Crumpet's 31DC: Topper - Non-glitter

This prompt really only left me with one option: matte top coat.
I have a lot of flakies and shimmers, but I felt like those were still in the realm of "glitter," so matte it is.
All of my ideas for a matte mani also included glitter, though.  If you haven't noticed, I kind of don't feel like a mani is finished without it.
As I scrolled through my Pinterest board, I rediscovered this awesome mani by none other than the Nailasaurus herself, Sammy.  Decision made.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*2 coats Zoya Storm
*Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love
*Out the Door

This was nicely straightforward.  Black base, matte topper, then shiny top coat on the tips.
Done!

Crumpet's 31DC: Reversed Polarities

Reversed Polarities?!
Basically no one knew what that meant.  Some examples were photo negatives, but that really didn't sound appealing or...right.  The only thing I could think of for that prompt was magnets--I couldn't get past the "polarities" I guess.  So, I went with a magnet look:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats OPI Danke-shiny Red
*Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Gunmetal
*1 coat Out the Door

Since I couldn't get the image out of my head, I went for an old fashioned magnet.  I used Danke-shiny red, the ever-gorgeous glow, for my base, and added Gunmetal on the tips using striping tape for a guide.
For all of my fails with striping tape at Christmas, this all came out crisp and clean--let's hope I've gotten my touch back!

So what would you have done with that prompt?  If you haven't added to the InLinkz below, please share your ideas!

Funky Halloween French

For today's look, I revived a look that I LOVED when I did it here and here.  It's pretty easy to do when you use striping tape because it gives a good, even stripe of color between the French tip layers. 

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Myrta
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out the Door

The one thing I see I always forget is to be careful on the tips with this look.  It seems, no matter how great they look in real life, on camera the base color always peeks out!
I underestimate how much I love my Zoya colors!  I mentioned recently that I loved their Ornate collection scattered holos and I also swoon over the foils in their Surf collection.  Myrta is a gorgeous, rusty orange with the strong shimmer that gives it a metallic look in the shade and a glow in the sun.  I went with this more muted orange and my trusty Black Out on the tips, guided by striping tape.  I forgot how simple but striking this look is and love it!

Do you have any good advice to learning (and remembering!) to wrap your tips when you polish?  Please share!

Thanksgiving Catch Up

Between school and work, things have gone into overdrive these past couple of weeks!  I have 3 more finals, a final paper, and 9 more days of work before I get a break and time at home!  I canNOT wait!
So, since I got behind and it's now almost Christmas, I'll just do a quick post with the two Thanksgiving looks I wore this year.
This first one is inspired by this look from the Tumblr Sabzii's Nails.  I first saw the mani on Pinterest and fell so in love with the Funky French she did.  Her little feather is amazing and I knew not to even attempt that!  So, I used some of my amazing decals from RLR Creations Nail Art. 

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*OPI DS Opulence
*China Glaze Fairy Dust
*2 coats Out the Door

I tried to find out what polish she used for her mani because it is gorgeous!  I didn't get an answer, though, so I did my best and was really impressed with how close this was!  I used DS Opulence, a pretty, dusty rose with scattered micro particles and dabbed on Fairy Dust for some larger holo pieces on top.  I used two different decal, one on each hand.

Ignore that smudge on my middle finger and look at how awesome those decals are!  They are so easy to use and come out amazing every time I've used them!

My second look was my attempt at this little turkey from All That Is Gorgeous.

I used Essie Mochachino for my base.  Then, I went mainly to my China Glaze Capitol Colors--Mahogany Magic for the body of the turkey and Riveting for the orange feathers/dots.  I used OPI Dane-shiny Red and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Man-go Team! for the other feathers.  His body and head turned out...not as I imagined.  I loved the dots, though!  Overall I'm totally envious of how awesome the turkey was that I worked from, but this wasn't too bad at all.  My little cousins thought he was fun, which is really all that matters :)

Candy Corny?

This was the first Halloween mani I did this Halloween.  I am a sucker for Candy Corn.  I love it.  I was crushed to hear that it is the most hated Halloween treat (and I totally don't think that's true).  I wanted to do a Candy Corn mani without going overboard or taking too much time.  The result was...well, it was.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
*Cover Girl Boundless Color Candy Corn
*Wet 'n' Wild French White Creme
*Zoya Myrta
*1 coat Out the Door Northern Lights
*1 coat Out the Door

Ignore the tip wear--it took me a couple of days to snap some photos and it's the lease noticeable here.  I wanted to use the candy corn accent with a French.  My oranges are rather thin, so I used Myrta for the tips over my natural nails.  This is a gorgeous, burnt orange with a sparkling foil finish.  Unfortunately, it kind of clashes with the candy corn.  I was disappointed in the color coordination here.  I liked my accent and I liked my French, but together they didn't quite work liked I had hoped.
Have you ever had that happen--colors just not quite working that you had high hopes for?

33 DC: tape

So I'm a little late on this one, but I felt better when I saw that none other than Ms. Debbie Crumpet was late too :)
I had this mani done last night but was just too wiped out to photograph, upload and post.  Learning takes a lot more energy than I remembered!
Tape is quickly becoming as comfortable for me as dots.  I received my first roll of striping tape in a giveaway and it has lasted forever!  I think I'm going to order some more, though, because I love using it and want to try using it on its own as well, instead of just for clean lines.  I used to always use Scotch tape for lines, and it works okay, but striping tape never lets any polish seep under and is just so crisp!  Using it for this look has become a bit of a favorite of mine:

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Zoya Aurora
*Zoya Storm
*1 coat Out the Door

Really, these can just speak for themselves!  Gratuitous  holo shots are always welcome, right?  I used Aurora as my base and taped off the tips and then left a little gap before taping off the bottom of the area I polished, and then used Storm as the tip.  LOVE it!

I don't want to get too cocky here, but I'm feeling pretty comfortable with striping tape at this point.  Do you have any cool tips or techniques for me to try?  Do tell!

Matte black and flakies

I am going to really try to keep posting while I'm in school, but I'm seeing that my time will be VERY limited (in the past week I had 5 days of class and worked 6 days without any days off...I'm feeling it!).  I have some photos that I've been meaning to get up and am trying to keep snapping them as I polish, so here's a quick look at one I tried (then I have to go read!).
This is one that I found on Pinterest and have been dying to try.  It was created by the incomparable Jen at the PolishAholic.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*Picture Polish Festival
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love

I know, with that macro shot, that I missed a little bit of polish near the cuticles, but in real life it was not visible.  I used a cream black base and taped off the tips (though flakes are kind of imprecise, so you may not really need to tape off) to paint with Festival, a gorgeous multicolored flake glitter.  I was worried that it would not stand out much as I painted and added a fast dry top coat so that I could get to bed a little earlier :)
Once it set I added Matte-ly in Love and BOOM!  The colors of the flakes were instantly much more visible and it dried almost instantly.  I'm still not totally in love with matte finishes, but this looks wonderful on the nail!  The downside to matte polish/toppers is that I've found they chip really easily.  In the future I'd like to make the tips larger or paint the whole nail or half or something so that I can get even more of the flakie goodness on there! 
Have you found some cool ways to play around with flakies?  With matte toppers?  Share your ideas with me!

Torero Pride

I loved my time at USD. 
The campus is GORGEOUS and I loved my classes and friends.  I am unbelievably excited to be going back in a week, even if it is just for a semester.  I love my school!
This weekend the freshmen moved in so I rocked a Torero blue look and LOVED how it came out!

 *1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*3 coats Sinful Colors Cinderella
*2 coats Aengland Tristam
*1 coat Out the Door

Cinderella is almost a perfect match to our school color.  The gorgeous pink shimmer does not disappoint.  This is, however, such a sheer polish.  With 3 coats you can still see that it's a bit patchy and streaky.  I needed it to dry to tape off tips, though, so I opted to forgo a fourth coat.  In real life, it's not nearly as bad as in the photos.  Tristam is a gorgeous partner for Cinderella, deep and shimmery with holo flecks.  This applies like a dream and dries quickly--I need to remember to pull it out more often!  I used it as the accent nail and added three light blue rhinestones with clear polish--they are almost a perfect match to the light blue of Cinderella!
I really loved how these turned out!  I cut my nails down and like the small tips on the French.  I'm sad to take this off--I'll have to try it again soon with other colors!

State love

This mani is a little late--things are getting a bit crazy getting ready to go back to school!  But I'm trying to make it an excited crazy, not a scared-that-it's-been-too-long-since-I-graduated crazy.  The only time of year I can tolerate my current retail job is really back to school.  I love the new college freshmen moving in and getting excited for their new lives.  I like talking with the parents and answering questions.  I like being excited for them.
So, with two major residential colleges moving in, we are busy!  But I did decide to show a little excitement with some school nails.  San Diego State moved in first, last weekend, and these were my Aztec nails.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats OPI Danke-shiny Red
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Northern Lights
*1 coat Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots
*1 coat Out the Door

I used Danke-shiny and Black Out for the SDSU colors.  I have fallen a little in love with Polka Dots, so I added that black and white glitter as my accent.  After taping off the tips and adding the black, I used a coat of Northern Lights to soften the lines just a bit.  I maybe should have stopped with just the black cream and the shimmery red, but when it comes to glitter, I really don't know when enough is enough!
These actually held up pretty well and got some compliments from customers happy to see a little school spirit.  My parents are both proud Aztecs and, while I may have chosen the college on the hill instead, I love getting to tell all the new freshman that I have State blood in me!

Take two!

I really loved the funky French that I did in my last post, so when it started chipping I decided to give it another go with slightly different colors.  I was a little less happy with this only because I went a little faster, which means that I made a couple mistakes.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-dri Man-go Team!
*Zoya Kimber
*1 coat Out the Door

Man-go Team! is another clearanced polish I found at Target.  This is a more orange, warm yellow, reminding me of marigolds.  It covers well in a clean cream finish.

 

You can see in the second photo that I got a little over excited and added my top coat too soon.  Ugh!  I need to learn patience, but it's so hard when you want to protect something that looks cool!  I just need to remember I'm doing more harm than good when I rush. 
I am so glad that I found my striping tape again.  I do have some trouble with it curling up though, which made for a mess on my right thumb.  Have any of you found a good way to avoid that?  Do tell!

The summer sun's callin' my name!

If you've read through my posts, it's no secret that I am not entirely original or creative on my own.  I do know awesome manis when I see them, though, and love trying my hand (no pun intended, but it is a happy accident) at what others have done.  I am also as straightforward as I can be about where I find designs and try to link back to pages and posts.  I am kicking myself right now because last Saturday I saw this look on Facebook.  There are a ton of nail pages I follow and I went back in my feed as far as I could, as well as through my blogger feed and cannot find my source.  So, if this looks like your mani or you recognize the original lady's work, please let me know so I can edit and give her credit, because I LOVE this one!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-dri Butter-fly Stroke
*Zoya Myrta
*1 coat Out the Door

Target had a bunch of Insta-dri on clearance and I am always looking for a good, opaque yellow to use as a base for my sheer ones.  I used two coats of Butter-fly Stroke and it is perfectly opaque.  The first coat was a bit streaky, but the cream finish evened itself out with the second.  I don't own a lot of creams--I'm too drawn to shimmers and glitters!  I do love, however, how they contrast with more sparkly polishes, so I'm rethinking my instincts.  Myrta is a gorgeous orange and every time I pull it out I wonder why I wear it so rarely.  I loved these two together!

I found my roll of striping tape finally and used it for my tips.  It is so much cleaner and easier than Scotch tape that I think I should make the very small investment in more rolls.  These colors just screamed "Summer!" to me, and I'm not a fan of the hot season, but they've made me so happy!  I got a ton of compliments at work yesterday.  When I do a mani, I love the amazement when a customer asks where it was done and I tell them my couch.  It makes me feel good when they ask if I'm wearing "those nail sticker sheets."  While I tend to focus on my mistakes, it's so flattering when someone thinks they were printed on wraps!  What's your favorite thing to hear when you work hard on your nails?  

Coming back

Well hello and my apologies!  I have kind of dropped off the face of the earth, both here and in other areas of my life.  I know that no one expects anything of me, but you have been such wonderful readers and so supportive that I feel like at least a small explanation is in order.
Since the end of January I have really been battling depression.  There is not a whole lot that inspires or excites me lately.  On top of that, we lost my grandmother to a sad, difficult end.  Life has just been overwhelming and I haven't felt compelled to polish much, let alone post about it.  What I tell myself has just been "me" time is really retreating, though, and not all that healthy, so I'm trying to come back.  Fake it 'til you make it, right?  Right.  I'm hoping this will help me feel more like me.
That being said, I'm starting off super unoriginal and recreating an awesome mani that Amber posted over at the highly-addictive and awesome Amber did it!  My coloring is slightly different, but I couldn't resist the perfect summer mani she rocked!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
*China Glaze Pool Party
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*Cover Girl White Night
*1 coat Hoof Lacquer
*1 coat Out the Door

 

I buffed my nails (now that the staining has grown out!) and opted to go nude for the French.  I was tempted to use a nude colored polish, but let my natural nails be the base instead.  I taped off the tips with Scotch tape and used Pool Party for the tips.  On my left hand I freehanded a second coat after removing the tape, but wasn't as confident for my right.  This is a little sheer and needs a couple of coats for the whole nail.  As a neon, it dries to a semi-matte finish, which I like to shine up with a top coat.  With that shiny top coat, though, they looked about the same.

On my accent, I used a dotting tool for the black and white dots, and then the opposite on top.  The one thing that Amber did and I wish I had more successfully copied was the size difference in the dots.  I was worried about making the larger ones too big, but they came out a little too close in size to tell a difference.  Either way, I love the neon pink with the black/white contrast!

I don't often end up doing a French, but I really like how this looks!  I have tons of funky French mains pinned, so I'll have to keep them coming.  This was a fun, easy, cute mani for me and I'm hoping to dive back into this little hobby.  Thank you, for coming back and for having patience with me. 

New 31DC: Inspired by a blogger

This was a really tough challenge.  I have been reading nail blogs for a little more than a year now and there are so many wonderful, fun, talented ladies out there who inspire me.  Most of my posts are in someway inspired by what people like you do.  This was hard to narrow down, so I went to my Pinterest board.  Then, it became pretty easy.
Though she hasn't posted in a long time, Erika from Chloe's Nails is the first person I read regularly.  She has an amazing eye for patterns and colors.  She taked gorgeous photos.  She is unbelievably honest and open when it comes to her writing.  She is amazing and missed right now!  One look that she has a stellar eye for is the Funky French, and there is one of hers that I have been dying to wear.

*1 coat Yello-Out

*2 coats OPI DS Extravagance
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out The Door

I loved how these looked, both in her photos and on my hands!  Extravagance is gorgeous, as always!  It was 2 easy, perfect coats to match the bottle.  This dark berry is packed with scattered micro holo pieces and just stunning.

I like the idea of mixing finishes, like a shimmer/glitter and cream.  The black tips are so crisp and smooth, a good contrast to the holo.  I just used some tape to make my lines and 1 coat of Black Out.