Trying Something New...

Hello readers :)

I feel like I have been so busy lately and just not had time to write this blog that I wanted to do at least a week ago now.  I'm always looking for new ways to work with my nail passion and share it with all my followers on social media.  When I was sending out my sample polishes to be swatched, I sent some to Elaine who along with taking pictures also did live swatches.  What is that you ask?  Basically you record yourself painting your nails with the polish, showing how it applies and recording a voice over to chat about your opinions on it.  Then of course you take lots of pretty pictures to add in too and share on other social media.

Why do this?  I have been wanting to expand the content of my youtube for a while now and this is one way to do it.  Currently I have my weekly Friday 10am nail art upload and my sporadic review videos that come in as and when I have products to review.  I'd really like to be able to upload  two videos a week.  Now being honest, that won't be found with my live swatch series.  These will only go up when I've purchased new polishes or have some new collections from my indie range to share.  I'd really like to stop being lazy and do a gel or acrylic tutorial each week also, perhaps uploading those on a Tuesday.

Less talking about it and more doing it then!   Well this also comes with more stress on my part in coming up with designs.  There are some weeks I struggle to come up with a new nail art design and I get so frustrated with myself.  I have mountains of nail art goodies and quite often my mind just goes blank staring at them.  So that is a downside to adding a new weekly video to my schedule.  

What about the upsides though?  I think I would expand my viewer base on youtube and help grow my channel through broadening my content.  Some people might not like doing designs in regular polish as a lot of people struggle with the durability of it (though I would say most of my designs can easily be replicated in gel).  There are also some designs that can only really be done with gel or acrylic such as 3D work.

I've so far filmed and uploaded one live swatch video which was the polish that came in April's Nailbox and I am going to film a small OPI haul I bought recently today so that will be coming soon.  

What are your thoughts on seeing gel/acrylic/live swatch vids?  I'd love to know what you think or if you have a suggestion for something else I could do to share with you all I would love to hear it.  If you made it this far through my wall-o-text thank you!  Here is the link to my first Live Swatch video also so you can take a look at what I would like to do more often.

Until next time,
Lyn

 

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Unboxing: Meebox 009 April

Hello readers,
I'm really working through these blogs today!  Next up is Meebox April edition.  This months theme was hitched, so let's take a look at what we got.

First we have this set of three mini polishes that are a french manicure kit.  You also get provided with the tip guides to have that perfect smile line.  I haven't had the time to try this out yet to see how good the polishes are as I have never heard of this brand before.

Included this month was a stamper and scraper to go along with a stamping plate that I will talk about in a second.  I was trying to find a brand for these but they only say clearjellystamper which turns out to be a website which you guessed it, sells stamping related goods!  I had a quick look around there site and they have some nice looking image plates.  I've not tried this out yet as I haven't had the time, but I'm going to record it and give you my impressions on how well it works.

Next up is the stamping plate that is made by Bundle Monster.  This is one of the collaboration plates that were made with bloggers and youtubers (this one is ellandish).  I'm excited to try this out as Bundle Monster is one of the more well known brands I'd say when it comes to image plates so I can't wait to try it out.  As I said above I will be testing the stamper and scraper and will also try out this plate at the same time.  It's got some really nice designs on it.

Here is yet another website I didn't know existed!  Darn you Meebox for introducing me to even more places to spend my money!  These cute stickers are by Miss Cat Nails and there are loads of nice things on the website.  These products are even masterminded by two nail techs.

Last items contained in this month's box is a polish by Leighton Denny called Breakfast In Bed.  This polish applied like a dream, Leighton certainly has his formula's right for his polish line.  I applied two coats and no top coat.

This polish is a beautiful gold shimmery bronze.  I will admit it doesn't sit that great on my pale skin tone but it is still a really nice shade.  It had a nice natural finish to it but I would always recommend a top coat when wearing polish to give that lasting finish and high shine.

There we have it, April's Meebox content.  I think my favourite thing is the stamping plate and I can't wait to try it out.  Next month's theme has been released and it is based around Rihanna so I'm sure we can expect some very cool nail art items (maybe some spikes?!).  Feel free to check out Meebox for yourself.

Thanks for reading and see you in the next blog!

Lyn

 

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Unboxing: Nailbox April

Hi everyone,
its the start of a new month so that means I have received my subscription boxes and it's time to share the goodies with you all.  The theme for Aprils Nailbox is Birthday as they turned one year old.  

The box contained three polishes, nail stickers and a Nail Quencher.  Both the treatment and stickers are from Elegant Touch who often appear in Nailbox.  You will notice there is a number 5 on the box.  Elegant Touch do a variety of treatments that can be combined with others to create a treatment plan catered to your nail needs.  This particular one is made for dry and brittle nails.

First polish of the box comes from Ciate and is called London Baby.  This appears to be a clear base filled with black and silver glitter.  For the swatch I did three thin coats to build up the intensity.  What I would recommend is to start with a black base then do a coat of this to get a quicker, fuller effect.  I felt it was a little sheer and washed out without a black base underneath.

 I think you can see better in the macro shot what I mean about it being a bit sheer.  Lovely polish and good glitter coverage with the brush.  I think this is actually my first ever Ciate polish.  I personally would like it better with a black base underneath so I will do that next time I use it.

Moving on to something brighter we have another Invogue polish in the colour Sugar Daddy.  This one is a vibrant deep pink shade.  Shown here in direct light this is two coats of colour and no top coat.

Great natural shine to this polish.  Coverage was actually really good in just one coat but I did a second just to smooth out any slight streakyness.   Very nice shade.

Polish three is by Bourjois Paris and is called Bleu Asphalte.  This shade is really unusual; it's a purple-black I would say.  Definitely not one I have in my collection already.

 This one had really good pigment in it and if you were really careful one coat would be enough.  I did use two for my swatches and no top coat.  I feel my pictures make this shade come across more in the black end of the spectrum but I assure you it is more purple based.  Some polishes are just really hard to capture!

I decided while swatching these polishes to take the chance and try out something new for my Youtube channel.  I recorded me doing these swatches live and I will have it uploaded very soon.  If you want to see any of my videos I am on Youtube as Nala Nails

So there we have it, April's Nailbox items.  If you are interested in checking Nailbox out for yourself there website can be found here.

Thanks for reading,
Lyn

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