Zoya Katherine and Wet n Wild The Gold and the Beautiful

I hope you are enjoying your Friday! I have what I discovered to be a popular manicure to share with you today. I wore this for two days and had an usually large amount of people compliment me on it. Some actually reaching to grab my hand to get a better look.

Zoya Katherine is a sheer eggplant jelly. It starts off very sheer and light colored. As you build it, it grows darker and more opaque with each coat. Four coats to reach opacity for me. In person, there is no visible nail line, completely opaque. This polish is a dream to work with. It does not look or feel thick, even after four coats. Given it is a sheer build-able jelly, the layering possibles are endless.

Wet n Wild The Gold and the Beautiful is a clear base filled with small (almost micro) gold glitter flakes. I absolutely love this polish as a glitter gradient! I am so happy I grabbed it to use. It is perfection. It easily gives solid tips, while also making it easy to fade the glitter out.

I originally planned to wear Katherine alone. I painted it on with a fast dry top coat as my last step. However, I did not give it ample time to dry. I ended up with a few exposed tips from push back, a couple of dents, and smudges. All toward the tip of my nails. I did not want to wear a mangled mani to work, but did not want to take Katherine off either. A glitter gradient was my solution. Before work, I quickly sponged The Gold and the Beautiful on. It saved my manicure and turned out so lovely that I am glad I messed up my polish.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Trick or Treat

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! One day closer to Halloween! I have another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge. Today is treat or treat.

When I think of trick or treating, candy comes to mind first. And the first Halloween candy I think of is always candy corn. So I decided on a candy corn gradient. Fun, easy, and just screams candy corn.

I started with a coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. Then I painted wide stripes of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, NYC Times Square Tangerine, and Super Star! onto a makeup sponge. Gradients are one of the easiest nail art techniques. The only hard part is the cleanup if you end up with too much polish on your skin.

I looked yesterday at some of my nail art and realized that an Asian site had stolen one of my images. They very badly tried to erase my watermark and then added their own. I've been considering adding a watermark  closer to the nail, something that cannot be cropped out and is hard to photoshop out. Let me know what you think of the new watermark.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Gradient

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! I have another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge to share with you. Today is gradient. 

I wanted something without orange or black, but still Halloween-ish. So I went with green and purple. After   base coat of white, I sponged on a gradient of Kleancolor Neon Green and Beauty UK Electric Purple. Little more sheer than I wanted, but I still like it.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Bats

I hope you are enjoying your Friday! Another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge is here. Today is bats.

I took inspiration from a gorgeous design done by Macabre Manicures. For my gradient background, I started with Sally Hansen Diamond as a base. Then sponged Sinful Colors Midnight Blue heavily on the tips and lighter as I went almost all the way to the cuticle. I love how little bits of the holo show through the blue. Then with Sinful Colors Black on Black, plate BM13, and KKCenterHK plate m80, I stamped on two different bat images.

Sparkling Tips

I hope you are enjoying you're Friday! I seem to be solving all my polish related wear issues with glitter lately. I didn't have time to change my nails after wearing Zoya Skylar, so I did a glitter gradient to the tips. It freshened up the look and hid any tip wear. I wish I had decent pictures of right after it was done. I made the mistake of taking them in the kitchen. The lighting made my skin appear yellow and threw off polish color accuracy. I did not notice this until I had already taken my nails through a hard day. So the tip wear is very noticeable.

Despite the wear, I wanted to post them. It was such a sparkly combination. I literally got distracted by my own nails reflection in my laptop screen as I hit a key trying to wake it up from hibernation. 

Over Zoya Skylar, I did a quick glitter gradient with Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe. It is a clear base with light green and holo glitter. The light green complimented the steel blue Skylar rather well in person.

Skylar is part of the Zoya True Collection and retails for $8 on their website. Beyond the Mistletoe is part of the Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross.  

Bright Gradient

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! Today, I have a bright fun combination to show you. I wanted some cheer me up nails, so I decided to do a bright color and holo glitter.

I started with Color Club Limelight, a bright green creme, as my base. The application is great. All the brightness of a neon without needing to layer it over white. It was opaque in two coats. Once it was mostly dry, I sponged Color Club Golden Coast on the tips. I love Golden Coast. Its a clear base with with small gold and holo glitter.

I purchased a small bottle of Seche Vite to see how it compares to my Poshe top coat. I wore this manicure for truck day at work. We are talking eight hours of unloading boxes, opening boxes, stocking shelves, and whatnot. It takes a toll on my nail polish. Yesterday I only had two tiny chips. Normally I would have major tip wear and chips. I'm going to test it with another polish later and see if it was a fluke.

Fingers retail for $2 or 3/$5 at Five Below. Cosmetic Arts retail for $2 at Ross (I'm unsure where else they are sold, if anywhere else).

Matte Tinted Glitter Gradient

I hope you're enjoying your Monday! Today I have another manicure for Monkey See Monkey Do Monday. Basically you take inspiration from or recreate a mani done by someone else. 

I was inspired by this mani done by Ommorphia Beauty Bar. I used completely different polishes, but achieved a very similar effect. I used one coat of OPI Lincoln Park After Dark as my base. Next I sponged OPI Rainbow Connection on about two-thirds of my nails starting at the cuticle. To give the tint, I did one coat of OPI Houston We Have a Purple, a sheer jelly. Finally to give make my design a matte finish, I used Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love. 

I posted pictures of both matte and shiny. I love the way adding the matte top coat makes the glitter pop.

OPI retails for $8.50 at Ulta and Target, also various places online. 

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amber Did It

Angelina's Nails & More

Beauty Bumbles

Dressed Up Digits

Fancy Phalanges

Fanning the Fumes

Geeky Owl

Gnarly Gnails

Jen's Painted Tips

Kawaiinize Your World

LeSamowen

Macabre Manicures

Maquiclub Girl

Nail Polish is my Crack

PishPosh and Polish

Polish Crazed

Polish Lover

Tales of Knit and Nails

The Clockwise Nail Polish

The Crumpet

The Manicured Monkey

The (mis)Adventures of a Wanna Be Martha

Toxic Vanity

Double Gradient

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! This week's theme on PAA for the Monday Nail Art Challenge is Sponging. That theme instantly brings gradients to mind for me. I originally intended to have a simple three color design, but it did not turn out the way I intended, so glitter was added.

I started with one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. Using a sponge, I created a gradient with NYC Times Square Tangerine, Wet n Wild Red Red, and Julep Helena. The orange and red blended very well together, but the purple sponged on horribly. It was patchy and did not blend. I have not used Helena for sponging before, so I'm unsure if it was to blame or not.

I put too much time in to just start over, so I saved the design by sponging Love & Beauty Black Knight onto the tips. A creme gradient and and a glitter gradient. A double gradient.

Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel retails for $1 at Walmart, Riteaid, and Family Dollar. Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. Julep retails for $14 at Julep and Sephora. Love & Beauty retails for $2.80 at Forever21, online and in store.

Sugar Plum Fairies

I hope you're enjoying your Monday! I have another manicure to show you for Monkey See, Monkey Do. The challenge just started last week. Its a nail challenge for Monday (though mine will be on Tuesday since I already do one for Mondays) where we take inspiration from or recreate a mani done by someone else. Anything you see on blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, or anywhere else online. 

I was inspired by a lovely design I saw on Pinterest by Milily. For my base, I did two coats of Cosmetic Arts In Bloom. Its a very light lilac creme with great application. For the tips, I sponged on Color Club Sugarplum Fairy. I love this glitter so much. It is a clear base packed with light lilac and holo glitter. I've found that for glitter, it is best to paint the polish on the sponge.

Cosmetic Arts retail for $2 at Ross (I'm unsure where else they are sold, if anywhere else). Sugarplum Fairy is part of the Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross.  

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amber Did It

Angelina's Nails & More

Beauty Bumbles

Dressed Up Digits

Fancy Phalanges

Fanning the Fumes

Geeky Owl

Gnarly Gnails

Jen's Painted Tips

Kawaiinize Your World

LeSamowen

Macabre Manicures

Maquiclub Girl

Nail Polish is my Crack

PishPosh and Polish

Polish Crazed

Polish Lover

Tales of Knit and Nails

The Clockwise Nail Polish

The Crumpet

The Manicured Monkey

The (mis)Adventures of a Wanna Be Martha

Toxic Vanity

Tipped with Glitter

I hope you're enjoying your Tuesday! I'm starting a new weekly challenge called Monkey See, Monkey Do. Its a nail challenge for Monday (though mine will be on Tuesday since I already do one for Mondays) where we take inspiration from or recreate a mani done by someone else. Anything you see on blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, or anywhere else online. 

I was inspired by this gorgeous mani I saw on Pinterest from The Nailasaurus. I would have never thought to pair gray and glitter together. I'm not even a gray fan. I have this polish (my only gray) for nail art. For my nails, I started with a base of Julep Dendrie. Its a lovely gray creme with great application and is opaque in two coats. Next I sponged on Jordana Gemstones. I've found that for glitter, it is best to paint the polish on the sponge. I absolutely love this combination. Its given me a whole new appreciation for gray polish. I actually love it. Now I don't have any colors I won't wear. I only shied away from brown and gray.

Julep retails for $14 at Julep and Sephora. Jordana Specialty Glitters retail for $3 at Jordana and Kmart

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amber Did It
Angelina's Nails & More
Beauty Bumbles
Dressed Up Digits
Fancy Phalanges
Fanning the Fumes
Geeky Owl
Gnarly Gnails
Jen's Painted Tips
Kawaiinize Your World
LeSamowen
Macabre Manicures
Maquiclub Girl
Nail Polish is my Crack
PishPosh and Polish
Polish Crazed
Polish Lover
Tales of Knit and Nails
The Clockwise Nail Polish
The Crumpet
The Manicured Monkey
The (mis)Adventures of a Wanna Be Martha
Toxic Vanity

Creative Layering

Its Monday again, so its time for another nail art challenge from Polish-aholics Anonymous. This week, we could pick between Franken/Indie and Creative Layering. I chose the latter.

For my creative layering, I used three different polishes. Two coats of Ulta Sun-sational as my yellow base. It is a lovely yellow creme with great application. Then I sponged on Pure Ice Rio and Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters. I wish Rio had blended a bit better, but otherwise I'm happy with how this turned out.

Ulta Nail Lacquer retails for $6 at Ulta. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Wet n Wild Fast Dry retail for $2-3 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website.

Colorful Gradient

Its Stamping Sunday! Two themes were neck and neck for winner. So, we could do either. Stamping over a gradient or using two stamps. I went with the former. I have been wanting to try a sponge gradient for awhile.

I was inspired by this blog post on Laynie Fingers. I did one thick coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. For my sponging, I used L.A. Colors Phenomena, Kleancolor Neon Green, and L.A. Colors Shock.  I love this technique! Automatic gradient. Now for the stamping. Using plate BM10 and Color Club Blue Topia, I stamped on little flowers. Since Blue Topia is a jelly, the petals are slightly faded. But I like that. Using a dotting tool and Super Star!, I dotted middles for each flower.

Retro Stars Rainbow Gradient

Its Stamping Sunday over at Adventures In Stamping on Facebook. This week is Stars. And tomorrow's Nail Art Challenge at Polish-aholics Anonymous is Gradient/Ombre. I had this vision of a rainbow gradient with black stars. My nails are not exactly what I imagined, but the design is growing on me.

It reminds me of a vintage tee where the edges of the images fade and become worn. I don't think this plate image was etched deep enough. I could not pick up the image in the same spots over and over.

Its a lot of color! I used Essie Bone Chilling, Zoya Pippa, Dahlia Orange, Love My Nails New Love, Color Club Poptastic, Julep Anne, Zoya Phoebe, and Sinful Colors Irish Green. I started with a coat of Bone Chilling then sponged on each of the other colors. Next I stamped the stars on using the BM21 plate and Sinful Colors Black on Black.

I really like how colorful this is!