Gelicious - Little Prince George

So I really don't think using Gelicious without the base coat works well for me.

I put this one on three days ago.  Lovely colour, I wasn't sure about the white dots at first but now I quite like them - it's like Christmas card snow.

But by yesterday I already had chips.  I had run the clear over the tips of the nail, so maybe I'll run the colour as well.

After this mornings shower I has this.

Bahumbug!

Gelicious - Blaze

I needed red on my fingers because my school teacher choir performed on the weekend.  I went with Blaze which was a bright cheery red with shimmer.  We wear red dresses. :)

I'm on the far left - you can't see my nails.

I again went without the optional base coat.  

This time the gel didn't seem to set. I did it last Wednesday and it still feels a little tacky.  The gel also started chipping by the end of the week, tip wear as well.

You can see the tip wear and a chip in the photo - also see my broken nail!

This colour has the 30 second fast cure and I did put the nails in for 1 min instead but I'm sure that wouldn't have changed it.  Plus it had the normal top coat.  I don't really know what went wrong.

Anyway, only five days in and I already need to replace it.  

I'll try this colour near Xmas just in case it was user error...

Gelicious experiment

During my last Gelicious attempt I left the optional base out of the process on my right hand to see if there was much of a difference.

Turns out there is.  I did use my right hand for the experiment and because it's   my dominant hand my nails did cop it more but by mid-week I had a few chips.

So today 12 days after the mani was done my nails looked like this:

My other hand was barely touched.

So the base coat definitely made a difference in the polish's longevity.

The other thing I wanted to know was how easier it would make removal.

For my left hand I kept the nails wrapped up for a good 15 minutes and still had to scrape.  

You can see where I had to scrape - tiny white peely bits. In a few hours the scrapes seem to buff off naturally but I am worried about my nails' health.

On the other hand, literally, I didn't have to do anything.  I peeled off the wrap and the polish fell off.

So,,, what does this mean for me?

To be honest I love the easier clean up.  I got less mileage out of the manicure but still it was over a week - longer than my normal polishes.  

I think I'll only use the Optional Base Coat when I really need my nails to last the full fortnight.

Gelicious - Dip in the Pool

Ooh so pretty.  This was my previous fortnight's colour, sorry I forgot to post earlier.

I did two coats and although you can sort of see the nail line in the photos in real life it wasn't so bad.

Really did remind me of sun glinting on the ocean.  

Update my current mani - I broke my thumb nail and so had to remove the polish off that nail.  I have a small chip on my index fingers but I have been building furniture this week.

Gelicious - Thankful

'Thankful' is a very nice nude.  I used two coats but on my left I used the optional base coat M&S on the right I just applied the colour.  Both got the ultra glaze top coat.

I want to see if the base coat actually does anything and maybe it will make it easier to remove if I don't use it.

For the last two manicures my thumb nail  chipped on the outer side.  I made sure to give that edge more of a buff so hopefully that will work.

Gelicious - Strawberry Milkshake

In honour of the fact that I often get 'Milkshake' by Kelis stuck in my head* - this time I am wearing Strawberry Milkshake by Gelicious.  

The colour is perfectly named but hard to capture with my phone.  I think this colour has gotten more notice then the other Gelicious colours I have tried.

In real life it isn't as pale.

Unfortunately I have found this one not as durable as I would have liked - this damage is 3 days in. 

As per usual it could be my application or it could also be that I've been extra hard on my nails.

This photo is more like the real colour

I'm on holidays now so was really hoping that this would last the fortnight because I don't have access to all my equipment and polishes so for now Im just going to put a clear coat of normal polish and hope for the best.

*What does that say about me? My husband gets either Papa Loves Mambo or Agadoo which tells me just how camp he really is under all that male testosterone.

Peripera and Gelicious - Bubblegum yum

I realised today that I hadn't shared my latest haul and subsequent manicure!

A while back, I bought two polishes from Peripera and had told myself that I would buy more, but never got there. It was in my eBay watch list though!

A few weeks ago chocolatencappucino put her Peripera's on sale so I bought up. 

Ohhh, so pretty!

 

They came with samples... yep... I was pretty stoked.

  

I'm such a cat lady...

I just love how cute Korean cosmetics are. I need to get me some more cute stuffs - so much of my eBay watch list is TonyMoly etc stuff.

And here is my mani.  

Base colour - Gelicious - Bubblegum Yum

Glitter - Peripera - 040 Sparkle Gold

Usual top coats for both layers. I put two layers on my index fingers.

I find that the Peripera polishes dry really quickly, and really aren't all that different from your 'normal' polishes quality wise.  This glitter polish stayed on my nails for a week.

 

This purple chipped before the fortnight was up, but that could have been the because of the extra nail polish on top,,, or because of my dodgy application. 

I think I've cracked how to remove the gel, I give my nails a quick once over with a file before I let them soak in the wraps for about 10 minutes. I then take them off one at a time and use an orange stick to push of the loose stuff. I then scuff the surface with the orange stick and then reapply the wraps with a little extra remover. This seems to get it off pretty easily.

But I am worried about damaging my nails - they are dried out after I clean everything off (obviously) and I already had some peeling before hand so I don't want it to get out of hand. Anyway, I'm giving my nails a break for a week and have just applied clear normal polish. But of course, I've already split one on the side. Doh!

Gelicious - Lavender Cupcake

So pretty! Made even more so a week into the mani with a bit of glitter. Although I'm not a fan on stars because their points catch on everything even though I put a layer of gel coat over it.

I've been trailing Gelicious soak and scratch wraps. They are pretty easy to use, probably prefer them to alfoil but the black printing rubs off into my fingers. Plus they are pretty expensive - lucky I bought them on sale.

Base - Gelicious - Lavender Cupcake
Glitter - Candy Lacquer - Starlight

Don't forget my give away finishes on Tuesday.

Gelicious - Mintium - GIVEAWAY

Slowly slowly getting through my Gelicious haul.

This one is Mintium from their Precious Metal collection. And to be honest I wasn't sold on the colour when I first put it on,  it also was more of a shimmer (frost?) then a metal. I guess I wanted a different colour then what I got - but it was similar to the picture on the bottle so I was really kidding myself.

By the end of the two weeks I thought differently - it wasn't as 'in your face' as some of my other greeny polishes which was nice and a few people commented on it.

I only did two coats of this - so you can see in my photo that it was a little patchy - I'm finding most Gelicious need three coats, but it's so easy to set each coat that it doesn't take up much time.

Now to my give away... My first ever! (NZ and Aus only - Sorry!)

A brand new never been used before bottle of Gelicious Mintium and Adoree Hamilton Blue. 

 I bought the Mintium in my last haul thinking that mint would be pretty popular colour - if I like it then others would too,,, right? Pity I didn't think to get the top coat as well - sorry!

I've been keeping the Hamilton Blue aside for a while now for a give away - it seriously doesn't look that yellow in real life.  I can't seem to find the Adoree seller on eBay anymore but you can see more here: Esther's Nail Center.

If you would like to enter, please leave a comment and some way for me to get in touch with you.

 I'll random draw from the comments on the 30th of July, 2013.

WINNER!!! mel j

Thank you for commenting! 

Gelicious - After Glow

The picture on the bottle looks golden but the polish is silver just like on the website.

I liked this one - can silver be considered a neutral? Because I thought that people would notice a bit of bling on my fingers but they didn't really - there wasn't an OMG moment.

It took three coats and it lasted a fortnight before it chipped.

It took for ages to get rid of all the shimmery bits. I really dread removing polish at the best of times so I was pretty shirty and gave up before I could remove all the polish.

Next colour is going to be... Mintium.

Gelicious haul

The problem with a Gelicious haul is that all the bottles look the same.

Gelicious - Fake Tan

Two coats of Fake Tan. I don't really think the name matches the colour. In my nails it looked like a bronzy puce colour.

Longevity was good - exactly 2 weeks and it started chipping, although I did have some tip wear.

I was pretty hard on them too - canoes, climbing, high ropes challenges, camping. Basically I was on school camp for a bit of it.

What I was really worried about was the removal. I didn't want to worsen my nails. I bought some new acetone based remover - 80% I double checked - and tried again. It worked pretty well so it really must have been that other bottle.

This is good news because I bought a whole heap more from Buy Invite - I think each bottle was $15. So hopefully I'll have a huge haul to show you soon.

From Gelicious to Gold

So I wore the Aztec Blue from Gelicious for a week - no problems - but realized that I had a ball to go to and then a week of school camp so I really needed to sort my nails out.

I had bought a new bottle of acetone from the chemist - it cost me $15 which seems a lot even if you consider I live in the middle of no where.

Then I soaked my nails for 10 mins and it didn't work, then I tried the alfoil trick for another 10 or so. Unfortunately, I had to really scrap if off and damaged my nails.

I'm not blaming Gelicious but the acetone.

To go to the ball I put on Pretty Serious's Mummy Mush.

Very pretty, two coats. I only wanted to wear it for the night so didn't bother with a top coat.

Happy birthday!

Look at the glitter!

Don't you love it?

Nail colour - Gelicious - Aztec Blue
Glitter - Pretty Serious - Daphne's Birthday Party

The sparkle makes my heart sing - maybe even sing 'Happy Birthday'.

 

I had read that if you use a normal polish on top of the gel you can use acetone free remover to remove the polish but keep the gel - I'm going to see how it goes.

Gelicious - a first

I bought a Gelicious starter kit thing and a few colours. I thought it would be a bit of fun to try them out.

My first colour was Beachy Peachy Coral - and I quite liked it. I put on 3 layers of colour, along with the base and top coat.

It began peeling 6 days later on one of my nails, so I put a little more clear over it and set it and Bob's your uncle. (check out my PJ pants - that I'm wearing inside out - I'm such a fashionista)

I got a little bored of the colour 8 days in so I made a gelly sandwich.

12 days later 3 fingers was lifting up (well the polish was) so I removed it all, but I think I would have done it anyway because the nail growth was really starting to annoy me.

Anyhow, I got 12 days - not quite the 2 weeks but pretty close.

I've just put on Aztec Blue and will see how it goes.

New post

Look who arrived this week!

My husband picked it up from the post office for me, but while he was there an older friend sidled up to him to find out what the new package was.

When she saw Daphne, he thinks she got the wrong idea because she suddenly got embarrassed.

Bahahaha!

My 'fetish' for nail polish gets me in trouble again.

Anyhow - I haven't been wearing coloured polish for ages, I've been in a bit of a slump really and can't be bothered. I have a few projects in mind that will hopefully gets going again :)

Pretty Modes

I'm in civilization - I bought some Mode! It's so exciting when I travel, not only because of the people I meet up with and the things I do but also because nail polishes are everywhere.

This trip I really have been good and just bought 4 Modes:

Beat the Blah
XOXO
Party Girl
Cool As

Goldfinger

This was a timely Mani - last night 'Goldfinger' was in TV - I forgot to watch it because I got stuck into a book instead,

Two coats of China Glaze - Fast Track and used Rimmel 60 seconds clear as the base and top coat. At first I thought that this nail polish felt tacky and plasticy but after the top coat went on it hardened up fine.

Three days in and only a little wear on the tips.

The colour is great for my skin - that nude with the bling really makes it work.

Don't look at the cuticles - I repeat - don't look at the cuticles.