Choi's nails

Summery gradient and flower image stamping with China Glaze, Barry M and Misa

Ooh hi there Summer manicure, even though it hasn't hit that season yet I'm totally ready for all the bright/pastel colours so I've got a summer gradient to show you guys.

For a person who doesn't wear yellow nail polish so often, my bottle of Lemon Fizz by China Glaze has been used much more than the other polishes that are a favourites of mine. I prefer using yellows for nail art rather than keeping it as a plain manicure, it's just they don't always turn out right so they don't even make it to the picture taking stage. This manicure though turned out more than right that I was excited to upload this.

For this manicure you'll need:

One coat of your preferred base coat (I use Essie's Grow Stronger base coat but I think I'll need to invest in another one soon)
Two coats of China Glaze's Lemon Fizz.
A sponge painted with a yellow China Glaze's Lemon Fizz, an orange Barry M's Mango and a red Misa's So HOT in sunglasses from top to bottom. Sponge the nails until you're happy with the results. Add more polish to the sponge if you feel like the colours need a bit of a top up.
The flower image from Bundle Monster plate BM16 and Konad white polish for the image stamping. This image had to be stamped twice to fill the nails as these were the first generation stamping plates that BM had introduced so their image sizing wasn't quite right.
Glitter nail art pen to dot the middle of the flowers. Doesn't have to be a pen, any other glitter polishes would suffice.
One coat of your preferred top coat. (I use Misa's UV Bounceback)

If you're looking for summer nail art ideas maybe you could try this gradient design. :)

Saturday, February 28, 2015
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Barry M Blue grape and Models Own Chrome stamping

Barry M

Here's a post to match the Sunday blues. My holiday from work officially ends today and the horror of having to wake up early every morning and dealing with various clients starts tomorrow! Ah nooooo!

I'd like to show Barry M's Blue grape before all the nail stamping because look how shiny shiny it is! This is two coats without top coat! It does belong to Barry M's Gelly Hi Shine collection after all and this shade really did live up to the name. You can almost my whole light box set up from the reflection. This blue is totally my kind of blue.

In my last post I mentioned picking up two collections from the Models Own sale and for the nail stamping I used the Chrome Blue and Chrome Pink from their Chrome collection. I've heard of this before but I'll say it for myself, these chrome's are great for nail stamping! Just see for yourself. The polish bottles also look great as they are.

Summary:

For this manicure you'll need:

One coat of your preferred base coat (I use Essie's Grow Stronger base coat)
Two coats of Barry M's Blue grape
Models Own's Chrome Blue for the middle and ring finger nail stamping with Bundle Monster's BM 224 plate
Models Own's Chrome Pink for the stamping on the index and pinkie nail.
One coat of your preferred top coat ( I use Misa's UV Bounceback top coat)

Coming up you might see a bit more of some Chrome stamping here and there because I'm totally digging how they appear especially as they are stamped on a dark base.

What do you think of this manicure? Have you tried any of the Barry M Gellys or Models Own's Chromes yet?

Sunday, February 22, 2015
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Models Own Oval Plum

Freehand

First of all Happy Chinese New Year! Wishing happiness, fortune and prosperity for everyone!

Secondly, for those that follow me on Instagram also, my username has now changed from Choi_x to Choiloves_x to match my blog name but this post and the following ones after this will include my old Instagram name because these were all edited before I decided on the name change.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way here's Models Own's Oval Plum. A while back Models Own had this awesome half price sale, if you didn't pick anything up during that time you really missed out! I purchased two full collections including the Diamond Luxe and new Chrome sets.

Oval plum belongs to the Diamond Luxe collection and the biggest selling point with this set is the polishes contain real diamond dust. It makes even the common colours feel fancy and looks good. If only my camera could capture the shimmery side of it all.

One coat of Oval Plum is good enough but two coats is best. Application is smooth too. This polish really didn't disappoint.

I picked out this shade to try simply because it looked very feminine and fitted Valentines very well. It did need a bit more of that love touch to it though so with the Chrome gold from their new Chrome collection I did a lousy attempt at some crosses and love hearts. They're not particularly perfect and the brush strokes are very evident but it'll have to do.