Congrats Seahawks!

I don't really watch football, and I'm not from Seattle. While thinking up my manicure yesterday, I looked up the colors for the teams in the Super Bowl this year, and decided on silver and blue...Go Seahawks then...I guess! :)

This is two coats of Zoya London (grey) and Zoya Liberty (blue).

After the Seahawks' win, I learned it was their first Super Bowl win ever, so that was exciting to see. Congrats Seahawks! 

Sea Glass by Starrily

A short time ago, Ipsy sampled some Starrily glitter polish in their monthly bag. Since Ipsy offers discount codes for the brands they feature in their bags, I  decided to use my discount to pick up some Starrily mini glitter polishes. 

This manicure began with two coats of Sinful Colors At Sea.

Over that, I added one coat of Starrily Sea Glass.

Sea Glass is different sizes of shredded blue glitter in a clear base.

Lastly, I sealed the manicure with two coats of Gelous gel top coat, and a coat of Seche Vite top coat. Later, I added an extra coat or two of top coat to the nails that had a few bits of glitter sticking up. For the most part, the glitter shreds were not very difficult to work with or make smooth.

Products Used

Sephora X Nail Cleanser

1 coat Nailtek Foundation 1

1 coat Sephora X Base Coat

2 coats Sinful Colors At Sea

1 coat Starrily Sea Glass

2 coats Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

1-2 coats Seche Vite Top Coat

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 28: Inspired By A Flag

Finland

This design is pretty straight forward. Two coats of Zoya Liberty, with striping tape in the shape of crosses, topped with one coat of Zoya Tomoko.

Being my first time trying this, I learned that striping tape doesn't stick well to these textured polishes. So I used a nail art brush to touch up the lines that got flooded under the tape.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 18: Half Moons

Half Moons.....literally.

This design began with a base coat, and one coat of China Glaze First Mate. Next, I used Zoya Purity to create half-moon shapes on my nail tips. Over the moons, I painted two thin coats of China Glaze Ghoulish Glow glow-in-the-dark polish (the moons really glow!). I covered everything with one coat of Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond, holographic glitter polish. I finished with a coat of Zoya Armor top coat, and let the polish dry overnight.

The next day, I used Sinful Colors Cool Grey and Red Angel stamping plate RA-113 to create the moon crater effect, and Konad white stamping polish with Bundle Monster plate BM14 for the stars. Finally, I sealed everything with a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 17: Glitter

To represent Glitter, I began with two coats of Zoya Brie. Then, I painted small amounts of Zoya Twila onto a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge, and dabbed that to the tips of my nails where I wanted the glitter to be concentrated. I added two layers of Gelous gel top coat to smooth out the glitter, and finished with one coat of Zoya Armor top coat.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 12: Stripes

The 12th task in the 30 Mani Marathon is Stripes.

Here I have a 'Jelly Stampwich'! Base coat (Nail Tek Foundation 1), two coats of China Glaze Aqua Baby, Konad special white stamping polish + Bundle Monster plate BM-423 for the stripes, three coats of China Glaze Isle See You Later, and 1 coat of Seche Vite. :D

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 8: Metallic Nails

The 8th task in the 30 Mani Marathon is Metallic Nails.

To represent Metallic Nails, I began with one coat of Bondi Botanical Beauty. Over that, I used Kleancolor Metallic Purple, Metallic Jungle, and Mash stamping plate 38 to create the camouflage design. I chose to stamp the design in purple, then blue, then purple again to create the overlapping stripes. Lastly, I sealed the design with a coat of Diamond Dry top coat.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 5: Blue Nails

The 5th task in the 30 Mani Marathon is Blue Nails.

To represent Blue Nails, I began with two coats of Orly Snowcone. Next, I painted small amounts of  Wet n Wild At the After Party on a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge, and dabbed that to the tips of my nails. I sealed the manicure with a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Click here for all the 30 Mani Marathon details, list of tasks, and timeline.

Square Hue - July 2013

Square Hue is a monthly nail polish subscription that sends you three of their own, full sized nail polishes each month. They release the name of each month's collection during the previous month, but don't give any other spoilers or sneak peeks, leaving the colors a total surprise when you receive your box! The cost is $21.99 per month, but right now they are running a special limited time offer price of $14.99 for your first box.

The theme for July was 'The Salute Collection: Nail Polish For Freedom'.

The colors are: (above from left to right) Valor, patriot, and Honor

Square Hue Website

Independence Day 2013 - Star Spangled

Happy Independence Day!

I love doing festive holiday manicures, especially for July 4th! *Bonus footage of last year's July 4th designs are at the bottom of the post.*

This year's 4th of July manicure began with one coat of white polish, Zoya Purity. When the white was fully dry, I created red, white, and blue stripes on each nail. With the pictorial below, I have attempted to show how I created the stripes using french tip guide stickers, Zoya America, and China Glaze Starboard.

After giving the stripes a while to dry completely, I then dabbed Lush Lacquer Snap Crackle Pop onto a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge, and gently dabbed that to the tips of each nail. Over that, I have applied two coats of Gelous gel top coat to smooth out the glitter, and one coat of Zoya Armor top coat to finish.

Below is a before/after of each step from base color to glitter tips!

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

One coat Zoya Purity

Stripes of Zoya America & China Glaze Starboard

Glitter Tips of Lush Lacquer Snap Crackle Pop

Two coats Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

One coat Zoya Armor Top Coat

*Bonus Footage*

July 4th 2012 Designs

Sinful Shine - Bottoms Up Part-Two, Plus Zoya Natty Comparison

In my Sinful Shine - Bottoms Up Part-1 post, I said I was going to experiment with this new Sinful Colors formula and see how long it would last. I made it four whole days, and then had to change it out for a Raging Rock Stars design for a rock-and-roll show I am attending tonight. Here's what my left and right hands looked like at the end of four days of wear.

I applied the same base and top coat on both hands, the left with one coat of this color, and the right with two. Right away I noticed a difference in that the hand with one coat looked much nicer. It could be a fluke, I dunno....but I had some tip shrink right away on the right hand, and it wore unevenly. When I wear this color again, I'm going with the one coater. It held up amazingly over the course of 4 days, I'm really liking this new formula so far.

When I bought this color, I was thinking that it looked very similar to Zoya Natty, which I already owned. I bought it anyway, because I love this color, dupe or not! When I looked at them side by side, I realized that Natty is a deeper, darker shade of stormy blue. Bottoms Up is a bit brighter. Below is a comparison.

Sinful Shine - Bottoms Up Part-1

A few days ago, a good friend of mine showed me an Instagram pic of what seemed to be several *new* Sinful Colors polishes, with shiny chrome-like caps, and a new name on the bottle. Being an avid collector of Sinful Colors, I was immediately intrigued! So yesterday while I was out, I stopped in at one of my fave Walgreen's to see if they had these mysterious new colors, and they had a whole new display with more new colors than I had expected! I limited myself to 5, for now, and this is the first one that I have tried so far.

Sinful Shine w/ Gel Tech - Bottoms Up

The new display claims that these new *gel type* formulas are 'more glossy than a patent leather shoe'. Years ago, I used to get gel manicures regularly, but this is the first *gel type* polish I have used from a bottle, that doesn't require a UV light to cure. So I decided to do an experiment to see how long and how well these polishes will last. 

On my Left hand, I have a base coat, one coat of Bottoms Up, and Seche Vite top coat. On my right hand, I have a base coat, two coats of Bottoms Up, and Seche Vite top coat. There two things I find interesting about this side-by-side comparison of both hands. One, is it just me or does the Left side just look *better* with just one coat? Two, the right side has a teeny bit of shrinkage, mostly obvious on my ring finger. I plan to wear these until there's noticeable chipping, I just hope that doesn't take *too* long haha.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Left hand - One coat Sinful Shine Bottoms Up

Right hand - Two coats Sinful Shine Bottoms Up

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

French Sequins...

...aka Fail Dots.

This is the second of two 'failed' manicures I attempted last night. Even though I'm not totally happy with this, there are things I do like about it, so I wanted to share it anyway. I'll explain some of why it is a fail for me, along with a bonus picture of the manicure I started with, and then redid in favor of this blue tip design.

I picked this Hard Candy Celebrate Sequins up at Walmart a few nights ago, and had visions of a french tip design with a sparkly holographic base. So after my base coat dried, I applied a coat of Celebrate Sequins to the whole nail. I then used french nail tip design guards to section off the french tip, and added a nice coat of China Glaze First Mate to the tips of the nails, immediately removing the tip guards after painting. I was happy with the way it looked with just the glitter and blue, but I felt the need to add something to break it up a bit...and this is where I failed.

I am not one to do free hand nail art, and I don't have a lot of experience with dotting, I like to stick to glitter and stamping for the most part. The dots are too big, erratically spaced, and smudged due to my lack of patience before adding top coat. Sigh. I should have left it at just the glitter and blue tips, lesson learned!

Below is the manicure I did first, which doesn't look too bad in the photo. The fail here came from the pink I chose for the tips, Orly Fabulous Flamingo. It took three coats to get the color opaque, and by then the tips were just too thick for my liking. I do think I did a better job on the dots here, though.

Princess Bevin's Breath

This manicure starts with Zoya Bevin. I decided to go with a blue/green polish for this look, to compliment the glitter that I applied on top. This is two coats of Bevin applied over a base coat, with one layer of Out The Door top coat. 

After Bevin was dry, I applied two coats of Jindie Nails 'Princess Breath'. I followed with two coats of Gelous Gel top coat to smooth out the glitter.

I will follow this up with a coat of Seche Vite in a few hours, to make everything glassy smooth and protected. I like to give Zoya polishes lots of time to dry before adding Seche Vite, as it does not mix well with Zoya, and causes the polish to shrink back from the nail.

Products used:
One coat of Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat
Two coats Zoya Bevin
One coat of Out The Door top coat
Two coats Jindie Nails Princess Breath
Two coats Gelous Gel top coat