Floral Newsprint Nails

I love the look of floral nails and I've always wanted to try but never really got the gusto to do them until last night. I decided to try them over newsprint nails. My newsprint didn't show up very strong but I still like the look a lot. The flowers are relatively abstract, but hey..nail art is..art, it doesn't have to be perfect, just color in the lines (harharhar). I really do love these, and next time will be using maybe one or two more colors  for the flowers.

The clean up on this was...annoying. I always forget it's easier to clean up BEFORE adding seche vite on top.

I used Essie Sand Tropez for the base, Zoya Lara and Shelby for the flowers, and this mint green Color Club for the leaves. I used my dotting tools for all this. Unfortunately, after doing a sink full of dishes, this mani didn't make it past the 24 hour mark. Oh well, I have other plans for my nails anyway. )

gradient cheetah print

Last night I was browsing pinterest and came across this tutorial on a sponged gradient manicure. I love gradients, always have. They're just so pretty and sunset like.

I grabbed a make up sponge and went to town. I painted my nails with one coat of Essie's Topless & Barefoot. Then I painted three layers of the sponge with the colors I wanted: China Glaze For Audrey, Zoya Pippa, and some nameless pink Color Club. Then I sponged, reapplied the nail polish and sponged two more times. I should have followed the directions and started with a white base, but I didn't feel like dealing with the mess and patience that a white nail polish requires. White is definitely the way to go, though.

After a few easy sponge applications, I ended up with this:



As gorgeous and awesome as that looks...yeah, not what I was going for. It took me 30 minutes to clean that up, and I ended up with this:



Topped it with Out the Door, and continued on...



I used Spoiled Correction tape for the white and Wet n Wild black creme for the black. I used my dotting tools and topped it all with Seche Vite. I did my right hand as well, but I have a hard time trying to photograph it.



Things I learned:

1. Use tape, just like a water marble.
2. Use white as a base.

Color Club+Sinful Colors

This is a blue color club I bought in this pack. It didn't have a name, I'm still trying to find it. It's a pretty decent blue. It doesn't look that streaky, the light in the photo just makes it look that way. In person it's smooth and vivid. It's a nice royal blue.

 

 I didn't like it on its own though, so I put Sinful Colors Hottie on top. Hottie is an amazing glitter that gives a semi-matte finish to your polish. It looks very space-age to me. I think Hottie would be the perfect polish to use for galaxy nails.

Milani+Color Club

Here is a fun and sparkly mani for you guys! First I used this red color club. I received it in the color club box I showed you in the previous nail haul post. It doesn't have a name or a number soo...it's just red.

This is my first experience with color club and so far I'm very pleased. The application with smooth. This is two coats and it looks great. It kind of gives me lobster hands though, so this will more than likely be headed to my swap or giveaway pile (if no one has an issue with that).

AND LOOK! My pointer finger is all better and back to making appearances in swatches! :P

I decided to put the red Milani Jewel FX on top and I'm really pleased with the outcome. It looks like a fun holiday manicure - lots of sparkle and red. It's very vibrant and in your face. Thanks to my mom for taking all the photos. She was very excited to be a part of this post, lol. :)

Nail Haul

I have two posts for you guys tonight. This one is my nail haul over the past two days and the other will be a swatch :D

If you enlarge the photos you can get a much better look at everything.

First photo from left to right:

Sinful Colors Island Coral, Amethyst, Unicorn
On top of the color club box: Sinful Colors bikini, Kissy, Cinderella, and Rise and Shine
Color club box: Untamed Luxury
Ulta: Tink-Her Bell, Pink Marble, Pinata-Yada-Yada

Second photo, from left to right:

Milani Tropical Fiesta, Milani techno red, Milani Jewel FX 584 Red

Color club box: All about color

On top of box, left to right: OPI Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, Sinful Colors Cinderalla (yes, I bought two), Spoiled Tip your Waitress, Spoiled Permission to Proceed, OPI Mermaid Tears, ORLY Bonder (new favorite base coat, omg!)

I have been unable to find color club anywhere. I went to a random Walgreen's last night and up by the make up counter were tons of these Color Club boxes for 9.99! I bought one and my mom bought me the other. They had a set of glitters (that looked..ehhh..) and then another set of mostly burgundy polishes. I was so surprised to see these. They looked like old stock because a lot of them were dried or separating. I should have asked to get those discounted. ;)

Anyway, there is my amazing and glorious nail haul from the past two days.