Chalkboard Nails

Intermediate Nail Photography: The Lightbox (Tutorial)

2012-03-10T14:29:00.004-07:00

Hello everyone! You may remember a while back I wrote a two part series on nail photography (check out part one and part two). Now I'm gonna show you how to step it up a little bit with a lightbox!

You can buy lightboxes that even come with lights for pretty cheap on Amazon or similar stores, but today I'm going to show you how to make your own for even cheaper! This method is the method I used to create my lightbox -- the one I use in all of the photos that you see on this blog.

PLEASE NOTE: This technique uses a box cutter! They are VERY SHARP and you need to exercise EXTREME CAUTION when using them. NEVER EVER cut things by pulling the box cutter towards your body. Always push it away from yourself.

	STEP ONE: Gather your materials. You will need a box (this one is 14x14x14, my first lightbox was 18x18x18), tissue paper or tracing paper, scissors, a box cutter, and tape.
	STEP TWO: Assemble your box, taping only one end closed. Leave the other end open.
	STEP THREE: Cut the top and side panels off the non-taped side of your box. You can cut the bottom panel off too but I like to leave it on mine.
	STEP FOUR: Using your box cutter, carefully cut windows into one of the sides of your box. Leave about an inch border on all sides.
	STEP FIVE: Repeat step four on the other two sides of your box. It can be tricky because the box is weakening with every panel that gets cut out, so just go slowly and proceed with caution.
	STEP SIX: Take a piece of tissue paper and cut it so it fits nicely over your window panes. Tape it on taut with your tape.
	STEP SEVEN: Repeat step six on all sides of your box.
	STEP EIGHT: A) Cut a piece of posterboard to be used as the interior background of your box (this one is white). Tape it up to the top of the inside of your box so it doesn't slip. B) Time to set up your lighting! When I use my lightbox, I shut all of the shutters in the room. I turn on all of the room's overhead lights and lamps, and I shine this little IKEA lamp in through the top. I prop it on a DVD box set because it's not tall enough.
	STEP NINE: Start taking pictures! When doing nail photos inside the lightbox, make sure your hand is facing the light that you have set up at the top of the box. You know how fashion models are told to "find the light" with their faces, so they are evenly lit? Same goes for your nails. Tilt your hand up towards the light so none of your hand gets shadowed.

That's it! It's pretty easy, right? A lightbox is a great way to ramp up your photo quality a bit, if you are ready for that step. And while you could always buy one, it's pretty cool to use one that you made yourself (and save some ca$h money)!

Want more lightbox resources? Check out these tutorials from Strobist and Digital Photography School.

Clarins 230 and Illamasqua Baptiste

2012-03-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

With all the recent talk about MaxFactor Fantasy Fire and the like, I recently found myself eager to break out my Clarins 230 again. And what better occasion to grab it than my acquisition of Illamasqua Baptiste, a gorgeous purple that makes a lovely underwear pairing for Clarins?

All swatches are two coats of Illamasqua Baptiste and one coat of Clarins 230. If you'd like to see my previous Clarins pairing, please click here.

Here are some photos of it in various stages of color shift...

Clarins goes perfectly with Baptiste because Baptiste naturally has a bit of redness to it (I think, anyway) that brings out Clarins' natural color. This pairing is closer to what many people prefer to pair Clarins with... that is, a dark purple or red.

THE SPARKLES!

I do feel a little bad for posting a polish that is near impossible to get without paying ridiculous prices on eBay. But wearing it always makes me think of my dear boyfriend who bought it for me, and it is so beautiful that I can't NOT post it here. I hope you all can forgive me!

By the way, if you want to have a shot at MaxFactor Fantasy Fire, which is a close cousin to Clarins, you can try entering Rhonni's giveaway over at Polish Ninja!

Pretty and Polished - Toy With Me

2012-03-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Who is ready to see another Pretty and Polished creation?

Today I'd like to share Toy With Me -- a real doozy of a polish. It is a whitish speckled matte duochrome. I know, right? Not only is it matte, one of my favorite finishes, but its also textured AND duochrome. Be still my heart.

The whitish matte looks vaguely pink when you look at it straight on, but then as you start to move your nails and view them from different angles it shifts to green.

I'll be honest with you guys, I am not normally a fan of microglitter. But the tiny green glitter in this polish is used in such a way that it just makes the polish look textured instead of weirdly bumpy or overly sparkly. It's quite nice, if you ask me (and if you're reading, it counts as asking me)!

The only real drawback to this polish is that is is a bit sheer, and to build it up to full opacity, I used four coats. It wasn't overly thick after the four coats, but it might be worth putting this one over a coat of OPI Skull and Glossbones or something to save on polish.

Here's a macro of it for you. It reminds me of salt and pepper. :)

And just for funsies, I tried adding topcoat to it. The photo of Toy With Me with topcoat shows the color shift nicely, and the topcoat makes the texture stand out more, too. If you take a look at my pinky and ring fingers, you can see the pinkish tone that the polish has most of the time. My middle finger is beginning to shift to the green; the pointer is almost fully greened out.

Toy With Me can be purchased on the Pretty and Polished Etsy. It is currently available in a mini size for $4.50. If you check out the listing, Chelsea also shows it layered it over a black creme, and the results are really awesome. I will definitely have to try that soon!

This product was sent for review.

Elemental Styles - 25 Manganese, Please!

2012-03-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to check out the second of my Elemental Styles polishes?

This one is called 25 Manganese, Please!, and in addition to continuing to follow the periodic table theme, this one's name is also rhymey! I love it!

25 Manganese, Please! is a teal-blue shimmer in a dim greyish base. My photos look pretty blue but it does look greener at times. It is pretty sheer so I layered it over a black creme for maximum color poppage. My photos show one coat over black. It was easy to apply and easy to control.

I am a fan of these shimmery type polishes, and the color on this is really nice.

Manganese, Please! retails for $7.50 on the Elemental Styles Etsy. Go give it a look!

This product was sent to me for review.

Betsey Johnson Style Leopard Print

2012-03-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day to enter my dotting tool nail art contest! To celebrate all of the amazing entries you guys submitted, I decided to do a dotting tool mani too. I went to one of my old standbys... leopard print! The last leopard print mani that I did was light and neutral, so I wanted to ramp this one up a bit.

I originally did this color combination on a set of nail polish earrings. You can see them in the first picture on that link! I showed them to Rebecca and she mentioned that they totally looked like a Betsey Johnson leopard color combo. I have to say I agree! I mean, check this out...

For the base of this manicure I went with OPI Legs Celebrate, which is a polish from OPI's holiday collection in 2006. I actually got this color from my sister! It is really lovely, covers nicely in two coats, and is a super sparkly warm orange gold.

For the middle of the leopard spots I used Zoya Cola. Then, for the black, I used Konad Special Polish Black. The spots were done using a thick and thin end of a dotting tool -- all freehanded. Dotting tools are so amazing (you guys are totally proving my point on that one)!

What do you guys think? I have been meaning to do this combination for a while now and am really pleased with it. I feel so fabulous wearing this bold but sophisticated print on my nails.

Sidenote: BOY are my nails getting long! I get so paranoid that they will break at this length, because they usually do. Seche Retain don't fail me now! ;)

Keep an eye out later this afternoon for another post -- the second of my polishes from Elemental Styles!

Also, I got an Instagram for my nail stuff! Follow me @chalkboardnails.

Nostalgic Lacquer Underground

2012-03-04T13:38:00.001-07:00

Happy Sunday! Today I have a swatch post for you guys of Nostalgic Lacquer's Underground. It is part of her Into the Labyrinth collection -- a collection of 3 color changing topcoats. Erin describes Underground as a green to gold to blue topcoat, but to me it mostly just looked like green to gold. The effect of this is really nice; the flecks are large and bold. Kind of like CND's Shimmer effects on steroids!

Application was nice, it went where I painted it on and I didn't have to worry about "placing" glitter. It definitely stood out with even just one coat, but I went with two coats over a black creme for a more visible swatch.

Nostalgic Lacquer can be purchased on Etsy. The shop is out of stock for now but keep your eye out on the shop bulletins and Erin's blog for further information.

This product was provided to me for review.

NerdLacquer Smoke Dragon from the exclusive Ninja Polish Ninja Trio

2012-03-03T13:36:00.001-07:00

Buckle up guys, today I have some really cool things to show you!

First of all, I would like to share a new shop with you - Ninja Polish!

Ninja Polish was created by a couple of dear polish friends of mine, Rhonni from Polish Ninja and Stephanie from Packer Lacquer. This brand new shop carries Nail-venturous Nail Lacquer, A-England, Ludurana, HITS, Jessica, NerdLacquer, Glitter Gal, Ozotic, piCture pOlish, Rivka and more. The main goal of the site is to offer a place where people can go to get hard to find or international polishes at incredibly reasonable prices. I'm really excited and know I will be shopping there frequently. :)

Okay, on to the polish! NerdLacquer created the Ninja Trio, a set exclusive to the Ninja Polish store, and I have one of them to show you today. Information about the other two, Eight Gates and Acid of One Thousand Fangs, can be found on the shop page.

From the site:

Smoke Dragon is a matte deep charcoal with silver, purple and black microglitter, gunmetal medium and large hexagonal glitter, and large black hex glitter. A mystic beauty in its native matte form, and equally magical with a gloss top coat...which will bring out an extra bit of violet shimmer.

YOU HEAR THAT!? BLACK GLITTER! All photos show two coats with topcoat -- sorry I'm not sorry, I just love that even look and the shine! :) These first four pics are in direct lamp lighting to mimic sunlight.

And here are some photos of it in diffused lamp lighting -- this is closer to what it looks like indoors.

Finally, I'm no Fashion Polish, but I tried to get a nice macro of this for you guys because it's just so cool. P.S. My pointer nail isn't way shorter, it's just tilted upwards!

Smoke Dragon was super easy to apply and had nice, even coverage. The only thing I struggled with a little bit was getting the bigger glitter pieces out to show you guys. It did dry semi-matte, but I think topcoat is the only way to go with this, as the purple shimmer is practically invisible otherwise.

I would also like to note that this polish has a lovely green shimmer in certain lighting, but no matter what I tried I could not get it to show up in pictures like I wanted it to. You can see glimpses of it at times, but it is much more visible than my pictures would lead you to believe.

NerdLacquer Smoke Dragon sells for $10 on the Ninja Polish website. It is currently sold out (whoa) but you can sign up to be notified when it is restocked on the product listing page.

This product was sent to me for review.

The Hungry Asian's Sneeze Breeze

2012-02-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

I imagine that if you aren't aware of the indie brand The Hungry Asian, you are probably quite confused by the title of this post.

But, fear not dear friend! I will get you in the loop!

I only own one THA polish, but it is kind of sort of my dream polish. I give you... SNEEZE BREEZE!

Sneeze Breeze is a really intense glitter polish. The glitter pieces are similar in size to Floam by Nail-venturous Nail Lacquer... VERY SMALL. Think small like sand. It's fantastic. Similar to Floam, this glitter is not sparkly, either.

The polish is a mix of sparrow blue pieces and black pieces. Say it with me now, "SARAH LOVES BLACK GLITTER." I think everyone knows that by now but if you don't, I just dropped a bit of Chalkboard Nails 101 on you there. Sneeze Breeze is really bright and gorgeous, vibrant and moody.

The application of this polish proved to be kind of tricky. These swatches are only two coats, so it is very dense, but it is also incredibly thick. You definitely need to give this one some attention when you are applying.

In addition, it is probably one of the hungriest glitters I have ever met. I used two coats of Gelous and one coat of SV, and by the next morning it was already slightly bumpy again. Not VERY bumpy, but slightly.

I had wanted to buy this back when it was a part of THA's Holiday Set, but I couldn't justify buying three other polishes to get my grubby little mitts on Sneeze Breeze. Thankfully, Kae started selling it alone recently, along with a number of other new polishes! I snatched it up immediately and once it was delivered, I carried it around the house with me. Let's recall my Gollum analogy from a bit ago, cause it was kind of like that.

Sneeze Breeze retails for $8.50 for a 12ml bottle on The Hungry Asian's Etsy store. SB is cruelty free and 3-free. I highly recommend it -- it is more than worth the little bit of extra care you have to give it in application and topcoating.

Here fishy fishy...

2012-02-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! I hope you all had nice weekends.

Today I'm showcasing a mani that I did on Saturday afternoon. I was going out to sushi with a friend of mine that just recently moved back to Arizona, and I wanted to do something cool because I knew she was going to check out what was on my nails.

So, I did another fishtail design. If you'll recall, the last time I did this wasn't that long ago!

I love the fishtail/chevron design because it doesn't take long NOR is it very difficult, but it still looks really awesome.

For this lineup, I started with Orly Fresh as the base. Then I added on layers of China Glaze For Audrey, Zoya Charla, OPI Who the Shrek Are You?, and OPI Fly. The only one I was sort of unhappy with was OPI WTSAY, but only because it wasn't as opaque as the others. I did love the bit of yellowness that it added to the manicure though -- I think it is importance for the color balance.

For those of you that missed the first post or need a quick refresher on this technique, the layers are painted on freehand with the brushes that come with the polishes. It is really a lot easier than you might think to achieve this look! I usually end up with a bit of polish on my finger areas surrounding the nail, but those are easy enough to clean up.

Have you tried this design yet? I think it might be one of my go-to designs from now on!

Elemental Styles - 79 Fool's Gold

2012-02-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Guess what y'all, I have another indie polish to show you today!

This one was created by Whitney of Elemental Styles. She just opened an Etsy shop yesterday, and I've got one of them to show you today (the other one will show up on the blog another day).

The cool thing about Whitney's shop is that all of her polishes are science themed. This one is part of her Transition Metals collection, and is named 79 Fool's Gold. The 79 in the name is a reference to gold's number on the periodic table.

These swatches of 79 Fool's Gold are four thinner coats. It would be a great polish to layer over a gold foil if you wanted to use fewer coats.

This polish is a metallic gold shimmery base with gold and holographic gold glitters mixed throughout. There are a few different sizes of glitter in this polish!

I like the mixture of the shimmery gold pigment base with the matchy glitters.

Application was no problem! I did need four coats for these swatches, but it didn't bother me because this polish isn't thick. The four coats felt like a regular two or three coats of some other polishes.

I don't own a lot of gold polishes, and I'm not actually sure why. I like the look of them... I guess I just don't pick them much over other colors? Anyway, this one is lovely and a great addition to my collection.

Check out Whitney's shop at Elemental Styles on Etsy. 79 Fool's Gold is listed at $7.50 for a full size bottle. (Secret bonus info: I designed her shop header!)

Disclosure: this product was provided to me for an honest review.

Spooky Stamping

2012-02-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

So, I had this pretty cool idea a long time ago, and I put it on my "Nails To Do" list, and promptly forgot about it. I was browsing the list recently and thought, "WOW, Self, why haven't you done that yet?"

I took out the polishes I needed and got started right away. Here's the final look!

Yep, I'm bustin' out the glow in the dark polish even though it's not even close to Halloween! I just love glow in the dark nails so much, I don't even care what time of year it is!

This is a really easy look to accomplish. Read on!

Start with a light base color. Glow in the dark polishes glow better when they are on light bases. I used OPI Rumple's Wiggin' (yes, again). Add a coat or two of glow in the dark nail polish on top of it. I like China Glaze Ghoulish Glow a lot because it barely alters the color underneath it, but it has a really strong glow effect.

Once you've let that combo dry, then just add your favorite stamp on top! I chose my Konad m63 plate and I used Konad Special Polish Black for the stamp.

I also want to take a second to go over a few quick notes on how to take good photographs of glow in the dark nails. I usually get a number of questions on how to do it when I post a glow manicure and this is good info for anyone to know!

Have your camera turned on with all the settings ready to go. Place it on a countertop or table.
Charge your nails by holding them really close to a lightbulb near your camera for 40-60 seconds.
Quickly shut off the light and move your hand in front of the camera, while still leaving the camera set on the counter. It's best to rest your hand on the counter, too! Doing both these things will minimize blur during the long exposure your camera will need to take.
Press the shutter and try to hold as still as you possibly can.

I like to take my glow pics in the bathroom. I can shut the door so the room gets pitch black, and there is a good countertop right next to a vanity light that makes an easy transition between charging and photo-taking.

I don't know if this has been done before, but I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of the idea! I love the effect and the stamp blocking the glow is just fun! Thanks for reading!

Nostalgic Lacquer Andie

2012-02-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Gooooood morning! First of all, I want to say how very excited I am that so many of you have submitted or are planning to submit to the contest! I can tell that it is going to be very difficult for the judges and I to decide.

Today I have another Nostalgic Lacquer for you! You've already seen Rio. Now it's time to meet Andie, part of the Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle Collection.

Andie is a sheer milky pink base with small pink and purpley glitters and large salmon colored hexes. For these swatches I have layered two coats of Andie over OPI Rumple's Wiggin', which is making it look a bit more lavender than if I had layered it over a pink. I'm so into it!

Application was a tiny bit tricky, but not unworkable. I "fished for glitter" a bit to get some of the bigger pieces out, though some of them did come out fine on their own!

Andie has that classic "layered glitter" look where the deeper pieces of glitter are sort of buried underneath the sheer base. I like that the glitter in this polish is sort of sparse -- it's simple but self-assured.

So, what do you think of this one? I really like it a lot, and am seriously contemplating picking up the other two in this collection.

Nostalgic Lacquer can be purchased on Etsy. The latest shop news says there will be a full restock this Friday, so keep your eyes open.

Disclaimer: this product was provided to me for an honest review.

I'm hosting a nail art contest!

2012-02-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to announce my first nail art contest to you all! This contest is sponsored by Inlinkz, and I want to thank them for providing the prize for our first place winner as well as the program through which you guys will submit your entries!

I thought about the theme for this challenge for a while. I really wanted it to be something simple, that a nail artist of any skill level would feel comfortable executing and submitting. I think I have come up with a fun solution, that will still let your guys' creativity run wild and free. The theme for this nail art challenge is...

THE DOTTING TOOL!

By that I mean I want all you to create your nail art designs using only the humble dotting tool. No nail art brushes allowed (though the brushes that come with the polish bottles do count)!

Don't have a dotting tool? That's no excuse! Be creative -- use the tip of a bobby pin or the end of a sewing pin instead!

Here are the rules:

Only one entry per person, please.
You must do these designs on your own nails.
Your design must use a dotting tool of some kind.
You can use the brush that comes with your polish to aid in your design.
Stamping is discouraged but not prohibited. I really want this to be about the dotting tool and its possibilities!
You may not use acrylic paint for your design.
You may not use nail art brushes for your design.
Your design does not have to be a new design.
You must submit your designs through the Inlinkz tool at the end of this post between now and Monday, March 5th.
This contest is open internationally, excluding Italy (Llarowe does not ship there).

Here's how it will be judged:

Submissions will be judged on creativity, originality, and execution. Submissions will be judged by a panel of non-participating bloggers and myself. The panel will be chosen by me (Sarah). All judging decisions are final, and will be made at the discretion of the judging panel.

Here's how you do it:

Get inspired by the possibilities, and then do your nails!
Take photos of your nails, and then post them on your blog or on a free online photo host like Picasa, Photobucket, or Flickr. If you have a blog, this is a great opportunity to get some exposure! Links back to this contest are greatly appreciated but not required.
Click the button at the end of this post to add your entry. Fill out the required fields, including the URL where us judges can find your entry, and submit it.

On to the fun stuff. THE PRIZES!

The first place winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to Llarowe, sponsored by Inlinkz!

Two runners up will receive a surprise package put together by me, valued at $10 each!

If you have questions please leave them in the comments. I will do my best to respond to them in a timely manner. Ready, set, go!

Bright Rose Pattern

2012-02-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Who is in the mood for a seasonally inappropriate summer colored flower manicure? ME!

Those seasonal rules are kind of silly anyway...

This mani was sort of born out of nothing. I put the base color on, China Glaze Gaga for Green, with intentions to just wear it by itself. But it looked so lovely and grassy that I was possessed to put some flowers on top of it.

I started with the purple flowers. I think I used China Glaze Gothic Lolita but I did this manicure at like 11:45 last night and I can't remember for sure (awkward). I mixed white in with the purple and then blobbed that on with a dotting tool. Then I took the regular, unmixed color and painted on the petals with a striping brush. I found it easiest to work from the outside petals inward.

The yellow is China Glaze Happy Go Lucky. The salmony orange color over the yellow is Sinful Colors Boogie Nights. For the blue flowers, I used OPI Ogre the Top Blue and OTTB mixed with white. I don't remember what I used for the base on the light pink but the petals are outlined in Sally Hansen Twisted Pink.

I have really been enjoying having the bright patterned look on my nails today. It is cheery and fun and it makes me happy. Full nail patterns also always make me think of nail wraps (like Sally Hansen Salon Effects), and this one isn't any different! In fact, I had dinner with a friend last night, and she asked me if they were the nail stickers! That was cool. :)

It's starting to warm up here and this mani has me in the spring and summer frame of mind. What do you think?

Pretty and Polished Swing

2012-02-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Who wants to see another handmade polish? It seems like all I do on here lately is indie polish and nail art. Not that I'm complaining! They are two of my favorite facets of the nail community.

Check out Swing by Pretty and Polished. Swing is meant to reference swing music, as in "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." For some reason though, I can't get past thinking of a playground swing whenever I think of the name. Personal problem.

Swing is a red jelly polish that tends to look slightly pink at times. Black, white, and silver glitter are suspended in the tasty jelly. I only got one piece of silver glitter in this mani -- it's on my pointer near the middle.

The great thing about this polish is you get a jelly sandwich contained within one polish! You get to see pieces of glitter buried at different depths... check out my middle finger. See the glitter that looks pink? Look how DEEP it is under the jelly! And then the pieces towards the top look more white. It's great!

This polish does require a bit of finessing to get the glitter evenly placed and looking nice. This is basically three coats of Swing. I say basically because I applied the first coat pretty much normally. Then I fished out pieces of glitter and placed them at will... and then I kind of evened that out with more of the jelly.

The little bit of extra time that this polish requires is worth it, though. This is one of my most favorite Pretty and Polished creations since Party On My Yacht. You know how I feel about black glitter. ;)

THEN, since I was feeling extra sassy, I mattified this polish (edit: I use Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love). It turned out really neat because it sort of started looking like one of those rubber bouncy balls with stuff suspended in them. Do you know what I'm talking about? I tried finding a pic but none of them were quite right. Anyway, it made it look rubbery and it was cool. See?

Swing can be purchased at Pretty and Polished, and is usually available in both full and mini sizes. It's three free and cruelty free, and sexy to boot. So, get to buying. If you like jelly sandwiches and black and white glitter, I'll go ahead and assume that you've left to go to the shop and you aren't even reading anymore.

Heart Cutouts

2012-02-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I am celebrating today by spending time with my dearest boyfriend and (trying) to relax a little bit. :) To celebrate the holiday, I did these heart cutout nails.

It is a pretty simple manicure, in theory. I cut heart shapes out of tape and placed them on my nails. I painted over the tape, and then I slowly peeled the tape off. It left the heart shape on my naked nail and the rest of the nail was painted! Then all I had to do was add the white dots with a dotting tool and topcoat.

The majority of the nail is OPI Pink Friday. The white dots were done in Konad Special Polish White, which I have actually been liking a lot for nail art because of how opaque it is.

I did have a really hard time getting this manicure to photograph correctly, but I think I finally got it (or... close enough). I hope your Valentine's manicure plans turned out well, and I hope everyone has a great day full of love, whether you are single or not!

GlitterDaze Love at First Sight Collection

2012-02-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello dear love muffins! Today I've got a nice custom polish collection by Sana from GlitterDaze, a brand spankin' new shop on Etsy.

The collection is called Love at First Sight, and features four glitter polishes that are all inspired by love (just in time for Valentine's Day!). All of the following swatches are three coats of the polish. They were pretty opaque at two coats but three really turned up the volume. I didn't have any trouble with application at all. They didn't require any special attention, just three regular coats and you are good to go.

First up, we have One Grape Love. It's a red and purple glitter polish in a beautiful berry base. As soon as I laid eyes on this bottle, I knew it would be one of my favorites in the collection, and I wasn't wrong! The color is really vibrant and rich.

Up next, check out Cupid Hit Me. It's a candy pink jelly base with pink and holographic silver glitter. It is hard to see the holographic glitter effect in my photos, but it is really quite sparkly! I was actually not expecting to like this one as much as I did once I got it on my nails. I really loved the way that this one looked with my skin tone. The jelly base is delicate but bright.

First Love is a dusty pink/nude glitter with dark and dusty purple glitter sprinkled in. This was my least favorite of the collection. I think that this would look really nice on someone with a darker skin tone, as this just sort of looked like a glittery extension of my fingers. It is definitely unique though and is a good contrast to the other colors in this collection.

Last up, we have Pure Seduction. This was another standout in the collection for me. It is a gorgeous blend of mostly red and gold glitter. The color combination in this one is what did it for me. It is so rich and vibrant -- kind of like it captured the glamour of a red carpet! Red velvet and gold camera flashes.

Overall, I think that this is a well balanced collection and a nice set for you glitter lovers out there! GlitterDaze polishes can be purchased in the GlitterDaze Etsy shop for $4.50 each. These polishes are mini bottles, so please take note of that when purchasing!

DISCLOSURE: The products in this post were provided to me for review.

Valentine's French Tips

2012-02-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Today I have a matte vs. glossy French manicure... and of course, as with most things on my blog right now, it is Valentine's themed! This is a simple look that is still festive for the holiday.

You might be thinking that this looks familiar. It is quite similar to a matte/glossy french that I did during the Christmas season! I was actually inspired by that one. I liked the outcome so much that I decided to recreate it!

The main color is Zoya Lolly, which was part of their Mod Matte collection. Lolly is hot pink and a true matte; it's not a suede like Zoya Veruschka or Zoya Savita. As a result, it is much harder to apply.

This is three coats of Lolly, and it is still kind of streaky. Up until the third coat, I also had trouble with bumps in the polish. Still though, it's pretty, yeah?

I freehanded on the tips in OPI Rumple's Wiggin', a super pale purple. I then sealed the Rumple's Wiggin' area with SV to make it extra shiny and protect it!

I really like this mani despite the trouble that Lolly gave me in application. The other two in the Zoya Mod Matte collection are Phoebe and Mitzi. Phoebe is a blue suede (again, similar to Veruschka and Savita), while Mitzi is a chartreuse true matte similar to Lolly. Hopefully I will have those up for you to see sooner or later. :)

Nostalgic Lacquer Rio

2012-02-09T08:50:00.001-07:00

Nostalgic Lacquer has really been picking up a lot of speed lately in the indie polish market. Erin has been making some really intriguing polishes and they have been flying off of her shop's shelves!

Rio, part of her Truly Outrageous Collection, is a lovely mix of medium and small blue and purple glitter with a bit of grey. Here is the description from Erin herself:

Ladies love Rio, and it's easy to see why. He's a mix of blue and purple glitters with a touch of holographic grey thrown in to represent the charming effect he has on all of the girls.

For this look, I layered two coats of Rio over Zoya Robyn.

One of the things that I really appreciate is the effort that Nostalgic Lacquer puts into its packaging. Look at this cool frosted label and the cute font! I love it!

Rio applied nicely and quite evenly. It was notably un-fussy for a glitter polish!

Some of the glitter pieces in these photos look black, but there is no black glitter in this polish. Rio does tend to look dark in person until it catches the light, which I actually really enjoy a lot.

I also like the balance between the two glitter sizes.

All in all, you'll be hearing no complaints from me about this polish! I think Erin really "gets it," you know? I hope to be able to purchase some of the other polish from the Truly Outrageous Collection soon! (I'm looking at you, Riot!)

You can purchase Rio and the rest of the Nostalgic Lacquers from the Nostalgic Lacquer Etsy shop. The polish sells out fast though once they are restocked, so keep an eye out and have your PayPal ready! ;)

DISCLOSURE: This product was sent to me for review.

Valentine's Owl Nail Art Tutorial

2012-02-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

So, it has become pretty clear that you guys really liked my Valentine's owl design! It is one of my most popular posts and I've received a lot of really awesome feedback from you guys about how much you liked it.

I had a request for a tutorial on how to do this manicure, and while I don't have time to do a full on-the-nail demo, I did manage to draw up a quick Photoshop tutorial for you all.

Good luck, and enjoy!

Using a striper brush, paint on two small lines for legs.
Grab a nail art brush and paint a fat circle on top of the legs. I used a flat ended brush.
In the same color and with the same brush you used for step 2, paint on two tufts at the top of the head.
Take the large end of a dotting tool and put on two dots of white for the eyes. Once the white dots dry, go over them with two yellow dots. Putting the white down first will ensure that the yellow shows up well.
Using the small end of a dotting tool, add two smaller black dots in the center of the yellow dots.
With the end of a small nail art brush, add two small white highlights to the eyes. They should be positioned off center (see picture).
Make a small triangle for the beak in white. Once the white is dry, go over it with your yellow. Again, this is to ensure that the yellow is bright and pigmented.
Create the small hearts on the belly by using the small end of a dotting tool to make two strokes inward towards each other. The strokes should connect at the bottom to form the “point” of the heart.
Paint on two small wings on either side of the owl with a nail art brush.

By the way, feel free to replace "nail art brush" with small paintbrushes or whatever you can get your hands on. The dotting tools can also be replaced by bobby pins, the plastic balls at the end of a sewing pin, or whatever else will help you easily make a small circle. Be inventive! Any tools listed in the tutorial are simply what I used when I did this design.

Nerd Lacquer Don't Blink

2012-02-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

My name is Sarah, and I am a Doctor Who addict. (I'm a 10th Doctor gal, in case you were wondering.)

So when I saw this lovely beauty from Nerd Lacquer inspired by and named after the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who, I bought it immediately. It's called Don't Blink, but I can't reveal why. Spoilers! ;)

You guys know how much I love grey speckley polish -- my love for this type of nail polish was last discussed when I used Misa Grey Matters in a glitter gradient. Don't Blink is kind of like if you zoomed in close on Grey Matters, and then made a polish out of what you saw. That, plus extra glitter.

This polish has small dark grey and silver glitters in a sheer grey base. If I'm not mistaken, the smaller glitters are round shaped, which is a nice alternative to the regular hex shaped glitters! It also has small hex and large hex silver glitters that sort of choose to show up or not show up at random. I have no complaints though, even if you don't get any of the larger glitters, this polish is still mesmerizing and unique.

The Weeping Angels from Doctor Who are stone statues, and that is what this polish is meant to mimic. I think it does a great job. The texture on it is really incredible, and the color is a perfect pure, neutral grey.

It almost seemed like if I were to touch my nails, they will feel cold like stone.

Don't Blink applied very nicely, except for the trouble I had getting out some larger glitters to show you guys! It was easy to control and the smaller glitters went on evenly. It was also quite shiny on its own!

Bottom line: if you are a Who fan or a grey polish fan or both, put this puppy on your wishlist immediately!

Nerd Lacquer polish retails for $10. It can be purchased at the Nerd Lacquer Etsy shop or through Harlow and Co.

Heart Fishtails

2012-02-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today I have some easy nail art for you! It's all freehanded with the brush that comes with the polish. Even though it's easy, it still makes a big time statement. I have decided that they are a combination of a heart design and a fishtail braid. So they are now heart fishtails.

I started with a base of China Glaze Wicked Style, which is one of the polishes from the new Electropop collection. Then, using the brush of the polish, I freehanded on two arches that met in the middle of the nail to form the top of a heart (which I call the heart's butt because it looks like one). I repeated this pattern until the nail was all filled up!

The colors I used after the initial base are, in order:

OPI Do You Lilac It?
OPI Sparrow Me the Drama
Sally Hansen Twisted Pink
OPI Manicurist of Seville

I really like this pattern and am excited to reuse it non-seasonally with different color combinations. I feel like it could look sort of like chevrons on a military uniform, if they weren't pink and purple, of course.

But, since it is Valentine's Day soon, it is quite appropriate that these look like hearts! :)

One thing I want to mention though is that the OPI ProWide brush is harder to work with for this particular design. Of course, I then proceeded to use three OPI colors. It turned out fine, but if you are a little apprehensive about trying this technique out, stick to polishes with thinner brushes and it will go a tiny bit more smoothly for you!

What do you guys think about this? Is the name "the fishtail mani" appropriate? Is this something you would feel comfortable trying out, and do you have plans to? I promise it's easier than you think! ;)

What I Wore and Chalkboard Nails

2012-02-06T09:02:00.001-07:00

In a recent venture into the world of fashion and style, I collaborated with the fabulous Jessica from What I Wore to create a manicure based off of one of her looks.

I loved this project and I hope you guys enjoy it too! You can check out the full post with more pictures and manicure specifics on What I Wore.

Orly Nail Rescue to the Rescue

2012-02-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, the unthinkable happened.

My razor slipped and nicked my nail. My nail on my photographing hand. My nail that you guys look at all the time! At first I thought it had just taken off a chunk of my polish, but I later discovered that it had put a huge gash into my nail. I tried to buff it out, but it was too deep.

Enter Orly Nail Rescue -- my nail went from the sad, dented thing on the left to the flawless and normal-looking thing on the right.

I truly think that this is a product that any nailophile should have in their arsenal, just in case. I used it to fill a dent, but it can also be used to repair cracks and splits. Today I am going to show you how it works!

First, here was the damage right after it happened (iPhone pic, so sorry). Poor little owl. He will always be remembered as sacrificing himself for the greater protection of my nail.

Okay, let's get started. Here is the box it comes in!

In this next picture, you can see the contents of the kit. It comes with a bottle of nail glue, a pot of nail repair powder, and a buffer square.

The first step is to clean your nail. Remove any polish remnants and wash and dry it. The washing and drying aren't in the instructions but it's a good idea to do it anyway.

Take the nail glue and brush it on to your nail. I only put it on my dent, but the instructions say to put it on the whole nail. I assume this is to protect people from buffing down too much of their natural nail when we get down to the later steps in this process. Whether you put it on your tear/peel/split/dent or on the whole nail is a judgement call.

As quickly as you can, dip your whole nail into the repair powder.

This is what mine looked like when I pulled it out. Let the glue dry and the powder harden.

Then, with the buffing square (or your own buffing block), take down the extra glue and powder until your nail is even.

Viola, that's it! Your nail is as good as new!

I will admit I was a little skeptical about this product at first, but after reading so many rave reviews of it online, I had to give it a shot. I cannot stress how great of a decision it was to buy this kit. It really saved my nail (and this blog).

I should mention that the patch will come off with acetone, so be careful with that. You can just re-patch it after it is removed if you'd like, but I just picked up some non-acetone remover at Sally's at the same time. I plan to use the non-acetone for this nail and the acetone for all of the others.

Orly Nail Rescue Kit is sold at Sally Beauty Supply for $7.99. You can find it in stores or online.

Whoo Loves You?

2012-02-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

I DO!

Today I've got more Valentine's Day nail art to show you guys. It is a set of lovey owls! I love owls. Two years ago, my mom gave me a Valentine's care package, and there was an owl placemat in it that was similar in design to these guys. It came from a collection at Target, which apparently also included towels, blankets, and more!

So I modified that owl design a bit and ended up with these little ones.

I started with a base of Zoya Kristen, which is a really pretty almost-dusty blue.

I did the owls next, using Sally Hansen Twisted Pink and OPI Manicurist of Seville. Here is the process for painting them:

Paint the legs.
Paint on a fat oval over the top edge of the legs, to give a clean appearance where the legs attach to the head. I used a small, flat ended nail art brush for this step.
Using the same nail art brush, paint on two tiny little tufts at the top of the head.
Using a white polish, add two dots for the eyes (dotting tool) and a triangle for the beak (small nail art brush). I used stamping polish here because of it's opacity! Then, once the white is somewhat dry, paint yellow over the white areas. I used Color Club Almost Famous. Putting the white on first will make sure that the yellow shows up brightly and clearly.
Add a smaller dot of black inside the yellow of the eyes. Then, add a highlight to the eyes in white. I used stamping polish for both the black and white here.
Using a small dotting tool, paint on two small strokes to form a heart on the owl's belly. Repeat two more times to do the other two hearts.
With a small nail art brush, paint on the wings.

After the owls were finished, I painted on the branch in China Glaze Street Chic with a striper brush. I also added hearts on my thumb in the same color as the owls using the same dotting tool technique that I used to put the hearts on their bellies.

I actually attempted this manicure two nights ago, but was unsatisfied with the results. I knew that I could improve on the first try, so I gave it another shot last night. I am thrilled with the way that this turned out, so I am glad that I didn't settle on the first one when I knew I could do better.

I hope you guys like this design! I know I do. I still have a few other Valentine's nail art designs in mind, so don't change that channel!

Pretty and Polished - Party On My Yacht

2012-01-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today I have another great polish creation from the lovely Chelsea of Pretty and Polished. I have posted about her polishes once before -- you can check out that post right here.

I have been so impressed with the frankenistas lately! There are so many wonderful creations out in the polish universe right now, and it's kind of stressing me out a little bit trying to get ahold of the ones that I want! :)

Onto today's polish. This one is called Party On My Yacht, and it is amazing.

Party On My Yacht is a sheer white based polish with gold, purple, pink, and green hex glitter. It also has bits of blue bar glitter here and there. The glitter coverage is easy to work with. I just painted on three coats of the polish like it was any other polish, and the glitter dispersed evenly on its own. It was also incredibly easy to control, and I didn't need to do any clean up on this manicure at all.

After the application was said and done, the manicure was hardly bumpy at all. I put on a thick coat of topcoat and it smoothed out effortlessly.

My favorite part about this polish is the bright pops of color on the sheer white canvas. I love that the glitter in previous layers looks buried, but you can still see it. It's like Mardi Gras mixed with Funfetti cake!

Pretty and Polished polishes can be purchased at Chelsea's Etsy Shop. Party On My Yacht retails for $8.00 for the full sized 15mL bottle. It is a 3-free and cruelty free polish.

Lover's Kisses

2012-01-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning dear readers! Today I have my first Valentine's Day manicure, and the first freehanding nail art that I have done in a long time!

I have been calling this "One Million Kisses" in my head all night, although I can obviously see that there are nowhere near that many. HUMOR ME!

This was a tough manicure, I'm not gonna lie to you guys! I think I redid these at least three times. Most of my problems were due to my base color choices being too thick though, and then due to that, my lips wouldn't draw on correctly.

After trying a few colors as bases and watching them flop spectacularly, I gave OPI Rumple's Wiggin' a shot. It went on gorgeously and easily in two coats, and wasn't thick at all. I was so glad that I was able to get it to work. I was really excited about this idea and was getting frustrated when it kept going wrong! I then freehanded on the lips with the small end of a dotting tool. The colors I used were: OPI Manicurist of Seville, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, China Glaze Heli-yum, and American Apparel Dynasty.

I want to take a quick second to mention that I have worn Dynasty as a full manicure before but didn't make a post about it. The formula is AMAZING and I highly recommend it.

The lips in this manicure aren't perfect -- drawing with a dotting tool is hard! -- but I think that makes it look more realistic, like they are actually tiny little lipstick kisses. Not every kiss would turn out exactly the same.

I just love full nail designs, especially with nail art. This one could be a sister manicure to my Halloween Eyeball Nails, don't you think? Maybe someday I will do a nose manicure and then I will have done eyes, nose, and mouth manicures. Just kidding... or am I?

I know I haven't done a ton of nail art lately, so I hope this makes up for it a little bit. :)

Floam by Nail-Venturous Nail Lacquer

2012-01-28T08:36:00.001-07:00

Today I have a super special polish to show you -- a gorgeous creation from Amy at I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous. It's called Floam, and it is part of her Nail Venturous Nail Lacquers line.

Floam is very unique, and unlike anything else that I have seen before. It is made up of tiny tiny blue and green glitter pieces. Enlarge any of these pics to get a better idea of the texture of the glitter. The last pic in the post will give you a particularly good view of it when blown up. The glitter is so small that when you look at it on the nail, it just looks really cool and speckled.

Sometimes this polish looks more blue, sometimes it looks more green. If you squint at it from a distance, the colors blend together into a turquoise color. My photos show two coats of Floam.

It was named Floam after the 90s toy of the same name. Do you guys remember Floam? Sort of a weird, moldable, textured bubbly thing?

http://inventorspot.com/articles/possibly_most_hated_toy_ever_22370

I think the name of this polish is so apt because it really does resemble its namesake!

The texture is bumpy, as you might expect from something that is made up of pure glitter. It's workable though, and the texture could be solved with some Gelous and a thick topcoat.

Application was surprisingly easy. The polish itself was very thick, so I thought it might be hard to apply. Thankfully, it was not! It controlled very nicely, and I didn't have to do any cleanup at all on this manicure. The only thing that I had to be careful about was waiting in-between coats to make sure the previous coat was dry before putting on my next one.

Unfortunately, Amy does not have plans at this time to sell these polishes, as she (understandably!) thinks that it will take too much time away from blogging, which she loves too much! BUT, you guys are in luck! She is holding a giveaway for some bottles of Floam, as well as some bottles of Floam's sister polishes, Pinkerbell and Orange You Unique!??!.

Check out the giveaway over on I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous, and may the Force be with you!

Pastel leopard print

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

After a few posts of whining about my shorties after my nail broke, I decided to shut up about it already and do something cute on my nails. I'm sure many of you will look at these and exclaim that they aren't short, but they are short compared to what I was used to. Whatever though! I'm killin' it, and short nails are awesome. I can type super fast, I don't accidentally maim loved ones, and I save on polish when I paint them!

I started off painting my nails white for this manicure. Then, using ripped off bits of a triangle makeup sponge, I sponged on four different OPI colors: Ogre the Top Blue, Do You Lilac It?, Mermaid's Tears, and Sparrow Me the Drama. I applied these colors in completely random patterns.

Then, I took the small end of a dotting tool and did some leopard freehanding on top of the sponging in white again. It sort of started to look more like a random pattern and less like animal print, but I dig it.

I didn't have any particular inspiration for these nails, I just sort of started messing around with my polish and this is what came out of it! I enjoy this effect a lot and it looks like a pretty pastel rainbow on my hands.

So there are my shorties! I'll admit that maybe I was being a little bit dramatic in my previous posts, but I did lose a lot of length at once when I am normally accustomed to only going down a tiny bit at a time. :)

Hope you like these!

Shredded needle drag nails

2012-01-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! This morning I have another set of nails for you guys that I did "pre break," aka the Nailocalypse 2012. I had been eager to try the needle drag technique again after my first attempt, because THIS BEAUTIFUL GENIUS left a comment on my last post suggesting that I try it with a clean striper brush instead of with an actual needle.

As you can see, the effect is a little bit different, but I think it's in a good way! And honestly, this method made this "needle marble" look about a bajillion times easier than the last time I tried it. So exciting!

The only hesitation that I had about this manicure was the color combination. I used Zoya Kennedy, Zoya Petra, and Zoya Renee. I was unsure about it at first, and as time went on I only got more and more confused! I couldn't decide whether I liked it or disliked it. Eventually I decided that I mostly liked it. What do you guys think?

I have a lot of exciting things working around in my brain for you guys... I just have to find time to execute! Keep praying to the Nail Gods for me that my nubbies will grow out quickly! <3

A jelly sandwich of sorts!

2012-01-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I have some sad news to deliver... I broke the middle finger nail on my photo hand yesterday, and cut down all the rest of my nails to match it. Of course, I am awful at shortening my nails, so now they are not only incredibly short but awkwardly shaped to boot. Such is life though! Hopefully I can scrounge up enough content to bide me time until they grow out a bit. Honestly I don't mind that they are short, it's the shape that is getting to me!

Today's manicure I had taken photos of, but hadn't posted yet. So these are my old, unbroken nails!

I started with a base of Wet N Wild Black Creme. Then I added on one layer of Sally Hansen Glass Slipper, which is a white flakie polish. I added on one coat of Revlon Royal, which is a blue jelly polish. So technically, this is a jelly sandwich, even though it doesn't necessarily look like many jelly sandwiches that I have done or seen.

It was not my intention, but this ended up looking a lot like Inglot 204, which is a royal blue flakie. So if you like Inglot 204 but don't own it, this is a good way to get the look using drugstore polishes!

Of course, I couldn't stop there, so I added on a coat of gLORIous, a holographic topcoat made my the fabulous Lori. If you have Glitter Gal Silver or HITS Hefesto, they are both similar effects.

I had never seen holo over flakies before, and it is a very interesting effect. It is kind of hard to tell in these photos, though -- here the look just ended up looking like DS Glamour over black.

I hope you guys like this combo! Hopefully my nails will grow out superfast and then I can shape them properly. Everyone pray to the nail gods for me! ;)

Have a nice Sunday!

Guest post at Lacquered Lover

2012-01-19T08:40:00.001-07:00

Another guest post?! Check out these jelly sandwich nails that I did as a contribution for Lacquered Lover's Layering Week! View the rest of the photos and polishes used over on her blog.

Guest post at Posh for Polish

2012-01-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hello dear nail enthusiasts! Kelly at Posh for Polish asked me to make a guest post on her blog, and I excitedly accepted! You can find the details on this manicure as well as more photos over on her blog. See you there! ;)

LCN Croco Fever Topcoats

2012-01-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I recently learned about LCN's "Croco Fever" line and have been totally obsessing over it. It is a unique type of crackle effect that cracks into a pattern that makes your nail polish look like crocodile skin (scales?).

I'm sure many of you are not a fan of the standard crackle look, and I'm with you there. It just ends up looking kind of messy most of the time, and the look is not chic or elegant at all. The LCN Croco Fever polishes, however, look quite classy and put a unique spin on the same old tired crackle. The other great thing is that, even with a layer of SV, the Croc crackles retain their texture, so if you touch your nails when they are dry, they will feel like you are touching a Croc pattern handbag.

They come in four colors - black (Black Leather), brown (Croco Eyes), burgundy (Ruby Forever), and red (Rescue Red). I picked up all of the colors except the red, which for some reason did not appeal to me as much as the others.

I also recently acquired a set of the OPI Nicki Minaj minis, which includes the three cremes from the collection and a glitter. I paired one of each of the cremes with one of the Croco Fever polishes for today's swatches.

Here are each of the minis with the LCN bottles. You can see that the LCN bottles are a bit smaller than standard polish size; they are 8ml.

LCN Black Leather and OPI Fly

It's hard to pick favorites between the three of these matchups, but if I had to, this would probably be my favorite look. The black goes with basically any polish that you want to wear underneath it, and makes a dark and dramatic statement.

I also want to take a second to say that Fly is my #1 pick from the OPI Nicki Minaj collection. It is the most fabulous teal that I have ever encountered. I feel compelled to pick up a full sized bottle. :)

LCN Ruby Forever and OPI Pink Friday

For some reason the burgundy Croco Fever polish was the one that most reminded me of a handbag. It is a beautiful, rich red in regular light, and in low light it looks dark and vampy. My photos of it appear a bit brighter than it does in person... I had trouble getting this one to photograph well.

OPI Pink Friday DEFINES "bubblegum pink." It is a sweet and light color that still is quite pigmented.

LCN Croco Eyes and OPI Did It On 'Em

This is probably the combination that will be the most polarizing. Many people do not like to wear brown on their nails, but I think that the brown in Croco Eyes is just beautiful. It is luxurious, and if paired with the right base polish, could make a classy and subtle statement.

Of course, I didn't go for subtle, and neither did OPI when they made Did It On 'Em. It is what is considered an "ugly" color. You don't need to buy this if you already own OPI Who the Shrek Are You?. Still, it is a very Nicki color and a conversation starter. I personally love it, but I do already own WTSAY, so it is a bit redundant in my stash.

One thing to note about these Croco polishes is that the application differs a bit from regular crackle polish. Instead of applying it over dry polish, you are supposed to apply it over slightly tacky/somewhat wet polish. LCN recommends waiting four minutes after applying your base color before applying your Croco Top. Check out this application video from LCN themselves.

LCN products can be purchased at http://store.lcnusa.com/ and retail at $9.50.
OPI products can be purchased at various salon and beauty supply locations, and retail for ~$8.50.

OPI DS Glamour

2012-01-15T15:42:00.002-07:00

Today's nails are simple and stunning! I received OPI DS Glamour in a giveaway win from Nailed to the T. When I heard the news that I was the winner... I pretty much went nuts. DS Glamour is a polish that is quite hard to find, and I was over the moon excited to add it to my collection.

Glamour is a blue toned linear holographic polish. It is pretty sheer, so most people layer it over something else (often a blue color). I wanted to go a different route, so I layered mine over Wet N Wild Black Creme. It's just a simple black creme, but when Glamour is layered over it, it turns into a dark and dangerous navy blue holographic manicure.

I was sort of floored by how beautiful this was for such a simple combination.

I love the look of Glamour over blues, but I think that putting it over black really added something unique to it.

Thanks to Taylor for hosting the fabulous giveaway that eventually resulted in me owning this beauty! I can't wait to try layering it over other colors, too! :)

Polish Earrings

2012-01-12T08:43:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! I mentioned in a previous post that I had been making nail polish earrings for my friends as Christmas gifts. A few of you expressed that you were interested in learning more about the process and seeing some of the stuff that I made. Unfortunately, I have already given away most of the pairs that I had made (since I made them as gifts, and all).

However, I did manage to scrape up a few pictures that I took during the process, so I can at least show you those if I can't show you every pair of earrings that I made! I will also (verbosely) discuss the process later on in the post, so stick around!

I would like to thank Rebecca and Laurie for helping teach me most of this information!

So, what you see above are six pairs of finished earrings. Since I know you are curious, here are the polishes I used to make each pair.

Starting with the black and green pair at the top and working clockwise:

NYX Enchanted Forest and black
Wet N Wild Tangled In My Web and OPI Ogre the Top Blue
Black, Zoya Cola, OPI Legs Celebrate
Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains and China Glaze Sea Spray
Wet N Wild Diamond in the Rough
Lynnderella Connect the Dots and Color Club Poptastic

Here is another pair of finished earrings... UNICORN PUKE! Okay, technically it's Clairvoyant. But I'm calling it Unicorn Puke 4EVA. Four coats, I think...

And a close up, cause I can...

I also made some nice earrings using stamping, but I don't have any photos of that, unfortunately.

To make your own polish jewelry, you will need hardware. Whether you're making pendants, rings, or earrings, there are two basic pieces you will need. One is the little glass bead on top, called the cabochon, and the other is the metal piece, called a backing, finding, tray or blank.

I bought my earrings at CandyTiles, which was nice, because the cabochons ("cabs") came in a package with the blanks. That was particularly nice because I knew that the cabs would definitely fit in the blanks. If you purchase from eBay or some other place and get the pieces separately, make sure that the size of the cab is the same as the size of the blank. These are 12mm each.

Once you get your hardware, you can start creating! Your designs are going to be painted on the flat part of the cabochon (the back). Start by painting the layer that you want to end up on top.

LET IT DRY. I know it is easy to get impatient with these because they are so exciting! But trust me, I learned the hard way! Go do some crunches or something while you wait!

Continue adding your layers until you are satisfied with the completed product. Again, let it dry COMPLETELY. Here are some finished cabochons before they get put into the blank.

Now all you need to do is glue them in! I used super glue gel. You do not need a lot of glue. On some of my first pairs, I put too much glue on, and then when I put the cab in, the glue got squished up and out the sides and dried grossly and looked bad. Just a tiny dot in the center of your jewelry blank will do the trick.

Pop your bead in and press down. Rebecca suggested clamping the bead down with a clothespin while it dries to prevent bubbles from forming. I didn't take that good advice and ended up with bubbles in a few of my earrings. Let it dry for as long as you can stand it! I am pretty impatient, but for best results, letting them dry overnight is a good idea.

And that's it! You are now the proud owner of your very own custom nail polish jewelry. Polish jewelry is a really great way to show off some of your favorite combinations, or to preserve a bit of your favorite HTF polish! Enjoy!

Clarins 230

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Did you know that today is my 6 month blogiversary? To celebrate, I'd like to show you some gorgeous unicorn pee!

What's that, you say? No, I'm not some weird mythical creature sexual deviant.

I'm sure many of you know what Clarins 230 is. For those of you that don't, Clarins 230 is one of the rarest nail polishes out there! It has been discontinued for quite some time and it is quite gorgeous. Because of this, it often goes for exorbitant prices on eBay.

Lucky for ME I have an amazing and generous benefactor... my boyfriend! He got me this polish for Christmas, and it was a lovely gift because he knew that I never would have bought it for myself.

Clarins 230 is incredibly sheer, and is meant to be layered! I experimented with a lot of layering combinations. I tried mainly reds and purples, to compliment the red sparkle of 230. But the only one that really spoke to me was a combination that I had seen on The Polishaholic -- Clarins 230 over Revlon Royal.

The blue jelly of Royal gives this manicure a electric brightness, while the sparkle of Clarins mutes the blue just enough. The color contrasted enough that it wasn't just red sparkle sitting on top of a red polish. It was brilliant, really.

Here is the look blurred, so you can get an idea of how sparkly it actually is.

Part of what makes 230 so special, besides being honestly the most sparkly polish that I own, is that the pigment changes colors at certain angles. When the light hits it right, 230 blooms into an electric green sparkle.

It. Is. Amazing.

Here is the beginning of the transition from fiery red orange to green. If you look on my fourth and pinky fingers you can see a sort of amber color before the green.

And here is the green in its full glory. Isn't it marvelous? The great thing about using Revlon Royal as the base is that it goes beautifully with the green, as well. The Polishaholic is a genius for putting this combination together!

Not going to lie to you guys though, this was absolutely the most difficult polish I have ever tried to photograph. I must have taken so so many photos to get it to show up properly, and even then I had to combine a few different white balances for each photo to get both my skin tone and the polish to look nice together. And even still, these photographs don't QUITE capture the magic of this polish! I think I managed to get pretty, close, though.

I am grateful to have received this lovely beauty as a gift. I am excited to use it in a number of other layering combinations in the future. :)

Cool-toned splatter

2012-01-08T22:53:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone, happy Monday! Monday is such a daunting day, isn't it? To take the edge off, I thought I'd do a dramatic splatter manicure, which is one of my very favorite techniques.

I started with a base of China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, though you can't see that very well anymore! Then, I taped off the finger areas surrounding my nail to make cleanup a bit easier.

I splattered on Sally Hansen Going Green first, then OPI Ogre the Top Blue, then Wet N Wild Ink Well, then Orly Frolic. I think that it is a good idea to include either black or white in every splatter manicure, as they really stand out from the other colors you choose to include and add a lot of great contrast and definition.

When I do splatters, I use a regular drinking straw. Some people prefer smaller straws but the regular sized drinking straws work well for me. I dip the straw directly into the polish, and then do a strong and fast puff of air through the straw on to the nail. The speed and strength of the air is the key to getting a good looking splatter effect. For an in-depth step by step on the process, check out this question I answered on Tumblr a bit ago.

I am very pleased with this color combination, in particular. It kind of reminds me of the 80s, or of a Ninja Turtle. The green is clearly the turtle and then the purple would be the color of his eye mask. Which I guess makes this splatter mani Donatello inspired? And yeah, I did have to Google which one wore purple.

I love splatters so much, but MAN they are such a pain! The splatter takes 3 minutes to do, but then cleaning up after it takes 8 BILLION YEARS! The tape makes it easier to clean up the finger, but the splattered polish almost always gets into my cuticles and floods them. Cleaning up 10 flooded cuticles? Not so much fun. Oh well. The things we do for beauty, right? :)

Watercolor Nails

2012-01-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I set up a poll on the Chalkboard Nails Facebook page to have you guys help choose my manicure. But it was a secret! I only offered options A and B, and then in my head I knew which manicure corresponded to which. This was the winning choice!

I originally saw this technique when Rebecca showed me this video tutorial from Beautygeeks on how to achieve it. Check out Rebecca's interpretation of the design, I love the neons!

It is a surprisingly easy look to achieve. I would recommend watching the Beautygeeks video to see it done "in action," but I'll also do a quick run down of the process for you. Rebecca also has a tutorial on her post about this technique.

Paint your nails a base color. Top that with two coats of topcoat to make sure that when you use acetone to make the watercolored look later, your base doesn't get ruined.
Pick out your first color. Place a couple small dots of it on your nail, in random locations.
Take a medium sized brush (I used a makeup brush, but a watercolor brush would work well here) and dip it in acetone. You don't need a lot of acetone, but you don't want your brush to only be damp, either.
Dab your acetone-d brush onto the small dots of polish. Continue to dab the brush around to achieve the watercolor look that you like.
Repeat with 2-3 more colors.
Topcoat again!

For my color palette, I chose:

OPI Skull and Glossbones (base)
China Glaze Heli-yum
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
OPI Ogre the Top Blue
OPI Funky Dunkey

That is also the order that I applied the colors in.

This is a really really cool look, guys. Especially in person!! It's unique and I can guarantee you will get a lot of people asking you about it and being interested in what your nails have got goin' on.

I hope you enjoyed this design and I also hope you give it a shot yourself! I promise it is quite simple to achieve! :)

Lacquistry Cotton Candy

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned to you all how much I love frankens? Well, I love them a LOT. So much so that I will probably go broke buying them, and be homeless on the street, just wheeling my Helmer around and guarding it like Gollum.

I'll give you a second to imagine that.

Anyway, today I am showing off my first Lacquistry polish! Say "hello, sexy" to two coats of Lacquistry Cotton Candy.

Cotton Candy features small blue hex glitter with medium and jumbo pink hex glitter in a pink jelly base. It was named after that cotton candy Bubblicious bubble gum, and honestly one of the reasons I bought it was because I loved that gum as a kid.

This polish is really complex and I had a tough time photographing it. For example, the above photo was taken in my lightbox, while this next one was taken in indirect sunlight in my car (I was parked, people).

It's not an optical illusion, this polish really does look completely different in different lighting.

Indoors/at night, the blue glitter looks much darker. When you get it in indirect sunlight the glitter really lights up. And I mean it LIGHTS UP. I don't think that I own anything this sparkly. The glitter seems like it is alive. The blue glows like nothing else that I own.

It also looks completely different in DIRECT sunlight, though I haven't included any pictures of that. The glitters sort of dim, if you can believe it? The jelly base becomes more prominent, though instead of looking pink it looks like more of a pinky red.

This glitter is SUPER hungry though. Totally worth it, but the topcoating does require a bit of extra finesse. For this look, I added one coat of Gelous, and then two coats of Seche Vite. I'm not broken up about it.

The other thing that I want to note is that application can be somewhat tricky, but not unmanageable. The blue glitters go on with perfect density and control -- the issue is with the large pink hex glitters. I found it best to apply the polish like normal, and then sort of "fish out" some larger pieces of glitter and place them where I saw fit. That way, you get some sitting on top as well as some buried underneath in the layers from when you first applied the polish.

Check it out in the bottle! Isn't that intense!?

To summarize, if you are a glitter fanatic, you will probably die and go to heaven if you put this polish on your nails.

Cotton Candy retails for $7.50 before shipping, and can be found on the Lacquistry Etsy shop. Make sure you check out the rest of her creations too, they are amazing. I hope to get my hands on more shortly. :)

Zoya Dannii and Lynnderella

2012-01-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Happppppy New Year everyone!! I just finished up a wonderful three day weekend that I spent with a bunch of people that I very much care about, and am now (sort of) ready to get back on some kind of regular schedule. I love the holidays SO much but they can be tiring, you know?

I wore my New Years manicure for a solid three days (that is a MEGA long time for me!) and then it started chipping off too much for it to be appropriate for me to wear it anymore. But I wanted to do something quick so that I could get back to relaxing!

I chose Zoya Dannii out of my untrieds, and then put Lynnderella Connect the Dots on top of that. I actually discovered this combination while I was making nail polish earrings for all of my friends for Christmas presents, and I liked it so much that I chose to put it on my nails.

Zoya Dannii is lovely. Truly! It is a warm pinky purple with a gold shimmer. It is a beautiful and unique color; the shimmer is just gorgeous. I got this during a Zoya promo on Rebecca's suggestion and am sort of bummed that I have only just gotten around to wearing it now!

Here's the mani in my "new" hand position! I first debuted this hand position on my NYE mani and I kind of loved it, so I am going to try it out on my next few manicures, if I can remember. What do you guys think? I won't be getting rid of my classic hand position (the first pic) anytime soon, but I think that this new one could be a dynamic addition to the CN hand pose family!

I'm sure Connect the Dots is quite familiar to most of you by now. It is a Lynnderella classic... black and white glitter in bars, squares, small hexes, large hexes, and jumbo hexes (not shown). It's sort of like a splatter mani look in a bottle. Back when I ordered this I made sure to get two bottles so I never feel bad about using it. :)

Zoya polish can be bought on Zoya.com and Lynnderella is available at Llarowe (unfortunately, many of the Lynnderellas are out of stock for now).

Now here's something really exciting... my boyfriend gave me a belated Christmas present, and BOY WAS IT WORTH WAITING FOR!

YEP. UNICORN PEE. Are you excited or what?

Spacey Layering Experiment

2011-12-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Today I have another space-tastic look to show you. Here is the final result, and then I will go through the photos of each layering step as I completed it.

OK COOL! So let's get into it here. I started off with two coats of Wet N Wild Black Creme, which is, you guessed it!, a black creme.

Then I added one layer of Pure Ice Heartbreaker, which gave the manicure this AMAZING emerald sparkly look. I kind of wanted to stop the manicure at this step and call it a day, but I had to keep pushing forward into unknown layering territory for you all!

So next I added one layer of Inglot 204, which is a true blue flakie. No hints of green or teal in this flakie, unlike my Nfu Oh 50 or Finger Paints Flecked or Motley.

It's getting interesting, right? The blue and green are pretty close in color so the lack of contrast is really intriguing to me.

Then I finished off the look with one layer of China Glaze Atlantis, which is holo glitter pieces in a turquoise jelly base. This was the final step, so if you want a full hand visual, please refer to the first photo in this post. ;)

Here's a close up of the layers!

And here is the look blurred so you can see the magnificence of Atlantis!

Then FINALLY Rebecca suggested that I should try mattifying the look. So I did, because I know that it is important to take great advice. :) I just picked up Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love because China Glaze Matte Magic always shrinks on me, so that is what I used here.

I hope you guys enjoy this combination! I had a lot of fun choosing my layering polishes, like some weird mad polish scientist. I usually am not a fan of so many things together but I think this look managed to stay pretty subtle.

New Year's Eve Combo

2011-12-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

OHHHH BOY YOU GUYS! It's almost 2012, and you know what that means!? PARTY MANIS! Today I've got my first New Years Eve manicure option that I am considering. Not gonna lie, I am pretty much in love with it.

The gold base nails in this manicure were done with the Essence Circus Circus duo stick Don't Feed the Tiger. This is a European polish that I was lucky enough to get my hands on thanks to my lovely friend Ruth! One end is a gold foil, and the other end is a glitter topper. The glitter topper is the whole reason I bought this polish.

Square. Black. Glitter.

If you guys have been reading my blog for a while, you are probably aware of my love for both black glitter and square glitter. Well, this has BOTH. So obviously I am absolutely batshit crazy over it.

The glitter topper is not easy to apply, though. It was probably one of the more difficult glitters I have worked with. It took lots of pushing around to get the glitter in the places that I wanted it. Totally worth it though.

If you want to recreate this look, consider trying Color Club Antiquated and Wet N Wild Tangled In My Web. I know TIMW is not exactly easy to get either, so as a backup plan, you might try LA Girls Glitter Addict in Uninhibited.

The double accent nails are a base of Wet N Wild Black Creme and then two coats of NYX Gold Glitter. This polish used to be called Gilded Glitter, but when NYX did their revamp to include Deborah Lippmann style bottles, they renamed it Gold Glitter.

Gold Glitter is everything that I wanted Essie As Gold As It Gets to be. Unfortunately, the Essie flakie pieces are a bit too small for my taste, so after trying it, I went ahead and ordered this NYX polish. I like it a lot more -- it is more dramatic and the flakie pieces are more... sharp?

Here you can see all of the polishes that I used in this mani, and you can see what the Essence stick looks like! Pretty neat if you ask me!

I'm sure many of you would agree that black and gold are the go-to colors when you think New Years Eve. This manicure seems so NYE appropriate to me, and I think it is the color combination that is making me feel that way. Well, and I guess the glitter also looks like falling confetti, too!

So tell me, which nail combo do you like better, the Essence duo or the black with the gold flakes? I am curious! I honestly don't know if I can pick. :) EDIT I have a lot of people asking me why I'm not keeping both styles -- I definitely am!! I just am interested in which combination you guys like better for curiosity's sake. I didn't mean that I have to pick between them for my manicure. :) /EDIT

Time to get your resolutions drafted... only a few more days until the clock strikes midnight to announce a new year! Do you have any special NYE manicures planned? Or nail related resolutions?

Houndstooth Stamping

2011-12-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's nails made use of a stamping plate that I got a while ago, but haven't used yet! I bought Konad M63 specifically for this houndstooth design, because it's one of my favorite patterns. I have tried to use it a couple of times, but all of my attempts came up short. Mostly, I think it was because the polish I was using wasn't transferring as well as I wanted it to.

So I got some actual Konad black stamping polish, and gave it another go.

Hooray, it worked! I did the stamping over two coats of Zoya Posh, which is actually a red matte color, but when you put topcoat over it it looks like a regular red nail polish.

I actually started this design with the intention of leaving it matte, but I thought that Posh would look much nicer glossy. I was right, by the way.

I am still working on my stamping, though I suspect that it will be a rather long road. I love this look and I am so so happy that I got this stamp to work with me the way that I envisioned it!

Besides being super hot and sexy, I think this mani also still works for Christmas/winter nails.

You may have noticed that I took my nails down a bit, too! After doing dishes and getting my house back in order after the Christmas madness, they had taken a bit of a beating. So I shortened them a smidge and I am actually quite pleased with the length now. I dunno about you guys but I feel like sometimes short nails are just the thing I need. :)

My Christmas Nails

2011-12-26T11:07:00.002-07:00

Hello! Today I have my Christmas manicure to show you. I would have liked to have posted this on Christmas Even when I did it, or on Christmas when I wore it, but I seriously just have not had time to get the pics done! :) I was too busy having an excellent holiday with my family.

So here they are, the nails I wore for Christmas.

I realized a few days before Christmas that I had the red and green hex glitter snowman polish in my collection but that I hadn't used it yet! I wanted to make sure that I used it before Christmas was over, because that type of polish really doesn't work well during the rest of the year. ;)

I started with a base of THREE coats of China Glaze Frosty. I still had some visible nail line but it didn't matter because I was doing the glitter anyway. It was much more sheer than I expected it to be, though.

Then, I painted on a glitter gradient using the brush of the snowman polish, which Rhonni from Nailtique picked up for me (because they don't sell them here)!

I wish that I had had time to do something more complicated and fantastic for my Christmas Day manicure, but given my circumstances I was pleased as punch with the way that these turned out.

My only complaint was that this manicure got quite thick, with all of the layers of Frosty, and it took a long time to dry properly. I was pretty impatient and kept dinging it when I was trying to wrap presents and things.

My family really liked these nails a lot, and I liked them too. I was very glad to get some use out of my snowman polish before it became irrelevant for another year! :)

butter LONDON Victoriana

2011-12-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today's post is my first butter LONDON swatch! Yesterday I asked people on the CN Facebook if they could guess what polish I was wearing just from the description, and Krissi successfully guessed it! I was wearing Victoriana, which is an amazing blue-teal with a very distinct silver shimmer.

I had been wanting this polish for quite some time, and I finally caved and bought it at Ulta recently. It is my first and only butter LONDON... so far! :) I had heard great things about their polish formula. I couldn't believe it when I tried it for myself! The polish applied like a dream. This swatch is two coats, and it cooperated so well that I didn't even have to do any clean up on this manicure.

The shimmer in this polish is very pronounced, and it gives the polish a really cool textured effect. It sort of looks metallic from a distance, and then when you look at it closer, the speckles really add a lot of visual interest.

Here is a close up of the polish so you can get a good idea as to what the silver bits look like and how they work.

butter LONDON nail polish is sold at Ulta and retails for $14. I've also seen it at Dillard's, and they actually had some colors that weren't at Ulta, too!

Magnetic Layering Fun

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Is anyone else hardcore slacking on their Christmas presents? I think I am just barely keeping my head above water! :) I have been trying to keep up with my posting but I am afraid I am just a touch behind.

Today's nails started off with a base of Ulta Grin and Berry It, which is a lovely pink color that leans towards the reddish side. Then I added on a coat of Nails Inc. Trafalgar Square, which is a gunmetal colored magnetic polish.

For those of you unfamiliar with magnetic polish, here is the explanation offered by Nails Inc.

This unique formula has been specially developed with metallic particles to create a pattern on the nail using magnetic forces. As the magnet is held over the nail, the iron powder in the formulation gravitates toward the magnet forming the pattern/design secretly hidden in the magnet for an astonishing finish!

So you hold the magnet over the wet polish and this wavy sort of design that you see in my photos will show up! It's very cool. It can be kind of tough when you are first learning though. I kept touching my nail with the magnet and it would totally ruin it! If you are just using the magnetic polish instead of layering like me, though, you could just paint on another layer and try again, instead of removing the nail and starting over.

I figured that if I put a color underneath the magnetic polish, when it got all magnetized the underwear polish would show through. I was right... BUT I quickly learned that the magnetic polish will "loosen up" as it dries.

Here is a cell phone pic comparison of a nail RIGHT after I removed the magnet versus a minute later. It continued to spread out and finally settled how you see it in the rest of this post's photos.

I tried holding the magnet on for a long long time as well as immediately applying Seche Vite (the fastest drying topcoat ever)... no matter what I tried the particles would continue to spread out. Oh well!

To add to my troubles, I didn't get a chance to take photos of this manicure until the next day, and I had developed some shrinkage at the cuticles by then. I'm not sure if it was user error or if the polish just doesn't play nice with SV.

Still though, for all of my trial-and-error experiments and minor problems, I love this manicure! The magnetic effect is unlike anything else and it really gets noticed. I had a lot of people ask me what it was and, when I explained it, they were really wowed and impressed by the effect.

I purchased Trafalgar Square at Sephora, where it retails for $16.

Christmas Snakeskin

2011-12-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a special one! Kayla of Nails by Kayla Shevonne, Rebecca of Rebecca Likes Nails, and I all decided to get together and do Christmas colored animal prints and post them on the same day! The only rules were that you can only use red, green, and white. Kayla took leopard and Rebecca took zebra, while I couldn't quite decide what I wanted to do at first. Eventually, I settled on snakeskin!

I don't have any snakeskin stamping plates (although I know they exist!), so I had to take a bit of a different approach to achieve this look. My original idea was to freehand on scales with a dotting tool. I did some extensive testing with this method, and I did like it! But I was asking Michelle for her opinion on which of my color combinations looked best and she suggested that I look at this tutorial by Love4Nails on YouTube for creating a snakeskin look.

I LOVED her suggestion and immediately scrapped my previous idea! I ran off to find some tulle; I only had lace, but it got the job done! After a few modifications to the tutorial, I was on my way!

So the basic gist of this manicure technique is to start with a random combination of colors on your base. You could even use one color if you want, but since I was making a Christmas snake I put both red and green on. I made them sort of organic shapes like you might see on a snake. The green I used was Zoya Veruschka, and the red is Illamasqua Scarab.

Then, you take a piece of lace or tulle and wrap it around your fingernail (after the base is dry). Lightly sponge on a TINY bit of white polish (Sally Hansen Whirlwind White). It is really easy to go overboard on the sponging. You don't want it to be TOO dense.

When you peel off the lace, you are left with snakeskin! All you need to do to finish it is clean up a bit and topcoat it. Easy!

This was my first time using Illamasqua Scarab, and I have gotta say this polish is a STUNNER. I am really eager now to do a full mani using it.

What do you think? Does it read as snakeskin to you? I am thrilled with the results of this manicure technique and am really looking forward to trying it out with some other color combinations in the future.

Stop by Kayla's and Rebecca's blogs today to see their takes on Christmas leopard and zebra print! And make sure you check out the Love4Nails tutorial, too... her results are GORGEOUS and actually quite different than mine!

China Glaze Twinkle Lights

2011-12-15T12:16:00.001-07:00

Today's post is a quick swatch of China Glaze Twinkle Lights! Twinkle Lights is a polish from this winter's Let It Snow! collection.

I wore this to my mom's annual huge Christmas party, and let's just say it was perfectly party appropriate! My swatches are two coats, polish only, with Gelous and then SV.

As you can see, this is a glitter polish. It's gold, red and green glitter. So holiday perfect. The red is easiest to see as you look at it closer, and then the green comes out a bit too. The red shows through the gold best, though!

At a distance, this polish just looks like shiny, sparkly gold.

Here's a macro shot of Twinkle Lights so you can see it's actual glitter composition. It looks pretty evenly divided between the three colors, right? But remember, like I said, it looks mostly gold on the nail!

A good polish for the glitter lovers out there. Super shiny, good consistency, not difficult to apply. It only took two coats for opacity. My only complaint was wear time, but I usually don't get very good wear out of glitter-only manicures anyway. I had this on for about a day and a half and then it started chipping off in big chunks and sheets.

Holiday Half Moon Wreaths

2011-12-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I finally have some holiday nail art to share with you! I have been busy lately, and then I got sick, so I have sort of slacked on the holiday manicures... but I hope this will make up for it!

I present to you... holiday wreath half moons!

This look is SUPER festive and really cool (if you ask me, anyway). It starts off with a base of Color Club Worth the Risque, which is a silver polish with a faint holo effect.

Then, I freehanded on the base of the wreath half moons with Zoya Veruschka. Any similarly dark and foresty green would get the job done if you don't have Veruschka. I just used my favorite, regular ol' nail brush to do this. I then added on small bits of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green and Wet N Wild Black Creme to give the wreath some depth and dimension. You want to be careful when you are adding on the black though, as it can quickly become really thick and dark. It might help you to add it on in tiny bits and then sort of spread it out with a dry nail art brush.

Using the small end of a dotting tool, I added on the holly berries in China Glaze Red Pearl. I did the dots twice to ensure that they were highly pigmented.

Then, using the smallest and thinnest nail art brush that I have, I freehanded on the bows in ... wait for it ... CHINA GLAZE VELVET BOW! How apropos! I learned a few nails into the process that the tops of the bows look best when you make them out of rounded triangular shapes.

I am loving this look, and it isn't too complicated once you get down to it! I think wreaths make the perfect twist on the classic half moon style.

What do you think? Would you wear this look? What other holiday-type manicures would you guys like to see me attempt? :)

Festive gradient dots

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So sorry I haven't made a post in a while. I started feeling like I was developing some sort of cold or flu type thing on Friday and it has really only gone downhill since then! I went to the doctor today and got some medicine, so hopefully I will be feeling better soon.

Today's nails are based off a design that I first saw on my friend Laurie. She then told me that she based her nails on a design from Nail Nerd!

I chose China Glaze Red Pearl and Sally Hansen Whirlwind White to give this mani a bit of a holiday flair. It doesn't scream "HOLIDAY!!!!!!" like some weird Christmas banshee, but I think it's still subtly getting the message across!

To achieve this look you start with a base of white. Then, using a torn off bit of a triangle makeup sponge, build up a gradient by sponging on the red color. If you're not familiar with the sponging method, check out Rebecca's tutorial.

Then, using a dotting tool, add back in white dots over the gradient. Finish with topcoat!

It's a really cool look, isn't it? I was very happy to come across it. It looks like I put a stencil over my nails and then spray painted it on or something.

And here it is from a distance!

I hope you guys like this design, and I also hope to do some holiday nail art soon for you guys! Hope you are having a lovely December so far! :)

Pretty & Polished Franken Swatches

2011-12-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Today's post is a seriously special one! The lovely Chelsea from Pretty and Polished just opened up an Etsy store recently where she is selling her frankens. Her creations are really unique so I just had to get my hands on a few of them! Today I am showing you the swatches of the three that I got. More information on these polishes and where you can buy them can be found at the end of this post.

Midnight Rider
Midnight Rider is a fantastic and unique polish. It has a dark blackened purple jelly base and has a bunch of different sizes and shapes of glitter in it, including small red, pink, and purple hex with large red hex and large purple squares. Square glitter is one of my favorite things in the world.

Here is three coats of Midnight Rider on my pointer and ring fingers, and two coats over black on my middle and pinky.

And here is a full mani of Midnight Rider over black. Just look at that square glitter! So yummy. It's like someone threw sexy confetti all over my nails.

Melodramatic
Melodramatic is a GORGEOUS polish that is VERY hard to photograph properly... haha. I had to swatch this twice to get it correct. It is a sheer emerald teal-y base. The polish has teal and purple microglitter in it that give it some nice dimension.

This is three coats of Melodramatic. This would make a nice layering polish, too, as it could add a great layer of sparkle to any polish without covering it up completely.

It applied very easily, and the glitter is not gritty at all. One layer of topcoat and it was really smooth for me.

It is so shiny that it almost looks metallic! The color combination of polish and glitter in this one makes me think of a peacock. I have been wearing it all day and it is truly stunning.

Galax-E
Galax-E is the perfect polish for those of you that love the look of galaxies on your nails but don't want to spend the time doing the sponging/nail art method.

It is a black base with beautiful holographic glitter in it. It flashes and sparkles as it catches the light. Honestly it really does look like space! I had trouble capturing its sparkly nature, so imagine my photos... but even more glittery! That will give you an accurate visualization of this beauty.

This one wasn't gritty either. It goes on really beautifully and evens out with one layer of topcoat. The black looks deep and rich.

And if you look closely you can see that this one has ... SQUARE GLITTER! My Kryptonite! Awww yeah.

Chelsea also has a number of other frankens in her shop, these are just the ones that I picked out! She has a Galactus-based collection with a few holos in it, some more great mixes of pigment and glitter, and some star and bar glitters even show up in a few polishes!

Pretty and Polished frankens are all hand mixed with love and care. They are all cruelty free, which means that they are not made with any ingredients containing animal products. Most of them are sold in 5ml miniature bottles (a few are in standard, larger bottles) and come with stainless steel beads so you can keep your polish perfectly mixed.

She also offers custom ordering, so if you are in love with a particular polish and want it in a larger size than the 5ml, you can message her through her Etsy shop.

So head over to her shop and support a true independent artist in her quest to prettify the nails of lacquer heads everywhere! :)

Pretty and Polished on Etsy

Nfu Oh #50

2011-12-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hello! I hope you all are having a fantastic day. Today's post is a quick swatch of Nfu Oh #50 over black.

The polish itself is flakies contained in a pinky-purple tinted jelly base. Obviously, when it is layered over black, the base doesn't show up at all, and the flakies really shine on their own. As you'll see, they are quite beautiful!

The flakies go on with a nice density. I used two coats of #50 over Wet N Wild Black Creme for this mani.

As you can see, the flakies have a really interesting duochrome shift from teal/green to blue. Duochrome flakies! DID YOU HEAR ME!?

Most of the time the flakies show green/teal -- more so than how they photograph. But from certain angles, the blue really blooms into life!

Doesn't this look like shattered ice over a dark arctic sea? Like a fat polar bear sat on the ice and it shattered and started floating away.

Nfu Oh flakie polishes retail for $12.50 on FabulouStreet.com. Last time I ordered from them they were offering free shipping for orders over $25.

Stamped rose pattern

2011-12-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today's post is my second stamping mani ever! I started off with a base of ONE COAT of Color Club Wild At Heart. ONE COAT! It went on so so opaque but the application was so dreamy. Not thick in the slightest. I am in love with this polish.

Then I picked the rose stamp on BM14 to use. It's a relatively small stamp but I wanted a full nail pattern... so I stamped it like a bajillion times on each nail with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White. Boy, did I get some good stamping practice in...

Oh yeah and did I mention that Color Club WAH is a purple HOLO!? A holo that looks good even in the shade, no less. It's a fabulous polish in my eyes.

So as you can see from your view up close, my stamping still needs a bit of work, as I ended up with a few bald patches from the plate that didn't transfer to the nail. But this mani had a lot of visual impact, and I'm proud that it was wearable! :) It looked like a set of wraps from far away!

I have been enjoying stamping a lot so far, and I am hoping to come up with some more creative uses for it! The possibilities are endless! :)

Glam Glitter Gradient (Guest Nails!)

2011-12-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday! Today's post is a quick little one that shows off a manicure that I did on my friend Lauren. She was in town over Thanksgiving (home from medical school, what a smarty) and stopped by to hang out one night. We just sat around chatting while I did her nails. She picked out this design herself and I executed it! :) It was such a fun time!

The base is just a simple coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme. Gotta love dollar polishes, especially ones that work as well as Black Creme...

Then I did a glitter gradient with Milani Jewel FX in Gold. Doing a glitter gradient with a chunky hex glitter is a little more challenging in application than something like the Lorelei's Tiara gradient that I did recently, but I was really pleased with the way this turned out.

Lauren was really happy with her set of nails and said that they were really durable! Apparently there were still no chips after a few days had passed!

Also, I want to thank all of you for your birthday wishes yesterday! I loved reading all of your messages, they meant so much to me. :) I had a fantastic day.

It's my birthday!

2011-12-03T13:15:00.001-07:00

Today is my birthday! For some reason this year I am way more excited about it than in years past. I am 23 today, and I obviously had to do some nails to celebrate the occasion!

I decided to do a confetti pattern. I sort of made this up as I was going along!

I tried to channel my inner Michelle (Sonoma Nail Art) and add some shading to the ribbons and confetti pieces. I think it was (mostly) successful! Colors are listed below, but FYI: on the shading, I just took the base colors and mixed in a tiny bit of black.

The colors I used are:

China Glaze Heli-Yum
China Glaze Peachy Keen
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
OPI Who the Shrek Are You?
Zoya Robyn
OPI Do You Lilac It?
Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White

This was obviously painted freehand and I just used my favorite little nail art brush. I haven't done intricate nail art like this in a while so I was very excited to see the finished result!

I hope you all have a great weekend! I know I will. :)

Holiday French Tips!

2011-12-01T23:50:00.001-07:00

Oh man, I hope you guys like today's manicure even half as much as I do! It's my first holiday mani and I am thrilled with the results.

I started with a base of Zoya Veruschka, which is an amazing gorgeous green matte. Suede? Damn it I can never get those right. I guess suede right, because it has the pretty shimmer? Anyway, I applied two coats and let it dry.

Then I freehanded on French tips in China Glaze Sugar Plums, using just the regular ol' polish brush. Nothing fancy! My French freehanding skills have really come a long way since I first started doing my nails. *self pride*

I added a coat of Seche Vite to the tips and free edge once they had dried a bit.

The play between glossy and matte is one of my favorite things ever, and this one has an especially dramatic contrast (partially in thanks to the SV). I like that both the red and green are dark and elegant versions of the colors; it makes this mani feel more refined to me.

So now it's officially the holiday season! I hope to have more holiday themed manicures in the works for you. In the meantime I have some other great posts on the way that I am very excited about. GET PUMPED!

piCture pOlish Denim

2011-11-30T20:49:00.001-07:00

Today's post features the last of my piCture pOlish giveaway wins! You can check out the other two polishes here: Jade Curtains and Firsts - piCture pOlish and Stamping.

The final color that I picked out is Denim. It is one of their more popular shades, and for good reason! Denim is a really complex color. It is a dusty blue that often leans towards purple. It has little white flakies in it that really add a lot of dimension, as well as a violet microshimmer! The shimmer did not show up as well as I would have liked in these photos, but trust me, it is visible in person!

It's a very wearable blue, as far as blues go. It's not too bright or obnoxious, but it still has so much going on, and the color is really beautiful.

And here is a macro shot so you can get a better idea on the composition of this polish. You can sort of see the shimmer here, but it doesn't look violet like it does in person.

I am so pleased with the choices that I made for my three piCture pOlishes, and I just want to thank Alina for hosting the giveaway! piCture pOlishes are beautiful, wear excellently, and go on smoothly. I hope to get my hands on some more of them soon! :)

Leopard nail modeling, with special guest!

2011-11-28T20:57:00.001-07:00

Today's post is a bit of a unique one! It combines two of my passions: doing nails and PHOTOGRAPHY! Some of you know this already, but I actually got my degree in photography in college. I still try to work in part time photo jobs when I can!

My sister Kelsey, who lives in California, came home for Thanksgiving and asked me if I would do her nails. I said, "DUH." We decided on a Tiffany blue leopard print pattern, to go with her new leopard jacket. Then, we decided to do a photo shoot with both items!

So, these nails were done by yours truly, and the photographs were taken by me, too. My sister did her styling -- clothes, hair, makeup, and posing. :)

Here is a close up of the manicure. I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Whirlwind White, China Glaze For Audrey, and Wet N Wild Black Creme. The pattern was freehanded with a dotting tool.

Check out them claws!

This is, of course, a small sampling of the photos that we did during the shoot. We also did some sibling pics after my 12 year old brother started photobombing us...

Anyway I think that this shoot turned out great, and I love the nail color combination, too! This was a fun departure for me from my regular nail posts, and I hope you enjoyed seeing a peek of another passion of mine!

China Glaze Velvet Bow and Essie As Gold As It Gets

2011-11-27T15:31:00.001-07:00

I purchased China Glaze Velvet Bow from their Let It Snow collection for this year. It is gorgeous on its own, and I wish I had taken pictures of it alone. It is this really beautiful deep red, and it is the consistency of a jelly, so when you are in the sun the color really lights up. When you are in the shade, it becomes this vibrant, rich dark red.

So I did that first as a base, and then I added one coat of Essie As Gold As It Gets, which is from their recent Luxeffects collection (in drugstores now). It is a clear base with tiny gold flakies in it. I love flakies, but I guess I prefer them larger. These flakies were a bit too small for me and it wasn't as dramatic as I was hoping it would be.

So yeah, I was not a huge fan of this combination:

It look very Christmas-y, right? I don't know what it is about this combination that just wasn't working for me. The picture above is a good demonstration of what Velvet Bow looks like in the shade. Very dark and vampalicious.

Here's what it looks like with some more lighting on it.

See how it becomes brighter and more colorful? And you can almost see down into the layers of jelly? Cool effect, but damn me for putting that Essie on top.

And here is a macro of this manicure. As you can see there are like, MICRO MICRO flakie pieces as well as flakies of larger sizes.

Don't get me wrong, the Essie polish is really pretty! I think it was just the color combination that I wasn't feeling here. They were both great separately.

My polish organization

2011-11-26T13:00:00.001-07:00

Good afternoon everyone! Today's post details how I organize my nail polish stash. This was a request from a reader, and I thought it would be a fun post to make, too!

So, for starters, I use one red Helmer to organize my polish collection. All of my polish fits into it. I keep a separate plastic bin type thing to keep all of my manicure supplies, which will not be included in this post. That bin holds things like foil, tape, acetone, cotton pads, half moon paper reinforcement stickers, files, etc.

The top drawer of my Helmer holds regular base coats and topcoats, matte topcoats and my holo topcoat, as well as nail wheels, nail art pens, and polish pens.

The next drawer down holds OPI and China Glaze. You will see in the rest of these photos that I organize by brand but then not much else after that. One of these days I will reorganize by brand and then by color (within brand categories).

The next drawer has Color Club, Zoya, Revlon, Kleancolor, Orly, Ulta, Essie, Del Sol, Nubar, NYX Girls and Barielle.

The next drawer has Wet N Wild, Sally Hansen, Sinful Colors, Essence, and then some random brands that I only have one or two of -- L'Oreal, Milani, Dare to Wear, Nina Ultra Pro, Hard Candy, Love and Beauty, snowman and pumpkin polishes.

The next drawer down isn't organized very well. It's the drawer where I keep all my frankening supplies and frankenpolishes! In here you will find frankens, empty bottles, loose glitter, leftover polish, etc.

In the last drawer I keep all of my special polishes... rares, expensives, hard-to-gets, or ones that are just special to me! This is where I keep my Deborah Lippmanns, Nfu Ohs, piCture pOlishes, Ozotics, and Lynnderellas.

So that's it! All of my polish has a home safe inside my sexy red Helmer. I hope you enjoyed seeing how I keep all of my polish organized!

Grey Matters Gradient

2011-11-23T08:25:00.001-07:00

Today's nails are a really easy but very pretty glitter gradient! You only need two polishes for this -- a base color and a dense glitter in a clear base.

I started with a base of two coats of Misa Grey Matters. Okay you guys, I am seriously in love with this polish. It is amazing. Such a smooth medium grey, but then it also has dark flecks of dark grey in it. It's so beautiful, it looks like a wool coat or a river stone or something.

Then I took China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara (from their new Eye Candy collection) and painted it messily backwards down from the tips. I did one thinnish coat over the top third of the nail and then added extra glitter at the very tips to make it more dense there. I only picked up three of them, but I'm sure any of the Eye Candy glitters would work nicely for gradients.

I love this gradient! Rebecca mentioned that it seemed very winter appropriate to her and I have to agree! Here are the two polishes I used in their natural habitats...

If you are doing this look, make sure your glitter of choice is dense. It's hard to achieve a gradient effect with a sparse glitter; it'll end up just looking like you did a poor application job most of the time.

Here is a close up of this manicure so you can see how pretty Grey Matters is. I'm seriously over the moon about this polish. You can snag one at Transdesign.

I hope you all enjoyed this manicure! Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and try not to get trampled to death on Black Friday!

Pretty Paisley

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Today I have some nail art for you! It's been a while, huh? :)

This pattern was suggested by my dad's cousin, Linda! She said she would love to see me do some paisley nails so I thought I'd give it a shot. I later mentioned to my 12 year old brother that I was gonna do this idea, and he told me that he had already suggested that to me before. After he said that, I realized that he was right... so this one is dedicated to both to Linda and my brother Max!

These nails were not my easiest design ever! They took quite a while to finish them!

I started with a base of China Glaze For Audrey. Then I added on the paisley bits in Zoya Renee (the pinkish red). I added them as solid bits first and then added more For Audrey in the center of that to give the bits a hollow look.

Then I added the polka dots around the outside of the first bits of paisley in Zoya Robyn.

I added on more paisley shapes then in the second color, Color Club Pucci-licious. Similarly, I filled in the middles with more For Audrey, and then added the polka dots around them in Zoya Renee.

As you can imagine, I then did the same with Zoya Robyn and surrounded it with Pucci-licious.

This is a very busy design but it looks really nice from afar, especially. I think if I had this to do over again a second time, I would probably choose a base color that was wildly different than the colors I put on top of it.

These photos aren't the most color accurate that I've ever done... my camera struggles with purples and blues so I did the best I could! But the pinkish color looks more red in these photos, and For Audrey has a touch more green than it is appearing here.

I hope you like this design! I am pretty pleased with it for my first stab at this pattern!

OPI DS Sapphire

2011-11-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have been slacking with the posts lately! I have been so busy that I haven't had time to change my nails as often as I'd like. But, that's that! On to today's polish...

OPI DS Sapphire!

I found this polish randomly alone on a table at a supply store that I frequent. I asked it if it wanted to come home with me, and it said "Of course I do!" So I brought it to the register and snagged it for only $7.50, which isn't bad when you are talking about DS holos.

Here it is in indirect sunlight. As you can see it still has some nice depth to it. These photos make it look blue, which it does sometimes, but it also looks grey part of the time (which I liked)!

And here it is in sunlight...

And here is another indoor shot, but this time underneath a stovetop light.

Isn't it pretty! I'm not usually a huge holo head but sometimes even I can't resist the call. :) It looks very silvery a lot of the time but has a definitely blue tint. I'm glad I picked it up!

Adopt A Polish

2011-11-16T08:15:00.001-07:00

Hello my sweetest of readers! Today I have a bit of an unusual post for you. It's about a new nail polish adoption organization. Maybe you've heard about it from other bloggers!

It's called Adopt A Polish, and it is a wonderful organization that finds loving homes for polish in need. It's not a joke! Here's how it works:

You go visit AdoptAPolish.org, and read the profiles of the brand new, unused polishes that are looking for a new home.
You leave a comment on the polish profiles explaining why you would provide the best home for that particular polish. Be creative, because then...
...the people that run the organization choose the person that they think would take the best care of the polish based on the answers they receive in the comments.
Adopt A Polish covers all of the expenses of getting the polish to you if you are chosen!
You and your new polish get to enjoy your life together.

The website is really cute and clever. Check out this photo of poor Charleston Essie, taken from the adoption site...

Isn't that just heartbreaking? The tiny crutches!

So go check it out and potentially give a brand new polish a new home and a new lease on life -- for FREE! The first application period will be closing December 31.

AdoptAPolish.org is run and funded by the people at NailPolishCanada, but the adoptions are open to residents of the US and Canada.

Zoya Half Moons

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today's manicure is a half moon featuring two Zoya colors: Charisma and Robyn.

I started with a base of two coats of Charisma, which is a neon purple. As it is a neon, it went on streaky at first but evened out pretty quickly, and then it dried matte. It looks pink in these photos and in direct sunlight but is actually a pretty dark purple in regular indoor lighting. I think it's the jellylike quality of it that is doing that.

I added a fastdry topcoat to the base coat and let that dry. Then, I added the paper reinforcement stickers to my nails and painted over them like a tape manicure to get the half moon shape. The top color is Zoya Robyn. It's really pigmented and covered great in one coat. LOVE it.

I like this manicure, but there is something about half moon nails that just seems weird on me. I think I might be feeling that way because the combination of my square nails with the round half moons makes a weird shape contrast. I don't know.

Anyway, I really liked this color combo, even though I was not feeling the half-moonage! Robyn is a must have Zoya, I think!

Yellow Flowers and a Charity Ball

2011-11-13T23:23:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Today I am showing you a set of simple floral nails that I put together for an event I was going to this weekend. It was called the Giving Hands Ball and it was put together to help raise money for Singleton Moms, an organization my Mom is very involved with. She even got an award: Care Coordinator of the Year! Congratulations Mom, I'm so proud of you!

Singleton Moms is an Arizona-based organization that provides financial and emotional support to single parents (dads too!) with cancer. They cook the parents meals, help them clean their homes, give them money for rent, drive them to and from their chemotherapy, and become their emotional support. It's really a great organization, and if you want to read more about it, check out the Singleton Moms website.

So, on to the nails that I wore for this event...

This is a base of Color Club Antiquated, from the Foiled collection. It's a pretty champagne foil that looks silver in certain lighting. Very shiny. Then I added on the yellow flowers with either a large or small dotting tool (just put five dots in a circle and fill in the middle) in Color Club Almost Famous from their Poptastic collection. Then with the small end of my dotting tool, I added the brown centers in China Glaze Street Chic.

I did these nails to match my dress, which was also yellow. I was the only person wearing yellow and I was very pleased with myself, haha. I loved the dress, and it was mega comfortable, and I felt great in it. Here is a pic of my sis and I rocking out on the dance floor after dinner.

I thought these nails were understated enough to be appropriate but still interesting and fun enough to appease my nail-addict brain.

I had a great time at the event and I hope you will look into learning more about Singleton Moms or other local aid-based charities near you!

Jade Curtains

2011-11-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

Gooood morning! Last night I was craving something dramatic and bold, but still simple and clean. I remembered pinning an image from this post by Nail Stories to my nail board and thought it would do the trick. This style is SO simple and a real stunner!

For my base I used piCture pOlish Jade, which is a really bright and vibrant green with a hidden silver shimmer. The shimmer particles are TINY but really beautiful and they add a great effect to this polish. As with Wisteria, I didn't have any issues with application.

Then, I took China Glaze Liquid Leather, the shiniest black that I own, and painted on these little curtains. I just applied them on with the brush, freehand. Once they had been drying for a bit, I applied topcoat to make them ultra shiny.

Nail Stories described these as curtain nails, and I have to agree! I followed through to HER source and I guess they originally started as heart nails, though in the inspiration ad the model had pointy nails that added to the heart effect. We'll just stick with curtains. :)

(Though, I have been musing about calling them "butt nails" or "cleavage nails." I'll let you decide what you want to call them.)

Carmen Miranda Ruffle Mani

2011-11-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning dear readers! Today I have a rather intense and fabulous mani to share with you. Let's just dive right in! Without further ado, I give you ...*drumroll*... the Carmen Miranda Ruffle Dress Mani!

If you are scratching your head right now and asking "What the hell is this?" then you should check out my inspiration - Carmen Miranda, the fruit hat lady! (Well, apparently this photo is of a lookalike. But you get the idea.)

http://baymusic.com/index.php?cPath=46_78

Anyway I actually did this mani before I decided that it looked like a cha-cha ruffle skirt, but that is neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is... IT DOES! And I love it!

Okay, now I suppose I should list the polishes I used. I better take a deep breath first.

In order from base coat to tip of the nail:
Color Club - Pucci-licious
Color Club - Twiggie
Color Club - Poptastic
Color Club - Almost Famous
Zoya - Robyn
Color Club - Wham! Pow!
Rimmel - Wild Orchid
OPI - Who the Shrek Are You?

I accomplished this look with the help of a large dotting tool. I started with the base coat of Pucci-licious, and then added the row of dots closest to the cuticle in Twiggie. Then on top of that, I added Poptastic so it was overlapping the row below it a bit. I continued that process until the whole nail was covered in ruffles. It created a really pretty scalloped look that has a lot of impact.

I hope you guys liked today's mani, I've got to go cha cha into the sunset! See you next time!

Mint Chocolate Chip

2011-11-10T18:21:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! I am wiped out today but I'm going to try to accomplish some nail art! We'll see how it goes...

Tonight I am showing you a manicure that I like to call Mint Chocolate Chip. Let's take a look at why:

The base is Essence Color & Go in You Belong to Me. It's a really pretty minty green color that can look slightly blue in some lights. It's really pretty, and only $.99 at Ulta! It seriously applied like a dream. Better than some of the more pricey polishes that I own. I love it!

Then obviously I added Wet N Wild Tangled In My Web to the top of it. TIMW is from the On the Prowl collection that was just out, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find it out in stores anymore. Some may show up on eBay, but I'm sure it won't be a very fair price, I'm sorry to say.

Aaaand that's it! I only have one pic today but I don't really have a good reason for that, haha. Hope you all had a nice Thursday. :)

So who wants to see the most epic thing ever?

2011-11-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

One of my polish besties Michelle, from Sonoma Nail Art, was asking around the other day about what she should paint on her nails for her next nail art manicure. I immediately responded with "my face" because I am an extreme narcissist, not thinking she would actually do it...

Another polish friend Laurie (the same one from my franken post) suggested that Michelle paint the Loch Ness monster. Michelle decided to combine both of our suggestions into a battle royale manicure -- me vs. Nessie.

Here is Michelle's finished manicure. She is one of the most talented nail artists that I know, and I hope you all will go check out her blog. I am the one on her thumb, in case you thought I was the sea monster.

And HERE is the picture of me that she based her nail art off of, so you can see how INCREDIBLE she is at nail art! Isn't it insane? She even included my earrings in the nail art! Gotta love that level of detail.

Now, I'm sure you are wondering who wins this epic battle of the ages!

Well you'll just have to go check out Michelle's post to learn who is the victor. It is revealed at the end of the amazing and hilarious video that she filmed of me and Nessie duking it out.

Quick Stamping Process Post

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

For today's post I am going to be showing you a bare-bones stamping process overview. This was requested by Lady C on my last post.

It should be noted, before I start, that I learned all of my stamping basics as well as tips and tricks from Rebecca at Rebecca Likes Nails, so go show her some love if you wanna see a master stamper.

The Tools

First of all, you will need plates! This is from the first Bundle Monster set (the 21 piece set). I purchased it on Amazon. From what I understand, the Bundle Monster plates are dupes of the Konad brand plates, but are a lower quality and therefore cheaper!

Another note about Bundle Monster plates, the first set is really good for individual images, but the full nail patterns are really small. They definitely don't cover my whole nail. The second set (the 25 piece set) of BM plates have larger full nail images, so if you are interested in those, that might be a better set for you.

You will also need a stamper. This little doodad is also from Amazon. It has a larger end and a smaller end. The ends are rubbery, and I filed mine a tiny bit with a rough emery board to get them to pick up the image better.

You will need a scraper. There was a metal Konad brand scraper included with the stamper, but I learned from the pros that an old, empty gift card or something similar works best. I guess the Konad scraper can scratch the plates, anyway.

You will also need stamping polish. Rie from Nails and Noms reminded me of this great tip and I wanted to make sure you guys read it: if a polish goes on opaquely in one coat, it will probably make a good stamping polish. And like I mentioned yesterday, most metallics work well, as well as most Sally Hansen Insta Dri polish.

The Process

Paint your polish over the stamp stencil that you want to use. Make sure that you cover all of the stamp! I use a pretty generous drop.

Take your scraper or old gift card and scrape off the excess polish. I learned that a 45 degree angle is best for this! Do a smooth, fluid scrape, and don't press too hard. You may have to experiment to get the pressure right.

Grab your stamper (work as quickly as you can!) and roll it over the image on your plate. Only do one pass, rolling from one side to the other side.

Using the same rolling motion that you used to pick up the image from the plate, press the image on to your nail. Add topcoat and you are done!

*EDIT* I forgot to mention how to clean your plates! Thanks to Julie for mentioning it. To clean your plates, take a Q-Tip dipped in 100% pure acetone and rub the plate with it to remove the polish. It will leave some streaks on the plate but it will not damage it. I clean my plate every two stamps or so, and then obviously when I am finished. *EDIT*

Hope that was helpful for those of you that aren't familiar with stamping. If you want further tips and tricks, check out Rebecca's stamping FAQ post.

Firsts - piCture pOlish and Stamping

2011-11-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

Helloooooo everyone! Today's post features some EXCITING things!

piCture pOlish
My first stamping attempt EVER
... piCture pOlish!!

I recently won a piCture pOlish giveaway from Alina's blog! After I woke up from my excited fainting spell, I had to decide what polishes I wanted. One choice was easy: WISTERIA! And that's what I'm showing you in today's mani.

Wisteria is a gorgeous vivid purple color. If I owned Illamasqua Jo'mina, I'd probably tell you here about how similar they are to each other. But alas, I do not. So no comparisons for you from this girl! You'll have to settle for my educated guess: that they are pretty darn similar.

The consistency of Wisteria was great. It was thick so it covered really nicely, but it wasn't gloopy or hard to work with in the slightest. I didn't get any weird globs or bubbles in the polish at all. Great, smooth, creamy finish.

Okay, now let me tell you a little story in the third person about stamping.

Once upon a time there was a nail blogger named Sarah. She loved all of the stamping that she had seen from other bloggers. So she bought the first Bundle Monster set on Amazon. She eagerly awaited its arrival, and when it finally arrived she tried to use it right away!

Her attempt was a massive failure. She was crushed! She had read the FAQs and everything! Why wasn't it working? She tried a few more times, only to keep failing, and eventually abandoned her stamping set for a few weeks.

Then she decided to try buying some other polishes that have been said to work great for stamping. Among those polishes was Wet N Wild Wild Shine in Black Creme. She filed her stamper a bit more with a coarser file. To her amazement, she finally could stamp! Her dog Chowder rejoiced, if by rejoiced you mean that he couldn't care less.

So yeah, that's my stamping story. Lots of failure leading up to a simple polish switch, and now it works great. Other polishes that work well for stamping include Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Whirlwind White and most metallic polishes, like the Color Club Foiled Collection (thanks to Rebecca for this information).

This stamp is from the first Bundle Monster set, plate BM17.

I know it's not the cleanest or straightest stamping attempt, but I don't think it's too bad for my first try! It has been suggested that I should not have chosen a French design for my first stamp mani but I liked this one so much that I went for it anyway. I REGRET NOTHING! :)

And really, it looks much neater from arm's length.

I think I'm a pretty fast learner so hopefully my stamping will improve even further pretty quickly! And keep an eye out for my other two piCture pOlishes in the future!

Ozotic 506

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Y'all ready for this? (Cue Jock Jamz)

Today I've got Ozotic 506 to share with you. Ozotic is an Australian line of polishes that is well known for their multichromes. This one, 506, is a blue to purple (to copper, at extreme angles) multichrome, and it is a stunner. **

For this mani, I put two coats of 506 over one coat of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Most multichromes/duochromes should be layered over dark colors to make their true magic shine.

This polish is so multifaceted that I took about a billion pictures for you to check out. Let the pic spam commence!

The polish appears blue in most lights and at direct angles, with faint purple tinting around the edges, as shown in this next photo.

Then, as soon as you tilt your nails to a bit of an angle the purple blooms into view!

It's oh so yummy.

Here's what the polish looks like with flash. This is also what it looks like under direct, bright lighting. In these circumstances, you can see a lot of sparkle, and the polish looks decidedly aqua.

506 went on like a dream. Two thin, easy coats, no lumps, no bumps. Topped it with Poshe topcoat and that was it.

Look how vibrant it is. I just... I dunno what to say about it! It's a dream!

I purchased 506 from Stephanie at http://packerlacquer.blogspot.com -- you can contact her there if you are interested!

** In fact, it is such a stunner that I made it my new blog header! I hope you guys like the new layout, and hopefully I will get another post up soon so that my most recent post doesn't match my header for too long. ;)

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

2011-11-06T16:14:00.001-07:00

Today's manicure features' Lynnderella's Gotta Love Brains, a polish from her Early Halloween line of 2011!

Gotta Love Brains is a glitter bonanza! The base is a light grayish color - very sheer - so I layered this on top of China Glaze Sea Spray. The polish has square glitter, small hex glitter, medium hex glitter, microglitter, and OCCASIONALLY you'll get a huge piece of JUMBO hex glitter (none made it on to my nails in this particular mani). In addition to the tons of shapes, the glitters can be purple, blue, pink, and silver.

This is two coats of Sea Spray and three coats of GLB. Gotta Love Brains went on more sparsely than I expected it to from looking at it in the bottle. It's okay though - the glitter barely gave me any issues other than that, so I can't really complain!

I think Gotta Love Brains was one of the more unique polishes in her Early Halloween collection, and I'm glad I picked it up along with Connect the Dots.

Here's a more sunlight-y pic of the manicure. I've been wearing this for about two days now and no sign of chipping! Hooray for that!

Lynnderella's current lines of polishes can be purchased at her blog. Her order periods are only for very brief periods of time though, so keep a close eye on it if you are interested in making a purchase.

Zoya Renee - Palate Cleanser!

2011-11-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday dear readers! I hope you are having a fantastic day.

Last night I was trying to decide what to do with my nails for the day. I tried a bunch of layering combinations on a nail wheel, but nothing was speaking to me. I was looking through my drawers at my untried polishes, and came across the beautiful Zoya Renee. This first photo is the most color accurate.

I decided that I wanted to wear it! My mind immediately started thinking about what I could put on top of it. But then, I thought to myself, "STOP." Just leave well enough alone! So I put it on by itself, topped it with topcoat, and that was that.

Zoya Renee is a creme polish from the La-Di-Da collection of 2009. It's a summer polish, but I say to hell with seasonal rules, because I'm gonna wear what I want to wear when I want to wear it! :) It's a pink neon with a touch of coral in it. Very pretty. I know it doesn't look so neon in these pics, but it does appear much brighter in sunlight.

I have had shrinkage problems with Zoya in the past. I thought it was my topcoat but it still shrank after I switched topcoats... however I have discovered that wrapping your tips can fix that problem. Ever since I started doing that, all the shrinking stopped! Hooray!

Wearing just a simple creme polish on my nails after so many nail art/glitter manicures lately has been such a wonderful breath of fresh air! My friend Kimberly described it as a palate cleanser, and she absolutely hit the nail on the head.

Sheep Nail Art (+ Tutorial)

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning dearies. Today I have a request post from a reader! I was asked by Shannon G. on the Chalkboard Nails Facebook page if I could do a sheep design. I thought it was a really cute idea and so I told her I would do my best! I designed these to be uber cute. I think I succeeded! These nails remind me of the fat marshmallow ghosts. Perhaps they are cousins?

And as an extra bonus, I made a tutorial for this manicure! Complete with my (now signature) homemade Photoshop graphics and all! I hope you like this, and, as always, if you follow this tutorial, make sure you come back and show me, or post it to the CN Facebook page!

What you will need:

Base and topcoat of your choice (CND Stickey and Poshe)
A polish for your base color - I suggest green as it mimics grass (Sally Hansen Going Green)
Polishes in white (China Glaze White On White), black (China Glaze Liquid Leather), pink (OPI Sparrow Me the Drama), and gray (Ulta Smoke Screen)
A small nail art brush
A dotting tool with a large and small end, or other items to create dots (toothpick, end of a bobby pin, etc)

Paint your nails with your base coat of choice. Let dry, and add your "grass" color to your nails. Let dry.
Dot a few drops of your black polish on to a piece of wax paper. Using your nail art brush, pick up some of the black and paint on your sheepie's legs.
Place some white polish on a new section of your wax paper workspace. With the large end of your dotting tool, pick up some of the white polish and place large dots overlapping in a circular form. This will form the outside of your sheep, so you can make the "curls" tighter or looser as you see fit.
Fill in the white circle with more white polish. I just used the same end of my dotting tool to do this.
Using the small end of your dotting tool, add two small black eyes to the center of your white fluffy sheep body. You may have to add a few more drops of black to your wax paper workspace, as the black you used for the legs has probably dried by now.
Place some of your pink polish on your wax paper, and using your small nail art brush, add the nose markings to your sheep. I made a very wide "V" shape first and then drew the line straight downward from the middle of the "V" second. When you are finished, clean off your nail art brush as we will be using it for the gray in the next step.
Place some of your gray polish on your wax paper. Using your small nail art brush, paint on some gray ears next to (and just a touch above) the eye dots you made.
Let your nails dry for a bit to prevent topcoat smearing. Clean up your cuticles at this time if necessary, then top with your favorite topcoat and you're done!

Let's franken! Inspired by Butter London's The Black Knight

2011-10-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hello dear readers! Today's post is a doozy. VERY pic heavy! So I'm gonna be a party pooper and put this post under a jump. SO SORRY! Get prepared and start heatin' up your high speed internet!

Have you ever frankened before? It's the process of combining polishes or polishes and pigments to make "frankenpolishes." When Butter London's "The Black Knight" came out, a few of my Facebook polish friends decided they would try to dupe it -- on the cheap! I have followed both of their recipes to the best of my ability and thought I'd share the processes and outcomes for both.

The geniuses behind these two polishes? Jessica from Hello, Polish! and Laurie N. (no blog)!

Franken A by Jessica, Franken B by Laurie

Franken A, Franken B; slight blur for better color effect

Hit the jump to discover the recipes for each, and see how these polishes look on my nails!

Franken A: By Jessica of Hello, Polish!

This franken starts out with only two ingredients! Sinful Colors Frenzy and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

Pour out a little less than a fourth of the Sinful Colors Frenzy. If you have an empty polish bottle lying around, pour it into that, and save the rest to franken with later! Fill the empty space that you created in the Sinful Colors bottle with some Liquid Leather. Shake it up like CRAZY! Shake it till your arms fall off!

You're done! Easy, right?

Here's Jessica's recipe on my nails.

And here are some photos from Jessica herself from her bottle!

1, 2, and 3 coats

Franken B: By Laurie N.

Laurie's franken has a few more ingredients, but nothing too complicated! I'm sure you guys can handle it. You'll need a black (China Glaze Liquid Leather), Wet N Wild Wild Shine in Sparked, LA Colors Jewel Tone, and a loose scattered holo glitter (I'm using the Fantasy Makers Confetti glitter by Wet N Wild that was part of their Halloween line -- if you can't find that, Laurie used a loose holo glitter by Coastal Scents).

For this one, I frankened into the China Glaze bottle because it was almost empty. Basically though, if you are frankening into the LA Colors bottle, you should empty out about a third of it.

Add in a touch of the Wet N Wild Sparked. You don't need much of this! A little bit goes a long way. Then, add in some of the loose holo glitter. You can use a drinking straw cut into a shovel to scoop it in to your franken. I used two little straw scoops worth of the holo glitter for mine, but I think I went a little overboard! Laurie was much more conservative with her holo glitter. It's just a different effect -- up to you! Then, fill up the rest of the bottle with your black.

This one will need a lot of shaking because of all of the loose dry glitter. So shake shake shake shake shake shake. And then shake some more. Think you're done? Nope. Keep shaking.

Here's how it looks on my nails! I took these photos before I cut my nails, can you tell? ;)

And here are Laurie's photos of her version, with the more sparse holo glitter - I think that her version looks closer to the actual Black Knight than mine does!

I'm very much in love with both of these polishes! They each bring something different but uniquely beautiful. I hope you enjoyed these recipes from these two lovely ladies, and give them a shout if you try either of their formulas!

Snow Globe Glitter

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So sorry I haven't had a post in a few days, I have had a very busy and fun Halloween weekend! Today's post is just a quick NOTD. I got China Glaze's Snow Globe this weekend on a little haul excursion. It's from the new winter collection, called Let It Snow! The store that I got it from only had one left, and I of course snatched it right up.

It's a super gorgeous iridescent glitter polish in a clear base. It has large and small hex pieces. There are so many different colors in this, too! Pink, orange, blue, dark blue, aqua...

I wasn't sure what to do with it, though! Should I put it over a lighter color, a darker color, matte, shiny... there were too many choices! I tried a few combinations out on a nail wheel and ultimately decided on this.

Yes, I cut down my nails this weekend, too! :)

I started with a base of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Then I added one coat of Snow Globe (yes, it's this dense in one coat), and finished off the mani with a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic to make the nails matte.

The only thing that I don't love about this manicure is that putting the glitter over black really makes it lose its delicate quality. It's a trade off though, because the bright colors of this glitter really pop over black.

Did you make it this far? Since I don't have many photos for today's post, I'm including a shot of me in my Halloween costume! I was a Day of the Dead senorita. My roommate Dayna of Light and Sugar did my makeup, and I felt so fabulous. She did a great job!

I spy my Helmer filled with polish in the background!

Glistening Spiderwebs

2011-10-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Another morning post, I am on FIRE!

I've got some more Halloween goodness for you today. This is just a simple little design, nothing complicated. I'm sure you've seen a million and one spiderweb designs this season, but TOO BAD! Now you have to look at mine!

For this design I started with a base of two coats of Zoya Petra. It's a really nice smoky gray purpley brownish color. I had a hard time photographing this color, because, SURPRISE, it's a purple. My camera pretty much explodes at the sight of a purple. Trust me though, it's great! I won this polish as part of a prize package for a nail art contest held by Courteney at An Amateur's Nail Obsession. I was so thankful to have won and want to thank Courteney for hosting it!

Then I took a Kiss Nail Art Striper in a gold glitter and painted on the webs. I made the vertical lines first and then the little drapey lines last. The striper was great. I was initially worried about the glitter being too sparse to be usable, but it went on so dense. I only used one stripe for each of the lines in these webs. Faboosh. The brush held the polish awesomely, too. I have tried a Sinful Colors striper before and was not thrilled with it, but this brand was way different!

Finish it off with a little topcoat (I used Poshe this time) and you're done! EASY.

There's not much more to say about this! It looks fun and sparkly from afar, almost like plaid if you squint. It was quick too, which is always a plus.

If you'd like to check out some more spiderweb manicures, Jacki from Adventures in Acetone has done a really nice one in a bit of a different style than mine, and Carly from Lacquered Lover made a cute little webby design. Check 'em out!

Halloween Needle Marbling

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! Can you believe I'm getting a post out in the morning? Me neither!

Today I am showing you a new technique for me. It's called needle marbling or needle dragging, and it is harder than it looks! I used this YouTube tutorial for instruction, but it does take a lot of trial and error to get it down. Liquid Jelly also has a different type of needle marble tutorial that you should check out as well.

Of course, I had to make it Halloween appropriate!

So basically this involves putting on really thick layers of polish in stripes, and then dragging a needle lightly through them to create this tie-dye effect. Seems easy, right? Well, I had some troubles, including bald spots, colors that wouldn't drag, flooded cuticles, wobbly lines... it goes on. But I'm pretty pleased with the effect, overall!

I used OPI Skull and Glossbones, OPI Funky Dunkey, and OPI Who the Shrek Are You. I am really getting a lot of mileage out of these Shrek polishes, aren't I?

I think I would do a better job with this if I were to try it again. I think this is truly a "practice makes perfect" technique. Have you guys tried this before, and for those of you who have, did you have an easier time with this method?

I swear I must have redone my ring finger at least 8 times, haha... O_O

Bat Nails!

2011-10-25T17:42:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it? I finally got around to doing a set of bat nails! I had been intending to do bats for a while now but everything that I tried just was not working with me. Finally, I came up with this mani idea. It's a bit of a deviation from a standard Halloween bat manicure, but I dig it. I hope you do too.

For these nails I started with a base of OPI Skull and Glossbones. I used two coats of that. Then I added on two coats of China Glaze Ghoulish Glow.

Then, with a small striper brush, I painted on the wings in China Glaze Street Chic. I freehanded them. Then I added on the white strips of ... bones? cartilage? tendons? whatever those things are made of... in China Glaze White On White. I added the black shading randomly in China Glaze Liquid Leather, and then roughly painted on a tiny bit more brown over the white strips to make them look less clean. The eyes were done in the same colors.

THEN, to be sassy, I added another layer of Ghoulish Glow over all of the white areas.

Let's see how it looks in the spooky darkness...

The addition of glow in the dark to my bat mani was actually a request by a reader on my blog Facebook page! Thanks Karlee A. for the great suggestion, the glow really makes this unique!

Wet N Wild Ice Baby Collection: Back Alley Deals

2011-10-24T22:40:00.003-07:00

Super late post! I am breaking all the rules!

I have been so busy lately with my job and with some freelance projects that I have gotten a bit behind with my nail posts! Here is today's mani. I took these pictures a bit later in the day so unfortunately they are not up to my usual quality standards, you'll have to forgive me! ;)

Here is Wet N Wild's Back Alley Deals from the new Color Icon Ice Baby collection. I layered two coats of BAD (what a great acronym) over one coat of OPI Funky Dunkey. I don't think it would be hard to achieve full opacity with this glitter polish though. It was a breeze to apply, and went on SO dense.

The colors were hard to capture on this mani, but I think I did a pretty good job in the end! The glitter is TINY purple glitter with small hex magenta glitter. I have heard that it is a dupe for Nails, Inc. Bloomsbury Square!

This glitter is mega hungry. I used two coats of topcoat and the mani still came out bumpy when it was totally dry. Hungry glitter isn't a dealbreaker for me though, so I still love this polish!

I am thrilled with the way this turned out and I am really looking forward to trying out more of this collection!

Festive Green Gradient

2011-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you follow CN on Facebook, you may have read that I was planning on doing bat nail art for today's manicure. What I ended up with has no bats! And is notably simpler!

I was going to use this as the start of my bat mani, but then I got this far and thought, "Hey, I really like this! I should just stop now." So I did. I am quite content with this.

The green and black combo still reads as Halloween appropriate to me.

Only two colors were used for this manicure: Color Club Twiggie and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

The process is pretty simple, I made this gradient with the triangle makeup sponge method. First, paint your nails with your base coat and base color (Twiggie, in this case). Give it some time to dry, or use a quick dry topcoat.

Put some of your other gradient color on a piece of wax paper. Only work with a few drops at a time, I don't want you to waste polish! Take a triangle makeup sponge and tear a little hunk off of it. Dab the textured, ripped edge into the second polish, and then dab the sponge onto the wax paper a bit to remove the excess polish. Start at your tips and sponge color downward. As the polish starts to run out on your sponge, the color will get lighter and fade (helping you create a gradient)! Repeat the sponging a few times until enough color has built up. Topcoat and you're done! Still confused? Rebecca has a great gradient tutorial that you can check out here.

Color Club Twiggie is part of the Poptastic collection. The Poptastic set can still be found at some Ross stores, even though they have more recent sets out now. Twiggie looks like it is glowing in dim light! It is not glow in the dark though, unfortunately.

Gradient manis look even more impressive when viewed at a distance. If you squint or blur your vision while you look at these pics, you can kind of get an idea of how they look at a distance. Gradients are really stunning AND easy!

Hope you like these! Halloween is sneaking up on us! Does anyone have any special Halloween day manis planned? Or exciting costumes they want to share?