Ombre Stripes

Week 23 of the Year of Polish challenge- Ombre Mani

I saw a mani very similar to this on Tumblr not too long ago and thought it would make a nice alternative to the normal Ombre manis

Plus, as you have probably noticed, I have been in a very colorful mood for a while now so the thought of sticking to different shades of the same color was not very exciting.

This striped ombre was very easy to do and it is a nice alternative for nail-fanatics who just do not happen to have 5 complementing shades of polish!

Sally Hansen in White On

YELLOW

Sally Hansen in Yellow Kitty

Orly in Spark

China Glaze in Solar Power

PURPLE

China Glaze in Agent Lavender

Fresh Paint in Blackberry Smoothie

China Glaze in Grape Pop

GREEN

China Glaze in Refresh-mint

China Glaze in Gaga for Green

Zoya in Envy

BLUE

China Glaze in Kinetic Candy

Sally Hansen in Brisk Blue

Barry M in Indigo

PINK

SinfulColors in Pink Forever

NYC in Pink Promenade Creme (old version)

China Glaze in Fuchsia Fanatic

A nice white base and paint on a stripe of each color. Add a topcoat to blend everything nicely and bam! A stripey rainbow!

Alrighty then! I'll be leaving for a summer vacation on Sunday so I will be taking a little break from posting. I'll try and log on to show you what my vacation mani looks like first though :) I'm planning on using some Jamberry Nail shields since they last for so long!

Until next time ^_^

Pink and Glittery with Bows- The Girly Nails

Hello!

I've fallen behind on my Year of polish challenge >_< sorry about that!

I have a day off from lab tomorrow so I will see what I can do about that :)

Today, I have for you a mani I did some weeks ago. I was lacking in creativity and while perusing through my drawer of nail art accessories, I picked up a nice little sheet of nail stickers. 

To keep the nails from looking too busy, I picked a simple color and added a bit o' gold to it!

China Glaze in Strawberry Fields

Revlon on Gold Coin

Nail stickers from Ebay

What do you think of nail stickers? do they help you when you are in a rut?

Until next time ^_^

Grey Gradient Dots

Hello everyone!

Today I'm going to show you a little mani that I did using my "polka dot" glitters

I wanted a pretty neutral base since I was going to be slathering so much glitter on top so I opted for grey. I actually made a subtle grey gradient using the fan brush technique. It's messier than the sponging technique and uses more polish but I think it makes the polish blend together very nicely!

Sally Hansen in Wet Cement

China Glaze in Recycle

Lynnderella in Connect the Dots (Thumb and Index)

Nubar in White Polka Dot (Left Hand)

Nubar in Black Polka Dot (Right Hand)

Overall, I much prefer CtD. It really is "instant nail art" in a bottle. Black polka dot, though was really nice as well. It didn't have that shimmery POP like CtD but one coat created a really pretty dotty effect. I was a little disappointed with White Polka Dot though. it was really hard to get the large hex glitter out of the bottle. Also, they were really more pearly clear glitter than white... That made them kind of hard to see, especially on the lighter grey. I will have to try it over a darker color next time. Maybe it will be better?

there are many other "polka dot" glitters out there but I think I have enough for now :)

What's your favorite "polka dot" glitter?

Until next time ^_^

Skittle Gradient

First off, I'd like to apologize for being so absent for the past couple of weeks. Things have been pretty hectic at school and I had to get ready for an experiment that started on Saturday. Unfortunately, the experiment was not working out so we had to cancel it :( However! that does mean I have a little more free time then expected.

Here is one of my favorite manis that I have done so far for the Year of Polish challenge.

This was for week 12: Skittle Mani

For this I decided to do a gradient skittle, mostly because I love gradients so much ^_^
I used a few of my new Kleancolor Metallic polishes for this look and they worked great!
The colors are vibrant and (except for yellow of course) they were opaque in 1 coat.

Kleancolor in Metallic Green

Kleancolor in Metallic Aqua

Kleancolor in Metallic Pink

Kleancolor in Metallic Yellow

Kleancolor in MetallicFuschia

Kleancolor in Metallic Orange

To achieve the gradient effect, I simply sponged on the colors and made them overlap a bit. They blended together really nicely and the final effect was like a rainbow of awesome-sauce!

I'm thinking this would make an awesome pedicure.

On another note, according the UPS tracking, I should receive the last of the items for the giveaway tonight. This means that I can finally start this thing!! I will probably be using Rafflecopter this time, but if you have any other suggestions, I am totally open to trying something else!

I was also thinking about doing a stash post where I show you how I have my polish organized. What do you guys think?

Until next time ^_^

St Patrick's day nails

We're now on week 11 of the Year of Polish challenge! This time, we're doing St Patrick's day nails. How surprising I know!

I've never been a big fan of St Patrick's day. Green doesn't really suit me, so I rarely wear it. St Patrick's day was no exception and there was always one annoying kid in school who would actually go around pinching people for it... I'm also not a beer drinker. This leaves this holiday with little for me to actually enjoy. 

I do, however, have a free green shades of polish that rarely get to see the light of day. 

China Glaze in Gaga for Green

Model's Own in Emerald City

Sinful Colors in Green Ocean

Nail Sticker from 8ty8 Beauty

It's kind of hard to see Green Ocean but it is a really pretty green tinted jelly with large blue flakes. It's very thick and hard to apply but it adds a gorgeous effect.

Don't forget to check out the Year of Polish challenge page located below my profile picture to see some upcoming challenges as well as some links to blogs who are also doing this!

What do you think of St Patrick's Day?

Until next time ^_^

Crackle Gradient- Everbella Shatter Crackle

Hello everyone!

Today I have something that I have been wanting to try for a while! A gradient using crackle polish!
Gradient manis can be tricky so I didn't know how well crackle polishes would blend to create a gradient effect.

This idea started when the lovely Florence over at Everbella sent me a nifty crackle polish kit for review. 

The kit came safely packaged in a corrugated box which was shipped in a bubble mailer  

Base color, Crackle polish, and Top coat

The crackle polish kit comes with a base color which varies, a crackle polish, and a small bottle of topcoat. The base color I received is a nice shimmery apple green and the crackle I was sent is BH14- Dark Green.
Everbella has more than 30 shades of crackle polish! a crackle for every occasion :D

From everbella.com Click to enlarge and see each in detail!

 Each of these crackle come in a kit (with base polish and topcoat) for only $4.99 which is a really good deal. Of course, you're probably wondering about the quality of the polish for that price right?
Well I'm going to show you swatches of the crackle further down, but the base polish was surprisingly good. The formula was a little thick but it applied nicely and the whole thing was opaque in 1 coat! The only real downside of this polish is the strange smell it has. I remember someone remarking that is smelled just like silly string, and truly it does. It's a mild chemically smell that goes away once the polish dries.

Now the crackle!!

Here is the final look of the mani:

I created it using 4 different crackle polishes and made 2 different gradients :)

Funky Fingers Teal Scales, X&D BH14, China Glaze Oxidized Aqua, Funky Fingers Silver Scales. The base color I used is Sally Hansen Brisk Blue

Funky Fingers in Teal Scales is dark green with load of glitter. It crackled decently well but it wasn't the best of the bunch! It must be applied over polish for the crackle effect to appear.

X&D in BH14 is dark green and dries to a matte finish. If you add topcoat, a subtle green shimmer emerges! the swatch on the nail wheel has no topcoat while my fingers above do so that you can see the difference :) This one took the longest to crack but had the nicest effect and formula overall. It did stain when I applied it over white polish but had no issues with it over Brisk Blue. This one does not need to be applied over polish to crackle!

China Glaze in Oxidized Aqua is light green metallic with small blue glitter. The formula for this one was very runny and didn't crackle as well as the others. I must be applied over polish to crackle.

Funky Fingers in Silver scale is a shimmery metallic silver. The formula on this one was pretty runny as well. It also tended to crackle in larger chunks. It must be applied over polish for the crackle effect to appear.

To create your own crackle gradient, all you need is a least 2 colors (preferably in the same color family) of crackle polish and a base color!
Take one of your first crackle and apply it from the cuticle side until half way down the nail. Then quickly take your second color and apply it a little bit above where the first color finished and drag it down to the tip. This should slightly blend the 2 polishes together. The crackling effect will take care of the rest!

Here is a nail wheel where I fooled around with some color combinations

As you can see, even though these are all different brands of crackle polish, they all seemed to blend together nicely!


I picked my 2 favorites from the wheel: Silver Scales to Oxidize Aqua to BH14 and BH14 to Teal Scales to create my gradient look

This is a really easy way to get gradient nails since the crackle polish breaks the whole thing up. It make the lines between the colors disappear! if you want to try this for yourself, you can pick up some great crackle polish at Everbella's online store: Everbella.com. Don't forget to use the code on the sidebar to get 10% off any item!

What do you think of the crackle gradient?

Until next time ^_^

*This item was sent to me for review, however, I provided my honest opinion of the product*

Holo and Glitter Gradient

So I've decided to try out the new polish challenge. I wasn't prepared to do a new nail art a day like most of the previous challenges, so the Year of Polish challenge is perfect for me! It will also make me post more regularly which is something I really want to do. To learn more about the challenge, just go to the "Year of Polish" page which is located right under the "About Me" section.

The challenge started on the first of January, so I'm a little behind, but I will catch up soon!

Week 1 of the Year of Polish challenge-  "Make it Sparkle" Mani Holo glitter

So here it is, mani 1 of 52! I decided to do a gradient, 1- because it is easy and quick and 2- because you rarely see a gradient that uses holo polish

Unfortunately, it is dark and rainy here in Ohio... So I couldn't get you guys any sunshine pictures which means that my silver holo, doesn't really look holo. If the sun shines before I take this mani off, I will snap some quick pictures of it to show you how truly pretty it is (or you look at amused polish's post about it)

Left Hand!

blurry rainbow pic!

Right Hand

Avon Nailwear Pro in Gunmetal

topped with Winmax Alpha Rainbow in Silver

Avon Nailwear Pro in Luxe Lavender

topped with my own franken- Melacara

and Out the Door Northern lights

I've been doing a bit of frankening lately and I love it! I need to buy more empty bottles because that is the only think that is stopping me right now :)

 Heres's a better look at Melacara. It's a medium grayish purple shade with loads of glitter and a hint of holo.

I hope you enjoy this awesome challenge and if you decide to do it too, let me know and I can spread the word about your designs!

Until next time ^_^

Shiny Snow Nails

Today I have for you another take of my snow nails

For this mani I wanted to try and capture how pretty it can be when it's snowing (and you don't have to go some place). I layers on quite a few glitter jellies to get the look just right!

Sally Hansen in Whirlwind White

Wet n' Wild in Kaleidoscope

Wet n' Wild in Hallucinate

Funky Fingers in Stage Dive

Sally Hansen in Hidden Treasure

I hope that if you recreate this mani, it too reminds you of pretty snow 

Until next time ^_^

Two-fer gradation

hello all!

I found this little gem in my old photos. I did this mani almost a year ago and forgot to post it! This duo of a color gradation with a glitter gradation is super easy to recreate.

If I remember correctly, I only used 2 polishes for this look: Arisa in creamy mocha and Etude house in gold spangle

the trick is to sponge on your base color starting from the tip to the middle of the finger so that most of your color is concentrated at the end.
Then you want to take the glitter and apply one thin layer over the whole nail, followed by one slightly thicker layer over the tip half of the nail and then one last thick layer over the free edge/tip of the nail.

there you go, a two-fer gradation

Until next time ^_^

Smudgy Gradation

In the past I have mostly done gradients that used colors of the same family  because its a lot easier... So I decided to try it with 2 completely different colors, purple and green. Blending was a little hard so I decided to smudge the line with some Out The Door which worked great! I just glopped a ball of Out The Door on the middle of the nail and used the brush to blend the 2 colors together.

Etude House in Beach Green

Etude House in Plum Chou

Etude House in Heart topcoat

Topped the whole shebang with some glittery topcoat (with hearts) and tadah!

Until next time ^_^

Snow nails

Well at least kind of
 see for yourself!
Just a simple glitter-jelly gradient over white

Sally Hansen white out

Sinful colors in hottie

Rainy day

Hello all,

Sorry about the lack of posts. I was so busy studying for the GRE, I didnt even have time (or energy) to change my nail polish... It was unfortunate :(
But now! things are better so back to the polish!

It's been raining a lot here for the past couple of weeks. The weather is cooling down (as much as it can in South Carolina...) and I've actually had to start wearing socks D:  I am not a fan of socks...
Anyhow, I decided the weather called for a cool and rainy color so here is China Glaze in Secret Peri-Wink-Le

sorry about the lack of clean up. >_>

Then! the weather started getting better again. More sun and heat, so I added some sponging and stamping  and nail stickers to happy it up a bit.

Bundle monster plate 10

China glaze in Agent Peri-Wink-Le

Sally Hansen in Celeb City

Sally Hansen in Mint Sprint

Nail stickers for 8ty8 beauty

Glitterama!

I have been thinking about a glitter mani for a while now. I love them. I really do... I just hate how hard they are to remove and the mess it makes. But, they are worth it once in a while.

Random top coat I received for Christmas a bazillion years ago. (glitter made it turn pink...)

Wet n Wild in Kaleidoscope

Malibu Girl in Pink Sparkle

Loose Bon Bon glitter

Loose glitter tower from Claire's

Blurry glitter pic :)

90's pj pants... I know.. I know...

but then!! I received a package in the mail from my recent swap which included the ever-loved Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure. I had to try it out. So on it went!!

It looks like a very subtle change, but in person, it made a really big difference. So there. This is going to take days to remove... as well as a lot of cotton balls...