4th of July 2013

Hey everyone

I have some nail art for you today! This is one of two designs that I did for 4th of July. The 2nd design I'm going to feature on Tuesday for YTT. This design is a drip mani. 

I started off with a base coat and 2 thin coats of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I then tapped off my nails using striping tape. I added 1 coat of Zoya's Sooki and added a coat of Seche Vite. Once it was dry I then used Pure Ice's Celestial to make the drips. Using a toothpick I finally added the smaller dots and added a final top coat of Seche Vite. 

What do you guys think of my first 4th of July mani of 2013? Stay tuned for more manis!

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Strawberries

Hey everyone

I know where in the world have I been?! I was going to update via the app last night, but I'm such a weirdo when it comes to everything looking the same that I just couldn't do it. Plus my nails worked better with a Tuesday theme.

Yesterday was the 20th and the #nailartmay challenge on Instagram for the day was Strawberries. I went on Youtube and found this tutorial.

And I totally didn't stick with just this plan. I wanted to challenge myself. I added to the design and brought back and oldie but a goodie. 

Chocolate covered strawberries! And because the video was Strawberries and Cream themed I did pink strawberries with cream drips. I'll admit I like the red strawberries so much more, but I still think the overall nail design is adorable. What do you guys think?

Polishes Used:

1. Revlon's Firefox
2. Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen's Green
3. Nail Art Long Brush's Cocoa
4. Kiss Long Brush's Yellow
5. Wet N Wild's Tickled Pink
6. Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen's Chartreuse
7. OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls

And just because I'm awesome, here's the first time I attempted this design.

Did I mention you guys aren't allowed to judge my old nails? :D I'm thinking of adding in a Throwback Thursday where I redo old designs, what do you think?

ACNC Day 22: Fruitcake

Hey everyone

These nails... I was dreading doing fruitcake nails. I honestly am not even sure what Fruitcake looks like, I had to google it. I was completely at a loss so I decided to just do a drip mani. I started off by painting my nails with Pure Ice's Magic. Then I took OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls and placed dots all on my nails. Using the same color I then made the drips. Lastly I took Essence's Glamorous Life, Wanna Be Your Sunshine, and Trust in Fashion to make the "fruits". And with a little bit of Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes for the highlights, my nails were done. 

The frustrating part? I was dreading doing these nails and once I was done with them, I loved them so much I didn't want to take them off.

ACNC Day 14: Glitter

Hey everyone

Day 14 is glitter. Everyone and their brother has been obsessed with China Glaze's new Cirque du Soleil Collection. Me not so much. The problem? One of their polishes looks almost identical to one of my polishes. It's A Trap-eze by China Glaze and I Killed The Teen Dream by Tara's Nail Polish are both nude jelly polishes with rainbow hex glitter in many sizes. The difference between the polishes would be the amount of glitter. Mine isn't a huge glitter bomb. China Glaze's is a temperamental glitter bomb. I say temperamental because with all of the glitter in It's A Trap-eze there is major dragging if you aren't careful. Below I have comparison swatches both 2 thin coats. And I applied both polishes like normal, no special techniques for glitter bombs. 

See all that dragging? Most of the glitter goes to the tips of your nails. It's also not very shiny which is due to the dense glitter.

Next we have I Killed the Teen Dream. It's obviously not as glittery. It's not as milky and takes a thicker coat to get a milky base.

This photo shows off how shiny the polish is. 

I then used a nail wheel and swatched 3 coats. The bases are pretty much identical. The glitters are even almost the same. I like to tell myself that I was just ahead of the curve. :)

I do actually like It's A Trap-eze once I apply it "correctly". To achieve complete coverage without dragging or patches I recommend the dabbing method. This is where you get polish on the brush and dab in on your nails and smooth around to get the coverage you need. The only issue with doing this is that it's very thick and can take a while to dry. I ended up smugging my right hand pretty bad and had to start over on 3 nails due to the drying time. Once you do the dabbing method however?

Beautiful. It's built up to a grayish base at this point. It does feel a little strange due to the amount of glitter, but it's nothing a good top coat can't solve. Now for glitter I couldn't just leave it like that. I had to add some flair to it. So I used Sinful Colors' Blue By You and made drips. 

I've never done the drip design before and was quite pleased with my first try. I was completely inspired by Chalkboard Nails! Her drip mani was adorable. Sidenote: What is it with bright blue polishes having a weird smell? This one and a China Glaze polish I have smell awful!  

If you would like to purchase I Killed the Teen Dream please visit my Etsy shop here. And be sure to use HAPPYHOLIDAYS to recieve 15% off your entire order!