Blue and Red Harlequin Nails

I'm in a ridiculously lucky position right now.  The company I worked for for three years fell apart and with a combination of the savings and resulting payout, I don't have to work for a little while.  Not forever, but enough time for me to get enough sleep and to fully dedicate as much time as I want to doing my nails, among other things.  This is how I had the time to do the ridiculous manicure I'm about to show you, and why I'm publishing this at 5.30am. 

I was sorting out my desk when I came across a pot of red holographic diamond shaped glitter I haven't really known how to fully utilise.  It's the only one I have in this size so I couldn't do the geometric shapes I've done with some other colours in the past.  I think I've always known what to do with it, but it's tiny, and fiddly.  Bracing myself with a lot of episodes of The Good Wife and a google search for the best colour complements to red, I began.  To start this manicure, I applied three coats of Urban Outfitters Babyboy, a slightly dusky baby blue.  Then, using my usual technique I added the glitter.  I found the best way to get the glitter even was to do a straight strip down the centre of each nail and built out each side.  You have a bit of wiggle room to shift the pieces around if they don't line up exactly.  I don't even really know how long this took, but I love it so much it's worth it. 

The Verdict: I love this both close up and from a distance.  The red glitter is holographic so it's super sparkly.  From a distance it almost looks purple but with red flashes, even in really dim light.  I love it so much it's been 24 hours and I can't take it off.  It's going to be hard, that's for sure.  I'll keep patching up the pieces that fall off, see if I can't make it last for a while.  Made me cross-eyed!

Fun with Glow-in-the-Dark American Apparel Polishes!

I finally decided to jump aboard the glow-in-the-dark train that's been tootling around lately.  Sure, it's a gimmick but who doesn't like glow-in-the-dark stuff?  I recently came across two new American Apparel polishes - Moon and Neptune - and just had to find the right way to use them.

To start, I applied three coats of Orly Dayglow, my go-to white polish.  These two polishes are quite sheer so I wanted to give them the best shot possible with a white base.  Next, I applied two coats of the white glower, Moon and the blue, Neptune, to alternating fingers.  Application was fine with both these polishes, not to mention interesting to look at the polish itself on the brush.  The glowing particles almost look velvety, never seen that before.  Once done with the two coats, I added the black glitter.  I wanted some kind of pattern for the glow test, what better than large hex glitter.  I used my usual technique and it didn't take much time at all to get the pattern on.

Keep going, nearly time for glowing!

Ta-da!  Glowing!  This was after charging my fingers under a lamp for half a minute - so glowing!

The Verdict:  I like these polishes.  They'll always have to go over a base but they glow brightly enough for me and don't do something silly like take forever to dry.  Will certainly keep me entertained when I go to bed!  Yep, that's a thing.

Weekly Challange: Inspired by a Book - The Dark Tower Series

 I find challenges based around an "inspiration" tricky.  I have a lot of movies, books, TV shows, music that I enjoy but rarely find inspiring.  The Reddit weekly challenge for the past week has been specifically for books and it finally hit me - I had to do nails for Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.  I've read that series over and over again and have always loved it.  There's a ton of really interesting art work featured in some editions of the books as well as online so using this picture as inspiration, let me present my Dark Tower nails.

I'm not super good at nail art yet but I like to give it a shot from time to time.  To start, I applied two coats of China Glaze Electric Beat for my sky background.  Then, using a combination of acrylic paints and nail art polishes, I drew in the field of roses, the tower, the setting sun and the spiralling clouds.  For my thumb I had a go at painting a larger rose with the same combination of paints and polishes.  Once it was done, I finished off with a coat of Seche Vite.  It may not be my best work, but I'm happy.

The Verdict:  I'm happy with how this came out, especially with the clouds in acrylic paint.  It was much easier to apply and have it be opaque than polish.  This all reminds me, I really should read that series again....

Rainbow Glitter Zig-zags, Take 2

One of my more popular posts were the rainbow glitter zig-zag nails I did a few months ago.  It's good, but every time I look at it, all I can see is how uneven some of the glitter is.  It was annoying me so I decided to recreate it, BUT THIS TIME BETTER.

Although it doesn't make much of a different, I started this manicure with two coats of Sally Hansen Navy Baby instead of my usual black.  Gotta mix it up sometimes, you know? Then, starting with my thumb, I added the glitter using my usual process.  Unlike my original version, I did four pieces of glitter before changing directions, made it a lot neater.  After my thumb and ring finger I was starting to go a little cross-eyed so I spaced the glitter out a bit for my remaining fingers.  I like it though, makes the two accent nails stand out more.  It's fun to see the different patterns contrast against each other.  Anyway, if you're wanting to do this, make sure you have the glitter rotated so there's a pointy bit at the top, not a flat bit.  Makes for good zig-zags.  Man, so sleepy today, forgive me if this isn't a 100% sense-making. 

The Verdict:  Ahh, nice, even rainbow zig-zags at last.  I also got to feature one of my many giant rings.  I had a thing a while back for giant rings - I even created the subreddit /r/largerings - and it's good to hold something other than a polish bottle from time to time.  Yay sparklies!

Sunset Gradient Maze Nails!

So I may have mentioned that I'm not working right now.  My company kinda collapsed a bit, but that's ok cos we were compensated.  My life right now is me, sitting at my computer at strange hours of the day and night, talking to my cat and occasionally my boyfriend.  It also means for some weird reason that my impulse control has gone out the window.  I dyed my hair from a box which is a terrible idea if you're blonde and when one too many nails broke on my photo hand I got fake nails.  Wooo! It's kinda hard to type but I'm digging them a bit.  They're all long and not too thick.  They're long enough now that I feel comfortable totally copying an amazing design Chalkboard Nails did the other day.  I'm not kidding when I say copied.  Go look at her stuff.  Not afraid to say I both love her and hate her a bit, she's too good!

Anyway, for these nails I finally got the makeup sponge gradient to work properly.  Turns out a white base is a really good idea.  I started with two coats of L.A. Girl Delicate then painted stripes of American Apparel Neon Yellow and Neon Blue, with Urban Outfitters Hottub in the middle on a sponge.  I then just dabbed it on my nails.  The colour choice was incredibly inspired as you get a wonderful yellow-orange-pink-purple-blue sunset gradient.  I added a coat of Seche Vite cos it never hurts then freehanded the maze design using LA Colors Art Deco nail art polish.  I thought about using tape but that's just too much work.  A final coat of Seche Vite and I'm done!

The Verdict: Man, this design is amazing, I wish I'd thought of it!  I also don't mind my new fake nails even though they woke me up last night cos they're taking a bit of getting used to.  Yay gradients!

Review: OPI Absolutely Alice!

Comparing photos from earlier this week to now, it's pretty obvious that I got acrylic nails.  I'm ok with it, it means my nails are all nice and even and I don't have to deal with having two broken nails on my photo hand.  The universe's reward for said fake nails?  Finding a polish I've longed for for ages in the salon, OPI Absolutely Alice!

Absolutely Alice is a super awesome blue and gold micro-glitter from all the way back in 2010.  I've longed for it for so long and there it was, just sitting on the rack of polishes to choose from.  Turns out it's super easy to just ask if you can buy one of said polishes and to bargain them down cos it's been used.  I know it's a little gross but I wanted it, dammit!  It was really full and hardly used so mine.  Anyway, I didn't want to waste three coats of it so I started with two coats of Orly Sweet Peacock, the sparkly blue foil.  Absolutely Alice has a really great consistency, it's nearly opaque in one coat on it's own. 

The Verdict:  I love this polish, I'm so happy to have rescued it from the salon round the corner.  So what are you going to do next time you get a manicure?  Look at the shelves - look for China Glazes with silver lids, polishes you don't immediately recognise, anything that stands out from the rest.  Don't let them hurry you and don't be afraid to haggle.  Or check your photo for the price on ebay.  If it's over $30 then buy, but keep that poker face!

Review: OPI Liquid Sand Get Your Number

So I know every lady and her nails have reviewed the Liquid Sand OPI polishes but who would I be if I didn't jump on that bandwagon too?  There's no way I could pass up a matte sandy glitter!  It's just too out there.  Anway, let's take a look at the blue polish in the collection, Get Your Number.

Get Your Number is totally unique in my collection.  I don't say that lightly, I have a ton of nail polish.  It may not look like anything earth-shattering in the bottle - a medium blue thin jelly with holo and iridescent glitter - but it really does dry like sand.  It's a little too sheer for me to be comfortable wearing it on its own so I layered two coats of Sally Hansen Navy Baby on there first.  I then added the one coat of Get Your Number and look how interesting it looks!  I added a coat of Seche Vite to my ring finger to contrast the finish differences.  I have to say that I'm not the most fond of the rough finish but it's ok, I'll deal.  

The Verdict:  Get this polish, even for the unique factor.  Yes, it feels a lot kind sandpaper and needed underwear but LOOK at that macro shot.  If you've ever seen anything like that before, good, cos I haven't :)

On Bribing Artist Friends with Brunch to Get Them to Do Art

Oh, it's fun to bribe your artist friends with french toast so they'll do art on your nails that you can then blog about!  I have a wonderful friend Erica who comes round to our place most Wednesdays and I just had to get her to paint me a teenie-tiny rocket with a space cat.  I have a cat called Rocket and if I ever get around to making my own line of glitter polishes, for sure it'll be called Rocket Polish.  With a cat in a rocket for a logo.  So that had to be the nail art I requested!  She's an excellent artist, you should go look at her work :D

I needed a nice spacey deep blue so I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen Navy Baby.  Erica then painted the rocket ship, rocket cat and other spacey things with acrylic paints.  I managed to top it off with a coat of Seche Vite without smudging the design, so I'm happy.  Look, space!

The Verdict:  Of course I love this.  There's a space kitty in space, it's perfect.  I might try brewing a little less coffee next time, but that's all part of the fun :)

Pink to Blue Ombre Mermaid Nails

Ok so yeah, I know I just did this kind of manicure but it's totally different, I swear!  I found more pink glitter so the colours blend together nicely and I spaced the glitter out more!  Pretty much though it was the Reddit Monthly Meetup on Saturday night and I wanted sparkly nails.  What more can I say!

To start, I did the usual two coats of Rimmel Black Satin.  Someone remind me to get a new bottle, cos it's getting a bit gluggy.  Anyway, next you'll need a think swipe of your non quick-dry top coat, I'm currently using Sally Hansen Invisible.  You almost can't apply this thick enough because you need to reallllly smush the glitter in there, so no bits stick up.  If I even have one piece of glitter sticking up, I can maybe go six to ten hours before I'mma need to get rid of it.  It's the main reason I trim all my glitter to fit, so it's nice and smooth.  I've found that with the big pieces of glitter, start in the middle with a column in your colour run, then just build out either side.  I also find the top coat will apply better if you leave a tiny gap between each piece.  Once you're done, you really can't apply too many coats of Seche Vite.  I think this is three? Yeah, sounds about right.  Make sure you run the top coat along the edges of your nails too, it'll stop the edge pieces coming off.  

I should go to bed now, so sleepy, hence the tone of this entry!  But look, sparkly: 

The Verdict: I would normally call this just a colour gradient but it feels very ombre-y to me so I'm going with that.  And sparkly.  So sparkly.  Yay!

Sparkly Stepping Stones Nails!

I've been super into Tumblr lately and I've been seeing some people do fabulous things with a glittery base and solid patterns atop it.  I just had to try it out myself after seeing what Whitney at Dressed Up Nails and Stephanie at Sincerely Stephanie have done recently.  By the way, I kinda hate you Whitney, you're just too good and it makes me incredibly jealous! 

I loved the idea of using Color Club glitter polishes from Christmas last year so I started off with two coats of Sugarplum Fairy and then just painted half my nail with Beyond the Mistletoe.  Both are completely awesome and sparkly micro holo glitter, the former slightly purple-toned, the latter slightly green.  I wish I could do the glitter justice, it just doesn't come off in photos! Once dry, I dotted on Wet'n'Wild On A Trip, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, Nina Ultra Pro Blu Blaze and Nicole by OPI "Baby" Blue.  So many polishes!  But look, sparkly!

The Verdict: Love how the sparkly mixes with the creme polishes, almost like stepping stones on a river of glitter.  That's for me, that's for sure.  Fits with the gradients I've been obsessed with lately too.  Yay sparkly!  Man, I finish a lot of posts like that.  But I like glitter.  So yay!