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 ;)

Take Two: Wedding French Manis

Hello all! We are starting a new series which we are calling Take Two . Each week, we will pick a different type/theme of mani and both do our takes on it. Then we will put them in a post together so you can see how similarly/differently we execute the same general type of design!

This week's topic is Wedding Appropriate French Manicures. A relative of ours is getting married and we needed something not too obnoxious to wear. Bright blue and neon green aren't really appropriate for weddings ;)

Melissa's Design:

 

I used a base of 10 Professional Pinky Promise. This was a little thin -- I had some cuticle pooling. I then sponged a white french onto the tips of my nails. Finished with a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Lightning and OPI Be A Dahlia Won't You.

Amanda's Design:

I know black is a little... "out there" to be considered wedding appropriate, but I tried to keep it tame/elegant at the same time. My dress is white and black so I thought a black-tipped french with lace accents could be pretty, but unique at the same time.

I started with three coats of China Glaze Innocence, a sheer baby pink. I have a love-hate relationship with this polish -- it applies fine, but it's so sheer that you can always see the yellow on my nails underneath. A perfect french mani color though. This is probably my most used China Glaze color! Here are some swatches of Innocence:

Then I made black french tips using Sinful Black polish. I always just freehand it -- I hate waiting for my polish to dry completely to use those little guides (same with tape) so I always opt to try myself. I gotta say, I've gotten better at freehanding french manis! My old attempts were futile. Then I used a small paintbrush and made little black loops and finished with little dots on top for the lace accent (can you tell that's what it's supposed to be? haha)

OPI Play the Peonies funky french

I had such high hopes for this mani.  Instead of just showing swatches from the OPI Nice Stems collection I was going to do this fabulous funky french tip using 3 of the colors - Play the Peonies, Be a Dahlia, Won't You? and I Lily Love You.  We've all seen the swatches a hundred times, right?

Well things didn't go quite as planned.  My first attempt at Play the Peonies was a failure, I got a few bubbles in my mani.  (That NEVER happens to me with OPI - I think it might have been a combination of the humidity and the heat from the light I was working under)  So I removed it and tried it again and the second time I had better luck...

Play the Peonies is a pale, soft pink shimmer.  My coworker referred to it as a 'champagne pink' and I think that describes it pretty well.  Very very delicate looking.

Then I taped off the mani and added french tips with Be a Dahlia, Won't You, topped with I Lily Love You.  The base of ILLY seems to be very rubbery and when I tried to remove the tape I ended up taking off half of ILLY with it.  So I had to go back and touch it up.  Also because I was doing a french tip and needed the glitter and flakies application confined to a small area, I had to resort to kinda touching ILLY on instead of stroking to get the glitter and flakies to go where I wanted them.  That equals bumps and lumps. 

Look at my lines.  Horrible.   I only included this pic because it shows the color of Be A Dahlia, Won't You? well.  I'm almost embarassed to post it.

Pretty from a distance but overall a disappointment to me.  I'll likely remove it tonight and do something else.  Le Sigh.



Zoya Sooki and silver foil french tips

I'm sure you have all seen Sooki a hundred times but it's the sexiest RED I've ever used.  Nothing subtle about this color - it screams LOOK AT ME!!  Sooki went on fabulously - levels well and flows right over the nail.  The pigmentation is also excellent.  It covers in one coat (I used 2 for opacity).  The color on the nail is true to the bottle color.  After Sooki had dried thoroughly I applied Silver Dots foil to the tips (purchase this on Dollar Nail Art). 

I love how this came out.  It's like a blingy sex bomb.  Pic spam coming up!

Formula 4 - 4 free

Application 4 - smooth, flawless application

Coverage 4 - pigmentation is excellent, practically a one coater

Dry Time 3

Sally Hansen Barracuda and Deborah Lippman Across the Universe

I had been wanting this Sally Hansen polish for months - ever since I found out it was coming out with the Sally Hanson Spring 2011 line.  In the bottle it is a pale blue creme - a little lighter than OPI WWTC.   However, on the nail I found it to be a very similar color.  So it's safe to say it dries a little darker than the bottle shade.

Went on like buttah.  Sally Hansen Salon Manicure polishes are so smooth.  It's probably my fav drug store brand.  This is 3 coats of Barracuda.

I wore it alone throughout the day then decided to add a half moon/funky french accent using Deborah Lippman Across the Universe.  I'm still undecided as to whether I actually gave it more interest or ruined a nice manicure.  I guess it depends on your point of view.

From wedding nails to Princess Peach nails...

Like I told you guys in my last post, I'm in Denver for my cousin's wedding. I wanted to do something pretty for it, but not too in-your-face. I decided to do a nice french tip, so I started off with Orly's Pure Porcelain (I used this in my graduation mani here if you want swatches of just this color). I feel like I have to use a neutral base color when I do french manicures because my nails are so yellow and stained that it looks terrible if I don't. I used two coats of Pure Porcelain and decided to do a pointed french tip with Essie's French Affair (which I've also swatched if you want to see, here). I finished up with OPI's Teenage Dream over the French Affair and outlined with a silver striper.

It's too....pink and sparkley for my tastes I think. And I have NO idea how it turned into a Princess Peach mani. If Princess Peach had her nails done....they would look like this. Don't you agree?!

Oh well. Can't love them all. This mani is so heavy in coats... I hate it when it gets like that. Right now I think I have 7 coats of product on my nails. I want to take this off but I already have done my nails once today (as I am writing this Thursday since I'm in Denver as you read this :] )...I need nail addict help.

Have a great weekend!
-Amanda

I are a kollege gradumatate!

Helloooo! As you know if you've been reading this blog for a bit, I've been in school studying advertising/marketing. Well, yesterday was my graduation! I finally did it :) So I wanted to celebrate with something appropriate for my school, but not too in your face either since as mama put it, "You want to be demure." Ok... I might be a college graduate, but that word is still too big.

Started off with two coats of Orly's Pure Porcelain, which applied like a dream given the color! I usually have so many problems with whites but this one was actually really easy to work with.

Our school colors are "cardinal" and white, so I decided to do a red french tip over the Orly with Wet 'n' Wild's Burgundy Frost, which is BEAUTIFUL by the way. I wore it a ton over the Christmas holidays. I'll have to swatch it in all its glory for you guys sometime. Covered the Wet 'n' Wild with a coat of Sally Hansen's Downtown Rubies and finished the mani with a gold striper polish.

All in all, not too bad. Funny story though... I THOUGHT my mani was completely dry because I waited about two hours before I started to get ready for the night. So I was doing my hair and using bobby pins and the bobby pins completely destroyed my thumb nail mani from opening them and pinning them in. So by that point I had no time to redo everything...so I went to graduation with 9 manicured fingers and a naked thumb. I know, I know. I should be ashamed :(

Here's little old me, all graduated and grown up with mama! Can you feel the love?

Also, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO MAMA!! And hope all you mommies out there have a lovely day :)

-Amanda

Zoya Carrie Ann

This mani is not an original design. I saw it on Illamasqua's website last year and have been wanting to copy it ever since but never had the time or the resources. Today I had both.

I started out with Color Club Pretty in Platinum. This is a bone colored creme with just a little bit of shimmer. It covers like a dream and is completely opaque in 2 coats.

Then I added a half moon mani over the top of Zoya Carrie Ann. This is one of my all time favorite reds Its a gorgeous red sparkle.

Then I added the funky french tips using the Color Club again.

What's with the Catitude?

First of all, a bit of background before I talk about today's manicure. I'm watching my good friend's cat this week while he's out of town on business and THOUGHT she'd get along just fine with my cat. BIG mistake. They growled, hissed and moaned at each throughout the night the first night and I was forced to take friend's cat back to his house to care for her. So, Lucy - this one's for you.

As I was removing the Elle's Spell manicure in preparation for the St. Patrick's Day one I noticed my nail had split and a little bit of black polish had seeped in the crack. I got out the gentlest file I could find and tried to file away just the black spot because I know filing your nail plate weakens it. Well, about 2 hours into the St. Patrick's Day manicure a huge portion of the free end of my nailplate broke away. So I was browsing the drug store looking for a good ridge filler (don't they make ridge filler anymore? I couldn't find a product specifically called ridge filler!) and came across this Sally Hansen Complete Care 4-In-1 Treatment. OMG let me tell you this stuff is golden. I dabbed a bit in the split portion of my nail then went over the entire thing and you can't even tell my nail was ever split/chipped. The entire surface is repaired and smooth as glass. I can't believe I never tried this before! It will definately become part of my regular nail care routine now!

So anyway, on to what I did yesterday/today. I started with OPI What's with the Catitude? I don't know if I got an especially good bottle of this or its just an outstanding product but this stuff flowed on perfectly. It covered in 2 coats but I did a third just to make it a little more opaque. Then I sealed with SV.

Then I made a wide french tip with OPI Russian Navy matte.

And to finish it all off I added a 2nd french on the tippy tip of Color Club Untamed Luxury. This is a green/teal jelly with green and blue microglitter - very sparkly! It's actually more greenish than it looks in the pictures. It reminds me of a mermaid's tail!

I'm really liking this although the pictures just do not do it justice. I think it's going to be one of my favorite manicures ever. Hope you like it!

St. Patrick's Day manicure

Today was one of those manicure from hell days. I think I was trying to rush so I could snap pictures before I lost daylight. I wanted to do an accent nail this time, but I still wanted it to be somewhat subtle. I started out with Orly Primetime and SV Base Coat then applied China Glaze Midnight Kiss on my ring fingers. I did the ring fingers first so I don't absent-mindedly polish over my accent nail with the manicure color. So what do you think I did when I went to apply my base color (Zoya Ivanka)? Yep - I polished right over my accent nail. So I had to take the whole thing off and redo it. I managed to finally finish all 10 fingers then stamped my ring finger with a shamrock from Bundle Monster plate 03 and Konad Special Polish Green. I'm still a noob at Konad. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten frustrated trying to center a design and said 'forget it, this is just not for me'. This one came out relatively decent, although it still is a little off center. I am slowly improving though :)

After this step I applied a layer of SV top coat and taped off my nails for a funky french using the China Glaze Midnight Kiss. I think I tried to rush this step because when I took the tape up it pulled some of my polish up with it. I was able to salvage it and get it to look decent and set it all with another coat of SV.

So that's my St. Patrick's Day mani, although it probably won't stay on my fingers till St. Patrick's Day. I do love the depth and sparkle of this Zoya Ivanka. The China Glaze was a bit tricky to work with and I had some trouble with brush strokes but I think that's a problem with most foil polishes.

Till next time!
Melissa