Day 5: Blue Nails

We're getting on to the good bit of the challenge now. I'm gonna OWN Blue and Violet! They are definitely my favourite shades when it comes to nail colours!

We all know I'm NYC Top Coat's number one fan and their colours are bloody good too. I'm not normally a lover of frosty/shimmery finishes like this but the boldness of this blue hooked me in when I saw it on Elsa's blog.

It seems to me that NYC are forever changing their polish range, whether it's a complete overhaul of the shades or just a new bottle design, so it's often hit and miss whether you'll be able to find them in Superdrug. I found this blue shade along with a few others in a bargain bucket recently which leads me to think they're making changes again.

Head over to see what Cris and Rie have come up with today!

3 Coats of NYC Pier 17
Top Coat of NYC

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Ulta3 = NYC and a Ulta3 yellow comparison

Aussie ladies may have recently noticed large tubs of NYC polishes in their local Woolworths.  After seeing the colours I instantly new they were exact dupes of the Ulta3 polishes, but with different names and labels.  They are both distributed by the Heat Group.

One evening after work, I decided to do something totally mindless and match up the NYC colors to their dupe in the Ulta3 range.  Not every Ulta3 colour is an NYC, clearly as there are more Ulta3 colours than NYCs.

For polishes I didn't see in person, I used the list of NYC polishes on the Crush Cosmetics site. I know I may not have got them all matched perfectly, especially all the shades of pinks and magenta's, but I think this is pretty close.  If you know of any errors, please let me know. 

NYC	Ulta3
Angel	Crystallina
Appleberry	Footloose fuchsia
Apricot	Jazzle
Aqua	Jelly bean
Aubergine	Gooseberry
Baby Blue	Little boy blue
Banana Split	Honolulu
Berry Fuchsia	Flashback Fuchsia
Berrylicious	Mulberry
Blue Bird	Spring shower
Blue Sparkle	Blue glitter
Bronzed	Sunkissed
Broomstick	Delight
Cabernet	Burgundy
Casper	Lily white
Charcoal	Wild berry
Chilli	Sizzling red
Chocolate	Chocolate cake
Clear	Clear
Copper Penny	Antique gold
Cotton Candy	Bon bon
Coral	Watermelon
Deep Berry	Waterlily
Disco Diva	Gold Digger
Dusty Pink	Beesting
Feather boa	Silver pink
Femme Fatale	Foxy russett
Fire Hydrant	Fire
Frappe	Yummy mauve
Fuchsia	Bouquet
Gelati	Tahiti
Gerbera	Pink colada
Glow worm	Citris
Gobin	Jelly
Gold coin	Precious
Goldfish	Crazy
Grape Juice	Pearly grape
Green Sparkle	Charmed
Hazard	Carrot top
Hot stud	Hot Spring
Icy pole	Pink supreme
In the navy	Midnight
Lavender	Sweet violet
Lemon	Spring blossom
Lolly pop	Lolly pop lilac
Luv lime	Lagoon
Magenta	Bo peep
Manicure pink	French pink
Mauving on up	Elegant mauve
Mushroom	Allure
Musk stick	Baby pink
Natural	Natural
Night	Black satin
Non chip	Non chip
Peachy keen	Spring fling
Petticoat	Star dust
Pink cheeks	Natural spring
Pink princess	French blush
Platinum	Envy
Polka dot	Purple passion
Pretty pink	Poppy
Professor plum	Black plum
Purple monkey	Spring break
Rag doll	Freesia
Raspberry	Plum violet
Redhead	Scarlet
Red slippers	English rose
Red sparkle	Red glitter
Rhythm n blues	Hollywood
Ruby shoes	Brandy wine
Shocking pink	Eighties fuchsia
Show off	Fruit tingle
Silver bullet	Snazzle
Silver sparkle	Silver glitter
Slate	Silver grey
Sprinkles	Confetti
Sun goddess	Tropez
Tin roof	Metal
Top coat	Top coat
Vintage pink	Dusty rose

Now after that very long and boring list of polishes, I thought I should do a quick nail picture to make the post more interesting.  Although I'm sure that long and boring list will become a useful resource over time.

Here is a comparison picture of the four yellows in the Ulta3 range.  The two middle ones, the new release Frangipani and Honolulu are very similar, but Frangipani is a smidgen brighter .  Doesn't Citrus look amazing here!

Payday. Payday. Gotta get down on Payday.

Tomorrow will be my first payday for almost two years so I'm super excited! While I was in Uni I was lucky enough that I didn't need a job (just to be clear, I wasn't sucking on a silver spoon the whole time, I was just very scrupulous when it came to spending the money that I did have!).

My eBay watch list has tripled in size this evening and I have a post-it stuck to the wall in front of me with a list of stuff I want to buy! The first thing on that list is the Babyliss Big Hair styler which I have been drooling over for months. If anyone's tried it I'd be very interested to hear what you think of it.

Konad Plate: Bundle Monster BM212
Base Colour: NYC - Prince Street
Konad Colour: Collection 2000 - Moonlight Shine
GOSH - Metallic Purple for the dots
Top Coat of NYC

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Forever Alone

I didn't stop whining all day today. All my friends are starting to move home for the summer but I'm still here so there's not much to do and all I want to do is party! However, I have quietened down a bit this evening. Me and my housemate had a delicious Chinese takeaway and we're just chilling in front of the TV waiting for Made In Chelsea to come on. I know it's a terrible show but it's so addictive and I'm starting to actually like a few of the characters.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM225 and BM222

Base Colour: Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours - 320 Pop Fiction

Stamp Colour: NYC Nail Glossies 243B

Top Coat of NYC

Blue Blood

Last night (or rather this morning) I didn't get to sleep until after the sun came up! If anyone's ever done that, don't tell me it's not an amazing feeling. I went out in town then watched Napoleon Dynamite and couldn't sleep until 5.30. I don't know why I've shared that with you today. It's completely unrelated to anything but I guess I just want to say everyone should do it more often! I'm very much a night person. I'd much rather sleep all day and be awake all night.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM225

Base Colour: La Femme - Grey Cream

Stamp Colour: NYC Glossies 243B

I used scotch tape to mark off the edges of the nails and painted on two coats of Barry M Blue Glitter .

Top Coat of NYC

 

Do You Think I'm Tex-y Too?

It's just a quick one today. I did spend quite a while writing about how I think this shade is similar to OPI's Do You Think I'm Tex-y then realised it didn't really make any sense! I blame it on the cold I've been suffering with since the weekend, my head is all stuffed up and I'm just too tired to make real sentences.

Konad Plate: M57

Base Colour: NYC Glossies 235

Konad Colour: Stargazer White

Top Coat of NYC

Blue Diamonds

It seems that Twitter has broken down. I don't know what to do with myself, I've been sat here refreshing for 15 minutes but still nothing. What does Twitter think it is? Tumblr?!

It's been so long since I used one of my matte top coats so I cracked them out again. I know I say this every time I use an all over geometrical pattern but I love that you can't tell which colour is the base and which has been stamped on. Apart from when I mess up the double stamp on my thumb, which is every time!

Plate: Bundle Monster BM16

Base Colour: Barry M Cyan Blue

Stamp Colour: NYC Glossies 243B

Top Coat of NYC

Nebula Nails

Here is my attempt at creating some of those 'Galaxy Nails' that have been floating around a lot recently. I first saw one of these designs months and months ago but I thought it would be too hard so I didn't even attempt to create it myself. Boy, was I wrong! Considering how pretty this look is, it's some of the easiest nail art I've ever done and I think it's absolutely fool proof. I was worried it wouldn't turn out very well, but I don't think this look could turn out badly even if you tried to mess it up! That's the beauty of it.

All you need is a selection of cosmic colours and some textured paper tissue (i.e. kitchen roll) and I'd recommend using at least one holographic polish in the mix. Paint on your base colour and just start dabbing the colours on in patchy, thin layers. 

Asami has a great video tutorial of the method.

This was the colour inspiration for my version.

The polishes I used (in this order) are:

NYC Glossies - 243B

E.L.F - Party Purple

BYS - Glittering Purple

GOSH - Holographic

E.L.F - Twinkle

Collection 2000 Maxiflex - Moonlight Shine (dotted on for the stars)

And of course, a Top Coat of NYC (not pictured)

Has anyone done their own galaxy nails? Please leave a link to your mani in the comments, I love looking at them!

Houndstooth

I forgot how much I love this pattern. I had so many compliments about my nails yesterday. I think this houndstooth pattern is great because you can't tell which colour is stamped on, it's so seamless, the only problem is the size of the all over Bundle Monster patterns - they're quite small and don't always cover the whole nail which is when you get seams starting to appear!

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM21

Base Colour: NYC - Prince Street

Konad Colour: Miss Sporty - Zodiac

Top Coat of NYC

NYC In a New York Color Minute Quick Dry Polish Review

I have to start by saying this is the best damn top coat I have ever used in my life!

You may have noticed the line after all my Mani's that normally says 'Top Coat of NYC'. Well, this is the polish I mean....

New York Color Quick Dry Top Coat
(website)

This top coat dries to the touch in one minute - just like it says on the bottle. Within 15 minutes, it will be completely hard and you can go back to your business without worrying about getting any dinks or scratches in your polish. You could even go to bed and sleep peacefully knowing that you won't wake up up with duvet dents pressed in to your mani.

I think it's also important to mention that this top coat won't smudge your Nail Art/Konad designs like some other top coats I've tried.

I can't comment on the lasting power of this top coat because I never really wear a manicure for more than a few days. When I do keep a mani for a little while, this top coat holds up pretty good. Sometimes it does chip slightly around the tips after about 2 days.

The only downside with this top coat is that when you get about two thirds through the bottle it starts to get really gloopy and tricky to apply but I think it's the same with most top coats and polishes in general right?

I can't really compare this to any of the other well known top coats that are out there on the market such as 'Seche Vite' and 'Essie Good to Go' because I've never used them. I've never had the need to try them because this one is so freakin' awesome and at only £2.59 a bottle, it beats the other brands hands down for value.

So if you're looking for a top coat that's going to dry your mani fast and keep your polish hard and strong, this is the perfect budget top coat for you.

In the UK, you can find the NYC range in most larger Superdrug stores. Click here to see stockists in the US.

November Debut

This mani is practically an exact duplicate of one I did a few months back just with different colours and a matte top coat.

I would have done something totally kick ass and original for my November debut mani, especially considering I haven't posted for a week now. But since I thought my camera was broken I obviously wasn't expecting to be able to post one but what the heck, here it is.

Check out my index finger! It's never been so long. They're normally so weak and I guess, because I use my index finger the most, the corners snap off every few days so normally I keep them quite short but I've been using OPI's Original Nail Envy for over a week and I think my nails are stronger for it.

Plate: Bundle Monster - BM18
Base Colour: Claire's Mood - Confident/Peaceful
Stamp Colour: Stargazer - White
NYC Glossies 243B for the line
Top Coat of Essie Matte About You