Quickie Recreation: Side Ruffian

So Spektor's Nails did a side ruffian, and about 3.5 seconds after seeing it, I had started plotting on how to get it for myself. Here's what I came up with:

My photo is much rougher (thanks, Indiana!), but the color combination is actually quite close. My nails are pretty much the discount version of the original post. I used Sinful Colors Rise and Shine in place of OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pumping Iron in place of OPI Unfrost My Heart. She used Insta-Dri topcoat, I used HK Girl, I'd say they're equally shiny. She mentioned using french nail stickers to get the shape; I tried hole reenforcers, but that approach wasn't a good fit for this design with my nail shape, so I just freehanded with a striper. I also threw in a little glitter with a streak of Julep Joelle. It was fine without it, but I was in the mood for a little sparkle.

Usually when I try to recreate a mani I really like I end up frustrated, but this time I was very happy with the result. Honestly, I'm kind of annoyed that my pictures didn't come out very well, because this mani is so gorgeous. I love the color combination-isn't it great when you see a color combination or design that makes you want to polish right now? Definitely pop over to the original post to see photos that do it justice, and to enter the fantastic OPI polish giveaway running at Spektor's Nails through November 30th!

Vamptober: Matte and Flames

Vamptober continues! I've started to get fond of flame nail art, and as a result, I've been trying all manner of experimentation with them. This round, I used Julep Lacey, a shimmery, rich midnight blue, ad my base. Lacey's pretty on its own, but nothing special. But you throw a matte topcoat on it...

With NYC Matte Topcoat

And Lacey becomes a vamp. The shimmer in this polish mattifies to a satiny finish with tons of depth. I added on silver flames with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pumping Iron with a little Glitter Gal Turbulence for sparkle. I thought about warming up the bottom with a little bit of blue gradient, but I decided that the monotone flames were more sophisticated. Interestingly, this is my dominant hand. I almost always photograph my left hand, but this time, my right hand came out much better.


Since I mentioned flames, here's a look at another flame look I did recently. This one was all about sparkle, using colors from the NYC Fashion Queen collection. The base was Rule The City with Ruby Queen, and my flame accents were Ruby Queen with a little Julep Love, a gold with fuchsia glitter. Since Love and Rule The City both have red toned glitters, they gave a great crackling fire effect.


Thanks to my Julep Maven box, which showed up today loaded with Vamptober essentials, and a great suggestion from the comments (thanks Tiffany!), I'm feeling inspired. Yay October!

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"?

Weekend Nails: Water Decal Skittles

This weekend I played with a classic red, white, and black color scheme inspired by my simple, cute, and ridiculously cheap Marilyn Monroe t-shirt. While I haven't been brave enough to try the Marilyn themed tutorial-in-which-she-makes-it-look-easy from Robin Moses, I crave Marilyn nail art, and this is a step in the right direction. For this design, I used Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in White On and Black Out, Julep Catherine, Pure Ice Dazzle Me, and water decals from the Born Pretty Store (sheet BLE1770 at the link).

The polka dotted heart design on my middle finger is a direct ripoff from Kim_Ciil at Smioss.com. The rest of the designs I kind of played by ear.

This is also my second attempt at painting the back of my nails, a la this Louboutin inspired nail look from The Manicure Addict, for a little extra glam. The first time was a quiet flop. This time I made a huge mess with epic levels of smearing- my hands looked like a crime scene- but it worked out much better. It occurs to me that "wing it" is not really a strategy for success with this particular look, especially on short nails, but trial and error is the best way to figure this stuff out. If I can get comfortable doing this, think of all the fun we can have with color combos! I started with a dotting tool for the first layer and used a short pointed brush to touch up. The hardest part is the feeling that there's something under my nails; I have to fight the urge to "clean" the polish out.

I think next time a more deliberate approach is in order, possibly with some kind of tape contraption to make the cleanup easier. While far from perfect, I had fun playing with some new techniques. What do you think?

Messin' with the Plie Wand

As a Julep Maven, this month I came into possession of their newest and much hyped product, the Plie Wand. I'm going to say up front that it was through the kindness of an abundance of crowdfunders that I have this product, because I didn't pre-order it. Even after watching the video, reading the blog post, and viewing the Facebook posts about it ranging from rabid enthusiasm to 'yawn,' I was unenthused about what it can do for me. I'm used to painting my nails, and now that my cleanup skills have improved, I don't worry as much about precision polishing. While I can't say I'm overwhelmingly converted to the camp that this is a must have product, I've played with it a little, and it's pretty cool I guess.

First I tried it for painting my toenails, which is the only reason I was particularly interested in the Plie Wand at all. It passed that test. Painting my toes was much more comfortable with the Plie Wand and looked much less like a 3 year old did it. Then I tried it on my fingernails. Julep compared it to spending your whole life writing with a pen the size of the cap, then being handed a whole pen. Mmm, not exactly. It felt more like trying to color with a crayon stretched to the shape of a pencil. Just not quite right. I can see how the bendy stem would be great for people with limited control due to arthritis, Parkinson's, or other conditions that impact hand control, though. Since I have pretty steady hands, it was more a hindrance than a help to me. But then I started striping.

I officially LOVE the Plie Wand for striping, precisely because it is like holding a pen. For painting it was in the way, but for striping it was perfect. Julep markets the Plie Wand as something to use with Julep polishes, includes a regular size precision brush (it has slightly shorter bristles than a regular Julep brush) that can be used with any polish. They sell a striper/dotter add on kit, but I already had a frayed Julep polish brush that I'd cut down into a thin striper. I pulled the overcap off and popped the brush into the Plie cap. It's a nail art dream.

I started to get a little mad when I couldn't get my carefully cultivated striper out of the wand, though. Ack! How did I forget the negative review on the website that the wand eats brushes and you can't get them out?! It didn't give me any trouble before, and now my striper's stuck? So annoying! I yanked with my tweezers. I tugged. I wiggled. I pulled. The inner cap wouldn't budge. Then it hit me that Julep had built in a simple feature to the Plie Wand for exactly this situation.

Instead of a solid cap, the removable magnetic cap that snaps on to the Plie Wand has a hole in the top. I'd noticed it, but didn't give a second thought to why they'd done it. Now I know. I pushed an orangewood stick through the hole, and my cap popped right out. The Plie Wand was restored to favored status for my precision nail art needs.

The colors used for this stamped French tip look were Sally Hansen XTreme Wear White On, Julep Caitlin for the hearts, and Essie A Cut Above for the stripe (I'm learning that there is no imperfection that glitter can't improve).

Oh, I almost forgot- I wouldn't be a very good Maven if I didn't show you my polishes. This month, I went Bombshell. Laree and Saaya were colors I had to have. Laree is a gold shimmer infused pink, while Saaya is a subdued yellowish apricot-more yellow than I expected, which was a minus for me, but I still think I like it. I instantly thought they'd make a beautiful gradient, and I was right! I also stamped these, using Julep Nellie. The downside: my tips chipped almost immediately, and the polish popped off in sheets the next day. I haven't played with them enough to see if this is going to be an issue or if I just laid down a bum base coat that day or something. I put Laree on my daughter sans basecoat, and her manicure actually lasted longer than usual, so the jury is still out. Laree has also replaced my go-to Nan on my toes with no issues. Hopefully it was a fluke, because Laree is a lovely summer pink, and I don't have anything else like Saaya. Mavens, what did you think of this month's collection? Is the Plie Wand a must have or a skip? Any polish problems?

Lacquer Legion: Glam Glitter Flames

This month's Lacquer Legion prompt is Glam, which I was super excited about! After running through a dozen ideas in my mind, I decided to keep it simple: muted tones with a little sparkle, using one of my most glamorous polishes.

As tempted as I was to glitterbomb the heck out of this prompt, I've always found glamour in simplicity, a la Kaley Cuoco, J Lo, and Isla Fisher's sparkly nude gowns. These flames are Julep Love, and the base is Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Bare Naked, my favorite nude. Love is a special edition polish with a glamorous gold top, lending it the perfect street cred for a Glam mani.

Wanna see some more pictures? Ok!

I admittedly went a touch crazy with the photos, but capturing this mani was a little difficult because of the monochrome color scheme-plus I tried my hand at outdoor photography this time.

Love was a free gift with the February Maven box, and since then has not been available to purchase. As of right now, though, you can pick it up in one of their Mother's Day gift sets. Will you be participating in Lacquer Legion this month? Even though I got impatient and leaked mine early, you still have time to create nail glam and post it to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with hashtag #LLGlam on April 28th. Tag me at @SecretNailBlog on Twitter so I can see your art!

Weekend Nails: Stripes and Rainbows

It's been a while since I've done a black nail, mostly because of the sorry state of my cuticles (dry, busted cuticles sop black polish up). Now that my cuticles are starting to look semi-presentable, I couldn't wait to get back on the black polish horse. It's a nice change up from the pastels and brights that are on everyone's minds right now.

First of all, this design is stolen. The rainbow/polka dot/sparkly bow tips are from a photo that I mindlessly saved to the 'nail ideas' folder on my phone before I started blogging and can't find now, so if you know who it "belongs" to originally, give them a shout out in the comments.

Beyond the accent nail, it was all trial and error. I wasn't in love with my usual rainbow color combination after completing my thumb, but the green and purple alone was quite lovely on my black creme base, so I stopped there. Then I added a thin stripe of glitter to tie it together with the rainbow design's accent bow.

The colors I used were Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Black Out, Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Jade Jump and Lively Lilac (two of my very favorite colors), Julep Octavia, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Tough Love, Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, Pure Ice in Drive Me Crazy, and Julep Joelle, topped with MegaShine.

I Love You, Florals!

I love floral nails. I love daisies and sunflowers and violets and roses and nonspecific blobs with petals. Cartoony and realistic, vintage and modern, I love them all. I want to try every floral nail design there is. I know that's hyper girly. I don't care. I like what I like. If my nails remind you of an old woman's wallpaper, I'm probably in love with them.

Tonight I chose Julep Nellie as my base with no idea what to do with it, just that I wanted a color I love to stare at for a few days while I'm deciding what to paint for this month's Lacquer Legion prompt (which is "Lucky," by the way, in case you're thinking about participating). What to wear when I don't know what to wear? Floral, of course!

While I was deciding on a design, two coats of Nellie dried. Then I used my White Out Salon Perfect striper to create my chevrons.

Then I mixed a drop of Nellie and a drop of a white polish together with a toothpick and used that color to make splotches all over the white areas.

After that, I took the toothpick and used Nellie to finish my rosettes. There are plenty of rosette tutorials online from people who are much better at this than me, so I'll spare you my "process"- let's just say I wing it. From there, I dab tiny dots of Sally Hansen Jade Jump, followed up with Revlon Jaded Night right next to it as leaves. I topped my accent nails with Wet n Wild Clear Nail Protector and two coats of MegaShine. I love them. They're perfect.

Not particularly original, I know. But they're classic and lovely, and some variation of vintage roses will probably always be on my list of go-to looks.

Repurposed Nail Art

I hate to wear the same nail art design for more than a day or two. It's just not my style, plus my nails tend to chip easily. This means my manis don't last very long, but the constant un-polishing and re-polishing is not kind to my nails and cuticles. Repurposing nail art is a good way to buy a break for my cuticles without looking at boring, chipped three day old nail art. This week I repurposed two looks.

Over the weekend I laid down my St. Patrick's Day mani, released as a Facebook Exclusive look on Monday. This simple, fun mani had Sally Hansen Jade Jump as the base, with a layer of Glitter Gal Turbulence to make it all holo-y, then basic shamrock details, a little one on the top right of each thumb and a larger one slightly off center on each ring finger. For those I used A England Dragon, which is holo-y in itself.

After the holiday had passed, I repurposed it by striping Dragon to create a jade triangle. I did go ahead and remove the polish on the accent nails, but the others I just added the design over the existing polish.

On Tuesday I had a bad day, so I wanted bright, cheerful nails to help lift my spirits. I chose some of my recent Julep Maven polishes, Harriet and Octavia. I've seen a lot of coral and navy lately, and I think they look gorgeous together. Guava and indigo are a nice play on that idea. I did a dotted nail paired with a super thin french tip. For day 2, I thickened the french tip and reversed the dot design.

 For this one I didn't remove any polish, and the dotted accent nail is untouched. At first attempt I ended up with smudging on my bright, cheerful polish, so I tried it again with a coat of Wet n' Wild topcoat (which is an great topcoat at a scary low price) before topping with my usual MegaShine. This reduced the smudging tremendously. I decided not to redo the accent nails- we'll call the smudging on those an unintentional gradient...

I repurpose with a quick swipe of glitter polish on the tips or a sponge gradient all the time when I'm in a hurry, but this more intentional repurposing is so much more fun.

Weekend Nails: Robin Moses Lovebirds Re-creation

This weekend I tackled a look by Robin Moses featuring a cute pair of lovebirds. I've seen so many amazing bird-themed nail designs, but I haven't had much luck with getting a recognizable silhouette on my nails, and that makes me sad. Robin's birds were super simple and sweet. Since I don't have the 20+ years of experience and raw artistic talent that she does, I was a little intimidated by her video at first, and almost decided this design was over my head. However, with a few modifications, this technique is doable, even for the artistically challenged amateur.

I started with a basecoat, then applied a rainbow gradient using small pieces of a makeup sponge and tweezers. Try not to overthink this part-just line up your colors in a configuration that looks good to you and blot them on loosely with two or three colors per nail. I shot for formulas that were creme or had very subtle shimmer in a creme base. You can pick any colors you like, but I recommend something in the same family so no one color looks out of place.

For a rainbow look with a smudgy, watercolor style gradation, I used a whopping fifteen colors, plus base and topcoat, on this design! You by no means have to use such an expansive palette, but that was part of the fun for me. The colors I used, shown left to right below, were: Pretty in Plum (Nicole by OPI, Selena Gomez collection), Lively Lilac (Sally Hansen Insta Dri), Lacey (Julep), Blue Me Away (hiding in the back, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear), Octavia (Julep) Fashionista (Revlon), Jaded Night (Revlon), Retro Mint (Wet n Wild Megalast), Mellow Yellow (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear), Die Hard Fan (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails), Nan (Julep), Tough Love (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails), Black Mark (Jordana Pop Art Striping Polish), Turbulence (Glitter Gal), and Black Out (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear) with Mega Shine topcoat and NutraNail Green Tea Strengthener basecoat. Whew!

After sponging on the rainbow gradient tips, I dabbed Turbulence, a sheer linear holo, along the line where the bare nail met the polish. This was a calculated risk, but it came out very subtle, and I just adore the tiny bit of sparkle it added.

Then I formed the branches with the Jordana striping polish. In the tutorial, Robin Moses references the little dots around the ends to make it look "like lace," so that's what I thought about when placing them with a toothpick, going for a more decorative than literal look. Be sure to leave a "perch" for your lovebirds on your accent nails.

The lovebirds were fairly simple, just a small and large dot with a dotting tool and two lines with a toothpick below the branch for the tail. My daughter, who's usually pretty quick to decipher my nail art, had trouble figuring out they were birds, so I'll probably make them a little bigger next time, but overall, I think it came out really nicely!

I'm excited about this pretty and surprisingly simple at-home recreation of a professional look. Which nail artists inspire you?

Update: The popularity of this post has pushed my "secret" blog to over 200 page views! That's so exciting! I'd love to get to know the people reading, so I've started a Facebook page for the Super Secret Nail Blog. Check me out on Facebook. 

Return of the Restless Nails

I am now on day 3 of having no idea what I want to do with my nails. I have a new color coming that has me inspired, so nothing else will do. But that polish isn't slated to get here until Friday- or later! Not feeling very patient right now. In the quest for a good interim design, I present you with neon heart tips.

For this design, I used the same bright pink from the Physician's Formula California Goddess trio that I used in my Reinvention post paired with Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Blue Me Away. While I'm a little off my game with my striper skills today, I think this fun, simple nail art in anti-winter colors will keep me amused for at least a day or two while I wait for my new colors to arrive.