I visited Professional Beauty 2018 in London this week, and I was really happy to find a brand on sale that I haven’t seen in the UK before. Ella + Mila Polish is available in Target in the US, and online, but I found it on sale from a vegan beauty retailer here too! I bought some of their shades, and used two for this easy but effective design of a glitter gradient.
The grey-blue creme and copper glitter is a lovely contrast, and I was really impressed with the Ella + Mila polish formula.
Visiting Professional Beauty 2018
I had registered as a PB Luxe visitor, which gives you access to the Executive Lounges dotted around the Excel Centre. These are amazing, because you don’t have to go out of the show space to have a sit down and a drink. Also, I had access to the Blogger Lounge, which had little snacks and some goody bags too – very much appreciated! The staff in the Press and Blogger area were lovely too.
Large and small hex copper glitters in a clear base make up the Ella + Mila polish Bronze Me Baby
Mainstream brands dominate the nail section of Professional Beauty, so if you are a fan of OPI, Orly, Jessica, etc., you will find a lot there. There are lots of deals to find if you’re in the market for some new polish. If you want your nails done, the big brands all have manicure staff working too.
You can also find some good value tools, so if you’re looking for new scissors, cuticle pushers or files, this is perfect. You can find multichrome tools too!
I used a latex sponge to get full glitter coverage with Ella + Mila Polish Bronze Me Baby
Nail Art at PB2018
Although I didn’t buy any this year, last year I bought lots of loose glitters. This is something you can stock up on cheaply. There are lots of gel polish sellers too, so for a longer-lasting manicure you are also well-catered for.
MoYou Nails (which are a separate company to MoYou London) had a couple of demonstration stands, and were selling plates and stampers. I had a long chat with a salon owner in one of the lounges, who’d been struggling with stamping. She had a hard rubber stamper that wouldn’t pick up, so I recommended she try one of the clear silicon stampers instead.
This blue-grey creme polish is really opaque – a one-coater!
I was really pleased to see Ella + Mila polishes, which I haven’t seen here before, and I picked up five colours. I’ve created an easy design using two of them for you here.
Glitter Gradient Design
This is a really easy design using a tool you’ve almost certainly already got – a makeup sponge! You could even use a washing up sponge in a pinch – something close textured will definitely work.
A delicate glitter gradient is really easy to achieve – perfect for nail art beginners!
Polishes and tools
Jessica Fusion
Orly Bonder
Ella + Mila Yacht Club and Bronze Me Baby
Latex sponge
Seche Vite
Great news – Yacht Club is very opaque and a one coater. I bet it would stamp perfectly too. I painted one coat of Bronze Me Baby, and then used a sponge to make it opaque. The sponge soaks up the base polish so you don’t need so many coats.
Full coverage glitter took a couple of passes with a sponge for this polish.
Using the sponge again, I dabbed the glitter down from the tips of the blue nails too. Go easy with this – it’s easy to get carried away!
The full glitter nails needed two coats of Seche Vite to smooth out. I’ll need to soak them off with foil and acetone, but only on the full copper nails.
Yacht Club is a great polish – I highly recommend it!
Ella + Mila Polish
I’m really looking forward to trying the other shades I bought from Ella + Mila. And it was great to meet the team at Skinfull Affairs who brought the brand into their shop and to the show. I hope they open up some locations on this side of the Irish Channel soon!
This is my third visit to Professional Beauty, and based on this visit I would definitely return. The PB Luxe is a lifesaver though, so I really recommending upgrading if you can. Would you visit this show? Or is there another you love or want to visit – let me know in the comments…
Glitter focused at the tips is a quick an easy nail art design that anyone can achieve.
