notd Archives - Curiously Carmen

Spring Ready Nails

April 9, 2016

Now that the days are getting brighter and sunnier, I wanted to create a nail look that would match the happier weather! This was my first time experimenting with wearing three different shades at once. At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked it but I ended up really loving this look!

Nails2 I had a Shellac manicure done last month, and some of the nail polish was starting to peel off. I thought it looked odd that I had a one single nail that was naked, while the others were still adorned in pretty pinks. So, I decided to select a pink shade in my nail polish collection to match what was left of my gel nails.

Once the gel started to peel off, I replaced it with these shades. Eventually, I took off my gel and painted my nails entirely with these colours!

Nails Here is the simple, but bright look I came up with! I finally bought a nail dotting tool back in January and have been trying to use it more. My goal is to eventually come up with detailed nail art, so I need to start practicing now!

The colours I am using are:

Yellow: Anna Sui Nail in N800
Light pink: Essie in 869 ‘Got Engaged!’
Magenta: Revlon in 901 Fuchsia Fever

This look is pretty self explanatory and very easy to create! Just paint your nails and use a dotting tool to create the dot in the middle. You could probably use a cotton swab or toothpick but the circle might not look as even.

I’m on a no-polish break for a month, as my nails are pretty weak right now. I’ll be posting more nail looks after my ban ends, and am looking forward to wearing more summer colours!

I was also reading up on biotin supplements to support healthy nails. Has anyone tried taking these and noticed results? I am always wary of side effects and dependency, so I’m not 100% sure I should try taking them yet. But I would really like my nails to become stronger and not peel as easily!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

NAILKALE – Nails Inc.

April 8, 2015

Hello everyone =)

On one of my ~~many~~ visits to Sephora, I saw a line of nail polishes by Nails Inc. I’ve never tried their products before, so decided to try out their gel effect line. I really loved the results, they lasted longer than usual and had a nice, thick glossy shine to them! A few visits later, I went back and decided to try their other polishes.
Why the name “NAILKALE” ? Because it rhymes and sounds cool off your tongue. Nah, it is because their NAILKALE line is actually infused with kale extract! The kale extract stimulates advanced keratin production, hydrates, and nourishes your nail. Personally, I love eating kale and including it in smoothies. Kale is a superfood and has a tremendous amount of nutrients, it isn’t long before beauty companies incorporate it in their products.
I bought the shade “Hampstead Grove” which is a dark coral colour. Coral is my go-to colour in the summer.

I used two coats to achieve this look, followed by a clear top coat. One thing I love about Nails Inc. is their fanned nail brush. The shape of their nail brush makes application so easy. One quick swipe covers my entire nail, leaving no streaks behind.

This is what the polish looks like with flash. Less orange-y tones, more pink.

The day of, I was pretty satisfied with the way it looked! However, I was a bit surprised that the next morning, I woke up only to find that it was already starting to chip. For a $20 polish, I expected it to stay longer, this didn’t even last for 24 hours!

I recommend trying Nails Inc gel effect line instead of NAILKALE, it lasted many more days without chipping.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

OMGNailStrips.com {Nail Strips Review!}

January 5, 2015

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone is having a good day so far. I am excited to share this post with you as I’ve always been curious about nail strips, and I know some of you might be as well =) OMGNailStrips.com is a website specializing in nail art stickers, with a wide range of nail sticker designs. Cutesy, festive, to grunge- OMG Nail Strips have it all.
For this post, I was able to choose two nail strip designs that I wanted. Originally, I had wanted a polka dot nail strip (no surprise there, hehe) but I was told it was sold out =(. I just tried to link that design, but I think they took it off their site. As a backup, I went with the strawberry design instead, which I was still really happy with and is sold for $8 USD. They arrived in the mail pretty fast, around 2-3 days from when I first placed the order.

The application process consisted of trial and error for me. I have a tendency to skim over instructions instead of carefully reading them, it’s just a bad habit that I have. Because of that, I don’t blame OMG Nail Strips for being unclear. Although I gave my friend a set to try, and she had trouble following the instructions as well.

One thing I found really odd about the nail strips were how HUGE the strips were. I think it’s because you can also use it on your toenails, and our toenails tend to be bigger than fingernails… I used the smallest stickers this time.

Here is the application process:
1) Ensure that your nails are clean and free of polish.
2) Find the size of nail stickers you’d like (I recommend the smallest one on the right, everything else is really big).
3) Before peeling, match it with the size of your nail and cut the sticker with manicure scissors if needed.
4) Unpeel the clear top coat and apply to nail, starting from the bottom. Ensure that there are no air bubbles! This was the part my friend and I had trouble with, we didn’t even notice there was a hard, clear coat until afterwards.
5) After it is on your nail, unpeel the white backing slowly.
6) Apply a top coat of clear nail polish.

This picture was taken two days after I applied the nail sticker, still looking pretty good! But the tip was beginning to chip a bit. If you’re wondering why the strawberry sticker is pink this time, it is because this is my left hand =)
After five days in total, I decided that it was time to part ways with the sticker, as you can see it was peeling off. The packaging said it would last up to ten days, but my nail polish tends to chip after 2-3 days so I knew that it wouldn’t last that long for me.
My friend tried the crow nail design, she wanted to get a Christmas themed sticker but we weren’t sure how long shipping would take. If we knew how fast it would be, she definitely would have ordered them! For my friend, hers lasted seven days before peeling.

Would I use nail strips again? Yes, definitely! I love how they are an easy and fun way to dress up your nails. Plus, there is no drying time and it also does not smudge. I know some people who don’t like nail strips because it’s hard to apply or it doesn’t fit their nail shape or something, but I find them fun to use and would not mind using them again =)

Check out OMGNailStrips.com here!

What is your opinion on nail strips? Thanks for reading and take care!

-Carmen

Press product featured, all opinions are my own.