Putting it to the test: Base It Off Latex Peel-Off Base coat from Lantern & Wren

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!)

Hello!


Here's a guilty little secret for you: I rarely bother with peel-off basecoats because I just don't get good results from them. Like, most of them don't work for me at all, no matter what I do.  Most recently I tried UNT and I it did work, and I like it okay, but it didn't blow my socks off.


Then I got to test out two peel-offs, and I can't find my socks.


Today I'm going to talk to you about the first, Base It Off, a latex-based peel-off basecoat from Lantern & Wren.

This is the first time I've tried a latex-based peel-off base coat before (if you're allergic to latex, of course you don't want to use this!), so I wasn't sure what to expect. In case you haven't before, either, I'll give all the deets, starting with the video review I did showing the base coat in action:

You apply this just like any other basecoat, and it feels just like applying a cuticle barrier. It applies white and then dries clear, so there's no ambiguity about when you're ready to move on to polish, which I appreciate.

• Applies white, then dries clear
• Fast dry time

With previous base coats, I've had a problem getting them to peel off. This was the easiest to peel off I've ever tried, by far--I had zero issues getting it to peel. And, just like with a cuticle barrier, it separated completely from what's under it, so you aren't going to get any damage to your nails whatsoever. It peeled off so easily, in fact, that I didn't have to worry about having problems getting it off--within about two days, three at most, the polish popped off by itself if I hadn't already removed it.

• Easiest peel I've ever tried
• Allows you to change your nail art in no time flat
• Zero damage to nail 

Because it forms a barrier the way a cuticle barrier does and doesn't attach to the nail like a traditional base coat, there are a few things you need to know about using it effectively. First, leave a small gap between the base coat and your cuticle; that will give your polish something to hold on to so you won't get any peel-up. For the same reason, don't wrap our nail with the base coat. Also, I found that the more I submerged my nails in water, the more likely I was to have pop-off. 

• Leave a small gap between the base coat and your cuticle
• Don't wrap nail with base coat
• This is waterproof, but submerging in water too much increases pop-off.

So what do I think overall? This is absolutely the easiest way I've found to remove glitter polish (or any polish), with the least damage to the nail. I highly recommend this if you want to wear your polish for 1-2 days--beyond that, the polish will likely pop-off on its own. If you're careful around water (if you wear gloves when you  wear dishes, that sort of thing), you may be able to get longer wear. 

You can find this in Lantern & Wren's store now. So grab it and get your glitter on, baby! 

 

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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Review: 2X Super Chip Resistance polish life extender

(Press sample ahead!)

Hello!


I have something a little different to show you today, a chip resist product called 2X Super Chip Resistance. You all know I change my polish a lot so don't usually worry too much about chips, but for those occasions when I do need longer wear, I'm always on the lookout for products that can make this happen, so I was very interested to see how this product worked, particularly because it's made by the same man who invented Piggy Polish.

2X Super Chip Resistance

I followed the directions carefully by applying one coat of 2X to my clean nails on my middle finger and my pinkie finger, then put on my polish, then finished with one coat of 2X. On my index and ring finger, I didn't use the 2X, just used my regular base coat and finished with my normal Seche Vite.


I normally get 2-3 days with a polish before I see chips, so I wore the polish for a full six days to try out the full 2X effect.


I got my first chip on day 3, on my pinkie finger--which was one of the fingers that had the 2X. All the rest of the fingers were fine, though, so I waited until day 4 to take my first picture.


Here's how the nails looked on day 4 (I'll post the original mani shortly):

2X Super Chip Resistance on middle finger and pinkie, after 4 days

2X Super Chip Resistance on middle finger and pinkie, after 4 days

As you can see, the worst chipping is on the pinkie and the second worst chipping is on the middle finger, both of which were fingers I used the 2X on. The index finger also has some wear and chipping starting, although a little less than the middle finger.


Here's what it looked like on day 6:

2X Super Chip Resistance on middle finger and pinkie, after 4 days

The chipping on the middle and pinkie fingers--the two that I used 2X on--have major chipping and even some splitting. There is a little more tipwear on the other two nails, but not much.


So, sadly, the 2X didn't work well for me. However, everyone has different body chemistry, and I know lots of people who swear certain brands of polish dry quickly for them while others say the same brand takes forever, so you never know. The card and the website do mention the product is guaranteed, although I couldn't find any information on the website that gives any information about the guarantee (do they refund your full amount, under what circumstances, what about shipping, etc.).


You can find 2X Super Chip Resistance in their online store, here.


Happy polishing!
M.

Review, test & Mani: Messy Mansion plates 18, 28, 34, 37 & 43

(Purchased by me; affiliate links)

Hello!!

I finally did it--I finally got my little paws on some Messy Mansion plates. Yes, I can hear you saying 'Whaaa?? How could it take so long, Michelle? How?' Well, there were several plates I wanted, and every time I went to buy them, one of them was out of stock. But then...the stars aligned, and I clicked, clicked, clicked!

Here is my video review and test of the plates:

Here's how they come packaged:

And here are the images of the individual plates:

Messy Mansion MM18 (Shabby Chic):

Messy Mansion MM18: Boujour, Paris!

Messy Mansion MM28 (Crime Scene):

Messy Mansion MM28: You'll never take me alive, copper!

Messy Mansion MM34 (Fox and hounds):

Messy Mansion MM34: Celtic foxy wolves

Messy Mansion MM37 (Pirate theme):

Messy Mansion MM37: Arrrrr, Matey!

Messy Mansion MM43 (Steampunk theme):

Messy Mansion MM43: Do you want to see my steampunk-punk-punk, my steampunk-punk?

I love the elegance of all these plates. The images are so detailed, and because the plates are larger than normal, you get a nice variety of images in the theme. But...how do they stamp?


Quite well, actually:

Steampunk suspenders and Parisian flourishes

I pressed too hard on the first try--but look at the beautiful detail on that second one

Barbed wire and an incredibly detailed map...

All of the detail come out perfectly, and I didn't have to struggle to scrape or pick-up; the images are well-spaced, so that even though there are so many of them, the plates work well.


So how big are those images, anyway? Let's take a look at them next to a standard Konad plate:

Messy Mansion MM28 vs. Konad

Messy Mansion MM28 vs. Konad

The full-nail images are large enough so you shouldn't have to worry about covering your width and length unless you've got some looooong nails. :)


I couldn't wait to play with these, and the beautiful spring colors I've been playing just called out for a country French theme...

I started with Zoya Daisy, my favorite of the spring polishes I've seen so far. Then I stamped using MM18, with Konad white and Sally Hansen Blue Away:

French country chic

French country chic

French country chic

French country chic

I love, love, love this manicure--I wore it for nearly a week because I couldn't bear to take it off. And I never, ever thought I'd say that about a yellow-based manicure, but Daisy rocks. And I love the creativity that just jumped off of the plate.

I definitely recommend these plates--I bought mine here on Amazon. :)

Happy Stamping,
M.

Review and test: Bundle Monster 600 series favorites

(Nothing to disclose)

Hello!

As you may or may not know, Bundle Monster made a change on their website so you can purchase plates from their previous sets individually. This includes their 600 series, which was only released as single plates; for that reason, I thought I'd grab a few and test them out for you.  I bought 608, 609, and 610.

First, here is the video I did--of course!

And here are the still images of the plates:

Bundle Monster 608: Back to nature with some swirls thrown in

Bundle Monster 609: Gadgets and gears and gizmos, oh my!

Bundle Monster 610: Celestial bodies and wormholes galore!

To give you as sense of how big the image are, here they are next to a Konad plate:

Bundle Monster 609 vs. Konad

Bundle Monster 609 vs. Konad

Very pretty, all well and good--but how do they stamp?!

I've heard hints and there that some people have had some issues with these plates, so the stamping tests were

Bundle Monster 608 and 610

Bundle Monster 609

I've heard hints and there that some people have had some issues with these plates, so I wanted to stamp them on a curved surface as well:

These stamped beautifully for me--no problems whatsoever. Maybe I happened to pick three good ones, but I think more likely if you're having a problem with plates from this series, you may have gotten bad ones. Drop them an e-mail and ask them to make it right. :)

I just got Bundle Monster's newest plates in the mail, so I'll get those reviewed as soon as I can!

Happy stamping!
M.

Review, test, & manicure: MoYou London Geek Collection 05 & 06

(Press Sample)

It's been a little while since I've done a video review, and I'm back today with a good one: MoYou London's Geek Collection 05 & 06, two of my favorites from the collection.

This versatile collection is just adorable--it takes all things geek chic and puts them at (and on!) your fingertips.

Here's the video review to kick things off:

And here are the still images of the plates:


Geek 05: 

MoYou London Geek Collection 05

MoYou London Geek Collection 05

MoYou London Geek Collection 05

Geek 05 has a wide variety of geekdoms represented: video games, Elvish script, Steampunk, emoticons, and more. There's not just one type of manicure represented here--you can go kitschy, geeky, elegant, masculine, computer chic-y.


Geek 06:

MoYou London Geek Collection 06

MoYou London Geek Collection 06

MoYou London Geek Collection 06

Geek 06 focuses a little more specifically on devices and computer-geek chic. Computer commands, buttons, internet interfacing, online acronyms and shortcuts. In today's world you can't get through your day without seeing multiple of these, so why not celebrate them and their hidden/implied meanings?

The three images at the top of Geek 06 are also on Geek 05, but the sizes differ. Geek 06 is the equivalent of the 'regular'-sized image plates, and 05 is and XL-sized plate; here are the two of them together so you can see the size difference:

And here are both of the plates next to a standard Konad plate so you can get a feel for the size of the images:

MoYou London Geek Collection 05 vs. Konad

MoYou London Geek Collection 06 vs. Konad

So how did the plates stamp? Very well:

("Hey Michelle! That's some pretty stamping polish ya got there. What is that?" Those are two of MoYou London's duochrome stamping polishes, and I'll be reviewing them for you very soon...)


The plates worked flawlessly, I had no problems stamping with them. They're very easy to work with, a total breeze for even a beginning stamper.

So what do you think, want to see a manicure??

Something about the message of putting 'ctrl+alt+del' on a stark black-and-white manicure just really appealed to me (I think I mentioned it in my video, even), and I just had to do it--I've had many days where I wish I could just hit the 'reboot' function, lol:

This is Julep Cleopatra stamped with Konad white. I wanted a satin finish, because I wanted this to look like a keyboard. I love how it came out, and think it's such a fun statement!

There are a ton of cute plates in this collection--another of my favorites is Geek 08, a collage-style plate made up of emoticons. So cute and so fun!!

You can find these plates on MoYou London's website; some of their plates also sell on Amazon. Check out their duochrome stamping polishes while you're there--I'll be reviewing them shortly, but spoiler alert: they're awesome. :)

Happy stamping!
M.

UPDATED: Putting it to the test (quick edition): Zoya Remove+ vs. Homemade polish remover

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to let you know about the preliminary findings of my even faux-er faux experiment on Zoya Remove+ vs. Loodie Loodie Loodie's Homemade Polish Remover idea. [Update: Another great link on this process is Wacki Laki's, so have a look at that one, too. :) ]

First, let me give you the exact recipe I used:

10oz (295mL) of pure acetone
2 1/4 tablespoons of pure glycerine
Splash of water

(1) In a bottle with a screw-top (I used an old recycled polish remover bottle), add your glycerine. Next, add a splash of water--it doesn't take much. Replace the top on your bottle and shake the mixture. If it mixes completely, move on to the next step. If it doesn't, add a titch more water and try again. Repeat as needed until the glycerin is completely mixed into the water. It shouldn't take much water to do this, and you don't want to use any more water than you have to, because it will just make the acetone less effective.

(2) Add your acetone, and shake until the mixture is fully mixed.

And that, my friends, is it. If you're wondering why you mix the glycerin with the water first, well, according to Loodie's recipe, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. My friend Aleksandra found it to be easier this way, so I figured, I like easy! Either way, the reason you need any water at all is that glycerin won't mix with acetone unless it's dissolved into water first (Loodie says more about this in her post).

How did it work? Again, this is a very fast test I did to get results out to you quickly. I used each remover to take off the polish from two nails of regular shimmer polish, and two nails of glitter polish. This time I made choices that favored the Zoya--e.g., I used Zoya on my pinkie nails and left the bigger nails for the homemade.

In terms of removal speed, I couldn't tell any difference at all. It also didn't take any more swooshes of the homemade to get the polish off.

In terms of cuticle care, I didn't have to scrub any harder, and the homemade remover didn't turn my cuticles white or anything like that, which you get when you use straight pure acetone. However, I can't tell long-term if there will be more cumulative damage with the homemade than the Zoya; I'll have to wait and use it for a time before I can make that decision. But what I can say for the moment is that when I use a drugstore polish remover vs. the Zoya Remove+, I can tell a difference immediately. I couldn't tell any difference between Zoya and the homemade.

Additional factors: One thing I did notice is that when you run your finger over the Zoya nails, it's perfectly slick (the same thing when you use pure acetone), but with the homemade it isn't quite as perfectly slick. HOWEVER. I was warned that if you use a mix that contains too much glycerin, you might get a bit of that, and it just means that you can use a little less glycerin. So, next time I will only use 2 tablespoons rather than 2 1/4.

Another factor here is that the homemade is clear and smells like mild acetone, while the Zoya is a lavender color and smells...well...like foofy acetone, truth be told. Whether that is a plus or minus depends on personal taste--for me, I really couldn't care less (::high-fives Purple Rain, she knows why::).

Price involved: Let's take a look at how much it costs to make 32oz of homemade remover according to this recipe. The 32oz bottle of Zoya Remove+ costs $25.00.

The price of a 6oz bottle of Glycerin at my CVS was $6 ($5.97) 1tbsp = 0.5 US oz, so this comes out to $0.50 per oz.

I have heard reports that most people can get 1 Gallon of Acetone for about $5 at Walmart; I think I paid about twice that, so I'm going to go with $10, just to be as fair as possible for the comparison to Zoya.  One gallon = 128oz = approximately 8 cents per oz ($0.08).

I used 10oz of acetone and about 1.12 oz of glycerin for my bottle. To make 32oz of finished remover would take approximately 30 oz or acetone and 2.25 oz of glycerine (this will end up with a tiny bit over the 32oz Zoya equivalent, to get the same blend I used today). That adds up to:

32 x $0.08 = $2.56 in acetone
2.25 x $0.50 = $1.13 in glycerin

Total: $3.69 for a 32oz bottle vs. $25 for Zoya Remove+. And, that's with my more expensive acetone; in places where you can get it for the cheaper price, it will be under $2.50 for a 32oz bottle. Clearly, this is an impressive savings; this is even cheaper than the drugstore polish remover. And, if you're in a place where you can't get Zoya products, this is an excellent, excellent option.

Where do you find acetone and glycerin? Apparently Walmart carries both, and any drugstore should carry glycerine. I was told I could find glycerin in the pharmacy section, so you can look there, but in my CVS, they had this with the hand lotions (and it says 'skin protectant' in small letters under the title), so this is another place they might have it if you can't find it. In fact...my CVS is having a sale this week (should be nation-wide) on 'skin care products' which includes the glycerin--not only were the bottles of glycerin on sale for 2 for $10, BUT if you buy $12 worth of 'skin care products' you get $4 back, AND there is a coupon in the magic red machine for $4 off of $10 worth of 'skin care products'. So, I got 3 bottles of glycerin (6 oz each) for $7 ($15-$4 coupon-$4 back), or $2.34 each. Since I was fairly confident this would work (I trust mah peeps) I went ahead and got three bottles--as you can imagine, I run through a lot of remover! If you don't want to make quite that level of commitment, you can still get 2 bottles for $6, or $3 each ($10 - $4 coupon). That will drop the price of your remover even more.

You can also get acetone in any hardware or general home repair store (like Lowe's or Home Depot).

One last comment. Aleksandra mentioned to me that she likes to put lemon oil in her version because it helps whiten her nails, and you can also put other oils like sweet almond oil to make it even more moisturizing. If you put in oils, put it in before you add your acetone, and shake before each use, as the oils will separate. I imagine these also make the remover smell good, too!

Okay, so that started off as a 'quick' post that got really long, lol. I think I covered everything--let me know if you have any questions!

Hugs and love,
M.