A Couple of St. Patrick's Day Looks

Last week got a little hectic with an impromptu visit from my dad, the cleaning that frantically came before, and some apartment projects (hello new bookcase and chair!).  My nails took a brutal beating, so I'm cut down to uneven shorties now (see 2nd photo), but so it goes.  In the chaos, I didn't get my St. Patrick's day looks up, so here's a quick post with both.

First up:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Color Club Holiday Splendor
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Salon Perfect Champagne Toast
*1 coat Out the Door

I LOVE Holiday Splendor!  It's a bright green jelly packed with holo awesomeness and looks much more opaque on the nail--somehow nail lines appear out of thin air when I photograph!  It dries a bit gritty and totally comes to life under a top coat.  I'm a little concerned that I can't find an back up bottle online and I'll have to ration this one--I do NOT want run out!  I added an accent with a little gold glitter and yet another adorable RLR Creations decal--St. Patty's day cupcake!

This is what I actually wore today:

*1 coat Gelous Base
*2 coats Revlon Posh
*3 coats Color Club Gingerbread
*Zoya Severine
*1 coat Out the Door

Gingerbread was from the same holiday line as Holiday Splendor and is also gorgeous!  It's a chunky gold holo glitter in a clear base.  I added a 3rd coat to try for good opacity for photos, but it still looks much more sparse here than in real life--you can easily wear 2 coats and look opaque off camera. 
There was a commotion at my neighbor's last night just as I started polishing, so I had to change my plans and go for something simple and quick after spending about a half hour looking through my peep hole at our landing (yeah, I'm a total busybody).   I used Posh, a really beautiful jade green that looks a bit darker in real life, and dotted on gold with Severine.

So, there you have it--another holiday for 2015.  I hope it was a lucky one for you!

Crumpet's 31DC: Green Base

So, full disclosure: I'm not digging today's prompt.
Green's not really a go-to color for me.  Also, I totally loved yesterday's mani and was NOT ready to see it go.  Also, I had just shy of a 13 hour work day today, and was ready for bed long before I ever got home.
But I'm trying, so here it is:

 
*1 coat Gelous Base
*2 coats Revlon Posh
*1 coat Cult Nails Hypnotize Me
*2 coats Out the Door

This picture really isn't true to color for Posh.  It's a pretty jade green cream with perfect coverage in 2 thin coats.  It's a richer, slightly bluer green than the flash creates.  I added a coat of the A-mazing Cult Nails Hypnotize Me.  It's a gorgeous teal/iridescent dense glitter and gives Posh a pretty blue sparkle.  I added a couple of rhinestones for a little extra, but am not thrilled with how they look. 
To keep the stones in place and to give Hypnotize Me an extra-squishy look, I used 2 thick coats of Out the Door.  I really don't actually mind this color combo in real life, or even in the distorted photo.  I was just so sad to see my pretty polka dots go that I think anything would not quite satisfy me today.  So it goes.

How do you make your not-so-fave colors more lovable?  I'd love to broaden my repertoire a bit!

One last Christmas look...

Oh man, life can really get in the way of plans sometimes, you know?
I had this mani, which I LOVED, and another one that I had been waiting a long time to do, to show for Christmas.  But then I had to pack and fly home and a week had gone by before it started chipping and I hadn't snapped a picture. 
Then I was SO ready to start the new 31 day challenge.  But it had to wait until I got back from vacation.  Which was when I promptly came down with the flu.  Ugh.
So, there have been a couple of manis that didn't make it to my camera, but I'm fever-free and ready to start postin'!
So, this is a Christmas mani I originally saw on The Swatching Sprite (I'm so sad she's stopped posting--I loved this blog!) and had been dying to try.  Except for some pesky topcoat smearage, I LOVED how these turned out!

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Cover Girl White Night
*1 coat Zoya Ginessa
*Revlon Posh
*Zoya America
*1 coat Out the Door

I loved these polka dots!  Ginessa is a gorgeous white shimmer that, for opacity, is best layered over a white cream, and it's such a pretty base!  I fought every instinct and let the red, green, and white cream dots stand alone.  I like the lighter tone of America and Posh together.  I even liked the design of the dots (which I am so excited to do again and again for different holidays/color combos!).  I even waited a full 15 minutes but it still dragged the red :(  In real life, it was totally not as noticeable. 

Any tips for keeping a topcoat from dragging colors below?  Please share!

A Stunning Cowgirl

I wore my candy corn nails as long as I could justify and then decided to transition into a look that was more fall-y.
Last year I realized that I didn't have many maroon/wine colors and added a bunch to my watch/wish list.  I ended up getting a few from my amazing mom for Christmas and haven't really used them, but I'm totally regretting that now!
I decided to start my cozy, rich fall manis with a real stunner:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats China Glaze Cowgirl Up
*Revlon Stunning
*1 coat Out the Door

How GORGEOUS is Cowgirl Up?!   It's darker in real life, closer to the bottom photo than the ones above, but it is spectacular!  I used 2 thin coats for easy coverage.  The wine/deep maroon foil glows in the sun and micro purple shimmer (see middle pic) definitely shows on the nail.  I can't get enough!

I was super tempted to leave well enough along and just wear Cowgirl Up, but I wanted to post and didn't want to bore you with a simple swatch (plus, there are SO many better swatches of this one out there), so I dabbed some Stunning holo glitter on the tips and  tried for a little bit of a gradient down the nails.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the glitter gradient and think I'll keep trying--next time I think I might try an eyeshadow sponge for more control.  For these I just used the polish brush because I botched them with a makeup sponge on my first try.

Do you have any tips for glitter gradients?  Please share!

The emblem of the land I love

This is another 4th of July manicure inspired by a pin I found.  Now, I don't want to really brag, but I find some awesome stuff on Pinterest (which is made by people much more talented than I am.  It may be the many hours that get lost once I log on that lead to these finds...) and you are more than welcome to check out my boards here: http://pinterest.com/missyjean415.  I always want to attribute the manis I find and the pin linked to an Olympic compilation and the photo linked to this instagram: ohtammm.  I really liked the look, even though it moved me outside of my accent comfort zone!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Loreal Queen of Hearts (thumb & pinkie)
*2 coats Zoya Song (ring and middle)
*1 coat Spoiled Daddy's Credit Card (index)
*3 coats Revlon Splendor (index)
*Cover Girl White Night
*1 coat Out the Door

I am really comfortable with an accent on my ring finger, but this changed everything up!  It's not really a skittle because not every nail is different, but I'm not really used to this kind of design.  My thumb and pinkie are red and white stripes.  I'm going to have to order some striping tape because I have no clue where my roll went and scotch tape is not ideal for small stripes like this.  I tried a different red, a brighter one than my last, that I've had forever and really don't use.  It's a nice one, though, with a subtle gold-leaning shimmer to it. 

Song was out still, so I used it for my blue base.  I knew I didn't have any silver glitter that I could build to full-coverage, so I used a sheer base of shimmery silver and added holo glitter on top.  I'm really annoyed with my impatience and forgetfulness.  These looked cleaner before I put on my top coat and used too many strokes, causing streaks all over the place.  In real life it's really hard to tell, but these pictures are a good reminder to be patient!  These stripes are a bit funky, but I'm loving the dots and silver!  Luckily, I still have at least one more mani I want to try for the 4th, so I'll change these stripes out soon. 
Do you have any great tips to keep top coats from streaking art?  Do tell!

New 31DC: Oldest Untried

Confession time: I don't have the slightest idea which polish is my oldest untried. I'm not even entirely sure that this is an untried polish, but if I don't remember wearing it I think that counts too. I think that this has hung out in my drawer for so long because it's really not what I am drawn to--I'm not entirely sure what caused me to buy this one. It's not awful, but it's not "me" either.

 

*1 coat Yello-Out
*4 coats Revlon Lush Lime
*1 coat Out The Door

I thought about trying to do some art or design tonight, but figured that sometimes a clean, polished nail is just necessary.  Lush Lime is a very light yellow-green polish.  If the "four coats" didn't give it away, this polish is VERY sheer!  you can still see nail line in the photos and in real life with 4 coats on the nail.  Definitely a layering polish!  This looks really shimmery with the flash on it, and I am hoping it will in the sun, too.  In artificial light inside, it looks kind of frosted when dry, which could be my least favorite finish.  There are micro, sparse, scattered holo pieces in this which do make it an interesting polish.  Unlike the shimmer, these show up much better in real life than the photo, but you can see them in the bottle pretty well.

 
See?  Not a bad polish.  It's just not what I am usually drawn to.  Sometimes, though, it is nice to wear something out of character.  What do you think--do you like to break out sometimes?  Also, it's been a little while since I've said this, but thank YOU (yes, you reading this post at this moment) for stopping by!  In the past week alone I have had more than 250 pageviews, which for me is amazing!  Thank you for visiting and please feel free to talk with me in my comments!

31DC: Delicate Pattern

Today is a total cheat.  I admit it, right up front.  I tried to do monarch nails.  I tried a china pattern.  I tried a dandelion and dragonflies.  I failed across the board.  A "delicate pattern" was brutal because I can't stamp.  I have a couple of plates and have tried a few times, but I cannot get the image to transfer--it dries too fast to stick.  This is a bit shameful, but I had to really reach for this one.  I had 4 untrieds today, though!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener base
*3 coats Claire's Candy Shop
*3 coats Revlon Whimsical
*3 coats Revlong Starry Pink
*3 coats Revlon Scandalous
*3 coats Revlon Sparkling
*1 coat Seche Vite

These are all polishes that I bought because they are rumored and/or confirmed Deborah Lippmann dupes.  I decided to show these because I know dupes and copying polishes is a very delicate subject (see what I did there?!).  I did 3 coats of each because they needed it.  In the future, I think I will use a base under Whimsical, Candy Shop and Sparkling to make the colors stand out more and to eliminate any nail lines. 

 

 

Clearly I don't really have qualms about buying dupes.  In fact, I hunted two of these down because they are dupes (Candy Shop and Sparkling).  I do feel a little bit of conflict about this.  Someone (Deborah Lippmann) worked very hard to come up with these colors and combinations.  They were imagined and crafted and marketed.  And then, they were semi-stolen.  I know that there is not a legal issue, or lawsuits would have been filed.  This is really more of a murky moral area.  Do you feel good about making money off of a copy of another person's work?  As a teacher, student and writer who is VERY conscious of plagiarism, this hits a sore spot for me.

 

 

The other side of the argument is that these originals are really expensive polishes!  For many of us, the price makes them inaccessible.  Is that really fair?  That goes into that murky moral ground of what you feel good about at the end of the day.  After your hard work, are you okay selling it at a price that many who love your work cannot pay?  Especially with the rise of the indie polish world, I know that this all very hard to navigate and can make for some very big messes. 

What are your thoughts on this "delicate pattern" of creating dupes?  Is it fair?  Is is stealing?  Do you buy them?  I am really interested to know what the consensus of the polish world is on this really tough subject. 

31DC: Black and White

Day 7: I'm one week in!  I am proud of myself for making time and getting this first week done!  Things have been busy and stressful, and thinking about new nail ideas has actually been pretty calming for me.  Let's hope it stays that way as the actual art gets underway this week! 

 

For black and white I really didn't know what I wanted to do.  As all of you know who took the black and white challenge, there really are so many possibilities!  I decided to try some more nail art, getting back into a Halloween mood.  I was tempted to leave the black pristine and shiny, but I can never help myself, so I added glitter :).  This has 2 untrieds:

*1 coat Yellow-Out base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Revlon Stunning (thumb)
*1 coat China Glaze Techno
*Color Club white striping polish
*1 coat Seche Vite top coat

I thought about ghosts, which would have been Halloween-y.  I tried to think of other patterns and designs, but I went with a little cobweb.  The thin, long striping brush in the Color Club made the 3 long line really easy to do, but the shorter ones were a little tougher because of the brush.  I considered doing webs on all my nails, but I wasn't sure I wanted them to be that prominent.  I also wasn't sure I could do 5 that looked decent enough.  Really, though, I like the look of one web as an accent!

I bought both of these glitters in an online order a while back. I don't know how it escaped my attention how similar they are, but it was more work to return one than I wanted to do, so I now own both. I wanted to do a little comparison to see how they stacked up against each other.

Stunning has micro silver holo glitter pieces mixed in with larger silver hex holos.  The small glitters are much more dense in this one and I did not get nearly as many of the larger pieces out in this single coat.

 

Techno is also filled with small silver holo glitter and larger silver holo hex glitters.  The large pieces were much more prominent in this one and came out easily.  I really didn't need to push or dab glitter with either of these.  Techno is a more sparse glitter overall, which is good to know.  It lets the base show through a bit more than Stunning, though both are really cool!