Bio Seaweed Gel--Review

Hey lacqueristas! Today I have Bio Seaweed Gel polish to review. This was my very first time using gel polish so I was very excited to receive this product to test out. Bio Seaweed Gel is a Canadian Gel Polish company. Here's a some info about the company & the product: 

"UNITY All-In-One Colour Gel Polish by Bio Seaweed Gel is the first ever professional gel polish with top, base, colour & strengthener all-in-one bottle. (4 PRODUCTS in ONE Bottle)

Bio Seaweed Gel is the most versatile and innovative Gel System available today. But most importantly, it is the healthier gel polish choice.

Here is a brief list in how BSG stands out from the numerous other professional gel brands:

1. No dehydrators to thin or stain the natural nails - regardless of wear time. FORMALDEHYDE, TOLUNE, DPB, SOLVENTS & BHA FREE

2. Safe and gentle both during application and removal: no sanding, buffing, primers or bonders needed for application. The industry's quickest soak-off removal in 5 minutes.

3. Versatility: we do offer a separate Diamond Shine Top and No-Sanding Base Gel Polish, as well as a Strengthener Builder Gel to complete tip and sculpture extensions.

4. User-friendly: simple steps and self-leveling make Bio Seaweed Gel quick to learn and a pleasure to work with, our products never shrink or wrinkle - ideal for nail art

5. Innovation: UNITY All-In-One Gel Polish is the EXCLUSIVE PEDICURE PRODUCT: no top, base or cleansers needed. (the colours dry to the touch with no sticky layer unlike any other)

6. Over 150 Colours

7. UV, LED and SUNLIGHT cured!!! (Yes, sunlight!)"

So that may have been quite a bit of info, but if you're brand spanking new to gel polish like me, the info is quite helpful. In my blogger sample I received 2 Unity All In One Color Gel System polishes, Diamond Shine Top Coat, one file, one buffer, and a pair of toe separators. I did a manicure and followed the directions it came with (lightly buff, clean with 70% alcohol, apply thin coat, cure, apply thin coat, cure, top coat, cure, wipe with 70% alcohol. It is very important if you use the topcoat to do the last step otherwise it will be sticky! Let's take a look at some of my manicure pics and then my thoughts.

Here it is with 2 coats. The directions say to use 2 coats and not to wrap the tips, but for some reason the polish wanted to avoid the tips. 

Here it is with 3 coats. I decided to go for a 3rd coat to get better coverage on the tips and it looks much better.

Again, 3 coats.

Here it is with some nail art and Diamond Shine Top Coat. 

For the art I used Nailz Craze NC 02 in Konad White.

Day 8--design intact and bareeely any tip wear.

Day 8

Here's my thoughts on the product:

Application: Super easy! Great formula which made it easy to apply thin coats. The brush was amazing. I was worried about how I'm supposed to clean up gel polish, but I applied carefully and no clean up was needed. The topcoat was also great AND it did not smear my stamping! I was really excited about that. I used a UV lamp to cure and dry time was fast, 2 minutes for each coat. 

Wear: Great. No chipping and as you can see on day 8, there's minimal signs of tip wear. I wore this camping and was very hard on them (played with rocks, swam, tried to cut wood with an ax, etc.).

Removal: On the fence. I followed the instructions which is the foil method using pure acetone for 5 mins, push off with orange stick, and buff any remaining. I did this and I saw the top of the polish soften and crack, but an orange stick didn't really help in removal so I had to use my metal cuticle pusher. Even then, a fair amount of polish remained and I had to buff a lot, which left a couple nails super thin. I was bummed so I left my other hand in the foil for 10 mins and I didn't have to buff as much. 

Overall, I did have a good experience, but removal was not as great as I had hoped. I will definitely try it again, but just do the foil method for a few more minutes. I will say that I was impressed with the wear and I will for sure be using this for a vacation mani! Lastly, for my stampaholics, this is a nail stampers dream. If you stamp and mess up, you can wipe off and stamp again without ruining the base! You can purchase Bio Seaweed Gel polish here. Each color retails for $18.

Bundle Monster Holiday Stamping Plate Collection Review

Hey loves! Where are all my stampaholics at? Today I have the new Bundle Monster Holiday Stamping Plate Collection for review. There are 25 plates and images for tons of holidays. I don't think I'll ever need to use any other set when I do a holiday themed manicure now. The holidays they have images for include: Christmas, Hanukkah, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, New Years, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, birthdays, baby, 4th of July, graduation, and Cinco de Mayo. There are also a few images that aren't specified for just a holiday like a few floral prints and romantic images as well.

The set comes in this little box and each plate has a blue film on it to protect it from scratches. It needs to be removed before use.

Each plate has a paper backing so you don't have to worry about getting cut on sharp edges.

Here's a look at some size comparisons. Measured L to R

Measured top to bottom

Measured L to R

Measured top to bottom.

As you can see, the images from the Holiday Set are exactly the same size as the 3rd BM set. Now let's take a look at some manicures I created with it!

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls stamped using BM H25 in Konad Psyche Pink, Konad Yellow, Konad Princess Apple Green, & Konad Sky Pearl.

OPI A Definite Moust-Have stamped using BM H23 in Konad White

OPI Black Onyx stamped using BM H11 using China Glaze's Deviantly Daring, No Plain Jane, Rare & Radiant, Swanky Silk, Unpredictable, and Want My Bawdy

So what are my thoughts about this set? I love that there are tons of holiday images in this set, but there are still other images that you can use for any occasion. I would definitely recommend this for someone who is a stampaholic or likes to do holiday themed nails. However, if you are looking for a starter set with images for everyday use, this set might not be for you. As far as image size, the size is perfect for my nails, they are the same size as the 3rd BM set and I got full coverage with the full nail designs. I had no trouble with getting the image to transfer and small details transferred with ease. I am definitely going to be getting a lot of use out of these plates because I love doing holiday themed manis! You can purchase this plate here for $21.99 (less than $1 per plate!).

Check out Bundle Monster on their:

Website: http://www.bundlemonster.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bundlemonster

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bundlemonster

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/bundlemonster/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/bundlemonster

Google+: https://plus.google.com/104479749953158052045/posts

Mint Mani for Talia Joy

Hey everyone. Today I have a mint mani to take part in #mintmanisfortaliajoy. The nail community is doing mint colored manis today in honor of Talia Joy Castellano, a 13 year old girl who battled 2 kinds of cancer for over 6 years and passed away this week. Talia was an aspiring MUA, YouTube beauty guru, and an inspiration to many with her positive outlook on life and by reaching so many of her goals before she passed. Prayers go out to her family. For this mani, I used China Glaze Highlight of My Summer and did an accent nail using China Glaze I Herd That stamped using Konad M57 in Konad Black. I also added some gold square studs because Talia liked her nails blinged out!

OPI Vant to Bite My Neck & PUEEN 26

Hey beauties! I had a lot of fun over the weekend camping for my 2 year wedding anniversary. This was mine and hubby's 2nd time camping together with my sister and her husband and I think we will start going annually. Also I mentioned in my last post that I was entering that mani in a contest on Instagram and I just wanted to let you know that I won! I was so happy to wake up to that this morning. I won some KIKO polishes from the UK. Can't wait to receive my prize because I've been wanting to try that brand.

Onto today's mani. I did this quickly last week just to have something to post. I've been wearing a gel polish for about a week because I'm going to review it and it's kind of preventing me from changing my nails. For this mani I used OPI Vant to Bite My Neck and stamped using PUEEN 26 in China Glaze Harmony. The base photographed so dark I'm not sure why, but this actually did look very pretty in person!

Here's some pics of hubby & I camping at Big Sur, CA over the weekend.

Zoya Ziv & OPI Anti-Bleak Zig Zag Tape Mani

Hey loves! Quick post today. I leave to camping tomorrow and I haven't packed anything yet. YIKES.
Don't worry, I already did my nails LOL. Today I have a tape mani I did for a contest on Instagram. I haven't done a tape mani since January and these didn't really come out as planned, but it happens to the best of us so I decided to post it anyways. I used a base of Zoya Ziv, applied some triangle tape pieces, and then used OPI Anti-Bleak. It still looks fine, it just didn't come out very explosion looking like I had intended =P Hope everyone has a good weekend, I know I will!

China Glaze Aquadelic with China Glaze Techno Gradient

Hi loves! I've been too busy to do my nails lately. Last week was 4th of July stuff, this weekend I went to Island Reggae Fest at Great America, and then now I'm getting ready to go camping this weekend for my 2 year wedding anniversary. Not to mention I have to study for my RN licensure exam coming up, eek! I had the equivalent of writer's block with my nails over the weekend so here's what ended up happening when I ran out of time lol. I used China Glaze Aquadelic and did a glitter gradient using China Glaze Techno. These 2 may have actually been untrieds so at least this mani was not a complete disappointment. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Stars & Chevron Stripes

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts. I would've posted something yesterday, but when I was going to do my nails the power went out. Anyways, here's my 4th of July mani. I wanted to do a few, but I've just been busy the last few days. For this mani I used OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It and OPI Danke Shiny Red and stamped using PUEEN 24 and PUEEN 03 in Konad White. I would've used some other images, but I'm so anal that I like to use images in the same set or brand lol, psyyychooo.