Time for some serious nail polish swatching! Today is my favorite brand of all time 😀
Brand: Ulta3
From: Local chemists, don’t think you can get it online but I could be wrong. Generally sold in large discount bins.
Price: $2-3
Volume: 13.5ml
Bottle: Generic round bottle with a white top. Fairly cheap looking but who cares for $2 XD Only real problem I’ve found is that the glue holding the brush to the lid is a bit crap so often the lid comes off minus the brush. Easily fixed by removing any dried polish around the top of the bottle and closing/opening it again.
Brush: Average size, flexible.
Drying Time: Roughly the same for all of them. Fairly quick but nothing to write home about.
Colour Name: Freesia
Description: Dark pink with silver shimmer.
Thoughts: One of my favorites in the Ulta3 range because it’s really lovely with purple nail art. It’s quite a dark pink so it’s definitely not drawing any Barbie comparisons but in the sun it really picks up the silver shimmer and looks quite spectacular.
Good for: -Office appropriate manicures that still pack a punch
-Matching with purple nail art
Colour Name: Lagoon
Description: Acid green with a very slight silver shimmer.
Thoughts: Whoever came up with the name should have picked something else. The only thing that I think that this colour has to do with a lagoon is disgusting poisonous alge XD That said the colour itself is actually really nice and layers well, perfect for Spring manicures 😀
Good for: -Spring themed nail art
-Flowers etc
Bad for: -Konad, too sheer.
Colour Name: Sizzling Red
Description: Very fire engine red, can’t see it when it’s on but there is a little violet through it too.
Thoughts: This one packs a punch 😀 Bright and shiny and very pigmented. You really can get away with one coat as you can see below:
Good for: -Vampy manicures
-Looks great paired with white tips.
Colour Name: Seduction
Description: Bright pink with a slight gold shimmer.
Thoughts: This is your serious Barbie pink ^_^ There is no way to un-cuten this colour hahaha! I think the photos and the fact that I’ve used 3/4 of the bottle probably speak for themselves.
Good for: -Sweet styles
-Lolita/Hime Gyaru styles
Bad for: -Konad, too sheer
Colour Name: Silver Grey
Description: Name says it all 😉
Thoughts: Quite pigmented which makes it fantastic for nail art and making little accents on already done designs. It’s not my favorite silver that Ulta 3 have done (that’s Snazzle) but it’s still a really nice colour in its own right.
Good for: -Nail art in general or using for small accents.
-Probably good for konad because it’s decently pigmented.
Colour Name: Little Boy Blue
Description: Sheer light blue with a lot of silver shimmer.
Thoughts: This is probably my favorite of all the Ulta 3 colours. It can be used to layer really effectively over other polishes like I did a while ago with that snow manicure or layered by itself for a really deep glitter. By itself it the shimmer becomes so deep it almost looks like glitter. Needs about 3 coats to be opaque
Good for: -Layering over other polishes
-Making an interesting base coat alone.
Bad for:
-Konad, too sheer.
That’s part one in the ridiculous number of Ulta3 polishes I have! This is going to be a long series because they are so cheap I tend to amass them XD
Long week so what’s better to look at on a Friday afternoon than a bunch of nail art?
These are a whole lot of sets that I made to stock Visage and Vice, a local goth store here. If you’re interested in buying any of them just email me at violet AT violetlebeaux.com otherwise they will probably be up in the shop sometime in the new year. Discounts if you want them now though 😉
I’ve been working with smaller sets lately which makes things much quicker and more cost effective. Of course I still do the full sets of 20 on request ^_^
You’ll have to excuse the glare, they are all already all packed up in plastic and ready for their new homes so it was a bit hard to get the photos!
Silver glitter stripes:
Blood drenched tips:
Silver/Red UV light glitter nails (very good for clubbing XD)
Zebra print:
Matt purple with black tips and spotted details:
Red with small black beads and 3d white acrylic lace:
Silver with redback spiders:
Blue and black lace:
These are my favorites, they are super dark blue with bats!
So that’s part of what’s been keeping me busy! Hope it brightened your Friday afternoon! I am looking forward to doing some pinker nails soon XD
Just a quick post to show you some nails and deco that I did a little while ago.
These nails were a present for the lovely Vintage Grrl. She wanted something a little dark but still pretty. The base was black, I added silver swirls then stamped a red Fleur De Lis over the top using a konad plate. Lastly I restamped the konad with white and top coated.
And this is a nail case I deco’d a while ago…
The hearts are puffy and I was going for a Hello Kitty-ish Valentines theme XD
I don’t know if I really like how it turned out but it’s certainly striking!
I love doing tutorials like this, I want to lots more of them 😀
So there you go, what do you all think?
I hope you all found that helpful. Flowers like this are really easy to paint once you get the basic concept. Let me know if any of you try it out, I would love to see!
Yesterday was the Melbourne Beauty Bloggers Event which deserves a whole post in it’s own but I couldn’t wait to show you my current nails… well my current nails until this morning that is!
I took the opportunity to go all out with the nail art and practice my acrylic skills again. This is my first set of nails using nail guides rather than plastic tips and I am quite happy with them!
They are also the longest nails I’ve ever had 😀
Each nail has a base of clear acrylic then diagonal stripes of blue and pink glitter acrylic and topped with more clear. Then the gems and cabochons were added and lastly a gel coating for durability and extra shininess ^_^ The durability wasn’t really needed in the end because even though I has planned on wearing them for a few weeks I had to remove them this morning to catch up making nails for sale >_< It’s hard to keep your own nails pristine when working with acrylics, paint, remover etc
Overall while I can still see a lot of flaws in the nails I can also see myself improving so I’m pretty happy with them ^_^
I had a lot of comments on them at the event and I wish I had taken more photos in the sunlight because they sparkle like nobody’s business XD
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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