Easter Skittles

I had to change my nails for Easter. I thought it would be fitting to do pastel skittle nails (different colour on each nail).

From pinky to thumb I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen mint sorbet, 2 coats OPI my vampire is buff, 3 coats OPI pinking of you, 2 coats no name mondorama and 2 coats no name liquid affair. Mint sorbet and mondorama cover best in 2 coats. Liquid affair and my vampire is buff were passible, a bit streaky, typical for cremes, but nothing a good top coat couldn't cover.

I added some dots in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. To make dots I put a drop of polish on a stamping plate, mirror or some wax paper. I dip a small dotting tool in the polish and dot my tips starting at the middle and working out. I re-dip after 2 or 3 dots. I don't usually push my dotting tool all the way down on the nail because sometimes it dents the base coat or pulls up the polish (especially since the white I was using is old and thickening).

I added a cross in Orly prince charming to my ring finger with a long striping brush. As usual, I finished the whole manicure with a coat of OPI rapid dry, which is getting low and a bit thick, so it's beginning to leave bubbles on my nails. 

I'm loving how spring-y these pastel skittles look and I'm enjoying the sunshine that is finally out and creating some warmth! Happy Easter everyone!

See you again soon!

25 Again

For my 25th birthday, I threw myself a cocktail party with a pink and black theme. This mani reminds me of that party.

I started with 2 coats of NYX illusions. It was a little bit streaky and possibly could have used a third coat if I were to wear it on its own. The first picture shows the most true to life version of the base color.

Then I added pink and black rhinestones to my thumb and ring fingers. When putting rhinestones on, I always put a small dab or stripe of clear polish where I want the rhinestones; then I take a dotting tool and touch the tip to the wet clear polish and use it to pick up the rhinestones so they are already right side up and ready to just be placed on my nail.

With my tiny NYX bottle.

On my other 3 fingers, I sponged a England Bridal Veil on the tips. I just use a round flat makeup sponge for this. Especially when sponging a dark colour, start at the very tip of your nail and work down; that way you don't end up with a sharp line from the end of your sponge instead of a nice gradient. This way about 2 or 3 coats of sponging per nail.

Then a little clean up, a coat of OPI rapid dry top coat, with generous dabs over the rhinestones to prevent them from snagging on anything, and voila!

The shimmer in Bridal Veil is not quite as evident in real life as it is in the above picture. 

You may notice I'm trying out some new watermarks in these pictures. Any preferences?

See you again soon!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

With so much talk of the imminent demise of Google reader and people jumping ship to Bloglovin', I thought I'd throw my hat in the bloglovin' ring and make it even easier for you to follow me!

The Violet Frontier

Purple is one of my favourite colors, so I thought it was about time to do a manicure with a springy mauve. 

I started with 2 coats of some no name brand light purple cream that I've had forever called mondorama. It could have been a 1 coater with thicker coats. I may have to try stamping with it sometime. Then I used a piece of striping tape on a diagonal along the tip of my nail and a piece of clear tape along the same diagonal a few millimeters below the striping tape. I painted over the tip with Essence oh my glitter and immediately removed the tape. I let it dry slightly before applying OPI rapid dry top coat so I didn't pull my stripes. 

Helpful hint for taped manicures. If like me you are too impatient to wait for your base coat to be dry all the way through before taping, take the tape and press the sticky side gently to your skin and peel it off before you stick it to your nails. The dead skin cells that stick to the tape (gross, I know) will make it less sticky and not as likely to peel off your base coat. 

See you again soon!

Terra Cotta Stamping

I actually had this manicure on last week, but I've been too busy with school to post it.

I started with 2 coats of Essence off to miami! It was basically impossible to capture the true color in my pictures. It's a medium orangey-coral color, not as bright neon-ish as it looks below, but darker than it looks when you see it in the bottle. I really wanted it to look on my nails how it looked in the bottle, but c'est la vie.

Then I stamped with BM plate 208 in OPI's Music Hall Curtain Call. I tried to use the 'matching' positive and negative cracked images, but the polish did not take as well in the larger stamp areas. It didn't get picked up by the stamp as well, and was a bit too thin for the larger image areas. 

I like the way Music Hall Curtain Call stamped the design with the thinner lines though. It gave the whole manicure a clay and bricks type feel; hence the name of the post. I finished with a coat of OPI rapid dry and a coat of Essie Matte About You on my thumbs and ring fingers. 

On my thumb you can see the positive image stamped and how it's not quite as crisp as the lines. Also I notice that whenever I use a matte top coat, those nails begin to chip a lot faster. 

See you again soon!