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.

Essie - French Affair

Hi all! Today I have for you one of Essie's new spring colors, French Affair. It's a pinkish pastel color. Normally I HATE pinks (they're just not my color) but I absolutely LOVE this! It's just so girly and dainty and I don't know. I just love this pink which is really unusual for me. The only downside I can find to this is that I'm just not that into Essie's formula. But I'll make an exception for this color :)

This is 3 coats of French Affair.

Ahhh! So much win.

Update: So since Amanda has already swatched this polish for you and I'm wearing the same one, I'm only going to show you the top coat I applied over it.

I found this one in the bargain bin at Meijer. I've never seen this shade of Sinful polish before. It's a clear base with a iridescent holographic glitter. Very sparkly! It's called Pearl Harbor.

In direct sunlight

In shade

It's hard to get an accurate pic of the iridescence of this one. It flashes blue in the light.

Pretty!





Until next time,

Sunburst gradient

This is a mani I did 4 days ago and it's beginning to chip and show tip wear and cuticle pull, but I didn't want to remove it without sharing it. It's a sunburst gradient using the Wet N Wild Fast Dry polishes. I started with Everybody Loves Redmond.

Then taped off the nail and added 9.0.2.1. Orange and The Wonder Yellows.

In retrospect I wish I'd chosen a creme for the orange, because I didn't like the combination of the orange shimmer with the cremes. But I do like the colors. This was my first attempt at taping off my nails and I don't think I did *too* bad on it. Anyway, I've gotten lots of compliments on them.

Greetings and Nail Polish!

Hello from the mama :)

My daughter and I have shared a love of nail polish and manicures for over a year now. We discuss our ideas with each other and go on polish shopping excursions where we gaze with wonder at the racks of beautiful colors :)

Our combined collection currently numbers around 200 bottles with only a couple duplicates. She's more of a pastel/neutral lover while I prefer the brighter more vibrant colors. Not many people understand our love of a manicured hand and the men in our life are politely accepting of our passion :)

My manicures and photos won't be perfect, but I'm getting better and better the more I practice. We hope that you will forgive the occasional smudge or ding and share our love of nail polish.

Introducing...the mama!

Just letting everybody know that the title of this blog has changed to MaD Manis as my mama is joining me in this blog! So you will now see posts from both of us. Enjoy!

Revlon - Cloud

Today I have for you Revlon's Cloud, a really pretty light purple color. I really do LOVE this color, but the application on this polish was terrible and I know it wasn't just a personal thing as I have read other reviews on this that said there were problems too. The polish is just so thick and streaky that it's hard to work with. I also had a lot of tip shrinkage (that phrase always makes me lol) which you can kind of see in these pics, and they were taken not even a day later.

Other than that, this color is beautiful and I think it really complements my skin tone.

So, that's that. I also wanna show this just because I think it's funny. I'm sure you guys have all seen it, but it's the eos lip balm. I think $3 is actually a little steep for lip balm seeing as I usually stick to my Carmex, which is like 99 cents for 3 tubes... but this is unique and kind of a novelty for me. I got the one in Summer Fruit. My mom and the boyfriend both said it looks obscene... hahah I kind of agree ;)

Anybody got any fun weekend plans? :)

Zoya - Kelly

I finally got my last Zoya polish from their promotion. I got my first two like a week after I ordered, but as Kelly is such a popular color, it was backordered so I didn't get it by the time I went back to school. Well, I came home today and got it! Yay! Here is two coats of Zoya Kelly...

I really like this color. I like neutrals like this because I feel like they're pretty universally flattering on people. So glad I finally have this one in my collection :)

I actually tried water marbling with this and Revlon's Cloud, but it did NOT work at all. I have the worst luck water marbling. I don't know if it wasn't dry enough or if I used bad polishes or what. The Zoya one just kinda sat there in a blob, didn't really expand...so that could've been my problem. I tried water marbling once over the summer and it worked alright, but that's when I was first starting out with nails and polish. I wanted to see if I could do it better this time, but alas...I failed :(

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!

Sinful - Mint Apple (with the wonkiest brush ever)

Last night I decided I wanted to use a color I've never done a full mani with before -- Sinful's Mint Apple. I got this over the summer when I had just started getting into nails and nail art, and I only used it once for some nail art. I really like this color, but I didn't leave it on for long at all due to the shitty application problems I had with it. The brush (at least on my bottle) is WONKY! Look at this, this is how the polish was when I opened it for the first time over the summer. Maybe it's why I was so hesitant on using it again after the nail art mani I did with it...



Look at that!! Seriously?! I ended up cutting off the wonky part with scissors, and it made the application a little easier, but then the rest of the brush started separating too. Ugh...annoying. Oh well, I managed to get it looking pretty good by the time I was done.

This is three coats of Sinful's Mint Apple. I probably could've gotten away with 2, but I did 3 for good measure.




I wanted to add a little something to it, but I there were no creative juices flowing. So I just stuck with two little yellow heart rhinestones. It's simple, but it works. I tried an art idea I had in my head with the little hearts...but it didn't end up as I'd imagined, so I'll spare you that.



It's cute, but I've already taken this mani off. I get so bored with colors unless I'm using one I REALLY like.

I also wanted to post this -- I got this for Christmas from my mom (aka The Nail Fairy) and I just think it is SO CUTE!! It's from Vera Bradley.. it's a little manicure kit and this thing has come in SO handy. They have a couple different colors on the website.



This is how it looks when it's all closed up. Here is the inside of the manicure kit. It holds little scissors, clippers, a file, a cuticle pusher and tweezers. Ahhh it's so cute! :)



It's finally warmed up a little bit here in Indiana to a whopping 49 degrees. It made walking to and from class bearable though :)