Milani Silver Dazzle

Sorry for my absence again!  I graduate in a little under three weeks, so I am finishing up the semester.  My sister let me use one of her polishes for this post.  It is from Milani's One Coat Glitter collection.  It's called Silver Dazzle.  This is a seriously cool polish.

under fluorescent light

 If you think this looks cool, just look at the pictures taken in the sunlight.  I started out with a coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat (which is a GREAT base coat.  My nails aren't staining and this polish seriously dries immediately) and then applied two coats of Milani Silver Dazzle.  It dried super fast because it is mostly glitter.  I didn't really need two coats.  This really is a one coat glitter polish.  I finished off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.  The tin foil method took the polish off really easily.  So, here are the super cool daylight pics:

perfect sparkles!

Water Marbling Mani!

Hi!  I am FINALLY getting around to blogging!  I've been wanting to for days, but it just hasn't happened.  I only have three weeks of school left until I graduate with an associate's degree in childhood education!  I am so excited!  So, anyway, I have done water marbling twice before doing this mani.  I had never done it on all of my nails.  It was messy and time consuming, and I am still not perfect at it, but I was very happy with the result...especially on my thumb!  Here it is:

I started out with a coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.  Then I applied two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White.  Oh!  Also, before doing anything I made sure I had a disposable plastic cup of room temperature water.  For water marbling, you can use any type of water, but it needs to be room temperature.  

I used scotch tape to make this process a little less messy.  I applied it all around my nails and part way up my fingers.  This majorly cuts down on the clean-up process at the end.  I think I'd use masking tape next time, because it is more flexible.  I then started water marbling.  Here's how you do it:

1--Open up the tops of all your polishes.  The runnier the polish, the better.  Thicker polishes are more difficult to water marble with because the polish won't spread out on the water nicely.

2--Start dripping drops of polish onto the surface of the water.  Hold the bush just a little over the surface and let the polish drip off.  Use as many colors as you want.  I used three.  You can create a pattern by alternating the drops of polish, or you can use more drops of one color than another.  Do whatever you want!

3--Take a tooth pick or pin or special water marbling tool (I used a tooth pick) and drag it through the polish on the surface of the water to create a design.  There are TONS of videos of people doing it on Youtube.  There are all sorts of designs you can create!  I learned all I know about water marbling from Youtube.  (OhMyGoshPolish does amazing water marbling manis!  Look her up!)

4--Dip your nail into the part of the design that you want on your nail and then leave it submerged in the water.

5--Blow on the surface of the water to dry the excess polish.

6--Take a tooth pick and move it through the water to grab all the extra polish.

7--Remove your nail from the water.

8--Remove the tape from your finger.

9--Clean up any polish on your skin with acetone or nail polish remover on a small brush or a cotton swab.

10--Apply a top coat.

Wow.  Sorry those directions are so lengthy.  I wanted to give a fairly good explanation of how I do this.  Watch a Youtube video!  That is much easier to understand!  Anyway, I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Essie Loophole, and L'Oreal Now You Sea Me for my water marbling.  

I finished off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

My favorite nail in this manicure!

I was really excited about how my thumb turned out.  Water marbling is still a learning process for me.  It is super fun!  I can't wait to experiment more!

Essie Just Stitched

The nail polish that I had ordered came in the mail a few days ago!  I had told you in a previous post that I saw Hannah Rox It on Facebook using this polish, and I really wanted to buy it as soon as I saw it.  This polish, Essie Just Stitched, is from the Cashmere Matte collection.

I started out with a coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.  That was my first time using this base coat, and I like it so far.  It dried super fast.  I then applied two thick coats of Essie Just Stitched.  This, too, dried really fast.  Since this is a matte polish, I did not use a top coat.  I did this manicure yesterday and it is holding up well. 

This polish is a matte baby pink with a slight iridescent shimmer to it.  It is SO pretty!  It was definitely worth ordering!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects: Bling It On

I decided to use some more of my Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips.  I used the color Bling It On--a pink glitter.  I took pictures under a fluorescent light, and in the sunlight.  They are SO beautiful!

Fluorescent light

Sunlight!

These strips came in a pack of a bunch of different kinds.  I got them for Christmas 2013.  They are actually a bit too old.  They weren't as sticky and they should have been, so a couple are lifting up near my cuticles.  They still look super pretty, though, so I don't mind too much.

I applied them over bare nails.  I only used one package because my nails are short enough that I can cut each in half to get double the uses out of them.  I used tiny scissors to trim the edges down so they could fit my tiny nails.

sunlight

I went through the pack of different sized strips and figured out which would fit best on each nail.  I threw out the extras in the package because once they're opened, they begin drying and cannot be used again.  (You can always use them on your toenails if you don't want to waste them!  I have done that before!)  Once I applied a strip, I cut it in half and applied the rest to my nail on the opposite hand. 

sunlight

 

I then used the buffer side of the nail file that came with the strips and smoothed it over the strip on my nail to make sure it was securely attached.  Then I pressed the buffing side of the file on the tip of my nail until the excess strip could easily and cleanly be removed.

I finished off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.  

Look how pretty it is close up!  I love these!  It is hard to concentrate while driving because I just want to stare at them all the time!

sunlight

sunlight

 When I want to take these off, I am going to use the foil method.  I am sure these would be terrible to take off without soaking them at all.  To do the tin foil method, take 10 squares of tin foil and then put a bit of cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover on each nail and wrap the foil over the tips of each of your fingers.  Leave this on for 10 minutes, and then, when taking them off, pinch the nail and pull off the foil and cotton ball.  This will remove almost all, if not all, of the polish.  This is a great method to use on any glitter polish, or other hard-to-remove polishes!

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Pink and Teal French Tip Mani

I did this manicure months ago at this point.  I am letting my nails have a little break while I wait for my new base coat to ship to me.  I, luckily, have three older manicures saved up for occasions such as this.  

I started out with a coat of Essie Protein Base Coat.  I then applied two coats of Essie Go Overboard.  When that was dry, I applied a coat of Seche Vite top coat before applying pieces of striping tape for my french tip guides.  I then used Sally Hansen Rockin' Hard for the french tips and immediately removed the striping tape after painting each tip.

I finished off with two coats of Seche Vite.  I then threw out my bottle of Seche Vite because it always shrunk my manicures.  I think I just had a bad bottle because everyone else who talks about Seche Vite says it is great and never shrinks their manicures.  Maybe my bottle was just old.  I ordered it online.  I might try a new bottle of it some day.

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Looks Like Gunmetal

I'm back!  I was away with my best friend for almost a week.  I did this manicure right after my pink pearl one, but didn't feel like posting it right away.  I had said in that post that I couldn't wait to use Essie Oui Madame over a black polish.  Well, I tried that soon after.  I was hoping that the final effect would be a darker black pearly color, but I ended up liking it because it did make a really neat color. It turned out to look like gunmetal.

I started out with a base coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty.  I am really excited because I ordered OPI Natural Nail Base Coat yesterday!  I can't wait to try it!  I've only ever tried two base coats before.  Sally Hansen Double Duty is okay, but does not prevent staining at all.  That is why I really wanted a new one.

Anyway, I then applied two coats of Sinful Colors Black on Black.  I waited until that was dry, and then I applied one coat of Essie Oui Madame.  I was surprised with the final product.  It was actually really pretty.  Just unexpected.  I finished off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

I am also excited because I ordered some triangular silver studs and a new nail polish from Amazon.  Ever since I saw a picture of it on Hannah Rox It's Facebook page, I was on the lookout for Essie Just Stitched, a light pink matte polish from the new Cashmere Mattes collection.  I will definitely be swatching that one!

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Luck o' the Irish

So, St. Patrick's Day is soon (Tuesday), and I wanted to be festive.  I think I may have gotten better at doing festive manis sooner, so you guys can see them BEFORE the actual holiday.  Haha!

I started out with a base coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty.  This is not good at protecting against staining.  I really need to get a new base coat.  Any suggestions?  Anyway, after applying the base coat, I applied two coats of my polishes.  I used Sally Hansen Golden-I on my thumbs and ring fingers, and I used Essie Mojito Madness on my other nails.

I waited for that to dry, then I used a tiny nail art brush dipped in Revlon Rain Forest to paint on the stems that would be part of the rhinestone shamrocks.  I then took Double Duty and a dotting tool to apply four dark green rhinestones to my thumbs and ring fingers.  After that, I moved on to my green nails.

I used green and gold  holographic loose glitter to line the free edges of the green nails.  I used Double Duty to apply the glitter, and to pick it up with a dotting tool.  When that was done, I applied a coat of Essie As Gold as it Gets (a fine, gold glitter.  I got it because it was on sale for really cheap.  Honestly, it is NOT as gold as it gets.  It is a little disappointing, but it can look pretty over certain colors.  It is just really subtle.) on the green nails.

I finished off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  Follow me on Snapchat!  I post a lot of random stuff on there.