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...

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. =]

Candy Wave

I bought China Glaze Riveting the other day. It is gorgeous, sparkly, and orange. I was admiring the glass flecked finish and figured that it went well with some other CGs that I own. I grabbed 108 Degrees, Senorita Bonita, and Blue Iguana and painted them on top in a wavy, non perfect way. The colors make a perfect gradient, and then the blue makes a pop on the tips. They are flashy and I love them. I will definetly be using these colors together again.

Christmas/Winter Snowman

Here is a fun mani for Christmas. Background is China Glaze snow globe, the snowman and christmas trees are acrylic paints.

Tiger stripes and fun colors

Fun bright nails that are easy!  For these I used the China Glaze Tronica polishes.  Start with a silver base and then just dab on the other colors.  Then do a tiger stripe with a black striper or a small brush. The great thing about the Tronica polishes is that they dry pretty flat on top of each other. I didn't get a green or a yellow so I substituted something shimmery to fit in.

4th of July/Patriotic/Fireworks nail art

This is some fun nail art for any patriotic holiday. Start with a shimmering blue base and then paint some flags on your nails.  Oh and don't worry about being perfect.  No one noticed that they were not.  I got a lot of compliments on this.  A little advice, if you are using white acrylic paint and not polish, put a layer of clear before doing the dots and stripes.  It bled a little because of the polish.

The ring finger is an accent of fireworks.  Just draw some lines arcing out of the center to simulate the sparks falling to the ground.

Blue & Black on Green splatter

Splatter manicures are fun and easy.  You should try one sometime! Paint your base and then pick a coordinating color or two.  Drop some of the polish on a sheet of plastic or paint pallette and dip a straw in it.  Then blow the polish onto your nail.

I started with a base of China Glaze Cha Cha Cha, then splattered on a black cream and China Glaze Frostbite for the blue.

Welcome!

Hello all and welcome to my blog! I have been wrestling with the idea of starting one for a long time, and I said to myself, Whatever! If no one reads it, at least I will be able to look back on some of my favorite manicures. First case in point:


Sinful Color's Green Ocean over a black cream