Simple Bling

One of the things I've learned on this new fingernail polish journey is how much layering really can effect a polish.  I'd often see these in-the-bottle-gorgeous chromes and glitters, bring them home, and be so disappointed. Well guess what?  It turns out that layering them over other colors has a massive effect!  Here's 1 coat of Sally Hansen HD DVD over 1 coat of Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris and topped with 1 coat of SV.

It's a blue/purple duo-chrome with an ultra-fine glitter/shimmer. 

I tried to get the two colors in the pic, but it was hard even though it shows up very well inside or outside.  You can see the purple at the top of my pointer finger.  This was easy to put on, a little thin, but not too bad.  I had it peel back after a very long shower and fixing it with a touch-up brush was quick and easy, which always bodes well for the formula.

Happy Memorial Day!

I decided I wanted to do something for Memorial Day, but nothing that screamed "Cheesy patriotic should only be worn on the 4th of July!"  My original idea was the glitter half moon, with a blue background and red "stars" for a kind of memorial concept.  But I don't have a red that will dot well over the blues I have, so it had to go the other way.  I like it, but not as a patriotic look.  My husband said "ladybugs!"  Yeah, that's about what I thought.

Layers:
1 coat Gelous
2 coats China Glaze Polarized - I wanted to try to only coat a little more than necessary for the moon so as not to waste.  It's really hard to see, but unfortunately the red is a jelly and just barely shows it through.  I don't think I'll bother in the future though, the SV does a good job of evening out, but not quite enough with the glitter.
2 coats Seche Vite
1 VERY THICK coat Revlon Cherry Burst - Bottle says creme, but it really is a jelly
1 coat Seche Vite
Dotted with So Easy Stripe Rite no-name blue using a dotting tool instead of the striping brush.
2 coats Seche Vite

I need to get a new clean-up brush.  And I'm going to avoid brushes made for facial makeup this time.  Since they're not intended to be cleaned with solvents, there's just no guarantee they're crimped instead of glued.  The one I have now is glued and it's a major trouble maker.  Next time is a small paintbrush.  Then my clean-up will look nicer.

As for my half moon technique, I don't quite like the arc on the standard hole reinforcements that most people use, and I'm still too cheap for proper guides.  So I hit up Dollar Tree and bought a pack of circular garage sale stickers, clipped arcs off with my itsy bitsy fingernail scissors, and voilà! Enough guides for a lifetime!

They don't look like they're sticking there, but you just press them down right before putting the paint on and they work perfectly!

I think this mani will hang around for a few days.  I've spent a lot of hours this weekend doing nails.  I have to get back to other things.

She's a Liar!

Since I've decided to try out this manicuring thing, I read around to see what's changed in the world of nails since I last looked and I found magnetic nail polish!  Talk about awesome.  You can look like you have a professionally airbrushed mani with very little effort.  While the picture isn't the best, this was so impressive in real life, that a friend accused me of lying about doing my nails myself.  I'm sold, and I've been buying up every one I can get my hands on.  

China Glaze Magnetix -  Attraction

For this I applied 1 coat of Gelous for my base then an "under"coat of the polish.  For the 2nd polish coat, paint a decently thick coat on one finger at a time, then apply the magnet.  I would hold my finger up to eye level, it's close enough when you see the iron particles start to pull away from the nail toward the magnet and hold for 15-20 seconds.  Honestly, I had far less trouble with this brand magnetic than it seems most bloggers had.  Maybe they were leaving their fingers on the table and not looking at it?  After all 10 fingers are done, a thick coat of SV to finish it off!