Spring Sponge Gradient

 

Egads - what a day!  I was hoping to get the video tutorial for this manicure edited and posted by tonight, but extenuating circumstances (we bought a new-to-us truck last night) kind of got in the way. So as soon as I can get the video edited, I'll post it - later this week, I think.

  

I did my first sponge gradient since grade school, and it was pretty fun. I used a base of Avon's "Urban Grey" - I wanted a white that wasn't "in your face" bright, and this suited nicely. For the gradients, I used Essie's "Angora Cardi" and Revlon's "Spanish Moss" - gorgeous together, don't you think? 

I played around with a couple different sponging techniques you'll see in the video, and after I put the darker colors on, I went ahead and muted it down a bit with more Urban Grey sponged on top. I decided to add some little "Cardi dots" at the last minute with a dotting tool, but it's overkill. I do think a nice stamped design would look nice...maybe I'll try that next time. 

Base and top coats are Seche Vite, as usual.  I've gotten several compliments on these, so the dots must not be *too* distracting...

 

Sorry the tutorial itself isn't ready - hopefully soon! Until then, happy polishing! 

More about → Spring Sponge Gradient

Spring Pink, Frugal Dad and the Great Camera Search

Okay...so blogger's new posting/editing layout sucks, but you probably already knew that, right? It kind of makes me want to move this blog to my other platform...but moving a blog is a ton of work, so I'll just deal with this, I suppose...

Anyways...hi. If you're still hanging around, thank you - I appreciate your continued support. :-)

I still don't have a new camera...which sucks, because there are several manicures I would have liked to show you recently. I am in the market, and I'd like a digital camera that takes decent video too, as I've had a *ton* of requests for video nail tutorials around here, and I'd like to see about doing some more of that. So, if you have a digital camera (*not* a phone) that you love, and that takes fairly decent video, please leave me a comment with the brand so I can check it out. I would love to get posting on this blog again...but a nail art blog is nothing without photos!

In other news, last month Nail Art Tuesday was listed on Frugal Dad as a Top Nail Polish Site...which is awesome! Thank you, Frugal Dad! I'm honored. :-)

And finally - these pictures suck (from my tablet...sorry - it takes good photos, but it's awkward getting *nail* photos with it), but I'm wearing pink this week...a tri-color gradient that didn't go exactly as planned, but I'm happy enough with 'em, since they sparkle nicely in the sunlight.You should be able to click on the photos for a slightly larger image.

The colors I used are China Glaze "Awakening" for the base, Nubar's "Iris Dust" for the longer top color, and Finger Paints "Hue Left a Message?" for the glitter.

That's all I have for today. I'm researching cameras this week, so hopefully I'll be back to regular posting soon.

Until next time, Happy Polishing!

More about → Spring Pink, Frugal Dad and the Great Camera Search

Sparkly Green

This week's photos are a bit blurry - sorry! The Christmas tree is pretty, but it sucks more light out of my space and while I should have just moved...I was too lazy.

I'm all about the glitter this month...this is actually last week's manicure, and I've got something similar going on this week. It's a nice way to sparkle without spending a lot of time - handy since both of these last two manicures happened between 1am and 3am. Busy busy!

For this one, I started with a base coat of the Sally Hanson Triple Strong formula, because that middle nail is still not quite long enough to cut off. Once that was epoxied together, I put on two coats of my favorite white, Finger Paints "Well-Cultured Pearl".

Then I started at the tip, and brushed on a thin layer of Sinful's "Call You Later", a lovely green & gold glitter I got on sale at the drugstore awhile ago. 

Then one more layer of the glitter, just not quite as far down on the nail for a nice gradient.

Then a couple coats of Seche Vite to top it off, and clean up in the shower the next morning. Easy peasy.

You'll have to excuse my super-dry skin...I can't seem to get enough lotion this time of year. Dry, cold air will do that...

Next week, gift wrap. :-) Until then, happy polishing!

More about → Sparkly Green

Wild Stones

The last two weeks my manicures have just not turned out the way I wanted them to, unfortunately. Thankfully, aside from that annoyingly placed break you see on my middle finger and a little tip-pull, this one turned out pretty well. I love, love, love Nubar duochromes!

I used Sally Hanson "Triple Strong" as a base tonight (see below), Nubar's "Wildlife", a green & pink duochrome for my color, large rhinestones from Born Pretty Store for the artwork, and Seche Vite top coat to seal it all up. The rhinestones were complimentary, if I remember correctly (it's been awhile). Everything else was on my dime.

I started with the Triple Strong to try to stabilize that broken nail until it can grow out to where I can comfortably cut it. When you have nails as long as mine, the "quick" under the nail grows out longer than the finger, so I can't just cut the break off at the top of my finger (not without taking a lot of skin too). Triple Strong normally works really well (it's got epoxy in it!)...but tonight before I took photos, something heavy slipped out of my hands and yanked the break apart again. Stupid thing...my own fault for not being more careful.

After the TS, I applied two coats of Wildlife, which you can kind of see some of the color differences in the above non-flash photo. Gorgeous, beautiful polish, IMO. One of my new favorites, and the formula is awesome, as usual.

Just a simple design this week - three stones on each nail, alternating pink and black. I just brushed on a coat of Seche, seated the stones in the tacky polish, and then sealed with another coat of Seche over the top.

Would you believe I didn't realize I'd lost a stone already until I looked at this photo tonight? Must not have gotten that one pushed down all the way...bummer!

Obviously, I've gotten a bit lazy - not wrapping polish over the tips, etc. It's because I've been starting my manicures really late (like 1am). Next week, I'm starting earlier, no matter what, so I have time to do a better job. That's kind of the point, right? ;-)

Until then, happy polishing!

More about → Wild Stones

Split Personality

It's been a very busy few weeks, but our big Halloween bash went off without a hitch. Last week was a whirlwind of activity around here, cleaning, new carpet, new entertainment center, and much less decorating than I would have liked (but still quite a lot). The theme this year was Heaven & Hell, and naturally, the two sides of my personality were allowed out for an evening - including my nails, of course. My only regret is that I broke several nails moving furniture, and didn't have enough length left to do stilettos for my right hand. *sigh*

Above on my right hand, China Glaze "Ruby Slippers" tipped with CG "Liquid Leather" and a fine line of a matte cement color by Nubar (I forget the exact name, and am too lazy to go look at the moment - sorry!). Obviously, this was my "devil" side, so I didn't mind the tip pull or chipping on my thumb. Just added character to the costume, I think.

Below, my "angel" hand on the left. I used one coat of my favorite pearl white from Finger Paints (also forgot the name), topped with two coats of The Painted Nail by Nubar's "Silver Screened". More pearl on the tip, with CG "Tinsel" along the smile line.

I have to say, it's kind of fun wearing two completely different manicures...and I actually got a few compliments, believe it or not. Perhaps I should try this more often? More nail art opportunities...

Next week, a webby manicure I've been waiting *all month* to do. Got Halloween art of your own? Post a link in the comments so we can all have a gander! :-)

More about → Split Personality

Windy Blue

So sorry I've been neglectful...work's been busy, we have a million house projects going on and I'm expanding my publishing company with new authors/anthologies. All that to say...I barely had time to *do* my nails this week, and last week my manicure...well, it sucked. A word to the wise - those Sally Hansen strips? You can't leave them open and use them later. Seal them up in something airtight.

Anyways, this week's manicure is inspired by the cover art for a book my publishing company just released today. Here's the cover (details here):

That hair blowing everywhere just struck me as so lovely and ephemeral...I didn't do it justice at all, but it inspired just a few black wisps on my favorite blue polish, and I'm quite happy with the simple results. 

This week I'm also trying out Sally Hansen's Triple Strong nail strengthening formula. I went to buy some wraps a few weeks ago, because my nails tend to crack below the quick and I end up having to be really careful that I don't rip them off. Like this: 

So I was looking for some sort of patch or wrap to put over it under my polish, and couldn't find a thing. But I did find this Triple Strong formula with titanium and gel, so I decided to see if it would keep my nail intact until it grows out long enough to cut. I used two coats as a base coat, and I have to say, several days later the cracked portion is still holding up and not ripping farther. So...I'm happy with it so far. 

On top of that, I put two coats of China Glaze "Blue Island Iced Tea" - my all time favorite blue polish. I adore this color, and could look at it for hours. :-)  

Then I just used Avon's "Denim", a dark navy blue and one of my skinny dotting tools to make a few wavy lines on each nail. I added a coat of Nubar's "2010" to the top, but it's not terribly visible, and I'm okay with that since it looks kind of "red" against the navy. I may try those two together again at some point....

Then I just sealed it all with a couple coats of Seche Vite top coat, and cleaned it up the next day. Very simple and easy. 

So...Halloween is right around the corner...got any fabulous holiday manicures to share? I'll have one to post next week for sure...

Until then, happy polishing! :-)

More about → Windy Blue

Here, Kitty Kitty!

A representative of Sally Hanson was kind enough to provide me with some Salon Effects "Real Nail Polish Strips" for review last week...and I was really excited to try them, especially since I seem to be on this nail wrap kick. I had to take one of the Jamberry shields off (one of the wrinkled ones was just getting dirt stuck under the edges...not good), and conveniently enough, the Salon Effects showed up the day before. So I replaced the Jamberry shield with the Sally Hanson strip (which took me about 5 minutes). I used the same style of pattern on my right hand as the Jamberry strip still on my left hand, for comparison:

You can tell the Jamberry strip by the lifted edge and pixellated design...the Salon Effects has a much smoother look (and it's far lighter too - my nail bed hurt when I took the Jamberry off due to the pressure release). Compared to several minutes per nail for the Jamberry application, the Salon Effects took me about 2 minutes after I removed the Jamberry and prepped the nail bed. 

The most disturbing thing though was when I removed the remaining Jamberry shields. I heated them up a couple of times with the blow dryer, lifting a little, then heating, then lifting, then heating so I didn't have to pull too hard on the strip. Even so, the adhesive on the strip took patches of material off the top of my nails, leaving me with depressions and thinning on each nail. I could tap my nail on the underside of the shield, and it was hard nail material there. Here's a photo - my index and ring fingers had the Jamberry on them: 

It's entirely possible, I guess, that I simply didn't heat the strips enough (though I repeated it several times). In any case, despite last week's enthusiasm, I won't be using these on my nails again. It took awhile to buff out the depressions, and now those two nails will be more prone to breakage when they grow out. 

Incidentally, the Salon Effects nail came clean with nail polish remover, very quickly and left a clean nail bed. 

So this week I grabbed my "Kitty Kitty" sample of Salon effects strips, prepped my nails by filing and buffing, and then applied according to the instructions. There are 16 strips included, which is enough to do all ten fingers, two big toes, and cut up a few to do the rest of your toes. I was too lazy to do my toes (and I have a sprained ankle that would make it difficult), so I just did my fingers. Application is super-easy, no special tools required. The only really important thing is to make sure the nail bed is free of oils. 

The strips are pre-cut...I'd suggest choosing one slightly larger than you need, as it can be trimmed carefully with the orange wood stick after it's on. These do stretch, as they're real nail polish, but you don't want to stretch the patterns too much. When you have the right size, you peel off the clear protective coating, take off the backing, snap off the silver tab (you can grasp these in the center), and press onto the nail, cuticle edge first. 

One thing I really like about these is that due to the stretch and because they're very thin, I was able to work out any wrinkles so they lay smoothly across the nail. Once you get it all smoothed out, fold the excess over the edge of the nail, and use the file they provide with a downward motion to trim it off. 

You can see it left a few wrinkles, but it's okay. Once the excess was off:

I just went over it again and smoothed it out, using the orange wood stick to trim where I needed to (careful, they're still soft at this stage, so they can tear if you stab 'em with the wood stick - but it does take a lot of force to tear one).

It took me about 10-15 minutes to apply all 10 nails, and afterward there's no drying time...they're just done. Super simple and quick. So far they've had great staying power - I wore the black and white one for 4 days with no visible signs of wear, and the kitty nails are doing great so far even with all the showering & cleaning and such, so I'm confident they'll wear for at least seven days.

The Salon Effects strips cost $9.99 retail at my local drugstore...it's a bit pricy for just one manicure, but for a special occasion, vacation or whatever, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these. Excellent product, in my opinion.

I have some Broadway Nails full wrap stickers to try as well, but the Sally Hanson rep sent some crackle polish I'm dying to play with, so next week, something a little less sleek. ;-) 

Until then, happy polishing!

More about → Here, Kitty Kitty!

Starry Purple Beach

Sorry for disappearing again there. The past few weeks have been *crazy*! Thankfully things are kind of slowing down a little bit. This week, I felt dark and purple-y, so I pulled out Nubar's "Purple Beach" duochrome, which is just an awesome color. It's dark and broody, but with an amazing green/gold tone in the right light. One of my new favorites.

I started with two coats "Purple Beach" over a base coat of Seche Vite:

Above with a flash, below without so you can sort of see the color variation (sorry it's so blurry!):

Then I simply took these great star stickers, and put them on to just accent the color a little.

Two coats of Seche Vite top coat, and some clean-up results in an unfortunately blurry photo, but you get the idea:

When you have a color this great on it's own, sometimes less is more when it comes to nail art, I think. I just wish I were a better photographer...though I think our camera might need replacing too. ;-)

Until next week, Happy Polishing!

More about → Starry Purple Beach

Pink Screening

I had a semi-crisis with this week's manicure, my fault, I think due to storing my water decals in the bathroom. I'm also kind of bummed that this polish was nearly impossible to photograph properly, because in reality, it's just gorgeous and light and perfect for summer. You can sort of get the idea here though.

This week's polish is "Silver Screened", generously provided to me by The Painted Nail and The Nail Files. It's a gorgeous sheer pink with silver micro-glitter in it that gives it a fabulous wet look all the time. I started with three coats over 1 coat of Seche Vite base..as you can sort of see, it's still sheer even after three coats: 

Then I took the water decals I'd already cut apart, and put water on the back of the one I wanted for my thumb. 

Let it sit for ten seconds or so, then it's supposed to slide right off. This one didn't, so I put a couple more drops of water on the back, and waited again. When I tried to slide it off, the decal tore. 

I think these are ruined because I stored them in our bathroom. Every morning there's a lot of steam and humidity, and I can see where these might have hydrated, then fused to the paper. It's too bad, because I really like these decals, but lesson learned. 

So I looked around my nail tray and found some flower stickers that matched my polish: 

I stuck a few flowers on three fingers of each hand, and sealed the whole thing with two coats of top coat.

Then cleaned up this morning in the shower, and voila!

I may try to get more photos of these in the daytime if I can remember...the polish really is quite remarkable, and if I do get more pictures, I'll post them on my facebook page.


Next week...hmm... I haven't decided just yet. I have a few new Avon polishes, and one more Painted Nail polish, so we'll see. Until then, happy polishing!

More about → Pink Screening

Malibu Pearls

The folks at The Painted Nail and The Nail Files were kind enough to send me three bottles of polish to use and review. The polish is made by Nubar, and I have to say, "Malibu Dreams" is probably my favorite hot pink polish ever (and I don't normally care much for hot pink). It has a blueish base, and tons of tiny sparkly glitter that makes it look wet even when dry. Great formula too (as expected from Nubar). So this week I started with two coats of Malibu Dreams (over a coat of Seche Vite base coat):

And then got out my large rhinestones (provided by Born Pretty Store) and pearls for a little "nail-lace" on each (one thick coat of top coat to set them in). The turquoise and pink combo reminded me of someplace warm and sunny and bright like Malibu. I set the big rhinestone first in the center of the nail. Then I placed the little pearls on each side. Super, super easy. If the top coat is wet enough, you can slide the stones around a bit until they're where you want them, so working fast is helpful (but not necessary).

I only did one more thickish coat of top coat (Seche Vite) to seal, because the stones were set pretty well in the first coat. These don't stick up too far, so it shouldn't be an issue. They feel very solid.

Sorry - no video this week. I shot some, but didn't have time to edit it. Next week a Fourth of July design, and I'll have time for video since I have a three-day weekend. :-)

Until then, happy polishing!

More about → Malibu Pearls