Sally Hansen Nail Strips - Sound Check

This week was supposed to be a "dry marble" manicure.

Now, I've done a water marble and a needle marble ... so I had to figure out what the heck a dry marble was.
Well, it seems pretty vague - here are the examples I found when I googled it:

• the same thing as a needle marble (most common)
• a needle marble done on plastic, that you then peel and stick to your nails
• painting polish onto a flat surface, then using a nail stamp to apply it to your nails
• dipping scrunched up saran wrap into nail polish and dabbing it on to your nails
• doing a water marble that you lift flat using plastic ... then you peel and stick to your nails (so you don't have to use so much polish I guess?)

After seeing that, I decided to just change the theme. 

I figured why not give the Sally Hansen Nail Strips a try, since I've never used them before. (and it's similar to the peel and stick ones above ... right?)

I found some on sale, I think from the Avril Lavigne line - it's called "Sound Check" and it's a black and yellow checkerboard pattern. Fun!

For some reason, it looks like there is a smudge on my pinkie, but I can't see it in person. I did get a little nick in the index finger near the cuticle and a teeny fold at the tip of my middle finger.
They were easy to apply - just follow the included instructions and you're good to go!
They're supposed to last 10 days, I will probably remove them before that, but I'll try to remember to take a photo right before I remove them to show you how they've worn.

Vintage Manicure

I removed my magnetic polish, and was just going to leave my nails bare for a couple of days ... but well ... I got bored, so nail polish happened.

I decided to do a vintage manicure - it was on the 52 week challenge list, but it was before I jumped in.

I've kind of always wanted to try doing one. In the 1940's, one of the styles was to leave the moon and the tip unpainted. Kind of odd looking, but it was interesting to try!

I used the image from this website as my guide. Instead of following the last step, I just made sure to create an edge that ended before my nail tip. I always use a basecoat to prevent staining, so wiping off the polish wouldn't work well.

Anyways, here is the manicure -  I went with OPI Comet Loves Cupid, one of my mini polishes, because it was red and it had a smaller brush.

Not bothering to clean this one up because it's coming off probably tomorrow.
I'm going on vacation, so I'm going to be trying out Sally Hansen Nail Strips for the first time ...

52 Week Challenge - Metallic/Magnetic

I wanted to try something combining metallic and magnetic polishes - like a half moon or something.
I tried it and it really, really didn't work.

So, here is a plain old magnetic manicure - easy and pretty.

I like putting a matching colour underneath the magnetic polish. Here I used Color Club Artsy Crafty - a dark green creme.
I find that using the magnetic polishes on their own can be a bit hit and miss - Most of them tell you to do a first coat, let it dry and then do a second coat that you use the magnet on. This seems to result in dull lines. The base polish can sometimes be pretty sheer, so you can see the metallic underneath.
Whenever I've used a regular polish in a matching dark shade (or even a black polish) it has given me a lot of definition between the lines.

The magnetic polish I used for this one is Claire's Magnetix, using the magnet provided.
The Claire's Magnetix is actually a really good polish. The brush is wide and flat - I could do my fingers in one swipe and my thumb in two. The polish is smooth, and the magnet is strong. I held the magnet over the wet polish for 10 seconds and it pulled the polish into super tight lines which spread out slowly as the polish dried.

I don't use them often, but I really love magnetic polishes.
I think I'd like to pick up some more colours if I can find them at a reasonable price. I don't like spending a lot, and magnetic polishes are usually $9 or more here in Canada.

Autumn Ruffian

I decided that I wanted to try a ruffian manicure, and the colours were an inspired by a conversation with a friend about how great orange and purple look together for autumn.

I did two coats of Essence Break Through - I have an older bottle, so it's a bright purple with a subtle shimmer. I understand the newer bottles are just a purple creme. It's really pretty! I did get some dragging at the top of the nail, but otherwise, it went on really well.

Then, starting a little lower down, I added two coats of NYC Pumpkin, an orange shimmer. I love this one - I really never thought I'd like orange nail polish, but this is great!

Ta-da! Ruffian manicure.

I think if you want something easy and pretty, this is something you should try.
Learn how to do this, a French manicure and a half-moon manicure, and you can create so many pretty looks.

52 Week Challenge - Patchwork

When I did a google search for patchwork manicures, two styles came up.
One that looks like a patchwork quilt, and another that just involves taping at angles.

I went with the quilt one and used the tutorial over at Kayla Shevonne's blog - easy to follow, great photos.

I skipped the white base step, because I was going to be doing greyed tones, and I didn't think it would help (if I were doing brights, I would definitely add it though)


I've been really bad about cleanup lately - this one is probably the worst! The black detail polish got everywhere (it was blobby and I accidentally got some on a finger, and it went downhill from there ...), so after spending the time getting that off and re-doing the ruined nails, I just really didn't want to spend any more time on it.
The topcoat caused the black to streak (worse on my other hand). Then, I bumped my middle finger on something and the polish rippled at the tip.

I love the look of this manicure, and it was super easy to do ... but this one was a bit disasterous.

I used my Claire's black detail polish and drew on the pattern (Kayla's worked really well, so I went with it - eep!). Since my nails are short, the patches weren't very square.
I elected to go with just my thumb and ring finger - I really seem to like doing the feature nails lately - don't know what it is!

The colours I chose were OPI You Don't Know Jacques, OPI Steady as She Rose and OPI Stranger Tides. I think the You Don't Know Jacques was a little too dark, so if I were to do this combo again, I'd pick a lighter colour. It still worked though - the greyed down colours are all pretty together.
I dabbed the polishes into the patchwork pattern, working one colour at a time. I ended up doing two coats of each.

Once the patches were dry, I went back in with the detail polish, re-drew the black lines and added "stitches"

For my other fingers, I just did two - three coats of each polish (index was Stranger Tides, middle was Steady as She Rose and pinkie was You Don't Know Jacques)

This week was actually supposed to be "Remember September 11th" or somesuch thing. I really couldn't bring myself to do something like that on my nails because a) I'm Canadian and b) I think it's a bit tacky.

Next week is magnetic or metallic ... I think I'm going to go with magnetic since I haven't done one in a while. Maybe I'll add metallic accents? We'll see!

52 Week Challenge - Tape

This one was super easy.
I just picked two contrasting colours: Sally Hansen Mello Yellow and Revlon Stormy Skies.

I did 2 coats of the yellow, and waited for it to dry. I actually ended up waiting overnight, to do most of my nails because after I taped and painted my thumb and index finger, we had to go out - I thought I had more time! Waiting for it to dry (just touch your nails together, if they don't stick, it's dry), then waiting for another 5 minutes is pretty good advice.
Yellows are always a bit streaky, but since I was going to be mostly painting over this one, I could get away with two coats.

Then I took some plain old Scotch Tape, stuck it to the back of my hand and pulled it off (this reduces the stickyness so it's less likely to pull off your polish). Then I cut it into thin wedges and applied them to my nails.

Once that was all ready to go, I painted on a thick layer of the Revlon Stormy Skies. This is a brown-grey that I absolutely love.

I let it dry enough that it wasn't going to move anywhere, but was still wet (half a minute?) then I peeled off all the tape.

I've been getting a lot of comments on this one this week - the colours contrast really well, but don't clash.
I would definitely do this one again.

52 Week Challenge - Cupcake Manicure

I wanted to try a couple of things with this manicure ...

I managed to find a bottle of Sinful Colors Mint Apple, and Sinful Colors was on sale. I cannot believe that this polish is $6 in Canada and $2 in the US. (I paid $3 for this bottle). I know things are usually more expensive up here, but 3 times the price is a bit silly.
Aaanyways ... this is a gorgeous mint green with a lovely shimmer to it. I immediately thought of it when I saw the cupcake manicure theme.

I also wanted to try out a glitter sandwich - it's where you do a sheer or "jelly" polish, add a layer of glitter, then another layer of the jelly polish.

So, here goes (please pardon my fingers - with the heat, my skin has been acting up, plus I cut my pinkie while I was making dinner last weekend):

I used Sinful Colors Mint Apple on my thumb, index, ring and half my middle fingers. 2 coats.
Once that was dry, on my thumb and middle fingers, I added some vertical stripes with Claire's Scented polish - Turquoise/Fruit Punch.

On my pinky, I used Sally Hansen Polar Bare - 2 coats. I did the same in a half-circle on my middle finger.
This is a super, super sheer white - after 1 coat, you couldn't really tell there was any colour to it, but 2 coats, and the white started to show.
After the white was dry, I added some blue/green/purple glitter polish from the Claire's Precious Metals collection.
Once that was dry, I topped it off with another coat of Polar Bare.

To top off the cupcake, I added a dot of OPI Comet Loves Cupid - I have a mini bottle from one of their mini box sets.

Topcoat, and done!
It's kinda cute!

Another double post

I really wasn't sure how the Galaxy manicure would turn out, and I've been busy this week, so I didn't actually get a chance to sit down and make an attempt until tonight.

I decided that while I was at it, I would do the "bling" manicure for next week. More on that later.

I could not believe how easy this was to do and how pretty it came out:

2 coats OPI Black Onyx.

Then I put a bit of Sally Hansen Pink Blink onto a palette (my temporary tape-on-a-lid palette!), and used the edge of a makeup sponge to dab it on in patches
I did the same thing with Sally Hansen HD in Laser - only this time I did it over my whole nail. It's too sheer to show up much, but it toned down the pink very nicely and added a nice bit of shimmer.
I went in with OPI Nice Color Eh? and dabbed it over the pink in smaller patches.
I finished the sponging off with Sally Hansen Heat Flash in the very centre of each nebula.

After it was sufficiently dry, I dabbed on a bit of Claire's Glitter topcoat for the stars.
Then topocat to smooth it all out and voila!

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Now ... the "bling" manicure. I bloody hate that word, and I'm really not into having raised things on my nails - so I skipped adding jewels.
Unfortunately, you can't see the sparkly / iridescence in the photo at all, but here's what I did instead:

I painted all my nails with Sally Hansen Heat Flash - 3 coats on all my nails except my ring finger, which received 2.

I obtained a few tiny vials of hex glitter when buying some cheap-o clear polish to use for a project. One of them is an iridescent coral, so I thought I'd try placing it on my ring finger to look like scales.

Heat Flash is a quick dry, so I didn't expect to get anywhere with that. I did a small amount of topcoat at the very top of my nail, and planned to do further small blotches as I placed the glitter. Well, the glitter was too small, the topcoat was drying too quickly,and I was too impatient, so I just slapped on some topcoat and dumped the glitter on top. I really knew I shouldn't have done that, but thankfully I didn't get much glitter outside of my workspace, and it was fairly easy to clean up. I honestly think I'm just going to chuck the rest of it in the garbage.

Anyways, I added one more coat of topcoat, then I went over it all with Essie Luxeffects Shine of the Times.
It resulted in a super shimmery iridescent feature nail.
Good Enough.


And yes, I totally cheated and have a galaxy manicure on my right-hand and the neon glitter on my left-hand.
Hah!

52 Week Challenge - Two Again

OK, I've been lazy again ... I did two manicures, took photos, but never bothered to upload them or post about them.

Bleh.

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Crackle Manicure:
I guess the person who made the challenge wanted to give people a bit of a break?

I had a lovely vision in mind for this one, but it REALLY didn't work.
I used Avon Golden Twilight (black with golden-bronze flecks) and topped it off with Icing by Claire's gold crackle polish ... what a mess! The Avon polish was very pretty. The crackle polish? It was thick and goopy - If you put on a thin coat, you could see brush strokes, and it didn't crackle well at all. If you put on a thick coat, it was a nice colour, but still didn't crackle well.

Here's what I did instead:

2 coats of Revlon Stormy Night

Random dark teal crackle polish that I've used once before. XOX Cosmetics colour #N72. It's a very odd polish, thick and goopy as well (I remember it being thinner before), but this one crackled pretty well. It smells like paint / permanent marker when you apply it, but afterward, it's a sweet almost floral scent.

OPI Topcoat to seal it all off and shine it up - I would have just left it matte to have that shiny / matte contrast, but when this particular crackle polish dries, it lightens as well - some of the areas where it went on thicker remained shiny and dark, so I figured the shine would help mask some of the stripes, and it did!

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Rainbow / Pride Manicure:
I moved this one to this weekend, because Vancouver's Pride Parade was on August 5th. I missed the parade, but I did wear it downtown afterward.

I was trying to figure out how to approach this one, and I saw someone with vertically striped rainbow nails somewhere (I'm pretty sure it was in one of the blogs I read, but I can't find it)

I thought it looked really cool, and it would give me the opportunity to do ROYGBV (yep, I left out the I)

I really didn't have the patience to do sponging this weekend, so I did a few thin coats, and overlapped the colours. I used cremes for the primary colours (red, yellow, blue) and shimmers for the secondary colours (orange, green, purple)

Colours are:
Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Venom
NYC Pumpkin
Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
Wet n Wild Craze Jade
Fascino Colour #47
Icing By Claire's KTDID

phew!
I'm sure it would look better with the sponging, but I think this is pretty cute as-is.

Next week is a Galaxy Manicure - another one that I'm a bit intimidated by, but I'm sure I'll make it happen.

52 Week Challenge - Water Marble

I actually gave my nails an entire week to breathe ... sort of.
I wore the black rock star manicure for a few days, and took it off on Monday when I posted the blog entry.
I used my Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener to see if it would make any difference. My nails didn't peel any further, so I guess that's good.

Anyways, super early post!

I spent a long time looking at my collection of polishes to find which colours I wanted to use on my water marble.

Here is what I went with:
OPI Steady as She Rose - dusty pink with a hint of lavender. I used it with my needle marble manicure.
Icing by Claires KTDID - metallic purple / maroon shade.
Sally Hansen Golden-I - gold glitter polish (super dense)

I started with 2 coats of Steady as She Rose over top of my Quo by ORLY rubberized basecoat.

I used Brita filtered water brought to room temperature - I had grabbed a couple of those little paper cups they give you at takeout sushi places for your soy sauce.
I taped my fingers around my nails so cleanup would be easier.

Into the water, I added 1 drop of my Zoya white - just to get started without wasting my colours.
Then I did 1 drop each Steady as She Rose, KTDID, Golden-I, and a final drop of Steady as She Rose to create a nice "bullseye"

I dragged a toothpick through the polish to create a design.
Once I was happy with the design, I lowered my finger in, and used a toothpick to pick up all the excess polish on the surface of the water.

I smudged my pinky a bit, which sucks, but I didn't really want to take it off and do it again. Cleanup was a bit of a pain - the gold is not easy to get off (you can see it's still a little messy), but I couldn't imagine what it would be like without the tape!

Pretty and surprisingly easy! I don't think I'd do it often, but for a special occasion? Definitely.