New Nail Polishes and NOTD

Hi there, yesterday I went shopping and bought 4 new nail polishes. I got them from Chemist Warehouse and they were only $2.50 each!

Gotta love the natural bright lighting :) Thank you sunshine for making pictures so much clearer!

Anyway, has anyone ever heard of 'T.B.N' (Totally Beautiful Nails) nail polishes before? I've only seen pictures of them on some Australian nail blog sites so I'm very sure that this is an Australian brand. I love how there is such an extensive range of Australian nail polish brands like BYS, Ulta3, Mode and T.B.N which are all very inexpensive :D And the quality ain't too bad either.

I wanted to pick out more than 4 but I wasn't too sure about the quality so I just bought 4 for $10. They were all in a 'bowl' at Chemist Warehouse with a sign saying '$2.50 each' so I rummaged through the lot to find some nice shades of nail polish which I don't already own.

The square/cube design of the bottle and lid reminds me so much of Chanel nail polishes which I of course, do not own. I wish I could own some high-end brand nail polishes or high-end brand anything but yeah... I feel better when I pay for things that are much less expensive :)

Some messy swatches:

The sticky label of the name went missing so I have no idea what this is called.

Swatch of two coats

The blue one is much more sheer than I expected it to be. And the colour doesn't really match the colour that shows on the bottle. I was expecting it to be more turquoise but oh well, this metallic-y blue is fine for me :) Quite pretty actually.

'French Pink'

Swatch of two coats

A very matte French pink, I like it! However it was a little bit gluggy and streaky when I applied it, so that annoyed me :( I think it just needed to be more shaken as I could see the pigment separating in the bottle. You know when a bottle of nail polish hasn't been touched or used in a while and the colour starts to look a little bit different? That was what happened to this nail polish. If it still continues to 'misbehave' then I'll add some nail polish remover to make it less streaky.

'Glitter'

Swatch of two coats

I have the Mode Cosmetics version of the Glitter nail polish which looks exactly like this when you look at the bottle but when applied, they're both really different. Not much glitter actually went onto my nail so that's why I needed the second coat. The second coat wasn't that great either because it left my nail looking 'dry' instead of shiny like I had applied clear nail polish on. It's okay and I would use it but it's not as good as the Mode one. I'm running out of the Mode one too and I can't find a back-up :(

Last and definitely not least, my favourite one out of the 4

'Gilt'

Swatch of just one coat!

Maybe it's not that obvious in the picture but it was so pigmented with just one coat! I didn't feel the need to apply another coat so I'm extremely happy with this nail polish. A beautiful metallic and glittery gold. I just know that it's going to look amazing when I paint all of my nails this colour :D

Would I go back and buy more TBN nail polishes? Of course :) I want to try the other colours and test them out. They're cheap and are good quality, why not! Just 50 cents more than Ulta3 and Mode nail polishes and about a dollar or two less than BYS.

So, does anyone know whether there are any other brands of nail polishes that are from Australia and/or really cheap, like less than $5 a bottle?

I know there's Glitter Gal but their nail polishes are about $10 and I have no idea where to buy them. Maybe at Gloss but there isn't one near me anymore :(

I decided to paint all of my nails today, using one colour from the 4. I used the blue and also the water decals from my Viva La Nails sample pack.

NOTD (Nails of the Day)

It could be NOTW since these will stay on my nails for more than a day but 'NOTD' just sounds more common x]

Viva La Nails I believe is the only place where you can find water decals. I had no idea what water decals were before receiving the sample pack but now that I have discovered what it is, I wish I could find them here in Aus!

I followed their YouTube tutorial video and it was much more simple than I expected :)

I just reenacted the steps for pictures after I was done.

1. Cut out the decals individually

2. Soak them all No, just soak one at a time in a cup or bowl of warm water.

I soaked all of them at once and they were so hard to pick out because they sank to the bottom! And the decal designs were already separating from the paper in the water =/

3. After soaking for about 10 seconds, take it out of the water.

I suggest you hold it with a pair of tweezers while soaking so it doesn't sink and it won't be hard to pick up. Ignore the lightning bolts, they're just to say that other decals shouldn't be on the water at the same time!

4. Place the decal onto your finger with the back facing you and gently slide it down.

This will separate the decal and the paper (just like temporary tattoos)

I put a number on mine because the designs are different sizes and (2) = for the pointer finger

5. Using tweezers, gently take the decal and place it onto your nail and adjust to how you desire.

You will have about a minute to do this before it dries!

Obviously I would be using my other hand for adjusting the decal but I was using the hand to take a picture haha

6. You can let it dry while you continue doing the rest of your nails

OR

Apply a coat of clear nail polish to seal the water decal, and then continue

That's all! So simple :)

This design really suits the season (Spring in Aus) and using water decals was quite fun and it was something new. I now prefer water decals over nail stickers because nail stickers can come off easier and you can feel the ridges of the shape, whereas with these water decals, it's really similar to Konad stamping and are much thinner than stickers so I'm sure they'd stay on longer. Konad can't be found in Australia =[ But these shall do for now hehe.

I hope you enjoyed my nail post, I don't normally do these but I've only recently found my liking for nail art and such. It's great because now I'm on holidays, I have more time on my hands to create these designs and I won't get told off for having painted nails at school because school is over!

xx Jen