Nail Crazies Unite: Good Luck Goldfish

This week in Nail Crazies Unite the theme is Good Luck Charm. I like the idea that surrounding oneself with certain items, colors, or furniture arrangements could tip the odds, even if I don't necessarily believe in luck. I did some casual Googling, and I found out that goldfish are considered good luck in some cultures. Goldfish nails-how fun!

The base color on this mani is Julep Kiki. I love this color. It's so bold and shimmery, and ranges from what you see here to almost a light slate color depending on the light. My goldfish is freehand with Julep Ingrid, Karen, and Zoya Jesy. I didn't think I liked Jesy at first, but I've used it several times recently, and I'm falling in love with it. For this mani, it gave the perfect amount of sparkle and really set off the goldfish's underwater glow. Around the goldfish, I used dots of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Tulle Kit for some shimmery transparent bubbles. I enjoyed this mani-I may have to do a full goldfish bowl look sometime!

Check out the other Nail Crazies in the link up:

An InLinkz Link-up

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

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?

February Julep Maven Swatches and Review: Becky, Hazel, and Hartleigh

My February Maven box is here already! I don't typically have trouble with my box arriving on time, but the past few months have been a little slower than usual, so I was pleasantly surprised to have it in hand today. This month I was only particularly infatuated with a few colors, so in my customized Maven box for February I got another bottle of Freedom topcoat and picked up Becky (an "oil slick" silk finish polish) and Hazel (a bronze fuchsia duochrome). I also got a February freebie that came with every Maven box, Hartleigh. Let me show you!

I was really excited about Becky this month. Even as I went back and forth on what other polish to get, Becky was always on the list, and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. Not because there's anything wrong with the polish itself-that was pretty good. Becky applies well (this is two coats) and is very pretty. The silk finish isn't as matte as some of their other silk polishes, but the hazy quality I like about the silk finish is there. It's a little less purple than it looks here, a little more green, but not as oil-slickish as it looked in the Julep swatches.

Where my disappointment came in was its similarity to Blakely, their popular "purple and green molten." I noticed the similarity when I chose it, but the Julep swatches of Becky were different enough that I decided to take a risk. Now I kind of wish I hadn't, because they're almost identical. Becky is easier to work with; my major complaint about Blakely was its thick, streak prone formula, and neither is an issue with Becky.  Here I swatched them side by side, along with China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You, another purple/green shifter. Choo Choo Choose You leans much more strongly gold/green and is frostier, so I'd say it's in the same family but not the same, but Blakely and Becky are very, very similar. There are some slight differences with the finish, with Becky being softer and more scattered and Blakely more metallic. I would say you probably don't need them both, but  which one you'll like better will be a matter of personal preference. I think I prefer Becky, but since I already have Blakely, I didn't really need it.

Left to right: Choo Choo Choose You, Blakely, Becky; no topcoat.

The other polish I got was Hazel, billed as a duochrome. I love me some duochromes, so I couldn't resist. I like this one, but the shift isn't nearly as strong as I expected, again based on the Julep swatches. The color itself, though, is really pretty, with a kind of iridescent quality. It has a touch of pink that these photos don't really show, but otherwise they're pretty accurate. You can see more of the bronze end of the spectrum on the pointer finger. No problems with application; two coats shown here. It's thin enough that if you wanted to bring out one of the undertones, you could probably layer it over something else in the family of the tone you wanted to highlight to get a different effect.

Finally, Julep sent all of us Mavens who got a box this February a special gift- Hartleigh, a glitter topper with small holo glitter, two sizes of white matte hex glitter, and large shiny red heart glitters in a clear base. This topper is packed- no digging for glitters here! While it's not something I probably would have chosen for myself, I think it's fun and I really like it. The different sizes and colors of glitters might be fun for a V-day jelly sandwich, something I haven't tried before. Here I tried it over bare nail, a pale pink (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Hard-core Party), a medium bright pink (SH Nail Growth Miracle in Kiss of Pink), and a darker purple based pink (SH Nail Growth Miracle in Sugar Plum).

Fun, isn't it? I like this one. I think the medium pink was my favorite with it. What do you think?

Did you get a Maven box this month? What did you get, and how do you think you'll be wearing Hartleigh? If you're not a Maven and want to join, be a doll and use my referral link. You can also get 50% off of your welcome box right now with code WOW. It includes 2 Plush Pout lip crayons (one of my favorite things) and two polishes, which is basically like getting one Plush Pout crayon free. And while we're talking awesome free gifts, have you entered my giveaway for a bottle of TamTam's Creations cuticle oil yet? Only a few days left, and I assure you, you will love this stuff. Ok, advertising part of the post over. Let me know what you think about this month's Julep Maven shades!

Weekend Nails: Inspired by Meghan Trainor

Unless you've been completely off the grid for the past year or so, you've probably heard Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass, and if you've really been paying attention (or are one of the over 100 million people who have watched it on Youtube), you've seen her Lips Are Movin' video, too. After hearing these two songs, followed up by the absolutely adorable Dear Future Husband, on a car ride with a friend today, I'm officially a fan.  I had so much fun listening to her songs today that I had to bring back Weekend Nails with some Meghan Trainor inspired nail art!

Meghan's videos have a fairly consistent color palette so far: pastels with pops of brights (usually red). For this nail look, the main mani was inspired by this screenshot from the All About That Bass video, with Meghan laying in a pile of wispy pastel pink, purple, yellow, and blue cloth. I started with one coat of a white base, then used a cotton bud dipped in acetone to sponge on the color. I used Sally Hansen CSM in Tulle Kit (sheer blue glitter), Insta-Dri Lively Lilac (purple), NYC Robin's Egg Blue (pale blue/green), Nicole by OPI Naturally (bubbly pink), and Julep Lilou (yellow). Usually when I use this technique it comes out too bright, but this time it was actually a little softer than I'd planned. The timing isn't great, but maybe I'm finally learning to match up my pastels! For my accent nail, I took my inspiration from a Lips Are Movin' setpiece, a bright blue striped background with a talking lips cutout in the center. I knew that if I tried to make it too complicated I'd end up frustrated, so I started out planning for just a closed mouth. Then I realized that fleshing out the shape would be just as easy with an open mouth as a closed one, so I went for it. Up close you can see a little peek of the blue stripe underneath, but from a normal distance, it looks smooth. I'm pretty happy with how it came out as compared to what I imagined. For the accent, I used Sally Hansen Cherry Red for the lips, with a no-name Sally Hansen white with Julep Lissa for the stripes-it was a perfect match for the inspiration photo!

As the mother of a daughter, I'm constantly trying to toe the line in pop culture between being hypersensitive and shielding my little girl (and, just as importantly, my teenage son) from messages that women are props rather than people and that her worth is tied to her weight/clothes/relationship status/etc., which is harder than it sounds. No artist can be all things to all people at all times, but Meghan's overall attitude of confidence and self respect is something I can feel comfortable sharing with my kids. I had a lot of fun honoring her unique vibe and playful videos with my nail art look, and I wish all the best for her as she continues to turn heads!

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.

Black and Brights Striping Tape Nail Art

I have a nail art quickie for you today: black nails with a simple, bright accent. I usually have a ton of trouble with striping tape, but this time it was (more or less) cooperative.

For my black, I used one coat of Sally Hansen Black Out, then covered it with one coat of Sally Hansen Triple Shine in Slick Black. Slick Black is very sheer on its own, but layers well over a basic black polish, it cleans up any streaks or blotchy spots, so no need for a perfectly opaque base. It has an interesting finish-it almost looks textured, but doesn't have that textured feel that I hate. For my accent nail, I started with a white base, then used a wide striper to make big diagonal stripes of five different colors. I didn't worry about making the stripes perfect, I wanted a more casual feel. Then I covered the dry striped design with three pieces of thin striping tape that met in the corner for a diagonal starburst in the opposite direction of the polished stripes. I layered the two black shades on top and carefully removed the striping tape with tweezers. Easy! On my other hand I didn't give my striped undies quite long enough to dry, so I had a small bald patch on my yellow stripe. I just carefully filled it in with a detail brush, and the mistake was barely noticeable. Initially I planned to put a rhinestone where the stripes meet, but it would have completely covered that pop of bright red, and that area came out cleaner than I was worried it would, so I decided to let the look stand.

Every now and then I feel like black nails, but I usually add in some color or glitter to make them more "me." I think these came out pretty well, especially since striping tape usually hates me. Is striping tape your friend, or do you (like me) usually end up with a sticky tape mess, even for simple looks like this?

January Julep Maven Review and Swatches

Once again, customization was too much for me-I passed on Julep's new Luxe Lip Treatments this time (I'm trying to go bolder with my lip colors, and these were super sheer) in favor of another bottle of Bare Face cleanser, and now I'm kicking myself for not getting more topcoat, too. Bah! The struggle is real, people; I need all the things. But enough of that, let me show you some of the new pretties that came in my box this month! Warning: this one is pic heavy. We'll start with Alicia, one of Julep's "from the vault" polishes.

Alicia is a "sunny salmon creme," cheerful even if not particularly original. Peachy corals are a shade I can't seem to get enough of, and this is a really nice one. It does go on a touch streaky, so apply carefully for best results. I'm pumped about Julep's announcement that several polishes will come out of retirement this year. There are certain colors I never got a crack at that I'm hoping will be on the list (lookin' at you, Ginger).

Next we have my one acquisition that debuted in the Chrysalis collection: Margit. You caught a sneak peek of this one earlier this week as an accent to my marsala roses with January Maven mystery add on polish Coco. On its own, Margit has a pink shimmer that warms it up and makes it a great SFW neutral. My job doesn't stifle my polish spirit (thank goodness!), but if yours does, you can still get a unique polish fix during the work week with Margit.

"But wait," you say. "Didn't January have a free gift in the Maven boxes?" Why yes, it did. Each Maven that checked the e-mail or blog and opted in got one of three metamorphic topcoats. I was delighted to find that mine was purple tinted Tyra. I don't know if these will go on sale, but they're pretty cool. I decided to sample Tyra with several colors, including a couple that I'm...less than in love with to see if it could transform them into polish I could adore. Here's what I got.

Left to right: Tyra over Julep Amy, Greta, Ryan, Sally Hansen Black Out

I tried Tyra over Alicia first, but wasn't wowed, so next I tried a warm blue creme, berry shimmer, matte teal green, and basic black. The biggest transformation was the teal, which changed to a shimmery purple-blue duochrome. Nice! The pink is Julep Greta, which I mentioned before isn't my favorite in my Maven anniversary post. I was so meh about it I didn't even have a decent swatch! With Tyra, it becomes a shimmery dark pink that I much prefer over the original. The black was ok. From the photos Julep provided I expected a bit more dramatic of a transformation, but it's a fun option to have. The blue was probably the most subtle transformation, but it added a distinct purple shimmer, I liked it enough that I put it on all of my nails when I was done playing.

Now that you've seen this month's Maven polishes, I have a bonus for you. Last month the weather was gloomy and grey, and I didn't have my lightbox yet, so I couldn't seem to get a decent picture of my December Maven polishes. I really fell in love with Paula, so I went back and snapped a few pictures to show it to you. Paula is a cobalt with gold shimmer, and it is absolutely fabulous.

Did you get your hands on one of the metamorphic topcoats? I'd love to see the blue and green ones, so tag me in your pictures @SecretNailBlog on Twitter or on my Facebook page SuperSecretNails!

My Christmas Nails: Pink and Grey Sweater Nails

I finally picked my Christmas nail design, and I'm really happy with how my mini-series of Christmas/holiday themed nail art wrapped up (haha, that's a pun!). This design was inspired by this look from Nailstorming. I've always liked pink and grey together, so I chose that color scheme for a soft, pretty winter design with just enough glitter that reminded me of a cozy winter sweater.

For this design, I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Hard-core Party as my baby pink base, then Julep Devon as my grey. The glitter is Zoya Lux (word on the street is that Zoya PixieDusts are going away in 2015, so if you like this one, you'll want to pick it up soon). Lux has pretty good opacity, but carefully dabbed over the baby pink of Hard-core Party gave it a lighter, more subtle sparkling pink snow effect. One warning about Hard-core Party: the color is lovely, but like many pale pastels, it's very streaky. Here I used a coat of matte topcoat in between layers to limit the number of coats of polish needed for decent coverage.

I've seen several different methods of doing the fair isle snowflake, so I sort of cobbled them together for mine. First, I carefully striped Devon once horizontally and once vertically over the pink base, meeting in the center of the nail. Then I made another set of diagonal stripes from top right to bottom left and vice versa. Next I pulled out my detail brush and made a triangular tip between the lines at the top of each wedge. Finally, I used a small brush to fill in outside the tips and dotted a daub of Lux in the center.

I loved this design, and as I get more practiced on my detail work, I'd love to recreate or do a similar design again. One holiday design I drooled over but didn't do myself this year was a full fair isle mani, so that may be on the docket for next season. If you're interested in a pictorial on the snowflake, let me know as well-it will be great practice. I hope you've had a great holiday season, whether you celebrate yourself or not. Now to start plotting my New Year's Eve mani!

Christmas Nails-Round 2

As I hoped, I have two more winter/holiday nail designs for you today. They didn't come out as well as I wanted, so now, one day before Christmas, I'm still in search of my elusive Christmas day nails. 

First I tried some ruffian stamping, with mixed results. Even though the photos on this design weren't fantastic, I really liked it on my nails. I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pumping Iron as my base, then created a curved side ruffian with Julep Lacey. I stamped the cute little snowflakes with Pumping Iron as well. This mani gave me a few issues, but I think the overall result wasn't bad and I enjoyed wearing it. On the downside, I had tip wear at breakneck speed, which you can see here. This photo is only a day into wearing this mani. Silvers tend to give me that issue, so I was disappointed even if not surprised. I did try a new topcoat, Sally Hansen Super Shine. It was slightly slower drying than my standby topcoats, but otherwise a good substitute-easy to work with and quite shiny.

Here's my second look, the one I'm wearing now. It falls strictly into the realm of "ok I guess," to the point that I'm marking it as a fail. I'm just not in love with it. The color combination is great, though. This is NYC Crown Gold with Fashion Queen on the tips, then Sally Hansen Insta Dri Wined Up for my tree and ribbon and NYC Queen of the City and Fashion Queen for the bow.

*Sigh*. Not good. But I'm still dreaming up that mani that will make me squeal when I wake up to it on Christmas morning. Wish me luck!

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!

I Broke a Nail! 3 Looks for Short Nails

To the outside world, "I broke a nail" ranges from a casual statement of minor annoyance to the laughable cry of a spoiled prima donna. To those of us who love nail art or get our midday pick-me-up from a glance at perfectly polished nails in the season's "it" color, it can feel like an absolute tragedy. When last we spoke, my nails were just about exactly at my target length-long enough for complicated nail art but not too long to get in the way. Then, I had a break. Not as bad as the one I had immediately before starting this blog, but definitely a huge setback, and way too short to continue on with that length on my other nails. They all had to go.

And still to this day I have the same problem I had then: all articles and images for what to do with nubs either says everything looks good on them (not true!) and/or are classifying "short" as several millimeters longer than what I've got. When my nails are chopped off, I don't quite feel like myself. So, in response, here's the blog post I wanted to read and couldn't find every time I've had a break: a recovery plan for when your nails must be chopped.

Step 1: Long nails sometimes get a bit unruly as far as lengths and shapes, so cutting them down is a good opportunity to get them back to a uniform appearance. Since my break left me with a little length, I cut them all to about three millimeters from the fingertip, then filed them down with a glass file to a uniform shape modeled off of actual-short-nailed nail art genius The Nailasaurus. I'd say mine are a touch rounder at the edges than hers, which mirrors my typical squoval leanings. I did leave my thumbnails a bit longer than the others as well, mostly because they look stumpier and tend to grow a little more slowly for me than my other nails.

Step 2 is to baby your nails and cuticles. I've been using Sally Hansen VitaSurge Gel (jury's still out on whether it will help), ridge filling base coat, and tons of cuticle cream and skin serum. Since I'm never really happy with my nails when they're super short, I tend to change polish more often, which is hard on them. The healthier they are, the faster they grow and the better they look getting there, so if you can curb that urge, avoid frequent polish changes.

Step 3 is the hard part. When you're used to doing nail art on longer nails, everything you do on short nails as far as nail art looks wrong. I've discovered, through extensive trial and error, a few simple designs that help ease the transition back to long nails. I used Glisten and Glow HK Girl topcoat with Julep Oxygen Basecoat on all three designs.

Strategy 1: Vertical Stripes
Just like that shirt everyone has that's so ugly, but it makes you look super thin, vertical stripes thin out and lengthen nub nails. Here I used striping tape and straight vinyl decals (a technique I'm still getting the hang of) to block out my lines, then filled with earthy fall colors using a striping brush. As the base color I used OPI for Sephora Frankly I Don't Give A-Dam, a concrete grey, and added stripes of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Peach of Cake (bright peachy orange), Insta Dri Jade Jump (pale jade green), and NYC Color Royal Chic (deep brown).




Strategy 2: Gradient French Tips
Last time I had a major break, I used nude and white for a traditional french tip look. This time, I went with something a little more dramatic, inspired by Lorde's dreadful frostbitten nail art. While it's not my speed for an everyday look, the black and nude gradient overall look was visually interesting. I carefully layered Pahlish Raggedy Man Goodnight over my basecoat with a ripped off piece of makeup sponge to keep it as cloudlike as possible, going over the very tips with the polish brush, then sponged a thin layer of the very sheer Glitter Gal Turbulence to holo-fy the bare part of the nail without edging out the french tip effect.



Strategy 3: Glitter Fixes Everything!
Finally, when all else fails, "throw some glitter at it" seems to be an effective solution to almost any nail art conundrum. A glittery chevron tip adds bling and visually drives the tip of the nail forward, creating the illusion of longer nails. Glitter also doesn't have to have a perfect line to look neat. Here I used Julep Cameron over Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle in Lovely Lavender. Cameron is a Julep Stardust polish, which is a fabulous opaque matte glitter finish. For some contrast you could topcoat just the base color instead of topcoating both like I did here. I used vinyl decals as a buffer to create clean lines for my pointed tips and full nail chevron accents. .



So that's how I've been coping with the loss of my length. I'm still having some issues getting them back into blogging shape (hence the paucity of posts lately), but with a little love, they're recovering. What tricks do you use to mask a break-or do you embrace your shorties?

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)

Weekend Nails: KISS Concert Nails

One of the strange little things most people wouldn't guess about me is that I love 70s and 80s rock, and there's a special place in my heart for KISS. The theatrics! The glitter! The black and white color scheme with jewel toned accents! How could any nail art aficionado not love KISS? This year, KISS is celebrating 40 years by touring with Def Leppard, and last night I was beyond thrilled to attend the psycho circus. Of course, I needed a mani appropriate to the occasion.

This was so much harder than I thought it would be. I used striping tape, which is notoriously uncooperative but highly effective, to pay tribute to the Starchild. The end result was pretty good, and the technique has definite potential for a more conventional nail art look. The Demon and the Spaceman were freehand. It's not so easy to see here, but a light sponging of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Tulle Kit over the silver added Starchild's signature blue glow. Surprisingly, the Cat was the most difficult of the four tribute nails. After test driving several designs thinking it would be simple, I broke the design down to the simplest possible denominator, then dressed it up a little bit with a green gradient tip to honor the Cat's dramatic green eyes.


Finally, my thumb honored the KISS Army logo with a simple orange and yellow sponge gradient. This one was all freehand as well, and was the only one that was easier than I expected it to be. I did have a little more transfer onto the black background than I hoped, but less than I feared, so I guess I broke even. Overall, I'd really like to see cleaner lines. I think experimenting with some new nail art brushes may be my next big advance in getting the clean lines I want in more complex designs-suggestions welcome!




While it didn't come out quite like I wanted, this KISS design was a fun break from my usual girlie fare and garnered plenty of oohs and ahhs at the concert. Have you ever done band art for a concert? Who was it? Share with me on Twitter at @SecretNailBlog. I promise, no judgement on your acrylic tribute to the Beebz.

I also want to mention that $1 from every ticket on this tour went to veteran's charities, including the Wounded Warrior Project, and both bands also accepted Motley Crue's (saw them earlier this summer!) call out for the Ice Bucket Challenge we all keep hearing about during the concert, as well as the two bands pledging to donate a total of $20,000 to the ALS Association. Click the links if either of those causes speaks to you, and click here to see KISS and Def Leppard take the challenge!

Weekend Nails: Sheers

It's been a while since I've done a weekend nails post, and this one doesn't seem too exciting at first glance. I have some big nail art projects planned for the next few weeks, but I've been a bit under the weather and didn't feel up to anything dramatic this weekend. Instead, I surprised myself by choosing some of the sheer polishes in my collection.

I much prefer opaques over bare nails or sheers about 360 days a year. I like full coverage and am annoyed by any peek of VNL. When I saw Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Cold As Ice, I was enthralled by the shimmery pink and orange shift. I'm not sure how I looked at this polish and expected it not to be sheer, but there ya go. I got it home, tried it on, and didn't pick it up again until this weekend. I started out with American Classics Bridge The Ridge basecoat. This gave a matte glaze and helped even out the color of my polish stained tips. Then I added two coats of Cold As Ice and topcoated.

This mani was pretty and simple, but I couldn't leave well enough alone, because everything looks better with glitter. I pulled out another pretty sheer that was languishing in my collection, Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle in Misty Rose. Misty Rose is a very, very sheer pink with tiny pink, silver, and green glitter that gives an all over sparkle. The combination brought out some of the purple sheen in both, making for a surprisingly complex mani that warmed even my sheer-hating heart. Then I finished with Sally Hansen Super Shine top coat; not a quick drying formula, but I didn't have any issues with it.

Plain nails have a place-it's a good idea to let the nails breathe occasionally-but a matte basecoat and the right sheer polish is like wearing natural makeup. It doesn't scream 'look at me,' but it shows off the hard work of maintaining beautiful, healthy nails while hiding some of the unfortunate side effects of my beloved opaque shades. How do you wear your sheers?

Before the Blog

SSNB recently hit 1000 page views, a milestone that was both exciting and humbling. This blog was created almost entirely for my personal amusement, so even though 1000 views is all in a day's work for the more established blogs, for me it's more than I ever expected. I'm the type of person who likes to always find the art and science to the things I enjoy, so painting nails turned into nail art, which turned into hand and nail care (even perfect manis don't look as good on ragged hands!), which turned into blogging-something that has continuously raised the bar. I'm so delighted that other people are interested in seeing this progression and to be a part of the generous and delightful beauty blogging community. I racked my brain on the best way to celebrate this milestone, and finally I decided the best way to commemorate the occasion was to take a look back.

I've taken pictures of my nails since long before I started blogging, they were just for a different purpose. The primary reason for the photos back then was a reference, in case I wanted to wear a design again. They weren't always great pictures, but they documented designs that I couldn't stop looking at. I'd love to go back and reimagine these sometime.

This one is a matte/shine hybrid, with Sally Hansen Tough Taupe as the base and (I think) Revlon Foxy and Copper Penny as the shades for my toothpick rosettes. I mattified using NYC matte topcoat before adding the flowers. Roses are one of my go to designs because they're so pretty and so versatile. There are a ton of variations on this manicure in my photos, but this is one of the only times I've done a mixed finish design. I wonder why that is-I really like it!    

Another rosette variation I've never repeated for some inexplicable reason is this girly white based rosette mani. I can't even begin to remember all of the colors I used, but I was so happy with the result!











I don't remember what inspired this cheerful under the sea design, but I do remember I liked it enough to wear it for several days. The base is Sally Hansen X-treme Wear in Blue Me Away with Mellow Yellow for the little angel fish. The coral and starfish are another Sally Hansen shade, Hard as Nails Mango Tango.








Finally, here's my gradient butterfly mani. I'd love to try these again now that I have steadier hands and am more skilled overall. Yes, I know everyone does butterflies, and it takes forever to do, but it's soooo pretty! I'm not sure which colors I used.

My skills were fledgling and my photos simple, but they get the job done when I need some inspiration. Tell the truth-do you have a stash of blurry pics of messy manis that you can't bring yourself to purge?

Lacquer Legion: Trekker Galaxy

When the Lacquer Legion declared Fandom as July's prompt, I may have squealed out loud. As you may have read on the Story of This Blog, my first serious nail art undertaking was Star Trek fan art. At the time I wasn't taking photos of my nails, but it was fairly simple-red nails with one yellow and one blue accent nail featuring the Starfleet insignia. For this month's Lacquer Legion mani, I decided to recreate that vibe using one of my very favorite techniques: galaxy nails.

Galaxy nails never get old for me, and are another technique that I tried very early in my nail art adventures. They come in endless variations, always look spectacular, and are ridiculously easy. I'm also fascinated by space (I'm obsessed with the "The Planets" manis that Nichole at Pretty Girl Science has been posting-but I'm obsessed with PGS anyway), so I end up staring at them all day. For this set, I went outside of my norm and used a deep purple, Julep Padma, instead of black as my base. Then I went crazy with colors, infusing a little turquoise this time with my usual array of white, pinks, yellow, and barrage of multi-sized glitter "stars." I used bits of sponge held precariously with tweezers, but a friend recently sent me a tutorial that used an eyeshadow sponge and looked even easier, so I think I may pick up some cheap ones to try that next time. Then I used a striper to shape out my Starfleet insignia in Sally Hansen Color Foil Sterling Silver and outlined in black (which, incidentally, is why the purple background instead of my usual black-to ensure my outline would stand out). Unfortunately, the gloomy Indiana weather made it really difficult to get a decent shot of the colors in this mani, so I was stuck with one that had a big, ugly shadow across the bottom as my best photo of the color scheme. Figures.

While I was tempted to do something more dramatic, like my Wonder Woman themed ComicCon nails, for this awesome prompt, a recreation that pays homage to my nerdy nail art roots just felt right. Plus...galaxy nails!