29 Jan

Gold finger

Day 8 of the Pre-Spring Challenge is “Jewelry” so I decided to add a touch of gold to one of my untrieds I have been aching to use.

Chic – Purple Lustre (not sure why they chose this for the name but it is a beautiful red with a hint of gold)
Face Shop – Gold glitter GL112

Simple but cute wouldn’t you say? I’ve done sponging on the tips of my nails before but never the base so I’m glad I tried it. Tune in tomorrow for “rainbows”!
Have a great day!

 

 

28 Jan

Striped pastels

Day 7 of the Pre-Spring Challenge is a tape mani in pastel. I chose to do yet another first for me with the striping tape. I first put two coats of Amethyst and On the Go and let them dry well. Then I placed striping tape and put a thick coat of First Crush and Mint Sorbet and promptly but slowly removed the striping tape while the polish was still wet. I guess the thing to remember is to work quickly but don’t peel the tape off quickly because that will cause wonky lines. Mine aren’t that crisp but hey, not bad for a first try.

The colors I used were:
Sinful colors – Amethyst
Caronia – First Crush (light purple)
Caronia – On the Go (green)
Sally Hansen Xtreme wear – Mint Sorbet
Striping tape

I like the way it turned out. Do you? Leave a comment!

 

28 Jan

Let’s go fly a kite!

Day 6 of the Pre-Spring Challenge is “Sun” and I grabbed my youngest sister for my model and came up with this cute cloudy sky with the sun shining and a kite flying. I even threw a bunny shaped cloud and a heart shaped cloud in there too. I think it is adorable and so cheerful. It makes me want to go out and have a picnic. How about you?
 
Adorable kite
Heart cloud.

To achieve this look I used:
Bichun – A65 (sky blue)
Sinful colors – Amethyst (purple)
Oh My Golly – Sunset (orangey pink)
Klik – Mango Shake
Jocarste – White
Kiss striper brush in black
I also used two different dotting tools and a striper pain brush.

On a side note, the Bichun light blue was a NIGHTMARE to use. It is pretty but so hard to apply. It is too thick and streaky. I did the best I could with it but if you look closely you can still see some streaks. Definitely not to be worn alone!

28 Jan

Subtle Galaxy Nails

I hooked both of my younger sisters into letting me do their nails so I could catch up in the Pre-Spring Challenge. The theme for day 5 is “Sky” and I had a little bit of an extra challenge coming up with a manicure that my more… let’s call her reserved… little sister would feel comfortable wearing and was suitable for her work. I wanted to do something different but “galaxy nails” kept coming up but my sister didn’t want galaxy nails like I did a while back so I thought about a way to tone it down a bit and tried it out with some subtle colors that don’t contrast as much. I also didn’t start off with sponging white to make the colors “pop” but chose a similar color to start my nebulas. A lot of these colors are holographic or have a hint of holo so I am excited to see what they look like in the sun.

 

Aren’t they pretty? They are different but I think they are a great option for someone like my sister who needs a little more subtlety. The pictures don’t really do it justice. They have a holographic magic to them.
To get this look I used:
Bobbie – Weng Weng (black soft holo)
Sally Hansen Beyond Perfect – peaceful plum
BK Holographic polishes in 01 (silver) 09 (aqua blue) 11 (pinkish purple) and 21 (light pink)
Sinful Colors – Let me go
Jocarste – White
Jocarste – 49 Holographic glitter
I also used a sponge and a tiny dotting tool to add the white dots for stars after I finished sponging.
What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.
26 Jan

Spun pink sugar baby!

Oh yes! I am loving this look. This is my entry for the Pre-Spring Challenge Contest. I’m still catching up! The theme of day 2 is pink and I decided to try a new-to-me technique with this manicure. I. LOVE. IT!

I first saw this “Spun Sugar” look done by Top Coat It
and used it as my inspiration.

To get my look I used:

Jocarste – white (56)
Caronia – Crystal
Oh My Golly (OMG) – First date (light pink)
Caronia – Baby pink (medium pink)
OMG – Bikini (dark pink)

I am not a fan of white by itself so added one coat of Crystal to soften it a bit but next time I do this I will skip that step because the white is really the background and with the spun sugar look I hardly notice the mild sparkle of crystal anyway.

There are several tutorials out there and although it can take a while to do, it is worth it. I started with the lightest colors and moved to darker and I didn’t really like it until I added the final color and I was hooked! Even my husband has mentioned several times how cool it looks.

I used a dotting tool to achieve this awesome textured look and it some serious elbow grease for cleanup. Ladies, when someone suggests using Vaseline to help keep mess to a minimum baby oil is NOT a substitute. Oh well, lesson learned.

I hope y’all love this as much as I do. Please leave a comment and subscribe so I know you are out there watching. 🙂

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