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....

Abstract Ocean Wave Mermaid Nails!

Alrighty!  It's been a little while since I've done a full set of mermaid nails and a trip to the One of a Kind show in Toronto this weekend is the perfect time to do them cos showing off and good lighting.  The girls from Beyond the Nail had a stand and I had to go say hi.  I love doing these mermaid nails, they're so sparkly despite the scratchiness.  It makes me happy when I get can get all the little pieces around the edges to fit and it's all neat and nice and :D

These nails are done with my usual process.  In this case I did two coats of Essie Under the Twilight as my base colour, then I added my thick coat of cheap top coat and got to work with my big glitter.  I've found that I can cover my whole nail in the top coat and be done with the full size pieces of glitter before it dries completely.  For the first pass, I let the pieces hang over the edge of my nail and leave gaps around the cuticle to be filled in later.  Once done, I eyeball the size of the gaps and use my sharp embroidery scissors to trim my pieces to fit.  I then stick them on with more top coat.  Add two-three coats of Seche Vite and BAM done.  Really don't take that long, maybe an hour for the one hand.

The Verdict:  I love how the five different colours of glitter together look like abstract ocean waves.  And mermaids.  That are in the ocean.  And it's sparkly.  These are things that are satisfactory to me.  Sparkly!