piCture pOlish Blog/Insta Fest 2014

Hi everyone! I'm happy to be participating again in piCture pOlish blog fest, this is my second year! Last year I came up with one of my best designs of the year, and it was an amazing experience finding new bloggers from around the globe. This year it's different for two reasons: one, Instagram nail artists are now included, and two, piCture pOlish is teaming up with Nail Vinyls. They're going to be offering a special four-pack Nail Vinyls set, so we all got the opportunity to use them this year.

I was given three polishes - one to swatch and two to use for nail art. The nail art had to use Nail Vinyls and it was pretty restrictive, in that we couldn't use other nail art techniques. At first I thought that would get boring, but this morning when I started seeing blog posts fill up my feed, I was amazed by the variety and creativity that everyone brought to the table. If you're looking for inspiration make sure to check out the other posts in the InLinkz below.

Part 1: Midnite Meteor

First up, let's take a look at Midnite Meteor, the shade I was given to swatch...

piCture pOlish Midnite Meteor

This is a blogger collaboration with DoBeauting! and believe me, Midnite Meteor is definitely worthy of its name - it really looks like a starry night in a bottle! For me, a shade is perfect when I find myself saying "I wish I did that!" And that was my exact reaction to this.

piCture pOlish Midnite Meteor swatch

piCture pOlish Midnite Meteor swatch

It's a deep midnight blue, but not too dark, and has a subtle scattered holo effect with flashes of pink, purple, blue, and green, depending on the light. The formula was absolutely perfect and I used two even and smooth coats for this swatch. I don't know about you, but I feel piCture pOlish has really nailed these shimmer/scattered holo polishes, every one I try is just perfect!

piCture pOlish Midnite Meteor swatch

piCture pOlish Midnite Meteor swatch

Part 2: Nail Vinyls!

For the nail art I was given Totes and Swagger, two cremes that are part of the Urban Shades series. Swagger is a periwinkle blue creme, while Totes is a yellowish orange creme. Formula on both was the exact same - they go on smooth and evenly and I needed 3 coats for full coverage. I was hoping they would be 1-2 coaters, which would be better for nail art, but otherwise they are great colours.

piCture pOlish + Nail Vinyls nail art

I also received the straight Nail Vinyls. I've mentioned this before, but me and tape don't mix - nail vinyls are better but super complex stuff is out of the question. So I wanted to do something that had a fun, kind of urban vibe to match the shades I received, but went beyond plain stripes. I came up with this look after doing a few sketches.

piCture pOlish + Nail Vinyls nail art

piCture pOlish + Nail Vinyls nail art

To get this look:

I started with a base of Totes on all nails except my accent nail. After 3 coats each, I sealed it with KBShimmer Clearly On Top, which is a really good quick dry top coat. After waiting awhile I placed the nail vinyls and painted over them. I had to do one and a half coats (paint a coat, wait a second or two and repeat) but quickly so I could remove the nail vinyls right away.

piCture pOlish + Nail Vinyls nail art

Final thoughts:

The hardest part of this design was lining up the nail vinyls so that they looked parallel and perpendicular. Even though it's a relatively simple design, I still messed up in a few places - I had to redo the accent nail because I pulled up a section, and the line on my middle nail near the free edge is a bit wonky. Overall though, I like the design and appreciate that it's easy, but different.

I hope you've been enjoying Blog/Insta Fest, make sure to check out the other posts in the InLinkz below.

Nail Vinyls:FB: https://www.facebook.com/nailvinyls
IG: http://instagram.com/teismom
Store: http://nailvinyls.com/

piCture pOlish:
Store: www.picturepolish.com.au
Every Day Deal: http://picturepolish.com.au/everyday-deal
International Stockists: http://picturepolish.com.au/network
FB: https://www.facebook.com/piCturepOlish
IG: http://instagram.com/picturepolish

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An InLinkz Link-up