MoYou Nails product review

This is a bit of a first-ever for me... stamping designs that don't cover the whole nail! I was asked if I'd like to review a few products from the MoYou Nails collection, including one of their stamping polishes of my choice, and I jumped at the opportunity, since my default white stamping polish (Sally Hansen InstaDri in Whirlwind White) is almost used up and I'm not sure where I'd find another bottle!

I received MoYou Special Stamping polish in White, MoYou Stamper and plastic scraper and image plates 105 and 106 to try out. 106 is a set of french tips. I've been intrigued by these for years, but a little scared, and I've had a few unsuccessful attempts with tip images that came with other sets of plates. So a little nervous to try this out, I selected this floral image.... 

This was rather easy to place - maybe because of my current nail shape and I loved the effect! The base mani is Rescue Beauty Lounge Dead Calm, an old shade that is my favourite navy blue ever. 

I found the white stamping polish dense and opaque, without being thick at all - so it spread perfectly over the plate and was easily removed by the plastic scraper. The stamper I was sent was a *bit* squishy; I've not had great success with full-on-squishy stampers I've tried, and always end up going back to my old Konad stamper, which is really too small for my nails. But this one works great and I'm really happy with it. I roughed up the surface a bit with an emery board before I started, but I found the stamper picked up the image perfectly from the plate and transferred it very easily to my nails. My nails are not the easiest to stamp on, because I have quite a high c-curve, but this stamper handles that very well. 

Great so far - I'm very impressed by the polish, the stamper and the quality of the plate. I was a bit too hasty putting topcoat over my design and ended up with micro-streaks that show up in the pictures (but didn't in real life). 

The second plate was 105, a selection of individual heart images. I decided to test these out over a textured polish (Binky London Crystal Pink) and create a skittle design. My favourite image on the plate is the grafitti style heart in the middle; I used this on my index finger for a full image, off centre on my ring finger and multiple times on my middle finger to create a random whole nail graffiti pattern. Then I chose a different heart for my little finger. I love how this turned out and the application of the stamped images to the textured polish was a breeze.  

So I'm giving a big thumbs up for the stamper, the plastic scraper is fine (although I always find an old plastic card perfectly adequate for this job) and comes as a bundle with the stamper anyway, the plates are good quality and stamp very well (and gave me the chance to try designs I'd probably not have chosen otherwise, as I tend to always go for full nail images) and the white stamping polish seems great.... before I decide if I want to make it my default white stamping and nail art polish I wanted to try a couple of other things though... 

Full nail stamped design with a plate from my collection - the polish handled perfectly! I wanted a soft effect for this mani, so it has a layer of white jelly (Sally Hansen Polar Bare) over the stamping. The grey is Barry M Gelly in Almond.

And lastly - is it opaque enough for dots?  I think so - these dots over a dark chocolate brown (Megan Miller Ganache) certainly pass muster by my standards. So I'd definitely recommend MoYou's white polish for stamping and other nail art!

 The MoYou products (Stamper and Scraper, White Special Stamping Polish and image plates 105 and 106) in this post were provided for honest review.These are all available to purchase at the MoYou website. The Binky London textured polish was a review sample (see this post for my review of this polish). Everything else I used in these designs is from my own collection and was purchased by me.

Nails Inc Seven Dials... with some dots

Nails Inc Seven Dials (dots with Megan Miller Latte)

I'm on something of a roll with the dots - they're so fun and summery. I think dots, especially big ones, are my favourite nail art style. The base for this mani is Nails Inc Seven Dials, a soft emerald green and I did the dots with Megan Miller Latte. The colour of the dots surprised me a bit, as Megan Miller Latte is a soft coffee shade... but its rather sheer, so over the green became this interesting mustard. Not quite what I'd planned, but I like it all the same!

Nails Inc Seven Dials (dots with Megan Miller Latte)

Since people keep asking about the big dots, I use one of my silversmiths doming punches to do these. I have a bag of them in different sizes, and I usually just pull one out at random. The very biggest ones don't dot well (the dots become more like streaks) - I get the best results from tools that are about 5mm diameter. To be honest, any hard spherical object will make good dots, it just needs to be easy to handle - so these tools are great because they come with a handle. Before I thought about using these I made dots with various household objects - brush handles, bits of jewellery etc.

Nails Inc Seven Dials (dots with Megan Miller Latte)

Both the polishes in this post are from my collection and were purchased by me. I bought Megan Miller Latte recently from CutECOsmetics; I've not worn it on its own yet but I will make a post about it when I get around to doing so!

Pink Gradient with dots...

Essie Go Ginza and DJ Play That Song gradient with Barry M Lychee dots

A bit of jolly nail art for my newly rounded nails! I chose a couple of blue-leaning pinks for the gradient (Essie Go Ginza and DJ Play That Song), then added nude dots with Barry M Lychee. I put the dots on straight away, so no pictures of the gradient on its own, sorry! The gradient was done with my usual method of a fine, damp makeup sponge; I painted one coat of the lighter pink (Go Ginza) to give the gradient a base. DJ Play That Song is rather jellyish, but the formula blended well with the other Essie polish for the gradient and I love how the pale pink base of Go Ginza really makes the colour pop.

I really enjoyed this combination of colours, and I'm getting used to the new shape now - I was sad when I finally had to remove this mani the other day because there was too much growth around my cuticles.

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Essie Go Ginza and DJ Play That Song gradient with Barry M Lychee dots

All polishes in this post are from my personal collection. Barry M Lychee is one of my favourite nudes, especially for nail art - the formula is so rich and dense it works fabulously well for dots, striping and stamping.

Laqa&Co TUXEDO and Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit - swatch and review

Laqa&Co Tuxedo

I've got some nail art staples to share today - black polishes and a nail art tool kit including brushes, striping tape and  dotting tools! 

Let's start at the beginning with the polishes. This is a polish duo from Laqa&Co - 'Tuxedo' is a glossy and matte pair. They come in the double ended bottle like the Laqa&Co Gold Fleck Manicure range - I have to say I'm not keen on the bottle format, it makes the brush harder to control because of the weight of the bottle in your hand and it leaves the tiny bottle you are painting from rather unstable. The polishes inside the bottles are great though!

Here are the black polishes on their own to start with - this is one coat of each , no topcoat. I'm impressed with both of them; the matte is a bit streaky but I think that is more down to me not being able to hold the brush steady because the 'handle' is a bottle of polish and is too long and heavy!

My first trial was to use the black polishes over my existing mani (Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler) to create some nail art skittles using the Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit. The kit includes a flat wide brush (which I've been using as a clean-up brush for the edges of my nails; this is a perfect brush for this), a fine brush for detailing, a striping brush, a fan brush, two double-ended dotting tools (small and large) and a roll of striping tape. Just about everything you need to get started! I used the small dotting tool and the fine brush for my index finger, the striping brush for my middle finger and the fan brush for my ring finger; for all these fingers I used the glossy black from the Tuxedo duo. For my little finger I created a 'ladybird' nail - first I used the striping tape to make a neat edge for the french tip, then applied the matte black. Then I added the matte black dots with the biggest dotting tool.

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Bobby Dazzler

My next test was a Tuxedo mani - but I liked the ladybird nail too much to remove it so it stays as my accent nail! I used the striping tape again to create the neat edges on the black nails.

And then I added black dots to match the ladybird nail on my other nails - glossy dots on the matte nail, matte dots on the glossy nails. I love how this worked out!

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Bobby Dazzler

I wanted to wear this for a few days to see how long the matte stayed matte, so when I got bored with the ladybird nail I changed the accent for this green holo (Enchanted March 2014).

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Enchanted March 2014

I'm pleased to report that the matte stayed matte until I removed the mani after three days. Sometimes matte polishes start out looking fabulous but go shiny almost overnight - this one did stand the test of time. And finally, here is a rare shot of my right hand - I reversed the pattern so I get more of that green holo goodness here. You can see the matte black is streaky here... definitely harder to apply and get a good finish with my left hand using that bottle!

My verdict on the Laqa&Co Tuxedo duo is that the polishes themselves are great, but I'm not keen on the packaging. I'd be all over these if they were sold in separate, full size bottles though. The Models Own Nail Art Toolkit is great, it contains a good range of brushes and dotting tools to cover most needs, the brushes are good quality and easy to handle. They seem to withstand cleaning in acetone pretty well. The striping tape is good and sticky (some versions are not) and a good addition to the kit - I like to use it for making neat edges as well as the more obvious 'stripey' manis!

Laqa&Co Tuxedo and the Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit were sent for review. Laqa&Co Tuxedo is available from  Retail Beauty in the UK. The duo is £14.95, which I think is quite pricey for such small bottles. The Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit is available from Models Own for a very reasonable £8. I purchased Enchanted March 2014 from a friend (the Enchanted monthly polishes are an unseen pre-order - my friend doesn't like green!).

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes - Draycott Avenue & Eaton Terrace

I happened upon these quite by chance in Boots last week - I'd no idea that they'd been released and I hadn't seen anybody else's swatches. But I love neutral shades and I was very intrigued by the packaging (lame I know) - they look like little bottles of foundation or maybe concealer.

There are four shades in the collection, but Nails Inc is pretty high end, and I have lots of neutral shades, so I was selective and chose just two. Had it been a cheaper brand I would have bought the full collection. I chose the darkest one (Draycott Avenue) and the warmer, less pinky shade of the paler ones (Eaton Terrace).

Here's Draycott Terrace - it's a fab colour and reminds me of chocolate milk, chocolate ice-cream and Ambrosia chocolate custard. Ambrosia chocolate custard is one of my ultra-running superfoods, easy to eat and very tasty... and after 40 miles or so when I really, really fancy something chocolately it's just perfect. So I'm looking at my nails now and wanting to eat them, lol!

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Nails Inc Perfect Nude - Draycott Avenue 

I wasn't as impressed with the application of this as I'd expected - it was a bit thick and at two coats, even with topcoat, it looked a bit rough and streaky. I added a third coat and then another coat of Seche Vite and finally the finish was good!

Nails Inc Perfect Nude - Draycott Avenue 

This is my second pick - Eaton Terrace. Three coats and Seche Vite; formula on this was much more workable and fluid but I wouldn't expect a colour this light to be opaque at two coats, so I went straight onto the third. 

Nails Inc Perfect Nude -  Eaton Terrace

I think these are good, classic shades, very wearable and totally work appropriate. Of course, I couldn't resist putting them together somehow..... so first of all a sponge gradient. The pigments are fine and the formula seems just about perfect for gradients - this gradient was very easy to produce.

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes - Draycott Avenue & Eaton Terrace

I loved the gradient, and I wore it like this for a couple of days. Then I felt the need to fiddle, and started adding dots. I should have left it just with dots of the darker shade near my nail tips, but I kept on, and I think I spoilt it with too much fussing. But all good fun!

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes - Draycott Avenue & Eaton Terrace

I purchased Nails Inc Draycott Avenue and Eaton Terrace from my local Boots.