After several horrible experiences with poor quality nail polish, I’ve become a total snob when it comes to brands of nail polishes I’ll buy! But 3 Concept Eyes’ (3CE) quirky-chic, indie-look image totally meshes with my aesthetic and I pretty much didn’t care how good or bad the actual product was, I just wanted to own a few vials! At $8 each, I would say 3CE nail lacquers are definitely within the affordability zone.
3CE has a range of super on trend nail colours. I was looking to expand my colour palette to pastels (of course), so I picked up pastels PK15, GN12 and OR3 from the vivid collection.
I love the hand drawn label and somewhat pop art feel of 3CE’s product packaging.
Even the outer box is totally collectible!
I wouldn’t say these nail lacquers are salon quality, and is not where near as easy to apply and quick drying as my favourites OPI, China Glaze or Essie, but they are very good for the price. Infinitely better, for example, than super cheap brands like Ultra3.
The first coat applies slightly unevenly, both in surface texture and product distribution. The formula of pastel colours from any brand are generally gloopy, making them harder to apply neatly without getting it on your skin. This is also the case with 3CE pastels. The green had the best consistency of the three.
But don’t let the first coat fool you! After the second coat, the nail lacquer completely smoothed out and became super opaque! The finish is as high quality looking as any salon quality brand. However, using a fast dry top coat such as Sech Vite is a must, as after two coats 3CE nail lacquers take a very long time to completely dry. In fact, it’s probably the type that never completely dry on their own. With Sech Vite, they harden in under 5 minutes! Actually I think for some reason 3CE nail lacquers mix better with Sech Vite than any brand I’ve tried so far.
The quality of these nail lacquers clearly reflects the price, but the colours are undeniably gorgeous! I’d say definitely swaying towards ‘hit’.
Slightly veering off topic, in the same order I also picked up 2CE’s angled contouring brush.
The bristles are not as soft or full as you’d probably want, but in this way it’s definitely comparable to any quality drug store brand like Model Co. or Manicare, but a fraction cheaper, at $14.99AUD.
The application is natural and even. Definitely happy with this product!
I’d never even heard of 3 Concept Eyes until Australia based online store http://www.the-powderroom.com.au turned up out of nowhere a couple of months ago. I thought I might share their cute shipping package, complete with hand written post-it!
The also threw in a free pair of false lashes.
I’m already planning my next purchase, and I’m thinking it will definitely include one of these awesome looking lip pigments!
For some what of a noob in nail art, metal nail stamping plates sounded to me like the calculus cheat sheet of the nail world: what? create any manner of intricate designs with the nail polishes you already own with no previous nail technician related training required? I was instantly sold. (In reality of course, it turned out the technique needed a little perfecting before I could show you guys the result!)
This little kit of stamper, scraping knife and plates x 2 was sent to me by http://www.bornprettystore.com/.
The basic idea is, apply nail polish over the embossed design;
Scrape excess nail polish off with scraper;
Imprint design onto stamp, and press on to nails!
Tada!
For this look I used two coats of OPI “Lincoln Park After Dark” as the base base colour, let dry, then used OPI “Pamplona Purple”, a cream colour, for the tip detail!
Some tips I learned about using this tool that may help:
Kits like mine are available from http://www.bornprettystore.com/! They have countless other plate designs and also a huge range of nail art tools and accessories, jewellery, makeup, and now circle lenses – check them out next time you’re looking to stock up on your nail art supplies on the cheap!
