Friday, July 30, 2010

Glitter Franken fail - but not quite!

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 1 of tips, 1 then a 2nd of full nail bed
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: ABOP Franken
COMMENTS: I decided to post this before my red/orange glitter franken as I wasn't quite ready to wear the that yet. This started out as a glitter fail, and I'll chronicle the path with the pictures below. I really love this mani. I used this previous franken as the color for my tips since it went well with the new jelly. The pictures may be wack, but at times it looked like a gradient mani, and at other times like a mood polish. Have a look.


Below is my new jelly franken with it's "parent", a failed green/gold glitter franken. I started this franken using clear, and it was ugly. However, I harvested the liquid from the surface and put it in the little bottle.

As you can see, some of the glitter made it into the jelly liquid and now sits at the bottom of the bottle.

Here are the two frankens for the combo - my original opaque on the left, and the new jelly on the right.

I decided to use them for a funky french. Unfortunately I used seche base underneath, so its streaks showed through the one coat of jelly.


So I added a second coat.


The next day I added a fauxnad pattern with the tip color and put Cover Girl - City Lights on my ring finger.




A little over the top, but I think the fauxnad in the tip color would be great if my nail bed was clear.


UP NEXT: A real glitter franken :)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Avon - Vintage Blue

APPLICATION: Smooth.
COATS: 2 - if done carefully could be just 1.
TOPCOAT?: Not until I added nail art.
SOURCE: Avon Website.
COMMENTS: I am really pleasantly surprised by these Avon polishes. I'm so glad I got the ones I did because the formula is great, the colors are beautiful, and the price is right (on sale for $2.99 each on their site). I have a few more and may just swatch or wear them all in succession soon.
I didn't actually plan to wear this, but asked the hubby what color I should wear next and he said light blue. Great choice!
For fauxnad - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On


PARTING THOUGHT: With so many women affected by fibroids, why don't we know what causes them?

UP NEXT: ABOP Glitter Frankens

Monday, July 26, 2010

Savvy Femme Couture - Knightly Armour

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 3 - I was hoping to build it to bottle color, but 3 is my max.
TOPCOAT?: No
SOURCE: Sally Beauty Supply
COMMENTS: I really love this one in the bottle and hoped the color would translate to the nail. Not in three coats though. I've been enjoying these glass-flecked polishes lately. They're sheer enough that I don't bother with cleanup. I have two others of these in this brand. I might try layering over white the next time I wear one. I don't mind that it's sheer, I just would like to enjoy the color.



PARTING THOUGHT: Should men who wear more cologne than is necessary be allowed to ride in vanpools? I mean if the seat smells of a guy's cologne 3 days later, he's obviously wearing too much, right?

UP NEXT: Avon - Vintage Blue

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Elle LDL - #221

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: None (which is how i managed to mess up the base of my middle finger)
SOURCE: Ross Dress for Less - part of a "cube" of nine polishes.
COMMENTS: This was a really promising color in the bottle as it showed lots of gold shimmer. Not as much shimmer made it to the nail, but it's still pretty. It's a no-nonsense shade that's great for work.



PARTING THOUGHT: Adults need naptime too. Think how much less stressed we'd be if we were forced to take a nap in the middle of our work day.

UP NEXT: Savvy - Knightly Armour

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Challenge Fail - Hand in Hand

COMMENTS: This was supposed to be my entry for Polish Hoarder Disorder's challenge of the week. I chose to use little hand stencils and brown as my accent color. If it had stayed crisp, it would have been super cute - like little pictures of my hands with a mani. From afar, it looks fine, but close up, you can see that the topcoat made the color bleed. I tried five different topcoats on my right hand, and they all messed up the brown! 
What have I learned? I think next time I need to topcoat the accent color while I still have the stencil on.
Base - two coats of Sally Hansen -White Tip
Hands - Kleancolor - Cappuchino
Mini-Mani - White Tip again with accent nail of Tropez - Black Satin.

Cute idea, right?  Well my hubby thinks so!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Zoya - Yummy

APPLICATION: Somewhat difficult due to thick consistency.
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: Art of Beauty (www.zoya.com)
COMMENTS: This is a pretty blue that I've been eying for a while. It's just - yummy! Well named. However, I thought Zoya gave their polishes female names. I've never heard of anyone with this name. It's a deeper/slightly darker blue than my camera was able to capture (grrr!).
Either way, I fauxnaded with a full nail pattern from my Bundle Monster plates and stamped sideways to try to get most of the print on the bottom half of my nails. Yikes, I would have to triple stamp these on my thumbs if I was going for full coverage!  Would have liked full coverage, but I'm not yet confident enough in my placement to try double and triple stamping.



UP NEXT: Elle LDL - #221

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

LA Girl - Matte Alpine Green, LA Girl RockStar - Crowd Surfing

APPLICATION: Smooth for both
COATS: 2 of the matte followed by 1 of the flaky
TOPCOAT?: Not initially, but after layering Crowd Surfing  over Alpine Green, I put one coat on.
SOURCE: Two separate beauty supply stores in my city.
COMMENTS: This is a beautiful matte which dried to a satiny texture.  The flaky polish over it (Crowd Surfing) reminds me of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, but is in a green shimmer base. The single fauxnad stamp was done with China Glaze - L8R G8R.  I might wear the matte without topcoat sometime.


UP NEXT: Zoya Yummy

Monday, July 19, 2010

Nina Ultra Pro - Sweet Nothings

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: No
SOURCE: Sally Beauty Supply
COMMENTS: This was a hard pink to photograph (and I'm ready to toss the OTT bulb out!). It is actually lighter than shown. It dried to a nice glossy finish. I did put on a topcoat after a bit of nail art (last pic)




UP NEXT: LA Girl - Matte Alpine Green and Crowd Surfing