Taffy Sandwich

Today's manicure uses the jelly sandwich technique, sandwiching glitter polish between layers of jelly polish.

After beginning with a base coat, I added 3 or 4 layers of China Glaze Heat Index, a neon pink jelly polish. To that, I applied two coats of Hard Candy Pink Taffy, a silver/pink/black glitter polish in a pink base. 

Then I applied one layer of Heat Index over the glitter, and finished with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Four coats China Glaze Heat Index

Two coats Hard Candy Pink Taffy

One coat China Glaze Heat Index

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

Cookies & Cream

This manicure begins with two coats of Zoya Carey

Then, I spaced out and put a layer of Seche Vite on top....forgetting that Seche makes Zoya shrink back from the tips and sides, doh! Normally, when doing a glitter mani, I'll lay the glitter right on the color with no top coat in between. However, I did the the color last night and the glitter today...so I needed to have a top coat for overnight, and just grabbed Seche cause it's my fave! Shrinkage was minimal this time, thankfully.

Anyway...today I added the glitter, two coats of Hard Candy Sugar Rush.

I then added one layer of Gelous top coat to smooth out the glitter, and ended with a coat of Seche Vite.

This manicure reminded me of Hershey's Cookies & Cream Chocolate Bars!

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Two coats Zoya Carey

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat (Oops, Zoya doesn't mix with Seche!)

Two coats Hard Candy Sugar Rush

One coat Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

One coat Seche Vite (OK to use over Zoya after it dries for 24 hours, and over glitter that is over Zoya that is dry.)

LC's Black Tie

I've been loving the new Hard Candy Crystal Confetti Collection, so today I have another one to show you. This manicure begins with a base coat, two beautiful coats of Zoya LC, and one layer of Zoya Armor top coat. (Be sure to scroll past the before/after at the bottom of this post, for some bonus 'fail' footage.)

I followed that with one, very easy to apply, coat of Hard Candy Black Tie Optional. I just love all the different sizes and shapes of black and white glitter in this polish.

I then added one coat of Gelous gel top coat to smooth out the glitter, and finished with one more coat of Zoya Armor.

Products Used:

One coat Zoya Anchor Base Coat

Two coats Zoya LC

One coat Zoya Armor Top Coat

One coat Hard Candy Black Tie Optional

One coat Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

One coat Zoya Armor Top Coat

Bonus 'Fail' Footage

My good friend Soguesswhat11 posted a lovely manicure the other day that had a soft pink base, a metallic green wavy design all over, and red flower stamp accents. This was my attempt to recreate her design with my own twist, see her video tutorial here.

I chose two coats of Zoya Erika as my pink base color, Sinful Colors Moss Have and stamping plate Mash-50 for the vines, and Zoya LC and stamping plate Mash-28 for the flowers. 

In the end, I just didn't think it was as successful as I had hoped it would be. I love the base color, but perhaps should have chosen a darker or more vibrant green for the vines (Moss Have is the only metallic-ish green I own), and maybe a different flower stamp. It's OK, but it isn't a total win in my book. I'll have to give it another try someday!

Gummys On A Wednesday

Well it was inevitable, I chipped a nail corner yesterday, so it was time for a trim and to start again with fresh, even nails. 

Today's manicure began with a base coat, followed by two coats of Zoya Wednesday. Wednesday is the perfect base color for the glitter that I applied next, one coat of Hard Candy Gummy Green.

I followed this with one coat of Gelous gel top coat to smooth out any glitter bumps, and then added a coat of Poshe top coat when the Gelous had dried.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Two coats Zoya Wednesday

One coat Hard Candy Gummy Green

One coat Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

One coat Poshe Super-Fast Drying 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.

Hippity Hop

Happy Easter!

This years Easter manicure began with a layer of my fave base coat, as always. I followed that with one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac, which was the perfect base color to match this Hard Candy glitter I have been dying to try. After letting Lacey Lilac dry for  bit, I added one generous coat of Hard Candy Pixie Pink (which is more of a purple, instead of a pink).

To that, I added a layer of Seche Vite top coat. I always add top coat to my polish and let that dry before attempting any nail stamping, as it will allow you to gently wipe off the stamp once or even twice if you aren't happy with it. This saves the polish underneath in case of a stamp disaster :) 

The stamps I chose came from Bundle Monster plate BM-302, and are stamped with Konad Black Special Polish. I added a small purple rhinestone to the center of the flower design at the base of the egg that the thumb-bunny is sitting in, and sealed the nails with another layer of Seche Vite.

 I just love the way these came out! The hippity-hopping bunnies across the nails are just too darn adorable. In hindsight maybe I should have done one up, one down, one up, one down to make them seem more hoppy...oh well!

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

One coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac

One coat Hard Candy Pixie Pink

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

Bundle Monster stamping plate BM-302

Konad Black Special Stamping Polish

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

And here's a 'bonus' throwback picture of last years Easter manicure.

Hard Candy Jubilee

Today's Green manicure features Hand Candy, Jubilee. 

As always, I began by applying a base coat and letting it dry. For the base color beneath this grassy glitter, I chose two coats of China Glaze Starboard. When Starboard was dry, I applied one very careful coat of Hard Candy Jubilee to each nail.

I'm quite glad I did some research on this glitter before using it, so that I was aware of the curling issues of the orange bar glitter. Apparently they have a tendency to stick straight up. To remedy this, after applying a careful coat to a few nails, I took the end of a tooth pick and gently dabbed the ends of the bar glitter into place. Somewhat tedious, but effective. 

I followed that with a coat of Gelous gel top coat, and then a coat of Seche Vite top coat, waiting  for each coat to dry before adding the next. The result is smooth and glossy, with no curling glitter. 

Products used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Two coats China Glaze Starboard

One coat Hard Candy Jubilee

One coat Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

One coat Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat