Pantone 2016 Colors Watermarble

St Patty's Day Dotticure

Orly - Fowl Play

Layla CE 104

OMD2 - 31DC - Ombré (19th)

OMD2 - 31DC - Abstract (15th)

OMD2 - 31DC - Duochrome

Blue leopard print on black inspired by F21 skirt

OPI - Black Onyx (2 coats)
Stamping Plate: Konad m57
Stamping Polish: Orly - Sweet Peacock

Accent Nail
Orly - Sweet Peacock (2 coats)
China Glaze - Dorothy Who? (1 coat)

Base coat: Essie - Grow Stronger
Top coat: Seche Vite

I saw this mini skirt and loved the print but couldn't really see myself wearing it. So I took a picture of it and turned it into a mani instead! Here is a picture I snapped of it. The skirt was at Forever 21 in Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas mid October. I never got around to posting this one!

I love the metallic blue on black leopard print! I originally wanted to use OPI's Unfor-Greta-bly Blue since it was a good match for the skirt color. Unfortunately, it was not opaque enough to work for stamping. Peacock worked much better but the print could only be seen when the light hit it. It just looked like dark blue shimmer from far away. I tried to layer Peacock under a silver polish on my stamping plate, hoping that when I stamped it would be more opaque with silver behind it. Unfortunately that didn't work since the stamper wouldn't consistently pick up both layers of polish off the plate.  I wish there were some way to make polishes stamp more opaque... I don't have hundreds of polishes in my stash like other nail bloggers :( ...at least not yet... 

I wasn't very happy with the way Peacock wore either. I found that it chipped off the next day in thin, flaky layers. (I didn't apply it any differently than any other polish and the rest of my nails were fine so I don't think they were too dry/oily or anything.) Maybe I'll try wearing it with a different base/top coat next time and see if that helps.

Also... I think this may be the first time I've ever done accent nails! I did a mixed mani before but I don't usually do accent nails since I tend to like having all my nails exactly the same. I did accent nails this time though because konad m57 is not big enough to cover my thumb nails so I decided not to stamp them. I painted them with Peacock and Dorothy Who? instead. I did the same for my ring fingers so that it was more integrated into the mani and I wouldn't just have mismatched thumbs.

What do you think of accent nails?

Have you taken inspiration from fashion before for a mani? Leave a link I would love to see it!

Purple Saran Wrap Mani (First Attempt)

Polishes used:

Orly - Lollipop (base - light pink/lavender creme)

Nicole by OPI - Light a Candle (first color - light purple tinted silver)

China Glaze - Coconut Kiss (top color - grape purple)

This is my first time doing Saran Wrap nails. I originally watched Chelsea's video to get an idea of how to do this technique, but ended up changing it quite a bit. She paints her nails one at a time and then uses the saran wrap immediately to take off some polish and make the pattern. I prefer putting a few drops of polish on a stamping plate, then dipping into the puddle of polish, and then dabbing that onto the nail. I found this gives a more intricate, finer pattern. I also didn't like using the saran wrap. I found that it was a bit sticky, and took off too much polish. I tried using tissue like Rebecca did but the tissue I was using was really soft and ended up flattening out really easily on the nail so the pattern from the folds wasn't as visible as I wanted. It ended up looking like I just sponged some parts of my nails. I ended up using the wrapper from a pad (yes lol THOSE PADS - the ones us lucky girls get to use a few days per month) and found that this worked the best for the finer more intricate pattern that I wanted. The wrapper was very thin paper and very crinkly. 

Going into this mani, I originally wanted to do a metallic light purple color on pink. I imagined it being really pretty in my head and thought it would be along the lines of Bregje's work. I love how she stamps with similar colors and it's very subtle and understated and pretty in that way. Unfortunately, it just looked like my nails were a weird dirty silver gray color after my first round of dabbing. I think because the pattern doesn't have crisp lines it's hard to see the pattern when the colors are so similar and it just becomes one color especially at arms length. It was getting really late so my only hope of fixing my mani was adding another color on top. Coconut Kiss worked perfectly with this technique. Since it's a two-coater, I could go over spots I wasn't happy with and they would become darker than other spots and create a cool pattern that way. I would definitely recommend using two or three coater polishes that are somewhat sheer on the first coat as your top color for this technique. When I was using Light a Candle, if I went over a spot too many times the color would just take over, making my nail a solid color without any pattern. You can barely see the base of Orly Lollipop anymore. I think the only nail where I could clearly see all three colors was my thumb shown below. 

I think this is a really fun technique. It's very easy yet creates stunning nail patterns. It's also great for me right now because several of my nails are splitting into layers and I don't want to file/buff them out too much because it would weaken the nail. The layers show through creme and shimmer finishes and make my nail look lumpy and I need some kind of pattern to hide it. I had been using chunky glitter for this purpose but it's really a pain in the behind to remove. I think this technique would also be good to "refresh" a mani by hiding minor chips when you don't have time to redo your nails completely.

Orly Snowcone gradient with Essie Set in Stones (luxeffects)

Sorry dear readers I've been really really busy :'( my poor blog has been abandoned for 2 weeks now. Anyway I would let you know what I'm up to but I'm not sure who's reading this... I'll let you know if/when it hopefully works out! ;)

Anyway onto the post...

Orly - Snowcone (1 coat)

Essie - Set in Stones (Luxeffects) (1-2 coats)

Used Orly Snowcone again because it was such an amazing one coater! I'm really impressed that such a light polish manages to be a one coater (needed to go over a few spots twice but I'll still count it as a one coater). I was planning on just leaving this on it's own and calling it a night but the nail bandage I had on underneath was showing so I needed something with texture to hide it. I thought about crackle but didn't want to use it since the trend seems pretty much over. So I went with chunky glitter instead and I'm pretty happy with the results. It still looks weird like there's multiple layers of polish in my pictures (right side of middle finger nail) since it's such a close up shot but in real life it wasn't noticeable. The nail bandage unfortunately didn't work at all and so that's why my nails have been much shorter lately :( This is quite an old post but like I said I've been really busy...

I wanted a glitter gradient but was too lazy to use a sponge so it didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped. Oh well I guess that's what I get for being lazy. I'll redo it sometime. For the glitter gradient I went over the entire nail with Set in Stones once and then reapplied to the tips only using a dabbing method. I ended up getting some chunky glitter by the cuticle which ruined the gradient effect a bit. I hate how those chunky bits only seem to appear where I don't want them lol. When I do want them I have to dab like crazy. 

Pink Indie-esque glitter layering experiment

Orly - Lollipop (2 coats)

Milani - Lavender (1 coat)

Revlon - Popular aka Starry Night (1 coat)

Essie - Grow Stronger as base, Seche Vite after Milani Lavender and again after Revlon Popular

I was originally going to wear Orly Lollipop and Milani Lavender together but somehow it just didn't look right when I put Milani Lavender on. I can't really pinpoint and describe what was wrong with it - I just wasn't feeling it at all. It was really late and I had to work the next day. I already stayed up way later than I was supposed to trying to scrub off the glitter from my last manicure so redoing my nails wasn't an option. I originally thought of adding matte top coat so the glitter wouldn't be so blaring and shiny but I didn't think that mattifying it would really do it for me. My next thought was glitter sandwich so I threw Revlon Popular over this. I'm really loving the end result. I think it looks like something an Indie polish brand would make. I can't think of a specific Indie polish that looks like this, but I think it has that milky glitter sandwich kind of look to it. 

Orly Lollipop is a very pigmented light purple/pink creme. It is a bit thick and goes on lumpy on the first coat. It was fully opaque and smoothed out at two coats. Milani Lavender is purple/blue large hex glitter with fine purple glitter in a clear base. The large hex glitters are purple but flash more blue under certain lighting. It applied quite well and evenly for the most part. I should have gone over that one side of my ring finger again and it's really bothering me now. Oh well. Revlon Popular is sheer milky light purple/pink with fine silver shimmer and larger silver hex glitters. See my post on Revlon Popular on its own here.

I hesitated a lot before posting the in progress pictures below. Like I said, I was in a huge rush when I was doing this mani. I didn't have time to clean up before taking these so please excuse the polish all over my skin. I also didn't bother pulling out the light box for these so the lighting isn't that great either. Btw normally my painting isn't this bad but I'm right handed so this was painted with my non-dominant hand. I normally use my left hand for nail pictures but I broke a nail on my left hand so I'm taking pictures of my right hand until it grows out. Anyway here are the in progress pictures.

Orly Lollipop (2) + Milani Lavender (1) + Seche Vite

Orly Lollipop (2) + Milani Lavender (1) + Seche Vite + Revlon Popular (1) on index finger only

Christmas wrapping paper

Orly - Snowcone

Konad m64

stamped with Nicole by OPI - Light a Candle

Seche Vite on top, Essie Grow Stronger as base

I wasn't going for a Christmas wrapping paper look when I did this mani, but one of my coworkers said it looks like Christmas wrapping paper. And after he mentioned it... I think it totally does too! So I went with that as my title. Still really early for Christmas but oh well.

Orly Snowcone had an absolutely amazing formula! It only needed one coat! I was really impressed especially considering that it is a light creme color. The brush was thin and a little bit stiff. As long as you apply it "floating" like you would Seche Vite it is a one coater. I had to  go over a few spots again to cover but I'll still consider it a one coater. 

Nicole by OPI Light a Candle is a light purple tinted silver. When used for stamping, it just shows up silver. It stamped quite well, although I think I accidentally smudged the image a bit while stamping. I think with this image though it's not very noticeable. I didn't really like this image much when I was just looking at the plate. I like it a lot more on the nail. I'm loving the organic swirls and dots. Kind of looks like a simplified paisley print.

Essie Shine of the Times Luxeffects over Orly Lollipop

Essie - Shine of the Times (Luxeffects) 1 coat over

Orly Lollipop (2 coats)

Seche Vite on top, Essie - Grow Stronger as base

Prepare for some serious picture spam! I just couldn't limit myself to only a few pictures with this one. Shine of the Times was just too gorgeous! Keep reading for more pictures and a review of Shine of the Times and Lollipop.

I can't believe this is my first time wearing Shine of the Times. I was so excited about it when I first got it and then never ended up wearing it. I love the flakie look but don't like when Shine of the Times flashes dark green/orange/brown like it does over black. Yup call me crazy but I hate it over black. Maybe I should get a cool toned flakie instead. Anyway I  picked up Lollipop and love these two together. I finally found a color that I love under Shine of the Times. Shine of the Times flashes mostly a coral color over Lollipop. It does still flash a bit of green but it looks like a lighter green. I don't know if Lollipop underneath has changed the color of Shine of the Times or if the color contrast is just creating that illusion. It flashes more light blue/purple in low light. I can't stop staring at my nails! Here is some bottle shots and pictures taken in different lighting around my house.

Shine of the Times formula was consistent with the rest of the Luxeffects collection. It has a thick, gel like formula that was very easy to control and spread. It has many small flakes packed into a clear base. Wear time with all the Luxeffects is quite good. Usually around 5 days with only minor chip wear.

Before removing this manicure, I wanted to see what it would look like matte. I put one coat of Deborah Lippmann's Flat Top on my ring and pinky fingers to show the difference. Personally, I don't like this matte. I feel like the flakie effect is already quite subtle and matte the flakie effect almost disappears entirely.

Lollipop has been overshadowed by Shine of the Times in this post but it is quite a nice polish as well. It is very  pigmented especially for a pastel creme so you could probably get away with one coat if you are really careful and don't go over spots twice. I had issues with the brush dragging away polish if I went over the same spot twice and creating bald spots. If you want to try for only one coat paint both sides first and then a final stroke down the middle. It also helps to apply the polish "floating" like you would Seche Vite. This means that you have lots of polish on the brush, so that you are not touching the brush to your nail when you are spreading the polish. My first coat was quite lumpy, but I realized after the first coat that part of the brush was looped over. I tried to pull down on the loop and straighten it but it was stuck and wouldn't budge. I think I got a defective brush where some of the bristles were folded over when the brush was attached to the handle. I snipped the bottom of the loop and straightened out the brush before my second coat which went on much smoother. I think now that the brush is fixed, Lollipop would probably be a one coater with careful application. The other Orly polish I bought at Sally's, Snowcone (a light cornflower blue creme) is a one coater so I'm hoping this will be too when I try it again.

*EDIT: Orly Lollipop is unfortunately too thick and lumpy to be a one coater even though it is really pgimented. I have tried it again.*