Claire's Wild/Calm + Bling!

So I know you've all most likely seen Claire's Mood Polish already, but this is one that never gets old. I just hate that the formula is the pits. :( You might as well only do this mani when you know you're going to change your polish the next day, cause it'll be chipped to nothing by then. It's beautiful while it lasts though!

I layered some OPI Teenage Dream over the top of it for added glitz.

 Dunked in hot water:

 Dunked in cold water:

 Left two fingers are cold water, right two fingers are hot water.

Pin It

Sweeping Cracked Concrete

I like the combination of gray polish with silver full-design konad. I'll have to show you sometime ;) I wanted to see how this combo would look using my gray China Glaze crackle. Here it is. 1 fabulous coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Silver Sweep, with ChG cracked concrete on top.

I like that it's more subtle of a final design. It's not so "in your face!" Lol

Pin It

Oilslick Water Marble

I believe it was in a contest entry for Rescue Beauty Lounge's new color contest that I first heard this idea. The fan that submitted the entry was suggesting a nail polish color that would have all the varying duochrome-y goodness of a fresh oil slick.
*edit* the fan was a polish problem 

(this pic was obviously copied and pasted from a google search)

That sounds beautiful to me, but sadly I don't think it made it into the final submissions. :(

Well tonight has been terrible! I haven't even been to sleep yet and it's nearly 4 am! Just insomnia I guess.... So while my mind is racing with new thoughts and ideas for nail polish art, this is what I came up with. I was so pleasantly suprised because I totally stink at water marbles. I don't have enough patience to practice it and get better. Tonight seemed like a perfect night to play in it.

I started just doing my last three fingers but it turned out so great, I kept going!

 As I kept going, my right hand got messier, more bubbles, and less ease in making the swirls. Most likely due to many factors.... It being my dominant hand, my water was kinda chunky at this point, and by now it was nearing the 2nd hour of working on it! I went through about half of "Lost" Season Two during this sleepless night.

 Here is what I used:

• Sally Hansen Insta Dri - Silver Sweep (which I find is actually a lot smoother and less streaky than Millennium!)
• ChG - Emotion (pink) , Avalanche (purple) , Adore (blue) , & Cherish (green). If I'm not mistaken I think these are all from the Romantique collection.

 One more picture with flash to show just how metallic and awesomely shiny it is!

Colette is the queen of water marbiling. If you have any questions about this technique or would like to see a tutorial of how it's done check out her blog here: My Simple Little Treasures.

Pin It

Shades of Purple

Here is some purple nail art for ya. I liked the freehand flower design I had done over Coat Azure last week, so I wanted to try it again but MORE of course!

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Trouble Maker.

Gorgeous by itself even.

 I then freehanded the flowers with a detail brush using Orly's Lollipop. Outlined the flowers using Kiss Nail Art Striper in white, added a tiny dash to the center of each petal using Trouble Maker again.

 Then I added tiny light purple rhinestones to the centers of the flowers. I bought the smallest diameter rhinestones I could find because if they stick out to where I feel a bump.... it drives me nuts and I pick it off in no time. These are so small that the topcoat covers around and makes it almost undetectable. :) Making me very happy to have the glitz of rhinetsones without the annoyance!

Pin It

Sapphire Silk Comparison

I wanted to do a side by side nail comparison of Orly's Spring 2011 Sapphire Silk.
The only ones in my collection that were somewhat close were Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Gray by Gray, and Essie's Spring 2011 Coat Azure. Take a look:

Pin It

The Perfect Match

Do you remember my post with the hot pink nails with zebra print french tips? And the co-worker's wedding plans that inspired them? Well I wore them at work and the girl nearly freaked out with joy, so I offered to do her nails for her wedding as a gift to her, if she wanted that look. So we agreed on a pedicure! It'll be subtle, but still there. Compared to the "bride with the crazy painted fingernails," that she might regret 20 + years down the line looking at her wedding pictures. Lol

So then I was determined to find the perfect match in nail polish to her bridesmaids dresses! She told me it was called "Watermelon" at David's Bridal, so I stopped in there today to pick up a $1 swatch of fabric to then go hunting. :)

 How do you think I did?

This is China Glaze - Limbo Bimbo

 I think it's near perfect. :)

Pin It

Orly Spring 2011 - Sapphire Silk

I wanted to use the other Orly polish that I picked up from their Spring 2011 collection. So here is Sapphire Silk in all of it's beauty:

 I realize that the picture makes my hands look jaundice and orange, but it's the most color accurate that I could get. Most all of my pictures were making it look navy blue. This is a beautiful polish because it is so dark and almost dusky teal. It's very similar to Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Gray by Gray. Sapphire Silk is more blue/green while Gray by Gray is more blue/gray.

Simple swatch wasn't enough.... I had to add some pizazz. I just added dots in an uneven french tip with 3 different blue polishes.

 Here are the polishes I used: Back row - left to right : Orly Sapphire Silk, ChG Bahamian Escape, ChG Sea Spray. Front - Essie Coat Azure.



Pin It

Neon Rainbow Crackle

This goes along the same line as the Lisa Frank Inspired, Inspiration? post. I didn't have these bright neons until recently, so I wanted to try it again. Also I like the larger crackle pieces that develop from the China Glaze crackles polishes compared to the OPI black shatter. So here's how it turned out:

 

This is how it looked before the black crackle:

These were the polishes I used:

Thanks again to Dollface for originally doing this!

Pin It

Strawberry Shortcake Nails

FAIL... by the way. Sadly this concept was so much better in my head. :( I really didn't like how any of them turned out. And I think part of it has to do with my dislike of "skittle" nails. I keep trying, and each time it seems like it'll be great, but turns out bleh.

I figured I'd show you guys anyway.

This was the pic I used for some inspiration.

Don't worry, I'll already have something better in mind for tomorrow.

;)

Pin It

Matte Snakeskin

To change it up a bit before I remove the whole design, I added Essie Matte About You topcoat.

Now it kind of reminds me of tire treads though.... I don't know, which version do you like best?

Pin It

Gray/Black Snakeskin

I've shown you this idea before, but in shades of purple. Click here for the purple version.

I do it again, but in shades of gray/black/silver. That way it will go well with a snakeskin cotton skirt I want to wear tomorrow. (The skirt is actually what I used for the background in the pic)

These are the polishes I used:

1 coat of Pure Ice Platinum followed by sponging on Pure Ice Black Rage, China Glaze Recycle, Milani Silver Dazzle, and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Silver Sweep. Then stamped the fishnet pattern with Konad special black polish.

I really like this idea for a manicure because it looks so detailed and complicated, but it's actually quite easy and almost fool-proof!

Pin It

Orly Precious 2011 - Ancient Jade Swatch

Originally seeing the promo pics for Orly's spring collection, I wasn't really interested in any of the colors. However, when I walked into Sally's Beauty Supply and saw them in person.... that's a whole other story. I picked up Ancient Jade and Sapphire Silk last night.

Here is Ancient Jade:

At first glance it seems very similar to For Audrey by China Glaze and even a bit like Refresh Mint, also China Glaze. Holding the bottles together shows you otherwise.

 (Sorry about the purple all over the Refresh Mint! When it shipped to me with some other polishes, a purple one was broken in the mix and got all over everything.)

Refresh Mint is a good bit lighter than Ancient Jade, while For Audrey is definitely more blue. I can do side by side swatches on the nail if anyone is interested. Just leave a comment.

Pin It

Pastel Bubbles

So spring is in the air here with the weather being so nice! I wanted to use some bright spring pastels for my mani. I got the idea for this from some other nail blogger I stumbled on last night at work. I can't find it again of course. :( So if you're familiar with the one I'm talking about, let me know so I can give due credit. She did one that was mainly blues and greens multicolored dots. Also a second manicure with red/pink/white dots as french tips. Very cute idea, I wish I could find it again.

Anyway, this is what I did for mine.

These are the polishes I used:

2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow Matte, then I used a medium size dotting tool and went crazy. ChG Agent Lavender, Lemon Fizz, Something Sweet, Refresh Mint, and Hard Candy Sky.

Pin It