Duochrome Flakie Nail Polish Swatches: Born Pretty Store Multicolored Shell Glitter Nail Polish

I love my duochromes, and I love my flakie glitter, and recently, I found a source of awesome nail polish that is a duochrome flakie! And the best part is? It's not overly expensive, either.

Born Pretty Store duochrome flakie nail polishes!

These little bottles of awesome are the Born Pretty Store Dazzling Starry Magical Multicolored Shell Glitter Nail Art Polish, (and, by the way, you can use code MCAW10 for 10% off your order). I had two colours, #4 and #11, so I figured I'll show you guys how they fared on me. These are fairly sheer, and I think they perform best over a base, although you can certainly layer them at 2-3 coats for opacity.

DIY Chalkboard Manicure Tutorial: Cheap, Easy and in 3 Steps!

Ciate has recently started promoting their Chalkboard Manicure, which involve nails that, look like chalkboard doodles on your nails. If you recall, Ciate was previously famous for their "I-claim-to-be-first-with-this-trend-although-I-wasn't" caviar manicure, and then threatening bloggers with legal action because they DIY'ed their own caviar manicures (not because they were trying to pass off their own nail art as Ciate's, by the way). Despite the issue with the Caviar manicure, I remain somewhat grudgingly impressed by Ciate's interesting innovation - I have to admit I haven't seen any other brand doing this yet, and it looks cool. (Okay, if I were to be more frank, I'm not just grudgingly impressed, I'm pretty impressed.)

Ciate's newest nail trend - Chalkboard manicure! (Source: Ciate Facebook)
Anyway, I realized when looking at Ciate's promotional materials, that 1) the Chalkboard Manicure kit wasn't available for sale yet (unless you were, of course, a Big Beauty Magazine Editor who Got It Free), and 2) actually, it just all looked like matte nail polish. Thus, an idea struck me - I could DIY my very own Chalkboard Manicure, using colours and stuff that I already had at home - because, really, who needs to buy a kit to acheive this effect? Besides, even if my polish-lemming self wanted to buy the damn set, it wasn't even available yet. Come on, you're telling me I have to wait to spend my money on an overpriced nail art set (this is assuming a girl like me in Asia can somehow get my hands on it)? Awww, shucks, but I want to wear it now, like the impatient consumer I am. *taps fingers impatiently*

Impatient Ilya understands how I feel. Totally.
So began my quest to do my own Ciate-inspired Chalkboard Manicure. (Disclaimer before Ciate tries to sue me: I'm not claiming I'm using Ciate products, nor am I claiming to sell Ciate products, I'm just providing a tutorial to show how you can get a similar effect using DIY techniques at home, and I'm doing this out of my interest in beauty. I'm not making any form of money or payment as a result of sharing my own DIY techniques.) This what I used.

Fade to Black Gradient Manicure

Look! Gradient nails! And with three colours, too! I don't know about you, but I recently started experimenting with making gradient nails with a sponge, and I'm loving it! For these nails, I did a gradient with three - yes three! - shades. I think this is a first for me, LOL. I used Wet n' Wild White, Wet n' Wild Black, and Essie Chinchilly for the grey.

I first painted my nails with Wet n' Wild White as a base, then I took a sponge (I just use whatever I can get my hands on - I use the sponges that I have at home to wash dishes), and did three stripes of paint in each colour next to each other on the sponge. Then I transferred the polish from the sponge to my nail. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the "sponge marks" on my mani. Maybe I should have used more polish on the sponge, or a different type of sponge? Anyway, when I figure it out, I'll let you guys know.


The trick to this, I think, is to blend the polishes on the sponge before transferring them to the nail. Also, I think it helps to use polished that are opaque and give good coverage.

The downside to this is that you get polish all over your cuticles and skin around the nail, and cleanup can be a pain. Especially if, like me, you used black or a dark shade, then it's quite hard to remove all that crap that gets stuck at the base of your nails. But the end effect is so cool, I think it's worth it!


So ta-da, my gradient manicure! I'm really loving how this looks, despite the pain it was to clean up, it has a very moody-chic vibe to it.

Dupes or Not: Sally Hansen Gem Crush Glitz Gal vs China Glaze SomeLikeIt Haute

One of my recent buys was Sally Hansen's Gem Crush nail polish in Glitz Gal. It was a gorgeous sheer black polish with awesome holographic glitter! Exactly my kind of polish! I thought it was a dead ringer for China Glaze's Some Like It Haute, which I already bought previously, so I thought I would do a little compare and contrast for you guys. And no, I don't know why I felt compelled to get two of the same thing. It must be the holo glitter, I tell ya. Holo glitter is evil.

Anyway, up for the comparison. In the bottle, both polishes look pretty much identical. Same sheer black base, same awesome glitter.



On the nail, they're also pretty much alike. I think they're pretty much dupes, although I feel like Some Like It Haute is a tad blacker(?). It looks a little darker somehow, by a teensy bit, but to be honest I probably wouldn't notice the difference if I wasn't splitting hairs.

L-R: Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal, Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal

Otherwise, both polishes are pretty much identical. Other than the colour, the brushes are different - China Glaze has the typical nail polish brush with straight ends, while Sally Hansen's Gem Crushes have a brush edge that's more curved and more flat. I personally prefer the Sally Hansen brush, but both work well either way. Perhaps if you have a strong preference for one brush over another, this could sway your decision.



L-R: Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal, Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal

So, do you need both? Nope. Which should you choose? Well that would depend on the price and availability of each polish in your area (e.g. if you are not in the USA the Sally Hansen one will be hard to get), as well as your brush preference. If all else fails, toss a coin. Either one is great and won't disappoint. As for me, I am keeping both, because I, uh, "need backups". (I swear it's not my glitter-hoarding tendencies kicking in!)

Reverse Chevron Manicure Tutorial with OPI Nicki Minaj Shades

When I got my Feburary Vanity Trove, my mind was just racing with all the possibilities for some nail art fun. Finally, I settled on these pink and black glitter Chevron nails.

These were pretty easy to do, too. The tutorial below shows you just how easy it is.

1. First, paint your base colour. (I'm assuming you already have base coat on, of course.) Here I used OPI Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj Collection.



2. After the base layer is dry, stick tape on top of the base layer in your desired Chevron shape.



3. Then, paint the top shade from the taped area to the ends of the nails. Here I used Wet n' Wild Black.



4. If you want to jazz up your Chevron, add a little glitter! This is OPI Save Me from the Nicki Minaj Collection.



5. Wait for the polish to dry, then peel off the tape, and viola! Chevron nails, with glitter on top!



Lastly, here are a few final tips I hope you'll find useful. Firstly, before you lay the tape over your base layer, make sure the base layer is really, truly dry. If not, the tape will peel the base layer off your nail. Also, for a sharper Chevron edge, wait til the polish is dry (or mostly dry) before peeling off the tape. If the polish is too wet, it will smudge when the tape is being peeled off.

I like this combination very much, I like the contrast of pink and black, and I also feel like the holo and silver glitter in Save Me really stands out against the black. I actually got these polishes in my Feburary Vanity Trove, so if you're interested you can check out Vanity Trove.