Black Hearts

 

I know, I missed Tuesday. It's been a busy week! But I thought I'd post these today, because this coming week I have some pretty heart-patterned foils to try and hopefully they'll turn out to show off for Valentine's Day...

I still wasn't really "feeling" the hearts thing last week, so I decided to go a little "Joan Jett" with a black hearts manicure. The base color is Nubar's "Iris Dust" (which I adore), and the hearts were hand drawn (like you couldn't tell, right?) with a black Nubar nail art pen. I actually don't think they turned out too bad for hand drawn art...and the shaky edges kind of fit with the whole "black hearts" thing. ;-)

I used Zoya's "Suvi" underneath the nails, and that seems to have stopped the tip pull issues I've been having lately...

These photos are from today - and while there are lots of cracks and wear showing, I think it's worn pretty well considering this is day seven for this manicure.

Next Tuesday, provided it works as it should, a shiny heart foil manicure provided by OMG Nail Strips. I'll be playing with those tonight!

Until then, happy polishing...

Snow Crackle

 

I'm off by a day this week - probably because I had Monday off from the day job. I did another super-easy manicure this week that reflects our current weather: crackling snow. I like it...it looks a bit chaotic and cold, and that's kind of how January is, I think.

Colors Used: 
Zoya "Natty"
Sally Hanson "Snow Blast" Crackle

This is the first time I've opened Natty, and I really like it. It's a medium denim-like blue that goes with pretty much everything. Very nice, and excellent smooth formula as always from Zoya. I really like Snow Blast too - Sally Hansen crackles always perform well, and this white is crisp and shiny. As a point of disclaimer, this bottle was provided to me awhile ago. The original review is around here somewhere...

This manicure really needs no explanation...just two coats of Natty over one coat of base coat, and then one sort of medium-thin coat of Sally Hanson over the top, starting at the base of the nail and brushing up in different lengths. Easy!

The tip pull this time...I'm not sure. Could be old base coat, could be I didn't get my nail beds clean enough before polishing. I didn't pull the polish up over the tips this time though, so my bad.

Until next week, happy polishing!

Mini Purples

 

This week I decided to delve into some of the miniature Avon polishes I got for Christmas. I've forgotten the names already, but it's okay. As much as I like the colors, I can't say as I'd recommend them, due to the serious tip pull you can see here (the second picture shows it better). And that's after I made sure to pull the polish and top coat over the tips. I don't know whether it's the formula or what, but normally Avon's polish isn't *that* bad for tip pulling...so weird.

Obviously I had some issues with my french tip lines, dang it. I don't use guides because I don't let my polish dry completely before I paint on the tips. But I was pleasantly surprised that the snowflake stamp came out so nicely. Then I just used a dotting tool to finish off the rest, covered with two coats of Seche Vite.

Still, all mishaps aside, they didn't turn out too badly - I just wish I'd used better quality polish. Ce'st la vie.

That's it for this week. Until next time - happy polishing!

OMG Nail Polish Strips - Diamonds

I decided to go ahead and post the tutorial for this, since you can't really make a mess with these handy strips. OMG Nail Strips provided these to me free for review, and I'm very happy they did! 

I was a little apprehensive when I said yes to the review, because the last two nail sticker brands I tried were thick and difficult to deal with. But these look like the earlier Avon polish strips, and while they are slightly thicker than the Sally Hansen strips, they aren't nearly as thick as something like Jamberry stickers, which was a relief. They go on easily, and they work about like any other nail decal. Peel off the transparent cover, find the right size and remove the backing, place the rounded edge at your cuticle and smooth up and over.

Then fold the excess over the edge of the nail and file it off (stroke downward, not across). It doesn't take much pressure, just the friction from the nail file will do.

Once you pull the excess off, you can use an orange stick to gently make sure all the sides are pressed down flat. Extra instructions say you can use a hair dryer to heat the decal if necessary to get wrinkles out, but I just used the pad of a finger and good pressure, and pretty much all of the kinks came out very easily. 

Then I covered the decal with a coat of Seche Vite, and called it done. A second coat probably would have been a good idea, as I have a few scrapes on a couple fingers and some tip wear three days later, but all in all, these are wearing pretty well. I like them a lot, and have gotten several compliments already! 

Aside from the general ease of use and really nice (sometimes very complex) patterns, another great thing about these is that instead of the $10 a pack Sally Hansen charges, these are only $4.29 a pack, with free shipping. It's pretty rare that I come across a product I love that's inexpensive as well, but I can wholeheartedly recommend these on all points. You can check out the designs at OMG Nail Strips - they have polish strips and foils. I have a set of foils to try out as well, but they're hearts so I'll wait awhile for those. I will definitely be ordering more of these though, just to keep on hand because they're easy and inexpensive.

Thanks to the company for sending me these - excellent product at an excellent price. It doesn't get much better than that.

Until next week, happy polishing...

Mardi Gras & Comedy of Errors

 

This past weekend wasn't terribly kind to my nails or my schedule, unfortunately. My schedule was off so I didn't have my regular manicure night, and then when I finally did get around to doing my nails, I forgot to take tutorial pics (though as you can see, I just did a super-simple design with a dotting tool). The morning after, I used my thumbnail to open a new makeup container, and chipped the polish right off the end (see below). 

So...yeah. Not a good nail week. Did I mention I very nearly ran out of polish remover before I finished getting last week's polish off (I have more on the way)? 

On a brighter note though, I got a whole set of stamping plates that I'm determined to learn how to use properly. And my polish remover (along with three new Zoya polishes) should be here sometime this week. So next week, we're stampin'. It'll be fun! :-) 

Until then - happy polishing...

Mottled Darks

I'm sort of getting into "fall" mode...is it too early? I hope not, because even though this manicure didn't turn out exactly as I'd envisioned, I actually really like it for a dark fall look. It's all about layering, right?

 I chose three colors to use - Sinful "All About You", China Glaze "Riveter Rouge" and Misa "When U Say My Name". Good, strong fall colors - AAY is clear polish with gold/green glitter, which I thought would be perfect for blending. I couldn't decide which darker color to use as a base, so I ended up switching colors every other finger. Two coats over Seche Vite base coat.

 My original plan was to do a gradient. So after the base colors were down, I started at the top with the gold. It wasn't really visible enough to make a difference, but it did add a little shine. Then I sponged alternate colors over their counterparts (brown on red, and vice versa.

 That looked...interesting, but it wasn't what I had in mind. So I decided to go ahead and just sponge all three colors on every nail, for a sort of mottled, glittery look. That worked much better. I covered them with two coats of Seche Vite topcoat and did some cleanup.

 My "final" photos were taken nearly a week after the manicure (oops!), but they really don't look too bad considering that's six full days of wear. A little damage/shrinkage at the cuticle is all...very nice, IMO.

Next week, I go back to summer temporarily...or spring, more like it, with a green & flower manicure. Until then, happy polishing!

Waning Summer

Summer seems to be on it's way out...or I kind of hope it is, anyway. I'm tired of the hot, dry weather, and all the wildfires that have been ripping through our state this year. So I decided to do a simple gradient with bright colors one more time before heading toward the darker end of the spectrum for fall.

Always cheerful, Zoya's "Bekka" and "Tansy" are my go-to colors for summer. I started with three coats of Bekka - I don't know what it is about yellows, but it always seems to take three coats to get them smooth.

Then I sponged a couple coats of Tansy on the tips. They came out a bit darker than I'd have liked, but I was happy with the way it turned out, overall.

Well, except for that spludge on my middle finger there...but it was less visible after top coat.

I decided it needed...something more, so I got out some butterfly & flower decals, and added a few to my thumbs, ring and pinky fingers. Much better!

A couple coats of top coat and some clean up, and voila! The last bright manicure of summer: 

I liked it. And someone admiring them at a restaurant said they looked like candy corn, which they very well could with a white later underneath. Hmm...

Next week, a slightly botched but still sparkly fall sponge job. Until then, happy polishing!

Gone Dotty

This week, I figured something a little more subtle and simple was in order. I grabbed Zoya's "Gemma" and "Miley" out of my polish box along with a couple of dotting tools.

 I started with two coats of Gemma (green) and three coats of Miley (purple) on alternate nails. Miley isn't as opaque, so it took one more coat to cover completely.

 Then using a medium-sized dotting tool, I just added purple dots diagonally on the green nails...

 Followed by green dots diagonally to the purple nails. Super quick, simple and easy.

 On a whim, I grabbed my bottle of CND "Effects" in Raspberry Sparkle, and brushed it over each nail to give them a cohesive pinkish-purple shine. Two coats of Seche Vite top coat, some cleanup, and voila!

I just received a complimentary set of the new Sally Hansen Magnetic polishes yesterday, so I'm *very* excited to try those out this weekend. That will be featured on next Tuesday's post.

Until then, happy polishing!

Sheer Beaches

The folks at American Apparel were kind enough to send me free samples of three of their new "Sheer" nail polish line to try out and review here on the blog. I love these - even though they're sheer, they're highly pigmented, so they're very versatile. Especially for things like...say...sponge gradients...

 

The three colors they sent me were "Summerland Beach" - light pale peach/nude, "Manhattan Beach" - snappy dark peach,  and "Moonlight Beach" - a lovely dark purple.

The formula is really nice - not too thick, not too thin, and really nice to work with whether brushing on or sponging. I started with two coats of Summerland for the base:

 

Then I sponged on a layer of Manhattan, staying away from the tips. In retrospect, I wish I'd alternated gradient patterns on each nail just to see how they layer differently in different order. But I'll play with that later.

Next, I sponged on a first layer of Moonlight. You can really see the sheer quality here, as the peach layers come up through the blue/purple. I thought about leaving it like this, but decided I wanted a bit more pop for the top layer.

One more layer of Moonlight made me happier. I just love how these work together - the colors really compliment each other.

A couple coats of Seche Vite top coat, and voila! A simple summer gradient that actually would work quite well on the beach, methinks. 

The only thing I wish I'd done differently is to not brush the base layer so close to the cuticle. I have Summerland sticking out under my Moonlight...and it's bugging me. Ah well. Practice makes...closer to perfect, eh?

Until next time, happy polishing!

Heat Wave

I don't know about where you are, but around here it's been *hot* lately. I've been wanting to do a design with brown and orange, and this happened to be the week. I think it turned out pretty well, though unfortunately I had some tip pull by the time I had a chance to take a photo of the finished design.

For this week's manicure, I used a gold Nubar nail art pen, Zoya's "Kalmia", and Misa's "When U Say My Name". To start, I layered two coats of WUSMN over a coat of Seche Vite base coat: 

Then I made a simple diagonal stripe across each nail in Kalmia. I used two coats to make the copper stand out better against the brown.

Nail pens are awesome for things like squiggles, and that's exactly what I did across each diagonal line. They aren't quite as haphazard as I would have liked - I was thinking something a bit more abstract, but I think it still turned out okay:

 

A little clean up the next day, and voila! Heat wave...

 I even managed to work up enough energy to paint a little stylistic sun on my big toes while I was at it:

I just received some fabulous samples of the new Sheer line from American Apparel, so next week's manicure will be a gradient with those. Should be fun, I think!

Until then, happy polishing...

Independence Day Grunge

I was kind of bored with the same ol' stars 'n stripes theme I normally do for holidays like this, so I decided to try something different. I think it turned out more as a tribute to the early 90's grunge period, but interesting, nonetheless. It looks completely different matte vs. shiny - I think the matte is what really gives it the grunge-like look...

Obviously I needed a red, white & blue color scheme, so I went with China Glaze "White Out" and "Red Pearl" for white and red, and Zoya's "Indigo" for the blue. I really like these three together - they blend rather well. I started off with two coats of White Out:

 And then sponged on Red Pearl at the base of my nails. It took two coats before it looked more red than bright reddish pink:

 Then I sponged Indigo on the tips - again, two coats. One just wasn't quite enough...two made a nice "dark denim" look:

 I think I should have sponged another layer of white over the center, just to blend the colors better. Next time, eh? Then I added two coats of China Glaze "Matte Magic" over the top, just to see what it would do. the red ran together, so I lost that spongy look - if I were doing it over, I think I'd put a coat of normal Seche Vite top coat on first, and *then* matte it down, to keep the sponged look better:

 A little clean up, and voila! Grunge nails for the 4th of July. :-)

For those in the US, I hope you all have a very safe and happy holiday. For everyone else, happy Wednesday...

Until next week, happy polishing...