Pixel's Polish

One Last Halloween Hurrah!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 15:50:00 +0000

I'm so excited for Halloween, but I will miss all the Halloween themed and spooky manicures. So I decided to share one last manicure and tutorial with you. I recently tried water spotting and found it to be pretty fun and fairly easy, so lets get to it!

I wanted to share this simple splatter look I did for the holiday. I used Essie Cocktails And Coconuts as the base and found a perfect blood red with Color Club Red-ical Gypsy.

You're going to need:

A perfume or spray that contains alcohol
A bowl or cup filled with room temperature water. Make sure its a bowl or cup that you're okay with getting polish in.
A base color and a color you want spotted.
Some toothpicks or an orange stick to clear polish from the water.

After you've applied your base color and let it dry, drop your spotting polish on top of the water. It should spread out into a clear, thin layer on top of the water. Don't mind my messy polish experiment bowl, haha.

Now take your perfume or spray. Holding it a few inches from the water, spray once. This should create holes in the layer of polish, making it spotted!

You'll want to do this next step a little quickly, otherwise your polish will get distorted and won't be spotted anymore. Make sure your nail hits the water flat, so that the layer of polish connects with your nail. Once your finger tip is submerged, use your toothpick or orange stick to clear the extra polish away from your finger and remove it from the water.

I highly suggest protecting the area around your nails, otherwise you end up with a mess like this. Here's the effect all finished!

I decided to layer another spotted coat on my index, middle and ring. The second layer really added more coverage! I would love to experiment with multiple layers and colors.

Here is the finished look, I think it turned out pretty neat. A fun way to get he spotted effect and just in time for Halloween!

Quick Post: Halloween Glitter Gradient Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 23:21:00 +0000

What kind of Halloween would it be without a black and orange manicure?

To start, you'll need a base color, glitter and a creme color similar to your glitter. I went with Beautifully Disney Celtic Fire as my base, Sally Hansen Midnight Glitz and Sinful Colors Dark Room. Don't forget your make-up wedge!

Once your base color is dry, take the creme color that is a similar color to your glitter and sponge it on. Since Midnight Glitz has black glitters, I used Dark Room.

Keep on sponging until its mostly opaque. I use this technique so that your glitter will blend in and you won't have to sponge on a bunch of layers of glitter to fill in space. Its okay if the creme color isn't straight or perfect, because you'll be layering glitter over it!

Now you can start sponging on your glitter to create the gradient effect. You can sponge on as little or as much as you want! You can see after sponging on some glitter that the creme color really helps it look opaque.

Here is the finished look! I really love doing glitter gradients, they're always so easy and since there's no order or design to go by its hard to mess it up.

Calling All Spirits!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 20:01:00 +0000

With Halloween coming up, its time to break out the sinister themed manicures! I was invited to enter a Halloween nail art contest by Julep and it only took a second to decide to use Ouija as my inspiration. Whether you believe in the Ouija board or not, it can still be pretty spooky and it was fun always wondering if your friends were pushing the planchette or not.

Now I almost went with molding Ouija planchettes out of acrylic, but then I thought what if the nails themselves were shaped like planchettes? Then I took it a step further and wondered if there was a way to make a hole in the nail to reveal the Ouija letters. The answer is yes, if you have a hole punch and some fake nails! I used Zoya Godiva as a sparkly base for my Ouija board and hand painted the letters.

In order for my tan base to pop, I went with Sinful Colors Dark Room for the overlay nails. After cutting and placing some decorative confetti, I layered some top coat to make the holes look like they contained glass. And for a final touch, I added a golden sun and moon charm to bring in some imagery from the board itself. I spent most of the night working on this look, but I really love it. Its something I've never done before and I had a ton of fun putting it together and seeing my idea come to life!

Thanks to Julep for bringing out the Halloween inspiration!

Ultimate Villainess, Evil Is Beautiful Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 18:08:00 +0000

Once again Halloween is fast approaching and what better way to celebrate than to giveaway some gorgeous prizes fit for a villainess.

The first prize pack will include: The E.L.F Disney Villain 12 polish cube from last year! It was a hot item last year, so I grabbed it to giveaway. I apologize for the little wear and tear on the top of the box. You will also receive Color Club Snow-Flakes, Revlon Enthrall, and Sephora X Hypochondriac and Control Freak.

The second prize pack will include: KISS Disney Good Vs Evil nail art kit in Hedge Of Thorns and Sinful Colors polishes Pumpkin Spice, Mystery Moonshine, Splatter Spell, Cauldron Couture and Glow In The Dark. All prize packs are brand new and unused!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tutorial: 3D Dots

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:23:00 +0000

Since I'm still pretty busy with school, I decided I'd post a quick and easy 3D dots tutorial! Its one of my favorite manicures to do if I want to add some pop to what could be a plain color.

What you'll need to do the two-tone look I did is Scotch tape, a dotting tool (the tip of a pin or a bobby pin may work), two base colors, a black creme color and a white creme color.

For my two-tone look I paint my thumb, index and middle one color. Then I paint my pinky and ring finger. Once the middle finger is completely dry, you place a line of Scotch tape down the center and paint your second color and peel. A tip I always use it to place the tape on the back of your hand a few times to get any extra glue off, which prevents your tape from taking the polish with it once you pull it up!

The next step is to place black polka dots across your nails, giving them time to dry completely. Patience may be hard, but it beats getting a grey blob if you try to place your white over your wet black dots.

Once your black dots are dry, you can place your white dots over them. The trick here is to place your white polka dots slightly to the right and up, which creates the 3D effect!

Here is the finished look! If you're adventurous enough, you can experiment with colors instead of black and white. I also think smaller dots would look just as cute!

What Is This Class Again?!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:21:00 +0000

So recently I've been journeying to become a licensed nail technician and classes have been going a bit slow. I'm currently in a required class that actually has little to nothing to do with nails, but of course I'm determined to pass! Not to mention a very...eccentric instructor, so its a little hard to keep on track.

One of my first feelings in this class was "Um..." because it can go quite fast and is mainly centered around cosmetologists in general and estheticians. I used Sinful Colors Dream On as a totally rad base color, layering Butter London Cake-Hole and Slapper. Practicing more with acrylic paint, I decided on 3D looking letters and used dot glitters for the ellipsis.

Occasionally I look around the room with a "Wtf" expression on my face, only because the instructor can get off topic easily and I end up feeling like I'm in space. Topics can include, but are not limited to: babies, personal experiences, jokes and all around insanity. Sinful Colors Dark Room was a nice base to start and I added Rainbow Honey Diamond Dust for some sparkle. I also sponged on Color Club Trippie Hippie, Rev'd Up and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. I hand painted a few stars with acrylic paint and "Wtf" lettering.

Lastly, the expression shared throughout the entire class is usually "Huh?". As said before the instructor can go quite quickly from one lesson to another and a few times can even get lost herself. I decided to go for more of a feminine look this time, starting with Orly Coachella Dweller and added some dried flowers. After hand painting the "Huh?" I decided to add some silver butterflies.

This class can be tough at times, but you can be sure that I'm not going to sit on my butt and fail!

Throw Back Thursday!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:26:00 +0000

Oh wow, it has been so long since I've posted! I've been so busy with school lately that its hard to get any time at all to do multiple manicures for posting purposes. I have been working to get back on track lately though. So here's a fun little manicure based off one of my favorite Game Boy Color games: Pokemon Pinball!

I always loved my trusty Game Boy Color, I couldn't even tell you how many hours I've spent playing Pokemon Pinball alone. Unfortunately this wasn't my original Game Boy Color, I used to have the translucent purple one, heck yeah!

Of course I had to find a teal to match and O.P.I Fly was a near perfect match. I hand painted some gold circle studs to resemble Pokeballs! I really think this is a cute and subtle manicure with a nerdy touch.

Shaping Up For Fall!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 17:36:00 +0000

While Summer was heating up, I was getting ready for the next season. Fall has always been my favorite time of year, its when the leaves turn and the wind picks up. Not to mention its the time of year for all the dark, rich colors to come out to play!

I had seen spikes used in nail art before and just had to get some of my own! I may have gone a little overboard with this look, but I still like it. I used Zoya Pinta for a decadent base and sponged Rainbow Honey Gilded and Costa Del Sol for some shimmering gold. That's about when the spikes took over, heh.

This one has to be my favorite of the two, especially the butterflies. I used Nails Inc Kensington High Street and used Zoya Tomoko as a beautiful glitter gradient. I had these gorgeous butterfly confetti pieces that I bent, so that they look like they're fluttering on my nails.

I've been thinking for awhile now that I wanted to try a new shape on my nails. I finally decided last month and just went for it. I actually really love how it turned out and am definitely keeping this shape from now on! I went with a simple manicure this week with Beautifully Disney Diva Of The Deep and some silver pyramid studs.

Quick Post: Paper Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 21:31:00 +0000

A new craft store opened near me recently, so I decided to pop in and see if I could find any inspiration! I came across a display of tiny paper flowers that struck me right away, so I grabbed a bag and hurried home to get started.

I wanted to keep the nail simple to let the flowers bring the manicure to life, so I used Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet. I noticed there were three different colors, I wanted to get an even amount of each so I carefully glued them on and even added one onto my pinky finger. Then I added a few confetti butterflies that I had bent so they'd appear to be fluttering among the flowers. Although the flowers look a little large, I really liked how this manicure came out!

Inspiration From Nailpolis!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 18:16:00 +0000

Awhile back I got an e-mail invite to a new site that was launching called Nailpolis, it was said to be a place to post your nail art and connect with other nail artists. Once I signed up, I started uploaded my art immediately and found they had really great features! You can input what polishes you used, link all your social media on your galley page and they even have badges!

What I love about the badges is it gets me to try new things, get new ideas and inspiration. They also hold nail art contests constantly. I've gotten to really love Nailpolis, so when they started their one million follower contest, I just had to join in the fun!

My entry was inspired by the banner they had up advertising the contest. I started with Sinful Colors Enchanted as a base color. For the pennant flags I painted gold studs with Sinful Colors Savage, Revlon Sunlit Grass and China Glaze Under The Boardwalk. You know I love my 3D effects, so I took some thin yarn to string the pennants. To finish off the look I dotted confetti on the base color!

Nailpolis has had a Paris themed badge for awhile now and it inspired me! I went in search of some charms to use and found a perfect travel set with an Eiffel tower. I wanted to work off of the pastel purple of the suitcase, so I chose Zoya Gei Gei. I also painted and cut a decorative confetti piece for above my accent nail. The only problem I have with this manicure is that my striping tape left purple spots on the white stripes, other than that I think its too cute.

Disney Inspiration: Maleficent

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 19:49:00 +0000

Quick note: If you haven't seen Maleficent, there are spoilers ahead.

As far as Disney villains go, Maleficent has got to be my favorite! I was worried how the movie would be at first, but I thought it ended up fantastic. Being the nail lover I am, I noticed Maleficent's manicure immediately. What started as a simple tan stiletto, turned into a devilish Louboutin manicure once the spell was cast. Immediately I got inspiration and decided to create a manicure based on the magnificent villainess!

First I filed and shaped a set of fakes, because I'm not edgy enough and far too clumsy to rock such sharp nails. I used Essie Cocktails And Coconuts as a shimmery nude base and sponged Illamasqua Omen near the base of the nails. I wanted to show her struggle between good and evil, so I hand placed glass glitter to symbolize her evil side crumbling. The unfortunate part was that the glass glitter wasn't originally opaque, so I had to hand paint each piece with black acrylic paint after placing. For the accent, I decided to sponge on Sinful Colors Dark Room and place chains across the nail. The chains represent not only the chains she's caught with, but the fact that faeries are burnt if they come in contact with iron.

Fresh 'N Fruity!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 22:40:00 +0000

I've been seeing delicious fruit themed manicures all over the place this Summer! Everyone is getting so creative and trying different fruits. I wanted to try my hand at some fruity manicures and join in the fun.

I tried my hand at a dragon fruit manicure, using Deborah Lippmann Polka Dots And Moonbeams and pink acrylic paint. I've never even tried dragon fruit before, what does it taste like? This manicure came out a little odd, but it grew on me. I couldn't quite figure out how to get the outline perfect with tape, so I free hand painted it.

Now I know what you're thinking, are those actual leaves? They are! I wanted to take my strawberry manicure up a notch and used actual strawberry leaves. I used Color Club Mamba as a nice juicy red and pressed holes in it with a dotting tool. Don't worry though, I took this manicure off as soon as I had taken photos.

Glass Glitter, Who Knew?

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:25:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I decided to head over to Michael's craft store and try to get some nail art inspiration. I came across this pack of glass glitter in little vials that looked really interesting, so I decided to give them a try! I found out the hard way that the process was really tedious, but the pay off was totally worth it.

The silver glass glitter reminded me so much of a shattered mirror. I hand placed them over Sinful Colors Dark Room, which took quite a bit of time. It was absolutely worth it because they turned out really awesome looking! I wore this manicure for about a week before one of the nails popped off, but I would definitely do this again.

The black glass glitter immediately had me thinking of rock over lava. Beautifully Disney Celtic Fire and Rainbow Honey Fire Spring together made a great glowing orange. After I hand placed the glass glitter I realized that it wasn't opaque and didn't quite look right. So I went back in with black acrylic paint and hand painted each tiny piece. The brush strokes make the pieces look that much more like charred rock and brought out the orange perfectly! I left off top coat because I thought the shine would ruin the effect.

Although the task of placing the glass glitter takes awhile to get the hang of and every time I'm working on a manicure I want to quit, in the end its always worth it. If you have patience for manicures I highly suggest checking out glass glitter!

Practicing With Acrylic Paint!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 19:15:00 +0000

Last Christmas I was pretty ecstatic to be gifted a huge set of acrylic paints. Previously I had purchased a small professional nail art brush from Japan with the idea of using it for painting. I'd seen a lot of nail artists getting into using acrylic paint for amazingly detailed and beautiful art on their nails. I decided I wanted to try it out and although I'm not on the same level they are, I think my art is improving!

On the right is Princess Bubblegum, the first I had ever painted with the acrylic paint. My lines were shaky and the detail on the face wasn't great, but I don't think she turned out too bad. Next up I tried Lumpy Space Princess, although my lines were improving I still have trouble with such tiny details like the face.

This is my first full manicure that is done mainly with acrylic paint, minus the background color. I decided to file the sides of the free edge to make the shape more similar to a cupcake wrapper. There's most definitely room for improvement still, but I really love how this turned out! I'm excited to keep practicing and have a lot of fun painting with acrylics!

Rainbow Honey Summer Mixtape Review

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 00:17:00 +0000

*Products in this post were sent to me for the purpose of a 100% honest unbiased review.*

I have been a huge fan of Rainbow Honey ever since I pre-ordered their Equestria collection. Two years later and they're still going strong! I was lucky enough to receive three of their new Summer Mixtape collection to review. These colors look fantastically vibrant and I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of them!

Elevate is a fabulous multi-color glitter with hexes, squares, circles and even triangles! I've noticed that triangle glitters are booming in indie polishes lately, but this is my first experience with one. It only took one layer of Elevate to get this glitter coverage and I had no problem with folding glitter. Rainbow Honey Viola as a base really makes this color pop and it shows off the hidden blue shimmer.

I Wanna Get Better is a zesty orange jelly filled with hot pink hexes, purple circles, green squares and yellow stars. Not to mention a sparkling golden shimmer! This color is gorgeous in the bottle, but I could not get it to work with my skin tone. It only took two coats for opacity and I may suggest trying it over a white base coat.

Control is a vivid neon pink with iridescent shimmer that transitions from orange to blue. I have a few pink cremes from Rainbow Honey, but they're all different in their own way and I never get tired of them! This color is gorgeous, perfect for Summer and only took two coats to achieve opacity.

Rainbow Honey's Summer Mixtape collection is available now! Be sure to use the coupon code above for 20% off your next order. But don't wait too long because this promo expires 8/31/2014! I also suggest checking out their amazing scented top coats and cuticle balms.

*Products in this post were sent to me for the purpose of a 100% honest unbiased review.*

Beautifully Disney Curiouser & Curiouser

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:59:00 +0000

I've always loved the story and whimsy of Alice In Wonderland. The Disney movie is what I grew up with and the colors were always stunning. Beautifully Disney did not disappoint with this collection! I only wish they would've released more colors based on Alice In Wonderland, but the four they did release are gorgeous.

Tis' Brillig is a cream colored texture with golden shimmer with a hint of pink. Its beautiful in the bottle and even more so on the nail! Three coats was all it took for opacity and the formula is easy to work with. I tried layering some top coat over this color, but its truly meant to be textured.

This Way, That Way is a lovely light periwinkle cream. I'd have to say this is one of my favorite blues. You could get away with two coats, but I used three just to make sure it was opaque. It does remind me of Alice's dress, although I think it may have been a bit darker.

Non Sensical is a shimmer packed fuchsia. I would say this color is more suited to be a top coat, its pretty sheer and took four coats to become opaque. I could see it looking great over a purple or even black! Since it is pretty stunning on its own, I can only imagine how amazing it would look paired with another color.

Who Are You? is a gorgeous shimmer filled olive green. Like Non Sensical, I would say this is more of a top coat. You can get away with three coats, but I used four to be sure of the opacity. This color definitely reminds me of the Mad Hatter, even though the name is dialog from the caterpillar. I'm anxious to see what Beautifully Disney releases next!

What A Beach!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 23:41:00 +0000

Summer is in full swing and I am definitely in the spirit! Its one of the best seasons for bright, cheery nail art in all colors and themes. I've gotten quite a burst of inspiration from the beach and sea lately! I've also had an urge to wear more teal and vibrant blues this Summer.

One of the teals I've been lusting after most is Rainbow Honey Tidal Wave, its such a gorgeous color. I did layer Rainbow Honey Bubble Beam over it to give it a little more shimmer and blue tint. The combination is really breathtaking and creates a beautiful ocean background for my coral sea stars. The stars were originally gold studs that I painted with Sinful Colors Island Coral. For my accent, I used Beautifully Disney Ocean Mist as a base and hand placed matching green hexes to resemble a scaled mermaid tail.

I've seen variations of this manicure all over lately and have wanted to try it. I am the worst at water marbling, but this was much easier! I used Maybelline Day Glow Teal as my ocean blue and water spotted Sinful Colors Wisp over it. Water spotting is a technique I've seen around lately where instead of marbling you spritz alcohol or perfume on the polish in the water. A chemical reaction causes the tears and holes, which creates this awesome effect! I wanted to add a little sand and Zoya Godiva was the perfect color and texture! I sponged a few layers on and fell in love with the result. I added a turtle and sand dollar charm for some pizzazz!

Quick Post: Happy Fourth Of July!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 14:26:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I hope you're having or plan to have an awesome Fourth of July. I don't have much planned for the blog today, but I have tons of fun manicures coming up soon! I've been working pretty hard the past few days to bring my ideas to life and cannot wait to share them with you all. For today, I decided to share my festive glitter gradient.

I started with Sinful Colors Wisp as a nice crisp white base. And Rainbow Honey I'm The Hero! was just screaming to be used. It turned into a really beautiful and patriotic looking gradient and I love the little stars. I was also surprised to see square glitters mixed in with the hexes!

Enjoy your day and check back for exciting things to come!

Beautifully Disney Pop Of Minnie

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 17:05:00 +0000

That's right, I have more Beautifully Disney swatches to share with you all! Pop Of Minnie came out at the beginning of this year in January and brought some beautiful polish colors with it. With a very bright, mod and pop art style this collection definitely shines!

Dots Or Nothing is a black and white hex glitter top coat. It packs one heck of a punch in one coat! I used Color Club Endless Summer as a base color, which really brings out the contrast of the glitters. I'm extremely impressed with this one coat glitter and its so cute!

Oh Mod Mouse is a vibrant neon yellow with a very faint hint of lime green. As with most yellow polishes it was a bit streaky, but after four coats it looks smooth. This color is not usually my style, but its just so beautiful and has such a great pop to it!

Orang' You Cute is a nice juicy orange creme. It went on easily in three coats and is a perfect color for a monarch manicure. The formula of this color was really smooth and I had no trouble with streaks.

Poptimistic is a radiant neon bubblegum pink. Easily opaque in three coats and ready to shine! Another amazing collection from Disney and they don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. One thing I would like to see from them in the future though are more purples and glitters!

Beautifully Disney Fantasy In Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:03:00 +0000

I've had these swatches sitting in a folder for awhile now and with all the new Beautifully Disney collections coming out recently, I decided its time to post swatches and catch up! Ever since I heard of Disney launching their own cosmetics line, I was intrigued and planned on owning every polish they put out. Fantasy In Flight came out last year in November with four gorgeous shades.

Spriteful is a stunning nude holographic with hidden iridescent flecks. It took three coats for opacity and the holographic effect didn't get dull with top coat. I have to say this is my favorite color from this collection, its absolutely beautiful.

Something Sassy is a lovely rose gold glitter top coat. One coat over Nicole By OPI How Fairy Nice Of You! is all you need for a glitter packed manicure. I love the color of the glitter, its nice to get a metallic glitter that's not gold or silver.

Wish Come True is a fantastic sky blue holographic with hidden iridescent flecks. This color took three coats for opacity, its formula is nice and smooth. I really hope they release more colors like this and Spriteful because they're amazing and easily my favorite effect.

Star Struck is a ruby red jelly with glittering red hexes. It went opaque in two coats and really surprised me with how pretty it turned out to be. I love how much it sparkles with the top coat and the fact that it doesn't need a base color.

Get ready for more Beautifully Disney swatches coming soon!

Beautifully Disney Haul!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 20:08:00 +0000

Last Monday I was lucky enough to visit Downtown Disney and have a little shopping spree. I loved being able to feel some of the Disney spirit. We walked around the shops for a bit and ate at my favorite restaurant Naples. After we stopped in at the art gallery, there were so many beautiful art pieces I would love to hang in my home.

I decided to have a little hidden mickey in my manicure for the day. I used China Glaze Escaping Reality as a nice hot pink base. And did my favorite art for Summer, 3D dots! I have little containers of mickey mouse glitters, so I used a black under a white to create the same 3D effect.

The whole shebang! I'm usually more into polish than eyeshadow, but the art and colors of this palette were calling my name. Its the Curiouser & Curiouser palette from their new Alice In Wonderland line. The four polishes up top are also from that line, from left to right: Tis' Brillig, Non Sensical, Who Are You? and This Way, That Way. The bottom three are from the Minnie Mouse line, from left to right: Poptimistic, Orang' You Cute and Oh Mod Mouse.

Here are the colors inside the Curiouser & Curiouser palette, from top left to bottom right: Hip Cat, Queenie, Twirly, Quiet As A Mouse, Wild Hare and Mushroom. They're highly pigmented, smooth and beautiful. I'll be posting swatches of the polishes later this week, so stay tuned for that!

Quick Post: Revlon Pebbled Textures

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 21:18:00 +0000

Thought you've seen all the textures there are? Think again! Revlon recently released their new Pebbled Texture collection and they're packing a punch of glitter! Not all of the colors were calling me, but I did pick up two out of the collection.

Caribbean Cove is a full of white, black and shades of gray glitters to create a unique texture. I tried four coats on its own for opacity, but you can see near the tips of my nails there are empty spaces. I did try to layer top coat over it, but this collection is strictly to be textured.

Balinese Bay is a gorgeous mix of fuchsia, purple and black glitters. This color did a little better with four coats by itself. The texture of these aren't super soft, but they're not rough enough to be irritating. The two colors I have I really enjoy and would love to see more color combinations in the future!

Summer Just Got Studded!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Wed, 28 May 2014 19:32:00 +0000

Yes, I'm still on a neon kick for Summer. I came across more vibrant inspiration with my wheel of neon studs and decided to try out a few looks!

I may not be able to do a regular color gradient, but nothing can stop me from a sparkling glitter gradient! Butter London Cake-hole is a favorite pink of mine and ever since I was able to get Salon Perfect Kaboom, I've been obsessed with it. I sponged on a bit of Revlon Sunlit Grass before Kaboom, just to blend the glitters in a little better. I liked the idea of randomly placing studs, it didn't turn out quite how I pictured itz, but it still looks neat!

One of my all time favorite shades of blue is Color Club Bright Night, which just so happens to look amazing with some neon studs! The necklace placement turned out really nicely, but the accent nail design was so much fun to create and I'm really loving it.

I decided to see how it looked under my UV lamp and it turned out awesome! I love that the studs glow so bright in contrast with the neon blue.

Despite how tedious this design turned out to be, it was most definitely worth it! I hand placed each stud over Sinful Colors Wisp and even cut a few for the edges. Would I spend a few hours doing this look all over again? Uh...yeah of course!

Another awesome look under my UV lamp, like tiny lights all over my nails. I think I'll start making it a habit to check more manicures under my UV lamp, just to see if there's a cool effect!

Nicole By OPI Roughles

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Wed, 21 May 2014 23:24:00 +0000

Now I know this collection has been all over and everyone is probably moving on to the next texture, but I was a little late on it and wanted to swatch them anyway! The thing that sets the Roughles collection apart from other textured polishes is that each one has flecks of different colors in them.

Rock The Look is a sweet strawberry pink with what looks like black and darker pink flecks in it. Two coats went on smooth and gives you complete opacity. I really love the tone of this color, it reminds me of those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars!

On What Grounds? is a refreshing mint with dark blue and brown flecks. Two coats worked great for opacity again. The choice of colors flecks are spot on, this combo makes me think of a speckled egg!

Sand In My Shoe is a vibrant yellow with orange flecks. Two coats seems to be the way to go for all of this collection, which is nice. This color combo is perfect, I'm not usually a fan of the two colors separately, but together they look so pretty!

I'm Stucco On You is a gorgeous lavender with blue and reddish-brown flecks. Of course this was also a two coat color as well. Honestly, I'm such a fan of how they did the colored flecks. It really brings more to the color and even adds to the textured look!

Summer Neon Inspiration!

noreply@blogger.com (Pixel) — Sat, 17 May 2014 18:02:00 +0000

I'm sure everyone is ready and waiting for this Summer to come around! I know I'm eager to get my hands on new Summer neon collections that are coming out. For now, I gathered up some of the neons I already own and decided to make some inspiration manicures to make any Summer brighter!

One of the most fun styles to create is a splatter manicure! There's really no way to go wrong with this messy nail art and just look at the awesome end result. I always use white as my base color, so that the other colors stand out. For this combination I used: Beautifully Disney Celtic Fire, Sinful Colors Savage, Essie The More The Merrier, Color Club Mrs. Robinson and Butter London Cake-hole.

Another favorite of mine is the interlocking dot manicure. I wanted to do each nail a different combination to show just how versatile this manicure can be. If you have scotch tape, a dotting tool and some patience for dry time, then this manicure is easy! Colors from thumb to pinky: China Glaze Shocking Pink, Butter London Cake-hole, Beautifully Disney Celtic Fire, Revlon Parfumerie Sunlit Grass, Sinful Colors Pull Over, Essie The More The Merrier, Color Club Abyss, Sinful Colors Savage, Color Club Bright Night and Color Club Mrs. Robinson.

A new favorite of mine is the 3D dot manicure. On a whim I decided to divide my nails between two colors and meet on the middle finger, which turned out really neat! This manicure is the easiest because its just layered dots to create a 3D effect. I used China Glaze Shocking Pink and Color Club Wham! Pow! I will definitely be rocking this style throughout the Summer.