Purple Panic... Dotted

I love neon manicures.  I however do not like a solid color manicure.  I always want to add something to it to jazz it up.  I started out with China Glaze's Purple Panic.  On that note, why do they call it that?  It looks pink to me.  It has a purple/fuchsia flash that makes it lean toward purple. Nevertheless, it is an awesome color.  I then took a dotting tool with black acrylic paint and did random dots.  I then put white dots on top.  They look like perfect bubbles to me.  I had a few coworkers actually think I did stickers for these!  The best part is that the right hand looks just as good.

Cotton Candy Water Marble

I love water marbles, but they take so much time.  There is a lot of trial and error with the polishes to get them to work properly.  It is very frustrating, but can be oh so rewarding.  I was trying to get some inspiration the other day, so I stood in front of my polish rack.  A polished jumped out at me, and then it's 4 siblings came right along.  I originally intended to do a dry marble.  I did a test on paper that looked interesting.  When I tried to do it on my bare nails to test it out however, the polish ran and pooled everywhere.  Now I remember why I didn't care for the Sally Hansen HD High Definition line.  Pretty colors, but so thin and runny.

These are the 5 colors I used, and in what order.

I used a white base to make the polishes look more like what they do in the bottle.  In the future I might try it again with a silver foil base to bring more of a shimmering quality.  I had a few problems with bubbles, but I haven't figured out what was the cause.  Maybe different water.  One thing I did learn though: Always keep the same exact amount of polish drops in your water!  A few nails looked slightly more pastel than neon, and then I realized why.  I wasn't cramming as much polish into the glass.  I had to do some adjustment on the color to get it fairly close to what it really looks like.  I am not that red, Haha.

Sorry, I didn't get a good photo of my right hand.  This is almost a week later.  I am pretty hard on my hands at work, so there is some tip wear.  Also, cleaning up with the brush around the cuticles with my left hand is pretty hard.  No one cares in person however.  They all raved about these nails...

I don't do nails very often on other people.  I find it awkward to paint nails that are attached to someone else's hands.  I do however, enjoy giving someone a manicure that they truly enjoy.  I was out shopping the other day with my brother's girlfriend, and we happened to see some of those glue on nails with designs.  She saw a set that she liked, and I offered to paint them.  I didn't follow them exactly... and I can't tell you what polishes I used.  I frankened them from the few polishes she had, and I wouldn't recommend the recipe even if I had it.  The greenish color took 4 coats before it was opaque enough.  These were finished at midnight, so I had no light to take a photo.  Hope you can still get an idea of what they look like.

SYN Cosmetics: Red, Blue, and You

This is a newer indie company that does eyeshadow pigments, glitters, blushes, and now nail polish. Kellen is constantly expanding her product line to add in fun, new stuff. I have one of her glitter polish topcoats today for you.

Red, Blue, and You has quite a fun mix that is perfect for the 4th of July. It has: blue squares, red squares and bars, silver hex, shimmer, and shards. It was easy to work with. I didn't have to scoop around the bottle for glitter. I put it over black for a good contrast. The matte topcoated photo is one coat of RB&Y. The shiny photo is two coats.

 

Grungy Graphic Print

I started with a base of Zoya Tallulah. I didn't take photos of it right away and I smudged it before I got a chance. It took forever to dry, even with a fast dry top coat. I thought it was a little too plain, so I stamped it with Zoya Trixie. Plus it hid the smudges! It was a little too sparkly for stamping. I wore it that way for a day and then decided to try double stamping with black. I offset the second stamps so you could see a little bit of the first. I was practicing so I was a little bit slow and it turned into a neat grunge effect. It reminds me of tshirts with big graphic prints. I have one photo with only one stamp and two with the two stamps. I do not know what order blogger will put them in. I do all my blogging from a mobile phone which is horrendous, just so you know. =]

Sparkly dots!

China Glaze Riveting with an easy dot mani using L.A. Girls Groupie. It is a gorgeous royal purple sparkle polish. Need to wear it on its own soon. Royal purple and neon orange are my two favorite colors. Here they are together in a super simple way. If you don't have a Dotting tool, try a toothpick, a bobby pin, a needle head, a defunct pen... anything! Have at it! Dot to your hearts content.

China Glaze Riveting

Got a whopping 30 seconds of sun in between all the rain. Snapped a couple of quick photos of China Glaze Riveting by itself. It is an awesome color. Super shiny. This is three coats. It shows a little visible nail line, but this time, I don't mind.