Big Bang Hearts

I was in the mood for something "hot" last week - and the tiny bottle of Urban Decay's "Big Bang" jumped right out at me from my polish stash. Feeling lazy and not wanting to cover up much of this delicious color, I decided to go with simple glittery tips and heart decals - easy as it gets.

 

I started with two coats of "Big Bang" - which applied very smoothly. I love how much this shimmers, but it does make it hard to capture in a photo. The flash bounces back, and it looks dull without. But I used the flash for the demo photos so you could see how bright it is. Yes, it really is that bright in person. 

 

I used China Glaze "Tinsel" for the tips - just one coat, enough to give it a good shimmery effect, but not enough to completely hide the color underneath. 

 

These decals are self-stick, and made by "Fingers" if I recall correctly. I have to say, they're some of the best decals I've ever used - they don't sink down into the polish after application, and they lay perfectly flat on the nail. I definitely need to order more of these if I can find them online (picked these up at a drugstore as a rare find). 

 

 

Two coats of top coat and some cleanup - voila! These last two photos are without the flash, so you can get the "lower light" scoop. I'm really quite enamored of these - simple, but eye catching. Sometimes I just feel like bright nails. 

 

 

Until next week...Happy polishing!

Valentine Couture

I've had this design in my head for a week now, and it came out pretty close to what I'd envisioned. I thought I'd just keep it simple this week for my Valentine's Day Manicure.

I started with 2 coats of OPI DS "Couture" - a dark pink holographic color that I just adore. 

 

Then I used my white Migi Nail Art pen to put lattice on my thumbs, and white hearts on each finger. FYI, I found it was actually easier to do the hearts on my left hand upside down. Odd, but it worked. 

  

Then I put pearlized 3D hearts in the center of each white heart to finish them off. I was pretty happy that those hearts almost perfectly matched the base polish.

  

Two coats of top coat, some clean up, and here's what they look like in the daylight (all others above at night w/flash).

 

Super simple and subtle, but blingy in the sunlight! I do love this Couture color - I'd forgotten it was in my collection.



I'm not sure what's up for next week...any suggestions?



Happy polishing - and Happy Valentine's Day! :-)

Grungy White Widow

I was trying to get in the mood for hearts and flowers this week...but decided I wasn't quite ready for pink or red and white. so I decided to try a couple more Urban Decay polishes - "Grunge", a nearly-black green, and "White Widow", which I really thought was going to be more white instead of sort of champagne colored. I like the color, it just didn't have the same effect with the green that I was envisioning. In any case, I started with two coats of White Widow (which does look white here with a flash):

Then I did the tips in Grunge, with a wicked-looking point in the center.

 

I had some little 3-D hearts, and when I thought WW was going to be "white", I chose blue and yellow to match, I should have gone with red - would have gone better with the WW "champagne" color. I put two hearts on most nails, varying depending on how much room I had available.

I don't think they turned out too badly though...just needs a brighter white for the background.

 

A little clean-up, and voila! The color of White Widow is very close to true in these last two photos, so you can see what I mean about the champagne color.

 

Next week, I'll go pink and white and hearts all over for Valentine's Day...



Happy polishing!

Porcini Matte

I had a hard time deciding what colors to use this week. But I had these (and a few other Essie colors) burning a hole in my polish drawer, so decided to just play around a little. I decided that pink and gray suited my mood at the moment. The pink is "Porcini" from Essie, and has gold mica in it that makes it shimmer very prettily. The gray is "Chinchilly", also from Essie, and really does remind me of a chinchilla's fur. I started with 2 coats of Porcini, which turned out fairly opaque, but left my tips a little translucent in the right light.

 

I couldn't decide whether to do a diagonal with the Chinchilly, or tips, but the translucent issue decided the matter. So I tipped my nails in the gray, which incidentally, was somewhat difficult to work with (odd, since the Porcini was fine). You'll notice my smile lines are a bit "off" - I blame it on the polish. 

I wanted to add some sort of simple design, but not too much. So I got out my dotting tool, and just added a few gray dots falling below the smile line, curving  up and back down.

Then I added a few pink dots above the smile line, for a little added interest. This is where it gets a little funky. That happens sometimes at 1am. I had my Essie "Matte About You" topcoat sitting there, and decided to see what the design would look like in matte.

 

Interesting, no? It looks like porcelain to me, almost velvety, and merges the dots and background colors into what looks like a solid pattern. I was rather intrigued, and decided to leave it that way for the time being.

 

Here's what it looks like today, all cleaned up. You'll notice I've got some tip-pull already...I think that's my base coat. I need to get a fresh bottle. I'm not sure I like how Porcini looks in matte form next to my skin, but I do like how these turned out, over all. I haven't played with this matte topcoat nearly enough, methinks. I may go back over them with glossy topcoat later in the week, just for something different.



Next week, I have some of thoes Zoya ultra-sparkly glitters to try, and I think I'll see what this matte topcoat does to them. Might as well experiment before the matte trend disappears, right? Or do you think it will stick around for awhile? Do you wear matte polishes?

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!

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?