Nail Art: Be Merry Glitter Gradient

Hello! I hope you all are in the midst of a wonderful holiday season! Now that Christmas is over, I miss it already. I want to share a design I created with some polished I got as Christmas presents. The base color is Revlon Pink Chiffon and the glitter is China Glaze Be Merry, Be Bright from their holiday collection.

 

I thought this glitter was a great alternative to the usual green and red colors of the holidays. It reminds me of the kitsch decor that Target came out with for the holidays- bright colors in traditional Christmas designs. It is a nice alternative that I can use year round. The base was a little sheer, it took three coats for this design, but I probably would have done four if I was wearing it alone. One thing I changed in my routine this time was that I topped it all off with Just Ricarda's Glossy Glam, an indie top coat. I heard great things about it and I haven't quite figured out how I like to use it best, but I really love the shine. Maybe I'll post a review of it or a top coat comparison at a later date. Hope you like the design and thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I just wanted to upload a quick post of my Christmas nails today. They are candy cane inspired and were a fun way to celebrate the holiday. I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a fun time with family and friends. Sorry these photos aren't better, but I took them at my family's house with my phone. I hope you enjoy and happy holidays!!

How to make your bare nails shine!

Two days until Christmas!! I have gotten over my initial stress about Christmas from my last post, and we are all ready to celebrate! I was removing my last nail polish design and decided to use my new nail buffer, purchased from Sephora and I had to stop and share this with you. I have never used a nail buffer with a shine section, which Sephora's has. I heard from another nail blogger that this particular buffer was her favorite, so I wanted to try it out! Now, I am about to share something I have never shared before: my naked nails! I had to do a quick post and show you what this buffer can do! Don't mind the slight staining, I paint my nails a lot!

Can you see the shine? I actually had a very strong reaction to this when I used the shine portion. I was amazed! It literally gives your nails an unreal shine. I kept saying to my husband, "how is this real?". I could not believe it was so shiny! I feel like my nails have a top coat on them or they look like plastic they're so shiny. I just had to share this with you before I painted my nails again! I must say now, this is my favorite nail buffer as well. I bought mine online here for $5, well worth the price. I will definitely keep buying this type after it is all worn out. What do you think? Do you buff your nails? I only buff my nails maybe once a month so that I don't wear them down too much. With this new buffer, I'll be excited for my next buffing! I'll have one more Christmas design for you before or on Christmas to come! Is there something specific you want to see? Hope you enjoyed this post!

Nail Art: Christmas Glitter

Christmas is less than a week away! That thought stresses me out more than excites me. Once you become an adult, Christmas becomes stressful. Trying to figure out who's relatives' house you are going and how many gatherings you are going to attempt to make it to are what most of my stress is over. We decided to do secret Santas on both sides of the family this year, which makes it significantly easier to shop for gifts. I am excited for Christmas, but I need to make sure I have everything finished! Since I like to distract myself from stress by doing my nails, I am here today with more Christmas nails! My friend Abby agreed to do #bestietwinnails with me. Check out that hash tag on instagram! It is so fun! All it is is creating matching manis with a friend. I thought it was a great idea!

 

Polishes we used were:
Red- OPI: Quarter of a Cent-Cherry
Gold Glitter- butter LONDON: Tart With A Heart
Green- A England: St George
Glitter- OPI: Pirouette My Whistle

The A England we used for the tree is my favorite polish in my whole collection. That is saying something! I just love the holographic, rich foresty green. It is so rich and perfect. A England is just my favorite brand. Anyway, we started with red on our pointer and pinky fingers and gold on all others. It took about three layers to get full coverage on the gold. Then we added the tree, framing it with painters tape and creating the lines across with striping tape. Abby picked up some rhinestones from Sally's Beauty Supply, which were perfect for a tree topper! Then we used striping tape on the thumb and added a layer of red. Lastly, we added a glitter gradient to the red nails. It is a bit more design than I am used to, but I love it! It was really creative and was definitely a collaboration between the two of us! I love how glittery this is, but at the same time it doesn't look too crazy or out there. I hope you enjoy this as well!

Nail Art: Christmas Tree Nails

I cannot believe there are only ten days left until Christmas! I have been really busy lately with the holidays and work, but I have been wanting to work on more Christmas nail art ideas. I have seen a lot of Christmas tree nails lately and wanted to recreate my own. I decided to keep it simple with a dark green and add a dotted Christmas tree. I used butter LONDON British Racing Green for the dark green and a gold, silver and champagne colored polish. I also fished out a star glitter from one of my glitter polishes with stars. Take a look:

Pretty simple, but very Christmas-y! I used three different sized dotting tools for this. I started with the largest and worked my way to the smallest. I used the pointy end of a cuticle pusher stick to place the star after I fished it out. What do you think? I am planning more holiday nail art, so let me know if you have any requests! I am hoping to some matching nails with a friend soon, so I'll have that to share with you sometime next week! Thanks for reading!

Nail Art: Rose Gold Lace

I hope you all are staying warm in this winter weather! I don't know where all of you are from, but in Oregon we have had a recent bout of winter snow. There isn't much snow on the ground, but it has turned to ice, which makes conditions dangerous. Anyway, I'm freezing my butt off! To take my mind off the cold I decided to do some nail stamping! I told you in my last post that I couldn't wait to add some nail art to this color, I obviously couldn't wait that long!

This is turning out to be one of my favorite stamps! This is a Konad plate M57. Love it so much! I think this looks so pretty! It is just a simple design that looks complicated but the only complicated part is keeping the stamp straight. I think this looks really girly without looking overtly girly and frilly. I really don't like frilly and am not a huge fan of pink, but rose gold and black are definitely my style! Thanks for reading, I hope you like this!

Swatch and Review of Essie Penny Talk

Today I have Essie Penny Talk! I have been wanting this polish for a long time! I haven't seen a lot of rose gold polish and this one has a great shine to it that makes it really look metallic. This polish came out a while ago, but I think you can still find it in some stores, I bought mine online though. I was so angry when it arrived, in the bottle it looks like plain gold. I was mid complaint to my husband as I was applying it and realized that it actually does look rose gold on the nail. Here are my swaches:

So shiny and such a pretty rose gold! I applied two coats for the pictures above. I used a ridge filler for a base coat since I had previously seen that suggested. I really like this polish except for the frosty streaks it leaves before it dries. Once dried, the streaks go away. I can see so many beautiful combinations with this polish! I am so looking forward to creating them. When you look for metallic colors, what do you usually gravitate towards? I realized I have a lot of bronze colors, but I have been wanting a rose gold. Rose gold is just such a hard to find color. I am really grateful I have this now! Hope you enjoyed this post!

UPDATE: I did notice this polish chipping really easily. After two days of wear I have some major corner chipping. I did use a different base coat than usual, but I'm not sure that was the problem. Just a heads up!

Comparison: Which White?

As you know, black and white are pretty much staples in any nail art lover's stash. I have recently been trying to find the best white of them all. I only have five to share with you today, but I figure that is a good start. The biggest problem I find with white polish is that it gets terribly streaky. When you use white as a base for nail art, you don't want tons of layers before you even start your nail art! I decided to try this over the last design I had on, so see more easily the contrast. I used (Left to Right) Sinful Colors: Snow Me White, Sally Hansen: White On, NYC: French White Tip, China Glaze: White On White, and OPI: Alpine Snow.

One Coat

Above I have a picture of just one coat on each nail and however many coats were needed to achieve opacity. Starting out, Sally Hansen White On was my favorite, and I think it still out performs all the others. It has the easiest formula to work with (a bit thicker than I like, but still the easiest) and it has the best opacity with no streaks. Sinful Colors Snow Me White is one that I have had forever, it also covers very well with only two coats and is a bargain at only $1.99. I would choose this as my backup because of the formula. It is a little runny, making it a little messier. OPI Alpine Snow has been acclaimed by many as their favorite white of all time, but I have to disagree. I only own the mini, so maybe the regular size is different, but I found this to not give great coverage. It has a tendency to streak and not self level, which creates a lumpy surface. I only applied two coats in the photos, but I probably would have applied three if I was using the white for a nail art design. NYC actually was surprisingly easy to work with. I have a distant memory about having a really difficult time with this polish, but maybe it was in the warmer months. This time, it seemed to apply well but didn't give as good of coverage as others. China Glaze...what do I say about White on White? Clearly from the first photo, it has the least coverage of all. I was so disappointed with this polish. I had such high hopes! I think I actually would have applied 4 coats if this were for a design. If my polish has such little coverage, I expect it to be a jelly with a gorgeous squishiness, but this was so streaky! Overall Sally Hansen White On takes it with the best coverage and formula. China Glaze was the big disappointment. I wish I could say better things about it. I would really like to know if the full size Alpine Snow is better than the mini, and if so, why would the quality of the mini be any less acceptable than the full size? Whew, I think this was the most I have written in a while, but I hope it was helpful! I may have a part two if I collect more white polishes soon! Thanks for reading and stay warm out there!

Nail Art: Snowflakes!

Hello all! You know what is funny? Today was the first day of snow where I live and I am posting about snowflake nails! Wednesday I hosted a nail polish party and we all decided to do winter and Christmas themes. I had been wanting to try out snowflake nails for a while, and here is the result.

I used OPI Quarter of a Cent-Cherry for the red base and a nail stripping brush for the snowflakes. Snowflakes are a little harder than I thought they would be. I think I just forgot what a snowflake looked like. I like the way they ended up though. It was a little tricky with the striping brush, but really fun! I think I will be doing some more snowflakes this season! What do you think? What sort of Christmas or Winter nails are you going to create? Thanks for reading!

Swatch and Review of Sephora by OPI: The Way Tutu His Heart

With the discontinuation of Sephora by OPI, I now have a stockpile of it. There were too many good sales for me to let the deal go by, but now I am teasing you with discontinued polish just forewarning you. I have SOPI The Way Tutu His Heart, which appeared to be a milky white with a sheer finish online, however in real life it is a pinky-white with an opaque finish. This polish reminds me of a white that just got a tiny drop of color.I applied four coats to get this look.

As I was painting my nails I noticed a striking resemblance to Essie Fiji- which I adore. So, I thought I would do a comparison. Below I have Essie Fiji on my pointer and ring fingers and SOPI on my middle and pinky fingers.

 

These two are really similar! I can barely notice a difference in real life, I wouldn't say these are dead on dupes, but they are so close I wouldn't buy both. I prefer Essie to the SOPI. The Way Tutu His Heart had such great prospects, but it was really streaky. Not the endearing- we'll get there- streaky, but the -I hate this polish- streaky. I thought I could get away with three coats, but there was just a streak here or there that drove me crazy. I would actually be really upset if I spent the full amount on this polish, but I got it for $3, so I can't complain. Since it is discontinued, Essie is a great option. Essie is one of those- we'll get there - streaky polishes. The first coat is not pretty but a thicker second coat does it. I added a third coat here just for extra coverage. I do love the color of both, even though it wasn't as sheer as I had hoped, The Way Tutu His Heart is a lovely soft shade that I know will go with anything. Thanks for reading!

Nail Art: Plaid Nails

I cannot believe it is already December! Thanksgiving went by so fast, I feel like it was such a blur. We had several different Thanksgiving dinners to attend, so maybe that makes it feel like it goes by so fast. We had a great time with family and some great food. I can't get enough turkey and pie! As we transition into December, I am starting to immediately think of Christmas and everything that comes with it. One thing that really reminds me of the Christmas season is plaid prints. I have been wanting to try a plaid print for a while now, and I decided to do one with blue tones.

 

I started with a base color of OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I love that color so much! It is from the Skyfall collection. On top of that I freehand painted lines of China Glaze Sea Spray. Then it got a little tricky, I painted little diamonds in L'Oreal Greycian Goddess with a small nail art brush. Lastly, I painted overlay lines of Color Club Luminescent. I'm not sure if you would call this argyle or plaid, but both are great for winter. I can't imagine the possibilities here. I am really excited to try this with really Chirstmas-y colors! I think next time I would probably do fewer lines, as I think this is a little too busy for everyday, but I like it nevertheless. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading!