Nimy Nails: essie

3 Ways To Use Jelly Nail Polish // + How-To DIY Jelly Polishes

I recently wanted to try a jelly sandwich mani, because shockingly I never had before. But when I went to try it, more shockingly I realised that I didn't own any sheer jelly polishes that would work for a jelly sandwich. I decided to make a few of my own jelly polishes.

DIY:

If you don't own any sheer jelly polishes then here are 2 super easy ways to make your own.

For both of these, you'll need a nail polish bottle full of clear polish and steel mixing balls. Having my own indie line of polishes I obviously have a lot of polish making supplies in my house, so for mine I used some of my Nimy polish bottle and clear suspension base. But most people probably don't have a bunch of suspension base laying around, but any clear nail polish, base coat or top coat will work fine.

The 2 ways to make your clear polish into a jelly polish are to either add in liquid polish pigment (like I did with my black), or the more common option, any creme nail polish. The process is literally as simple adding a few drops of regular nail polish (or liquid pigment) into the clear polish, adding less or more depending on what level of opacity you want the jelly polish to have.

Swatches of my 3 DIY jelly polish.

My favourite 3 ways of using jelly polishes...

Sheer Base

I love, especially with black, using a sheer jelly polish as a base colour for a designs. With sheer black, I think it looks beautiful and interesting the apply 2 coats of the sheer black then a apply a stamped full nail design over the top using a opaque black polish.

Jelly Sandwich

The classic jelly sandwich technique. (While usually you'd apply the jelly polish the base polish) I prefer creating a jelly polish using a polish I already own and then using the original creme polish as the base colour. Then apply a chunky glitter, and finish with a layer of the sheer jelly polish over the glitter. I LOVE the effect of this technique, almost like the glitter chunks are inside a bunch of jelly. (I used A Grape Affair by OPI as the base colour and Summit of Style by Essie for the glitter).

Mixing up your existing polishes

Probably my favourite thing about jelly polishes is the endless possibles that owning even just one has. Especially when it comes to using jelly polish to adjust the tone and/or tone of a polish you already own. A great example of this, that I love, is apply the turquoise jelly I made over Space Glam by Essence. The rose gold glitter polish gets a completely new look when you add a layer or 2 of a different colour jelly over the top.

What is your favourite way of using jelly polishes? Let me know in the comments or tweet me @nimynails

- N :)

March 28, 2018
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My Current Nails Wishlist // Feb '18

barry m

I basically have a constant wishlist of nail products that I really want to try out and these are the current products that I am dying to own. (this list is very Essence heavy, because Essence have a lot of awesome new products launching soon).

Nails Inc

I have been obsessed with Nails Inc's Sparkle Like A Unicorn duo for the last month (you can read my swatch & review here) and I recently saw on their Instagram that they have just launched 2 new duos: Self-Made Mermaid and Champagne Shine.

Both are similar to the Sparkle Like A Unicorn duo, one is an iridescent shimmer, while the other is a glitter, and duo chrome.

These both look absolutely STUNNING, and I need them!! The polishes in the duo duos look like they go well with their duo counterpart. I can't afford to buy them right now so for now I will just pine over other people's swatches online.

Essence

Essence have sooooo many beautiful new products launching and about to launch. I was scrolling through their international website's 'new products' section and everything I saw I wanted. They have so many new make-up products coming soon too, but I am only going to focus on the nail products I want to try in this post.

How freaking cute is the packaging on these polishes!! So adorable, these appear to be a trio of polishes and go were the rest of the products in the 'Wood You Love Me?' collection. Essence's international website have them listed as 'new' so they are out now. The polishes for left-right are called: Sweet Kisses, Crazy In Love and Soulmate. PERFECT for Valentine's Day.

New shades in Essence's 'The Gel' polish line. All of the colours look beautiful and the design on those bottles in adorable. They are listed in the 'new products' section of Essence's website, but the polishes on't appear to have names on there yet. It lists these as launching 19/02.

Next on my ever-growing Essence wishlist are 2 polishes from their 'Out Of Space Stories' collection, the first one I really want to own is one of the older ones; Space Glam (my Wilko store never seems to have it when I go to buy Essence polishes). The other is a NEW one, there appears to be 2 new shades being added to this collection on 19/02 (neither have names listed yet), but how stunning does that turquoise-blue polish look!! It looks like it would go so nicely with my hair.

Over the last few days I have been seeing people on Instagram using the new Stamp It products from Essence (listed to release 19/02) and I NEED them in my life. I have gotten so obsessed with nail stamping recently and the fact that Essence are releasing new plates and a stamper makes me so happy. There are 2 plates launching to begin with, and I hope they release lots more. I can't wait to try these, if I get them I will 100% be posting a swatch/review/demo on these. (PLUS, urm, there is a llama on one of the plates, I freaking LOVE llamas, I am in love with that plate already just because I know it has a llama).

The last 2 nail products by Essence that I really want to try are; the 'Mermaid Sprinkles' top coat, which looks beautiful!! I adore anything mermaid related and this looks like it is going to be so pretty. I have so many Essence top coats, and I am at some point planning on doing a swatch/review/comparison of all the Essence top coats, and I hopefully I'll get this and include it. Also I really want to try the 'Easy To Polish' peel-off barrier. I use a lot of peel-off liquid latex barriers, for when I'm stamping or doing gradients, so I am really excited that Essence now have one. Both of these are also launching 19/02 (there is a lot of new Essence products launching that day).

Moyou London

As I've said a lot recently, I have become completely obsessed with Moyou stamping plates over the last couple of months. Moyou release new plates pretty much every week, and the most recent few they have release are stunning. I need the 2 regular size Animal series plates; 14 and 16. So cute!! I also love the look of the new additions to the Pro plate collection. Especially 18 and 20.

I also really want to try Moyou London's Holy Bundle of polish which includes; 15ml stamping polishes in Black Knight and White Knight, latex Cuticle Guard and Smudge Resistant top coat.

Butter London

I don't own any polishes or products from Butter London, as they are a bit too expensive for me, but they recently release shades in collaboration with Pantone's colour of the year for 2018. Which is Ultra Violet. Butter London have several polishes and make-up in different shades of purple for this collection but the one that I really want to own is the acual Ultra Violet shade nail polish. It looks like such a beautiful purple polish.

Barry M

For once I don't have many Barry M products on my wishlist (mainly because I own too much Barry M stuff already). There is only 2 polishes that I am pining after right now, first is Jellyfish, from their newest Under The Sea collection, because I own the other 3 in the collection, but my closest Superdrug store didn't have Jellyfish in stock when I went to buy the others. And also an older polish, Rhossili, Barry M's summer matte polishes are my all-time favourite nail polish collection and this is the only one I am missing, it annoys me constantly that I don't own it, but I nowhere sells it anymore!!

Essie

The final product on my wishlist is one of Essie's Treat Love and Colour polishes. I am seeing these all of Instagram right now and I am really intregied to try at least one of them. Me being me, if I'm only going to get one from a collection is this going to be the blue one, so the shade I am planning on trying at some point is called Indi-go-for-it. (I have previously post a wishlist post of Essie polishes I want to try, you can read that here).

What is on you nail product wishlist? Have you tried any of the products on my list? Comment or tweet me @nimynails

- N :)

Essence: https://www.essence.eu/home/

Nails Inc: https://www.nailsinc.com/

Barry M: https://www.barrym.com/

Butter London: http://www.butterlondon.com/

Essie: http://www.essie.co.uk/

Moyou London: https://moyou.co.uk/

*I do not own any photos in this post*

February 07, 2018
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Smudge Comparison // Best Top Coat For Stamping Nail Art

barry m

I have recently gotten into (and obsessed) with nail art stamping, and I noticed that one of my favourite top coats always seems to smudge my designs... so I decided to test several top coats that I own, and this is what I've found..............

For this test I used Eat My Dust by Barry M as a base colour, and Black Forest by Barry M to stamp on the design (design is from Scandi 07 by Moyou). I then let the design dry for about 30 minutes before applying the top coats.

The Top Coats

Good To Go - Essie

Wet Set - Barry M

Top Shine - Marks & Spencer

The Gel - Essence
Matte Top Coat - Barry M

Matt To Meet You - Essence

Before the top coats...

The Results

Essie's Good To Go

This has always been a favourite of mine, and unless about 6 months ago was my go-to top coat, it dries unbelievably fast and is super shiny, but it is the reason for this test. It really let me down when I started stamping. It seems to my stamped design, pretty much, every time I use it. So I started to think that I would need to by Moyou's Smudge Resistant Top Coat to get good results, and that if this, being the most expensive top coat I own, couldn't do the job... then surely my cheaper ones couldn't.

Essence's The Gel

This was the biggest surprise for me, this test was the first time I tried The Gel top coat on a stamped design, and I was fully expecting it to smudge. Not to say I didn't have faith in it, I love this top coat and I use it a lot, but the formula feels a tad similar to that of Essie's and being less the cheapest on this list, I was expecting there to be a lot of smudge... there wasn't!! I got a tiny (almost microscopic haha) smudge at the tip of my nail but that is it!

Barry M's Wet Set

After it's release Wet Set quickly became my replacement for Essie's Good To Go, it is super glossy and although it dries (a tiny) bit slower, it is UNDER HALF THE PRICE, so I could deal with an extra minute of two of drying for that. This test just reinforced my love of this top coat, this was by far the best on the list, not a single smudge.

Marks & Spencer's Top Shine

This is a random top coat that I have in my collection (which I have very rarely used) but it's a top coat all the same and I thought maybe it would surprise me... it didn't haha. It is definitely the worst on the list. It smudged almost the entire design and looked awful, I don't really know what else to say about it.

Barry M's Matte Top Coat

This is my favourite matte top coat, but it does cause slight smudging depending on stamped designs, but it definitely isn't enough smudge to rule it out as a decent option (you can avoid smudging with careful, slight strokes).

Essence's Matt To Meet You

If you follow my on Instagram you'll see that a lot of my recent stamping designs are matte, and they are using Essence's Matt To Meet You top coat, I love this top coat, just like The Gel, it is amazing value for money and there was absolutely no smudging. Is probably a better option for stamping than Barry M's.

My Final Thoughts

If you are looking for good top coats to use for nail art stamping, do not assume that the more expensive will perform the best... as this test has proven, that is not the case.

Save your money and go with either Barry M or Essence they were all under £3!!

Questions For You

What is your favourite top coat for nail art stamping? What are the ones you avoid?

January 11, 2018
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Cuticle Oil Reviews & Comparison

barry m

For years I have been using Solar Oil as my go-to cuticle oil, I have brought more bottles than I can count and only over the past couple of months have I decided to branch out and try some other cuticle oils. These are my thoughts on the cuticle oils I've tried out so far...

CND's Solar Oil

Price: £8.99

Smell: Quite a strong marzipan smell, not too overwhelming, but definitely not my favourite smell. (plus my husband hates it hehe)

Formula: I love the formula of this cuticle oil, great consistency, absorbs/rubs in well.

Overall Thoughts: This is a great cuticle oil, definitely worth the price if you enjoy the smell and does a great job keeping cuticles moisturised. A bit too expensive for my liking.

Barry M's So Cute-icle!

Price: £3.99

Smell: This cuticle oil has a lovely suitable coconut smell, I don't like strong smelling things so this is perfect for me.

Formula: A much thinner consistency than the others on this list, which I really like, it absorbs well.

Overall Thoughts: I adore this cuticle oil, for the price it is totally worth it, good formula, lovely scent and a great cheaper alternative to other oils.

Essence's 3 Phase Nail Care Shake

Price: £2.30

Smell: This has a quite an overwhelming bubblegum smell, which some people would probably love. Unfortunately I don't, I don't like sweet smells and bubblegum is one of my least favourite smells.

Formula: I also don't like the formula on this cuticle oil, the 3 parts which you shake to mix together creates a very thick and greasy and leaves my hands feeling super sticky.

Overall Thoughts: Not a fan of this cuticle oil, I'm sure some people would be, but I would much rather buy other ones on this list. Plus it's a bit of a hassle to shake it so it mixes together.

Essence's Nail Repairing Oil

Price: £2

Smell: This also has a sweet/citrus (almost sherbet like) smell. I don't particularly love the smell, because I don't like sweet smells, but I don't hate it either. It's not as overwhelming as the 3 phase shake.

Formula: This has a great formula, not too thick or too thin, absorbs well, and doesn't feel greasy.

Overall Thoughts: If you like smells on the sweeter side, then this is a great cuticle oil option, it's super cheap and has a fantastic formula.

Essie's Apricot Cuticle Oil

Price: £8.99

Smell: I love the smell of this cuticle oil, a nice apricot smell, not too sweet or too strong.

Formula: Good consistency, absorbs well, does leave hands a little sticky but this does go away after a few minutes once it's fully absorbed.

Overall Thoughts: I nice cuticle oil, nothing special, and in my opinion a bit too expensive for what it is.

Essence's Studio Nails Cuticle Remover Pen

Price: £2.50

Smell: A lovely citrus smell, not too strong.

Formula: A thinner oil, but the applicator only allows a small amount of product to be applied to the cuticle.

Overall Thoughts: I love this!! Although not technically like the rest on the list. This is the perfect cuticle pusher and oil combo to leave in your handbag or on your desk to always have handy when you need it. (I leave one in my handbag at all times).

WOTB?

If you are looking for a high quality and are willing to pay a higher price then I would go with CND's Solar Oil.

If you want something more budget friendly then I would go with either Barry M's So Cute-icle or Essence's Nail Repairing Oil depending on your scent preference!

If you are looking for an oil that you can take with you out and about then I would go with Essence's Studio Nails Cuticle Remover Pen.

I personally plan to stick with the Essence's Studio Nails Cuticle Remover Pen as my handbag oil and go back and forth between Essence's Nail Repairing Oil & Barry M's So Cute-icle oil as my main oils.

Would you recommend any other oils that are not on this list? Leave a comment or tweet me @nimynails letting me know what your favourite cuticle oil is.