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!

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!