China Glaze's "The Giver" Collection Swatches and Review

Today, I have a review and swatches of the complete China Glaze 'The Giver' Collection.  I know this is kind of late, the movie has come and gone in most theaters already, but I really wanted to share it with you.  It took me a while to get because I could not seem to find it at any of my local suppliers, so I had to order it online.

All of the following swatches are photographed outdoors in indirect sunlight, without any additional lighting or filters.  It was a slightly cloudy day so there is some pictures are darker/lighter than others.  However, they are as true in color as I could get them.  I hope you enjoy these swatches.

This is an intensely opaque glitter  polish.  I have never experienced anything like it.  It appears to be a dark rich brown almost black with shards of silver, golds, and coopers.  This is amazing and my camera does it no justice at all.

Opaque in two coats.  Earthy medium dark brown.  This is a nice color for fall, and it complements most of the other colors in the collection.

Two coats.  Incredibly pale warm gray.  Otherwise, known as taupe.

One Coat.  Vivid, bright, apple red.  Also another great color for fall.  Or for a night out on the town.

Opaque in almost one coat, completely opaque in two coats.  Very rich warm deep blurple color, with a ever so slight grey‐ish hue.

Two coats.  Medium cool gray, with a slight blue tint.  Kind of a storm cloud grey color.

Two coats.  On camera this color appears to be white, but it actually the palest blue.  Its almost as if they took a bottle of blue polish and placed one drop of robins egg blue into it.  It is actually very pretty in person, I wish my camera could catch that.

Almost one coat, ended up with two.  Incredible bright blue.  I think of it as a neon robins egg blue.  So eye‐catching and vivid. Gorgeous!

Two coats. Rich and vibrant purple.  Absolutely beautiful.

Opaque in two coats.  Just like 'New Birth' this color appears white in the pictures.  However, it is the absolute most lightest shade of pink I have ever seen.

Two coats.  This color was the biggest surprise in the collection for me.  In the bottle it doesn't appear to be very striking.  It is a medium toned purple‐grey that seems somewhat unimpressive.  But once I applied it I was awe‐struck, this color is just very pretty and easy to wear.  It is both soft and rich.  This for me is an unusual color but I am absolutely in love!

This is a very pretty topper.  It is a translucent base full of little white micro glitters and just a smattering of silver shiny pieces.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get my camera to pick up any of the silvery bits (it might be time for a better camera).

I have read other reviews and comments about this collection and I have seen complaints that there are too many colors with similarities in this collection such as 'New Birth' and 'Friends Forever, Right?' or the various shades of grey in the collection.  However, I feel, based on what I know of the story and of the previews that I have seen that these colors are accurate representations of "The Giver".  I also like the similarity of colors it allows one to make easy gradient designs and soft designs that aren't obvious or overpowering.  Ultimately, I give this collection two thumbs up for accurate representation, good formulas, and pretty colors that are wearable. I hope you enjoyed these swatches and find the review useful.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

Sugar Spun Chocolate Covered Strawberry Nail Art Design

For this week's #whatruwearingwed manicure I decided to complete this week's Nail Polish Queen's Weekly Challenge to create sugar spun nails.  I have seen this design technique many times but have never tried it simply because it doesn't really appeal to me and it looks rather messy.  However, I decided I should give it a try so that I can determine how easy/hard, and/or messy it is to see if I could come up with any tips to help out my fellow Plebes that might be interested in this nail art design.

Every sugar spun design that I've seen reminds me of fancy chocolates and various chocolate covered fruits.  So, I decided to kick this challenge up a small notch and create 'Sugar Spun Chocolate Covered Strawberry Nails.'

Materials
Base coat
Red polish
Green polish (nail art stripper or a thin brush for application)
Black polish
Brown polish
Off white, pink, or light brown polish for sugar spinning
Flat work surface (like a piece of thick paper or cardboard)
Toothpick

I started out with one clean coat of China Glaze's 'Seeing Red' (one of my new polishes from 'The Giver' collection, swatches and review coming soon).

Then using a green nail art striper I created a leafy top along the smile line (aka cuticle) of my nail .

With black polish and a toothpick a made some strawberry seeds.  I did not place seeds all the way to the tip of my nail because the tip will be covered.  (If you decided not to cover your strawberries in chocolate place seeds all the way down to the tip of the nail.)

At this point we are going to start covering your strawberries in chocolate.  I recommend that if you are going to do the sugar spun design that you go ahead and take the polishes that you are going to spin and drop them on to a flat (non permeable, you don't want the polish to leak through) surface and set them aside to let dry to a tacky state, sorry but I don't have a picture of this.

Covering the strawberries with chocolate is a lot like creating ice cream nails (click this link to see ice cream nail art design).  Start with a brown polish and a medium size dotting tool to create a drip line.  Then fill in the nail from drip line to tip with the same polish.  For my brown polish I used Color Club's 'Fondue for Two' from the Paris in Love collection.

I also went ahead and applied a top coat at this point.  From what I have read the sugar spun design typically does not get a top coat because it has a tendency to bleed and take away from the textured affect.  However, I wanted some kind of top coat to protect the majority of the design.

Now it is time to get messy, and sadly it is true that this part is messy.  Hopefully, by this time the polish that you set aside a little bit ago is now thick enough that when you put a toothpick into it that it is stringy.  In other words you can pull strings of polish out with the toothpick.

Using your gooey nail polish and a toothpick, simply pull up strands and pull them across your nail.  Repeat this process until you reached the desired look and coverage that you'd like.  That's really all there is to it.  For my sugar spinning I used Color Club's 'Je T'Aime' and 'Macaroon Swoon' in addition to 'Fondue for Two' all from the Paris in Love collection.

Sugar spinning is not really all that difficult.  The only pointers I can offer to make this experience a little easier, is make sure that you give the polish enough time to get thick.  On my first try the polish was not thick enough and it took me many try to get the strings to pull up enough to go all they way across the nail.  You can stir your polish with the toothpick to speed up the thickening time. Make sure you use a flat working surface so that you can get your finger really close to your puddle, even when the strings pull nicely they don't pull very far.  I also found that if I pulled the strings slowly I could get them to go farther.  Other, than that just have a messy fun time with it, you really can't do this technique wrong.

I'm curious how many of you out there have tried sugar spun nails before?  Did you like it?  Have you done it again or will you do it again?  For those of you who haven't tried it, do you think you ever will?

I hope you enjoyed my #whatruwearingwed manicure, I'd love to see what you are (or are not) wearing today.  Head over to my Facebook page and post your pictures there with a description, or post your pictures on Instagram with the previously mention hashtag and tag @polish_plebe in the comments.  Be sure to like/follow me while your there, you can also follow me by clicking the 'Join this Site' Icon on the top right hand side of the screen or through Google+, Bloglovin, and/or Pinterest.  Thank you for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

Hand-Painted Simple Lattice Lace V-Tip Design

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you are all having a fantastic week and have wonderful plans for this weekend.  I have been having one of those weeks were time just keeps escaping.  I had so many nail art projects I wanted to complete but just haven't been able to find the time.  I originally planned to have this design done earlier in the week for Nail Polish Queens' "Lace Challenge."  Sadly, I did not get it done on time, however, I really wanted to do it anyway.



I also decided to make this my post for Blogger Braggers Weekly Challenge, "Favorite Color."  This is probably the hardest challenge for me because I have a hard time picking just one favorite color, and to narrow that down to just one polish, forget about it.  I would have to say the shades that attract me the most are blues, blue-greens, teals, and mint colors.  I decided to showcase one of my favorite polish shades China Glazes 'Keep Calm, Paint On'.  Not only do I love the color of this soft minty green, but the name is fun too.  It also has just a little shimmer to it, which you unfortunately can not see in my pictures.  Here is how I created this design...

Materials
Base and top coat
Soft pink or nude
Color polish
White polish (you could use a nail art striper or acrylic paint if you prefer)
Thin brush
Dotting Tool
Gems (Optional)

I started off with one coat of Sinful Colors 'Glass Pink' on most of my fingers.  This is a very pretty soft pink with lots of iridescent shimmer and it is slightly translucent.  For my ring finger and thumb I applied two coats of China Glaze 'Keep Calm, Paint On'.

I then painted a v-shaped french tip on my pink fingers.  You could tape this if you'd like, I didn't because I really wanted to practice my freehand.  To make it a little easier, I started with three points to guide me.  I then drew a line, in my colored polish using a thin brush, between the points to create a V.  I then painted in the tip of my nail below the V-line.

Once the tip was completed I started my lace design.  I primarily used white polish from a nail art striper but I used a thinner small brush I had instead of the stripping applicator in the bottle.  I started by outlining the top of the V-shape with the white.  I then drew a lattice pattern on the tip using the V-shape as a guide.  I then drew small semi-circles along the edge of the white on the top of the V-shape.  I then used the smallest dotting tool I could find and placed a dot at the top of each semi-circle loop.  To give a little something extra I applied a small (1.5mm I think) gem at the point of the V.

For my ring finger and my thumb, I simply drew a criss-crossing lattice pattern and added a few small gems.

I think this is the daintiest and girliest design I have ever done.  I really like the soft color palette, it makes it perfect for a wedding, baby shower, girls birthday party, or just something dressy to wear.  I also liked that I got to practice my free-hand but I think I need a bit more.

I hope you enjoyed this nail art design and tutorial.  If you did like this or any of my previous post please like/follow me.  You can do so by clicking the 'Join this Site' Icon on the top right hand side of the screen or through Google+, Bloglovin, Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, thank you for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,