Wisteria Lane

For this look, I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, then sponged Sinful Innocent and Rimmel Rags to Riches on the tips. The flowers are stamped with American Apparel L'Esprit, Ulta Celebutante and Hot Topic Bright Lavender, with my Essence stamping plate. Then I mattified it.
This is one of my favorite designs I've done in a long time. I love the textured look of the grass and the depth added by using three different purples for stamping.

Chester Cheetah

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Cherimoya 5 Stars, stamped with Sally Hansen The Good Earth, using BM221, topped with Essie Matte About You. I loved this! Doesn't it look like animal print velour?

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Shiny, just because.

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Cherimoya Matte·n·a 5 Stars by itself, one coat, no topcoat. Gorgeous copper penny matte foil. Love that it only needs one coat! Definitely a suede finish, my favorite for mattes.

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And with shiny topcoat. This pic makes it look a bit earwax-ish, but that never occurred to me while wearing it, so it wasn't really noticeable.

Quick and Easy Wish Fulfillment

This drive-by swatching is an addendum to my last post, for the reader (the blogger behind Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes) who requested to see Chi Love That Milky Way Shake with a matte topcoat. Great idea - thanks! After seeing the Chi matte, I also took it one better with a comp, because I was instantly reminded of the OPI Suedes finish.

OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede on index, Chi Love That Milky Shake mattified on middle and ring. I used 3 coats of each, then one coat of Essie Matte About You on the Chi. The finish is the same, but the OPI has a bit more sparkle to it. Sometimes, the matte topcoats seem to add a veil to the sparkle. Still gorgeous, though! I love how delicate the Chi looks.
Your wish is my command! ☺

Sapphire Moon

For today's look, I was inspired by haute couture - specifically the CND Ruffian nails for the NYFW. After seeing photos on a few blogs, like Polish Swatches, I just had to see if I could recreate the look, with my own twist! For more pics of the originals, check out: CND Fashion Week.

Maybelline Matte Sapphire. True navy satin matte with silver shimmer. This is 2 coats, plus one coat of China Glaze Matte Magic, to protect the polish and increase the matte factor. On its own, the Maybelline is a satin finish and more blue than this appears. Nice application, very forgiving for a matte polish.

I found this tape at Dollar Tree. I laid a strip of the silver on a piece of wax paper, and cut out crescent moons. I stuck the crescent moons into place, and voilà!

Here's the result still matte, but I knew the tape wouldn't last more than a day (probably no more than a hand washing, LOL), so after a few hours, I added a shiny topcoat:

Now, I know they're not perfect, but it looked MUCH better IRL. As many of you know, the macro setting shows every flaw and blemish, but they lose too much detail without it, so there ya go. Next time, I might cut the tape a little narrower, or maybe try a chrome polish for the effect. If I use the tape, I may reinforce the adhesive with some nail glue.
For anyone who's curious, that last pic is taken on my dog! She thought I was nuts! LOL Here's the look she gave me during the proceedings.

I liked it both matte and shiny, and couldn't stop staring at my nails. It was totally awesome! I loved the chrome shine, and it was so different from anything I've ever done or seen. What do you think? Matte, shiny, too amateurish?

Thanks for reading!

Hot (Pink!) Mess

I don't wear pinks very often, but last week my Mom requested pink for Valentine's Day. Well, Mom, here's the pink I chose:

OPI La Paz-itively Hot - Matte. Hot pink satin. Very cool! I like the matte finish of this one, it really adds a level of interest. What I didn't like was the FOUR coats, and there is still VNL! I wasn't expecting it to be so sheer, so I didn't use an opaque base coat - but next time I definitely will. Application was a bit difficult, too. I would consider this to be an advanced polish - fellow n00bs beware! It is truly a three-stroke ONLY polish, if you try to go back over a spot, you will get globs, drag AND brushstrokes. When I have improved polishing skills, this one will get way more use. (Oops, yes, that is a giant dog hair across my ring finger! How in heck did I not notice that?!?! And, egads, please to disregard the dry cuticles. kthx)
I wore it matte for a day, but the next day I noticed the usual tired matte thing happening, so I put a sparkly topcoat on:

Revlon Grapefruit Glimmer. I love this polish! It's very sheer, and I think the Glimmer Glosses are all intended for layering. This one has pink glass flecks in a pink grapefruit colored base. I think these have been discontinued, because I found this at Big Lots, in a two-pack with another Revlon. (If any of my family reads this, and happens to see some other colors at their Big Lots, feel free to pick some more up for me, okay? I'll pay you back. LOL ☺)
For what it's worth, I don't see a need for the new $5.50/bottle CND effects polishes when I can get awesome topcoats like this for $1!
Sorry for the craptastic pics today, I didn't take the time to clean up the gloss, because I had a limited sun window to take these. Even with sun, the pics still don't show the full awesomeness of the gloss. I think I should use it over a contrasting color next time, maybe blue or black, to really showcase it properly.
So, Mom, what do you think?
Thanks for reading!

Mannequin Hands

Having seen this look on a few other nail blogs, I wasn't sure I liked it - typically I'm a dark polish kinda girl. But, also being hip and trendy (;D), I thought about trying it out. At first, I was going to mix some of my mineral foundation in clear polish, since that would give me the closest match, in theory. Then, I saw this Essence polish in Ulta the other day, (for under $2!) and it seemed as close as I could get without sacrificing foundation.

Essence Creamylicious Iced Chai Latte. This is 2 coats, no topcoat (yet). It was a little thick - it may need a drop or two of thinner next time. It has a very subtle, hidden shimmer, and it's pretty on it's own. I think I kinda like it!

Here, I added a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic, and it's kinda creepy how similar it is to real mannequin plastic. Especially after a day's wear and a little shine creeping back in, which is normal for matte topcoats.
So, that's my experiment with Mannequin Hands. I think it's freakishly funky in a hip, edgy kinda way. What do you think? Is it close enough? Do you like the look?
Thanks for reading!

Snowy Skies

I changed up my mani again yesterday for a more wintry theme. I started with another Dollar Tree find - Maybelline Express Finish in Matte Blue:

This is 2 coats, no topcoat, under full spectrum lamp.

This was pretty enough, but I was really hoping to do a water marble over the top, to make it look like a pretty frosted glass ornament. I still wanted the base color to show through, so I was going to use it in the marbling. This is the point where I discovered that mattes (apparently) don't work for water marbling. (:P) I may try some more experiments, but for now, I'm still too much a n00b to make it work. I'm not going to show the epic FAIL, since I didn't take a pic of the one nail I attempted.
So, I went for the NK Sparkling Silver, which I got at a little local beauty supply shop:

I've never heard of this brand before, so naturally I had to try a bottle. :)
I didn't want to cover up the whole nail, since I wanted to retain the matte finish of the blue for contrast, so I just did a thin, uneven layer of sparkle from the cuticle down, using very little polish on the brush. I think it turned out okay, but it kinda  looks like a funky french, which wasn't the look I was going for. Still, not bad for a n00b with no nail art skills!

These two are under the full spectrum lamp.

This one's in a sunny window. Sorry, I'm not going outside for pics, cuz it's 19°F right now. Brrr.
I couldn't get the sparkle to show up very well on the nail. The bottle shows it much closer to reality - it's all silver square glitter, no black like some of it looks. Totally blingy and fun, with no topcoat required. It lays fairly smooth, and really sets off the matte finish of the blue.

Bonus pic, because I can:

Here's the inspiration for my screen name, all grown up. Yes, she is as sweet and soft as she looks. :)
Thanks for reading!