Monster Blood 3.0

Ok, I've officially got a Problem. I just can't resist drip art in October. Halloween has the best nail art color combinations: rich blue purples, the full range of pumpkin oranges, shimmery blacks, sparkly golds, sassy greens, warm crimson...how do you choose? Drip manis let you play with lots of colors really easily, and something about them just says Halloween to me.

So I did two more this year to add to my collection of Halloweenie drips from last year and the year before. This year I started with a skittlet-I guess I got excited.

You'll recognize the green and red combo from my first Monster Blood design. It's Sinful Colors Happy Ending with NYC Crystal Couture in Ruby Queen. Happy Ending has a great gold shimmer, and I completely objectively think you need it in your collection. This time I added a new shade to the party: Broadway Nails Gel Strong in Black. This color will not satisfy the craving if you're looking for a solid black creme, but is still very much worth picking up. It's got a red shimmer that makes it special, and the application is very good in two coats.



Once I saw the full mani, I decided I liked the red and black best. Next thing I knew, it had transmogrified onto all of my nails. Spooky!

For the red, I started with one coat of Julep Catherine, a red-red jelly, to get Ruby Queen to "take" in fewer coats (you can get similar coverage in 3/4 coats of Ruby Queen alone). Then I doused it all in Out the Door topcoat for big time shine. While it's hard to see the red shimmer in Black in photos, you can spot it in the bottle shot pretty clearly.

I can't promise this will be my last drip of the season. What colors would you want to monster-mash up? What colors do you use for drip manis outside of the Halloween season?

Manis of the Week: Flakies Two Ways

Flakies keep coming in and out of style as a nail polish finish. My theory is that we hate wearing them because they lay bumpy and are notoriously poorly behaved, but then you see them and... "ooooh, pretty!" Iridescent sparkle bits are irresistible. I don't have a ton of flakies (see "lays bumpy, poorly behaved"), but I do have a favorite, a simple iridescent Avon topcoat that I found at a flea market. This week, I pulled it out twice, and got two completely different looks. Excuse my less than ideal photos this round- this topper proved to be tough to photograph, and I was ready to get this out to you!

First up, a look you might recognize: I did opal. Remember when I did that before? I don't blame you if you don't, it's been a long time. The process was similar though, I've just improved some of my fundamentals. For my base, I used Julep Janie, a milky white, instead of a stark white. I think going with something softer gave my recreation a more realistic look and let my highlight colors shine. Then I sponged a little Francine (green foil shimmer), Juliana (sheerish pink-orange shimmer), and Yiyi (soft purple holo jelly; all Julep), then topped with the flakie topper and one coat of Julep Desiree (gentle scattered holo topcoat). My other nails and the gold "frame" at the bottom are Sinful Colors Gold n' Roses.


For the second look, I went bright, layering the flakie topper and Desiree over Broadway Nails Matte Shine in Glamorous. Glamorous is a matte teal, and while it's not extraordinary, it's pretty enough, especially after you put some shine on it. But then I didn't stop. I added flakies, then holo glitter, then more flakies...pretty soon I had a super pretty, very poorly behaved mani with tons of depth. Even though the flakies on my opal mani are louder IRL, they're still much more subtle on the softer base than they are on the loud blue-green of Glamorous. This was not a subtle mani!

I've got to say, an iridescent flakie topper is worth the hunt. Sinful Colors Digital Dreams is one out now that's easy enough to find, but I passed on that one in favor of the more jagged look of the one I already have. I love this topper for more organic looks. Do you have a favorite flakie?

Bottle shot from my first opal mani post. I think the recreation is an improvement!

Second Chance Mani Do Overs

Have you ever tried a polish and said "meh," dropping it in your stash as unimpressive, only to decide later that it very well may be your Favorite Polish of All Time? I know I have. I hate the idea of having great polish going unused, so I decided to dust off a few of those "meh" shades for polish Do Overs! The rules were that it couldn't be a polish I use regularly for manis or nail art, has to be a polish that I disliked because of the color itself, not formula or some other reason unrelated to the particular shade, and I wore them all for at least a full day. Here's what happened.

I started out with Julep Rochelle. When I first picked it up, I tried it on and thought it was...fine, I guess. It was purple. I have a love/hate relationship with purples-I have dozens, and some of my best loved shades are purple, but I tend to find purple polishes uninspiring in general. Then I kept picking up Sinful Shine Haute Shine and thinking "I already have Rochelle, it's nothing special, and this one looks just like it," so I decided I needed to crack out Rochelle again before buying a dupe. Turns out, I love Rochelle! It's a gorgeous, glowy shimmer that applied beautifully and looks rich and elegant. It's almost chromy, and the shine is fantastic. I have a coat of Sinful Shine topcoat over it here, but it shines on its own as well. This is two easy coats. I did have some tip wear pretty quickly, but this one is still officially back in the rotation.

My next Do Over was Sinful Shine Prosecco. I was so disappointed when I bought this one a few months ago. I had oohed and ahhed over it in a display but didn't buy, and when I went back for it, it wasn't there. It suddenly became a unicorn. I needed it. I obsessed over other bloggers' swatches. I scanned the displays in multiple stores looking for it, only to leave dejected. So when I finally found it on eBay for $7.99, I snatched it up.

You have to understand, I'd just paid eight dollars for a polish that retails less than $2, waited a week to get it, then put it on my nails and hated it. Not just didn't love it, straight up hated everything about it. Super thin formula. Terrible with my skin tone, even though on paper it should have looked great. Between the formula and the finish, couldn't even use it for nail art. Three strikes. I pushed it to the back of my Sinful Colors stash and growled a little every time I looked at it.

My relationship with this polish is now better, but still strained. This was 4 coats, and it took a very long time to dry. I still think it's completely wrong for me, but when I was wearing it, I had to appreciate that gold shimmer. I probably won't wear it alone again, but maybe there's some hope with layering?




The last polish granted a do-over this round was Essie A Cut Above, from their LuxEffects lineup. I've used this polish here and there for nail art, but it never really struck me as a headliner. A Cut Above is kind of basic: shimmery pink hex glitter in different sizes in a clear base. It's my only Essie polish, gifted to me by someone who didn't think it was her style. Since it is a topper (and I don't think it was ever intended to be a standalone), I paired it with Julep Linda, a cool pale grey. I love pink and grey together, especially in the winter for some reason, so I hoped it would bring out the best in it. For the most part, I was right. Linda and A Cut Above seem to play well together. Linda is warmer and more lavender toned when they're teamed up, which looked nice with my skin tone, and A Cut Above's sparkle was more sophisticated on a neutral base. I really like this mani.




That being said, I don't particularly like this polish any more than I did before. Because all of the glitter is the same shade, it falls a touch flat. What really tipped the odds against it was the application. Because I was going for gradiation, I had to do quite a bit of manipulating to get the glitter where I wanted it. I like the finished effect, but it wasn't very cooperative when I was trying to get it. All in all, the re-try didn't improve my opinion of this polish. It's just not exciting enough to be worth the price tag.

Even though two of my three do-overs still struck out, I enjoy retrying polishes I wasn't initially in love with every now and then. My tastes change sometimes, or I notice a new way that this polish could fit into my style. And you never know when a polish will be exactly right for the look you're going for, so pulling out colors I don't wear often reminds me what I have available. What's a polish that didn't win you over right away, but now you love it?

Recreation: PGS Glitter Ruffian

I was a huge fan of now-defunct blog Pretty Girl Science, and I'd saved one of Nichole's posts on my Bloglovin' Nail Ideas folder, where all the really cool nail art posts go to languish, waiting fruitlessly for me to recreate them. (Never fear, PGS's Nichole still posts at Bedlam Beauty, while Amanda can be found at Some Weird Sin.) This time, though, I actually did one!

I had held off on recreating Nichole's black and glitter ruffian (original here) because the glitter she had used was so unique. She packed Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's Glow for the Gold and The Royal Tannenbaums for a multicolored glitter extravaganza. I didn't have anything similar, and it was the color combination that had won me over, so it sat. I had almost written it off as one of those manis that was built around a random indie polish I'd likely never own.

Then the wheels started turning again when I bought Sinful Colors Pride, a multicolored, multisized round and hex glitter topper that layers to full coverage relatively easily. To get the color effect I wanted, I started with my black base, then used a short striping brush to polish on a thin layer of NYC Fashion Queen into my ruffian shape to give the extra pop of gold that glammed up Nichole's mani. The pre-shaped design made layering in Pride super easy. It took about 2 coats with a little spot dabbing to get the glitter saturation I wanted, but boy was it sparkly!

I think that Pride is a little chunkier than the OPNL glitters Nichole used, but the overall look that prompted me to hit Save on that post is definitely there. I love how this mani turned out-a really classy take on a very, very high sparkle look that was, as she promised, quite easy to achieve. I was especially excited to have recreated it with easy to find, inexpensive shades. Both Pride and Fashion Queen are drugstore polishes (and you could actually use any gold glitter as your ruffian base for a similar effect), and my base is a basic black- Julep Cleopatra this time. I topped it with Sinful Shine Top Coat.

As a PGS devotee, I was sad to see it end, but two blogs are better than one, right? I was glad to finally recreate this throwback to their starter blog. What other glitter combos could be fun for this look? Have you ever recreated an indie look with mainstream polishes?

Sinful Shine Topcoat Review

Hey everyone! I just had to snap out of my semi-hiatus to tell you about Sinful Shine topcoat! I don't have any photos for you this round (sorry), but the bottle looks like this:

Photo from SinfulColors.com

My local Wal-Mart recently got a Sinful Shine display, and I was instantly sidetracked because I had to pick up every. single. polish. I got to what I thought was a shimmery black, and then realized it was a topcoat! Exciting!!! For those who don't know, here's some beauty science: a black or opaque silver bottle usually means quick dry, because quick dry polishes often work by reacting with light. In a clear bottle, they start thickening up. If you have a quick dry, avoid letting light get in the bottle to keep it working well for as long as possible. I actually turn of my small LED desk lamp while I topcoat and then turn it back on after I close the bottle to preserve my topcoats. A $1.99 quick dry would be almost too good to be true, but I decided to give it a go anyway, and was thrilled to find that Sinful Shine topcoat had all of my three essentials of a great topper.

First up: dry time. The reason I love my Julep toppers is because they dry in minutes, but I go through them pretty quickly and hate giving up one of my coveted Maven box spots for yet another bottle of topcoat. I tried the Sinful Shine topper with Sinful Shine Picante (an absolutely gorgeous shimmery red based orange). I found that in about 15 minutes it was dried to the point where I could get around without ruining my nails, and at 20 minutes it was dried hard. No sheet marks, no wrinkles, no dents. I tend to paint at night, so drying to the point that I can go to bed shortly after is a must. To double test, I tried it again with several more manis, including two non-Sinful Shine polishes. Same results every time, no wet polish malfunctions. I can confidently say that it's fast enough that I can put it on, watch a TV show or read a few articles, and be good to go. While it isn't as fast as Julep's Freedom and Oxygen topcoats, it's fast enough to meet my everyday needs, and it's much cheaper than Julep toppers.

Second test: shine. It's all about shine for me, and this topcoat passed that test, too. Once again it wasn't quite at the level as the Julep toppers, but Sinful Shine was satisfactory for me. I do not mess around about shine, so if I tell you it's sufficiently shiny, it's still about a level shinier than most people would probably be satisfied with. It didn't dull, either-it stayed shiny until I removed it.

Finally, lasting power. This was the least impressive area, but I would still call it mixed results. I had lasting power ranging from minor chips and tip wear in a day or two to several days with no sign of any wear at all. I tend to have chips and tip wear fairly quickly anyway, so I can't hold that against them too far. I would say Sinful Shine is about average in this respect- no worse than most other topcoats I've used, but not spectacular either.

So the final verdict is BUY THIS! I got similar performance to my favorite topcoats at a fraction of the cost. I'd compare it to Sally Hansen Mega Shine, but better. I'll still use my gold standard Juleps when I need to polish and go right away, but for everyday use, this is a great match. The brush is thin-ish, a little thinner than normal Sinful Colors brushes; I wasn't crazy about that, but otherwise, no complaints. This value topcoat is a great buy, and will probably be my go-to topper for a while.

Sinful Colors You Goji and Sketch Daisies Nail Art

I have another new acquisition for you today (maybe I have a problem...)! Trolling the endcap at Walmart, I spotted one bottle of a Sinful Colors shade I hadn't seen before, a berry purple called You Goji. It turns out that this color is even more unusual than I expected. When I searched for swatches, I came up empty. It's like this color never existed. This leaves me in the very high pressure position of swatching this presumably hard to find shade, just for you!

The first thing you may notice about You Goji is that I described it as berry purple, but it swatches almost brick red. It turns out that this shade is pretty difficult to photograph without TONS of light. In low light, the red is more prominent, and these swatches are fairly true to color in those conditions. It makes me sad that the low light end was all I managed to catch, though, because the purple end of this shade is so pretty, and completely different from what you see here. It's a cooler pinky berry shade very similar to how it looks in bottle. If you like the bottle shade, I think you'll be pleased with it when you get home, too. It's not wholly original, but not a dupe for any of the other berrys in my collection, and I'm pretty fond of it so far. Pink and purple lovers should pick it up if you see it.

 

Application was very good- two coats here, but you could get away with one thick coat applied carefully for full coverage. It's a creme finish, dries fast and levels well. It was also really, really shiny- no topcoat in these pictures! The downside of such a rich color is that cleanup is a bit of a bear. I had trouble getting it off of my cuticles with acetone, and when I removed it from one finger to fix a nail art oops (stay tuned!), I had some heavy smearage. In short, getting it on was easy, but I expect that getting it off will take some finesse. It would probably be less of an issue if I hadn't been slacking on the cuticle oil but, keeping it real, very few of us have perfect cuticles, you have been warned.




Now for the nail art! I wanted to do a purple/pink galaxy mani on this shade, but the red undertones proved to be a little too strong, and it just didn't look right, so I went back to the well for some sketchpad daisies. While I have a sometimes maddening love for very precise nail designs, I think daisies are so cute when they've got that worn, brushstroked look as if you doodled them in a notebook with a dull number 2 pencil. I used an LA Colors white striper to draw my daisy petals around a dot of Julep Nessa. I have a few white stripers, but the formula on this one is a touch thin. Crappy for stripes, but perfect for the softer, slightly transparent look I was going for in my daisy petals.

Is You Goji in your collection? I'm always curious about when polishes I haven't seen came out and whether a polish I like is LE, but all I can find on this one is an eBay listing with a snap of the bottle and a ridiculous price tag. (I paid $1.99, they want $7.99-I hate when online sellers price gouge a color because it's somewhat HTF. I mean, I found it at Walmart, so it's not exactly unicorn pee.) If you have a little history or other thoughts on this color, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. In other news, this is my 100th post! I've had so much fun with the first 100, learning to take photos, practicing nail art, and jumping into the nail blogger community, and I hope to keep getting better all the time. Whether it's your first visit or I pop up in your Bloglovin' feed with every post, I appreciate you, and it never ceases to amaze me that people manage to find my super secret blog. THANK YOU!

New to Me: Sinful Colors Cream Pink

Hanging out at Big Lots, one of my favorite places to troll for previously unspotted colors, I found Sinful Colors Cream Pink. A quick web search suggests it was originally released around 2011 or 2012, but I hasn't seen it in displays...until I bought it. Then I noticed that it had reemerged in the About Blooming Time collection, as identified by Nouveau Cheap. I was drawn to the gold shimmer, and the minute I put this color on, I knew I needed to photograph it. It. Is. Fabulous.

At first the name threw me off-why it's called Cream Pink when it's clearly a shimmer is beyond me. I was worried that all of that glorious in-bottle shimmer would melt away on the nail. Not a problem. The shimmer is very present, and mesmerizing. It's an instant favorite. On the down side, the formula is a little weird. It's not quite opaque, with VNL at two coats, but it's still a fairly thick consistency, so I had to be careful with the third coat an while it dried to avoid polish wrinkles. It dries to a kind of satin finish. Here I topped with Julep Freedom topcoat. Once you shine it up, Cream Pink is a delightfully squishy shimmery hot pink. Pink lovers must have this.

Not one to leave well enough alone, I added a sparkly gradient of Julep Joelle and China Glaze Fairy Dust. It's so pretty!

Are you a fan of pinks? Has Cream Pink made it into your collection?

Nail Crazies Unite: Rainbow

February was such an awesomely bad month, and the beginning of March was super busy, so I'm glad to be back to the Nail Crazies Unite challenge. This week's prompt was Rainbow, a pattern I love, but can never quite get right. After a few much more complicated ideas, I finally went with something simple.

For this design, I used a new-to-me shade, Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Golden-I. I really like this one a lot. I bought it because my go to gold metallic, Revlon Copper Penny, was running low, and this turned out to be not quite a dupe, but an acceptable substitute. I used three coats thin coats here.

My other shades, chosen for their super shimmer sparkly qualities, were Julep Karmen (red), Sephora for OPI What's Your Sign (yellow/orange), Sinful Colors Happy Ending (green), and Black Dahlia Lacquer 90 in November (purple). I didn't want a glitter rainbow (this time), but I wanted it to sparkle like crazy. While the level of bling looks subtle here, I assure you, it is obscene.

Have I said lately that I love rainbow nails? They're fabulous. I may even do some more before the week is out. Be sure to check out all of the other delightful rainbow creations from the NCU ladies below!

An InLinkz Link-up

$5 Mani: Jelly Sandwich

I love indie polish...because who doesn't anymore? It's the best. But there's still a special place in my heart for drugstore polish. The sad reality is that I can't afford to buy all the indies and high end stuff. Luckily for us, there are some really good polishes readily available in most areas for decent prices. For those of us who can't go on an indie shopping spree every time we decide to get a new polish (insert brief fantasy of being able to waltz into K-Mart and pick up baskets full of A England and ILNP), I bring you $5 Mani! In these posts (hopefully there will be lots of them), I will feature full nail art looks with two or more polishes that I purchased for $5 or less, and most will be easy to find at mass retailers.

For my first $5 mani, I went back to the jelly sandwich, a trend that I never got to when it was cool-typical. Jelly sandwiching is when you take a jelly polish and layer it both over and under a glitter. I hadn't tried it because I have a preference for opaque looks, but the sheer squishiness of jellies is winning me over. I brought out NYC Color NY Princess as my base and layered with Sinful Colors Love Sprinkles, an LE matte white heart and hex glitter. NY Princess has its own glitters, which made it fun for this look. Oddly, I mentioned back in August when I reviewed the NYC Fashion Queen collection that I may try it in a jelly sandwich sometime, so it's fitting that I used it for my first one. Incidentally, NY Princess was much more cooperative this time around. The base on Love Sprinkles is a little thick, it had to be sweet talked into participating in this look. Both polishes retail at $1.99, so even without any discounts or sales, the total cost of this look is $3.98.

Jelly sandwich technique will take some practice, but I like this mani. The different types of layers make a monochromatic look that's really interesting-and it's so squishy! I have tons of glitters that may be fun in this technique next time I need something that both squishes and sparkles. Do you still wear the occasional jelly sandwich, or are you on to the next look?

Weekend Nails: Sunrise/Sunset Gradients With China Glaze Fairy Dust

A few days ago I picked up Fairy Dust, the much loved holo micro glitter topper from China Glaze. I was eager to try it out, so this weekend I whipped out my sponges and got to work on a couple of sparkle infused gradient manis inspired by the Indiana skyline. The results made me feel optimistic about my progress with gradients, and I absolutely love the subtle sparkle of Fairy Dust!


For this cheerful "sunrise" gradient, I started with one coat of white over my basecoat, topcoated, then sponged a few coats of a trio of Julep Catrina (sunny deep yellow creme), Sinful Colors Boogie Nights (juicy orange based coral), and Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Sweet Sunrise (shimmer kissed warm pink) an finished off with one coat of Fairy Dust before topcoating again. This mani looked even better in person. I did have a little bit of bumpiness, which I think is because I wasn't very patient with my white base. I'll have to learn to go slow with gradients to really get the flawless results I want. I also love these colors together. Finding the right bridge shade seems to be the key, and the crelly texture of Boogie Nights helped meld everything together. I loved how the pink tips softened the whole look to a rosy glow.


When I was ready for my second go, I kept the same theme, but I used a dusky "sunset" color scheme of soft purples. I added in a second coat of Fairy Dust on just the tips to add extra sparkle to my night sky, but otherwise used the same strategy-white base followed up with two or three spongings of a three color set. This time I used Julep Octavia (deep blue-violet), Sinful Colors Dream On (bright purple crelly) and Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle in Loyal Lavender (pale lavender shimmer). At first I thought it was a funny little coincidence that I chose polishes from the exact same makers as the first gradient, but when I thought about it, it wasn't such a surprise-I just chose polishes with the exact same finishes in a different color scheme. For both of these manis I used Avon ridge filling base coat and Sally Hansen 3D Gel Shine topcoat.


With the exception of my obsessive love for all shades of green polish, I tend to be more partial to warm colors than to cool ones, so I think I liked the first one a little better, but both of these were a huge improvement on most of the gradients I've done in the past.Which of these skyline inspired looks is your favorite? Are you a fan of Fairy Dust?

Sally Hansen 3D Gel Shine Review

I've got another review for you! It's very unusual for me to pick up a brand new product without looking for reviews, but recently I was desperately low on my favorite topcoats, so I picked up a bottle of Sally Hansen 3D Gel Shine Top Coat completely sight unseen. In a fit of buyers' remorse, I went digging through the blogosphere for reviews the minute I got home, and was surprised to find none. Zero. While I will most surely read all of the reviews to come, I was beyond thrilled to have the jump on a product that hasn't already been reviewed to death, even though it's a mystery to me why there's so little buzz.

According to Sally Hansen, "Top coat goes on thick, dries quick. Unique Vinyl & Gel Tech formula combines with nail color to create multi-dimensional shine & volume. Transform your regular shine into spectacularly gel-like brilliance with no UV light!" I've never had a gel manicure before, and I know "gel shine" is kind of a buzzword right now (All Lacquered Up has a great breakdown of the different types categories of "gel" manicure). Over the course of a few days, I tried the topcoat to see if it holds up those claims. 

Day 1 

For this mani, I wore two coats of Nicole By OPI in Goodbye Shoes with an accent nail of one coat of Revlon Copper Penny with Goodbye Shoes and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Tulle Kit for my freehand scale print design (easier to do than I expected, by the way). I wanted to see how the topcoat performed over both a regular mani and a layered nail art look, and over several different finishes. I was glad to see that the topcoat did dry fairly quickly. It was a little slower than Julep Freedom Polymer Topcoat, another "gel finish" topcoat that doesn't require an LED lamp. However, within 20 minutes, it was dry enough that I had to press on it to disturb the finish, and was easily able to smooth the fine lines from pressing down with my thumb. By an hour later, it had dried hard-no visible disturbance, even when I tapped on one nail with another. The accent nail wasn't smooth, but I resisted the urge to add a second coat (didn't want to skew my highly scientific results). The final mani had a gorgeous wet shine.

Day 2 

Disclaimer-The chipping on the middle finger is my fault!

I had a break that led to massive chipping on my middle finger, so please disregard the carnage there. Across the rest of my nails, I mostly just had the minor tip wear you see on the other fingers. I tend to have tip wear within a day or two anyway and chip easily, so I would say 3D Top Coat was comparable to others that I've used in terms of lasting power. I tried it again that night over a plain colored mani that required several coats (Julep Harlow, for the curious), and the dry time seemed to be a little slower than the previous mani-faster than most, but not fast enough to keep the smudge queen here from getting polish wrinkles. I have a habit of doing my nails right before bed, so lightning fast dry time is important to me.

The Verdict
I like it, but for me, Sally Hansen 3D Shine is more of a backup than a go-to. I'd compare this to Sally Hansen Mega Shine in dry speed and shine. In fact, it's very similar across the board in performance, the texture's just a little thicker and the brush is flat rather than round. I didn't notice any distinguishable level of "plushy" gel look. The closest I got was with Sinful Colors Dream On (the picture at the top with the bottle), and it's a jelly type formula that looked pretty plushy pre-topcoat, too.The shine level was impressive, but much more obvious on cremes than metallics. Maybe Julep and HK Girl have ruined me for other topcoats, but this one didn't have quiiiite the speed I need for an everyday topcoat. That being said, compared to other topcoats, it's still pretty fast, and I do have to acknowledge that while it says it's quick drying (true), the dry time wasn't the focus of the advertised benefits- the "plump" look and high shine were the main selling points on their end. Thing is, I didn't think my nails looked much plumper than with any other topcoat when following the instructions on the box to use just one coat. If you're in love with your Mega Shine (which is also a few dollars cheaper), you probably don't need this one. If you're slightly more patient than I am and strongly prefer a flat brush, give this one a shot.

Let the Christmas Nails Begin! Boughs of Holly Nail Art

I have a hard and fast rule that in my house we don't start discussing any holiday more than one month before that holiday actually falls. I am the resident Ruiner of Fun. Don't let that fool you, though-I am a fan of holiday nail art, and Christmas is one of my favorites. Since we are less than a week out from Christmas, last week I kicked off the season's nail art with this holly design inspired by Nails by Josse.

I skipped the matte for glittered tips, and added in bronzed curls underneath for a touch of class. I also went for a slightly more blendy, less sharp design than the original. This red is Sinful Colors GoGo Girl with NYC Ruby Queen on the tips, OPI for Sephora I Only Shop Vintage for the curls, and Revlon Jaded Night for my foliage. You may also notice I've gone a little shorter. Not by choice unfortunately, but hopefully my nails will grow out quickly. In the meantime, I softened up the shape and reduced my length to even it out across my entire hand.

I hope to fit in at least two more holiday themed designs before Christmas- not a lot of time, so wish me luck! What are your nails wearing this holiday season?

Monster Blood Nails

Vamptober has been so much fun, but for the last look of the month, I decided to do a bright, fun play on the Halloween dripping blood nail art: monster blood! You'll have to excuse my poor photos; I haven't gotten home in the daytime all week, so I had to choose between decent lighting for my pics or posting my Halloween themed post after Halloween.

For this look, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Happy Ending, a glowy bright green. It is so pretty, a lit from within green with a subtle gold shimmer that makes it extra special. Then I did a simple paint drip design with NYC Ruby Queen. The jelly texture was thick enough to cover, but still kept that bloody goo feel. The chunky glitter sparkles and matches the playfulness of the bright monster green.

As a side note, I wore Zoya Jesy with a cute black cat decal for most of the week, but as I was taking it off I realized I never photographed it- fail! For the record, Jesy is a gold tinged orange glitter jelly. I didn't think it was really me when I first got it, but it was great for a Halloween mani. The more I wore it the more I liked it, and I got tons of compliments. Halloween is the best time for nails! What will your nails be costumed in tonight?

Wildflowers on Watercolors

Not sure what came over me, but I woke up the other day knowing I wanted wildflowers. After Googling using multiple search terms, I found inspiration on Pinterest. While I don't pin myself, I always find interesting things when Google takes me to a nail art lover's pinboard. This time the design was a pastel watercolor floral from Celine Does Nails. (You can view the original pinned photo here.)

I'm not partial to pastels, so when I want to emulate a pastel based design, it usually comes out a little brighter than the original. This was no exception. My design ended up more summer than spring, but I think it came out well. I tried a few different types of flowers; some were good, some not so much, but for someone who loves florals as much as I do, practice is good. For this look, I polished each nail a different shade, then sponged the others on top. I topcoated to blend before painting on my floral pattern with toothpicks, a small brush, and dotting tools. Finally, I laid down two more layers of topcoat to seal in the design.

Now's also a good time to mention that I have a new topcoat, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Fast Drying+Super Shiny Topcoat. While I don't feel like I've given it enough time for a full review, after two manis (I also used it on my KISS tribute design), I'm ready to share first impressions.

I've heard a lot about HK Girl as a beauty blogger favorite and had to try it. I was happy to see that the price tag is nice compared to other boutique topcoats. I paid less than $10 for it after shipping, whereas my other current favorite quick drying topcoats, Julep Freedom Polymer Topcoat (which I wasn't wowed by at first, and now I panic when I start to run out) and Oxygen Performance Topcoat, are almost $15 with Maven pricing and free shipping. If you're not a member of the Julep Maven subscription service, they're $18...plus shipping. Yikes! I'm pretty fond of Sally Hansen Mega Shine as well, which retails about the same as HK Girl and is available in drugstores, but takes longer to get completely hard than my Julep toppers do. HK Girl delivers on its promise to dry hard in a matter of minutes and it has a wet shine when dry. Lasting power seems to be pretty good as well. Downsides-it's a little thinner than I expected, and it smells dreadful. It's also only a 2-free formula (according to the website, it does contain dibutyl phthalate). While a 3, 4, or 5-free formula is a bonus rather than a must for me, it's important enough to some people that it's worth mentioning. All in all I like it so far, and it will be nice not to have to wait for a sale to get a topcoat with the qualities I want at a reasonable price, so I'll give it a few weeks to see if it has go-to potential. I'm especially interested in the claim that it maintains the same consistency without thickening for the whole bottle. If that's true (or if it thickens, but not past the thickness of a new bottle of Freedom) they'll have me hooked.

Colors Used

Base Nails:

Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lively Lilac (purple)

Sinful Colors Nice Stems (mint)

Julep Lilou (yellow)

Sinful Colors Cream Soda (pale orange)

Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Sweet Sunrise (pink)

Flowers:

Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Sugar Plum (dark pink)

Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Kiss of Pink (medium pink)

Sinful Colors Boogie Nights (medium orange)

Sinful Colors Cream Soda (pale orange)

Sinful Colors Rainstorm (dark blue; 

mixed with Sally Hansen french tip white for light blue accent) 

Revlon Jaded Night (dark green)

Sinful Colors Happy Ending (light green)

July Maven Turquoise Nails with Tutorial

I made a huge mess tonight, but I successfully pulled off a long standing item from my wish list: turquoise patterned nails. Growing up in the American Southwest in the 90s means that turquoise, copper, and those obnoxious little flat wooden coyotes wearing bandanas are etched into your being. I still love two out of three. First the mani, then how I did it, then I'll tell you about the rest of my July Maven box.

The technique I used was a mishmosh of online pictorials, Youtube videos, and techniques borrowed from other designs. I started out with the colors: Julep Lissa for my base, with Sinful Colors Nice Stems, NYC Color Robin's Egg Blue, Maybelline Color Club Bold Gold, NYC Top of the Gold Topcoat, Avon Opal Topcoat, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out. Other tools I used were tweezers, pieces of a makeup sponge, hairspray, a Chapstick, and a glass of water.

I started with a base of Lissa. Lissa was my first "swap out" with Julep's new customized subscription. Lissa's a "tumbled turquoise creme," and probably my favorite of the polishes I picked up this month. It's more blue based than I usually think of when I imagine a turquoise polish, but still solidly in that family. This is one coat (!). It does seem to have some staining issues, so while I very much recommend this color, use a base coat.

Next I sponge dabbed Nice Stems and Robin's Egg Blue across the nails, keeping them close but not quite overlapping. Both are milky blue based greens, with Nice Stems being a little bit darker. Using both marbled my "stones" and added depth.

Then I dabbed Bold Gold over the nails, sometimes in line with the other colors, some separate. It's ok if the gold is a little uneven and globby- with this metallic polish, the final result of heavy handed sponging is "flakes."

Finally, I added my flakies. I was nervous about using both gold and iridescent flakies, but now I wish I had added more. More glitter! I sponged these as well, sticking close to the other polishes, especially with the gold. I'm curious as to how it would look with a light layer of each without dabbing in specific areas, but I think keeping it more controlled allowed Lissa to still have a voice in this mani.

The last step was the one that made me most nervous: the water marbeling. I was almost sure this is where I would trash this promising young manicure. Turns out this is the easiest watermarble ever. Two drops of Black Out in tap water, then I sprayed a spritz of hairspray (rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle will also work, and make sure you're not using one of those hair healthy alcohol free sprays). This busts the black film to the stringy bits that form gorgeous black veins in your turquoise. Dip until you get the look you want. Swiping the Chapstick around the cuticles before dipping makes it easy to wipe off the excess. Unfortunately, I haven't watermarbled in a while, so I only Chapsticked right around the nail and left black smudges all over my fingers. Lesson learned-put Chapstick, petroleum jelly, or tape all the way to the knuckle for easiest cleanup. The biggest risk is getting too much black in any particular area. Very carefully touching the overdipped areas with an acetone dipped cotton swab rescued mine without having to start over.

I'm really happy with these, and very happy with Lissa! The other color in my Maven box was Vicki. It's described as "flamingo pink," I would call it hot pink. Unfortunately, my camera didn't pick it up very true to life. Pretty, and applies well, but a little loud for my mood today.

Lissa and Vicki, dry, no topcoat. If you look close, you'll see a tiny flamingo from a failed stamping attempt.

I also traded out the beach lotion to get Oxygen topcoat. It's not quite as shiny as Freedom, but it has a great texture. I used both the base and topcoat with my turquoise mani (I've been using the basecoat for a few weeks, and while it's hardly the miracle tonic the describe on the website, I like it and my nails seem pretty happy). I've heard rumor that Oxygen topcoat doesn't play well with non-Julep polishes, so time will tell.

What do you think of my second attempt at gemstone nails? And did you switch to the customizable Maven box this month?

Dandelion Weekend Nails: Fun With Finishes

I like shiny nails. Shine is good. Every now and then I get a matte itch, but overall, the shinier the better for me. When I tried on Sinful Colors in Savage, I was beyond delighted with the bright teal toned blue...then horrified as I watched it mattefy as it dried. Sigh. Into the pile it goes. Until last weekend.

I've been coveting dandelion nail art for a while, but my attempts have all fallen flat so far. To maintain the airy, slightly vintage look I was seeing in my mind, I whipped out Savage for a flat finish that still had the brightness I needed to draw out the white dandelion puffs. I used my Salon Perfect nail art striper in White Out to make my stems, then placed a dot of Julep Florence at the end of the stem on my thumb. Then I used the striper to create my dandelion head, carefully wiping most of the polish off on the neck of the bottle to keep my dandelion wispy. That's been my problem in the past-designs I had been trying to emulate were more like this one from Nailz Craze, which have to be perfect or they look messy. (In my defense, hers were stamped and I was trying to hand paint the design, so while I was frustrated not to get the look I wanted, I couldn't be too hard on myself there.)

Then I gave my shorter dandelion puffs wispy heads and tapped a tiny dot of Florence at the base of each. Because everything is better with glitter, I used a tiny dotting tool to put a subtle haze of Julep Joelle on my dandelion and the end of my puffs.

Finally, for the last piece of flair, I grabbed a toothpick and used Sally Hansen Super Shine top coat to add a few curls of "wind" to each nail. It's very subtle, but definitely adds to the overall look of the mani. I didn't use a fast dry topcoat because I wanted more time to etch my curls, but I didn't have any trouble with smudging, and Savage dries pretty quickly as well, so no drying issues. I didn't mattefy the dandelions before adding my curls; they maintained White Out's soft flat shine and Florence's touch of high shine.

While not particularly original, I had a lot of fun with this mani. Part of the fun of nail art is that there's often more to it than the casual "oh, I like your nails" observer will ever notice, which is very true of this design. It did feel weird not to topcoat, though-like I was skipping a step. I also liked that I got to do something with Savage, since it's a beautiful color, and the finish is really nice, just not very me. I'll probably wear it again for this type of design since the topcoat curls show up so well. The contrast between the matte, glitter, and shine is so much fun! What do you think? Is mixing textures a fun way to add oomph to a mani, or a time consuming trend that no one notices anyway?

Ode to Orange

My quest for the perfect coral has reminded me how much I love orange polish. Despite my disappointment with uber-orange Mariska, orange based polishes tend to play well with my skin tone and make up the right mix of unexpected and classy for summer nails. Here are a few of my recent orange loving manis.

My most recent orange mani is a playful daisy design inspired by Robin Moses' tangerine daisy accent nail art. I took a more abstract take, using a small dotting tool to shape my messy orange and white daisies. The daisies and the primary color in my mani is Julep Ingrid, a cheerful all-season burnt orange. The base on my accent nail is Julep Florence, with Julep Nessa, Sally Hansen Triple Shine State-mint, a generic Sally Hansen french tip white, and Revlon Jaded Night as the other colors for my daisies.






This one isn't exactly orange-this is my standby Nantucket red, Julep Nan. Nan is a color I just love. The terracotta red shines on its own, but the right partner brings out Nan's burnt orange undertone. I stamped with Revlon Foxy for an understated, slightly shimmery all over pattern.

I'm in love with coral this summer, and Sinful Colors' Boogie Nights was the clear favorite on a recent binge. It looks bright orange in the bottle, but the undertone is sweet and slightly pinky rather than loud. This mani was inspired by Chalkboard Nails "Fizzy French" nail art with OPI's Coke collaboration polishes. Boogie Nights was bright enough to keep the original spirit of the mani, with this playful tangerine influenced coral rather than Coke can red. I used Glitter Gal Turbulence for holo glitter dots in place of the metallic silver "bubbles."







Finally, I went back to the well with a sparkly gradient, using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Peach of Cake and NYC Color Top O' The Gold topcoat for gold flakie tips. I don't have very many CSM colors, but I like their cremes a lot-very smooth and well pigmented. This color is a bit of a chameleon. In low lights and sunlight, it's very subdued. Under florescents, the orange really pops! It ranges from a pastel to a neon depending on the light. Here I wore two coats.

Any polish junkie knows that 'orange' is a very subjective term when it comes to polish. A nontraditional red, coral, peach, or even copper or apricot are all in the right family to offer the same punchy variation on the usual colors as straight orange polishes. What's your favorite "orange"?

My First Leadlight Nail Art

Always late to the party, I saw some leadlight nail art pop up in my Bloglovin' feed and I lost my mind. For those of you who are like me and have to be hit in the face before you notice a trend, leadlighting is when you stamp a design over a white or light background, then use jelly or sheer colors to give a watercolored or stained glass type look to your nail art, like the recent floral (yay florals!) post from ProcrastiNails. I tend to strongly prefer opaques over sheers, leaving the sheer polishes that find a way into my collection to languish. This is a great way to put them to work, and greatly increased my appreciation for sheer polishes.

For this design, I used Sally Hansen XTreme Wear White On underneath and Black Out for my stamping. I used sponging instead of a dotting tool with my sheer polishes for a less defined, hazy gradient. NYC Color Precious Peacock (I was SO disappointed when that one was sheer!), Sinful Colors Purple Diamond, and Wet N' Wild Megalast Retro Mint filled in the design, with Sinful Colors Mint Apple as my main mani color (yes, I bought more Sinful Colors polishes, shut up).

What do you think? I'm still doing some trial and error, and I'm interested in trying the more defined technique like the one in the Messy Mansion leadlight tutorial, but I've been happily sporting this mani for several days- that never happens! I think now I need more stamping plates.