Category Archives: City Color Cosmetics

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Q&A with Shine and Sheen Founder, Krystyna Kao

New York and Shanghai based nail blogger, Krystyna Kao, is gearing up to launch some seriously fabulous nail art kits. Her company, Shine and Sheen, was created for DIY girls with a flair for fashion and creative streak.

Shine and Sheen’s nail art kits will be equipped with a mix of nail polish colors, accessories, decals, and detailed instructions to create over 10 designs.  When Krystyna was designing the kits, she said she centered the products around manicures that could be easily recreated at home.

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Shine and Sheen’s nail art kits will launch this Spring. Photo credit: ShineandSheen.com.

Here’s an example of the kind of look you can execute with Shine and Sheen’s nail art kits. This side French design is perfect for a Valentine’s Day manicure. Krystyna used Shine and Sheen’s Cherry pink polish, a white striper brush polish and a dotting tool.

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Photo credit: Instagram, @shineandsheen.

While we all anxiously wait for the release of Shine and Sheen’s gorgeously packaged nail art kits, here’s your chance to find out a little bit more about the face behind the nails. I chatted with Krystyna and here’s what she had to say:
BySig: Since you started to blog about nail art, what’s one of the most important and fun things you’ve learned about the craft? 
KK: Nail art really opens the door in terms of creativity. The most fun part for me is seeing contrast between really different and unexpected colors, textures, and designs on different nails that together make up a whole look. I love the juxtaposition. 
BySig: What’s your ideal manicure look like? 
KK: For daily activities, I like designs and colors that pop and are striking, but also can go with different outfits, and can fit for day and night. I tend to like reverse French or French moons or just something shiny and eye-catching. If it’s just for fun, and I take it off soon after, I like playing with 3D stuff, like baubles, pearls, etc. That’s always exciting, albeit not really practical!
BySig: Any predictions for spring/ summer nail art trends? 
KK: I think we’ll see more fashion-inspired designs, like what the talented MissLadyFinger does. Also even more negative space manicures – I have a feeling girls will start really taking care of their nails so they can play peekaboo with negative space! And definitely color, color, color for summer.
What do you think of Shine and Sheen? Let me know in the comments below!
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Beauty, China Glaze, City Color Cosmetics, DIY, Fashion, Nail Art, Nail Art Tutorial, Nail Polish Swatch, Nailed Kit, Nails, Nails How To, Style

Nail Finds at the Winter 2013 New Girl Expo

Last Saturday I attended the New Girl Expo in Los Angeles. The event, a one-stop shop fashion hub, was created to connect women of all styles to the trendiest beauty resources and stylish vendors. As a first-time guest, I was excited to see what kind of nail goodies I would find. I scored big time.

New Girl Expo provided me a very generous goodie bag that was stuffed with a few samples from vendors and a little extra something.

In it, was this beautiful glitter polish called, “Love Marilyn” by China Glaze ($5). This is what three coats of the polish looks like. Love Marilyn is perfect for the holidays!

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At the event I was introduced to a very affordable makeup brand called City Color Cosmetics. Here is a swatch of their brown polish called Chocolate ($3).

I was able to reach a desired opacity  and a nice shine after just two coats. The polish has a sort of a slow dry time, but it’s nothing a bit of fast-dry top coat can’t fix. I’m pretty happy with the results of this low-cost polish.

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Another gem I stumbled upon was Nailed Kit, an easy-to-use nail decal system.

It was a true pleasure to meet the founder behind the product, Rachel Kim. Lucky for me, my New Girl Expo goodie bag had a sample of the water slide nail art decals. I clearly got a little excited and tested the sample before taking a photo of the whole thing intact.

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This was my first time ever using a nail decal of any sort. How do these work? Think of it as a temporary tattoo for your nail. Dip the decal is warm water, peal it off and apply.

I had a some slight application issues, like accidentally not cutting close enough to the image to get precise application (even though the directions instruct you to do so). That will definitely subside with some getting used to.

The best part of Nailed Kit is the adorable design you’re left to show off. How cute is this party hat?

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What do you think of these nail finds? Let me know in the comments below. 

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