Gel Nail Swatches - Final Thoughts!

You may remember the gel nails that I had done at Professional Beauty North a while back?! Well I thought I'd do a quick update post showing the polish after 3 and a half weeks of wear and what I thought about how they left my nails after.

As you can see, all brands stood up well in how well they lasted, none of them chipped, wore away or changed in appearance at all - and that is pretty damn impressive. Nothing I did made any difference to how they looked. In fact, they were all still so very pretty, that I did feel a bit bad when I removed them.

Saying that though, I was definitely ready to remove them as you can see, my nails have grown quite a lot and there was a huge gap between my cuticle and where the polish started - and normally, I'd have taken the polish off way before I did, but this was an experiment, and so they stayed put.

After removing them, the only nail that appears to have suffered any damage was my thumbnail, which had the Calgel on. It feels so dry and is hugely marked, even buffing didn't smooth it out - I'll spare you the photographs I took, it's not pretty at all!

I'd certainly recommend the NuBar Gelicure and Artistic Colour Gloss without hesitation, and would just say to make sure that the Calgel system isn't going to damage your nails before you have it done as other than the damaged nail, I was still very impressed. I can't honestly say if this damage was a one off as this is my one and only nail/experience of it, just approach with caution and make sure you know everything there is to know.

Do you have gel nail polish? If so, which one and do your nails ever get damaged with it? x

P.S - The Kooky Nail Wrap lasted 2 weeks, although there was tip-shrinkage quite soon into that but it wasn't awfully noticeable!

Professional Beauty Nubar & China Glaze Nail Polish Haul!

First off, sorry for my lack of posting, I've been a bad blogger (and not very organised) as I didn't get a chance to schedule any posts whilst away from home over the weekend!

Yesterday I went to Professional Beauty North @ Manchester Central (although if you're like me, you actually still call it the GMEX) and whilst I wasn't there as long as I'd have liked (Mr Beauty Scoop was bored!), you'll be pleased to know that I still managed to have quite a large nail polish spending spree.

 Nubar Prisms Full Collection!

 Nubar Prisms Close Up!

 Nubar Prisms Close Up!

 Nubar Reclaim

Nubar Sparkles Collection!

I bought 20 Nubar polishes, including the full Prisms collection as I love the look of the holographic finishes, all but the silver G180 polish from the Sparkle collection since I already own that one (and have blogged about it HERE!), and Reclaim, the green holographic polish from the Going Green collection. I also bought a few random sparkly ones that I think I'll use as topcoats to make plainer polishes twinkle!

 China Glaze 'Let it Snow' Seasonal Sparkles Set!

 China Glaze 'Let it Snow' Belle of the Ball Set!

From China Glaze I bought 2 Christmas sets (I would have bought more but they had sold out(!) on the first day) including Seasonal Sparkles that contains Poinsettia, Twinkle Lights and Holly-Day polishes, and the Belle of the Ball set that contains Champagne Bubbles and Tinsel Town polishes and a bauble - I have a few more bits from the Christmas/Holiday 2011 'Let it snow' collection coming from America too, I'll show you when they arrive!

L-R: It's Alive, Señorita Bonita,Ruby Pumps, Ahoy, 108 Degrees, Pool Party!

I also bought 6 other China Glaze polishes including 108 Degrees, Señorita Bonita, Pool Party, Ahoy, It's Alive and Ruby Pumps!!

I'd have loved to have spent more time (and money) there but after leaving early, and remembering how packed it was on the Monday last year, I decided to quit whilst I was ahead and order some more bits online at some point. I don't think I did too badly, do you?

Did anybody else go to Professional Beauty? If so, what, if anything did you buy? x