This look took awhile to do. I started with a red, yellow and blue gradient using Essie Really Red, China Glaze Sunshine Pop and OPI Fly. After the gradient was complete I did a water marble using China Glaze Liquid Leather and Julep Melissa. Since Melissa is a shimmery see through it let the gradient through!
I'm going to try this again because I'm really only happy with how the thumb came out, but it's a great first try.
Today I have a goodie for you from my IG friend @poison0ak. She has her own indie line of polish called Franken Fingers that she sells on her Etsy store. This little guy is It's Alive. All of her polishes are named after some sort of horror genera or character!
I started with an underwear coat of Butter London's Slapper. I put two coats of It's Alive over top! It's a shimmery teal/green jelly base packed with small green hex glitters, black bars and large holo hexes.
You can really see the shimmer in this picture as well as the jelly sandwich effect that you instantly get from this polish.
I love this funky look! Definitely check out Franken Fingers for more home concocted recipes.
I love the OPI DS collection. DS stands for designer series. OPI comes out with a few DS polishes every season. All of them are infused with diamond dust for a harder finish and glossier, sparkly look. The quality is very evident to me compared to other polishes!
Many of the OPI DS colors have holo glitters in them but this is the first I've tried. Holo polishes are notoriously hard to capture on camera unless you have an unfocused picture so this picture really doesn't do it justice!
Silver glitter particles and holo intermingle to give a really beautiful effect. This is three coats and you can still see my nail line so thats the only thing I don't like about this polish. It does make it nice to layer on top of other colors though! Here is a more accurate macro image where you can really see the holo effect from Coronation.
I love how smooth the finish is on the DS polishes. Who doesn't want diamonds on their nails? I find this color similar to Butter Londons Dodgy Barnett.
More good things for Saving the World One Nail at a Time!
Today I was officially endorsed by iFabbo. iFabbo stands for the International Fashion and Beauty Bloggers Organization. They take memberships from fashion and beauty bloggers as well as beauty brands allowing them to directly interact with endorsed bloggers! It's a great stamp of approval and I hope this means great things are soon to come in reference to new products, techniques and fashion/beauty outlets.
I know before Coterie opened iFabbo members were the first to get to try it out and got special discounts. We all know how fantastic their Butter London deal was!
To find out more about iFabbo you can click on the iFabbo ribbon on the left of my blog under awards or go here.
Today I'm sporting some freehand teal and white paisley nails. The base was done using one of my all time favorite Essie colors Turquoise & Calicos with Essies Blanc for the paisley detail. People have been asking me if these are stamps and I can tell you they aren't! I don't own a stamper and I painted them myself.
Did you know that September is IC awareness month? To find out more information on IC you can go here. I wanted to support the cause while making a beautiful design so I used ICs awareness color teal. The official IC awareness flower is the daisy so I was sure to sprinkle those throughout the design as well.
Today I'm sporting a special treat from Nail Sauce. I saw the birth of this brand on instagram through its creator @feliifel. I've always thought she had a great knack for color mixing and combos. When she came out with the limited edition of Space Junk with only 50 bottles I knew I had to snag a bottle!
Space Junk is a gorgeous coal gray jelly base chock full of dark, gold, holo and teal glitters with large holo hexagons sprinkled throughout. It's out of this world! ;) The application was awesome and it took about two layer to be fully opaque, maybe three to be on the safe side. It would look great as one coat over black or just alone. Ooh, can you say galaxy nails in a bottle?
My macro shot of Space Junk is what really shines though. Here you can see the rainbow holo effect strewn over the nail and get a more accurate look at what they really appears like on the nail.
Awesome job @feliifel! Unfortunately, unless she changes her mind, Space Junk will not be restocked but with a polish this gorgeous you know she's got to have some other great ones. And she does! Head on over to Nail Sauce or www.nailsauce.com to check out more of her fantastic colors.
I'm so happy today! I was nominated for my first blog award by Paper Thin Nails. The Liebster Award is given to up and coming blogs with under 200 followers.
A shiny award for me to put up in my trophy case! I'm all glossy eyed.
Here's how it works:
The recipient must post 11 fun fact about themselves
The recipient must also answer 11 questions created by the award giver
The recipient must give the award to 11 new bloggers with less than 200 followers and post 11 questions for them to answer
These 11 bloggers must be told they have been given the award
They will in turn pass the award to 11 new bloggers of their choice (no tagging back the award giver.
11 Fun Facts About Me:
I have a baby tooth that has never fallen out
I was in the Fall Out Boy music video for Dance Dance
I have a 'list of things to do before I die' that I keep in my wallet. I try and do at least one thing on the list each year
My first ever polish swatch was taken last year in November before I knew what nail art was. It was Essies Wrapped in Rubies and I've been hooked on nails ever since
I take pole dancing lessons.....for the physical benefit of course
I'm the oldest of five siblings. My youngest sister and I look almost identical even though we're 10 years apart
I have a pet guinea pig named Guinea Saurus Rex and a double tail betta fish named Monarch
If I had to choose, I'd rather go deaf than blind
I've been married and divorced, all before the age of 23
I'm an elementary art teacher! Well, soon to be as soon as the economy picks up and there are more jobs available! For now I'm just a lowly substitute
I've only been to the hospital once for 30 stitches when my brother slammed a door in my face and my arms went through the glass. I didn't think it hurt at all
11 Questions for me:
When and why did you decide to start blogging? I started blogging as a way to show my nail art to a larger audience than just Instagram. I know not everyone has access to IG. My blog started in May just 4 short months ago.
Who is your favorite nail blogger? My favorite nail blogger is Temptalia. She has every polish you could imagine with reviews on each one. I'm more into posting nail art but I always go to her for reviews on colors I'm thinking about getting.
What is your favorite polish brand? My favorite polish brand was always Essie. It was my first love! However, I've gotten my hands on a lot of Butter London lately! I'm loving their unique, beautiful colors. It's a toss up!
What manicure are you currently wearing? Natural nails! I'll be doing a chevron later today for a contest.
If you were to lose all of your polishes but five, which five would you want? OPI Black Spotted, Lynnderella Nosegay, Essie Shine of the Times, Butter London Trustafarian and Barielle Falling Star.
What other hobbies do you have? I enjoy singing and playing the flute. I love to draw and photograph. Writing is another hobby I have! I want to write and have a book published one day.
What do your friends/family think of your hobby? My family loves my nail hobby! They always ask whats on them and ask about what contests I'm currently entered in. Whenever a package comes in for me they always bring it in and tell me I have nail mail haha.
How many bottles of polish do you own? I've only been into nails for just under a year. I've got around 200 bottles but really I'm not totally sure.
What is your dream polish? My dream polish would be a holo with light blue color. I'm thinking Butter Londons Fishwife but more vivid blue.
What color polish do you own the most of? I own the most blue! It's my favorite color besides silvers but I'm not super into metallic polishes.
What nail trend do you hate? The fake flared nail trend! I've seen it a lot lately where acrylics are applied that get wider as they go towards the tip. It's so unnatural and fake looking I don't know why anyone would get them!
11 Questions for my chosen blogs:
What is your all time, hands down, favorite nail polish?
What is your earliest nail polish memory?
If you could sit down and do anyones nails in the world, who would it be?
How long have you been into nails/nail art?
If zombie apocalypse began right now, would you take any nail supplies? Which?
Have you ever used nail polish for a non-paint-your-nails activity?
Which bottle of polish is most sentimental to you and why?
How do you store all of your nail polish?
Who is the person you end up doing your nails around the most?
What brand do you own the most of?
What is your favorite non polish but, nail related product?
Today my curiosity got the best of me. And I wound up finding a pretty neat look! I've posted before about saran wrap nails and how to create them but, I wanted to see what it would look like if I knocked it up a step and made it more complex. Here's my result:
Instant swoon!!!! They came out fantastically! I'll attribute a little bit of this to my color selection too ;) . I love using the primary colors together. Blue, yellow and red (in this case pink) always look smashing together. I used Sally Hansens Lightening for the yellow, China Glazes Sky High-Top for the blue and Essies Wife Goes On for the pink. The blue and pink were slightly transparent and let the colors underneath through resulting in some really great orange, purple and green from the overlapping colors.
Here is the technique I used to get this look! You can use similar colors to mine or experiment with your own color combos.
And if you don't want the video here is the original pictorial I posted for this look. The video came later.
First paint your nail a base color. It is a good idea to go with the lightest color of the three. This is because lighter colors don't show up as well when they are over dark. By starting with the lightest color you won't mute it.
For this technique you will need saran wrap or cling wrap (found in your local grocery store for food storage). Cut a small piece and roll it into a ball. Make sure your first applied color is dry before moving on!
Paint your second color over one nail only, covering your first color. Immediately dab the saran wrap ball down the nail. The saran wrap will cling to the wet polish and pull it up and off revealing the color underneath.
This patch effect is your regular saran wrap nail look! Repeat this on each nail one at a time. The second color needs to be freshly applied and wet when you use the saran wrap on it. I find I like to have multiple saran wrap balls to dab because one will quickly become full of polish. I like to dab two nails with each ball and then move onto a new one. You could stop here if you want but we are going for a more complex look. Allow your secondary color to dry.
Apply your third color to one nail and repeat dabbing the saran wrap.
The saran wrap will pull away the third color to reveal the other two underneath. Go on to each nail one at a time until all of your nail are done.
Your double saran wrap nail look is complete! Finish up with a clear top coat to make the colors appear smoother.
The way my nails look they remind me of a stereogram image where there is a hidden image or word in each puzzle.
Apparently this one says Love but, I've never been able to do these things!
I've got some goodies for you today! I recently received the new Butter London collection from a contest win and was so excited to swatch them!
First we have Dodgy Barnett. This gem is a silver holo nail polish that will refract rainbows of color back at you. With two coats there was a slight visible nail line so this used three.
Gobsmacked is up next! This edgy, black polish is strewn with silver glitters. The application on this one was a little clumpy as some of the Butter London glitters seem to get but was fully opaque in two coats.
Lovely Jubbly is like jewelry for your nails! It is packed with purple/pink glitters and has gold, red and blue glitter strewn throughout. My little sister is in love with this one but I"m not too sure where I'd be wearing it out that often. Two coats was a good cover but you may need three for an opaque look. This is nice though because you can layer it!
Shag is a multidimensional warm copper with lots of shimmer! In the bottle I wasn't a big fan but on the nails I'm really liking it! Two coats was great!
Finally my favorite, Trustafarian. This is a golden holo much like Dodgy Barnett with warm green tones. Just like the silver, two coats was a little sparse so I went with three but this could be lots of fun to layer over different colors. The rainbow effect is absolutely gorgeous and this one is a must have!
Usually I use a white, artificial lighting to get the most accurate color of my polishes but for the Butter London holos I feel that sunlight really catches more of the refractory rainbow effect. This is a second shot of Trustafarian in sunlight!
Final thoughts are the holo polishes, Trustafarian and Dodgy Barnett will be the hits of the collection! If you like those and are in the U.S., Butter London released a website only teal/blue holo in the same family as these two called Fishwife. You can pick it up here for $14. I may have to go for it, these holos are gorgeous. Shag and Lovely Jubbly are my next favorite followed by Gobsmacked in the rear because of the formula consistency.
Today I'm sharing some freehand Snow White nail art with you! All the nails you see here were done using polish and small brushes!
My base was a pale pink using Nicole by OPIs Studio Mama, this also doubled as Snow Whites signature pale skin. The background on the thumb was Essie's Blanc as well as the whites and teeth of Snow White. Her lips and bow were done using Essie's Really Red and was also used for the apples. The hand and shading on Snow Whites face was done by mixing Essie's Blanc and Essie's Mink Muffs. Mink Muffs was used undiluted for Snows eyes and the apple stems. China Glazes Liquid Leather was used for the outline of the eyes on the face and the hair. It was mixed with a little bit of Blanc to give the hair high lights. Juleps Nessa was mixed with a little bit of Blanc to give the apple its bite. Butter Londons Blagger was mixed with Blanc to get a blue gradient on Whites collar. Finally the poison apple was done using different mixtures of Essie's Really Red and Blanc!
Today I've got a great indie polish to review! This is Imperial Nail Lacquers Cupcake! This gorgeous, white jelly base is suspended with all sizes and shapes of fun sprinkle like glitter. I've got the mini size of Cupcake which you can find on her Etsy store for $5 or request a full sized polish for $9.
Check out this fabulous macro! You can really see the diversity of the glitters in here! We've got mini hex glitters as well as medium hex and squares and large hex of every color!
Finally the swatch! This is one coat of Essies Blanc with two coats of Cupcake. Cupcake applied wonderfully and was loaded with glitter in every stroke. I didn't need to use any dabbing to disperse it evenly. One coat would have been enough but I wanted to go two for maximum glitter! If you'd prefer a slightly translucent look you can just use Cupcake alone and have a slight visible nail line. Its like funfetti for your nails!
Imperial Nail Lacquers is ran by @prettycutepolishes on instagram or you can check out her store using the link above or go to www.etsy.com/shop/imperialnaillacquer. Imperial Nail Lacquers sells most of her minis for around $5 and you can request any of her colors in full size for $9! She even has some awesome dupes of hard to find polishes like Lynnderellas Connect the Dots and Love, Lace & Lilacs.
This polish was sent for review and is based on my individual, honest opinion!
Through the wonderful world of Instagram I was able to win a set of OPIs Germany Collection through a giveaway hosted by AveYou, a beauty boutique located in New Jersey.
The colors I received are park of OPIs Fall 2012 collection.
The first color swatched is Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! This color is a creamy, moss green. I loved the formula and application but the color just isn't for my skin tone.
Unfor-greta-bly Blue is probably my favorite color from this mini set! It is a shimmery, pearlescent blue that was totally opaque in two coats. The blue varies from deep to bright depending on the light. This one is definitely a winner!
I have been on the hunt for the perfect nude that matches my skin tone for months now. Regrettably, Don't Pretzel My Buttons is not as yellow as my skin tone seems to be. That doesn't stop it from being an amazing color though! This nude is a creamy, flat finger lengthening shade that is perfect for everything from a night out on the town with the girls to a job interview!
Finally we have Suzie & the 7 Dusseldorfs. This would probably be my favorite color if it weren't for the coverage. Even with two coats there were some areas that were a bit thin you can see towards the base of my tumb and the tip of my pointer finger. With three coats it would probably be perfect. The shimmery, royal purple is pure peacock! Its fun, bright and light catching. This is another must have from the Germany collection!
These are all my personal unbiased reviews. All nails were painted with a base coat of OPIs Nail Envy and no top coat.
