Malibu Pearls

The folks at The Painted Nail and The Nail Files were kind enough to send me three bottles of polish to use and review. The polish is made by Nubar, and I have to say, "Malibu Dreams" is probably my favorite hot pink polish ever (and I don't normally care much for hot pink). It has a blueish base, and tons of tiny sparkly glitter that makes it look wet even when dry. Great formula too (as expected from Nubar). So this week I started with two coats of Malibu Dreams (over a coat of Seche Vite base coat):

And then got out my large rhinestones (provided by Born Pretty Store) and pearls for a little "nail-lace" on each (one thick coat of top coat to set them in). The turquoise and pink combo reminded me of someplace warm and sunny and bright like Malibu. I set the big rhinestone first in the center of the nail. Then I placed the little pearls on each side. Super, super easy. If the top coat is wet enough, you can slide the stones around a bit until they're where you want them, so working fast is helpful (but not necessary).

I only did one more thickish coat of top coat (Seche Vite) to seal, because the stones were set pretty well in the first coat. These don't stick up too far, so it shouldn't be an issue. They feel very solid.

Sorry - no video this week. I shot some, but didn't have time to edit it. Next week a Fourth of July design, and I'll have time for video since I have a three-day weekend. :-)

Until then, happy polishing!

Wearing O'The Green

It's still Tuesday here. ;-) I'm afraid I don't have a tutorial for you (because I've been a total slacker), but I have three green manicures to share for St. Patrick's Day this week...

All of these designs were done with 1 coat Seche Vite base coat, 2 coats base polish, and the stones set in two coats of Seche Vite top coat. I should buy stock in Seche Vite...

First off, we have my favorite green polish, China Glaze "Emerald Sparkle", tipped with OPI's "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow" (which looks black, but is really very dark green). I added light green rhinestones to the center for interest. I love this manicure - super simple to do, yet casual/elegant. 

 

Next up, I used a base polish of Rimmel's 60 Second polish in "Camouflage" - a lovely color, but as you can see I had some trouble with tip pull. Gotta remember to wrap the polish at the nail edge, peeps! Then I put a swoop of white diagonally across the nail, and a glittery gold Sinful color as a base for some large and small light green stones. It was really much more subdued than the picture shows - apologies for the flash. 

 And of course this week, it's back to my favorite Emerald Sparkle, with more of the light green rhinestones arranged into shamrocks on three nails each hand. Aside from my thumb (which I tried to make 4-leaf), they turned out nicely, I think.

Larger rhinestones compliments of the Born Pretty Store, and I purchased the smaller stones from Nail Delights. 

Finally, I saw Nail Art Tuesday mentioned in a blog round-up recently, but I can't find the post again. :-( Whoever you are, thanks so much for the mention! I appreciate it. :-) 

Next week, back to tutorials. Until then, Happy Polishing - and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sparkly Ornaments

This week, I needed something to help me get in the mood for Christmas, and I needed a quick design. So I got out these huge rhinestones that the Born Pretty store sent for review. I think they look very much like shiny glass ornaments, don't you?

I started with one of my favorite Christmas glitters, China Glaze "Emerald Sparkle". Two coats over CG base coat makes a nice "tree" layer.

Then I added a thick diagonal stripe in China Glaze "Tinsel", another of my favorite CG polishes. Just one, somewhat thick coat worked fine for setting the stones.

I added three stones to each nail, using red and yellow...

And switched the colors on my index fingers for just a little variety.

Two coats China Glaze quick dry top coat, some clean up, and voila! Sparkly ornaments telling me it's time to get moving on the holiday stuff.

**Edited to add - Born Pretty Store is offering a 10% discount until December 31st, 2010 - use coupon code OPENTENOFF. I may just do that myself, actually. :-)

I'm kind of itching to try a peppermint swirl water marble thing - perhaps I'll do that next week. Until then, happy polishing!

Green Marble

I missed the Tuesday post again - but I have a good excuse! I was up until 3am experimenting with my first water-marbling attempt...I need more practice, but it was pretty fun (and super-messy). I took a lot of pictures (more than I'm posting), so it's taken me awhile to get them all cropped and posted for you. I'll warn you though, this is just as much a "what not to do" post than a tutorial...

I watched a bunch of videos on water marbling before I started, and gathered a bunch of things for my experiment. I decided to use mostly greens and one yellow-green just so if I screwed up, it would at least be monochrome (I ended up using only four colors). Other things I got included a bowl of cool water, cotton buds, tape, an orange stick, and some tiny little iridescent rhinestones that Sparkly Nails sent me for review. And a strawberry soda, of course. 

Polishes Used

- OPI "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow"

- Sinful Colors "Show Me The Way"

- Zoya "Tangy"

- Zoya "Bekka" 

By the way, have you *seen* the new Zoya winter colors? Between those and Nubar, I may go broke this month...but I digress. 

Anyway. I started by prepping my nails - file, buff and then put tape just under my nails in an attempt to keep the skin cleaner. I've since read that petroleum jelly works just fine, and it's probably easier to take off than tape. I'm going to try that next time - the tape is a pain to get off when you're done. 

I added one coat of base coat, and then decided to use "Bekka" as my main base color. I only did one coat since I planned to use it in the marbling as well. In hindsight, two coats of the base color would have been better. 

That taken care of, it was time for fun. I added a few drops each of "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow", then "Show Me The Way", followed by "Tangy" and finally "Bekka". Each new color right in the center of the previous colors. 

I used an orange stick to sort of pull the center out to the edges and mingle the colors. The polish texture in the water is kind of like really thin plastic wrap - so you can manipulate it, but it's still somewhat fragile. In hindsight, I'd use a toothpick for mixing the colors.

I sort of wanted a striped design, so when I put my finger in, I laid it flat on top the outer edge of the polish, and pushed down into the water.

I held it there for a few seconds, and used a cotton bud to gently pull all the excess polish away. It was pretty easy, but later I "wrapped" the excess polish back over my nail on accident - be careful not to do that unless you mean to (it creates globs). After I had the excess polish out of the way, I pulled my nail out.

I had enough undisturbed polish to do one more with a similar design...

I'll spare you the long and messy details, but this is what one whole hand looked like after I finished with all the nails. I experimented with pulling the polish in toward the center, swirling it, etc.

At this point, I took the tape off - which was a huge hassle. Then I used the teeny little rhinestones to add just a little bling (and to cover up some little dings & dents). 

I used cotton buds to clean up my fingers afterwards, and my normal "orange stick in the shower" method of cleaning up my cuticles the next morning. 

And there you have it - whew! Obviously I need practice, but it's fun, and I plan to do some more very soon. 

Not sure what I'll do next week - pumpkins or leaves, perhaps? Until then, happy polishing! 

Coppery Fall

Apologies for disappearing, fellow nail art lovers. October kind of got away from me in a big way, and I dropped the ball here. But things are back to normal now, more or less and should be from here on out.  Ready for more nail art? Me too. :-)

Last week after all the Halloween hoopla, I decided a lighter fall manicure was in order. I started off with two coats of Zoya "Penny" over Zoya's Anchor base coat (above). Then I went over the tips with Zoya "Kalima", which is a gorgeous bright orange copper color. I really love these two polishes together...

You know I can't resist bling...so I dug out some yellow rhinestones, and outlined the smile line with them on my thumb, plus added one more to the tip. I decided the smile line was too much, so I just placed one stone in the point of the other nails. All stones were set in one coat Zoya Armor top coat.

Then I sealed it with two more coats of top coat, which you may note bubbled a bit. My top coat is old...I sense a nail supply order in my near future...

And voila! Simple coppery fall nails...super-simple and pretty subtle overall.

Next week, something darker under the last of my yellow rhinestones...until then, thanks for visiting and happy polishing!

Purple Bows

Keeping up with the light-colors theme for my super-short nails...I like how this simple design turned out. And I love how easy it is to make precise designs with these stencils! I bought them from Nail Delights and plan on ordering more soon.

I started with two coats of Avon's "Luxe Lavender" polish over a layer of China Glaze base coat. I like this purple...the perfect pastel, I think.

I put one layer of China Glaze quick-dry top coat over to seal and dry everything quickly, and then started at my thumbnail. Remember when using these stencils to take most of the glue *off* by sticking them to the pads of your fingers a few times...it doesn't take much glue to keep them on the nail.

Then just stick some polish on the stencil - I used Sinful Colors "Daddy's Girl" for the bows...

And pull the stencil off before the polish sets. Voila! Sparkly purple bow.

I finished the rest one at a time - it goes really fast with virtually no work.

And then I finished it off with a little purple rhinestone in the center of each bow, and two coats top coat to seal.

You might notice my nails are cleaned up in this last photo - I've finally discovered a polish remover pen that works extremely well for me. Avon's Nail Corrector Pen is quick and easy with less wear & tear on my cuticles than my old shower method, and I'm ordering two more tonight. Something you may want to try if you're looking for a fast & easy way to clean up after a manicure. And no, I don't sell Avon (used to, but haven't for several years) or get anything from the company for this recommendation, I just really like the product. I'm seriously considering trying their cuticle oil pen too...

If you know me at all, you know I *love* Halloween. I even have a Halloween scrapbook blog. In any case, I'm declaring October "Halloween Month" here at Nail Art Tuesday...check back for the first Halloween manicure for this year next week.

Until then, happy polishing!

Gold X's

I was feeling pretty uninspired about my ultra-short nails last week...and I have a "thing" about dark polish on super-short nails (I don't like it). So I decided this glittery gold color would work for a light fall color. I started with 3 coats of Sinful Colors "All About Me".

Then I put a black dot in the center of each nail, and used that as the central point for a large "X"...was I crossing out my short nails, I wonder?

And as you can see, I decided gold rhinestones would work nicely to give my edgy/rough X's a little flair.

I've been using Avon's nail corrector pen recently to clean up the edges...and unlike most remover pens, it really does work. I'm quite happy with the results.

It's very odd how the flash makes the gold polish look translucent...it really was quite opaque.

Not the prettiest manicure, but I thought it was kind of edgy, and it reflected my short-nail angst at the time. Do your nails reflect your mood?

Next week, a lovely lavender mani with stenciled purple bows for something a little more "girly". Until then, happy polishing!

Revvv It Up

It's been raining for days. I'm not really a happy camper in the rain - gray, cold and wet is just not my thing. So I went with a dark charcoal color for the week, with rainbow mica embedded for those rare moments when the sun peeks out from behind the dark clouds. Naturally I added some rhinestone stickers for a little extra dimension.

I started with 2 coats of Color Club's "Revvvolution" over China Glaze base coat:

You can see all the pretty colors embedded with the flash. These normally aren't visible unless the lights hits the color just perfectly.

Then I took these lovely Cina nail art stickers - basically just rhinestones arranged on adhesive backs:

...and placed them simply on each nail.

Two coats of China Glaze top coat and clean-up, and voila. Very simple dark design that still pops.

With any luck, the rain will stop by next week, and I'll be ready for something brighter again. ;-)

Until then, happy polishing!