The only downside to this manicure was that I used two polishes for my base that don't hold up with time: within less than a day of wear I had several chips on the free edge of my nail. Other than that it was a lovely bright manicure to wear!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Dotted Outlining
I've had the idea for a while now to do a single stamp on a nail and add dots all around it. I know I've seen at least one other manicure using this type of design but I cannot find it (if you know who's design I'm talking about please let me know!). This was meant to be just a simple stamping manicure with a little bit of a flair.
For my base I used one coat of Wet n Wild French White Crème then added a full coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow. I do this for my more sheer polishes because then I can get away with just one coat of underwear and one coat of polish instead of many many layers of polish to get it opaque enough. On top of Mellow Yellow I stamped a hibiscus flower from Bundle Monster plate BM-313 using one of the colors from my favorite collection of the year (China Glaze Summer Neons!): China Glaze Love's a Beach. To outline the flower I used China Glaze Beach Cruise-r and a tiny dotting tool.
The only downside to this manicure was that I used two polishes for my base that don't hold up with time: within less than a day of wear I had several chips on the free edge of my nail. Other than that it was a lovely bright manicure to wear!
The only downside to this manicure was that I used two polishes for my base that don't hold up with time: within less than a day of wear I had several chips on the free edge of my nail. Other than that it was a lovely bright manicure to wear!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Week 26: Neon Manicure
Welcome to the challenge for Week 26 of the 52 Week Challenge. This challenge was to create a neon manicure. I've mentioned a couple of times that I absolutely love the China Glaze Summer Neons collection (here, here, and here) so for me it was a no brainer to incorporate them into this manicure.
I randomly sponged China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard and China Glaze Splish Splash all over my nails (word to the wise: Splish Splash stains). To complete this design I added one coat of Cover Band Lacquers Sticks 'n Stones on top.
I was inspired by this manicure from the Lacquerologist when I was creating this design. I have a blue and green shirt that I was thinking of when I was coming up with polishes and I'm really pleased with my polish pick for this. I'm with the Lifeguard and Splish Splash both have a bit of shimmer mixed in that I'm in love with.
I randomly sponged China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard and China Glaze Splish Splash all over my nails (word to the wise: Splish Splash stains). To complete this design I added one coat of Cover Band Lacquers Sticks 'n Stones on top.
I was inspired by this manicure from the Lacquerologist when I was creating this design. I have a blue and green shirt that I was thinking of when I was coming up with polishes and I'm really pleased with my polish pick for this. I'm with the Lifeguard and Splish Splash both have a bit of shimmer mixed in that I'm in love with.
Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:
LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog • Marie at Polish, Polish, Polish... • ChiChi at... • Esra at Oje Sihirbazi (Wizard of Polish) • Nails, Actually • Treselaine at Tres Chic Nails • Carol at Nails by Carol
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Blue and White Wares
After doing my black and white nails I thought blue and white nails would also be pretty. I used two coats of Wet n Wild Wild Shine French White Creme as my base then stamped Bundle Monster plate BM-306 on top using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue.
I thought this sort of looked like blue and white china. I really like using the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes for stamping. They consistently deliver a nice opaque amount of polish when placed on the stamper. I need to get more of them!
I thought this sort of looked like blue and white china. I really like using the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes for stamping. They consistently deliver a nice opaque amount of polish when placed on the stamper. I need to get more of them!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Week 25: Pride/Rainbow Manicure
Welcome to what is becoming a very behind 52 Week Challenge. This manicure is for Week 25: Pride/Rainbow. I went with a classic rainbow dots theme. To give my manicure a little flair I reversed the direction I was dotting in for my ring finger.
For my colors I used Zoya America, Zoya Jancyn, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety-Split Lime, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue, and OPI A Grape Fit!. I'm not normally a rainbow person but I enjoyed wearing this color combination for the day!
For my colors I used Zoya America, Zoya Jancyn, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety-Split Lime, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue, and OPI A Grape Fit!. I'm not normally a rainbow person but I enjoyed wearing this color combination for the day!
Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:
LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog • Marie at Polish, Polish, Polish... • ChiChi at... • Esra at Oje Sihirbazi (Wizard of Polish) • Nails, Actually • Treselaine at Tres Chic Nails • Carol at Nails by Carol
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Black and White
A positive aspect of having shorter nails is that stamping images fit much better on my nails when they're smaller. Well, no traditional plate will ever fit my thumbs, they're just too wide. But the rest of my nails are completely covered when they're short.
Recently I've been seeing a lot of black and white designs and I think it's a really elegant looking combination of colors. This is my contribution to the monochromatic scene!
To create this design I used a base of Sally Hansen White On, then stamped Sally Hansen Black Out using Bundle Monster plate BM16. This was my first time using plate BM16 and I did have some issues with getting the image to fully transfer to the stamper. However, I'm not sure if that's the plate fault or if I'm just out of practice.
I love how this manicure turned out! The day I wore this manicure my clothing outfit was pretty colorful and I felt more balanced because of the simplicity of my nails.
Recently I've been seeing a lot of black and white designs and I think it's a really elegant looking combination of colors. This is my contribution to the monochromatic scene!
To create this design I used a base of Sally Hansen White On, then stamped Sally Hansen Black Out using Bundle Monster plate BM16. This was my first time using plate BM16 and I did have some issues with getting the image to fully transfer to the stamper. However, I'm not sure if that's the plate fault or if I'm just out of practice.
I love how this manicure turned out! The day I wore this manicure my clothing outfit was pretty colorful and I felt more balanced because of the simplicity of my nails.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
SoFlaJo Swatches
I recently got around to ordering a few polishes from SoFlaJo. I've been watching this brand since their debut at the beginning of the year but just hadn't managed to complete the final steps to actually buying a polish. I'm not an impulsive polish buyer when it comes to purchasing polish on the internet so it wasn't until the beginning of July that I caved and bought my two favorite polishes from SoFlaJo's current line.
All of these polishes use a coat of Nail Life Nail Revitalizer as a base boat and one coat of Seche Vite dry fast top coat on top. For layering combinations I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On for the light color and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out for the dark color (one coat of each). I do not know if it is the polish or the insane heat wave South Eastern Wisconsin is experiencing, but I could not get these polishes to not bubble. Thin coats, adequate drying time, days between when I wore each polish, nothing seemed to help.
One last (glaringly obvious) thing: my nails have broken and are not anywhere near the length I'd like them to be. They still so much longer than they were when I started this blog, just not as long as they were in my previous posts. If you look really hard at my ring finger in my last post, you can see the line going across my nail where it broke. :(
SoFlaJo Summer Breeze is pretty awesome duochrome polish. This polish was recently released as part of the SoFlaJo Life's a Beach Collection. It's sheer with specks of pink/purple glitter and a blue shine. SoFlaJo's website claims it has green thrown in but I didn't notice any in the day that I wore it by itself. I loved wearing it by itself. I kept looking down at my hands and admiring the changing colors. This is definitely a polish I'll be turning to when I need something akin to pallet cleansing for my nails.
I don't know how I feel when I layer this over white and black. The way it looks over white isn't that attractive to me, the colors seem to fade and blend together more. I do like the way Summer Breeze appears over black, its got a black pearl quality that seems rather nice, it's just too dark for me to wear. Layering Summer Breeze over black does really empathize the duochrome nature of the polish and make it more pronounced.
SoFlaJo Champagne Cocktail is a silver holographic polish with a little extra pizzazz thrown in in the way of small hexagonal silver glitters, medium hexagonal silver glitters, silver bar glitter, and crescent moons. I think the crescent moons are weird and the medium hexagonal glitters/bar glitters seem out of place but I love the small hexagonal glitters. This is a linear silver holographic polish but those little silver glitters scatter the light around and send off sparkles everywhere. It's sheer genius to add extra flair to a linear holographic polish like this. It's important to note that this bottle has a nice flat lid - perfect for tipping the bottle of polish upside down so the larger glitter ends up at the top. This polish was released back in May (I think?) as part of the SoFlaJo Happy Hour Collection.
Champagne Cocktail on its own is pretty bling-tastic, but layered over black the colors really begin to pop. You can see the holo even more vibrantly using this layering technique. Layering Champagne Cocktail over white almost seems to create white fire - a blazing hot mix of fire. Pretty cool but not as in-your-face as when it's layered over black.
The packaging that my two polishes came in the cutest packaging I've ever received. Each polish was wrapped in it's own bubble wrap, filled with confetti and a little extra surprise. I did take the ribbon off the bottles because I was scared it would bump up against a not-quite-dry nail and leave a mark.
All of these polishes use a coat of Nail Life Nail Revitalizer as a base boat and one coat of Seche Vite dry fast top coat on top. For layering combinations I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On for the light color and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out for the dark color (one coat of each). I do not know if it is the polish or the insane heat wave South Eastern Wisconsin is experiencing, but I could not get these polishes to not bubble. Thin coats, adequate drying time, days between when I wore each polish, nothing seemed to help.
One last (glaringly obvious) thing: my nails have broken and are not anywhere near the length I'd like them to be. They still so much longer than they were when I started this blog, just not as long as they were in my previous posts. If you look really hard at my ring finger in my last post, you can see the line going across my nail where it broke. :(
Summer Breeze
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| Three coats of Summer Breeze |
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| Two coats of Summer Breeze |
SoFlaJo Summer Breeze is pretty awesome duochrome polish. This polish was recently released as part of the SoFlaJo Life's a Beach Collection. It's sheer with specks of pink/purple glitter and a blue shine. SoFlaJo's website claims it has green thrown in but I didn't notice any in the day that I wore it by itself. I loved wearing it by itself. I kept looking down at my hands and admiring the changing colors. This is definitely a polish I'll be turning to when I need something akin to pallet cleansing for my nails.
I don't know how I feel when I layer this over white and black. The way it looks over white isn't that attractive to me, the colors seem to fade and blend together more. I do like the way Summer Breeze appears over black, its got a black pearl quality that seems rather nice, it's just too dark for me to wear. Layering Summer Breeze over black does really empathize the duochrome nature of the polish and make it more pronounced.
Champagne Cocktail
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| Four coats of Champagne Cocktail |
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| Two coats of Champagne Cocktail |
SoFlaJo Champagne Cocktail is a silver holographic polish with a little extra pizzazz thrown in in the way of small hexagonal silver glitters, medium hexagonal silver glitters, silver bar glitter, and crescent moons. I think the crescent moons are weird and the medium hexagonal glitters/bar glitters seem out of place but I love the small hexagonal glitters. This is a linear silver holographic polish but those little silver glitters scatter the light around and send off sparkles everywhere. It's sheer genius to add extra flair to a linear holographic polish like this. It's important to note that this bottle has a nice flat lid - perfect for tipping the bottle of polish upside down so the larger glitter ends up at the top. This polish was released back in May (I think?) as part of the SoFlaJo Happy Hour Collection.
Champagne Cocktail on its own is pretty bling-tastic, but layered over black the colors really begin to pop. You can see the holo even more vibrantly using this layering technique. Layering Champagne Cocktail over white almost seems to create white fire - a blazing hot mix of fire. Pretty cool but not as in-your-face as when it's layered over black.
The Packaging
I'm really pleased I finally bought these polishes and I'm actually wishing I hadn't waited so long! I know, I know, these polishes are meant to be worn as top coats but I just can't resist wearing them alone as a regular polish. They're just so soothing by themselves and I'm not one for layering. I can only see using Champagne Cocktail as a layering polish, but I don't know often that would actually happen.
Note: I wasn't paid or perked in any way for writing this review. See my Disclosure Policy page for more info.
Note: I wasn't paid or perked in any way for writing this review. See my Disclosure Policy page for more info.
Monday, July 9, 2012
I have a lot of . . .
I have a lot of pale green nail polish colors! I was looking for a to color match my nail polish the back of a Dominion card but off the top of my head couldn't picture what nail polish colors went with the card. I went through my stash and pulled out all the bottles that I thought would match...China Glaze For Audrey, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Wet n Wild Megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint, Zoya Belvin, and Zoya Wednesday. In the bottles they all looked quite similar. Not having narrowed down my selection by all that much, I swatched each of the five colors onto a nail wheel.
Things were looking a bit better. Turquoise & Caicos was more seafoam green, Belvin and Wednesday were darker, with Belvin being more of an olive color. It was still a toss up between For Audrey and I Need a Refresh-Mint however. So I swatched them next to each other!
Boyfriend's verdict: "They all look the same. Why did you get two of the same colors?" Oh boyfriend...
My verdict: I think For Audrey is a little darker and more green, while I Need a Refresh-Mint is lighter and more blue. The colors are definitely very close to each other. Because the differences are so subtle I'm going to call the dupes of each other. Feel free to debate!
1) China Glaze For Audrey
2) Essie Turquoise & Caicos
3) Wet n Wild Megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint
4) Zoya Belvin
5) Zoya Wednesday
Things were looking a bit better. Turquoise & Caicos was more seafoam green, Belvin and Wednesday were darker, with Belvin being more of an olive color. It was still a toss up between For Audrey and I Need a Refresh-Mint however. So I swatched them next to each other!
Pointer and Ring: Wet n Wild Megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint; Middle and Pinkie: China Glaze For Audrey
My verdict: I think For Audrey is a little darker and more green, while I Need a Refresh-Mint is lighter and more blue. The colors are definitely very close to each other. Because the differences are so subtle I'm going to call the dupes of each other. Feel free to debate!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Guest Post: Strawberry Lemonade
Good morning! I almost forgot to mention that yesterday I was guest posting over at Painting Rainbows about the water marble manicure I created using colors from the China Glaze Summer Neon collection.
Stop on over and check it out!
Stop on over and check it out!
I Heart Minnie
I picked up two colors from the OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection a few weeks ago and still rather on the fence about them. I picked up OPI I'm All Ears and OPI Nothin' Mousie 'bout It. I'm afraid I don't have a picture of OPI I'm All Ears at this time. I'll come back and update this post when I do get one by itself. Update: a swatch of I'm All Ears can be seen here.
OPI I'm All Ears is a lovely jelly polish with blue/pink shimmer. OPI Nothin' Mousie 'bout It is a top coat with glitter...large heart shaped glitter and then flakes of pink. I honestly bought it for the glitter. Placing said glitter made me a bit annoyed. I had to manually place it and then some of the edges stuck up. Ugh. It is a cute polish top coat though.
This is two coats of I'm All Ears and one coat of Nothin' Mousie 'bout It with carefully placed glitters. What's your opinion on the large pieces of glitter?
OPI I'm All Ears is a lovely jelly polish with blue/pink shimmer. OPI Nothin' Mousie 'bout It is a top coat with glitter...large heart shaped glitter and then flakes of pink. I honestly bought it for the glitter. Placing said glitter made me a bit annoyed. I had to manually place it and then some of the edges stuck up. Ugh. It is a cute polish top coat though.
This is two coats of I'm All Ears and one coat of Nothin' Mousie 'bout It with carefully placed glitters. What's your opinion on the large pieces of glitter?
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