Stamped Green Gradient Manicure

Hi everyone!  It's a beautiful Saturday here in Chicago and I'm inside, typing up a post on my neglected blog.  Work has been taking a huge toll on my hands, I should post a picture of how they look after I get done polishing a million little bits of metal lol  It's so hard to get them clean!  And then I've had breakage so I'm back down to nubs.  I actually am enjoying them.  My longer length always gets caught on things and I'm constantly stressed over breakage.  So, not having to worry about that makes life a bit easier.  Anyway, on to the manicure!

I've been a stamping fool lately, can't get enough of it!  I picked up the Pueen Cosmetics Encore stamping plates a couple of weeks ago.  The images are beautiful and offer almost endless possibilites for stamping...I love them!  They are currently available on Pueen's Storenvey site and Amazon for $24.99 per four, double-sided plates set. 

I began this manicure with a gradient.  I used Lilypad Lacquer's Apple Spritzer (which I snagged off of Llarowe when they had a huge sale a few weeks ago!) and Army of Me by Black Cat Lacquer (also purchased in the same sale).  It's my first experience with both of these brands and I wasn't disappointed with either!  Apple Spritzer is a delicate light green to gold holographic with a perfect formula.  Army of Me shares the perfect formula but is a deep almost-forest green holographic.  Both of these polishes are still available on Llarowe for $13 and $12, respectively.

After the gradient dried, I stamped over top with Sinful Colors Black on Black using Pueen's Encore plate SE01A.  I couldn't be happier with how this turned out!  The colors, the holo sparkle, the black stamping...so perfect!  

I hope you all enjoyed this post and thanks for reading!

Pastel Rainbow Gradient

Hello, hello!  Two posts in a row?!  Holy cow, maybe I'm getting back into the swing of things lol  Anyway, I have a pretty pastel manicure to show you all today.  I originally saw a manicure like this over at The Swatchaholic that she did with some Illamasqua pastels and I knew eventually I was going to have to give it a try!

Since I don't own Illamasquas as yet, I did this look with 3 of the colors from NYC's City Bloom collection: Sunset Park Pink, Mimosa Bouquet, and Robin's Egg Blue.  To round out my rainbow, I added China Glaze In a Lily Bit and Sinful Colors Skylark.  I'm absolutely loving how this turned out!  

To create this look, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors in Snow Me White as a base since the pastels are quite sheer.  Then I just did the normal gradient procedure (for a great tutorial, check out The Nailasaurus) but flipped the sponge so that the gradient goes from side to side, rather than top to bottom of the nail.  Super easy!

I had wanted to add some sparkle on top of this but, alas, my first sparkle attempt kind of ruined the manicure so I scrapped it.  It was lovely all on its own though!  The City Bloom collection is currently available for $1.99 each.  I found mine at CVS and I believe you can get them at Rite Aid and Kmart as well.  Be sure to double check the display, the one at my CVS had $1 off coupons for any of the polish and makeup in the City Bloom collection.  Screamin' good deal!

Thanks so much for reading!

Blue Textured Gradient Manicure

Hiya, all!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I've got a fun little manicure for you guys today so without further ado, let's get to it!

I started here with 2 coats of Julie G's Frosted Gumdrops in Rock Candy.  Then I grabbed my trusty sponge and dabbed on Julie G's Frosted Gumdrops in Blueberry Fizz and Zoya's Liberty.  This gradient turned out so pretty!  The colors work together really nicely, I think.
 

I know not everyone loves the texture trend, but I fall more in love with them every time I wear them.  I'm definitely doing a July 4th mani with Liberty...she's just the most beautiful sparkly blue!
 

You might notice that my pinkie suffered a little breakage mishap.  How do you guys feel about trimming back ALL of your nails when you break one?  I just can't bring myself to do it!  I spent so many years with nubbins because I bit my nails with a vengeance that I just can't cut them short voluntarily.  I hope my shorty pinkie doesn't look too bad and that he grows swiftly!

This is a big week so please swing back by.  A quick reminder that Google Reader has gone bye-bye, so follow me over at Bloglovin'!  You don't want to miss my last ABC Challenge post, especially as it will contain a little surprise!

Thanks for reading!

Solange by Zoya

Hello!  Hope everyone has had a fabulous Thursday :)  I'm sitting in front of my computer with a homemade avocado mask on my head.  I look great, I'm sure lol  Well, at least my nails look great!

I made a trip to Ulta over Memorial Day weekend and scooped up a few new polishes.  As soon as I saw the swatches of Zoya's Summer PixieDust collection, I knew I had to have Solange.  I'm a sucker for the texture trend and something about her color and sparkle just spoke to me!

Can you blame me?  Look at her...*sigh*.  So lovely!  To call this polish simply a yellow textured polish is a crime.  Solange is described on Zoya's website as a "gold metal foil sparkle" and she is all of those things in spades!  The sparkle is amazing, especially in sunlight.  Not that I'd know much about sunlight, what with summer resolutely refusing to appear here in Chicago, but trust me, the sparkle dazzles!

Application was easy, 2-3 coats for opacity and no formula problems to speak of.  Although Solange does dry quickly, I did have a few smudges I had to fix.  I do think that's more due to my base coat not being fully dry when I applied Solange...I was impatient to get that loveliness on my paws!

Of course I can never leave well enough alone, so after a day of this lady by herself, I decided to jazz her up with a gradient.

To create the gradient, I added Tangerine Dream, Sugar Rush, and Hot Cinnamon from JulieG's Frosted Gumdrops collection.
 

I think it looks like a tropical sunset...all that's missing is the ocean!

I hope you enjoyed this manicure as much as I did.  Thanks so much for reading!

Super Haul and a Manicure

Hello, hello!  This is my second post in two days...aren't you proud of me?  I spent a good chunk of my day wandering around the city and checking out many of my favorite nail polish bargain bins and boy, oh, boy, did I score!  Here's a montage of my haul:

The center photo on the bottom row is my total haul for the day, 26 polishes in all for right around $46 with tax.  Not too shabby, huh? I'll throw a list of all the polishes at the end of the post if you're interested.  I'll just briefly run over the highlights here.  In case you didn't know, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes are on sale at Walgreen's currently; 2/$5 plus you get 1,000 Balance Rewards points when you buy two.  That's a pretty sweet deal!  You can see the four I picked up today in the bottom left photo above (plus a couple of Wet 'n' Wilds I didn't already own). Additionally, be sure to check out your local TJ Maxx and/or Marshall's cuz I found tons of Orly's on clearance for $2-3, including some Instant Artist nail art polishes.  My TJ's haul is pictured in the bottom right and Marshall's is the top center photo.  I only grabbed the one at Marshall's because I already had the other colors I saw there.  Sally's is running a Buy 2, Get 1 Free sale on their ENTIRE stock of regular and gel polishes.  I picked up the 3 polishes shown in the top left photo for $8.43 with my 15% off Beauty Club coupon...I'm pretty proud of that one ;)  And finally, Dollar Tree had a crap ton of Sinful Colors polishes, although they are in packages rather than free-standing on a shelf.  My score there is shown in the top right photo; they were $1 each, as is everything at the Dollar Tree. 

Now, on to my manicure!  In addition to a cute set of Orly minis I found at TJ Maxx, I also picked up an awesome magnetic glitter polish from Color Club in a set with a top coat for $2 on clearance.  OMG, it's SO sparkly!  The photos don't do justice, but take a look anyway:

I started out with a coat of Charged Up by Color Club.  This polish is a gold holographic glitter polish with magnetic bits. The magnet that came with this polish is a fishnet pattern and I was excited to try it out since I don't have a magnet like this yet.  I learned a helpful trick for magnetic polish awhile ago.  Did you know that you can re-activate the magnetic properties with a non-fast dry top coat?  If your magnetic polish dries too quickly, or if you don't get a good "pull" on your first go, simply apply a coat of top coat or clear polish (anything clear that's not fast dry should work) and re-hover your magnet.  I'm so glad I learned this trick, otherwise I'd have wasted TONS of polish here.  The magnet worked pretty well, but I have a decent amount of curve to my nail, so sometimes the pattern didn't want to cover my nail well.  After redoing several of my nails several times, I just decided to do a sort of gradient on the sides of my nails to blend in where the pattern didn't cover.  I used Orly's Androgynie, a holographic hex and gold microglitter in a clear black base, for the gradient, applied with a sponge.

Over all, I like this manicure.  I do love the Color Club polish, it's pretty darn fantastic and I'm so glad to have it in my collection.  Unfortunately, this binge has brought about a "no buy" for at least a week.  I know a week doesn't sound that long, but, trust me, it'll be a challenge!

Thanks so much for reading!

Polish Haul
~Sally's
     -Finger Paints, Itsy Bitsy Spider and I Spy-Der
     -Nina Ultra Pro, Violet It Ride
~Marshall's
     -Orly, Take a Chance
~Dollar Tree
     -Sinful Colors, Hot Wired, Island Coral, Let's Talk, Savage, Call You Later, Cream Pink, Outrages, and Slate
~Walgreen's
     -Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Blue Me Away!, Pacific Blue, Breezy Blue, and Green With Envy
     -Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine, Tickled Pink, Lavender Creme
~TJ Maxx
     -Orly, Twilight, Instant Artist Yellow Submarine, Androgynie (mini), Starry-Eyed (mini), Berry Sweet (mini), and Glitz (mini)
     -Color Club, Charged Up w/ Clear Top Coat

Love & Beauty Gradient

Howdy everyone!  I mentioned in yesterday's post about my nail polish buying spree over the weekend...I was supposed to be on a "no-buy".  Yeah, that didn't work out so well lol However, since I bought new polish, I have a fun little manicure to show you today using a couple of the polishes I picked up at Forever 21.

Forever 21's nail polish line is called Love & Beauty, and, as luck would have it, I love them and I think they're beautiful! (See what I did there, huh, did ya?)  This gradient was created using L&B's Blue/Green and Purple polishes.  I'm not being descriptive there, Blue/Green and Purple are actually the names on the back of the polish bottles.  Blue/Green is a really lovely duochrome that shifts from emerald green to teal to bright blue.  You can see a bit of purple and gold shift in the bottle in the photo above.  I didn't find that those shifts translated to the nail, but it's a beautiful polish regardless.  Using a sponge, I dabbed some Purple on the tips of my nails.  Purple is a really deep magenta-y purple almost metallic polish.  To pull everything together and add a bit of depth, I applied a coat of Nicole by O.P.I in Top of My World, an opalescent micro glitter in a clear base. I think ToMW added just the right touch of sparkle, even if I do dislike their bottle and brush.

....more after the jump....

Navy + Nude Gradient Manicure

Howdy all!  Welcome to my new followers,  I seem to have picked a couple up over the last couple of weeks.  Glad to have you on board!

Today I've got a fun little gradient for you.  I saw a similar look earlier this week on Ermahgerd Perlish! and I loved the effect!  Check out her post here for the original version.  And check out my pics below to see what I did :)

....more after the jump....

ABC Challenge: C is for Color Club

Hi, all!  I'm a little late to this party, but I've joined the ABC Challenge hosted by Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner.  They're actually into the 3rd week, "C", but she was kind enough to let me join anyway.  I'm looking forward to this Challenge as the rules are pretty relaxed.  Basically, it's a weekly manicure posted on Wednesdays.  The only rule for the manicure itself is that either the brand, color or technique has to start with the letter of the week; in this case, "C".  Super relaxed and super fun!

So this week, "C" is for Color Club.  While strolling through Marshall's with my oh-so-patient and wonderfully fantastic boyfriend the other day, I came upon their polish section which never fails to disappoint.  I was lucky enough to pick up a mini set of 4 duochrome Color Club nail polishes for $4.99!  They're so very lovely!  Take a look:

Unfortunately, neither the packaging nor the bottles had any names or numbers to reference, so I'll just have to make them up as I go along.  I decided I wanted to use the green, purple, and blue polishes and do a gradient for this challenge.  Here's what I got:

....more after the jump....

Faceted Glitter Gradient

Howdy everyone!  Tomorrow is Election Day here in the U.S. and you'd think I might do a themed manicure to celebrate that fact.  I didn't.  I hit Walgreen's the other day and grabbed 5 new polishes and not one of them was red, white or presidential blue, so I did something completely unrelated.  That being said, if you're registered, please go vote!  You've got no right to complain about who wins if you don't!

All of the polishes I picked up were glitters and most were somehow holiday related.  So let's get the party started!

....more after the jump....

18 of 31: Half Moon Nails

Howdy!  It's a half-moon manicure challenge today...here are mine!

Two coats of Sonia Kashuk's Rock Star to start.  I followed that with a gradient using Essie's Bangle Jangle and The Nailasaurus's Gradient Tutorial. When that was dry, I free-handed some half moons again in Bangle Jangle.  I got the idea from a photo I saw on Pinterest, but unfortunately, it wasn't linked back to the original website, so if you know who came up with this idea, let me know so I can throw some credit their way ;)

As always, thanks so much for reading and tune in tomorrow for Galaxy Nails (which I've already done twice for this challenge and may have to redo again tomorrow...the Force is not with me tonight, sigh).

10 of 31: Gradient Nails

Howdy!  I'm a little late posting this, but oh well.  I figure the manicure was worn the whole day of Day 10, so it counts, even if I'm posting it 10 minutes after midnight ;)  Today is Gradient Nails and here's my version:

I started with 2 coats of Ulta's Magnetic polish in Put a Ring on It, a dusty rose polish with blue iridescent glitter.  Then, I taped off my nails in the middle and did a gradient from tip to cuticle using China Glaze Magnetix in Instant Chemistry, a dark maroon.  I reversed the gradient for the other half of the nail and then used a coat of non-fast drying top coat to reactivate the magnetic polish to create the diagonal lines.  This didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped it would, but I'll give it an "A" for effort.

Next up is polka dots so check out tomorrow's post!  Thanks for reading :)

Magnetic Gradient Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  The weekend is just about here (well it IS here for me, as I have today off).  Any big Labor Day plans?  I'll be headed out of the city with my girlfriends to go pick some apples on Monday.  I love apple-picking and I really can't tell you why.  It's probably more my love of road trips and hanging out with my friends more than anything, but it's definitely something fun to do.  

On to my latest manicure!

This is a gradient manicure done with magnetic polishes.  I had no idea such a thing could be done, but it's actually surprisingly simple and I thought the results were pretty good for my first effort.  I only had 2 nails that were problematic and fortunately neither was on my photographed hand :)

I started with one thick coat of Ulta's Polar Opposites*, a teal sparkle magnetic polish. Then I applied my gradient of Ulta's Opposites Attract* (a deep purple magnetic polish with a silver sparkle), sponging it on just as I would for a normal gradient.  Then, one nail at a time, I applied one coat of non-fast drying top coat.  This will reactivate the polish already on the nail, thus allowing you to use your magnet!  While the top coat was still wet, I used the striped magnet that came with Ulta's kit to do alternating diagonal lines on top of the gradient.  I did this one nail at a time so the top coat wouldn't dry before I used the magnet.  I let everything set for a bit and then applied a coat of my beloved Seche Vite.  To my surprise, having the non-fast drying top coat on underneath the Seche seems to have given this manicure a bit more shine than usual.  I'm going to have to try this technique on another mani and see if it holds true.  It's one more step, but, hey I'm already putting 5 coats of polish on, what's one more?

I love learning new techniques and I'm thrilled to learn that magnetic polishes are much more versatile than I thought at first.  I mean, once you've used a magnetic polish, it's cool at first but if it only does the one thing it gets a bit boring.  It's good to know that I can use them more like regular polishes...I have a few ideas churning in my brain for some new manis now!

I hope everyone has a great Friday and, as always, thanks for reading!

*These two polishes came in a set with 2 others, I got the whole set at Ulta for $4.99.

Grrrrrreat! Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  We're back around to another weekend already.  Is it just me or does it feel like this summer is passing by in a blur?  Or a blaze, more like, with as hot as it's been!  I love living in Chicago, but it does feel like the summers get shorter every year.

I have a fun manicure for you today.  Let's get to it!

   

I started here with two coats of Sinful Colors Let's Meet, a mustard yellow shimmer.  Over that, I sponged on some Nina Ultra Pro in Molten Gold which is a pretty orange-y pink to gold duochrome.  To finish the gradient, I applied just a bit of Sinful Colors Timbleberry to the very tips of my nails with a sponge.  Timbleberry is a deep coral pink creme which almost verges on neon.  After a coat of Seche Vite, I wore just the gradient for a day, but it just didn't seem like it was finished.  The gradient seemed like it was waiting for something, it just felt like a background.  So, I decided an animal print was in order and what better print to go with than tiger stripes for an orange/yellow gradient?  With my black nail art striper polish, I painted on some stripes.  I think it completes the manicure nicely, don't you?  It's definitely more eye-catching this way!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed my post :)

Sexy Red Gradient

Hello and happy Sunday!  It's currently 2 AM here in the Windy City and I'm asking myself why I'm still awake.  The answer to that question will be revealed in the photos below!  Today I have a manicure that I can only describe as 'sexy' :)  I'm still in a gradient sort of mood and tonight I wanted to do something a bit on the darker side.  Here it is!

 

Isn't it gorgeous?!  I started here with two coats of Wet n Wild's Wild Shine in Red Red and it certainly lives up to its name as a very true red.  I then sponged some Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Chocolate Kiss, which is a darker red with some brown and pinkish tones.  On top of that, I sponged a little Wet n Wild's Wild Shine Black Creme to add a bit more depth.  After a coat of Seche Vite, I brushed on two coats of Wet n Wild's Fast Dry in Explosions After Dark.  Wow!  Explosions is my new favorite glitter! Medium sized black, silver and red glitter in a clear base, the only thing I didn't love about this polish was the finish which seems to be a semi-matte or satin.  I don't think this finish shows off the glitter very well, so I topped it with another coat of SV.

I can't get over how wonderful this looks!  Hopefully it's not just the sleep deprivation talking, but this manicure definitely ranks in my Top 5 favorites.

I won't be posting again until after Memorial Day so I hope this will tide you over until then.  As always, thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my nails!

Confetti Manicure

Hello and happy Sunday!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Today I have some more of the Wet n Wild glitters I bought last week to show you.  I actually wasn't terribly wild about this manicure, but I got several compliments on it at work today, so I figured I'd go ahead and post it.  Here it is!

This is a very super-sparkly manicure, there's no doubt about that!  It kind of looks like I have disco balls on my fingers :)  I started with 2 coats of Wet n Wild's Wild Shine in Bijou Blue and then I dabbed on two different glitters from the Wet n Wild's Fast Dry Sparks & Stripes collection: Light With Caution and Spontaneous Combustion. Light With Caution has large, coppery hexagonal glitter with smaller, square blue and green glitter mixed into a clear base.  Spontaneous Combustion also has hexagonal glitter but in blue, green, purple, silver and gold.  I tried to do an alternating gradient with these, although it doesn't show as clearly as I would like.  Here's a detail view.

It is eye-catching, but I wish the gradient showed a bit more.  In any case, I hope you enjoyed checking it out and thanks for reading!

Celestial

Hello and welcome!  I hope everyone had a great week.  Today marked the beginning of the NATO Summit craziness here in Chicago, well, not really the beginning as protests started a few days ago.  However, I think Saturday ought to be the really "exciting" day.  How I wish I didn't have to go to work!

Anyway, to take my mind off of the craziness, I went polish shopping today!  Wet n Wild has a new Stars & Stripes line which consists entirely of larger glitter polishes.  I bought 6 bottles at CVS :)  They retail for $1.99 and CVS had a buy one, get one 1/2 off sale so it was totally worth it!

I started this manicure yesterday with two coats of Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms in Lapis Amethyst.  I did a subtle gradient over that with Sally's HD Hi-Definition Nail Color in Laser.  Lapis Amethyst is a bit more subdued than the Turquoise Opal I used in my last post; the duochrome isn't as evident in this one.  Laser is a gorgeous glittery royal blue and purple shade that I got for half-price at Walgreen's on Wednesday.  I liked the effect of the polishes together but it was missing something.  And, today, I found it:
 

Introducing Wet n Wild's Fast Dry Nail Color in Stars & Stripes.  I literally gasped when I saw this on the shelf this morning.  I have quite a few glitters, but I did not own a star-shaped holographic mylar glitter with little stripes of holographic mylar glitter in the same bottle...now I do!  I really love this polish!!  Here's a closer view.

You can see the holographic effect on the stars on my pinky in this one.  This manicure is so sparkly, I can't wait to check it out in the abundant sunshine we of the Windy City are supposed to have tomorrow.  And speaking of Saturday, if you're in the area, come check out Pets @ Paulina at Roscoe, Lincoln and Paulina by the Brown Line stop.  The merchants of Paulina Station are sponsoring nine different pet adoption groups.  They'll be there with foster animals and applications for adoption.  Even if you have reached your pet quota, stop on by and say hi!  Thanks for reading!

Glittery Gradient

Good evening!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Mine has been a bit up and down, but it's starting to look a bit brighter.  Especially with today's manicure!  Check out this lovely, sparkly beauty!

Isn't it purdy?  I was perusing my nail polish collection looking for a color I hadn't used in awhile and came across my bottle of Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms in Turquoise Opal.  This polish is so lovely.  I can't even remember when I purchased this line, but I know it's been several years; possibly close to 10 years!  Despite that, the formula is holding up quite well.  Turquoise Opal is a duochrome polish that changes from a vibrant green to an almost lapis blue to fucshia with golden undertones throughout.  Do not ask me how one polish can do all that, just believe me that it does :) 

For this manicure, I started with two coats of Milani Nail Lacquer 3D Holographic in 3D 510.  In the case of 3D 510, I think "holographic" is a bit of a misnomer unless I'm misunderstanding the term.  This polish has a lovely glittery finish with a lot of gold flecks accompanied by iridescent bits that flash blue to green to pink.  However, there is no holo halo (as I like to think of it) and it looks to me just like a glitter polish albeit a very sparkly one.  On top of those two coats, I sponged on Turquoise Opal again using the gradient technique by The Nailasaurus.  I think I'm getting the hang of it and I really liked the result this time.

Here's another look.  You can start to see the duochrome effect in this one.  Try as I might this morning I couldn't get a good capture of the color here.  I wanted to try again this evening but it's been stormy and dark here so it was a no-go.  In any case, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings this evening and that you have a great one yourself!

Orange and Grey Gradient Manicure

Hello and welcome! Today I have a gradient manicure that I did using this tutorial from The Nailasaurus.  I like the end result, but I think I need a bit more practice before I get the really nice blend that she gets in her gradients.  In any case, here's the manicure. 

I started with two coats of Wet n Wild's Wild Shine in Sunny Side Up and then sponged (per the tutorial) some Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement.  I really like this color combo!  Wet Cement starts to look really smokey where it meets up with Sunny Side Up, almost like a mist in places.  It's pretty cool!  I had to use two coats of Seche Vite on top to smooth out the bumpiness from the sponging technique.   Over all, I think this technique and I'll use it again, hopefully with even better results!