New HyperGels - Do They Gradient?

Hello!

So I know with new polishes I often see the question "Do they stamp?". Well, I'm not into stamping when I do nail art, mostly because I'm not very good at it! What I do enjoy (as you'll probably know if you read my blog regularly) is gradients. So as soon as I saw those three paler HyperGel shades by Models Own (reviewed in my last post) I knew I wanted to try them out as a gradient.

I wouldn't necessarily have put all three of these shades together in a gradient - I knew the pink and blue would look good as they were both so pale but wasn't sure about including the peach as it was a bit of a darker colour. However I went ahead with all three just to see what they would look like. At first I thought it looked awful, but I persevered and I'm really happy with the result!

For gradients it helps if the polishes are really pigmented so you don't have to sponge on loads of layers to build up the colour, so these hypergels were perfect.

I used my usual method - started off with two coats of the 'base' shade (the lightest of the colours to be used in the gradient usually) which was Powder Blue. Once dry (I used a fast drying topcoat then waited overnight) I painted the three colours (the other two are Long Beach Peach & Paradise Pink) onto a small wedged make-up sponge, and dabbed them onto each nail. I did this a few times, moving the sponge slightly higher/lower each time to blend the colours. A topcoat smoothed it all out. 

It looked lovely on its own but I felt like adding something and I've not used my pretty studs for ages! I'd just bought a new stud-wheel from Poundland which had these gorgeous big silver diamond shapes in, so I used those. On an accent nail on each hand I added some pastel studs in matching shades to the gradient, then some gold studs to finish it off.

I really like these! 

Models Own Hypergels - New Shades

Hello!

A very exciting post today. One of my most favourite polish brands ever, Models Own, sent me five of their ten new HyperGel shades that have just been released for Spring. HyperGel polishes are super-glossy with a gel effect finish - they are supposed to look as if you have had a gel manicure in a salon! 

The ten new shades are a mixed bunch, some are pastel shades and some more vibrant, but are all worthy additions to the HyperGel family.

(pic copyright Models Own)

These polishes retail at £4.99 and are available to buy now, online at www.modelsownit.com, in Models Own Bottleshops and in selected Superdrug and Tesco stores.

The ones I received to review were Purple Orchid, Long Beach Peach, Tropical Green, Powder Blue & Paradise Pink. I have not used topcoat in any of my swatches.

I'll start by showing you the two darker colours. 

Purple Orchid is a rich purple, that appears rather darker on the nail than on the shiny bottle-top. I used three coats, and it builds up nicely. The texture is slightly more gelly-like than the pastel colours I tried, but application was smooth and even after the first coat. A lovely sophisticated shade. 

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Tropical Green is next. Before I even read the name for this polish I thought it looked very tropical, and would be a great shade to wear on hot summer days. It'd also be great for halloween - it reminds me of slime! This polish had a very jelly-like consistancy, and was much more see-through than the other shades. I used three generous coats, and it was still not fully opaque - from a distance I don't think this would be too much of a problem though!

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Now on to the pastel shades. I love a pastel polish, and own sooo many already! I was very interested to see how these new Models Own offerings would compare with my current favourites, so I've also added comparison pictures with other polishes that I use regularly as my go-to pastels.

Paradise Pink is a beautiful pastel pink, very very pale. Application was wonderful - the polish is so smooth and creamy. I used three coats but could have just gone for two. This is a beautiful colour and very 'me'.

As soon as I saw this on my nails I thought it was very similar to Rosehip by Barry M. I've used that as a comparison along with Strawberry Tart by Models Own.  As you can see, Rosehip is very similar, but Paradise Pink is perhaps a little more of a dusky pink. I prefered the formula of the Hypergel rather than the Gelly in this case which surprised me! Strawberry Tart is much brighter in comparison so not really a dupe. 

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Powder Blue I would describe in a very similar way to Paradise Pink (above) in application and appearance. So smooth and creamy and perfect. Just two coats here. I love it!

I compared this with Barry M gelly shades Elderberry & Blueberry. Unfortunately I don't own Blueberry Muffin from the Models Own Fruit Pastel collection or I would have included that too! Elderberry is much more of a pigmented dull grey-blue. Huckleberry is quite similar, but lighter and paler. Again, I prefer the formula of the Hypergel and I think Powder Blue will easily take over as my favourite pastel blue shade. 

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Long Beach Peach is a stunning peach. I used three coats for full coverage. I think that this one is absolutely an ideal shade for spring, it's so fresh! I'm loving peach nails at the moment.

I compared this to Barry M Papaya and Models Own Peach Melba.Papaya is much darker, and I'm glad to see that Peach Melba is quite different too - more yellow toned, with Long Beach Peach being more pinky. I like that they're different because I love them both!

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Overall, I think all 5 polishes are great. Lovely smooth application and I really loved the high-shine effect once they dried. My favourites are the three pastel shades. I thought the formula was slightly better on these - more creamy and opaque more quickly. Also as I mentioned above I'm a sucker for a beautiful smooth pastel shade, so these three are right up my street!

Powder Blue has to be my absolute favourite.

I'll be posting again tomorrow to answer a very important question: "Do they gradient?" Haha. Gradients are my most favourite type of nail art to create and I'm desperate to use these pastel shades and see what I can come up with, so check back tomorrow!

Pink and Black Paisley

 Hello!

If you've got me on Instagram you may have already seen a sneak peek of these nails, as I actually did them last week for my trip to Wales. They didn't last long because when I got there, I wanted to use some of Naileymabob's polish stash, so changed them pretty quickly!

This was a base of Cerise Shine by Models Own. I used the Barry M black pen to doodle on the pattern, which took a while but I did it between other tasks so it wasn't that stressful! I topcoated once I was sure the pen was fully dry using Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri. 

Pink Veneer Hypergel

Hello!

I'm going to show off another manicure today, again using Pink Veneer by Models Own - my new favourite polish! I already used this Hypergel polish in my 'heart tips' mani a few posts ago, but wore it again for work as it's a nice pale shade. I wore it with an accent nail of Northern Lights (also Models Own) but it got badly chipped at work after only a few hours' wear - see my Instagram for evidence! So I re-painted the damaged nails, taking out the accent nail to add to the beautiful simplicity of this polish. 

First, some pics of the polish on its own...

And then with the accent nail - how I had them earlier today. Like Southern Lights, Northern Lights is difficult to capture on camera. In real life it's so sparkly and yummy! I think I do slightly prefer Southern Lights (the blue glitter) though - it seems more dense and gives better coverage.

Glitter Gradient + Studs

Hello,

These nails are not very original, but this was a manicure I came up with during the week. First of all, I wanted to try out another Hypergel, so I picked Naked Glow. This is the nude shade, and I love nude polish. It's also fab because at work, eye-catching nails aren't really encouraged, so I'm always looking for nice nude shades. Here it is before I added anything. I do think, as shown in the second pic below, that it's not as dark or as brown-y as shown in the swatch on the bottle lid. This is a bit annoying because I already have a really similar nude shade (Lychee by Barry M) and thought this one might be a bit darker. I still like it though!

I painted my nails with two steady coats of this polish, and didn't have any issues with application. Like Cerise Shine, it has such a smooth and shiny finish! The only problem with a beautiful finish like this is that any tiny imperfection, like a scuff or nick to the polish, or a tiny bubble or lump in the application really stands out - to me, anyway! Also, I can't just leave my nails plain any more- I must add something! So I picked up Southern Lights, which is another of my new Models Own goodies. I used this polish to create a glitter gradient on my nails - one of my favourite quick-and-easy looks. This polish is beaaaauuutiful, but a bit thick to use in a gradient I think. I can't wait to use it as a full mani, though! It gives such good coverage!

I also added an accent nail using some pastel-coloured studs I got from Born Pretty Store ages ago, and never actually got round to using despite them being so awesome! I picked a kind of nude/orange shade to match the polish, and a pale blue to match the glitter, and stuck them on into a wet topcoat, with a further topcoat to seal them in. 

I really like these nails, and was really chuffed when Models Own posted my photo of them on twitter, after I'd posted them to Instagram yesterday. Yay for social media - I got a lot of likes and even a few more twitter followers! Very happy!

BFF Friday - Lace Nailart

Hello! Slightly different post today. This is the first of a series (we hope!) of collab posts between myself and Naileymabob. We decided that it'd be fun to do some joint posts on the same theme. For today, we picked one polish we both had, which was Cerise Shine hypergel by Models Own. We both got this polish delivered this week from the Models Own sale, and both wanted to try it out! We decided that over the top we'd add lace print. We didn't discuss how/what we wanted the full mani to look like other than these details, because we wanted to see what each other would come up with!

I started with a base of the pink, which I posted swatches of a few days ago here. I then doodled on a lace design at the base of each nail, using the Barry M nail art pens. My inspiration was this manicure by Lucy of Lucy's Stash, which I actually came across when googling for something else ages ago, and saved it as it was so pretty. I tried to alter it a bit so it wasn't completely copied, but I do like having a design to follow when I'm doing something intricate like lace print.

Here is my manicure!

I definitely want to try this design again and try to do it neater. And maybe I could try it at the top of my nails, rather than at the bottom. I love lace-print!

Here's a link to Naileymabob's version of pink lace print! Go and look, it's stunning <3

Cerise Shine Hypergel

Hello! Today I received my Models Own sale haul. I only got 5 polishes, mainly because I didn't actually need ANY polishes, but couldn't resist 50% off, and wanted to try the new hypergels!

This is what I got:

The three Hypergel shades I most liked the look of, and Northern/Southern Lights, because I've thought these were pretty for quite a while so half price was a good excuse to add them to my collection.

The first polish I decided to apply was Cerise Shine, which is the bright pink hypergel. OMGGG look how gorgeous this is!!! For those who don't know, Models Own have just brought out a new style of polish called Hypergel, which is supposed to replicate the look of a gel manicure, being really smooth and shiny.

I thought it applied well, definitely needed two coats to make it flawless, but the polish is lovely and pigmented and smooth. I've used a topcoat here, because I find bright colours like this mark my white walls (oops!) plus any pieces of paper I handle at work. But shine-wise, it didn't need the topcoat, it looked exactly the same without it. Lush!

Another polish I found difficult to photograph. Here without flash:

With flash:

Sooo pink! I've tentatively decided to wear this for work tomorrow, mainly because it looks and feels so lush that I can't bear to take it off! I hope because it's just 'one plain colour' and not nail art, I should be able to get away with it.... hopefully! 


My cracked nail is still hanging on too. I altered my method of mending slightly this time, using just a small strip of teabag to cover the crack, rather than covering my whole nail. It doesn't feel as strong, but looks neater around the cuticle! Here's the repair, and how it looks polished over - sorry about the quality, phone pics!