Hello Loves! I removed a set of enhancements tonight, so I decided my hands needed a bit of pampering. What better time to try out the Mani Shot and Water Slide Decals that KBShimmer sent me to review. Of course, I couldn't resist purchasing the matching KBShimmer lotion, so I used it too.
I chose the Southern Belle fragrance. I mean, I am a GA Peach, after all. Southern Belle is described on the KBShimmer website as "A fresh blend of ginger, peach, mango, clove, citrus, the body of this sweet fragrance combines orange blossom, rose, and jasmine. Rounding out the blend is a slight hint of musk and woods, the perfect blend for any women wanting to feel sweet and lovely." Yeah, I don't smell all that. To me, it smells fresh with a light peach fragrance. I love it! I really need a cuticle oil in this fragrance too (hint hint, Christy! lol).
Ok, so let's start with the Southern Belle Mani Shot. This was my first mani shot (or mani bomb) experience, and it is so cool! As soon as you drop the shot into warm water, it starts rolling like a mini-Jacuzzi. Just look at the motion in the water!
After a few seconds, my cup was all kind of foamy fun. I could feel the bubbles tickling my fingers as I soaked. And the fragrance...yum! The Mani Shot has Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil, Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter to leave your skin feeling super soft. My cuticles feel much better after the soak.
After a five minute soak, I dried my hands and applied my CND Cuticle Away (it was time...I've neglected this step for the past few weeks). I used my new Rainbow Cuticle Pusher (also from KBShimmer) to push back my cuticles. As you can imagine, I own a few pushers. Ok, maybe more than a few. I find that I have a really hard time finding one that I like. They are either too wide or too flat for my c-curves. I'm happy to say that this one is a perfect fit! And it doesn't hurt that it's super pretty. KBShimmer also has nippers and tweezers to match. :)
Here's a better look. One one end, you have the spoon pusher with the perfect curve. On the other is a curved pick that is great for carefully cleaning under the free edge of the nail.
Here's a better shot of the pick. My camera really didn't want to focus on it, so I apologize if it isn't very clear.
I finished with my Southern Belle lotion. It looks like this one is currently out of stock on KBShimmer's website, but I'm sure it will be back soon. This was my first KBShimmer lotion experience as well, and I'm impressed. I've actually been using the lotion several times a day for the past week. As y'all know, I constantly battle with dry skin. Ah, my personal curse. So I know a little bit about lotion. lol The KBShimmer lotion is thick and creamy but not heavy. How creamy? Well, see for yourself. ;)
I found that it absorbs quickly and leaves a light fragrance. That's a HUGE plus for me. I can't stand a lotion that leaves my skin feeling heavy or greasy. I also don't like anything with a super heavy fragrance. Yeah, so I'm pretty smitten with this lotion. I don't know if the other scents are light like this one, but Southern Belle definitely tickles my fancy.
After the pampering, I couldn't resist a quick mani. I know gel polish is my norm, but as you can tell from the bottle shot below, I love my KBShimmer Low and Be Bold. I don't have this shade in gel polish, so I use the polish version quite a lot. It sees the most love of my polishes. For this mani, I used two coats of Low and Be Bold as my primary color. I then used two coats of KBShimmer Eyes White Open as the base for my accent nails. The flowers are these super cute KBShimmer Blue Floral Water Slide Decals.
The Blue Floral Water Slide Decals I used in this mani are really cool because they come on a full sheet instead of individual cutouts. I love that it allows me to pick and choose the designs for each nail so they aren't as matchy-matchy. Of course, that means I had to cut them to fit. Thankfully, I have the nail template from Empower Nail Art that I reviewed previously here. It came in really handy with these decals!
If you aren't familiar with water slide decals, they're really simple to use.
- Apply your base colors and let them dry. I used Out The Door topcoat to speed it along.
- Cut the decal to shape.
- Drop the entire cut out decal into a cup of water.
- After the water soaks through the paper backing, slide the decal off of the paper.
- Use a pair of tweezers to position it on the nail and then press it smooth.
- If needed, use a nail file to trim any excess length.
- Finally, once the decals have dried, top them with a coat of top coat and you have gorgeous nail art with little effort. :)
I'm kind of smitten with this one. It reminds me of the popular blue and white china. Here's another shot.
If you're interested in any of the products I showed you today, you can find them on KBShimmer's website here. I linked to each product when I first mentioned them above, so feel free to scroll back up for direct links.
Now that my hands have been pampered and my nails are polished, I'm headed off to love on my sick little boy. I swear, the first few weeks of school are a guarantee for germs and colds. But hey, at least my nails are fabulous!
~Michelle
*The products featured in this post were provided by KBShimmer Bath and Body for my honest review. The KBShimmer Southern Belle Lotion was purchased by me to compliment the other products shown. CND Cuticle Away was also purchased by me and not available via KBShimmer. All links within this post are courtesy links and do not benefit ManicTalons.com.
How pretty!
ReplyDeleteKB Shimmer is my fave indie RNP line! Her polishes are AMAZING! I've tried some of her soaps too. ♥♥♥
ReplyDeleteIt comes in RAINBOW?? *dies* . . . Ah, well. The one I have is almost as lovely. :) I like this mani. You can stare at it through those long, long nights of tylenol and ibuprofen. Or at least that's how it always goes at my house. :D
ReplyDeleteBeautiful as usual. I need to get some of those mani shots. They look heavenly. Are the steps the same when using water decals with gel polish?
ReplyDeleteYes, the process is the same. But I recommed two coats of top coat to really seal in the decal.
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