New Year's Eve Nails!

 Alrighty everyone, it may be Jan 2nd but I was hungover yesterday so you get my New Year's Eve nails today!  Much like the glitter challenge, New Year's Eve presents quite the quandary for me as I have to choose just one set of nails, they can be as balls-out-sparkly as I want and there will be partying.  I clearly have no choice but to break out the rainbow glitter, again.  Cos it's New Year's!  I can't not do this thing.

As I talked a friend of mine into hosting the night, I felt I should go help.  And, by help, I mean physically be there, sit on her floor and put glitter on my nails while chatting and watching the I.T. Crowd.  I played around for a while and eventually came up with this diamond pattern.  Using my usual technique, I started with two coats of Rimmel Black Satin then laid a column of glitter down the centre of my nail, inching them around a little til I worked out how many I could fit.  I then just build out the pattern on either side.  You may notice, though, that my other nails don't match.  I'd just started on my ring finger when we noticed it was 7pm, and the party started at eight so it was time to improvise!  For me, that usually means loading up a heavy coat of top coat and sprinkling different glitters on it.  I then proceed to pretend I'm being all cool with my different patterns!

The Verdict: Application isn't quite as good as I'd like but man, did these get me tons of attention at the party.  Which is of course, my favourite thing.  Even from guys!  Aww yeah, everyone loves the glitter.

As a side note, the pictures you see here are a result of my patching up my nails after a hard night of partying.  Glitter mosaics are pretty fragile but super easy to fix.  I'll have a full guide on how to fix them here shortly.

Tutorial: How to Fix a Glitter Mosaic Manicure That's Seen Better Days

Alrighty, so you've seen me do quite a lot of glitter mosaics manicures.  They do take a while to do and if you don't do your nails most days like me, you want them to last as long as possible.  One of the best things about them is that they're actually really easy to fix up, if you have the same glitter handy and a little time.

A perfect time to show you the process of fixing my nails is the manicure I did for New Year's Eve.  I did my nails before the party and over the course of the evening, they...had a bit of a rough night.  I'm very hard on my nails - I get tip wear really easily and my nails weren't in the best shape after a week in New York.  So instead of looking like this:

I woke up to them looking like this (brace yourself):

Sadly, this is rough I am on my nails.  Look at that dirty great chip on my index finger, the tip wear, the missing glitter pieces *shudder*.  IT'S OK, I CAN FIX THIS.  How do I know it'll be ok? Cos the first pieces of all five fingers is the final result *OMG TWIST*.

The first step you need is to take your base colour and refresh your tips.  Make sure you wrap the polish all the way around the ends, and a little bit under your nails.  I find everything wears better this way.  It doesn't have to be super neat as we'll be putting glitter over it and a ton of top coat.  Once done, you should have something that looks like this:

Ok, looks a little better now, huh?  Next, you want to find the glitter you originally used.  You can see I'm missing some of the pink glitter off the tips of my nails, and my little finger isn't looking too good.

Getting even better now.  I've added a little pink in there, and refreshed the glitter on my middle finger.  You just use the same technique you did originally, a little top coat and a toothpick.

The final step is the same as every other mani - a ton of Seche Vite and a paintbrush dipped in acetone to clean up the edges.  I've tried a lot of other top coats but keep coming back to Seche Vite as it seems to penerate deeper layers of polish and smooth everything out.  The paintbrush is also the easiest way to clean up your mani.  Just sweep it around the edges and you'll get a nice curve around the cuticle and no stray splotches.  100% acetone is the best, IMHO, because it's just so much faster than regular remover.  Find a small paint- or makeup brush and just sweep it around the edges of your polish, it's easy to do.

Once you do these, you get this!

The Verdict:  Man, looking at these pictures now I still want to clean up bits but it's too late now.  But look, sparkly!  Hope this helps :)

Matching a Mani to the Sparkliest Bag I've Ever Owned

While travelling in New York over Christmas, I kept an eye for...something.  Something unique, something you don't see often, something that stood out.  While wandering around Brooklyn, I found the thing that I was looking for.  It may not be practical but oh man, is it sparkly.  Covered in a perfect gold-red-fuchsia-pale pink gradient of flat sequins, this bag had to be mine.  When I got it home, I of course had to honour it with a glitter gradient of my own.

I wanted to bring in the silver reverse side to all the sequins so I started this mani with two coats of Sally Hansen Celeb City.  I'm not really sure why now as I've tried to put glitter on this before and it never quite looks right.  Anyway, on I went with my usual technique, using Sally Hansen Invisible in very thin layers to stick the glitter on.  Again, I've had luck lately in first laying a strip of glitter down the centre of my nail then building out either side.  Once done, I added two coats of Seche Vite.  I was then silly enough to take a shower before taking photos so that's why the tip of my ring finger's a little mangled.  Once I fixed it, using my glitter fixing process, it didn't look too bad.  So much fun taking photos with this bag though.

The Verdict: Love the bag, would love the mani more if the pink didn't bleed quite so much.  Yay for sparkles for everyone!

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!

True Rainbow Fish Nails

I do a ton of posts with glitter.  That's fine, I love glitter.  What does tend to happen though is that I stick to the little glitter.  There's actually a reason for this!  I hate any manis that don't sit 100% flat.  If a piece of glitter sits up or catches, it's coming off.  The tiny glitter is perfect in that it doesn't catch, always sits nice and smooth.  I was sorting through my bag of glitter (I have a Sephora gift bag that's filled to the top with pots of glitter :D ) and realised I have a really great set of glitters that work in a nice rainbow gradient.  I've been having more luck with getting glitter to sit properly lately so I gave it another shot.

So the trick with working with larger pieces of glitter is to make sure that every piece you apply is tamped down all the way around.  I've had success with first applying two to three coats of a base colour - I usually use Rimmel Black Satin because it cleans up well - and a medium swipe of a non-quick-dry top coat, like Sally Hansen Invisible.  You don't want to submerge the piece of glitter, but you want the top coat to swell up around the sides of the piece.  Make sure you trim any pieces of glitter sticking off the ends of your nail too.  Finally, slap on as many coats of Seche Vite as you can stand.  I've used three here.  Sounds like a lot but Seche Vite dries so fast and seals the tips so well I'm ok with it.  It's been 24 hours with this mani on and I've only lost one piece of glitter so far.

The Verdict: I love how this looks.  It could only be improved with holo glitter but not everything can be holo, dammit Laura! Some people might think I've gone over the top with trimming all the glitter to fit but this is how I like my nails to look.  It's so sparkly and rainbow-y, it's worth the effort.

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!

My Most Complex Rainbow Glitter Mosaic Yet

It's no secret that when I get bored, I troll ebay for glitter.  I set myself a $10 budget, search for "holo hex glitter" or something, sort by buy it now and lowest price + shipping and go nuts.  I got a new package in the mail today and turns out we all have different definitions of "rhombus" as my rhombus glitter was distinctly hexagonally shaped.  Whatever, it's an excuse to the most rainbowy nails I've ever done.  They're so sparkly they're actually casting little rainbows on my keyboard as I type this.  Sure, they took a long time to do but look how sparkly in these static images!

To start, I did my usual base, two coats of Rimmel Black Satin.  It cleans up well and doesn't do weird things to my glitter so it's a good base.  Then, using my usual technique and Sally Hansen Invisible top coat, I got to work with my glitter.  I've been having a lot of luck lately with starting with a column of glitter straight down the middle of a nail then building out from there.  I can usually find half pieces of glitter in my little pile to fill in around the cuticles.  I do love a neat line of glitter.  In case you're wondering what I'm holding, yes, that's my fabulous peacock bracelet I never wear because it's the wrong shape for my wrist but like having around anyway.  Makes for a good sparkle complement. 

Oh, and if you do do this (heh, do do), I did a walk-through on how to fix glitter mosaics after you've had them on a few days.  It's here, if you're interested :)

 The Verdict:  I know a lot of you don't have the time or the inclination to do a manicure as complicated as this, and that's ok.  I like to spend my evenings watching movies or TV so it's not like I'd be doing anything else.  Just don't post the "Ain't nobody got time for that" gif and I'll be happy.  That gif dogs me where-ever I go.  I have time for that!  One day the general public (not you guys, you're awesome) will accept my glittery lifestyle!

Year in Review Part 1: Glitter Mosaics

Since my super sparkly glitter nails are still holding up and they took so long I can't bear to take them off, I'm going to do what I've been putting off for a while, and that's to do my 2012 year in review post!  Yes, I realise it's the 30th of January but I've done 390 posts on this blog and I want to reflect a little.

There's too much here to fit in one post so let's start with the first part of my three part reflection.  Gotta start with glitter, right?

Top Glitter Mosaics of 2012

 5.  Most Complex Glitter Mosaic

My most recent and most complex glitter mosaic comes in at number five.  It's sparkly and took forever but the holo glitter I usually use is even more sparkly and is a better colour combination.  I can still see where there glitter surface is uneven, which annoys me, but as a whole, it's still awesome.  

Full post

4. Harlequin Glitter Nails

Another recent post, I was really happy with how my red and blue harlequin nails came out.  This also, unsurprisingly, took a long time to do and nearly sent me cross-eyed.  It's at number four because I love a good rainbow but makes it on the list because while the colours are clearly separate up close, from a distance it looks purple, with pretty red flashes.  I love that I got the glitter to line up so neatly, it makes me happy.  

Full post

3. True Rainbow Fish Nails

I usually stick to using small glitter because I HATE it when pieces of glitter don't sit completely flat on my nails. That's when I cave half a day in and end up picking it off.  Anyway, I have a large collection of little pots of glitter and decided to give the larger pieces a go, because they work so well together, colour wise.  I even had the time to trim the glitter so it sits properly at the cuticle and nail tip.  Yay rainbow fishies!

Full post

2. 3D Geometric Glitter Nails

Diamond shaped glitter is always tricky to work with because it so easily sticks up and catches on things.  I was playing around with it one night when I realised that I could make cubes out of it!  I wasn't sure about making a full coverage mani with it so I let the cubes meander around my thumb and ring finger.  Turns out, that works pretty well!

Full post

1. Stained Glass Glitter Nails

I've done a ton of different manis with this holo glitter but the one that started it off were my stained glass glitter nails I did for my friend's birthday.  All night people commented on my nails, asked if they were stickers, basically showered me with attention which is pretty much all I ask for in life.  I can see things I want to fix here, but it's sparkly so it's ok. 

Full post

Yay glitter!

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!

Rainbow Glitter Pinstripe Nails!

You might remember in my last post I get the newest set of stamping plates from MASH nails.  That wasn't the only thing in the package, there was also a set of 12 holographic bar glitter pots.  I'm normally not the biggest fan of bar glitter.  It sticks up, it catches on things, it generally drives me a tiny bit crazy.  This set had the most perfect set of rainbow colours I had to try out a hand-placed glitter arrangement.  So I present rainbow glitter pin stripes!

To start, I applied my usual two coats of Rimmel Black Satin over a base coat.  I've just switched to Essie Protein Base Coat and it seems fine.  I've had a lot of nail breakages lately so figured I'd better try something a little more proper.  Next, using my slowest drying top coat, I painted a strip down the side of my nail and went to work with my toothpick.  Sure, it takes a while but nice neat pinstripes make up for it.  I found the best way was to start at the cuticle and work upwards because it's easier to just trim glitter off the ends of your nails than try to do it around the cuticle.  I added an extra coat of Seche Vite over normal because I hate bar glitter and it should be completely buried, and voila!  

The Verdict:  Of course I love this.  It's so sparkly!  I even made a vine because sparklies suit the six second video format.  LOOK:

That's all I have to say about that, other than my cuticles aren't doing so great right now, so please excuse the slightly dodgy pictures.  Turns out though, that if you run out of quick-dry oil, olive oil works too!