Deborah Lippmann - Stairway to Heaven over nude

Deborah Lippmann - Flat Top (1 coat)
Deborah Lippmann - Stairway to Heaven (2 coats)
China Glaze - Candlelight (1 coat)
OPI Nail Envy as base (1 coat)

I tried to wear Stairway to Heaven the way Temptalia did (second picture is from Temptalia's post)

but I dunno it just didn’t turn out half as nice on my nails :(. Mine was way shinier, so I tried to add Flat Top to give it a softer look. But I still wasn’t feeling it. The colors seem different but maybe it’s just the lighting? Then, I went to bed a few hours later and woke up with wrinkles in the polish from my bedsheets. Seriously, Stairway to Heaven never seems to fully dry. I think my bottle might be fake though because the brush kind of sticks out everywhere and the “hairs” seem frizzy unlike my other DLs and also there is no serial number… (I bought it at Shifeon). 

(mani from June 16? just never got around to posting so it has my old watermark)

China Glaze - Frostbite

Frostbite is a very vibrant royal blue. There's so much shimmer to it it's just stunning! This is three coats. I probably could have left it at two but there was a bit of visible nail line that was bothering me. I guess with the shimmer it wasn't too visible but I'm just OCD like that sometimes. 

It's been a long time since I've worn a polish on it's own without adding anything on top but this one is pretty enough on it's own. This blue reminds me of superhero Spandex with the color and shimmer finish. Maybe Wonder Woman's short shorts?

Revlon Always On Sealant. I think this was part of some set since it has a 2 on it but I can't remember now. I found this lying around my house and decided to try it because I talked to this girl that swears by Revlon Extra Life top coat. She said it's just as shiny as Seche Vite and doesn't chip or have shrinkage issues plus it's cheaper. So when my Seche Vite brush got dirty I decided to give this a try. I know it's not the same top coat but I thought maybe it would give me some idea since it's also Revlon. It was nice and thick and applies easily as a thick bead that glides over the nail like Seche Vite. Unfortunately, it dries painfully slowly and as a result I got several dents in the surface of the polish. Wear time on this wasn't great either. Minor tip wear after only a day and a chip on my thumb after two.

Gradient Magenta/Pink/Coral nails using Ombre Stain Technique

OPI - Dim Sum Plum

Essie - Infatuation

China Glaze - Atelier Tulle

Triangular makeup sponge, water, OPI Nail Envy, Revlon Colorstay Always On Sealant. Did this over my previous mani using China Glaze - Candlelight and Deborah Lippmann Flat Top. My attempt at this Ombre Stain Mani seen on TheBeautyDepartment. 

I ended up staining my ENTIRE nail though. I think next time I do this I will only use 2 colors instead of 3. I don't understand how they fit all 3 colors in and still had some bare nail showing.

Dim Sum Plum didn't work very well in this mani. It ended up lighter than the other 2 colors, even though it is clearly darker in real life. I think maybe this is because I was using the wrong end of the makeup sponge. I used the thicker end of the wedge and I just noticed they used the thinner end in the tutorial. So when I painted Dim Sum Plum on the edge, it was on the thickest part of the sponge. Maybe when I pressed down on the sponge to squeeze the water out there was too much water going through Dim Sum Plum, more so than the other two colors which made it lighter? Either that or something with the way Dim Sum Plum behaves in water.

So I ended up doing this stain technique a few times, then going over the tip with Dim Sum Plum normally without the added water, and then the stain technique a few times again to blend. I guess that's why it ended up so much darker and more opaque than it was supposed to lol. It looks like normal sponging with a kind of jelly finish to it rather than the intended stain look. I still love the way this mani looks even if it didn't turn out the way it was "supposed" to look.

This mani chipped really fast. I did these last night right before I went to sleep and I had a chip on the edge of my thumbnail already this afternoon! That's why the tip of my thumbnail is kind of hiding haha. I didn't get to take a picture before it chipped. There's also quite a bit of tip wear visible on my middle finger. I'm not sure if this is due to the stain technique or because of my top coat. I recently switched to this random Revlon topcoat I found lying around my house when my Seche Vite brush kept making black streaks over my manis (I swear I cleaned the brush sooo many times...). I wore my last gradient mani for a week though with the same topcoat and no chipping issues so I'm not sure. It's only been 2 manis with this topcoat so it's hard to say.

I will definitely be trying this technique again. I liked how easy it was to blend the colors together, and I loved the sheer watercolor type effect it creates (as long as you don't go over it too many times like I did). It was also quite a lot faster than normal sponging, and because the sponge is wet, you don't need to worry about little bits of sponge left behind. Cleanup was definitely NOT easy with this mani though. I think I will put old lip balm around my nails first next time so that the polish doesn't stick to my skin and cleanup should be easier.

Hopefully you enjoyed my rather long first post :)

Please visit my tumblr for my older posts. I moved here because tumblr is more for "micro-blogging" and I ramble way too much for this to be considered "micro-blogging."