Triangle Graffiti Nails!

I'm really bad at asking people for suggestions for how I should do my nails, then completely disregarding the excellent suggestions and doing something I saw on Tumblr.  I saw this awesome stupendous creation a few days ago and just had to do it.  Triangles!

I wasn't quite in the mood to make the base colours too complication for this one so I thought I'd just sponge on some random colours.  To start, I did the usual two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  Once that was dry I cut myself a small piece of makeup sponge and just splotched on Urban Outfitters Hottub, Rango and Blue Velvet.  Once it and the coat of Seche Vite was dry, I cut a long strip of striping tape and went to work.  I found it was easiest to lay the horizontal stripes first, then each of the diagonal lines.  I did all the taping at once and when done, applied a thick coat of the very excellent almost-holo A England Bridal Veil.  I didn't want flat black and I love this polish as it's a one-coater and has great texture.  One more coat of Seche Vite and I was done.

The Verdict:  This actually came out better than I expected.  I wasn't careful with how I sponged on my base colours - I just kept putting it on til the colours looked blended without going brown.  And my triangles came out really even, and that never happens.  So yay, neon triangles!

A-England Bridal Veil with Circle Glitter Dots!

Can I ask you guys a question?  What do you like to see here on my blog?  Do you like swatches, glitter placements, taping, acrylic free-hand painting, dots, watermarbling or a general mixture?  Cos I do a lot of glitter placements, obviously, because that's what I like.  Do you like them too or should I make an effort to do other things?  I'll <3 you forever if you leave a comment below.  

With that being said, let's take a look at another glitter placement! At least it's with a holo base colour, and half moon chevrons!

I felt like using an A-England polish so I used three coats of Bridal Veil.  It really only needs one and a bit but you guys know I like a deep base for my glitter.  I then went to town with an orange stick, gold, silver holo and blue circle glitter from LoveNailz and went to town with my top coat that is currently half Love & Beauty top coat and half one that came with a set of nail stickers I got a while back.  Bad at being a top coat but good for being a glitter adhesive.  I started with the usual column down the middle then filled out each side as appropriate.  Then Seche Vite.  DONE.

The Verdict:  This is nice but nothing earth shattering.  I've accidently had it on for two days as I fell asleep on the couch last night and didn't do my nails as usual.  I don't like having the same nails two days in a row.  It is sparkly, and holding up well, at least.  

Ruby Slipper Nails!

I wonder sometimes what you think when I write a more critical review of my nails.  I hope it's not that I'm fishing for compliments - I swear that's not me.  I just like to be honest about how something turned out sometimes.  Like this ruby slippers mani:  looks a bit like fruit in jello, doesn't it?  And for some reason that just skeeves me a bit.  It's still pretty though!  I guess!  Let's take a look, shall we?

 I felt like using my big red glitter for this mani and I wanted to match my base colour as close as I could, for max sparklies.  The best match I could find was A-England Perceval, one of my favourite reds for the brilliant colour and excellent formula.  All A-Englands are one-coaters.  Anyway, after applying three coats because I like to have a deep polish bed for my big glitter I went to work.  I'm currently using Sally Hansen Invisible to apply my glitter but you can really get away with any cheap top coat, as long is it isn't a quick dry.  I started off with my usual line of glitter down the centre of my nail, cuticle first, then working my way outwards.  I like to trim the pieces of glitter to fit around my cuticles and I do so using a sharp pair of sewing scissors.  It really isn't that hard with the bigger pieces like this.  Top it off with two coats of Seche Vite and you're done.

The Verdict: As I said about, something about the finish here is just a bit weird and it ruins it for me.  You should have seen it before I added the top coat.  That's not practical to wear so I don't believe in showing you something that's just going to disintegrate after five minutes.  It is sparkly though....

Christmas Glitter Nails!

Alrighty!  It's December 20th and it's probably about time I did Christmas nails properly.  It wouldn't be me without the sparklies so of course it's going to be all done in glitter. At least I used five different types of glitter!  And pretty base colours!  Let's take a look, shall we?

I wanted to use red and green glitter here and wanted a contrasting base of each of the glitters so to start, I applied three coats of Glitter Gal Red Sparkle and A-England St George, both absolutely gorgeous holo polishes.  I then did my usual trick with the top coat, applying a stripe down the middle of my nail, placing my first column of glitter using an orange stick, then filling out either side.  When you're using bigger glitter like I am here, make sure you press each piece down into the polish and top coat - will help stop it lifting up.  Top with two coats of Seche Vite and you're done. 

The Verdict:  I'm not totally sure of the colours but look, it's sparkly!  Love both of the polishes too, they're always reliable and awesome.  And there's variety in glitter!  Sparkly!  And Christmassy!

What Went Wrong: Four Manis from Dec-Jan

I don't know about you guys but I do my nails every day.  Unless I'm sleeping.  Then I do them when I wake up.  Anyway, given I post only sporadically, that leaves a lot of nails I do but don't post.  They're even usually pretty complicated!  Just somehow, somewhere in how the photos came out, my colour choices, my execution or the way the wind is blowing, they don't get posted because they're not the best they can be.  In the interest of transparency, let's have a look at some that didn't quite make the cut. 

I swear, black holo glitter will be the death of me.  It looks so amazing in the bag but then on, it's just...flat.  I've tried multiple brands in different shapes but just...eh.  I'm happy with the execution of this glitter placement, but just try to get excited by how it looks in the pictures here.  I'm happy I could capture the rainbow in the finish - thanks to the external flash provided by my bf - but I just don't like the colour.  

Next, another example of the same glitter being boring on the nail.  This was a trial run for New Year's and I'm so happy I went with black and silver squares instead.  Same amount of effort, significantly better result.  I like the grey glitter more than the black but it's a case of it being amazing in the bag, boring on the nail, under top coat.  I could show you pictures without top coat but I don't feel that's terribly honest.  The gold is better but overall, just boring. 

YEP, HAD TO KEEP TRYING THE STUPID BLOODY BLACK GLITTER, MAYBE IT WILL WORK WITH OTHER COLOURS IN A GRADIENT.  A resounding meh.  I've since discovered that a different gold really fixes this gradient so that's a good thing.  I actually filmed this for a tutorial/time-lapse but some of it wasn't in focus and I didn't do a particularly stellar job placing the glitter.  I'll film it again soon.  Gotta update that tutorial.  

Oh, crazy giant rainbow studs.  You're so crazy and giant and strange-looking.  I paired them with A England Bridal Veil but it's not the right base colour for this.  I do really like these studs because they look like alien eggs but with this base colour it's just, again, kinda meh.  I also only made it to 11am before I picked them all off my nails.  Yep, I'm that person.  I also don't like it when my skin comes out this greyish colour because my white balance is off.

The Verdict:  I know there's really nothing wrong with any of these manis and I'm basically just complaining but I like to show you guys the best work I can do.  I swear I'm not just fishing for compliments, I just like to be transparent with you, talk through what doesn't work and do better!  Always better and sparklier :D:D

Nails on Fire! Yeah! Ow!

OW MY NAILS ARE ON FIRE THEY'RE SO FIERY OW HOT.  Also though glitter placements are great and we should all do them all the time.  Even though Pointy and Thumbie have been in the wars lately, it's still awesome to have glitter.  It is also hard to type blog when there is a purring kitty in the way, right Rocket?

So I actually have a tutorial for this, believe it or not.  This whole glitter placement thing is pretty straightforward so it is just a time lapse but iPhones make pretty good cameras and you'll get the idea.  Start with two coats of a polish - in this case I'm using A-England Bridal Veil - then apply the usual stripe of top coat.  Lay down your centre column of glitter then build out each side.  You can cut pieces of glitter in half for the area around the cuticles, and trim off any pieces that overhang the edge of your nails.  Two coats of Seche Vite and you're done.  Only takes ~5 mins a nail.

The Verdict:  These look appropriately firey, the placement is even, it's sparkly, what more could you want?  I don't even have lobster hands this time!  Win for everyone!