Honest Criticism: Essie After School Boy Blazer with Holo Stars

My favourite thing about the nail art community is that every single person is just about the nicest person I've ever met.  Everyone is so encouraging, so supportive, it just makes me so happy.  I'm not so rosy-glasses about myself.  I know I can't produce masterpieces every day so let's take a look at a mani I'm not so happy with, for a multitude of reasons. 

Things started off as usual for me - base coat, three coats of Essie After School Boy Blazer, a fabulous blackened navy creme, then the Love & Beauty Top Coat to apply my stars.  Even at this point, I had issues.  I was messy in applying my base colour which is never a good way to start.  Ideally you want to clean up the edges of the base colour with a brush and some acetone before you apply your glitter.  It gives you a better idea of where you should fit your pieces and I personally hate it when a piece goes over the edges of the polish at the cuticle.  When I actually got to the glitter, I didn't apply the first center column evenly.  Look at my middle nail: see how the middle line is wonky?  With these large pieces it's obvious when it isn't even.  It throws off the rest of the spacing.  I also got sloppy in pressing down all the pieces so even after two coats of Seche Vite, I had bits sticking up and catching.  And then the Seche Vite was bubbly.  But it is sparkly....

The Verdict:  The colour combination isn't amazing, the base colour isn't applied or cleaned up neatly, the stars are wonky and stick up in places and the top coat has bubbles in it.  I'm not asking for sympathy here or fishing for compliments: sometimes manicures turn out better or worse than others.  For reference, this is what I consider a good mani.  Even though the base colour bled onto the glitter on my index finger >.<

Also, I'm on Instagram now at @polishallthenails.  I wouldn't hate it if you followed me.  Sorry and thanks, depending on your reaction to self-promo-ing.

My Nails Are Covered in Glitter and No Two Pieces Are The Same, I Checked!

When you've done as many posts as I have, coming up with new content gets really difficult!  You end up having to be creative, even if it means throwing on all the glitter you have on your nails.  Which is awesome, because I'm not the biggest fan of the more subdued manis.  If it hurts a little to look at, that's what I want.  Let's take a look at what it looks like when you cover your nails in glitter, with no two pieces alike on an individual, nail, shall we?

I got paid on Friday so of course that means I'm going to go to Sephora and choose another of the Formula X polishes.  It's getting a little harder to choose as I already have the more interesting polishes but Freaky Like Freud is so sparkly it just has to come with me.  I started by applying a coat of Sally Hansen Celeb City because I wasn't sure of how opaque Freaky would be.  After the silver, I applied two coats of the glitter.  It's worth putting underwear on this polish.  Next, I applied top coat all over a nail and went nuts with the glitter.  When you're doing this "random" glitter pattern, start with the big pieces and work your way down to the tiny pieces.  When you're done it's best to apply two coats of Seche Vite because you don't want your larger pieces coming off. 

The Verdict:  I really like how nuts and sparkly this looks.  So glad I have so many different shapes and finishes in my glitter, makes this kind of mani really interesting to look at.  I also love how sparkly Freaky is.  Definitely worth it.  Sparkly!

31DC2014: Day 1 - Red Nails!

Oh hi!  I hope you're ready for this: I'm doing the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge!  The wonderful Sarah at Chalkboard Nails totes talked me into joining in and of course I have to.  I'm hoping it'll get me going more into blogging and not just being lazy and posting to instagram.  Day 1 is red, so of course it's a case of redding all the reds!  Onward!

Since I was to spend the Labor Day long weekend at my friend's cottage, I went with Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Red Eye as a base for all the red glitter I could ferret out of my collection.  It didn't actually wear as well as I hoped but I did spend most of the weekend in a lake so I get I can let it off.  Anyway, after applying three coats I got to work with my usual cheap top coat and all the red glitter.  I started with the largest pieces and filled in my nails, working down in size.  Forgive the photos, red is impossible.  I topped it off with the Miracle Gel top coat, which is even better than Seche Vite for glitter.  It may not dry as fast but it has a much better finish. 

The Verdict:  I love how these came out, despite the photo issues.  They were so sparkly in the sun all day and sparklies = happy Laura.  This is day 1 complete, see you tomorrow for Day 2: Orange :D

31DC2014 Day 7: Black and White! Eh.

So yeah! Woo! Black and white!  Like, yeah, that's a thing!  All the black glitters!  Over white!  So black and white!  Woo!  There's not the most to say really. 

 I wanted to do black glitter over a white base so I started with a coat of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then two coats of GOSH Stardust, a shimmery white polish.  I then patterned over the top with rectangle, circle, star, "square" and bar using the usual process.  Slow drying top coat, glitter columns then glitter with the orange stick.  Nothing revolutionary.  Not bad though.  I really should be doing this early in the day though....

The Verdict: Eh.  It's ok.  I should have gone with a flat white base maybe?  I don't know, just not super feeling this.  That's ok, metallic tomorrow is another day.

Oh My Stars over ILNP Summer Stargazing

Stars! Yeah! Woo!  I used to hate star glitter cos you'd always get bits sticking up and catching on everything.  Turns out that doesn't happen when your stars are teeny and adorable.  Yess.  It also makes me feel clever when I use matte glitter over holo polish.  No idea why but I feel like I'm inverting a paradigm.  And then I get to feel even more superior for spelling paradigm correctly the first go.  IM SMART GUISE.

I started off here with two coats of ILNP Summer Stargazing, a royal blue holo polish.  It's nifty, although I feel it could be darker.  This was after I applied my acrylic tips.  I kinda ruined my nails scuda diving in Curacao and picking off too much nail glue so this way I get to have the nails I want without having to grow them.  I've been using the Nailene Ultra Quick Gel Kit and it's actually really good.  Sure, it takes a bit of practice but it's not hard.  You just have to make sure you spend enough time filing down the join where the tips end.  You can see I didn't do it enough on my middle finger, that's why you can see a ridge.  Not only do you get long nails, but the combo of the gel and top coat activator works awesome over glitter.  Very shiny and long wearing, even if you're really rough on your nails like I am.  Anyway, glitter.  Usual deal, just covered my nail in top coat and stuck my stars on.  Not really too complicated this time.

The Verdict:  Loving the acrylics even if they make me want to pick them off.  Loving the holo ILNP polish and of course the stars.  They're available from The Sparkly Shop in a nice little set.  That I made.  I tell you, it's very difficult to comfortably promo your own stuff...

THE FIRST THREE PEOPLE TO FIND FIRST ELECTRIC MERMAID POST ON MY BLOG GET 20% OFF AT THE SHOP YEAAAHH that's a thing, good job Laura