Friday, March 30, 2012

Spring Flowers Dotticure

Hi again everyone!  Well, I don't know what the weather is like where you all live, but where I live it's supposed to be spring.  It's been nothing but rain these past few days and the forecast calls for rain the rest of the week.  That makes it hard to take good photos so I'm posting a manicure I did a little while ago and never got around to posting.  It's also springy so that's a plus for anyone living in a rain soaked climate like me.

For this manicure I started with 2 coats of Essie Nice is Nice.  Then I used OPI Kennebunk-port and Sally Hansen Lightening for the dots.  I finished with a coat of quick dry top coat.

Photo taken in direct sunlight.


Photo taken in direct sunlight.

 That's all for me today!  Thanks for stopping by! :)

Friday, March 23, 2012

Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold

Hello everyone!  Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold has been out for several months now, but I couldn't find it for quite awhile.  I finally got it and actually wore it, so I wanted to share.

This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen Cherry Nice and 1 coat of Antiqued Gold.  I finished with 1 coat of top coat.  The formula and application were a little tricky.  The gold is sheer, and it seems that thicker coats yield larger cracks (which I prefer), so I was sort of globbing on thick coats of crackle.  I mean, dip the brush once, slather on one stroke, dip again, slather on another stroke, etc.  Even after caking it on, I can still see how sheer it is, which I don't like because I prefer 2 distinct colors with the bottom color peeking through the cracks, not red with a thin coat of translucent gold on top.  I'm actually starting to get burned out on crackles.  I probably won't buy anymore unless something truly awesome is released.  I wore this for a day before getting bored of it.

Photo taken in natural light.


Photo taken in natural light.

Do you like crackles?  If so, which is your favorite?

Thanks for reading! :)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Blue Ombre Tape Manicure

Hi everyone!  Today I have a tape manicure to show you.  I don't do tape manicures very often, but when I do they're fun and I usually like the result.  This one turned out pretty good, but I feel like the lines could have been a little crisper, especially with the darkest blue.  I was pressed for time and didn't want to push the tape too hard since I was sure it would pick up the polish too.  So, I ended up with some messy lines, but overall I like the result.

One note I'd like to add here - a lot of tutorials say to start with your first color (in this case the light blue), then add the next color in the order it appears (the medium blue), then layer the darkest color on top of that.  By the time you get to the darkest color you'll have stacked three layers of polish and it can easily turn into a thick bubbly mess.  In the interests of time and neatness, try starting with your middle color first, then tape off both sides and add the other two colors.  That way you're only layering two colors.  (This works best when you have very opaque, one-coat polishes.)

For this manicure I used OPI Whats [sic] With the Cattitude?, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, and Color Club Blue-topia.  I finished the look with 1 coat of quick dry top coat. 

One more point - I know it's probably unnecessary for me to add the [sic] but I feel like a multi-million dollar company like OPI should be able to hire someone with a command of the English language and the use of proper punctuation when creating their labels.  It looks really sloppy for them to be peddling polish with misspelled words, etc.  But they're notorious for having several versions of the same polish (read: poor quality control), so I guess this shouldn't be a surprise.  Shoot, if they pay a decent salary I'll double check their labels!

Anyway, stepping down from my soapbox...


Photo taken in sunlight.


Photo taken in sunlight.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day!  Thanks for reading!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

St. Patrick's Day Manicure

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  I like this holiday mostly because green is my favorite color and I get to wear tons of it and not be made fun of for it. :)  And I went a little nuts with the green nail polish too.

I started with 1 coat of Revlon Sassy, an awesomely bright lime green that is also opaque in one coat.  Then, I added 1 coat of Sinful Colors Call You Later, a clear jelly base with TONS of gold microglitter and both small and medium sized green glitter.  I swear this polish was made specifically for St. Patrick's Day!

Photo taken in sunlight.

Then, I used Shany plate SH12 and Sally Hansen Jumpin' Jade to stamp this cloverish-looking design.  (To be honest I don't know what it's supposed to be, but it was the closest I could find to a clover so that's what I used.)  Then, I added a coat of quick dry top coat.  Finally, I added a green rhinestone to the center of my ring finger and bam! St. Patrick's Day nails!



Do you have any plans for today?  Do you have your manicures picked out?  Thanks for reading!! :)

Friday, March 16, 2012

NOTD: Sally Hansen Slick Slate

Hi everyone! I know I said I planned to have lots of manicures to post this week, but yeah... that didn't happen. :(  Anyway... I want to show off a fun little forgotten treasure: Sally Hansen Slick Slate, a grey creme with a hint of red in the base.  It's part of the Insta-Dri collection and is very opaque.  I've had this color for awhile but last time I wore it I didn't care much for it.  I've noticed that since I've been wearing my nails shorter, I've been fond of colors that I didn't like before.  It's fun to dig through my stash and rediscover old colors.  I've decided that I really like Slick Slate because it's pretty neutral (read: office appropriate/conservative) but it's also a very unique color.

This is 2 coats of Slick Slate and 1 coat of quick dry top coat.

Photo taken in natural light.

That's all for today, but stay tuned because I have a fun St. Patrick's Day mani planned for tomorrow! :)  As always, thanks for reading!!!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sinful Colors Dream On

Hi again everyone!  I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.  Mine has been fantastic so far.  I've spent it mostly catching up on homework and looking forward to next week, which is my spring break.  I plan to spend lots of time playing with different nail polishes and having some looks ready to post throughout the week!  It was really sunny yesterday and today so I wore Makeup Store Greta for a day.  It's so chippy that I barely made it two hours without destroying it, so I tried putting some Claire's black crackle on it, just to see how it would look.  No holographic nail polish should ever be subjected to such a thing!  It looked terrible and the holo effect barely showed.  Poor Greta.  :(  But she kinda deserves it for being so flaky...  har har har!

Today I want to show you a color I recently found at my local Rite Aid, Sinful Colors Dream On.  This is a matte neon purple, that looks very, very similar to Jesse's Girl Wild Thing.  I'm 99% sure they're dupes, but I haven't had a chance to comparison swatch them yet.  Maybe I should do it and post them for your reference.  Dream On was easy to apply and mostly opaque in 2 coats.  (You'll see in the photos below that my pinky was pretty sparse, but I couldn't tell until after I photographed it.)  If you apply thin coats, make sure to do three for good measure and solid coverage.  It's a super pretty color, perfect for spring or summer.  I think this would look extra cute with black jeans and a black cardigan, then have a pop of color on your tips.  Super cute!  Muah!

This is 2 coats of Dream On and one coat of quick dry top coat.

Photo taken in sunlight.

I decided that since Dream On was a neon, it would work with some glitter.  So, I added Color Club Backstage Pass and then matted it with NYC Matte Me Crazy.

Photo taken in sunlight.

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend! :)

Monday, March 5, 2012

Wet n Wild Caught Red Handed

Hi everyone!  I have another red to show you today!  This is Wet n Wild Caught Red Handed, a bright red jelly.  I was on the prowl for another red yesterday and found this bottle on clearance for 75% off.  I only paid $.48 for it!  It's a small bottle though, only .3 fl. oz., but it was still cheap!

This is 3 coats of Caught Red Handed, with no base or top coat.  It's super shiny and juicy!  YUM!

What do you think?

Photo taken in sunlight.


On another note, I'd like to thank my followers for sticking with me lately!  I know my posts have been sporadic and short.  That's mostly due to school.  One of my classes is super demanding and monopolizes all of my time.  It even cuts into time I should be spending on my other class!  It's pretty frustrating, but thankfully Spring Break starts next week and I'll have a week to hopefully work ahead.  My professor claims the pace will slow down so we can work on our research projects.  I hope she's being honest!  I miss blogging and sharing with you! Anyway, thanks again for continuing to read!!  :)