You may or may not have seen this mani floating around the internet a lot lately - its a mani first introduced by CND at the Diego Binetti show during NYFW. Ivana did a lovely version of it HERE
So here's my version of it using 2 coats of Sally Hansen Shell We Dance as the base then lightly sponging on Orly Oh Cabana Boy around the cuticles. I suggest you protect the skin around your nails with tape ala water marbling or be prepared for extensive cleanup. You WILL have pink fingers! ;-)
To finish off I freehanded a french tip with Essie Good as Gold. Lemmetellya - this polish wears like IRON! I wore this mani for 5 days and still had no tip wear on the Essie metallic. Good stuff!
Have a lovely week!
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Showing posts with label Essie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Essie. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Golden hearts
Today's manicure started out with a base of one of my most favorite red polishes - Zoya Carrie Ann. It's a sparkly fire engine red and it just flows over the nail like a dream. I used two coats for the base and let it dry thoroughly before I stamped it.
I told myself I wasn't going to pick up the Essie mirrored metallics. One - because I tend to not like Essie's formula, and two - because I thought I had dupes of most of the colors in my stash. (By the way, my boyfriend says I shouldn't call it a "stash" because it's way too big. I should call it a 'hoard' instead - LOL) I saw some of this line being used to stamp with though, I changed my mind and picked up 4 of the 5 colors available. Bad me. Bad. I need to put myself on a makeup/nail polish purchase moratorium.
Anyway, my first experience stamping with Essie Good as Gold was successful and here is the result. The stamp is BM 317 from their 2012 release. Oh, and on the thumb I added some sparkle with Milani Red Sparkle One Coat Glitter. I really love this glitter, but my bottle is half gone and it's starting to thicken a little. Might be time to look for a backup bottle. Let's face it - I just love red polish!
Well, I'm off to work for what's sure to be a brutal 'last day of the month' Tuesday. Have a good one everyone!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Naked Neon Nails - Funky French
On Saturday I realized I've been a failure at summer manis - I haven't used ANY neons this whole summer! So I decided - TODAY'S the day. But alas... I had my heart set on a mani with a nude polish. What was I do to?
A funky french of course! With NEON tips! The best of both worlds - nudes, and neons! Plus, this way, it wouldn't be SO obnoxiously neon that people would see me coming from 50 feet away.
I started with two coats of Essie Topless and Barefoot aka the best nude polish in my whole stash (thanks Mom!). It's not quite mannequin hands, but it's just the perfect subtle skin color. I love it, but the formula on it is atrocious (in my bottle at least..). I managed to make it work and figured it wouldn't be too big of a deal if it wasn't perfect since I'd be putting something over it.
Now - to go on my hunt for the neon polishes I wanted to use. I realize not all of these are neon per se, but I thought this combination of colors was the most flattering together. The neons are (from thumb to pinky) China Glaze Pink Voltage, China Glaze Style Wars, China Glaze Electric Pineapple, Funky Fingers 220 Volts, and Funky Fingers Riot.
I did the nude base on Saturday afternoon, then applied tape to the tips for the french on Sunday. This works better for me than waiting [im]patiently for my top coat to dry enough to do it all in one sitting -- that's how I always ruin them, so I wait a day in between. Seal with a coat of Revlon Quick Dry and you're done! Probably the easiest nail art mani I've done in a while and I actually am really digging this one!
Oh, and before I go, look what managed to play out when I was taking pictures of this mani...
I swear I did not realize the matchy matchy until I was outside taking the pictures! Maybe my subconscious grabbed inspiration from what I was wearing ;)
Labels:
China Glaze,
Essie,
french,
Funky Fingers,
Funky French
Monday, July 16, 2012
I-Don't-Know-What-This-Stamp-Even-Is Konad Gradient Nails
Hi ladies! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. They go way too fast, don't they? :(
I wanted to try and see if I could do a more successful gradient, so this weekend I sat down and tried the Sammy technique and what do you know -- it actually worked!! I do have to say though, that I tried to do it with 3 colors at first and couldn't get it to look like an even, gradual gradient. So if anyone has any tips on that besides the usual just sponging two colors, one on top of the next method, let me know.
The two colors in the gradient are Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud and Essie Knockout Pout. I thought I got pictures of the plain gradient, but alas, I didn't. And I didn't realize until I'd already stamped and taken pictures of the final mani. Shucks.
I topped the gradient with a coat of Fairy Dust (my bottle is about as thick as Elmer's glue these days...) and stamped over with Sinful black polish and plate RA-112. I don't even KNOW what this pattern is supposed to be, so I don't know what to call these nails! Anyone have any ideas for what the pattern actually IS? Haha. Oh well, they turned out pretty well I think. Maybe I'm getting back into the groove of things!
Think I'm going to head over to Ulta today to pick up some CG On Safari polishes, so look out for some manis with those! Have a lovely day :)
I wanted to try and see if I could do a more successful gradient, so this weekend I sat down and tried the Sammy technique and what do you know -- it actually worked!! I do have to say though, that I tried to do it with 3 colors at first and couldn't get it to look like an even, gradual gradient. So if anyone has any tips on that besides the usual just sponging two colors, one on top of the next method, let me know.
The two colors in the gradient are Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud and Essie Knockout Pout. I thought I got pictures of the plain gradient, but alas, I didn't. And I didn't realize until I'd already stamped and taken pictures of the final mani. Shucks.
I topped the gradient with a coat of Fairy Dust (my bottle is about as thick as Elmer's glue these days...) and stamped over with Sinful black polish and plate RA-112. I don't even KNOW what this pattern is supposed to be, so I don't know what to call these nails! Anyone have any ideas for what the pattern actually IS? Haha. Oh well, they turned out pretty well I think. Maybe I'm getting back into the groove of things!
Think I'm going to head over to Ulta today to pick up some CG On Safari polishes, so look out for some manis with those! Have a lovely day :)
Friday, July 13, 2012
Cherry Gingham Nails
Hi girls, I saw this design and just HAD to recreate it on my nails!
For this mani, I started with a base of Essie French Affair. I might need to repurchase this soon, I use it so often...
I then stamped over it with Konad plate m64 and a pink chrome Sally Hansen pen. The only bad thing about these pens is they give me all these little stamping wispies that I have to flatten out on my nail. I don't really know what else to call them, so I hope you know what I'm talking about. Hahah.
I made the cherries with acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. I think they turned out nicely, I only wish I had stamped with a lighter background color because I think it makes the cherries a bit difficult to see. But oh well! I'm a little out of practice, so hopefully these weekly nail nights with Mama will get me back into the routine :)
Just a brief post tonight because I'm on my way to visit the manfriend. And I am a little buzzed. Ok Bye!
For this mani, I started with a base of Essie French Affair. I might need to repurchase this soon, I use it so often...
I then stamped over it with Konad plate m64 and a pink chrome Sally Hansen pen. The only bad thing about these pens is they give me all these little stamping wispies that I have to flatten out on my nail. I don't really know what else to call them, so I hope you know what I'm talking about. Hahah.
I made the cherries with acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. I think they turned out nicely, I only wish I had stamped with a lighter background color because I think it makes the cherries a bit difficult to see. But oh well! I'm a little out of practice, so hopefully these weekly nail nights with Mama will get me back into the routine :)
Just a brief post tonight because I'm on my way to visit the manfriend. And I am a little buzzed. Ok Bye!
Labels:
acrylic paint,
Essie,
gingham,
Konad,
Nail Art,
Sally Hansen
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
A french affair with cocktails
I was intrigued when I saw the pic floating around Pinterest of the cocktail mani. Presumably, the concept is that the thumb and first two fingers of your dominant hand are accented so the bling is visible when you hold your wine glass.
So here's my take on it. I wanted something bright and fresh for summer so I settled on pink. The base color is Essie French Affair, which is a cool toned pink. It went on surprisingly well considering I have so many application issues with Essie polishes. This is two coats. On top I layered two of my favorite glitterbombs. First was Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos. S&S is a silver holographic glitter but I'm convinced it leans pink. You can also substitute Studio M or Color Club Magic Attraction (which is the same polish). Then on top I added OPI Teenage Dream which we all know is a pink base loaded with lots of holographic glitter.
What do you think of the "cocktail mani"? My B/F's mom says she thinks it looks like I forgot to paint 2 of my fingernails. Love it or leave it?
So here's my take on it. I wanted something bright and fresh for summer so I settled on pink. The base color is Essie French Affair, which is a cool toned pink. It went on surprisingly well considering I have so many application issues with Essie polishes. This is two coats. On top I layered two of my favorite glitterbombs. First was Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos. S&S is a silver holographic glitter but I'm convinced it leans pink. You can also substitute Studio M or Color Club Magic Attraction (which is the same polish). Then on top I added OPI Teenage Dream which we all know is a pink base loaded with lots of holographic glitter.
What do you think of the "cocktail mani"? My B/F's mom says she thinks it looks like I forgot to paint 2 of my fingernails. Love it or leave it?
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Essie French Affair Accent Nail Mani
Hello ladies! Hope you all had a good weekend.
This mani is something I saw whilst perusing around on Pinterest. Sadly, I didn't repin the mani (because the iPhone app for Pinterest sucks) so I don't have the original source or picture of it. SO! If you've seen it floating around, lemme know and I'll add in credit where credit is do. 'Cause that's the cool thing to do, yo.
Edit: THIS is the original post!
This is 3 coats of Essie French Affair (do I even need to talk about me and my relationship with Essie or are you guys aware of that by now? You're probably aware... I mention it every time I use an Essie polish. But I digress...). The silver accent fingers are two coats of China Glaze Midnight Kiss topped with one coat of OPI DS Coronation and one coat of Sinful Queen of Beauty.
Blingy!
I just love the look of accent nail manis. They are so so simple to do, and I always get compliments on my nails when I do them. What do you guys think of the bling-tastic accent nail manis?
Have a great night!
This mani is something I saw whilst perusing around on Pinterest. Sadly, I didn't repin the mani (because the iPhone app for Pinterest sucks) so I don't have the original source or picture of it. SO! If you've seen it floating around, lemme know and I'll add in credit where credit is do. 'Cause that's the cool thing to do, yo.
Edit: THIS is the original post!
This is 3 coats of Essie French Affair (do I even need to talk about me and my relationship with Essie or are you guys aware of that by now? You're probably aware... I mention it every time I use an Essie polish. But I digress...). The silver accent fingers are two coats of China Glaze Midnight Kiss topped with one coat of OPI DS Coronation and one coat of Sinful Queen of Beauty.
Blingy!
I just love the look of accent nail manis. They are so so simple to do, and I always get compliments on my nails when I do them. What do you guys think of the bling-tastic accent nail manis?
Have a great night!
Labels:
Accent nail,
China Glaze,
Essie,
Glitter,
OPI,
Sinful
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Pink Wednesday - Wicked Roses
Hi girls. Sorry for neglecting you lately. Still trying to get in the swing of this work thing. I swear, I get up at 6am, go to work for 8 hours, come home, have about 4 hours to myself, go to bed, then do it all again. There's not enough hours in the day to do my nails and blog :(
Anywho, I finally found some time to sit down and do my nails last night (yay!). I used China Glaze Wicked Style as my base....which is definitely not this orangey-red. Wicked Style is much more of a berry pink color in real life, but of course it has to be a nuisance and throw off the color balance of my camera. And of course I'm too much of a noob to know how to alter the colors....so just pretend, mmkay?
I wanted to do some sort of quick nail art over top of this so I could still have some time to myself. I decided on Konading, but the design and polish I picked smeared together so I decided to do some freehand roses. I've tried this once before, and they didn't come out too well. This one looked funky at first, but after I painted the leaves on I think it really came together. The roses are made with Revlon Candy, Essie French Affair, and Zoya Erika. The leaves are China Glaze Starboard with China Glaze Entourage for the highlights. I finished with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (duh) and a coat of Seche Vite and voila!
I'm actually liking the way this came out, considering I was kind of hurrying myself along. And I actually did it on all ten nails...shocking! I can't get away with only doing one now that I have to actually go in public and talk to real live people ;)
Hope you are all having a happy hump day! Only two days til the weekend (it's weird that I have to count down to it again now after being unemployed for so long....ha ha)!!
Anywho, I finally found some time to sit down and do my nails last night (yay!). I used China Glaze Wicked Style as my base....which is definitely not this orangey-red. Wicked Style is much more of a berry pink color in real life, but of course it has to be a nuisance and throw off the color balance of my camera. And of course I'm too much of a noob to know how to alter the colors....so just pretend, mmkay?
I wanted to do some sort of quick nail art over top of this so I could still have some time to myself. I decided on Konading, but the design and polish I picked smeared together so I decided to do some freehand roses. I've tried this once before, and they didn't come out too well. This one looked funky at first, but after I painted the leaves on I think it really came together. The roses are made with Revlon Candy, Essie French Affair, and Zoya Erika. The leaves are China Glaze Starboard with China Glaze Entourage for the highlights. I finished with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (duh) and a coat of Seche Vite and voila!
I'm actually liking the way this came out, considering I was kind of hurrying myself along. And I actually did it on all ten nails...shocking! I can't get away with only doing one now that I have to actually go in public and talk to real live people ;)
Hope you are all having a happy hump day! Only two days til the weekend (it's weird that I have to count down to it again now after being unemployed for so long....ha ha)!!
Labels:
China Glaze,
Essie,
flowers,
Nail Art,
Pink Wednesday,
Revlon,
Zoya
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Leap Day mani
Happy Leap Day everyone!
I knew I wanted to do some sort of nail art today, but wasn't exactly sure what until I came up with the idea of a frog leaping to a lilly pad. Amanda is the nail art pro in the family, and I have a whole new respect for her after attempting this nail art. Wow - it was hard drawing this tiny design and trying to keep my hands steady. I think in the future I'm gonna leave the nail art to her!
So here is my attempt at nail art. I used Essie Aruba Blue as a base (my b/f's mom got me this for Christmas this year) and the nail art is all done with acrylic paints and a tiny brush. Although I am not a big fan of Essie polishes (they always go on streaky for me), the formula on this one was pretty good. I did have a little staining on removal, so you may want to double up on your base coat. Also, I need to get an ultra fine sharpy marker because obviously my '29' is not so great.
Have a great Hump Day everyone!
I knew I wanted to do some sort of nail art today, but wasn't exactly sure what until I came up with the idea of a frog leaping to a lilly pad. Amanda is the nail art pro in the family, and I have a whole new respect for her after attempting this nail art. Wow - it was hard drawing this tiny design and trying to keep my hands steady. I think in the future I'm gonna leave the nail art to her!
So here is my attempt at nail art. I used Essie Aruba Blue as a base (my b/f's mom got me this for Christmas this year) and the nail art is all done with acrylic paints and a tiny brush. Although I am not a big fan of Essie polishes (they always go on streaky for me), the formula on this one was pretty good. I did have a little staining on removal, so you may want to double up on your base coat. Also, I need to get an ultra fine sharpy marker because obviously my '29' is not so great.
Have a great Hump Day everyone!
Here is Aruba Blue all by herself
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Bee Mine Nails
Hi ladies! Is anyone getting tired of Valentine's Day manis yet? I know I am... I just want to get back to regular ole manis :P
Quick post today because I have lots to do, but I just wanted to share this one with you!
The base is Essie French Affair (I know I know....I dislike Essie's formula, but I can even get over it for this color because it's just so darn pretty!). I drew the silhouette of the bees first, because I don't have a steady enough hand to draw a black outline last. So, drew the black silhouette first, then added in the white face and wings, and yellow stripes with acrylic paint. I also tried to paint "Bee Mine" on my thumb, but I really need to get some good nail art pens or something because it is REALLY hard to paint text with a nail art brush. Maybe I just need a brush with shorter bristles instead? At any rate, I think it came out pretty cute :)
This one's for my mama, because her name means Honeybee :)
Have a great weekend everybody!
Quick post today because I have lots to do, but I just wanted to share this one with you!
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(Don't mind the randomly placed watermarks... I'm trying to find an unobtrusive way to mark my pictures.) |
The base is Essie French Affair (I know I know....I dislike Essie's formula, but I can even get over it for this color because it's just so darn pretty!). I drew the silhouette of the bees first, because I don't have a steady enough hand to draw a black outline last. So, drew the black silhouette first, then added in the white face and wings, and yellow stripes with acrylic paint. I also tried to paint "Bee Mine" on my thumb, but I really need to get some good nail art pens or something because it is REALLY hard to paint text with a nail art brush. Maybe I just need a brush with shorter bristles instead? At any rate, I think it came out pretty cute :)
This one's for my mama, because her name means Honeybee :)
Have a great weekend everybody!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Icing glitters - part 2
Today's post is the remaining 2 Icing glitter polishes I picked up at Icing prior to Christmas
First up is Birthday Beyotch. Ok the name - love it or hate it? I think I'm kinda liking it. At first glance it's another one of those multi color glitters in a clear base. But check out the bottle shot. It has SO MANY colors in it. It's like a circus exploded in the bottle!
I'm showing it as a jelly sandwich today with Revlon Grapefruit Fizz (which was part of their scented polish LE line last summer), but this would really be spectacular over a black base. Unfortunately I didn't get many good shots of this as my light box really sucks (it's too short and I can't get my tripod into it and end up having to contort into all sorts of unnatural positions to take pics)
Then we have my favorite of the 4 - Glitterati. It boasts small holographic glitter with large fuschia hex glitter. Here I've layered it over Sally Hansen Pat on the Black, which is a dark vampy plum color. I wish the photos accurately depicted the holo sparkle this had! Then just for fun I mattified it with Essie Matte About You. The middle picture is intentionally left blurry to show the holo glitter.
Application was pretty much the same as yesterday's swatches. What do you think of these glitters?
First up is Birthday Beyotch. Ok the name - love it or hate it? I think I'm kinda liking it. At first glance it's another one of those multi color glitters in a clear base. But check out the bottle shot. It has SO MANY colors in it. It's like a circus exploded in the bottle!
I'm showing it as a jelly sandwich today with Revlon Grapefruit Fizz (which was part of their scented polish LE line last summer), but this would really be spectacular over a black base. Unfortunately I didn't get many good shots of this as my light box really sucks (it's too short and I can't get my tripod into it and end up having to contort into all sorts of unnatural positions to take pics)
Then we have my favorite of the 4 - Glitterati. It boasts small holographic glitter with large fuschia hex glitter. Here I've layered it over Sally Hansen Pat on the Black, which is a dark vampy plum color. I wish the photos accurately depicted the holo sparkle this had! Then just for fun I mattified it with Essie Matte About You. The middle picture is intentionally left blurry to show the holo glitter.
Application was pretty much the same as yesterday's swatches. What do you think of these glitters?
Friday, January 20, 2012
Springy Spongey Konad
Yes...I know it is January 20th. But we got about 3 inches of snow yesterday so I needed a spring pick me up. I am hoping this winter won't last until like May since the first part of it was pretty tame :\
I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, then sponged randomly on top of the white with China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze Electric Pineapple and Essie French Affair. Add a coat of Fairy Dust (duh) and I stamped with the flowery butterfly plate (RA 102). I really need a better white stamping polish because this Sinful one does NOT show up opaque enough. But I kind of like the subtlety it gives it.
The end result is an overly spring mani that looks way out of place in this dreary wintery Indiana weather, but I don't care because it's pretty and I like it! :D
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, then sponged randomly on top of the white with China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze Electric Pineapple and Essie French Affair. Add a coat of Fairy Dust (duh) and I stamped with the flowery butterfly plate (RA 102). I really need a better white stamping polish because this Sinful one does NOT show up opaque enough. But I kind of like the subtlety it gives it.
The end result is an overly spring mani that looks way out of place in this dreary wintery Indiana weather, but I don't care because it's pretty and I like it! :D
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Abstract Dots
Hi all! Long time no post! When I wasn't busy I just could NOT for the life of me think of anything exciting to do to my nails. But I think I'm finally back into the swing of things so hopefully that means more regular posts for you guys. It's weird not having a post up every day or every other day!
The base is Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud (sidenote: These SH CSM bottles are ridiculously hard to hold and get a good picture with....off topic) and the big dots are made with: white acrylic paint, China Glaze 108 Degrees, China Glaze Entourage and Essie French Affair. I just used a tiny dotting tool and a small nail art brush to do the detail work. The UBER tiny dots are made with the point of a pushpin! I don't have a dotting tool that small ;-)
This design is based off of a background I saw on ShutterStock. That's a great place to look for inspiration if you can't think of what to do, btw :)
Hope everyone's having a fabulous week!
The base is Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud (sidenote: These SH CSM bottles are ridiculously hard to hold and get a good picture with....off topic) and the big dots are made with: white acrylic paint, China Glaze 108 Degrees, China Glaze Entourage and Essie French Affair. I just used a tiny dotting tool and a small nail art brush to do the detail work. The UBER tiny dots are made with the point of a pushpin! I don't have a dotting tool that small ;-)
This design is based off of a background I saw on ShutterStock. That's a great place to look for inspiration if you can't think of what to do, btw :)
Hope everyone's having a fabulous week!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Day 9: Rainbow Nails
Day 9: Rainbow Nails!!
I am so excited about these puppies! I tried a rainbow mani a week or so ago when I sat down and tried to swatch several days, but it did not turn out well at ALL. I'm MUCH happier with this one!
This was actually so simple to do! I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud. I dabbed each rainbow color onto a piece of paper and used a small paintbrush to draw lines about 3/4 up my nail. I did all of one color first so that my polish didn't get too dry while I was working.
Then I sponged a little more white over the top to obscure the tips of the lines a little bit. I used a white striper for the "rays of light" and a dotting tool for the stars. Finish with a coat of none other than China Glaze Fairy Dust and you're done!
Here are ALLLL the colors I used to make the rainbow gradient:
Sadly, stupid Seche shrunk this mani and it made me so sad. I tried to file down some of the shrinkage to make it less noticeable, and I think that helped... but SV, I am not pleased with you. Revlon is getting more attention now because you suck and ruin my hard work. >:[
So pleased with this one! I had hoped that would be the case -- I'm excited for this challenge because I will be doing things I don't normally do and expanding my horizons...yay!
I am so excited about these puppies! I tried a rainbow mani a week or so ago when I sat down and tried to swatch several days, but it did not turn out well at ALL. I'm MUCH happier with this one!
This was actually so simple to do! I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud. I dabbed each rainbow color onto a piece of paper and used a small paintbrush to draw lines about 3/4 up my nail. I did all of one color first so that my polish didn't get too dry while I was working.
Then I sponged a little more white over the top to obscure the tips of the lines a little bit. I used a white striper for the "rays of light" and a dotting tool for the stars. Finish with a coat of none other than China Glaze Fairy Dust and you're done!
Here are ALLLL the colors I used to make the rainbow gradient:
Sadly, stupid Seche shrunk this mani and it made me so sad. I tried to file down some of the shrinkage to make it less noticeable, and I think that helped... but SV, I am not pleased with you. Revlon is getting more attention now because you suck and ruin my hard work. >:[
So pleased with this one! I had hoped that would be the case -- I'm excited for this challenge because I will be doing things I don't normally do and expanding my horizons...yay!
Labels:
31 Day Challenge,
China Glaze,
Essie,
Glitter,
sponging,
Zoya
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