Techno Summer

I have been dying to do a neon green and blue mani for a while now.  I don't have any truly "neon" shades, and was a little bummed going through my collection trying to match the mani I was imagining.  I figured that I would go with these two because they were the closest I had, and I was bracing myself for disappointment, but they turned out to be a fun combo!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blew Me Away
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy
*1 coat China Glaze Techno
*1 coat Out the Door

I was not sure which color I wanted as an accent, and almost switched it up on my other hand, but left Green With Envy as the accent.  The two creams were brighter than I had thought, so they were closer to what I was looking for, but not quite the colors I dreamed of.  Adding Techno, silver holo glitter in micro pieces and medium hexes, brightened them up too.  I don't normally feel constrained by seasons and their color palettes, but I really can't resist the brights in the summer! 
Do you know of a good neon green and light blue for me?  Let me know!

31DC: Rainbow

This is a combination of the past challenges (except metallic, I guess): rainbow!  I had found a lot of really cute rainbows to try and there are a lot of really great interpretations for this challenge.  I decided to try a really cute pin I found on Pinterest.  I tried really hard to find this original source, but couldn't.  If you know who made this mani let me know so I can give credit!  This has 5 untrieds!

*Yello-Out base coat
*1 coat Sally Hansen Insta Dri Presto Pink (thumb)
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed (index)
*1 coat China Glaze Four Leaf Clover (middle)
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blew Me Away (ring)
*2 coats China Glaze Gothic Lolita (pinkie)
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Seche Vite

The colors I chose were so pretty on their own that I almost just left them a skittle.  I really wanted to see if I could pull of the balloon, though.  Overall, they were okay.  Almost every plosh was a one-coat color, which was awesome with so many to use!  I can't find my scotch tape right now, so I used some old French manicure strips I found, that actually had a good shape to them.  Because they are old, though, the adhesive was a little funky, which made for some bad lines.  I should have taken the time to clean up edges, but this one took a while and I didn't want to push my luck and mess up what I had. 

I had to add just a little sparkle to this one (though these creams are SO pretty) with some Disco Ball over the white. This was fine on all my nails except for the Four Leaf Clover. This got a funky green tint to it--I must have hit some wet polish? But it didn't show up on any other nail...oh well! I think I'll definitely try this one again sometime, maybe not as a rainbow. I'll need to work on my strings a bit, but overall I was actually surprised about how well this one came out!

Just what the Doctor Ordered



This week my mom started back to school. She is an amazing teacher and wrangles third graders five days a week. She puts everything into her classroom and kids, and I wanted to do something fun in her honor. Well, I wanted to spend a lot of money, but I improvised instead.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Blew Me Away
*2 coats Spoiled Shuffle the Deck
*1 coat China Glaze Fairy Dust
*1 coat Out The Door top coat

What I really wanted to splurge on was Whimsical Ideas by Pam's Seuss.  It's all over the blogs and a brilliant take on childhood.  It's a bright blue base with awesome red and white hex glitters.  Oh, and did I mention the cutest bottle ever?  I wish that I had the money to buy far too many of her polishes, but alas, I am but a poor girl...

(This is a little closer to the real colors, without the flash)

So, I tried my hand at recreating her beauty.  I used Blew Me Away as my base, a reasonable match to hers.  This is a beautiful bright blue cream that actually is a bit darker than the picture shows.  It's a clean, afternoon-sky blue. 
I then added Shuffle the Deck on top, which is a mix of red, silver and black hex glitters in a clear base.  I have a love-dislike relationship with Spoiled glitters.  I do not hate them, even at their worst, but they can be a bit annoying.  The base is thick and the glitter can be sparse, so it makes for some work.  But, at $1.99 (or less!) with the combos they have, I can't complain too much.  I did 2 coats and each time I put the brush in, I swirled it around before pulling it back out.  This seemed to help get more glitter onto the brush. 
I had just snatched up Fairy dust, and my glitter looked a bit sparse, so I did a thin coat of this micro holo over the top.  The silver look of it fit well with Shuffle the Deck.  I dried and shined it all up with Out the Door, which is becoming my go-to quick dry.

So, it's not quite the same as Pam's (which I would NEVER object to swapping for receiving as a gift), but it was not too bad.  I would work a little harder to get the glitter dispersed more evenly next time, but it was bright and happy and reminded me of my mom all week, so I guess it could have been a whole lot worse!