Archives: November 2009

Guten Morgen! That’s good morning in German. I am going to try and throw in a phrase in another language in some posts from time to time. Why you ask? Why not I say!

Now that we’ve gotten the language lesson of the day out of the way, I will get to the matter at hand.

Eyeko has a new collection out which includes six colors. The bottle shape is even different and dare I say better? Don’t get me wrong, I liked the other shape also, but the bottle neck was SO wide it was hard to keep the polish from globbing all over the place.

The formula on these is definitely better than the last six I reviewed here. Having said that, they still need to work out some issues with their light colors. The light ones tend to be really streaky and thick still. The darker ones though apply like a dream and are super opaque in just one or two coats. Peep ‘em out!

Nude

Nude is a peachy nude color with subtle shimmer. This was really thick and it got a little globbed up on the tip of my middle finger. The color is pretty enough, but awful on my skin! This was three coats.

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Hi all!

Today I have Part II of my series How To Start a Nail Polish Blog. If you haven’t yet read Part I, visit it here first!

You now have your blog name, and have decided which platform to go with. It’s time to pick a template and start blogging! Here are some things that are very important to remember.

Picking a template

• It doesn’t have to be super fancy or be filled with images. In fact one of the first things they say in any book about graphic design (which I am reading about now) is that less is more. Many people think that all the white space on the screen needs to be packed with colors or something to look at. In fact that’s totally the opposite of what you should do. You should have a lot of white space, and keep it clean and clutter-free. Try and think of these words when deciding on a design: clean, open, welcoming, fresh and unique.
• It’s my personal opinion that too much color or girly swirls (or cats) all over the place don’t look professional, and can be really distracting. Maybe think of 3 or 4 colors that work well together and use that as your palette.
  
• I’m personally not a fan of the three column format (two column is fairly standard), it’s too cluttered looking. Another thing to remember is try not to pick a background color that clashes with the font color. Some people find it really hard to read white font on a black background (myself included). Red and bright fonts can also be hard on the eyes. Try and choose a font style that is easy to read. You don’t want to use any “decorative” fonts (dripping blood for instance) or cursive or bold block letters because most people cannot read for long with those.

Editing

• The number one MOST important tip is…make sure you use correct spelling and grammar on every single thing you write! I’m not just saying this because I have a college degree in English, and am totally anal. I am saying this because I don’t know anyone that takes any website seriously if it has more than one or two errors from time to time. We all make mistakes, I am sure I have made them on this site. But seriously, this is really important! Use spell check! If grammar is not your strong suit, ask a friend or family member to proof it before you post it.
  

Photos

• If you are going to be swatching, which I assume you will be, you need good photos! This is just as important as the spelling, in my view. The expectation from readers when they go to your website will be that they will see nice, clear pictures of the polish before they buy it to decide whether they like it or not. If you are taking pictures with a cell phone, that’s not gonna cut it. My iPhone takes really good pics, but not macro shots of polish. When I started I wasn’t using the best camera, and my pictures quite frankly sucked! When I look back I am horrified that I posted them. Now I use a Canon SD 990 IS Digital ELPH camera with Optimal Image Stabilizer technology and 14.7 mega pixels. This camera takes amazing macro shots, which is what I use for all my polish pics.
• Watermarks. Don’t do them. I did them at first, but then realized that I hated them, and they took away from the photos. I understand a lot of people use them because those eBay thieves LOVE stealing pics and using them on their site. Unless you put the watermark directly over your hand/nails (which looks terrible), they will take them anyway. My pictures are taken from Google and used on eBay almost on a weekly basis. I just email the person, tell them to either remove them ASAP or they will be reported to eBay or link back, and they always respond. It’s just the nature of the biz.
• There are benefits and drawbacks of both indoor and outdoor photo taking of nail polish. I do mine outdoors as much as possible because I feel that natural sunlight shows the color best, and certainly shows shimmery or glittery polishes better. Also I live in a fairly warm climate, so I don’t need to worry about snow or freezing temperatures. Another reason I don’t take photos indoors is because I live in a cave. Ok not really, but my house is very dark, and I get hardly any natural light coming in. I have tried light boxes and lighting systems, but so far haven’t been able to get any pictures to come out halfway decent. I think if I slapped down some major cash for better equipment, it would work out. I might be doing that in the near future.

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If you want two great easy to read books on digital photography, this set rocks. It’s filled with cool tips and tricks and is super easy to understand. I don’t have a DSLR camera (yet) but it works with non-DSLR cameras also.

Can’t get enough of Vampy Varnish? Now you can find me in four different places!

• Subscribe via email by using the form on the lower right-hand side of my website
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel to check out my current and upcoming nail tutorials
• Follow me on Twitter under the name VampyVarnish
• Join me on my Facebook page here!

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Hey there folks,

I’ve been showing a lot of nail polishes lately by Diamond Cosmetics, and today I’ve got more! It’s their new holiday 2009 collection featuring four new colors.

These are all beautiful glittery, sparkly colors and not totally obvious “holiday” colors either (well ok maybe one or two are).

The formula on these is really great (three-free!), and they cover very nicely. Enjoy!

Diamond’s Diamonds

Diamond’s Diamonds is a silvery white base with silver micro glitter. This one would look especially awesome over a dark ruby red or jet black. This was three coats.

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