Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit in Grape: Review and NOTD

Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit in Grape: Review and NOTD

Reviews Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Some time ago, Lisa of Cosmetics Sanctuary mentioned a Kickstarter project for Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kits. For backing the project, you would get a gel kit free and they shipped worldwide. I signed up at once. Every one of the kits was sold out in a matter of days and there were 542 backers.

The Kickstarter project was run by Christina Kao. It took them a while to get through all the orders because there were that many! The colour options were Grape, Strawberry and Cherry Red. I picked Grape and pledged $25.
I received my kit in May but could not play with it because of travel. Airplanes, for unknown reasons, are lethal to my nails and I ended up with nubs (which are slowly growing).
This was my first time with gel polish and I was quite apprehensive about burning my hands, breaking my nails even further, ending up with no nails at all, discolouration, inability to get rid of the gel polish, World War III....

Scroll down for more about Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit.

Periwinkle, glitter and duochrome manicure for Summer and London face

Periwinkle, glitter and duochrome manicure for Summer and London face

Summer Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, June 18, 2015

This is a very short post, since I am running from pillar to post in London. I found time to paint my nails last night - after coming back from Althorp (Literary Festival - sadly couldn't find time to visit Princess Diana's memorial thanks to the rain and train). I've bought six bottles of nail polish so far and got one free, so not too bad. Surprisingly, the OPI counters don't seem to have the sheer tints. Boo. Even the Middle East Sephoras seem to get the new launches earlier.
Anyway, for this mani, I began with Barielle Rain in Spain, which is a nice periwinkle. I wanted a glitter topper and went in for Sinful Colors Petal be the day above this. I didn't like the effect after one light coat, so I finished up with KBShimmer Urban Camo, which I love so much so that I will use it over pretty much every polish for a while. Here are the results:

Meanwhile, this has happened to my face:

Manicure: China Glaze Outta Bounds

Manicure: China Glaze Outta Bounds

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, October 23, 2014

Green is one of those colours with some variants that work beautifully, and other shades that look terrible within a mile of me. As a rule, I avoid lime green, parrot green and, well, anything fluorescent or virulent but love bottle green and anything deep. China Glaze Outta Bounds, a gorgeous deep shimmery green with teal blue undertones, is a green that I love.
Unfortunately, I've had a bad nail-accident featuring an "eyebrow razor" from a Memebox which I will show you soon. As a result, I could not do any nail art with this polish. This was my first go at an eyebrow razor and, while it tidied up my brows nicely, it ruined my nail, manicure and fingertip badly.
Photos of the carnage below.

Shatter manicure: Barry M Croc Effect Nails 323

Shatter manicure: Barry M Croc Effect Nails 323

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, October 16, 2014

Yellow is a colour I can never pull off, be it on my nails, eyes, lips or outfit. Possibly because my skin has yellow undertones - using the shade always makes me look ill.
The only way I can pull off yellow on my nails is if I cover it up almost completely, so that very little of the shade peeps through - and that is why shatter polish is the best solution. The only yellow polish I own is the Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine in 39 Jaune Trendy.
I picked up Barry M. Croc Effect from Boots Dubai - they have a nice collection of Barry M polishes, lipsticks and other makeup. They had two shades in this range - 323, which is black, and 343, which is red.

More photos and thoughts on the Barry M Croc Effect polish in 323 below.

Autumn nail art challenge: Red and black

Autumn nail art challenge: Red and black

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, October 05, 2014

What kind of complete klutz breaks a whole bottle of O.P.I. I'm Not Really A Waitress halfway through application for a red-themed nail art?  And then realises that this was the only true red polish she had?
I know it is well over three months since I last painted my nails. The fact is that all the travel I have been doing broke and damaged my nails badly - airplanes and lugging suitcases - and I developed weird hangnail-like protrusions from the sides. I will tell you more about them and how I solved the problem in another post. For now, I am going to celebrate my return to nail polishing with a nail art challenge series that runs through the rest of this year.
Read on for more deets and photos.

Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit review

Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit review

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, June 19, 2014

My nails are getting nubbier. Once a breakage-phase begins, they keep on peeling or breaking for a while. When one breaks, I have to file all the others down. And then, another one breaks to repeat the process. I actually wish my ring fingernail would break, too - it is the only intact nail and I don't want to file it into evenness for fear that it will break further and I will have to file all the others into the cuticles. However, I am not going to wait for them to grow, but will continue with nail art challenges.
Anyway. Ciate's Chalkboard Manicure kit was on my wishlist for a while and I was delighted to find it at Sephora ME. The base polish and the pens are intended to mimic blackboard and chalk respectively, creating "classroom chic".

Here are my thoughts on the Ciate Chalkboard Manicure Kit and a first attempt at nail art with it.