How to buy Hello Kitty Fauxnad/Konad plates

Ok, I get several questions about this every week, so here we go:

1. Go to www.ebay.com (if you have a national ebay site like ebay.co.uk you can use that too).

2. Search for "nail art stamping plate".

3. Get a lot of results and start sorting through them.

By far most the Hello Kitty plates I have seen have come from Hong Kong and have been part of a set. Usually the price is quite resonable, but watch out for shipping costs. Not all sets will include the Hello Kitty plate. Make sure you make it VERY CLEAR to the seller that you want the Hello Kitty plate. The GCOOL Hello Kitty plate has the number A02, but sometimes it's not enough to give the number of the plate, since different sellers have different numbers. At times there is a language barrier, so be patient :)

Hope that helps and remember to peel the plastic of the plates when you get them!

Airport Haul!

I've recently had surgery for an ingrown toe nail (ouchies), so I haven't really been in the mood to do much. I did take pictures of my duty free haul from my latest trip:

From left to right: Clinique High Impact Mascra, Guerlain Holiday KissKiss lipgloss, Victor & Rolf Flowerbomb limited edition, Guerlain Holiday eyeshadow quad.

The Guerlain Stuff:This collection isn't really very unique, but the colors are very wearable, and the packaging is so nice!

Flowerbomb perfume with LE packaging:

I know a lot of people find this scent too sweet, but I love it. Mmmmm candy!

NOTD: OPI Krème de la Kremlin

I'm not sure if this is an "old lady" color? I recently turned 30, so maybe I'm an old lady now!
I quite like it. Not sure how to describe the color, but application and staying power were good.

NOTD: Nubar Illuminating Apricot + "Fauxnad" k05

"Hello"

I love the little crab on the GCOCL "Fauxnad" plate k05. He's so cute. I used a pearly purple Konad Special polish. I'm not sure what the name is, but it was very easy to work with.

NOTD: Nubar Illuminating Apricot

Nubar Illuminating Apricot is a clear polish with orange shimmer. It's quite pretty and sparkly, but doesn't look that great on me because the white parts of my nails seem to disappear and appear at random.

Nail Care - My Way

I've gotten some request and questions about how I take care of my nails. I'm not really sure that I'm doing it the "right way", but hopefully it can still be useful. I don't have a lot of trouble with my nails breaking. I think it's a combination of genetics, nutrition, and the products I use on my nails.

Genetics
Too late to do much about that one....

Nutrition
I'm pretty sure this is huge. I eat a lot of veggies and some fruit too. Broccoli is good even though I don't love the taste. Carrots are yummy. I believe in getting a very varied diet.


Unsaturated fats like oil are good in moderation. Sugar is bad. I don't eat candy or cake, and I don't drink soda. I just don't like the taste of sweets so it's easy for me. I've heard lots of people reporting that they felt better after they cut down on sugar. I also try to drink a lot of water (in between all the coffee) I don't take multi vitamins because I should be able to cover my needs through food. I do take a biotin supplement. Some people can take very large amounts of biotin, but it can cause acne. I take 2.5 mg and I haven't had any problems.

Products
Ah, the fun part. First of all, I don't believe you can "treat" your nails. They are made of dead cells just like your hair. Like your hair you can apply products that will support them and make them less likely to break, but after you remove the product; the effect will be gone. Here is my nail care rutine
1. Remove old polish with acetone free nail polish remover and felt I feel that acetone free remover is gentler and doesn't dry my skin out as much.
2. Soak the hands in hand cream I haven't found a perfect hand cream yet, so I just use what I've got.
3. Wipe the nails with the acetone polish remover. This will remove any residue from the hand cream and any oils that might be present on the nail.
4. Apply base coat. Currently I'm using Zoya Anchor which is decent. Before I used OPI Nail Envy. It sucked. It made my nails yellow.
5. Apply polish. This is actually the most important step. My nails have a much larger risk of breaking if they are unpolished or the polish is chipped. I usually apply 2-3 coats.
6. Apply top coat. For fast drying top coats I like Poshe. Sally Hansen also has some great fast drying top coats.
7. Apply cuticle oil. I'm currently using a Nubar Cucumber one. I try to let the polish dry for a least 30 minutes first.
8. Apply some more hand cream.

Shaping
I keep my nail polish on when shaping. It makes it easier to get the nails even when you don't have the white parts distracting. You're supposed to be really careful about shaping, but usually I just clip them with clippers. If I don't want to take a lot of length off I use an emery board. After I get them to the length I want, I file them (in one direction only) with a crystal file. Mine is from OPI and it's pretty nice. I prefer a square shape, but "squoval" (square oval) or rounded nails look nice too. Pointy nails would probably make good close combat weapons.

Other advice
Don't use your nails as tools. You've probably heard it before, but it doesn't make it less through. I don't really use my nails for anything besides looking at. If you use your nails to open stuff they are going to break. Just saying... Change your polish when it starts chipping. I usually never have nails break unless I let the polish chip. When the polish chips the nail below is not protected and it breaks easily. Don't soak your hands in water. The nails will suck up water and it will distort them causing the polish to chip. I solve this problem by never cleaning or showering (just kidding... about the showering). I hope that was helpful. Now go eat some broccoli.

OPI Alice in Wonderland

I haven't really been following the OPI collections lately, but this is new, correct?

The colors are:

Off with Her Red! – A glowing, empowering hot red
The Red Queen: Cruel ruler of Underland, she cuts off the heads of those who disagree with her. She would rather be feared than loved.
Absolutely Alice - An absolutely amazing blue glitter
Alice Kingsley: Beautiful but slightly off-kilter, sees the world differently than most. In the Rabbit Hole, she seeks to write her own destiny.
Mad as a Hatter – A madly marvelous black-multi glitter
The Mad Hatter: Formerly the White Queen’s hatter. Now, he is part of the Underland Resistance and driven to madness by guilt.
Thanks So Muchness! - For this ”much-have” red shimmer
And lastly…; As if the tale was not adventurous enough, one more shade to color your own Underland over and over.
The blue and the multicolored glitters look quite nice.

Source: p'ssion.se