Halloween Meltdown

As you may have noticed, I'm having trouble keeping up with October posts this year. We're having a big Halloween bash here at the house in 11 days, getting new carpet in 6 days, and trying to get everything ready on time. Needless to say, my head hasn't exactly been on nail pictures. 
So I'll repost this manicure from last year for your viewing pleasure this week, and next week I'll post my split personality manicure to go with my costume. Enjoy these purple nails - I sure did! :-) 

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 I decided to go purple, orange and silver for this week's Halloween nail colors. I was a little apprehensive about whether the China Glaze "Spellbound" glitter would go with the Urban Decay "Meltdown" royal purple. After some reassurance from hubby that it would work just fine, I started with two coats of Meltdown over base coat. I can't say this polish was my fave to work with. It's thicker than I'm used to, and harder to control. I just adore this color though - isn't it gorgeous? Then I added one coat of Spellbound from the cuticle just half way up the nail for some glitter. I have horrible light at night, but wait for the "finished" photos. Spellbound is...spellbinding! I was going to use silver bouillon beads for the letters, but decided that they'd "get lost" in the silver glitter. So I used the white Migi pen instead to write "Eek!" on one hand, and "Boo!" on the other. A little top coat, some clean-up and a little outdoor lighting - voila! Another festive (and very easy) Halloween manicure! I've already gotten a compliment at work for these...Halloween nails seem popular this year! More Halloween next week...

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Migi Nail Art - Warning

I hate to do this, but I feel pretty strongly that companies should be held accountable for both their actions and their customer service. I've recently been informed that Migi Nail Art has a grade of "F" with the Better Business Bureau - click here to see the report.

Because I have no first-hand experience with placing an actual *order* with this company, I need to say that I personally have not had any bad experience with them. The products I received from them were free, and work as promised. The person I dealt with was very professional and prompt. But with this kind of report from the Better Business Bureau, I can't continue to support or promote the company until they get these problems resolved.

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Flashy Zoya

I've been dying to try out these sparkly Zoya colors since before Christmas. I have "Luna" (Silver glitter) and "Nova" (bright pink glitter), and got out my Migi black/white pen and Essie "Matte About You" to experiment too. I started with two coats of Luna over Zoya basecoat. As you can see, my middle nail finally grew long enough for the break in the middle to tear off, so I'm stuck with a super-short middle nail for a couple weeks. I can't actually cut my nails that short anymore - the skin underneath has grown out past the tip of my fingers (presumably to support my normally long nails). I had to trim the skin off where my nail broke for that one - a painful proposition. You can actually still see the part I couldn't cut sticking up a little past the nail. Thank goodness my nails grow very fast!

Then two coats of Nova on the diagonal (I don't know why, but I'm really drawn to diagonal designs).

As you can see below, I experimented with the design I had in mind on my pinky finger. I often do that because if I need to redo it, it's a very small area to remove/re-polish. I liked it, so I started with white curving back and forth across the colors. 

Then I put black over it, going the opposite way. My lines aren't perfect by any means, but I think the "squiggles" give the design movement and a little dimension.

Then I tried the matte top coat over my pinky nail, just to see how it would look. You can see how the matte is definately a little different below - it accentuates all the little bits of glitter, rather than just being super-shiny. It doesn't really affect Luna much, but I liked it over Nova. Just not with this particular design. I'm still a high-gloss lover at heart.

So I went over them all with two coats of Zoya topcoat, and cleaned them up. Aside from a white mistake on my right hand middle finger, I think they turned out pretty well. They're quite eye-catching and flashy.

What's on your tips this week? Anything fun for these wintery days?

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Holly Jolly Manicure

This week I decided to try for Holly leaves. I've done them once before, but used a nail art striper brush rather than the Migi Nail Art pens that I used this time. Think I could use a little more practice, but overall, they ended up pretty festive.

I started with two coats of China Glaze "White Out" for the base color. I have a hard time getting this one even, but didn't worry too much about it since the next step was glitter.

Then I layered a coat of China Glaze "Glacier" over the top, for a nice glitter effect. Unfortunately, it didn't quite fill that uneven spot on my middle finger, but I like the overall frosty effect.
I decided to use black to outline the leaves after trying one in just green on my thumb. I did the outlines on each nail - it's a good idea to practice drawing holly leaves on a piece of paper first (just six "smiles" joined together at angles, three on each side).
Then I used the green migi pen to fill in the holly leaves.
For a little interest, I used a Nubar nail art pen to put a gold "ribbon" across the smile line.
And then three red rhinestones for berries in the center of each pair of leaves.
A few coats of top coat, some clean up, and voila! A Holly Jolly Manicure.
Admittedly I need more practice with the holly, but I like these quite a bit. Anyone else wearing holiday nails yet?

Happy Polishing!

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Candy Cane Stripes

First, my apologies for the lack of post last week. Crazy happenings all over the place, and I never got a chance to post. This week starts the Christmas season though, and four weeks of holiday manicures, which I'm actually looking forward to this year (as opposed to being "not ready" just yet). I decided to kick the month off with some reverse candy cane stripes. I couldn't quite make up my mind on the tips, so you'll see where I changed my mind mid-polish further down.

I used the China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" and "Tinsel" to start, along with my white Migi Nail Art Pen, and some silver bouillon beads.

I started with a base of 2 coats Ruby Pumps (over Zoya basecoat).
Then I attempted to "sugar" the tips with Tinsel. I didn't get the polish thin enough, unfortunately, so ended up with more silver color than I'd hoped.
Then I drew on some diagonal white stripes on the main part of my nails with the nail art pen - obviously, I'm not a perfectionist, but I think they turned out okay.
I couldn't decide whether to define the tips with a line or not, so I tried black on my thumb. Too harsh, I decided.
Silver beads didn't tone it down enough, so I decided to skip the line altogether on my other nails.
I laid them in top coat on my other nails. Tip - do one half of the nail at a time, that way the top coat won't dry before you get all the way across the nail. I defined the tips with silver beads, then took stock. Decided I didn't really like the silver tips with all the other stuff going on - just too much.
So back to red for the tips. Much better, I think. Right about here I was wishing I had some white faux fur to use in place of the silver beads - don't you think that would be cute as a sort of "cuff" for the tips?
A few coats of top coat, some clean up, and voila - shiny, glittery candy nails.
My right hand, blurry, but looking pretty good.
Next week, another holiday themed mani - what are you wearing on your nails this week?

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Halloween Nails: Dark & Edgy

The folks at Cina were kind enough to send me a pack of their new Halloween decals to try this month, and share with all of you! Have you noticed that good nail decals are getting harder and harder to find? I have, so I was super-excited to get these, with their edgy not-quite-goth designs. They're available exclusively at Sally Beauty Supply (incidentally, I don't see them in the online store - these may be a retail store only item) and only for the month of October, so run out and get a pack - these are the real deal!

I decided to use the main colors in the decals to create the "canvas", so this week I used China Glaze polishes in "White Out", "Liquid Leather", and "Ruby Pumps". I also used my black & white Migi Nail art pen.
First, I painted every other nail white, then went back and did the rest black. "White Out" has a very thin consistency that I found hard to control - I did three coats of that to get the color even, and two coats of "Liquid Leather" - which is really the perfect glossy black.
Then I took "Ruby Pumps" and accented the base colors with the glittery red. I decided at the last minute to cover my whole pinky nail there, and I also added a horizontal strip across the black index finger, and a red cross over my black middle finger (other hand - not shown).
Time to place the details! I decided on a little ghostly yin-yang on my thumb that ended up looking more like a crest (one of my favorites), and I think the eyes peeking out over the red tip on my index finger are very spooky. A spider, a disturbingly happy skull & crossbones, and a black cat completed this hand. Here's a tip - wait until the polish is pretty well dry before placing the stickers. If you put them in wet polish, the edges will curl up (as did my white ghost there, and my spider on the index finger). These decals do lay perfectly flat when you place them on mostly dry polish.
Next I went back and outlined any color lines with the Migi in black, to smooth them out a bit and give it a more "finished" look. Quick and easy. Two coats of top coat, and some of Zoya's "Hurry Up" drops, and I was ready to clean up my cuticles!
Voila! I think this turned out really well, the first Halloween manicure of the season. It's not just me though - I got compliments already from the lady at the post office, and one at Costco, aside from a few I caught checking them out while trying to be sneaky. These designs are very eye-catching, and people tend to really notice them.
And my right hand too. I adore the spider web & spider on my ring finger, and that screamer skull perfectly accents the long pinky nail.

Next week, more Halloween nails!

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Nearly Plaid & Barefoot

Wow! 336 votes in the People's Choice Contest so far! Haven't voted yet? Click here. Then come back to see this week's nail art design.

Haircare Discounters, an online company who sells the entire line of OPI polishes (for less than you'd find it in stores - links in the sidebars) was kind enough to send me a couple of free polishes this month. OPI "Barefoot in Barcelona" was one of my free bottles, a sort of dark rose pink that I think is a wonderful neutral. I was late getting to my manicure this week, and tired, so I decided to use my black and white migi pens to create a simple design.
First, the base - two coats of OPI "Barefoot in Barcelona". It's been awhile since I dug into my OPI collection, but this formula is to die for! Notice my cuticles (yeah, aside from the serious dry skin)? Most of my polish jobs are messy to start, but this polish was just a dream to control going on. Far less mess than normal.
Then, after using my thumbnail as "practice" to see how far I'd take the design, I decided on just two offset crosses in sort of a beginning plaid design. I started with white.
Then added black on top. If you try this, you can do it while the polish is still wet. Just make sure not to let the tip of the pen touch your nail or the paint.
A couple coats of top coat, and it's all done (you can see my "experimental" plaid thumbnail here too). Remember that most nail art colors "drag" or bleed when you go to apply top coat, so do the first coat in one swipe over the artwork, not letting the brush actually touch the nail. After that dries, you can brush the final coat on as normal.

My lines aren't all that straight - my hands were shaky from a day's worth of physical labor. But I don't think it turned out too bad. My husband says it reminds him of some popular art style.

Next week starts four weeks of Halloween nail art, starting with some brand new Halloween decals the folks at Cina sent me to show you. They'll be available exclusively at Sally Beauty Supply during the month of October...come back next Tuesday for a peek!

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Watermelon Nails featuring Migi Nail Art Pens

Thanks to the folks at Migi Nail Art, who were kind enough to send me a couple of their pens to try and review. As soon as I saw the colors they sent, one thing popped into my head immediately - Watermelons!
The pens look like markers, and when hooked together (two colors connected in the middle), they're about the same size as a marker too. This really is an ingenious design, because it's far more comfortable to hold than most nail art pens that are too short. This design didn't make the palm of my hand cramp up like a lot of them do.
They come apart easily - just twist in and out of the coupler. You can buy refills, so once you buy the pen, you don't have to buy the whole thing again, which I like. They have a regular nail polish brush inside of the screw-cap, which is okay, but honestly, I don't normally use art polish to actually paint my base layers with. The consistency is just too thick for a base color (which is what makes it great for art - thicker is easier to work with when drawing designs). These bottles are also pretty small, so I wouldn't normally want to waste good art polish just as a base color. I'd prefer to see a skinny striper brush in here for more flexibility in art styles.
The slender metal pen tip is perfect - and it's what will get the most use, I think. You pull the top of the cap off (instead of unscrewing the whole thing), and the pen tip is right there. Very easy to use and control, not too long as some other brands are.
So now that we've explored the pens - on with the design! For purposes of trying the Migi pens out, I used the hot pink and green as base colors over Avon base coat for this manicure. They're fairly opaque in one coat, but I used two just to smooth out any rough spots. It really is much thicker polish than I'd normally want to use as a base. You can, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Then I switched to the pen tip, and added green tips to my pink nails to start forming the rind. Honestly, the pen tip isn't very useful for filling in the tip - next time, I'd use it to draw in the smile line, then switch to the brush to fill color over the tips.
I had the idea to make two of my nails look like the outside of a watermelon, so I used the white pen tip to draw in lines like you might see on a watermelon. They're never straight, so I "wiggled" them on purpose. It worked great - these pens are pretty easy to use right away, with less pressure than you might think.
This is what happens when you use too much pressure - the lines are too thick on my ring finger! I wasn't sure I'd be able to fix this problem.
But I used the green pen to go over some of the glaring white and took it back down to a manageable look. Then I used the white to accent the smile lines on my pink nails, and create the white part of the rind.
Next, I used the black pen to create "seeds". Many watermelon depictions only have a few seeds near the rind, but I've never eaten a watermelon that didn't have plenty of them, so I embellished.
Finally time for top coat. I used a glossy Avon topcoat for the pink fingers, and then, since watermelons are not glossy on the outside, I used Essie Matte About You on the green fingers, with great results! I did the green fingers first, and realized that the Migi polish does run under topcoat. I liked that on my green nails, since it toned down the white and made it look more like real watermelons.
For the pink nails, I got a good glob of top coat on the brush, and swiped it quickly over each nail, careful to not let the brush actually touch the nail. After that dries, the polish underneath is set and no more running problems. It takes practice - and as you can see, I'm not perfect at it yet.
Then a little clean up, and voila! Watermelon nails. Photo above is with flash, photos below without a flash. You can really see the difference between the glossy and matte top coats - I love the contrast.
I did this manicure on Sunday night, and I do have a little shrinkage at the tips. The Migi polish is great for artwork, not so great for base coats, and if they'd switch out that regular brush for a striper brush, these pens would be perfect. Even so, I'm still ordering more...the shape and pen tip are just excellent, and much easier to use than most art pens out there. This manicure went very quickly - about 1 1/2 hours start to finish (start being taking the old polish off, filing, buffing, etc). The polish dries very quickly.

No toes this week - I wasn't sure I'd have time. As soon as the prizes for the contest come in, I'll post them up!

Happy polishing!

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