Extreme Matte Flakey Goodness

Guys...I might have gone overboard on pictures with this one. It's just so....pretty...and sparkly...!!

You know how I feel about doing nail art after nail art after nail art. I just don't like it -- I like to have something plain(ish) between manis. So this was my solution to "plain mani" -- three coats of a flakey polish over a dark green! Most people would just pick a light pink if they were going for "plain"....

Anyway, I started with two coats of Finger Paints Scenery Greenery. It's a pretty dark forest green, but man my bottle has gotten thick :( I hate it when you open a bottle of polish after not using it for a while only to find that it's practically chunkified. I topped that with two coats of Finger Paints Twisted which...OMG. I guess I never got the full effect of this polish because I've only ever used it over light colors. But over this dark green?! Wow!

 

Then I just had to see what it looked like mattified because I LOVE the look of matte flakies. And yes....I may have put on a matte top coat and taken pictures of it in my car on my lunch break....

What do you guys think of my mattified flakey mani? Love it or hate it? I happen to LOVE the way this came out!

Who's ready for the weekend? I AM I AM! Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...

Matte Party Hearty Glittery Goodness

Hi ladies. It's been a while since I've posted it seems -- I've been completely swamped with work. Working in retail around Christmas season is hell, I've learned. I have gained so much respect for people who like working retail because I clearly am just not cut out for it. I've been working pretty long shifts the past few times I've worked, and when I get home I'm so exhausted and irritated that the last thing I want to do is do my nails. The couch beckons.

On top of that, I had the stomach flu today. I woke up Sunday night/Monday morning with stomach cramps so bad I thought my appendix was rupturing! Bah, not fun. But don't worry, I am feeling better and have prepared a post for you girls. Yes, I will stop rambling :)

I wasn't really feeling up to doing any nail art tonight, but I still wanted to be festive. Sadly though, I don't have many greens and I've been doing reds all month it seems! So I settled on China Glaze Watermelon Rind. It's not exactly a Christmas green as it has kind of a blue undertone, but I actually think it turned out really nicely in this mani.

I had to use three coats of WR -- the formula was really watery and it kept flooding my cuticles. Drat! Then of course, I had to be festive and put on a coat of China Glaze Party Hearty. I sealed with a coat of Seche Vite....but something more needed to be added. But what!?

I decided to channel my inner Polished Perfectionist and mattify the glitter. Oh how I love this!! I have always liked matte nails but for some reason I always forget about my Matte Magic so I don't wear them nearly as often as I would like. I just can never think to use it!

I did notice that using a coat of SV before the MM seemed to make the matte look much better. Every other time I've used MM it looks a little streaky, but I think the Seche Vite did the trick.

This is so simple and easy, but I am digging it! Festive and cheery, don't you think?!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas week with friends and family, and remember, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Minnie Mouse Nails

I wanted to start with a base of a good, rich red so I chose Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Right Said Red.  I used 2 coats.  Dry time on this is a little slow, be sure to let your coats dry thoroughly in between.  I really liked the look of the matte base for the dots shown in my previous pink polka dot mani so I topped the RSR with 2 coats of China Glaze Matte Magic.  I love how the red looked matti-fied.

After the base color was good and dry, I used a medium sized dotting tool and Pure Ice Superstar to apply the polka dots.  I let that dry overnight, then had Amanda draw in the little black bows with black acrylic paint (she prefers using acrylic paint for detail work as opposed to polish).

I am really loving these.  So cute. 

Now that Amanda is back to hold the fort down I'm jetting off to Boston for the week.  See you on the flip side!

Zoya Lolly and Sally Hansen Pink Blink - Pink Wednesday!

This is my first pink Wednesday post!  I do like pink, but it seems I'm usually doing my nails on Tuesday/Thursday schedule.  Amanda is out of town shenanigating with some of her buds so I'll have to post in her stead.

I used 2 coats of Zoya Lolly for the base.  This is a matte and is a tricky one.  It dries super fast so you have to be speedy on your application and don't try to go over the same spot twice - you'll get drag marks.  Load up your brush with plenty of polish and 3 strokes.  For the dots I used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pink Blink.

This mani is SO girly!  Happy Wednesday y'all!

Lincoln Park After Dark Matte

Hello! I decided to try something new, inspired by Erika from Chloe's Nails. I painted my nails with two coats of OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark Matte, let them dry, and taped off the tips. Then I applied Wet 'n' Wild's Night Prowl which is a really pretty purple glitter in a black base. It's really similar to Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, but it doesn't have the jumbo hex glitter....or the $18 price tag. I'm ok with that...

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. Not my best work, but not the worst either. I guess I feel like it's too boring, not colorful enough, and in retrospect I feel like I should've made the french tips wider because you can hardly see them in real life OR the pictures. And there was a LOT of sun out when I took these pics. Ah well, can't like them all. I guess I'll leave this mani to Erika since she obviously rocks it way better than I do ;)

Galaxy Nails

Ok so before I share the manicure I did today can I just tell you about this new product I tried. I usually use the Walgreens brand Quilted Cotton Squares. The last time I was in I picked up these..

These are fabulous. I would usually use 1-2 quilted square per nail to remove my manicure.. but these babies... TWO pads removed ALL my polish. And remember guys and gals - I had FOUR coats of the Essie plus a top coat on my nails. I'm never going back to the quilted squares.

So anyway, I started out with Orly Bonder followed by 2 coats of Savvy Deja Blue. I love the application of this lacquer - the consistency is smooth and it flows well.

Then just for fun I matte-ified it with China Glaze Magic Matte. I really like the matte look with the darker nail colors.

On the right hand I applied Sinful's Hottie. It's a blue based glitter with some gold, pink and green mixed in. It reminds me of Debra Lippman's Across the Universe. On the left I have Sinful's Nail Junkie, which is a green based glitter with small gold and blue flecks. I like them both but I think I prefer the Nail Junkie over this color base. Generally speaking I don't care for Sinful polish because it chips so easily, but I do like their glitter topcoats.

Right hand - Sinful Hottie

Left hand - Sinful Nail Junkie

I like this look a lot.

The Funky Mannequin

This color is from Essie's spring collection and called Topless and Barefoot. I loved this color in the bottle. It's a beige with just a hint of pink or peach. I started off with a base of Orly Bonder then eagerly broke out my new Essie. I seem to have trouble with every Essie product I use. I'm not sure if it's my application technique or the actual formula but this polish took FOUR coats to even out the streakiness and brush marks. I finished off with a top coat of Seche Vite. After I had it on, I realized I was looking at 'mannequin hands' as the color so closely matches my skin tone. Meh. Not feeling it. I really wanted to love this color, but alas - I think I love it more in the bottle. The 2 top photos are in artificial light and the 3rd is in natural light.

So then I decided to try to 'funky' it up by adding some french tips. I recently got a bottle of OPI You Don't Know Jacques Matte off Amazon. This if the first actual matte polish I've used (I usually use a matte top coat). I notied the polish wanted to dry around the rim of the bottle in the short amount of time I had it open and it was also a little thick and difficult to work with. Again, not sure if its the formula of the polish (it being a matte) or I just got an old bottle. Anyway, here are the pics after I frenched it. OOps little tape blooble on my ring finger. The first is artificial light and the 2nd is natural light.

I think I like it a little better now. At least it gives it a little more interest.

Pretty oranges!!

Decided to use one of my new Anchors Away polishes yesterday -- China Glaze's Life Preserver. Boy, does this polish name ever suit the color. This orange couldn't be ANY closer to the color of a life preserver! But I keep having problems with the brushes getting giant globs of polish on these Anchors Away colors. Has anyone else had that problem? It's no big deal...just a little bit annoying.

Here is two coats of Life Preserver.

Then, I saw my Matte Magic sitting in my random nail art/base coat/top coat/fun stuff drawer and remembered that I hadn't used it in a while. I decided to slap some on to Life Preserver. I think some colors just don't work well as matte colors, and well... this is one of them. I'm SO not a fan of this. What do you think?

I'm just not a fan. I think dark colors work better. After the failure with matte top coat, I just had to do something to pretty-fy it again. I found an orange Wet 'n' Wild glitter polish that I received in a giveaway that I've yet to use, and I LOVE THIS!! It's so...magical and orange-y and sparkley. Look at that gold sparkle!! So pretty.

I really love this combination, but one thing I HATE about these Wet 'n' Wild polishes is that they chip SO easily. I already had a chip in this last night like 5 hours after I did this manicure.

Happy Thursday!