31 Day Challenge, Day 6: Monochromatic

I know, I know. I'm not doing anything fancy, but I have been wanting a reason to use my matte top coat and this was the perfect opportunity.

Today's manicure is simply 2 coats of essie's Chills & Thrills with Seche Vite on part and Sally Hansen's Big Matte Top Coat on the other. Incidentally, my non-dominant hand is a wreck this week. I cut my hand on a box and managed to break every single nail on that hand. So for the next few weeks, please bear with me as my dominant hand will be the main feature.

I really like how the same polish gets a completely different look just by using a different top coat. I have always been one to prefer a very shiny top on my polish. When I discovered SV, I was so excited! It gives even my cheap polish a beautiful wet sheen. But a while back I bought this matte topper thinking I would try something different. I've used it a couple of times but just don't like the way it looks over the whole nail. When I was thinking about monochromatic colors that I could use for this manicure I realized this would be a perfect opportunity to use it!

To get this look, I used:

1. One coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps as a base coat. 
2. One coat of Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat
3. Two coats of essie Chills and Thrills. It's a much purple-er color than what it shows here. I cannot get my camera to capture it in it's true form.
4. One coat of Seche Vite over the entire nail surface
5. Tape off a diagonal stripe using scotch tape (I used washi tape because it doesn't stick as permanently and doesn't pull up the polish). Make sure your polish is completely dry or you risk messing up your base when you pull the tape up.
6. Apply one coat of Sally Hansen Big Matte Top Coat over the exposed nail. 
7. Immediately remove the tape from the nail slowly. 
8. Enjoy!

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31 Day Challenge, Day 5: Black & White

This is a rush job. Just want to put that out there. Tonight I plan to go back and redo them, but I had to take my chipping polish off last night and couldn't leave them naked for long so I slapped a fast couple of coats of my custom Eugene Malibu Black, White and Red All Over over a base coat. SV on top.

I am supposed to get my next installment of Eugene Malibu in the mail today, and I know I ordered a custom black glitter. Hopefully I'll get inspired and do something with it for the 'official' challenge manicure. I'll update later, when they're pretty again.

In the meantime, here's a macro of my plain ole glitter manicure (pinky finger).

 

Update: I did get my next shipment from Eugene Malibu and I got my custom black polish. I asked for a black crelly with a silver shimmer and silver glitter. I am quite pleased with the finished result. And you get to see two black and whites! I took this with the flash so that you could see the beautiful holo, but it still doesn't do it justice. What do you think?

 

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31 Day Challenge, Day 4: Secondary Colors

For day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge we had the option of either Primary or Secondary colors. I, personally, am not a fan of the primary colors, so I went with secondary colors in bright neon variations.

The purple and white base are both Wet & Wild, the orange is my favorite Orly shade Melt My Popsicle and the green is an unknown (if you want to know, send me a message and I'll look).

What do you think? It was 11:00 pm when I did this, after running after a bunch of Cub Scouts. Turned our pretty well considering how tired I was.

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31 Day Challenge, Day 3: Blue

So, I completely failed at Day 2. I actually did do my nails in a pretty green shade, but my sinus infection was getting the better of me and they looked horrible. Then I went and died in bed while they were still wet and they looked even worse by morning. Needless to say, there isn't any photographic evidence of that #fail.

For day 3 we could do either blue or violet. I looked around for inspiration but ended up sticking to something simple. Mostly because I'm still sick and didn't have the patience, or a steady hand, to do anything complicated.

Today's mani is using my standard base coats of Sally Hansen Hard As Wraps (which does make a huge difference) and ORLY Bonder. On top, I have 2 coats of Shany blue (no name). This color really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to like it, in all honesty. But it went on very smooth and has the most lovely shimmer to it. Even now, I stop and look at it occasionally because it just makes me happy. :)

On the accent nail, I used my custom Eugene Malibu color called Beloved (found here). I am really happy with the way it goes on. It truly is a glitter bomb. It's packed! This is one coat of glitter over 2 coats of polish. On top is a coat of OPI fast dry top coat and a coat of Seche Vite. I still love SV, but I've found that using another topper underneath it, it helps prevent shrinking on the edges.

My lighting set up consists of my bathroom mirror lights right now, so please forgive me. I'm trying to figure out a way to do a good light set up that won't involve my husband laughing at me for making a 'nail photo lab'. I'm sure the day is coming.

So, what do you think?

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31 Day Challenge, Day 1: Red or Orange

So, I said before that I was going to do the 31 Day Challenge over the course of the year. Well, it started over at the beginning of September and several bloggers are going to do it twice a week instead of each day. This is much more along my lines of time commitment. You can find the challenge prompts here (courtesy www.willpaintnailsforfood.com)

For day 1, I did Red and Orange because I couldn't decided between one over the other. I want to apologize in advance for the picture. I know it's horrible. I have been trying to get sick (and confirmed a double ear and sinus infection today) so this one is rather sloppy and I couldn't get my hand to be still to get a good picture.



I like the idea behind the design, but I'm not terribly happy with the way it turned out. I used a red Shany polish that I got with my big set (look here). The orange is Orly Melt My Popsicle (FAVE) and the yellow is a combination of a pale yellow by Revlon and a mustardy color by Shany. Neither had names.

I did a base of the Revlon yellow because the Shany was really thin. Then I used a makeup sponge to make a gradient. I like the way it looks like a sunset. I wanted to add a palm tree but I didn't have a stamp and I knew my hands were too shaky to attempt drawing. No palm tree. :( I ended up adding some little square thingies and painting some attempted tiger stripes. Like I said, I'm not happy with it, and it will be coming off tonight. I should have a yellow or green manicure up tonight or tomorrow, depending on how awful I feel when I get home.

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The Monthly Nail Review

I got my first nail mail today and I was so EXCITED! Last month I decided that I wanted to join a mail order nail box so I looked around for one that suited me. I finally settled on The Monthly Nail for a couple of reasons.

First, they ONLY ship polishes. There is a reason this blog is named what it is; I am not a 'beauty'-ful person. I'm not into the newest skin cream or make up color. I have a drawer full of stuff I don't use already, so I didn't want to join a box that included a beauty product that would just sit on my shelf and never get used.

Second, your box is completely customizable. I opted for the premium package which allows me to get 2 big name polishes (essie or OPI) and 2 of their indie brand, Eugene Malibu. You have the option of choosing any of the current or previous essie or OPI polishes, even if they aren't listed on their website, as long as the color hasn't been discontinued. For the Eugene Malibu colors, this is where the fun comes in, and my number three reason so:

Third, YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN POLISH! I was so excited over this. You have the ability to completely customize your own polish creation. You can choose the base, the color, if you want glitter or shimmer and on and on. There's even a note box so that you can get even more specific.

Finally, the price is unbeatable. For $23.99 a month I get four polishes. I figured it up and if I had bought them retail at Wal-Mart, even, I would've paid at least $9 for each bottle, so I'm saving over $10 this way. Plus they don't charge any shipping on the box subscriptions.

So, here's what I got in the mail today:

The box wasn't anything fancy. On their website it says that the monthly subscription can be gifted and it will come in a pretty box. I'm hoping that if you request it you get gift wrap.

I ordered 2 essie polishes (blue: strut your stuff, pink: haute in the heat) and I created the two Eugene Malibu colors myself. For the first one, I asked for a clear base with purple, black and green glitter and I must say it is PACKED with glitter  (called Beloved). It's really awesome and I can't wait to use it. For the second one (swatched below) I ordered a white crelly with red and black glitter (called Black and White and Red All Over).

Another cool option is that you get to name your creations. So on the bottom of my two custom bottles is a stick with MY polish name.

Now, onto the review of the actual polish. I used the white one and I really do love it. The formula was very smooth, and for a white crelly it covered pretty well. I have three coats on in the photo, but I could've gotten along with just two. It dried pretty quickly and there wasn't any streaking when adding the additional coats. The glitter wasn't as packed in this one as the purple, but it was still easy to get a good amount on my nails.

The red is a Shany polish that I've had for a while. It doesn't have a name (sorry). What do you think?

My only complaint so far with The Monthly Nail is that their website hasn't been updated since may and it doesn't look terribly professional. I was worried that it might be a two-bit run operation, but I'm very pleased with the actual product. Can't wait to get my email to customize September's box!

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Polka Dot & Zebra Print Nail art

Today was our big outing with the Cub Scouts. As the Den Leader for a pack of 8 year old boys, the planning and execution wore me out. Unfortunately, 0400 this morning found me wide awake going over every last detail to make sure the event went off without a hitch (which it did, if you were wondering). I played on Facebook and surfed Instagram trying to get back to sleep with no avail. I finally gave up and decided to peruse YouTube for nail art. It never fails to relax me. While I was looking around at random doticures and gradients, I came across this video from Selina's Nail Art and I KNEW that I had to recreate
this look.

Orange & Black Polka Dots with Zebra Print

I am not a pink kind of girl, but I have an Orly polish that I love and I knew immediately it would go great with this look. What do you think? I am quite proud of how it turned out. I have never used the striping polish until tonight and was actually rather nervous that I would screw it up terribly. Lucky for me the zebra stripes are much easier than they look!


Below is a list of everything I used, in order from start to finish.

• Sally Hansen Hard As Wraps
• I really love this as a base coat. It feels (and smells) like a thinned down acrylic liquid and functions similarly. Once applied and let to dry it gives my nails a very strong base for which to apply other layers. I have noticed a HUGE decrease in broken nails since I started using it, and it has become almost impossible to bend my nails like they used to do.
   
• Orly Bonder Rubberized Base
• I have heard mixed reviews on this one, but I swear by it. It looks orange in the bottle but I haven't noticed any skewing of the polish colors because of it. It goes on and dries to a clear, tacky surface. It never feels completely dry because of the rubbery texture. I use it, along with Hard as Wraps religiously under every manicure and I have gone from chipped nails the day after my manicure to wearing the same polish for four or five days without touch up. The last mani I did (here, with the broken nail) lasted five days.
• Shany (white, no name)
  
• Orly Goth
• This is a really pretty black shimmer in the bottle, but once applied to the nail it loses much of the glittery look it has in the bottle. Also, even though it's black, it still takes 2 coats to cover without streaking. Even though it loses some of its shimmer, I still love this polish and would gladly recommend it to anyone who wants to try black but is scared of the flat black that is so common.
  
• Orly Melt My Popsicle
• I can't say enough about this one. It is probably in my top five favorite polishes right now. The picture doesn't do it justice (I'm still struggling to get a good photo set up). It is a very bright neon orange, reminescent of the construction cones you see on the highway. It goes on very smooth, and as you can see over the black nail, its pretty opaque on the first go.
  
• Stiping Polish (black)
  
• Seche Vite
• I put a coat of SV over the base coat before adding the dots, and then again once the dots had dried. On the zebra nail, I also added a layer over the gradient to protect it in case I messed up the zebra pattern. It was then coated with a final layer.
  
• Pure Acetone (for cleanup)
  
• Essie Apricot cuticle oil (after any completed manicure, I always make sure to massage cuticle oil into the entire 'U' of my nail bed. The acetone tends to dry my skin out and I am terribly prone to dry and cracked cuticles so this step is mandatory.

That's it! What do you think?

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