Ubermat: First Impression

Yesterday I received my much awaited Ubermat by Über Chic Beauty. 

If you haven't heard of it yet, check out the video from UCB on YouTube. One look at it and I knew I NEEDED it, as did many other people, by the looks of things. According to UCB's website, the Ubermat is already out of stock until later this month. Good thing I got mine early!

I used it for a simple stamping job with my eldest daughter in the afternoon and waited until the evening for a proper test run. 

"Reverse stamp like a boss" is one of the USPs, and the one that appealed to me the most. The ten decent-sized fingers and nails on it give you a frame, and after putting some topcoat on them you're ready to go. Or so I thought. 

The topcoat I used was Seche Vite. I'm not sure whether that had anything to do with my initial lack of success, or whether I was taking too long to do it, but by the time I was ready to stamp, my top coat was already peeling off and sticking to my stamper instead of staying put. 

Stamping on the mat itself wasn't an option as the stamping polish did not stick to the silicone the Ubermat is made of. 

I decided I wasn't going to let that ruin my excitement and gave it another try. After all, stamping hasn't always been easy for me. So I re did about four nails until I got the hang of it, in terms of speed and pressure. 

Happier with the base of my decals, I took my time to colour the designs in. My only comment in this regard is that the black outline of the printed nails sometimes looked like the lines I was colouring within. But then again, it was late and a coincidence my frame was in the same colour. 

Peeling off the decals was easy-peasy, I didn't even need tweezers. 

Check out the results by yourselves. What do you think? 

Additional products I used: Infinity Nails 14 stamping plate; black Konad special polish; Baker Street, Shoreditch, Carnaby Street and Queen Victoria Street by Nails Inc and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. 

Stamping with Essie and Infinity Nails 22

¡Hola! It's been a long time since I've last posted anything here, but if you follow me on Instagram you know I am still around. 

Today I would like to share my latest mani. Starting with Essie Maximillian Strasse-her, a favourite of mine, I decided to give Essie Nothing Else Metals a go, since my experience stamping with foils has been very positive in the past. 

My friend Carolina and I placed our first order from Dashica Beauty Shop and I chose a few of the lovely nail stamping plates they have on offer. 

Despite being a big Hello Kitty fan, I did not buy Infinity Nails 22 for that reason. What attracted me to this plate were the cute dotty designs. Such images can be a bit tricky to pick up but I had no problems at all with this plate. 

I think this is a lovely combination and am happy with the classy results. What do you think?

Check out this and other Infinity Nails plates on www.dashicabeautyshop.nl

Pieces of My Heart

This year I am going all out for Valentine's Day! The next mani in the series is a freehand mosaic one I chose to call Pieces of My Heart due to general lack of creativity.

Mosaic nail art is not something new, but I hadn't done it before. I always thought it would be a bit of a pain but it was actually much easier than I had anticipated. I kept the colour scheme simple, going for creme greys and purples (which I happen to have quite a lot of). Maybe I should have gone for a more contrasting palette to get the heart to stand out more, but I often go for the more understated approach and this was no exception. Plus, I have been trying to stay away from the reds and pinks which are so often seen around Valentine's Day!

The greys are: Illamasqua DWS, Mavala New York, Orly Decoded, Make MyDay Mia and Essie Maximillian Strasse Her.

The purples are: Illamasqua Jo'Mina, NOPI I'm A Belieber, OPI Planks A Lot, Make MyDay Angelica and Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth.

I traced everything with OPI Black Onyx and a fine nail art brush.

I drew the shape of the heart first in black, then I used a dotting tool to add circles of purple within the heart and grey outside. I used the nail art brush to "grout" them afterwards. On the other nails I didn't even bother with the dotting tool and just added shapes using the polishes' own brushes. Mine is not a mosaic you would find in a museum so I went for the organic approach.

I sealed everything with Nails Inc Albert Bridge top coat. I am usually in a hurry to use my hands again and rush it a little, which you can see on the photos.

I really liked this nail art and will definitely be trying it again with different colours and designs. Have you ever tried a mosaic mani?

Love Birds: Fake Tattoos Review

Press Sample

Continuing with the love theme, today's mani features something I am trying for the first time: nail tattoos!

Hailing from Sweden, Fake Tattoos is the European leader in temporary tattoos. Their very high quality, non-toxic and hypoallergenic tattoos come in many designs and are super easy to use. I received the Bird and Arty designs, which was lucky because they were the ones I had my eye on. Each of these packs retails at £3.80 and they have between 72 and 80 images. They can also be used on skin of course.

I remember using temporary tattoos as a child and more recently on my daughter. Application on nails is no different: you start with a clean surface, cut out the desired image, remove the plastic cover and apply the image onto the nail. Then you press a wet cotton disc against it and hold it in place for about 30 seconds. The backing paper is easily removed when the image has transferred onto the nail. Full instructions are below:

I would recommend handling the tattoos with tweezers, as they are pretty small and can be fiddly. These tattoos come off with water, so if you make any mistakes when placing them on your nail or are not happy with the results, you can start over after a quick wipe. However, it is vital that you seal the design with top coat once you are satisfied and it is completely dry.

For my Love Bids mani I used China Glaze For Audrey as a base. Once my nails were dry, I placed the bird tattoos on my nails, following the instructions provided. I then created a stamping decal using the MoYou London Suki 01 plate to add the branches and cherry blossoms.

The remaining nails have different bird images placed on top of white stamping.

I was really pleased with the results. One of my Twitter friends said my nails looked like china and I can see why! Using the nail tattoos was fun and simple and I love combining different techniques like I did for this mani.

If you want to learn more about Fake Tattoos, find out about VIP discounts and order some of their products (they ship worldwide!), please visit them on Facebook or Twitter.

A Lot Like Love

I wanted to combine a couple of techniques I hadn't seen together before (maybe for a good reason, I'll let you be the judge of that!) for the next mani in the Valentine's Day series: a retro element in the shape of water marbling (out of sheer stubbornness!) and the very current negative space.

I used Kiko polishes for this look. Have I ever mentioned that Kiko is great value for money? All of these were under £3 and the formula is pretty good, as is the brush. The water marble features 316 (violet), 389 (mint) and 338 (lavender) and for the outlines I used 433, a lovely duochrome.

I painted my nails with base coat and then cut a heart out of magic Scotch tape and placed it on my nail. For the letters I used striping tape to create the shapes. Then I taped all my fingers in preparation for the water marble.

When I was done dipping my fingers in the water, I removed all the tape and, using a very fine nail art brush, framed the heart and the shapes of the letters with a much darker polish, as they were getting a little lost amongst all the shapes and colours. I finished it with two coats of top coat, for extra shine and protection.

I may have inhaled a lot of acetone and nail polish fumes or something, because when I looked at my nails after I'd finished this mani, I immediately thought: "This mani is a lot like love!"

 

Why, you wonder?

Much like a water marble - and in the words of Mariah Carey - love takes time. Some people are lucky enough to get it right first time but for most of us it takes practice and patience. Love can be irregular, no two types of love or relationships are the same. Even if you follow someone else's tutorial, your results will still be different. It can be messy, sometimes you need to accept it's not as perfect as you wish and compromise. It can have the odd negative space... But on the upside, love is FUN, colourful, bright and unique. And a teeny weeny bit cheesy!