30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 19: Galaxies

For this manicure, I began with a base coat and two coats of Orly Androgynie. Next, using a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge, I alternated sponging small amounts of Zoya Giovanna, Sinful Colors Cool Gray, and Zoya Rory in random patterns on the nail. 

Over that, I applied one coat of Orly Shine Bright Crazy Diamond, and small amounts of Icing Frost Yourself. I finished the manicure with Zoya Armor top coat.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 10: Gradient

The 10th task in the 30 Mani Marathon is Gradient Nails.

To represent Gradient Nails, I began with a base coat and one coat of Zoya Purity (white). After the white had dried, I chose two holographic polishes, Literary Lacquers Laters Baby (grey) and Hits Ares (red), and dropped some of each color side by side onto a metal stamping plate. I then took a piece of cosmetic wedge sponge and dipped it into both colors at once, and dabbed that to my nails where I wanted the gradient to be. I repeated this process, giving the layers time to dry in between dabbings, about 4 or 5 times until I had the desired gradient effect. I sealed the manicure with a layer of top coat, and used q-tips dipped in polish remover to clean up around the cuticles.

30 Mani Marathon - Manicure 6: Violet Nails

The 6th task in the 30 Mani Marathon is Violet Nails.

To represent Violet Nails I have layered one coat of Kleancolor Holo Chrome over two coats of Zoya Pinta.

This one could not be accurately captured with a photo, so please check out the Instagram video here for the full effect!

Color Club - Holiday Splendor

Today I am wearing Color Club Holiday Splendor.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

One coat Color Club Holiday Splendor

One coat Gelous Advanced Gel Top Coat

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

Sparkling Garbage Bubbles

I've been wearing Sparkling Garbage For Audrey for a few days, and today I decided to add some bubble stamps on top.

I used Konad special white stamping polish and stamping plate Mash-43 to create the bubbles, and sealed the design with one coat of Diamond Dry top coat.

Below is a collage of all three steps that create this manicure. China Glaze For Audrey on the left, For Audrey + Orly Sparkling Garbage in the middle, and For Audrey + Sparkling Garbage + Bubble stamps on the right.

Products Used for the Bubbles:

Konad Special White Stamping Polish

Mash Stamping Plate Mash-43

One coat Diamond Dry Top Coat Brilliance

Sparkling Garbage For Audrey

I'm a big fan of blue-green and holographic polishes. So when I walked past an Orly display the other day and spotted Sparkling Garbage, a lovely teal holo glitter, there was no question that it would be the newest addition to my collection.

Since Sparkling Garbage isn't quite opaque on its own, I chose to begin this manicure with two coats of China Glaze For Audrey.

Over that, I layered two coats of Orly Sparkling Garbage, and finished with a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Polishes like these are infuriating to photograph, they never reveal their true beauty in pictures. Sparkling Garbage is densely packed with very fine holographic glitter that sparkles and shines in any light, and is especially breathtaking in direct sunlight. I tried and tried to capture the amazing holographic nature of this polish, just trust me that it is 100x more stunning in person! Below I have added a shot taken indoors with flash that shows a bit of what I'm attempting to describe. 

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Two coats China Glaze For Audrey

Two coats Orly Sparkling Garbage

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.

Laters, Baby

Today's manicure is an awesome one! Literary Lacquers - Laters, Baby

This polish was inspired by the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, and being a huge fan of the books, I was very excited to find and purchase it. The name comes from an affectionate parting line used by Christian Grey's character throughout the books.

Laters, Baby is a charcoal gray polish with an intense, complicated, mysterious, and beautiful holographic effect...it captures the spirit of Christian Grey, and the books, wonderfully.

I have used one layer of base coat, three coats of polish, and one layer of top coat. I could have stopped at two coats of this lovely polish, but I bumped a nail and needed an extra coat to patch it up..so I added an extra coat to all nails to make them even. 

I had a teeny bit of tip-shrink (more visible in the top picture), I'm assuming from the Seche Vite top coat as it has a tendency to have that effect on some polishes, but nothing major. I might try a different top coat the next time I wear this polish to see if it makes a difference. I did not find that the Seche Vite dulled out the holographic effect, as it also has a tendency to do. 

All of the above pictures are in direct sunlight, while the picture below is indoors with flash. This polish is absolutely stunning in the light, but also has a lovely shimmering, sparkling effect indoors and at night.

You can find this polish and many other literature inspired polishes in the Literary Lacquers store on Etsy.com

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Three coats Literary Lacquers Laters, Baby

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat

A England - Dragon

For fun, I challenged myself to feature the color Green in each of my manicures for the month of March. My last March manicure is a simple, yet truly beautiful one, A England Dragon.

Above is Dragon in direct sunlight, and below is with a little flash. It really is a fabulous color, indoors and out.

Products Used:

One coat Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Base Coat

Two coats A England Dragon

One coat Seche Vite Top Coat