Bright Yin Yang

Something bright and hopeful this week - a pink and green yin-yang style manicure. Balance is good.

To get this look, I used Zoya "Tangy" & "Hayden", with my silver Nubar nail art pen. Avon base/top coat, which are working very well for me.

I started with two coats of "Tangy", a lovely bright green. Then I laid my "S" curve down the length of the nail with the silver pen, very lightly (just enough to create a guide and barrier). Then I carefully painted one side of the nail with "Hayden" - 2 coats. An opposite color dot on each side, and a final pass over the curves with silver finished off the look. I sealed it with two coats top coat. I really like how it turned out, and traditional black and white would be very striking, I think (a black nail art pen for the curve delineation in that case).

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day here in the states. I guess it was also "Towel Day" and "Nerd Pride Day", according to twitter rumor - odd...

Strawberry Carnival

Moving on from the whole Suncoat debacle...

Have you ever noticed how nail clean-up always looks okay in person, but then when you take a photo, every little thing you missed shows up? Yeah...excuse my clean-up job there - missed some spots in the shower this morning.

I used Avon's Speed Dry formula last night, in the interest of time. I normally stay away from quick-drying nail polish because I tend to have very bad luck with bubbling on them. As you can see though - no bubbles here, and the formula was thick, opaque in one coat. The brush is too narrow, almost more of a nail art brush, but it still applied easily and smoothed itself out as it dried, so no streaks.

No, I know they don't look like strawberries - I named it after the polishes. The bright fuchsia base polish is named "Strawberry", and the light pink on the tips is "Carnival". The silver is a Nubar nail art pen, and unfortunately I forgot there's an art brush inside, or I would have used that for my swirly lines instead. Next time....

This gave me an idea for yin-yang nails...stay tuned next week for that!

So Not Groovy...Suncoat Polish Removal

First, let me just say that I love the Suncoat eco-friendly polish remover. It does a great job, gently, on almost every nail polish I use.

Except Suncoat polish.

Last night (Sundays are my manicure nights), I spent just over 2 hours - 2 hours - trying to remove the Suncoat water-based polish from my fingernails. This was the result when I finally gave up, and "medicated" my frustrated self with brownies and a romance novel:'Twas a work night, or I may well have gone for something stronger in a glass. Those scrapes/nicks you see on the tops of my nails are the result of my scraping the barely softened polish off after the first hour and a half, when it wouldn't come off with cotton balls.

I tried everything. I held soaked cotton balls on my nails for 5 minutes at a time, I actually soaked my nails in the polish remover, and still ended up using the blunt end of a plastic nail file to scrape away most of the polish after it was softened, but still wouldn't come off. As you can see, I still have several tips to get the polish off of tonight, and some buffing to smooth the tops again. Arg!

My three bottles of Suncoat polish are going in the garbage. With any luck, I'll finish the removal job tonight, and finish with a nice new pink french manicure that will come off when I want it to next week. I'm still in a pink mood, for some reason.

Tune in tomorrow for the results...

Suncoat Water-Based French

I’m not really having good luck with these water-based polishes. I want to like them, because they’re healthier to use, they don’t stink up the joint, and they’re easier on the environment. But honestly, I just have one more brand to try, and then I’m giving up. Nail polish should not be difficult…

I like the color of this polish – the pink is Suncoat #8, a cotton candy color. The white is, appropriately enough, #1, and the clear coat is #00. Last night I worked hard to make sure that all oils were off my nails, as water-based polish and oils do not mix. Unfortunately, it’s been rainy and somewhat humid here since late last night, and I think that probably added to my woes with this polish. That, and a hard brush that made it impossible to avoid streaks.

Water-based polish dries through evaporation, and basically “shrinks” onto your nail. The longer you wear it, the harder it gets to remove, which is why they recommend taking it off at least weekly. I think in my case, even though it felt hard and dry, it never actually dried all the way down.So when I got into the shower this morning, my polish started to soften. I’m pretty sure I lost the whole first layer (top coat) off my left hand, and ended up with weird texture issues on the tops of all my nails. I clean the excess nail polish off my fingers in the shower – as you can see, my left index finger released the polish even up onto my nail. Not groovy. On my right hand, my tips are chipped or peeled on at least three fingers, and I had to blow dry my nails before the remaining polish was hard enough again to do my hair.

It’s pretty polish, but far too complicated for someone like me (I shudder to think what might have happened had I tried to add rhinestones or other art items to it!). As it is, I’ll have to remove it tonight, and redo my nails…which I really don’t have time for, but I don’t trust this polish to wear well enough until next weekend.

So tonight I’ll try some Avon Speed Dry polish. I normally avoid speed dry at all costs, due to serious bubbling issues that normally plague me when polish dries too fast, but I can’t be waiting for polish to dry tonight – I have things to do! Stop by Thursday for my results (hopefully better)…

***Edited to say: I haven't had time for another manicure, so I'm still sporting this polish on my nails. It's wearing like a cheap drugstore polish, but doesn't look too bad if you don't look close. New manicure next week... ***

Have You Ever Been Recognized...

...by your nails?

This weekend, I was! I was out to dinner with my husband and his family, doing the Mother's Day thing, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and there was one of my online friends, who had been sitting behind me the whole time. She recognized me from my nails!

I was rather amused (as was my husband) - I guess my nails are a little bit famous! :-)

Anyone else had this happen to them?

Blue Trellis Flowers

A day late, but no dollar short this week. I'm really liking the new Avon base/top coats. No chipping last week until Sunday (7 day wear), and no tip shrinkage. Very nice...and inexpensive too!

So this week I was going to Konad, but found these darling little rhinestone flowers in my stash. Then I was just going to swirl some stems on with my silver Nubar pen, but decided on a "trellis" effect instead. I think it worked okay, but would have been better with a white nail art pen...

The base is China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea, which I think is just so soothing and beautiful. I was in the mood for blue this week. Incidentally, I noticed two new blues in the Avon catalog for next week too - first new nail colors for Avon in awhile. Fun!

I need to do a pedicure this weekend - so I'll have fingers and toes to post next week.

Happy Polishing!

Nail Art Wednesday?

Sorry folks...today has just been crazy, with no time to prep nail pics for posting. Tomorrow is looking much more promising - so look for this week's nail art tomorrow!