Scratch Subscription Box - Feb 14

Feb14 Scratch Sub Box

February's Scratch box contains nail wraps designed by Hannah Lee of Hannah Rox It blog/vblog. Before this box I had never heard of her before but I adored her designs, especially the Enchanted Windows set.

This month we received three nail wraps, rhinestones, nail file and orange stick, as per the norm every month. The freebies this month was a wax pencil rhinestone picker, sharpener and a dark chocolate bar with cherries and almonds which tasted AWESOME!!!!

SWEET SPOT

Picture courtesy of www.goscratch.it

Sweet Spot is colourful dotted nail wrap design which totally reminds me of 'hundreds and thousand' sprinkles. Super cute, bright and punchy.

HUG ME, KISS ME

Picture courtesy of www.goscratch.it

Hug Me, Kiss Me was really hard to take a picture of. They're a transparent/clear base nail wrap with red and pink heart features.I was planning on wearing these for Valentine's day but I was so snowed under with work that I didn't get the chance to do it. Can't wait to use these - I have something in mind for them. Keep an eye out for it on my instagram (@jolinaohair).

ENCHANTED WINDOWS

Picture courtesy of www.goscratch.it

Enchanted Windows was what made me want to purchase the February box. The design and the colours are just PERFECT and totally reflect my style/personality.

Macro shot of the Enchanted Windows nail wrap

The nail wraps were easy to apply and the majority of them fit well on my nails except the thumb nails as I have really big nail beds, which you can see in the images below, but the other fingers fit okay.

Scratch It is definitely one of my most favourite subscription boxes as they send you a preview for each month and if you don't like what you see you can skip it or gift it. Check them out at  www.goscratch.it - you won't regret it! x

Monday Motivational is BACK!

For those of you who have followed me for a while on facebook may remember that back in the day I used to do #motivationalmondays or #midweekmotivation or #inspiration and I figure it's time to bring it back!

Every time I post one of these I'm talking to myself as well and I think that if at least ONE of you can benefit or feel better from these words then it's worth it.

This week I'm kicking it off with a topic that comes up all the time in the chats that I have with other creatives; COMPETITION. No, I'm not talking about a competition where you win a prize. I'm talking about competing and comparing yourself and your art to other people's art/work.

The makeup/photographic world is a highly competitive industry to be in. Whenever you see other people's work that blows your mind you are usually inspired and in awe, but then there are also times that you find yourself comparing yourself to them and their work. As an artist you invest so much of yourself into your work that you feel the pressure. That's when the negativity kicks in (usually in my case) and you'll find yourself saying things like:

"I'll never be that good"
"I wish I was that talented"
"My work sucks compared to theirs!"

Firstly, stop breathing negativity into your life. It will only start you on a downward spiral of negativity, and in some cases, you may find it hard to get back out of.

Secondly, appreciate their work for what it is but don't compare your "journey" (I despise that word as it's overused in reality tv but I can't think of a better word) with someone else's.

The only person you should be competing with is yourself. Have a look at where you started and where you are now.

When I start to feel that I am losing my makeup mojo I pull up photos of my work from when I was in school, then I go through my first folio images, then fast forward to where I am now and I can see my progress.

I still have a long way to go and have now made more goals to reach and set out a path for what I need to do to get there, but I have learned that in order to be happier I need to stop comparing myself to those in the industry and focus on myself.

Have you struggled with comparing yourself to others? Let me know in the comments how you've overcome this and what you do to stop the negativity.

LA GIRL DIY NAIL KIT - FABULOUS

 When I saw these kits on Ozsale I knew I had to get them straight away! At only $4.00 for a box of four I knew it was a steal, and if they were duds I wouldn't be too upset about it. I ended up buying four different sets which I will review one by one in the coming weeks.

Each set comes with a set of instructions on how to do different nail art designs, a nail art brush and a set of nail stickers to help with chevron designs.

Unfortunately, the stickers were just TERRIBLE and a nightmare to use as they didn't stick properly and were just way too big to use, but in the scheme of things it wasn't such a big deal. I mean, for $4.00 how much can you ask for?

 The nail brush was also a bit of a miss. The hairs just weren't of a very good quality and made it practically impossible to do any sort of nail art work. I'm hoping that the rest of the brushes in the other boxes are a little better.

The polishes do not have any specific names or numbers assigned to them.

Fabulous has three creme finish polishes and one glitter base polish. All the colours are very easy to apply and are a little bit thicker in consistency in comparison to China Glaze or OPI but some of the nail brushes were a little uneven and made the application a little streaky, especially the nude colour.

Overall, this set is DEFINITELY worth it, I don't think you could find a cheaper set on the market that still delivers great pigmentation, durability and versatility. As a bonus, this polish is also thick enough to use in your nail stamping kits.

If you are lucky enough to have an LA Girl stockist near you definitely keep an eye out for these sets or sign up to Ozsale as they tend to become available a couple of times a year.

 This was the design I came up with using this set. Please excuse the black around my nails, the Chalkboard Manicure was EXTREMELY hard to get off! :)

 

Ciate Chalkboard Manicure

Here's another collection that I bought from when I was in the Philippines last year and finally got the chance to use.

The Ciate Chalkboard Manicure set comes with four chalkboard pens, two paint pots Mattnificent (mattifying top coat) and Chalkboard Paint and one instruction booklet.

INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKLET

The instructional booklet contains How-To instructions in 17 languages and also a little inspirational doodle gallery which came in handy when trying to figure out designs for my nails.

PAINT POTS (FULL SIZE)

Mattnificent Matte Top Coat is not what I expected. It definitely does mattify your nail polish but I feel like your polish looks dry and just not nice at all.This formula also is quite streaky but dries very quickly. If I can fine tune my application technique it will definitely be a good addition to my kit as I don't really have many different finishes in my collection.

Chalkboard Paint is probably one of the hardest polishes to apply. It goes on really thick, dries quite streaky and it is quite hard to control the application on the nail, however, it does dry super quick.

After a couple of hours the polish also shrinks and starts to crack. It seems like a lot of these nail art sets that Ciate release tend to be something you would only use for a special occasion/one night, just like the Ciate Velvet Manicure Kits.

CHALKBOARD PENS

L-R: Teachers Pet; Recess; Satchel; Jump Rope

The Chalkboard Pens have good pigmentation and flow out the pens quite well unlike the Manicare pens that are available on the market. If these pens were made with a thinner tip they would be perfect as I found I couldn't really create the designs I wanted as the pen tips were just too thick.

The other thing that I noticed was that once the chalk dried the colours seemed to fade, lost their vibrancy and appeared patchy, especially the pink one (Jump Rope).

 I made quite a few mistakes due to the tip of the pens being too thick. In the instructions it says that if you make a mistake you can easily wipe it off with water. When I tried to take it off with water the chalk barely budged and it actually left a lot of residue on the nail as well as on the skin. It ended up being a lot messier than I thought and was quite frustrating.

Once I finished my nail art designs I applied the Mattnificent top coat and in the images below you can see the patchiness coming through on the designs. I actually preferred a glossy finish on the nails as I feel it looks more vibrant and punchy.

Right hand

Left hand side

 The end result of the manicures was really disappointing especially the patchiness of the chalk. I also feel like they need to reformulate the matte top coat and the chalkboard paint as the streaky finish really affects the final product. It would also be really good if they remade the chalk pens with a thin metal tip so that you can control the pens much better and create better nail art drawings.

Overall, I'd recommend you give this manicure set a miss unless you're really dying to have this in your collection. The better alternative would be the Revlon Chalkboard Range which has a better a consistency as well as a thin brush for the chalk paint which gives you better control and the ability to create more intricate nail art.

If you have this set, did you have the same experience as I did or did I just get a bad batch?

Essence Nail Polish - 132 Break Through & Gel Look Top Coat

Every time I go into Priceline the Essence range always seems to grab my attention as their range is super affordable and the colour range is fantastic. So, as a little treat for myself, I bought one Colour & Go polish in Break Through ($2.75AUD) and the XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat ($2.95AUD).

Break Through has really great pigmentation and dries really quickly. The most impressive thing about this polish is the applicator. Due to the shape of the brush, it makes the polish super easy to apply and really helps you control overflow while ensuring that the polish is applied to the nail rather than on the surrounding skin and cuticle. The Essence brush is amazing and I think that ALL polishes should have this brush shape.

The greatest brush applicator I have come across in any nail polish!

 The XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat is just as impressive as the Colour & Go. I love the look and finish of UV gel polish but I'm not a fan of how my nails end up once I take the gel polish off, so this product seemed like a pretty good compromise at a fraction of the price.

The top coat creates a nice sheen and really does look like a gel polish. The only down side is that if you shake it too much it creates bubbles in the finish as you can see in the image below. I found the best way to overcome that is to roll the bottle in between your hands rather than shaking it.

XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat also helps the polish to stay on a lot longer and chip free. The picture below was taken after two weeks and as you can see the colour polish has barely worn away on the nail tips.

 To see how well the polish kept over two weeks I have placed them side by side in the image below.

 As these polishes are so cheap I wasn't expecting much from them but the quality of these polishes really blew me away with their durability, pigment and finish.

Essence nail polishes are '5 Free' of which there are only a small portion of in the very big range of brands available on the market. Being '5 free' means that these polishes are free of Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Toluene, Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor which can be harmful, especially for pregnant women.

The Essence range is also made in France, which is quite uncommon with cheaper brands as they tend to be made in China, which also gives them extra bonus points in my opinion.

With their cosmetic range ranging in price from $1.75AUD - $6.75AUD, Essence is definitely one to look out for as an inexpensive treat or addition to your collection.

Essence is available at Priceline, Target and online.