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.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This manicure starts out with a base of Zoya Ivanka, then the tips are a fine gold glitter. I decided on the rainbow on the ring finger the day after. I used acrylic paint for those.

Essie Shine of the Times over Zoya Julieanne

I know a lot of people have seen this colour before but I just have to add my photos because it is lovely. It is Essie Shine of the Times and I put it over Zoya Julieanne which is a dark shimmery purple base. It really brings out the different colors of Shine of the Times. I missed the boat on sally hansen's Hidden Treasure, so I was super excited when this new color came out. Flakie polishes are so fun and I hope they can develop different color shifts. On the close ups of the thumbnails you can see the purple shimmer coming through.

Christmas/Winter Snowman

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

Christmas dry marbling with Zoya and Sinful Colors

I love marbling on nails. It's quick to do and you can't really mess it up. This is dry marbling, not water marbling, mind you! For these I painted a base of a pearly white by Sinful Colors called Tokyo Pearl. Then I put a blob of Zoya Ivanka near the cuticle, and then blobbed on Zoya Isla across the tips. Take a toothpick, needle, or marbling tool and make swirls through the polish.Clean any off that spills onto the sides. Wait a few minutes, put on a quick dry topcoat, and you are done!

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.

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