Nails – Page 2 – All Dolled Up

March 27, 2013

Pro Tip: The Key to a Chip-Free Manicure

Our friend Charlotte is not only a top financial PR strategist, fluent in Russian and Spanish, and generally awesome, but she is professionally trained manicurist to boot. Here are her tips for achieving a chip-free mani: “Until I learnt from the professionals, I never managed to maintain a chip-free set of painted nails for more than two days. Now, I paint my nails on a Sunday night, and they still look pretty much perfect by Friday (however my short attention span usually dictates a change in colour by at least Wednesday!). There are a number of forces at play which keep…

March 19, 2013

Nail Revolution: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

We all know the feeling: sitting patiently, waiting for our nail polish to dry. And then, just when you think you’re ready to go, you touch something and it smudges. RAGE. But fear not, help is at hand…I give you Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. What is it? A fast-drying top coat specially formulated to penetrate through nail polish to the base coat, forming a single solid coating over the nail for a more durable finish. What does it promise? To cut drying time dramatically, and to leave nails resistant to chipping and peeling. Does it deliver? YES. I have been…

January 13, 2013

My Manicure: Essie "Tart Deco"

Pretty, nê? This is one of my favourite nail polishes from Essie. It’s bright without being neon so totally appropriate for you office-bound types, and looks fantastic on toes too (especially if you have a tan or are lucky enough to have naturally darker skin). My only issue with it, as with all of the lighter Essie colours, is it needs a few coats before it turns opaque. Essie is available from Clicks, Dischem, Foschini, Edgars, Wellness Warehouse and various pharmacies, and is priced around R100 each. Image by me.

January 11, 2013

Trend Report: Glitter Nails

I’m just a LITTLE bit obsessed with sparkly manicures at the moment. Pretty much every time I paint my nails (which is about once a week) I add a glittery top coat or go full dazzletard with all-over shimmering polish. Something I haven’t tried yet but seems to be popular is the “ombre mani” done with a glitter – here’s a great tutorial by The Nailasaurus or check out Pinterest for inspiration. Some of my favourite sparkly polishes are from Inglot, Mavala, Essie and OPI. A word of caution though: don’t be fooled by cheap imitations. Many of the budget beauty…

January 5, 2013

Beauty Spotlight: Ciaté

I’ve always liked the look of Ciaté nail polishes, with their unusually-shaped bottles and natty black bow-ties. I was thrilled to discover them on Zando a few weeks ago and promptly put in an order for Main Stage, a sultry deep pinky-purple. I was not disappointed – the texture is unlike anything else I’ve tried (they’re called nail cremes and truly are extremely creamy in formulation) and the pigment is good so you can get full coverage with just one swipe. Now, I love Essie as much as the next girl, but one of my biggest issues with those polishes…

January 4, 2013

My Manicure: Inglot #644

I’m having a bit of a mermaid moment here – how gorgeous is this colour?! Inglot O2M nail varnishes are free from all sorts of nasties (toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate [DBP] & camphor) and are not tested on animals. You can follow them on Facebook.

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