Herôme W.I.C. Graffiti Nail Art

Hi guys! A while back Herôme brought a new line to their already existing World Inspired Colours Collection: Graffiti Nail Art! This line is based on graffiti and other modern arts and all the polishes are named after hip, artistic districts in the city New York such as East Village Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Graffiti Nail Art line is very similar to other stamping products and they also offer a scraper, stamp, stamping polishes and plates.

As you can see above the products arrived very nicely. Every single set is packed in a very pretty holographic box with a bow on it. You can't go wrong with holographic! :-)

Sets

I received the Get Started kit as well as three sets of plates, called Fancy, Say It! and Tips. Herôme only offers sets of plates; you can't buy these single. You also have to buy the Small or Get Started kit if you want to have a stamp and scraper. The polishes can be bought alone. I like the idea of sets but I think it would be even more handy if all plates and the stamp and scraper were also sold single. That way you can see for yourself what you'd like to receive and, for example, not end up with a plate you never use.

Get Started Kit

The Get Started Kit contains a scraper, a stamp, three plates (B41, B77 and B44 - the set is called Flowers) and three special polishes: red (Soho Manhattan), black (Brooklyn) and white (Lower Manhattan). Like the name already tells you, this is a starters kit. I think this kit has everything you need to get known with this product but if you think it contains too much there's also a smaller kit called, very surprising, the Small Kit. These kits also contain a little guide with examples how to use everything.

Plates and Stamping

As you might have seen the plates Herôme offers look a lot like Konad plates. Some designs are the same as the designs on Konad plates, others aren't. This isn't necessarily a bad thing: €7.50 for three plates makes a good, cheap and easy to reach "Konad dupe". You use the plates the same as the other stamping plates around: you put polish on the plate, use the scraper, use the stamp and place the design on your nail. The Herôme plates work good and there's no trouble here with picking up the designs. For a how to check out their site!

These plates don't have a backing and that means that you should be careful because they are sharp! The ridges can easily cut your fingers. The scraper is from metal and if you press too hard it can damage your plate so be careful with that. I'd love to see a plastic scraper that comes with it.

Polishes

Hey, how sweet is this? Not only can the polishes be used for stamping, they're also stripers! Now I love this because I'm a BIG fan of stripers. These stripers have long, thin brushes and the cap is easily to hold. I want more of them!

Using these polishes for stamping also works fine. They are thinner than other stamping polishes so if you're starting with this form of nail art you might have to practice a little longer. Also the polishes aren't in your face pigmented - they are pigmented enough but still look a little 'faded'.

Designs

As you can see above I've made two designs. The first design is made with plate B44 and Lower Manhattan. The second design is made with Soho Manhattan and Brooklyn. You can click on these for an enlargement.

I used a regular black and white polish as my base for these two manicures because I don't own cremes from Herôme. The nail jewels aren't from Herôme.

Details

The W.I.C. Graffiti Nail Art products are exclusively available at Herôme's webshop. The Get Started Kit costs €24.95, the plates per set costs €7.50 and the polishes are available for €7.50.

Herome is being sold in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Australia and New Zealand. The Herôme products are distributed by wholesalers, drugstores, perfumeries, beauty salons and the internet.

These products are provided by Herôme for consideration. For more information read my Disclaimer.

Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics Review

Hi dear reader!
I received three polishes of Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics. These were sent to me by Alice & Jo's. They received these polishes as samples and they asked me for an opinion about them.



All lined up! Here you see Pop My Cherry, Man Chaser and Virginal Pink. I love the names Cheeky Monkey gives to their polishes, they crack me up.



There is a little motivational card attached to each polish. They make me smile and I have to say that I agree with them! Very cute!



First up is Virginal Pink, a sweet, light coloured pink. I'm not sure how virginal looks like in colour but I guess this comes close haha. I'm wearing four coats in the picture, yes, four! This polish wasn't covering at all and applying it was awful: too thin and streaky.

I know this polish is ment to be a little sheer, but I dislike sheers and I wanted to build it. Didn't work, too bad.



Here you see Pop My Cherry. Jelly goodness! Unlike Virginal Pink this applied amazingly good and for a moment I was in polish heaven. I'm wearing three coats in the picture. Pop My Cherry is a really bright, vibrant red, and it's super shiny.

I tested this polish in the weekend and I must say that I was impressed. Normally I change my mani every day (chipping and tipwear - I'm too clumsy for long nails) but I wore this one two days. No tipwear, no chipping. Wow. (Sad how impressed I am when other people wear their mani's for 3 days or more, haha!)



Last but not least: Man Chaser. I love this one, seriously I do. I'm not a pink fan but this... It has blue shimmer in it and that makes this pink special! This polish was also great to apply, not too thick or thin. I'm wearing three coats.

What to say? I'm not disappointed by these polishes except for Virginal Pink, but hey, there's a rotten apple in every collection right? ;) If you're interested in Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics you can always have a look on their site. Please pay attention to the polish names, they're funny!

Oh, and in case you were wondering: I had a file accident, that's why I'm having a bloody line on my pinky.

That's it for now, happy polishing today!
Michelle

[Review] Nailed Polish by Sleek - Oxford

Hi dear reader!

It's friday, it's rainy and my day started very slow. Then I received a package from Alice & Jo's Havesentials! I ordered it two days ago and from the ordering to payment, everything went great so that was a good experience. Alice & Jo's sells brands I've never heard of until recently, like Art de Lautrec and Sleek. Sleek was totally new for me so I decided to purchase three of them for testing, so here's a little review. :)

The one I'm showing you today is Sleek's Oxford. Oxford has a deep blue base colour and is packed with a little lighter blue shimmer, which makes it look very cool.



This is one coat. Isn't that amazing? I think I've never owned a polish that looks this good with only one coat. The formula was a little thick and that can be difficult for applying but I didn't experience any problems. If you find it too thick you can always add some thinner. Even though the polish was a little thick, it dried really fast. It's a good one for a quick mani.



Me, I'm a three coater. Most of the time I apply three coats, for colour reasons or to even the polish out but with this polish you definitly don't need three coats! This picture shows Oxford with two coats and is topped off with Nubar Diamont. With the top coat it's even more shinier, I like!



I took out my CG Matte Magic and this is how it looks matte. Seriously, most of the time I'm a bit disappointed the way shiny polish turns out matte but this one... It looks so silky.

You can buy the Sleek polishes for €3,18 (± $3,90). And guess what? They ship internationally! ;) I think it's a fair price for this polish. It might seem not that special to you with all the blues around but I think it's a good polish for a good price.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more reviews of polishes I've never ever tried!
Michelle