Nail Me

Art Deco Chevrons

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 07:34:00 +0000

This is another manicure inspired by Jane at Nailside! In fact, I even used very similar colors to her original design. I had never tried chevrons before, and they were actually easier than I expected. You can use plain tape, but for this one I used the straight tip guides from one of my french manicure sets.

I started with a base of Zoya Bevin, then did the first chevrons in China Glaze Swing Baby. I used the same guides and taped off again, then added the final triangle in China Glaze Stone Cold.

After that, I applied a coat of Essie Matte About You. I think they came out gorgeous! I am excited to try this design with different colors, it's a pretty easy way to get a cool design.

Matte Gold Glitter

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:34:00 +0000

This manicure is the result of another case where I wanted something easy, but not just a plain color. I had picked up L.A. Girl Glitter Addict in Synergy a couple of months ago and hadn't used it yet. Actually, Sam, my 6 year old, picked it out from the display at Rite Aid one day when I was browsing!

I decided to start with a base of Ulta Alter Ego, which is a really pretty shimmery turquoise with silvery shimmer. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with glitter polish - I like it, but before I even put it on I'm thinking about how much of a pain it is to remove. So I end up not wearing it that often. I really do love a good matte glitter though, so I topped this one off with Essie Matte About You.

How do you feel about glitter polishes? Do you prefer chunky or fine glitter? Saturated? Shiny? Matte?

Stamping with Skull & Glossbones

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Sometimes I get it in my head that I want to do theme nails (like I've done for Bunco the last 2 months). This month my book club was discussing "Fifty Shades of Grey" so naturally I started thinking about what I could do with grey and black polish. I thought about doing a water marble or something, but ultimately went for something way easier, some more stamping with my Essence plate.

I started with a base coat of OPI Skull & Glossbones, then used Sinful Colors Black on Black for the stamping. It worked really well as a stamping polish. I LOVE this manicure. In fact, I am still wearing it 12 days later, which is pretty much unheard of for me. I have some wicked growout at this point, but I don't see the point in doing something new when I need to go get a fill in 2 days. One thing that's interesting is I have almost zero tip wear, and NO chipping.

I feel like my base color looks a little lighter/less saturated gray in the photos, in real life this looks so sophisticated. I will definitely stamp with this color combo again!

My First Gradient!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:34:00 +0000

Right now, gradient manicures are THE thing. I have a ton of them pinned on Pinterest, including this great tutorial from The Nailasaurus. I have seen people using her technique on multiple blogs I read, and they come out with these gorgeous gradients that I just drool over.

I decided to try one and bought some makeup sponges. I used a base of China Glaze for Audrey and then mixed it with Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet, a kind of smoky purple, for the gradient effect. It turned out okay. I'm not sure if I was not using enough polish, not mixing the colors enough, or not moving the sponge up and down enough, but it did not turn out NEARLY as smooth looking as the other gradients I've seen pictures of. I may just need to practice more. It looked pretty cool from a distance, but in the photos you can see the sponginess of it. I'm going to have to try again soon, and see if I can get it to turn out better.

Have you tried gradient nails yet? I really want to try a rainbow gradient, so maybe I'll try that next time. It seems like maybe using more colors could help make it smoother? We'll see!

Nicole by OPI Turquoise Texture

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I recently wanted to do something fun, but not too complicated. I decided to use one of my texture coats that I haven't really worn before, Turquoise Texture from Nicole by OPI. I saw online somewhere that the crackle will follow your brushstrokes (duh!), so I was excited to try something a little different, a diagonal stroke.

For my base coat, I used Sally Hansen Fire Opal in Amber Opal. It is one of the polishes in my collection that is absolutely gorgeous that I totally forget about. I tried to get a couple of shots of it, but they really don't do it justice at all.

Next I used the texture coat and did a kind of diagonal stroke. I love the way it turned out. The color combination was awesome, especially when we got out in the sunlight at the zoo the next day!

Essence Stamp Review

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:34:00 +0000

About a month ago, I discovered that Essence now has a huge display at the Fred Meyer near my house, and they have a bunch of nail art stuff for super cheap. I picked up a bunch of stuff to try out, and one of the things I've been dying to try is stamping. I haven't really wanted to spend the money to get stuff from Ebay, so I thought this would be a good way to try it out. I definitely paid under $5 for both of these items together.

I bought the Essence stamping polish in black, and honestly, it sucked. I only tried it once and it dried before I could get the stamp onto my nail. I didn't try it again. For this mani, I used a base of Revlon Perfectly Plum then used Sally Hansen Black Pearl Chrome for the stamps. From what I've seen, chrome and metallic polishes usually work really well for stamping.

I like how it turned out! I used a flower design with some dots and a swirl, then I filled just the flower and stamped that on for a little extra pretty. It was easy to fill only a part of the pattern to make that little accent. One bad thing about this stamping kit is the scraper. It sucks. It's metal and not completely flat, it doesn't wipe the polish off clean and drags on the metal plate, plus it was leaving some scratch marks. Not good. I got out an old credit card and used that and it worked like a dream.

The only other downside to these stamping plates is that the designs on the rectangular plate are not very big. I think I could get most of my nails covered with maybe little gaps on the sides that wouldn't be that noticeable, but they're definitely not big enough to cover my entire thumb. It seems like everything Essence makes is kind of miniature.

All in all, I'm super glad I bought these. I love stamping just as much as I thought I would, and I can't wait to get some more plates when my budget allows it!

Mustache Mani!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:49:00 +0000

Last night was my monthly Bunco night, and our theme this month was mustaches! I had seen the most adorable mustache nails on Pinterest, so I decided to give it a go. I think they turned out adorable!

These are actually super easy to do. All you need is some black polish and a couple of dotting tools. I have a small dotting tool, but for the larger circles that form the middle, I used the other end of a small paintbrush I have. I used Wet N Wild 2% Milk for my base coat, and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the actual mustaches. And of course, a topper of Seche Vite, though you want to make sure the black is completely dry before putting that on so it doesn't smear or bleed. I watched the tutorial video here to learn how to do this!

Ulta Bam-blu-zled

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Sorry for my lack of posts lately! I have a bunch in the works to show you, but I need to edit the photos and get them up here. I did my first gradient nail recently, and also stamped for the first time, so I'm hoping to get those up later this week! For now, here are some swatches of one of my newer polishes, Ulta Bam-blue-zled. I thin I too these before using it as a base for something else I was doing. It's a pretty light blue cream with a hint of purple.

Enchanted Polish Fun Dip and Dragon Spit

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Indie nail polishes are the biggest thing in nail polish right now. A lot of the independent sellers who are on Etsy make a glitter polishes. To be honest, I'm not such a huge fan of a lot of the glitter polishes. They're okay, and sometimes I do like them, like Oh Yes I Did by Laquistry and Floam from Nail-venturous. But for the most part I don't drool over them.

But I HAVE been drooling over a lot of linear holographic polishes. I had one in my collection - Sally Hansen Magical in Copper Cauldron, which I love. I came across Enchanted Polish on one of the blogs I read and I knew I had to have it! I was lucky enough to be using my computer last time she put her store back online, and I got Fun Dip and Dragon Spit. These are the most expensive polishes I own, I think they were around $12? Totally worth it.

Here they are in the bottle - so pretty!

Fun dip on it's own, in indirect sunlight.

The first set of photos are in indirect sunlight. You can see the color of Fun Dip is actually a light kind of lilac purple. Indoors, the purple really comes out. I just couldn't wait to see both polishes, so I did an accent nail with Dragon Spit. The holo is not quite as noticeable in it, but it's still pretty.

And now for some photos that really show how much these polishes shine - outside in direct sunlight. Look at that gorgeous linear holo!

I LOVE these polishes, they are amazing! I am totally contemplating getting my hands on some Spectraflair and trying to make my own holo polishes at some point... I've never even done a Franken, but it seems inevitable sometimes. I will definitely buy from Enchanted Polish again - Ocean Potion is gorgeous and I think I need to have it!

Guilty Pleasures - 37 Color Water Marble

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:34:00 +0000

Yeah, I wore 37 colors at once. Let me explain...

I am part of a monthly Bunco group, and this month it was my turn to host. My theme was "guilty pleasures," so we had scorecards with things like Jake Gyllenhaal, fried chicken, Britney Spears CDs and fruity cocktails on them. We had Cheetos and some delicious cupcakes and mini corn dogs. We had a REALLY delicious cocktail with marshmallow vodka, creme de cacoa and cream soda. While I was thinking about MY guilty pleasures, of COURSE nail polish came to mind immediately. So it got me thinking... how many different colors could I wear at once, and how would I put them on?

I thought about a patchwork mani, but I eventually settled on a water marble. With experimenting with colors, it took me a couple of hours to finish this, but it was worth it - people loved it!

I had several turn out the way I've wanted my others to turn out. I used distilled water this time and it seemed to help with getting the polishes to spread much more than I've ever gotten them to do before. I was surprised how much I like the glitter nail and that China Glaze Riveting turned coral, and it was fun getting to know which of my polishes work best and ideas for new color combos.

The colors I used, from left to right:

Pinkie: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Bronze Pink, Revlon Matte Ruby Ribbon, OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, Sinful Colors Bare
Ring: CoverGirl Nailslicks Starry Blue, Revlon Color Illusion Purple Twilight, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Rock-a-bye, Revlon Perfectly Plum, CoverGirl Nailslicks Wild Plum
Middle: Ulta High Roller, Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, China Glaze Swing Baby, Pure Ice Iced Copper
Pointer: Pure Ice Splash, Sally Hansen HD DVD, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Pure Ice All Night Long, Ulta Bam-blue-zled
Thumb: LA Colors White, OPI Skull & Glossbones, Sinful Colors Black on Black

Thumb: Revlon Double Truffle, OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know, Wet N Wild Cocoa Shimma (This one turned out pretty crappy, so no close up shot)
Pointer: Sinful Colors Bare, Sally Hansen HD Byte, Pure Ice Super Star, Zoya Jacy
Middle: Pure Ice Oh Baby!, Sinful Colors Frenzy, Ulta After Party, Sally Hansen Gem Crush Glitz Gal
Ring: Sally Hansen HD Resolution, Ulta Limelight, OPI Jade is the New Black, Ulta Jaded, Piggy Polish Envy
Pinkie: China Glaze Riveting, Ulta High Roller

OPI Skull & Glossbones

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I recently picked up OPI Skull & Glossbones thinking it would be a good base for something - maybe marbling or some type of nail art. I painted it on to one nail to see the color and I was amazed at how much I LOVE this. It's so simple, and it's not a color I would ever have thought I'd be wearing on it's own, but it's just chic and beautiful.

What polishes do you have that pleasantly surprised you?

Blue Ombre Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:33:00 +0000

I've seen lots of photos of ombre manicures. Maybe this isn't a TRUE ombre since I didn't just use different shades of the same color, but I like how it turned out!

The colors I used for this one were Essie Go Overboard, Revlon Chic, Ulta Bam-blue-zled, China Glaze For Audrey, and a light blue Petites polish I picked up specifically for this.

Go Overboard and Chic are two of my favorite polishes in my collection, so it's always nice to get a chance to wear them!

Blue Water Marble

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I recently did my second water marble, and I tried out some blues! This time I got some distilled water to use instead of the bottled water, and I felt like it made a huge difference with getting the polishes to spread better. I have had a lot of trouble getting those nice loopy shapes that show up in most water marbles, and I had a better time this time. Here it is!

My thumbs turned out two of my favorites, nice loopies! But I still wasn't getting as many rings of color as I would have liked, so the sections of color are thicker than I would have liked.

For the base, I used Ulta Bam-blue-zled. The colors I used for the marble were Bam-blue-zled, Pure Ice Oh, Baby!, Pure Ice All Night Long, Ulta Dance Teal Dawn, and Ulta Alter Ego.

Zoya Bevin

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Today I have some good old fashioned swatches for you. Zoya Bevin was on my wishlist for a while, and I finally picked it up last month. It's a super pretty kind of minty/dusty green.

Love it!

Bottle Spam!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:35:00 +0000

Sorry for the sudden absence from this blog! I got to the end of my scheduled posts and then I got sick and had bare nails for over a week because I had to blow my nose every 5 minutes and couldn't have wet nails! It was crazy. So, I have some fun stuff coming up that I've been wearing and hopefully that will get me back on my regular schedule!

Today I have some fabulous bottle spam... stuff I've gotten recently! I got my hair cut last week at Hairmasters, and the location I went to had a bunch of OPI polishes 60% off AND buy 1 get 2 free... what?! How could I resist? I got Skull & Glossbones, I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, and Jade is the New Black. I didn't have any idea it would happen, but I am in LOVE with Skull & Glossbones! I will have some swatches of that coming up.

The other day I was in Big Lots and decided to check out the beauty section for polishes, and they had a whole bunch of two packs of Revlon polishes including the glittery scented polishes. I got Grapefruit Fizz, Colada Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, and Apple-tini Fizz. Each pack of 2 was only $2!

Lastly, I picked up one of the polishes from my wishlist - Zoya Ki. Look how pretty that duochrome is! And a boring old white from L.A. Colors since I didn't have one.

I was also shopping at Fred Meyer the other day and started looking at the Essence display there. I did not have any Essence polishes, but I have heard they're not bad. Then I realized that they have a bunch of nail art stuff. It's super cheap, and I haven't really had a chance to try it out, but I thought it might let me see what things are like even if it doesn't work as well as the really quality stuff.

I picked up a gem-placer/dotting tool, a magnetic polish and magnet, two stamping plates and a stamp, and some stencil stickers with stars. I'll post more about these as I use them!

In closing, here is a random shot of my polishes where I keep them now... I may need a new system soon, it's not very organized and the bins are getting full!

Ice Queen Glitter

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Just a quick one today, I'm about to hop in the shower then head down to Seattle for a (hopefully mostly dry) visit to the zoo with friends. Spring Break! So, today I have some shots of Sally Hansen Ice Queen glitter. It's a clear base with large silver and turquoise glitter and small silver and holo microglitter. It looks really pretty in the bottle, but I found when I put it on my nails it was more sparse than I would have liked. Here I have it layered over Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. It's pretty, but less impressive than I originally hoped.

Nubar 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I'm not sure where I first saw Nubar 2010, but as soon as I saw it I knew I HAD to have it. I added it to my wish list, and the next time I ordered from Amazon I added it to my cart.

I was so excited when it arrived! The first time I wore it, I put it on over a deepish red - Sally Hansen No Chip 10 Day Color in Endless Claret. I was slightly disappointed by my choice at first because the Nubar didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped. But when I went out in the sunlight the next day, it popped!

Love!

The second time I wore it I did a little Google search to look for ideas, and saw it over some blues and purples. I decided to go with a really dark shimmery purple - OPI Russian Navy.

It really stood out! I even got a shot of the range of colors - the flakes really morph between red, yellow, and green.

I recently wore it on it's own, which can also be cool for a bit of quick sparkle if you don't feel like doing a whole manicure.

I love the look of flaky holos, and I am totally coveting the Finger Paints Special Effects Collection that came out in Winter of last year.

Pure Ice Oh Baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I was recently at Walmart and checked out these Pure Ice polishes. They're cheap, but there are some fun colors. I'm always looking for interesting topcoats, so when I spotted Pure Ice Oh Baby! I couldn't resist putting it in my basket.

The first time I wore it, I wore it over Essie Go Overboard, which on it's own is a gorgeous dark teal cream.

Photo Credit: ommorphia beauty bar

When I added a layer of Oh Baby! on top, it was completely transformed. I was in love! It added some awesome depth as well as a holographic effect from turquoise to purple.

More recently, I wanted to experiment with some other colors, and I decided to pair it with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Grey Area.

This is a terrible photo, but it turned out kind of cool. It added tons of blue shimmer on top of the grey. I didn't get a better picture because I went to bed too soon and it got mushed about, so I took it off really soon after I'd done it.

I'm so glad I added this one to my collection. It's versatile, and I can't wait to try it over more colors!

Do you have a favorite effect polish?

Another Capitol Colours Mani

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Today I have another Hunger Games inspired mani using the China Glaze Capitol Colours collection.

First I want to share with you one of my very favorite polishes of all time, Stone Cold. It is a gorgeous soft charcoal matte, I am totally in love with it. It's unique and sophisticated and just beautiful.

So pretty, but I wanted something fancy. I decided to do a french tip and I hadn't tried out Luxe and Lush yet, so I decided to do some flaky glittery tips.

I liked how it turned out, but to be honest I'm not a huge fan of the type of flaky glitter in Luxe and Lush. It doesn't lie flat, and I don't have a glitter tamer, so even with a coat of Seche Vite over top , it was catching on things. I think with this type of polish it really needs a couple of topcoats at the least. It is pretty for sure, but I also just hate removing glitter polishes, especially ones with large chunks. Oh well, I guess it's worth it for the prettiness! I hope you like this one, and that you got to enjoy the Hunger Games this weekend if you are a fan like me!

Happy Hunger Games Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:01:00 +0000

As this post publishes at it's schedule time of 12 AM, I'll be sitting in a packed theater watching a midnight show of The Hunger Games. SO EXCITED! In honor of the occasion and my acquisition of one of the best polishes I've ever seen, here is another Hunger Games mani using the China Glaze Capitol Colours polishes.

I wanted to use Riveting and Stone Cold. There are some absolutely fabulous Hunger Games manis out there today - check some of them out on my Pinterest nail board! I was so impressed and would have loved to do something fancy, but I'm just nowhere near as good at freehanding as many of these ladies. I decided to do a funky french mani, and then I decided to use my zig zag scissors instead of doing a straight line.

After I'd painted them, I put on a coat of Seche Vite to seal it before mattifying. Here are a few shots of this one shiny. I didn't love it, honestly I like Stone Cold how it comes out of the bottle with it's soft matte finish. It's one of my favorite polishes ever, and on Monday I'll have a few swatches of it on it's own.

Next I applied a coat of Essie Matte About You to transform it.

I don't love it as much as I'd hoped I would. Because the Riveting was applied over the darker polish, it is a tiny bit spotty and darker than when it's on it's own. When it was shiny it wasn't as visible, but after I applied the matte it didn't look as gorgeous as it does on it's own with a matte topcoat.

I'll be wearing this tonight to the movie, but I'm not sure how long I'll keep it on after that!

Have you ever done nails inspired by a book or movie? Will you be seeing The Hunger Games this weekend?

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Prep's Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:34:00 +0000

When I first bought my Sally Hansen Salon Effects back in November, I actually bought four boxes. I finally decided to use another one, and went with Prep's Cool, a cool black and silver argyle design.

I had even less trouble with application this time - so easy! I used acetone when I went to take it off and the silver came off super easy, but the black took a lot more work. I did have an idea that you could easily remove all the silver and be left with just the black diamonds on your nails - a creative mind could find something fun to do with that!

This was tons of fun to wear, and I got a bunch of compliments on it!

Wish List

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I have tons of polishes I am drooling over at Pinterest and on my Amazon wish list, and they just keep getting fuller. Right now, these are the ones I would most love to get my hands on.

Image Source: Beautopia

Zoya Ki. Just look at that gorgeous duochrome color! It reminds me of those oil puddles on the ground that always look so pretty, or of peacock tones.

Image Source: Chloe's Nails

I've been wanting some magnetic polish for a while, but what I really like about the China Glaze Magnetix is the differently shaped magnets. Specifically, I am totally in love with the star pattern! This color is Cling On and I love it.

Deborah Lippman makes some pretty fabulous polishes, and this was one of the first ones I ever laid eyes on. It's called Across the Universe and it is basically 'my' colors - my very favorite blues. I don't have many glitter polishes, they're not totally my thing, but every once in a while I see one that I know I'd love.

These are just some dotting tools - it's one thing I don't have that would let me do more fun stuff. I also want some stamping plates, but don't have any particular ones that I'm really coveting right now.

Image Source: Goose's Glitter

This is another glitter polish. There are tons of stores on Etsy that seem to have homemade glitter polishes - these people are doing crazy sales because these polishes are so popular. This one is Oh Yes I Did from Laquistry. Like I said before, I am not a huge fan of a lot of these polishes that are completely saturated with glitter. But I really love the color combo in this one, it is a little bit more unique.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

This gorgeous one is Fantasy Fire from Max Factor. I LOVE this color combo because it's unusual, and look at the way the glitter just glows. It really looks like burning embers. These sell for around $30-35 on Ebay, so it's not likely I'll add it to my collection any time soon.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

This is Get It On 'Em, one of the polishes in OPI's Nicki Minaj collection. I don't know what it is about this color. Sometimes I look at it and think it's hideous, but I'm strangely drawn to it, and I think I need to have it. I think it would look really great under a black crackle, I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to wear it on it's own.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

Honestly, there are tons of Zoya polishes I'd love to own. They make great, solid colors that are a nice addition to a collection. We have an Ed Wyse in town and I went for the first time the other day, their selection of OPI and Zoya polishes is insane. The beautiful teal cream above is Bevin, and the green below is Shawn. It looks in the photo above like Bevin comes out a little matte, but it's also gorgeous with a shiny top coat. I love Shawn for it's pure green-ness, one of my favorite colors in nature.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

Image Source: Polish Mayhem

I have been interested in matte polishes lately, and Orly Purple Velvet is just one of the ones on my list.

These last three are the ones I want the most, I just drool over them.

Image Source: Scrangie

I have one Holographic polish, it's from the Sally Hansen Magical collection from a few years ago that's been discontinued for a long time. I REALLY want to add some true holos to my collection, and just look at how absolutely amazing this Gosh silver holo is! It is amazing.

Image Source: Chloe's Nails

So, this is actually two polishes, but I love the combo so much! This is a manicure the Chloe did over at Chloe's Nails. The top coat is the one I want most, it's Teal Scales from Funky Fingers. Just look at that! I have never seen a crackle that looked so pretty. It's layered over China Glaze Flying Dragon, and I just think the combo is to die for.

And this is one of my biggest lemmings right now - the China Glaze Capital Colours collection. This is the official ad, but these colors are way more amazing when you see them actually on nails. You can see them all actually swatched over at Vampy Varnish - but be prepared to fall in love with them! She has a giveaway going for the ENTIRE COLLECTION that ends today, and if I won it... I would be beyond ecstatic!

What's on your wish list?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:34:00 +0000

I was ready for a change today and I definitely wanted something green for St. Patrick's Day this weekend and for my St. Patrick's Day themed Bunco night. I just got some new craft scissors that I've been wanting to try out with tape, so I picked out some greens and went to work!

First, here are some swatches of the first color I applied. This is a brand new one that I picked up at Ulta last Sunday called Limelight. It's not quite 100% opaque after 2 coats, but I left it because I was going to be covering part of it. It's a really pretty, springy green.

Next I got out my tape and scissors and put some stripes on with Sinful Colors Show Me the Way and then Sally Girl 812098 on the tips. I don't know if the Sally Girl ones have a name other than that number, it bugs me when polishes don't have a name. By the way, if you like doing tape manis and you don't own a bottle of Seche Vite, go get one right now! It is awesome in general, but in terms of drying each layer before putting on the next, it cuts down the time you need to wait to put tape on by a lot.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Acrylic Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:42:00 +0000

After getting my nails filled and re-shaped, I have been about 100 times happier with the way they look. I decided to post a comparison, especially for anyone living in Bellingham, WA who might be looking to have their nails done. The first set I got at Beauty Nails in the Bellis Fair Mall. I was not completely happy with them from the start, and I also noticed that my fingers were VERY sore after having them applied. They stayed sore all around my nails for almost 24 hours. I did not like how thick and round the nails looked, and even though one friend told me they didn't look that thick, I was not happy.

When it came time to get them filled, I went to Happy Nails over by Sehome on the recommendation of several friends. Oh my gosh. They did an amazing job. They were a bit more (really, maybe $5 more), but it was worth it. Not only did she give me the square shape I wanted, but after she put on the acrylic she used the drill to file them down so they were not anywhere close to the thickness they'd given me at the other place. They look 50 times more natural, and I love them.

I will not go back to Beauty Nails in the mall again, and Happy Nails has a loyal customer now!

Blue Stripe Mani

noreply@blogger.com (Rachael) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:34:00 +0000

This is another manicure inspired by Chloe's Nails, her striped mani. It didn't turn out quite how I'd wanted because it was my first time doing it and my nail didn't get divided into 3 equal parts. Learning where to place the tape when you're taping off to do each color takes a little practice, so my bottom sections ended up being biggest on most nails. I still think it turned out okay though.

For this mani, I used Revlon Chic and Essie Go Overboard, which are both cremes and two of my favorite polishes. The silver is Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.