Orange Gel Nails with Swarovski Crystals

Just plain and simple ASP Volcano gel overlays with a but of bling, Swarovski Crystals of course! I just can't get enough of them. Think I'm addicted. x

Cherry Pie Short Nail Extensions

I used another one of my ASP colour gels on a customer today; Cherry Pie. She liked having shortish nails but they were all a little uneven in length so we evened them up with some short extensions. The colour was far pinker than was shown on the sticker, but we agreed that it was still a fab colour and would look amazing with the tan that she was going to have on holiday next week.

Bubble Gum Pink Gel Nail Extensions

I had an impromptu booking yesterday afternoon by someone looking for pink gel extensions. I was really excited as it was the perfect opportunity to use my new gel colours that I bought from Sally's recently. I have been struggling to get OPI anywhere locally and it's been really annoying me, so I really needed to get an alternative without compromising on quality.

Whilst at Sally's I found ASP colour gel in Tutti Frutti (amongst a couple of other pink shades) and decided to give it a go. It was really nice to work with considering it is about half the price of OPI however it was a little runnier than I am used to so you have to apply thinner layers which is quite annoying. I finished off with a layer of clear top coat and I think that the result was lovely. I certainly won't be giving up my OPI all together as its quality can't be beaten, but if you can't justify the £25 a pot price tag (and that's before you have bought the base and top coat) then I would certainly recommend the cheaper ASP range.

 

Stiletto Rockstar Nails with Swarovski Crystals

Lauren Goodger Loves Wonderlustnails!

 

Check out the sly flash of my Midnight Rockstar Nails with Swarovski Crystals! Lauren Goodger from The Only Way Is Essex loved them.

Crystal Manicures and Pedicures

I have recently had a lot of enquiries for Swarovski Crystal manicures and pedicures and have run out of kit, so I have ordered some OPI Axxium DS Radiance as the embedding gel and Swarovski Crystals. All in all it set me back quite a lot as I anticipated that I would need about 500 crystals for a pedicure/shortish set of nails and OPI doesn't come cheap in the UK, however I went to the beauty wholesalers earlier on today and took a closer look at Sally's range and thought that it would be fun to have a play around with their own range. I ended up buying ASP Base Coat, Disco Ball gel and Clear gels, as well as a pack of 250 standard crystals. The Disco Ball gel is a clear gel with holographic glitter micro glitter. It looks stunning and despite some not so favourable reviews, I found it to be really great to work with. It came out with a great effect and overall I think that it's a brilliant cheaper alternative. As a nail professional I will still offer the premium quality version with OPI and Swarovski as I am a bit of a nail snob and want to give my customers the absolute best finish, but I would certainly not be unhappy if a nail technician gave me a set of nails like this (I'm referring to the middle one just in case you were wondering!). Unfortunately the iPhone doesn't have a great zoom and I have used Instagram to give a different effect, but I think that you get the idea.

I would really like to know what you views are on Crystal Manicures/Pedicures, and if you have any experiences then please feel free to comment.

Just in case you were wondering, I offer the Swarovski and OPI version for £30 ($48.57US) for just the big toe/one finger on each foot/hand with OPI Axxium DS Radiance gel, with gel on the remaining fingers or toes, £50 ($80.95US) for a full set of toes and £60 ($97.14US) for a full set of finger nails. Nails Inc offer the Crystal Manicure in their salons for a hefty £120 ($194.28US).                   


                             

Price List Available

My new Wonderlust Nails pricelist for mobile nail services in Somerset is now available.Includes lots of cool and unusual services such as the Swarovski Crystal manicure, Rockstar Nails etc. I am also looking into nail wrap suppliers, so these will be coming soon!

See the Wonderlust Nail Services tab for full details.

OPI Giveaway!!! Who wants Red Lights Ahead...Where?

In honour of my new Wonderlust Nails Facebook page, I have decided to offer one of my favourite OPI nail polishes from the Holland Collection - Red Lights Ahead...Where? 

OPI say this "coral-packed red is the hottest in the district" and they are right! So on-trend for Summer 2012 and looks so amazing on any skin tone.

The offer ends at 8pm GMT tomorrow, so get your skates on and enter!

To enter please comment on this post, like my Wonderlust Nails page on Facebook www.facebook.com/wonderlustnails and share the post on Facebook.

If you have any questions then give me a shout! Good luck. xxx

                               

Long Time No Speak

Sorry that I have been a big quiet on the blog for a while. I have been really busy with ill children and most recently ill me. Have had a terrible sickness bug that seems to not want to leave my household and it really hit us all hard. I am hopefully getting towards the end of it although I haven't been able to get my appetite back fully, but I have my Manicure and Pedicure Diploma course tomorrow with Emma Hawkes from Taunton Nail Training Academy so I need to fight through it.

I also realised that I forgot to show you all what Anniversary Gift Part 2 was, so here it is...

It would also be rude not to show you my new OPI Manicure and Pedicure range which I will be testing on my sister who is my model on my course tomorrow. I'm very excited about these products as OPI is always amazing quality and the smell coming from the bottles even though I haven't opened them is lush! They had better be good as they are the most expensive range that I looked at. I wanted to start as I meant to go on and believe that it's really important not to scrimp on products as you almost always get what you pay for.

I have Tropical Citrus Soak, Tropical Citrus scrub, Tropical Citrus Mas and Tropical Citrus Massage. When I bought these a while ago I also treated myself to a new bottle of Avoplex Cuticle Oil, which also smells and feels delicious.

I will update you when I'm done, but for now I'm off the learn every possible anatomical part of the hands and feet. Wish me luck as I'll need it, especially for the exam.

OPI Axxium Gel Nail Overlays

I did my first set of OPI Axxium Gel Nail Overlays on my own toe nails this weekend which was challenging to say the least. It took about as long as I expected but I really hurt my back from bending down to try and see that they were done perfectly. I'm a sucker for perfection which is why I tested on myself to start with, however I think that the only way to get a flawless finish is to be brave and get a model to test it out properly.

Katy Perry Disco Ball Crystal Covered Nails

                                

I am most definitely going to be doing these Katy Perry disco ball nails very soon. I imagine that it will take a really long time, so maybe best to wait until I don't have the kids around. I might actually do them on the train on the way to the Professional Beauty show at the Excel in London!!! 


In the meantime, here is a video tutorial that I found on You Tube. Click here to view.


L xxx

OPI Axxium Soft French Overlays

My friend Jo came over last night to have her gel overlays done on her nails, and I thought that I would post the result. 


Please ignore the uneven length of her nails. She needs to grow some broken nails out, but didn't want to shorten the length of her other longer nails.

She has had overlays done in the past so I knew that I could get an honest opinion from her. She said that she likes how lightweight and natural they feel, and one of the main features of the OPI Axxium is that it is so light, but without compromising the strength of the gel.

Jo had pretty good nails to begin with, but we decided to use the pink overlay gel to make her nails appear even healthier. I also used the soft white on the free edge to create a natural french finish.

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Wonderlust Nails are now on Twitter! Follow me @Wonderlustnails

OPI Axxium Gel Nail Extensions

I decided that it was time to get some more practice in with gel nail extensions as I have to get the knack of working with the OPI Axxium sculpture gel. My natural nails have been growing really well, but I have felt that they are dry and bendy, so I wanted to give them a little added length and strength to help them along.


 Ever since I started training, I found that I was a bit heavy handed with the sculpture gel and brush and as a result, it ended up a bit uneven. One of the main services that I will be offering as a nail technician will be extensions, so I am determined to get perfect as soon as I can. 


I started to practice on tips attached to my freaky fake hand and eventually I felt confident enough to have a go on my myself, and here is the result of my first solo attempt (without the supervision of my tutor Emma from Taunton Nail Training).

Shame about the flash on this one, but you get the idea.

I actually feel happier with the right hand which I was surprised with as I am very much a right hander, but maybe the extra concentration paid off after all.

The pictures above were taken 5 days after I carried out the treatment, and they are still staying strong, however I have learnt the following:

• I need to working on practicing my filing and shaping of the extension as some are more oval than others.
• I need to make sure that all nails are the same length as a couple are a little longer than others.
• Until I build up my experience I need to level the finish a little better and they aren't as even as I would like them to be, although they certainly aren't bad for a first attempt.
• I have to practice the 'rock on' tip gluing method a bit more as the ring finger on my left hand has an air bubble, which shows under the gel and could compromise the finish and staying power of that nail.

As always, let me know if you have any improvement suggestions as I want to get really good at this, and constructive feedback is vital.


L xxx