Shake it up, baby!

After a little bit of research and a little bit of a whim, I ordered a Robart Paint Shaker for my separated polishes.  I read a ton of reviews and there was no consensus, other than that the battery operated model did jack squat.  I looked into the OPI version, the one that's made specifically for nail polishes (gel, actually) and wasn't sure I wanted to drop 100$!

I can't say that it works, though... You get what you pay for.  The Robart Paint Shaker sells on Amazon for around 40$.  It's changed price four times in the last 48 hours.

I was very excited when it arrived.  I had visions of mixing all my separated stamping polishes back up, getting glitter crellies properly distributed, you know, doing that a mixer should do.  Mix!

It doesn't mix.  Basically you use a rubber tie to strap your bottle into the machine and press the button to turn it on.  It then agitates the bottle.  The bottle is strapped in on it's side and the process really doesn't DO anything. 

I tried several separated polishes and well as a few crellies and it literally did nothing for them so I created an experiment.

Taking a bottle of plain polish base I added a few drops of colour concentrate to it and loaded it into the machine and let it do it's thing.

There are no instructions in or on the box, but researching online the company says to use it in short bursts, running it for no longer than 60-90 seconds at a time.

I ran it for a 30 second burst.  Nothing.  I ran it for 60 seconds.  It moved the blob of dye, but hadn't 'mixed' anything.  I ran the machine for three 60 second cycles and then three 30 second cycles.

This was the finished effort of about 6 minutes of combined mixing.  I should mention I also picked the machine up at one point to move the bottle into an upright position and that seemed to have helped slightly.  As designed, though, the bottles to be mixed lay on their sides.

I am completely skeptical of any positive review of this machine.  I get much better results shaking bottles by hand than putting them into this mixer.  In my opinion it was a complete waste of money.

Do you have a Robart Mixer?  Does it work for you?

Formula X

 This is a repost of an entry I wrote last year!  This was way before I discovered Indie!  I hope you enjoy it!

Sephora launched a new line of lacquer this Fall called Formula X.

What it is:
A classic shade of lacquer revisited—this lacquer comes in a striking array of bold and brilliant shades that will revolutionize your wardrobe of signature favorites.

What it does:
Timeless staples just got a brilliant makeover. Infused with an amazing luminescent ingredient that enhances color and overall shine, it also features a fast-drying agent that gives you a smooth, flawless finish in no time. Sephora’s patented no-compromise formulation offers everything you’ve ever wanted in a nail color: invincible wear, incredible saturated color, and ultimate shine.

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens

What else you need to know:
This polish is a three-free formula. The brush design was engineered to complement the highly pigmented formula, giving you the most even and precise lacquer application.

They moved away from carrying their own custom OPI colours and formulated their own brand.  When it first started to become available on the website, I felt like they'd no doubt sent out a bevy of press kits, everyone seemed to be posting the same review on The Twenty Two, which as the name implies is a set of twenty two mini sized lacquers in a variety of shades and finishes.

At one point, they offered a little red bottle as a 100 point perk and on a whim I picked it.

It was the single best little bottle of lacquer I'd ever used and I was shattered when I shattered it on the marble floor of the bathroom.

When Sephora had their VIB sale recently, I bought not only The Twenty Two (which I'll skip reviewing, I know you've seen it all before), but a few other shades.

From left to right there are Naughty Newton, Love Chemistry, Volatile, Potent, Curiosity, Genius, Dark Matter, Fathom, and Desire.

The shades are super saturated and creamy.  They are so opaque you can get away with one nice coat and go.  They dry super quickly because they're not gloppy and look smooth and very chic.  The testament to this is Potent.  Being a soft pink, I almost expected to have to work it up with several coats.  I only needed one to get the true colour.

They wear amazingly well, but I never do my nails without the CND Sticky Base Coat and a Seche Vite top coat.  I did notice that they had nicer longevity than most.  I work often with my hands, so my nails almost always chip, but these stayed very crisp for almost a weak.  They actually started to wear before they chipped.

I was most impressed with the glitters.  You didn't have to layer these either for some nice opacity and hence they didn't flake or chip.  Naughty Newton is a sugar finish with some lovely glitter.  The winner of the glitters I've tried, between these and The Twenty Two, is Love Chemistry.  It's a gorgeous rose gold combination that is totally on trend this Winter.

They range in price from $10.50US for the solid shades to $12.50US for the glitters.  There are several ranges of lacquers; New Classics, New Neutrals, Sparklers, Shifters, Transformers, Brilliants, Lusters, Holograms, Celestials, Chromes, Electrics, Translucents, and Superwats.  They also have top coats as well as base coats and a couple other basics.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

It's a very impressive collection that I highly recommend.  They have just about any shade or look that you might be looking for and are well worth the price!

ETA:
These polishes SMEAR like crazy when working with them and art.  You can stamp with them, but they won't stay put and using them with vinyls is a super tricky!

Effective!

I ran across Revlon's Transforming Effects Matte Pearl Glaze the other day and having heard nothing about it, thought I'd give it a try.  I see people use Holographic Pearls, which is from the same range, but I'm not sure why MPG hasn't gotten more love, it's amazing!

They describe the finish as pearl, which means that it's got a slight shimmery pink to it.  It sort of reminds me of an opal finish and so I promptly tried it over a black and white design.  This is Drip Drop Nail Paints Tighty Whites and Yoga Pants.  Unfortunately it smears the stamped image, but knowing that I worked with it in a thicker coat and didn't fuss.

 I then tried it over a glitterbomb, Fairytale Finish's Pixie Wings.  It's just remarkable.  I tend to love the look of matte glitter, but with the added pink sheen, it's just otherworldly.

 Lastly I tried it over a simple (ok, not-so-simple) white crelly, this is Drip Drop Nail Paint's Spring Grab Bag 002.  It's just so dang cute!  I was thinking I'd start over with this look, layering in a floral stamped look!

This is what I came up with!  Knowing that MPG smears, I used Mundos de Unas, since that stuff doesn't budge.  I do recomend masking your skin off with something when you use these stamping polishes, though, because they don't budge.

Have you tried this polish?  What do you think?

Cuter Cuticles!

I love mani bombs.  I don't care, I can never have enough.  If I've been swatching all day, I'll soak in one before I get ready for bed.  If I've been rough on my hands, I'll use one to.  Soooo, I like to stock up!

Cuter Cuticles is a Canadian brand, so keep in mind that the prices on the website are listed in Canadian dollars.  Even with shipping I was impressed at how affordable everything was and got a little bit of everything to try.

I ordered several mani bombs, in both Fruit Loops and Vanilla (some of which are heading off in a swap box!) and I was super impressed they arrived in one piece.  A lot of times bombs arrive preexploded!  While it's not an issue, I just spill the 'dust' into my dish, there is still something to plunking one into water and watching it go.  I've got a little clip on my IG if you want to see one in action!

The bombs are nicely scents and despite being nice and solid, fizz and break up like a dream in warm water.  They are nicely moisturizing but don't leave a chunky layer of greasy oil behind.  I am really happy with them.  I really wish I had ordered more, but I really wanted to both stick to my budget as well as try a few different things!

Have you tried Cuter Cuticles?  What's your favs?

Mani of the Month: February

Today I'm bringing you my monthly review of the Mani of the Month kit!

As always, it contains special limited edition items from Heather's Hues, Dream Polish, and Nails Redesigned.  And as always, you are probably going to kick yourself if you missed it because it's amazing.

Simply amazing.

It contains:

From Dream Polish

• A 5 ml Gem Stick Base Coat in Bed of Rose
• A 5ml Gem Glam Top Coat in Bed of Rose
• A 5ml Cuticle Oil in Bed of Roses

From Heather's Hues

• A polish mini in Bound By Your Love
• A full sized polish in Love Hurts (thermal)

From Nails Redesigned

• A sheet of vinyl hearts in various shapes
• A sheet of vinyl feathers
• A sheet of vinyl handcuffs
• An assortment of gems

Bed of Roses is probably my favourite scent from the box yet. It's a true, pure rose scent.  It's not perfumey, it's just the real clean scent of roses.  If you haven't already, you can read my previous review of the Gem Glam Top Coat and the base coats here. 

I'm crazy about the vinyls this month!  I just made some feathers for myself, so I loved getting these sparkly white ones!  Unfortunately my nails are trimmed to nubbins right now and the vinyls are a little too large.  I'm anxious for them to grow out so I can use the handcuffs!

I'm going to go ahead and officially name Heather's Hues as my favourite thermal polish maker.  I love thermals and I do have a lot of them.  There are some brands whose thermals are so thin they never quite get opaque and many many thermals don't really change colours as designed.  Every one I've gotten from Heather's Hues has been amazing.  In fact, I used Mucho Smoocho, a thermal not included in the box as the compliment for this mani and it's just as stunning.  There is an obvious shift and it really lingers so you can see the process.

 I've got a macro here, you can see the swirls underneath are Mucho Smoocho, the perfect pink accent for Love Hurts.

This month's box is another stunner, did you get it?  Have you pre-ordered March's?

Buon Anno!

2015 is bringing some changes here at Casa Volpe!

I've given my resignation at the firm I've been working at.  Trekking up and back from Roma has been exhausting and I'm going to be working on establishing myself independently and I'm starting an MBA program with Syracuse University.  I've also decided to see if I can make this blogging thing a 'thing', have a real go at not just nail blogging, but lifestyle blogging, hence the change in title and direction.  That along with taking full custody of Mia is going to keep me busy enough!

I look forward to everything the New Year will bring and all the opportunities I hope to create for myself!

Born Pretty: A Review

My long awaited Born Pretty stamping plates arrived yesterday.  I ordered set 02-10 and it cost $14.39, shipping was free and I applied a discount code.

Sadly, they are nothing like I expected.  They are so disappointing in so many ways!

The designs are not as pictured.

Not only are the discs arranged differently, some motifs are missing all together!  You can see that best in the plates shown below.

The designs are tiny compared to the picture!

Some of them wouldn't even fill the shortest of nubs!  It seems like they shrunk the designs so to fit as many on a plate as they could with no regard to quality or ease of use at all. 

Many of the designs are missing all together!

Most of the designs I had most looked forward to ended up not looking anything like pictured on the site!

The designs are poorly etched.

Many of the designs are wobbly when stamped because some parts are deeper than others.  The fine motifs are very hard to print, the details hard to catch because they're uneven.

I am so disappointed in not only the excessive time it took to arrive to the fact it's not what I had hoped for.  I cannot recommend these plates at all.

 

Squishy Face Polish: A Review

I've been sitting here the last ten minutes trying to remember where I first saw Squishy Face Polish.  I'm sure it was on Instagram, but for the life of me I can't figure out who's page I saw them on!

I do know that as soon as I clicked over to the shop I ordered two of their three polishes, Where's My Tiara and Princess Polish.  I had to, you see.  I love holos and GITDs and hence, had to.

One of my main complaints with ordering anything from a Big Cartel shop is that you have no idea when things ship.  There is no notice, no transaction history to check.  My order came quickly enough, although without any invoice or anything inside.  The polishes were carefully wrapped and undamaged, so that's really all that counts.

Princess Polish is a glow in the dark pastel pink crelly with gold and lavender shimmer, also packed with micro glitters and iridescent glitters. 

The formula is wonderful.  A lot of times light crellies like this are gloopy and apply very patchy.  Princess Polish is very smooth.  The above swatch is two thin coats and a top coat!  The glow is very lovely and the flecks of iridescent glitters makes it more dimensional.  It would be a great everyday, there but not there, not-so-nude shade.

Where's My Tiara is a bright pink linear holo with lavender shimmer.

I wouldn't say it's the strongest linear holo, but it's such a gorgeous colour!  The formula is also outstanding, it's opaque in two light coats, which I love.  It's also great to stamp with, which I love!

 I used Mo You London Princess plate 11 for the hearts in the mani below.  It's so subtle and so dainty.

Over all I'm very impressed with the two polishes I bought!  I'm really hoping they will release more, I'd love to see what else they come up with!

To Infinity and Beyond!

I discovered Infinity Nail plates while surfing nail blogs about a month ago on a site here in Europe called Dashica Beauty Shop.  I was excited to discover that they had a HUGE variety of plates in stock and that they were all very unique.

Each plate is listed as €4.99 however I did manage to order during a special.  With 105 different Infinity Plates to chose from, it was hard to narrow it down, but I wanted to place a small order first, just to test the waters. They do ship worldwide and there are instructions in English in how to order!

I ended up picking 78, a mendhi like design with skulls, and 11, an aquatic/mermaid themed plate that will be perfect for an upcoming polish collection I'm really looking forward to.

 The plates are the exact size as the plates from Mo You London, with the same plastic safety backing, although they do not come in cardboard sleeves.  Those metal sheets are freaking dangerous so I was pleased these had the edging.  The designs are deeply etched and stamp amazingly clean and crisp, so they would be great for beginners.  You can see some samples below, using the a variety of stamping polishes from Just Rica.

Something I also appreciate about the Infinity plates is that several feature popular cartoon characters, although I'm sure there is some legal nonsense about copyright I don't know enough about to mention.  Another nifty feature is that most plates feature matching left facing and right facing designs so that you can customize your manicure and have a mirror image on both hands.  You can click on the images below to see more detail.

 

The larger designs on the plates are big enough to fit onto long nails, but easily work with a more manageable nail shape.  The small designs are easily placed and even the fine details stamp well.  I would have to admit that if you have very short nails, though, the designs might be too big all together.

Cleaning deeply etched plates is tricky.  It's best to use a lint free wipe or an actual cloth soaked in acetone.  Anything with any oil in it leaves a residue that will effect the crispness of the next stamp and anything like a cotton round or puff will leave about a million little fuzzies stuck in the designs loops and edges.  Since these plates are both well etched and detailed, you should take care between stamps to make sure you don't get smudgey fuzz in your polish!

I used plate 78 along with Gold Foil from Barry M to stamp on top of this polish from Black Sheep Lacquer which I just got in my latest mystery box.