the tutorial below. These are simple looking flowers that are created by painting C's. There are many tutorials out there but I would like to share the way that I achieve the look. 

The Technique

The items I have used are Sinful Colors ‘Snow Me White,' OPI ‘Pink Friday,' Sally Hansen ‘Mint Sorbet’ and Seche Vite top coat. You will also need a fine nail art brush. The brush I use is in the size 20/0 and can be purchased at your local craft store. 

There are 5 steps involved in the process.

1)      Paint a coat or two of white until it is opaque.

2)      With the nail art brush, paint two C shapes which almost fit into each other. Do this as many times as you would like, according to the number of flowers you would like.

3)      Paint three C shapes around the previous arrangement.

4)      Paint five C shapes around the previous arrangement.

5)      Paint leaves. These should be spread around the nail and mostly grouped in 2x2 for each flower.

For convenience and a clearer explanation, this is a pen and paper tutorial for the flowers. A lot of the time, people tell you to simply draw C’s until it looks like a flower. Initially when I started, my compilation of C’s looked nothing like flowers until I decided to devise a certain method to always follow.  This is my own 2-3-5 C formation.

I hope that with the steps above you are able to achieve the look. On my ring finger I have done an accent nail with a pink base, white flowers and mint green leaves. 

If I have inspired you to do a nail art design, I would love to see them in the comments below or tag #nailsbynikkih on Instagram.

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Features and Suggestions

Suggestion #1: For a more complex and vintage look, pair the flowers with stripes and spots.

These nails are by @followthatway on Instagram. You can find her on www.instagram.com/followthatway or www.followthatway.blogspot.com

Suggestion #2: Pair the flowers with bright colours for a fun, summer look.

These nails are by @modnails on Instagram. You can find her on www.instagram.com/modnails or www.mod-nails.com

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I hope you enjoyed this post!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello! 

Over the past few months, I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my nail art with everyone on the Instagram community. I am thrilled with the response that I have received so far and I have all of my followers and friends to thank for that.

I am currently on my university break so I thought I would try starting up a blog to help those who would love to be more involved with nail art by posting my own tutorials, techniques and suggestions. I certainly do not claim to be a professional, nor do I take credit for starting these nail art trends. 

The name ‘The Nail Art Trend’ hopefully reflects the nature of what I would like my blog to be about.  I aim to document my own nail art experience while creating a database of the nail art trends that are circulating today. My tutorial posts will be relevant to a certain ‘nail art trend’ and each tutorial will consist of step by step procedures, a few handy hints and also features of other people’s nail art. I may also post about hauls, swatches or simply my nail art without tutorials.

Follow me on Instagram (@nailsbynikkih) if you would like to keep updated on my work.

I hope you enjoy my posts!