Pink Gellac Glamourize Collection

Press Sample

Hello Loves!  I'm back with a fun review.  I have the Pink Gellac Glamourize Collection to show you today.  This Holiday inspired collection consists of 5 glittery shades that are perfect for Christmas and New Years!  Ready to see them?

I would love to say that I'm going to show you my favorite of the collection first, but I honestly can't pick a favorite.  I love all of these polishes so much that I just can't decide.  They are all so unique or perfect in their own ways.  So let's just pick one and go from there.

Ultimate Red is a classic glittery red on steroids.  My camera couldn't capture all of the glittery goodness in this one.  The base is a true red with slightly orange undertones.  The shot without the bottle captures it best.  I did find this one offers perfect coverage in two coats, but the glitter can leave the free edge feeling a little rough.  So you might need to smooth it a tad before applying your top coat.  I also included close up shots of all of these.  You can see the rough edge best in the macro shot below.

Mysterious Black is one that I really didn't expect to like but ended up loving once I put it on my nails.  This soft black gelly base is full of dark silver shimmer and small and large black hex glitters.  I did feel that it needs 3 coats for opacity and even glitter distribution, but the end result is well worth the extra layer!

Let's jump to the golds.  Diva Gold is an interesting and unique shade in my opinion.  This clear base is loaded with golden shimmer and gold glitter.  Again, I needed three coats for even glitter distribution and opacity, but the result is a festive gold that is unique to my collection.  I love that the shimmer builds to a full coverage finish.

Stardust Gold is very similar to Diva Gold in that it consists of a clear base that is loaded with golden shimmer.  The difference is Stardust Gold has small blue glitters and larger blue holographic hex glitters.  Definitely a unique polish!  Again, I swatched three coats for full coverage and even glitter distribution.  Such a fun polish!

Finally, let's jump back to black with Glitterize Black.  This black jelly base is loaded with metallic glitters.  Red, Green, Gold, Silver and Blue make this color a party on your nails.  I swatched three coats in the photos below, but I honestly could have gotten away with two.

Since I'm easing myself into Christmas, I decided Glitterize Black is the perfect base for my first Christmasy mani of the season.  I went with a simple candle and holly accent nail.  I really need to work on my freehand holly, but it will do for a week.  ;)

What do you think of the Pink Gellac Glamourize Collection?  I'm very happy to see unique glitter combinations and I can't wait to offer them to my clients.  I predict many accent nails using some of these glittery beauties.  If you want to add any of these polish (or all of them) to your collection, you can purchase them through the Chickettes Boutique here.

That's all for now.  I'll try to be back soon with a salon update.  Thanks for sticking with me while I'm launching my business and putting more of my focus there.

~Michelle

*The Pink Gellac Glamourize Collection featured in this post was provided by Chickettes for my honest review.  All links within this post are courtesy links and do not benefit ManicTalons.com.

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The Nail School Chronicle: Week 5

Hello Loves!  Want to hear what we learned in week five in nail school at GCI?  Yeah?  Me too!  Sadly, I don't have much to share this week.  My little one caught the flu, so I was only able to attend class for two of the four sessions.  As if I needed anything else on my plate, right?  Thankfully I've had my flu shot and it seems to be keeping the flu at bay.  Of course, we're having to be extra careful to keep Keith from catching it.  The flu on top of his broken ribs from the accident would be pretty brutal.

Anyway, I may have only been in class for two days, but I did have a breakthrough.  As you know, I have been struggling with ball size and consistency when working with acrylic.  I've become a master at filing down and shaping mountains of acrylic, but my application was still lacking.  When talking to my instructor, she mentioned that watching different techs might help since everyone has a different technique to reach the same result.  About that time, the night instructor came in.  Ms. V is the cutest, funniest lady ever!  So I put her on the spot and asked her to show me her method.  Bless her heart, she wasn't quite sure what to think at first.  Like maybe she thought I was insulting my instructor?  lol

Anyway, watching Ms. V definitely helped.  My instructor is amazingly talented with acrylic, but she rolls the ball off of her brush, which makes it difficult for me to see how wet the ball really is.  Since Ms. V uses a flat brush, she gently presses the ball onto the nail and it made a world of difference for me to see that little puddle of liquid on top of the ball when she pulled her brush away.  Previously, I have been able to finish one set of blended tips with an acrylic overlay in about 4 hours.  Now I'm rocking along at 4 sets per full class day.  Given, I still need a lot of practice, but I have my consistency, ball size and placement much closer to correct now.  Yea!  You won't have to hear me whine about the size of my balls anymore.  lol  Turns out I was working way too dry and overlapping the balls too much.

Moving on...I did find that there is a benefit to wrecking your nails and wearing enhancements.  I can play with my nail shape risk free!  Don't like my current shape?  No biggy.  I can just sculpt out another shape.  So I decided to give round a try.  I'm personally not a fan.  The shape is ok but they feel too short to me.  I think I'll extend them to true almonds after Christmas.  I might even go stiletto for a week since we're on Winter Break until January 5th.  ;)  Of course, my right hand still has natural nails, so they're still square/squoval.  After all, I couldn't possible have nails that match completely on both hands.  I don't even want to think about what might happen if both of my hands matched.  The world just might stop turning.  Or the polar ice caps would melt in a day.  Or Hell might freeze over.  I'm really not sure, but I'm not going to risk it.  ;)

Wanna see my sculpted rounds all dolled up for Christmas?  Of course you do!  I took a bunch of photos this time.  Why?  Well, when else can you pose with a glittery red ornament without looking crazy?  ;)

After sculpting the acrylic into this round shape, I applied two coats of Moulin Rouge by Pink Gellac.  This is one of the new colors that Chickettes has brought to the States.  I'll have true swatches of this and the other 5 new colors for you in a week or so.  (Not that these photos aren't true.  They are.  But I'll have swatch pics without the art soon).  I added a few white stripes for ribbons using Akzentz Gel Play and topped it off with a bow.  Simple, but I think it is pretty.

The photo above shows why I'm not in love with this nail shape.  My nails look too...bubbly?  Chubby?  The shot below, however, shows the one great thing about this shape.  My crooked finger and crooked nail don't look quite as crooked as they do with my beloved squovals.  lol

The shape is definitely growing on me a little.  I don't know that I'll ever completely learn to love it, but there is something very elegant about it.

Finally, another shot with my glittery Christmas ornament, because, well, glitter!

Sorry I don't have anything else to share this week.  I'm telling you, things have just been crazy.  I'm really looking forward to a new year.  2014 has simply sucked.  Anyway, I'm being pulled in a million directions right now.  With Keith out of commission from the wreck, William sick with the flu, Christmas only a few days away, and shopping still left to do, I'm drowning.  So as much as it breaks my heart to do it, I'm going to take a week off from blogging.  There simply isn't enough time to squeeze it all in.  Since Christmas and the flu have to be so rude and force themselves into my "me time", I guess I have no choice.  ;)

I'll be back around the first of the year (give or take a day) with some pretty awesome swatches.  I have the new Pink Gellac colors, the Bundle Monster Metallic gels, a few Bundle Monster thermals, some random OPI GelColors, and some stamping plates to show you.  Plus I'm playing with a few nail art techniques that are new to me.  We're going to start the new year off right, I promise!

Until then, I hope each and every one of you have a peaceful, happy and flu-free holiday season.  To those who celebrate, Merry Christmas! To my Jewish readers, Happy Hanukkah! To all others, Happy Holidays! Please be safe out there as 2014 winds down.  And if I don't make it back before the 31st, Happy New Year!

~Michelle

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

Purchased by Me

Hello Loves!  Here's wishing each and every one of you a Merry Christmas!  For those who do not celebrate, Happy Holidays!

My firstborn son is 3 years old this year, so I have been busy, busy, busy getting ready for Christmas.  I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning!  Of course, this also means I haven't had time for swatching these past few weeks.  I barely managed to squeeze in a new Christmas mani and I'm slightly embarrassed to share the pictures.  My poor hands have taken a major beating with all the boxing and wrapping of gifts.  So please excuse my poor, throbbing index finger (paper cut) and sad cuticles all around.

I decided to go with green and silver this time.  As usual, details to follow.

Primary Base: SensatioNail Rock My Emerald
Accent Base: Orly Gel FX Shine
Stamping Image: Dashica SDP-6
Stamping Polish: Sally Hansen Insa-dri Silver Sweep
Accent Nail: Freehand tree using Rock My Emerald with an ss6 crystal AB Czech crystal on top and silver holo glitter accents

 

I promise I'll get back to swatching after the holidays!  In the mean time, if you haven't voted for my MoYou London December Pinterest Contest entry, please take a second to like (counts as one point) and/or repin (two points) my entry. :)  This is the mani I submitted. :)

~Michelle

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