Emerald AB crystals ($2.95) and sorting tray ($1)

You may have noticed that at the top of the blog there is now a Shop button, or if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen me talking about it. But I am finally getting around to dedicating a post to tell you about my little online store OMC Supplies. I decided to start this as it combines my love of nails with the skills I have as a buyer (I don't talk a lot about it, but along with my writing, I have worked as a buyer for many years - travelling to China and sourcing items. So I already have great contacts, agents, and know everything about importing into Aus). I am on a mission to source or create the cutest nail art supplies and accessories for your nail space, because who wants to be plain and boring? I can assure you that every single item I have tried and tested - I have a very large box of rejects so you can be sure that everything is good quality! (Oh that sounds so gimmicky, but it's true! This is my baby and I put a lot of work into it).

So when I say 'we' on Instagram who do I refer to? It's me and my hubby. He's an IT guy so he has helped me with the site and does a lot of the posting and money stuff that I hate. But I also make him inspect everything and show all your pretty manis to him!

The site is small but I am adding to my range almost weekly and working on my own products that I think you will love. 

If you have any feedback, items you wish existed, or brands you would like someone in Australia to stock, please let me know! DM me through Insta or drop me an email victoria@onemorecoat.com

Below are just a small selection of my items - go check out the site so see all the pretties!

www.omcsupples.com

Nail Art Foils ($2.95)

Pink Pearls AB ($2.95) and sorting tray ($1)

Mermaid Dust Brush ($3.95)

Crystal Flower Dappen Dish ($19.95)

Metal Leaf Foils ($1)

Opallac: Intoxicated

I know I post about Opallac quite a lot - but a quick recap for those who are new here... these are amazing gel polishes that are available in Australia on their website and through Priceline. I could rant for days about how much I like them, they easily hold their own against some of the professional brands I have in my collection. So here today is the latest colour from Opallac - a neon yellow called Intoxicated. I'm a huge sucker for neon colours so of course I loved this! It's quite pigmented so you don't necessarily need a white base for it, but it is still a neon so you do need 2-3 thin coats for full opacity. I have used this in so many looks already, as by itself you get a full eyeful of neon goodness, but you can break it up with some art for some really funky nails. 

Below I have done a few swatches with a gloss top coat, matte top coat and mermaid powder. Each gives a different look, but all are super pretty. You can also see some designs using Swarovski crystals, reverse stamping and some (dodgy) hand painting teamed with Opallac's Jelly Pina Colada.

Check out Opallac's range over at their website here, or at Priceline.

CND X Manish Arora from Paris Fashion Week

I don't normally just drop press releases that rock up in my email onto the blog, but I fell in love with a bunch of the nails from CND X Manish Arora from Paris Fashion Week. I am just loving the big 3d elements and striping tape are on the runway! Feeling SO much inspo from these looks, Hope you love them too.

CND BRAND AMBASSADOR: Marian Newman

FEATURED NAIL ARTISTS: Torie Bastian and Tracey Lee

"CND™ Vinylux™ Winter Nights deep navy shade.

Shocks of flames sculpted from CND™ Shellac™ licked the nail with regal medallions of Swarovski crystals and metallic adornments.

A perfect medley of brights including CND™ Vinylux™ Wildfire, Banana Clips, Electric Orange and CND™ Creative Play™ Berry Shocking are layered over CND™ Vinylux™ Cream Puff , popping each shade’s true pigment and garnished with metallic stripes, stars and fiberoptic tinsel.

CND’s deep shade of Tartan Punk red is bejeweled with silver strips and Swarovski crystals, bringing thematic to new heights.

Vibrant neons and wistful stars are set to liberate this season’s fashion looks with an e ervescent and striking design of CND™ Vinylux™ Wildfire, Banana Clips, Electric Orange and CND™ Creative Play™ Berry Shocking, Isn’t She Grape, Toe the Lime and Navy Brat, and embellished with star studs and gold bullion."

Go grab your CND polishes from Pacific Nail & Beauty.

ORLY Builder in a Bottle

If you have followed me for awhile, you would know that I love having builder gel in a bottle, but have had less than stellar experiences with the cheap ones I have bought in the past. So I have been eyeing off the Orly one for some time, and of course had to go to the launch and see it in action! The demonstration was done by the lovely Trina Ngo who is an Orly ambassador and a magical wizard of nails. 

The whole process seemed fairly straight forward - apply form, cleanse, prime and brush on the product. She started by building a tip and curing, then applying the product over the whole nail. It only took 2 or 3 coats to make a sturdy nail. And SO crystal clear! I can't wait to get some and put all the glitter in it. Orly is also all about protecting the natural nail, so their primer is acid free and all the products in this range contain Vitamins A +E and Pro Vitamin B5.

Of course the thing that I am really excited about, that the not-so-good ones I've tried in the past don't do, is that it soaks off! Pretty much like removing acrylic - you file most of it off then soak off the last bit. I've popped some videos at the bottom of both the application and the removal. So I know I will be using it to build nails, but I think this would also be perfect for those looking to grow out their nails with overlays (if this is something you've thought about doing, go check out the FB group FB Obsessed with Overlays).

Below I have put up some of the pics I took, so you can see the before and afters and some of Trina's beautiful nail art. 

Orly Builder in a Bottle is distributed through Hawley International  and you can purchase it through Think Beauty 

Born Pretty Haul

Orange Party

Sorry I've been a little MIA lately - its been chaotic and I've been juggling a million different things. But hey if you want to read about me and what's been going on, go hit up my story on Picture Polish's Stories. But I've got some fun things lined up to post about, so stay tuned!

For today I just wanted to post my latest little haul from Born Pretty Store. I've really been feeling the autumn colours (I keep complaining that it's too hot here in Sydney, but I am sure we will actually get some autumn weather soon!) and I am on the hunt for a range of jewel toned gel polishes. So I grabbed 2 autumny gels in this order. This orange is Orange Party (Item # 45157) and I used 2 thin coats - it is really pigmented so you have to have a light hand or you will get wrinkling. 

Frog Prince

The next shade is Frog Prince (item # 45159). I used a matte top coat and stamped using on of their plain white stamping polishes. 2 coats and no problems at all with this one! It's a great forest green for my collection. 

White Gold

Gel stamping polish is beginning to pop up everywhere, and I've had a few colours in the past and already knew I would love this one. It has it's pros and cons, it's amazing for beginners as you have endless time to get it right and you can scrape multiple times and not have to worry about taking off too much product (it is VERY forgiving). The con is the clean up - you either have to use a liquid latex or do clean up before you cure. This colour is White Gold (Item # 44587).

Layered Butterfly Plate

The last of my items is a layered butterfly stamping plate (Item # 45512). It's really nice seeing layered plates coming out from the more affordable brands. This plate was really nice to work with, although there are so many layers I don't think you need to do them all. Most of the butterflies in this mani I used 3 layers. 

As always, you can use my code VHW10 for 10% off full priced items. And let me know if you try any of these and what you think!

www.bornprettystore.com

Emerson Crystals - Unicorn Cuticle Oil

If you read my post of my Christmas Wishlist - you would know I've had my eyes on these Unicorn Cuticle Oils from Emerson Crystals for a while now. So in January they had a sale that meant I got to get my hands on 3 of these babies, so of course I need to share my thoughts with you. 

Why do you need shimmery scented cuticle oil? Because it's awesome, and if you're anything like me, you will be FAR more likely to actually apply it regularly if it's a beautiful product. 

The 3 scents I got are Watermelon, Pomegranate, and Peppermint. All in the 15ml size (they had sold out of the minis by the time I got around to ordering, but now I have them I'm really happy I got the larger size as I am in love). 

So what makes them all shimmery and pretty is what I am assuming is Mica - which does settle to the bottle after awhile, so you do need to shake them up before use. They are fun to shake though - so pretty to watch! 

As far as the actual oil ingredients go, these all contain coconut oil, argan oil, jojoba oil and vitamin E - if you have read my previous posts talking about cuticle oils you will know that these are all the standard ingredients that you look for in a quality cuticle oil. 

Each of the scents smell like what you would expect a lolly version of these scents to smell like. I freakin adore them. The watermelon is by far the strongest, the pomegranate smells a little like the watermelon but very sweet, and the peppermint smells like mint slice biscuits. Yes the fill lines were all the same when I got these - but you can tell my favourite is already the peppermint. I don't think I have oiled my nails so regularly!

So are these oils worth it? Absolutely! I can't believe how long it has taken me to get around to ordering them! 

Jump over to Emerson Crystals to see all their scents (they also have an awesome range of Swarovski crystals and the Aussie Deviate nail mag). 

emersoncrystals.com

The shimmer when it has settled to the bottom

Look at how shimmery the oil is when all shaken up

Peppermint

Watermelon

Pomegranate

Monomer Roundup

I have tried out a few brands of monomer recently, so I thought I would share some of my findings with you. There are so many brands out there that I want to try, but as I am only doing a few sets of nails a week it takes me awhile to get through a bottle! Now all the monomers I have here I have checked do not have MMA (if you are new to this, I suggest a quick google to see how evil MMA is...). And every one of these I bought out of my own pocket. We have some fails and some wins, but let me know what your fav monomer is - I would love to add it to my wishlist. 

Born Pretty Acrylic Liquid
$8.08 AUD - 100ml
PROS: Cheap and easy for anyone to get, well packaged and ships worldwide. Very light purple colour liquid, no strong smell
CONS: It applies very weirdly, beads will not blend (might be ok for 3d sculpting or 1 bead technique, but for the 3 bead it just doesn't look good), need to work with very wet beads
Score: 1/5

Hawey Illume Fusion Monomer
$33 AUD - 100ml
PROS: Very smooth application, pretty bottle, Australian company
CONS: Has a fairly strong smell, a bit more pricey than some other options
Score: 5/5

DNS Liquid Monomer
Approx $15 - 150ml
PROS: Cheap, easy to get if you live near by, easy to work with
CONS: Smells like a toilet when you file (Literally!), lid had melted from chemicals so had to be decanted, impossible to get if you don't live near by. No size listed on bottle ?
Score: 2/5

Hawley Black Label Odorless Liquid
Approx. $36 AUD - 125ml
PROS: Has no scent
CONS: Takes forever to set - particularly if you use it with glitter acrylic, really hard to find a stockist
Score: 2/5

Mia Secret Liquid Monomer

4oz (118ml) $16.95aud
PROS: Cheap for it's quality, easy to work with, moderate smell
CONS: No Australian Stockist (yet....) so takes time to get from USA.
SCORE: 5/5