Crack-A-Lacquer

Hi everybody! For day 22 of the 31 Day Challenge, the prompt is to be inspired by a song. The badass song I picked is “Gold Guns Girls” by Metric, and I represented it with gold, guns, and… lip prints. Close enough? Maybe?

I started with a base of Bold Gold from Maybelline, which seriously only took one coat; however, I’ll probably either use a ridge filling base coat or use two coats next time if I haven’t buffed my nails - I forgot how much metallic polishes show the ridges in your nails. Next I applied Set the Stage from Sally Hansen on all my nails, using two coats on the fingers without lips prints and guns. I painted the lip prints using Cream Pink from Sinful Colors and So Poppy from Sally Hansen. The guns are painted with Over The Edge from Essie.

Pantone named emerald green the it color for 2013, so for day 21 of the 31 day challenge (inspired by a color), I used Revlon’s Posh. I wanted to spice things up a bit, so I used white acrylic paint to paint on the dragon symbol for the Chinese empire in Civilization V. I got Civ V on steam sale on black Friday, and let me tell you… I am completely addicted. You can blame my lack of updates on the game!

What do you guys think?

First things first: Hi new followers!

Day twenty of the 31 Day Challenge was supposed to be a water marble, but I needed something quicker, so I followed Mrcandiipants’ dry marble tutorial. These are so easy and fun to do! For this design, I used Slate from Sinful Colors and Pink Jade Chrome from Sally Hansen’s ancient chrome line. Next time I’ll use colors that contrast better, but I wanted to be able to disguise any oopses.

Does anyone else have a total nail/girl crush on Mrcandiipants?

Everyone, I’d like you to meet my preciouses! I was very hesitant to try galaxy nails for day nineteen of the 31 Day Challenge because my only previous attempt turned into a horribly messy purple blob. Hint: don’t use a kitchen sponge under the influence of muscle relaxants. Bigger hint: don’t use any kind of sponge at all - I don’t care what all the YouTube gurus say!

I ultimately used over twenty different polishes in this design, so I’m not going to list them all, but I will go over my general process:

First I applied base coat and quick drying black polish to my nails. Then, to create fine background stars, I lightly patted on two or three darker polishes that had some shimmer using a large, fluffy paint brush. (I used a similar technique for the background of my ghost nails this Halloween.) This step is barely noticeable once your galaxies and nebulae are finished, but it still adds a little extra something.

Next, I took a smaller paint brush and lightly tapped on the shapes of my galaxies and nebulae, attempting to make them look as if I had sponged them on. Since the paint brush allowed me to have finer detail, I decided to do some spiral galaxies because I haven’t seen anyone do them before.

Once my galaxies were outlined, I patted on all the rest of the colors with the large, fluffy brush, starting with yellow in the center and working outward with green, blues, purples, salmon, and pink. I also went back and added some orange and red to the centers. Sometimes the colors got a bit muddled, so I went back over with a bit of white to clear things up and then resumed patting on colors.

When it comes to color, most tutorials I saw used exclusively creme polishes. I don’t know why! I would say I used 50% cremes, 50% jellies (some with glitter). Cremes are good for getting the stronger, warmer colors to stand out, but jellies layer well and provide so much depth of color. Most of the purpley-blue deliciousness you see is owed to jellies layered upon jellies.

To finish things off, I used the large, fluffy brush to pat on Essie’s Shine of the Times over the galaxies and nebulae only. It was quite a gamble as I knew it would either make or break the design, but…. it made it! While not especially visible in the photos, it added so much depth to the galaxies. I also painted one coat of Kaleidoscope from Wet n Wild over every nail - it’s the perfect glitter for the job. Finally, and just because I wanted to go full glitter, I also used a dotting tool to apply silver, teal, and bronze glitter from OPI’s The Living Daylights. I then topped the whole thing off with Seche Vite.

Apologies for the tip wear in the outdoor photos - I was quite literally on my death bed this week and didn’t get outside to take pictures until a few days after I did my nails.

TL;DR: All the colors, all the jellies, all the glitter, all the shine, but no sponges - loves it!

Do you love them too, yes or yes?!

Gobble gobble! Happy Thanksgiving! :D

For this turkey day manicure, I used Kalahari Kiss, Desert Sun, and Papaya Punch from China Glaze; Suzi Loves Cowboys from OPI; Leap Flog, Black On Black, and Snow Me White from Sinful Colors; Hot For Chocolate from Revlon; Fifth Avenue from Essie; and Blue-Away from Sally Hansen.

Isn’t this just the cutest?

Oh my god you guyssss. I hadn’t used Orange Crush from ORLY in ages, so I combined it with one of my new loves, Why Not from Sinful Colors, for day eighteen of the 31 Day Challenge. The result is this sporty fantasticness, and I am so in loooooove with these nails. I hold them up in front of my face to do model poses every time I am in front of a mirror. I just want to wave them in everyone’s faces and say, “BAM!” like I’m freaking Emeril Lagasse. I’m already sad that I’ll have to take them off some day. Love, love, love.

What do you think? Are these BAM! enough for you?

Hey there! For day seventeen of the 31 Day Challenge I did this pink glitter gradient. I previously tried this two summers ago before my polish skills were up to par and liked it, but it didn’t look this awesome. I decided to redo it because this prompt happened to fall on my friend Sara’s birthday. That girl is the queen of glitter polish, so these are kind of a long distance present for her! One of the polishes I used was actually a Christmas present from her. :D

I started with a base of Pure Pearl from Revlon, then I applied Effervescent Opal from Revlon and Noel from Ulta (thanks, Sara!) over the whole nail. Then, leaving gaps, I applied an unnamed polish from Tropez, Plum Sparkle from Maybelline, Violet’s Talk About Red from Nicole, and another unnamed polish from Tropez. And just to add MORE GLITTER!!1!!1!, I added a coat of Clear Cut Diamond from Maybelline over the whole nail.

I really have no idea how I have so many glittery pink polishes because I don’t actually use them that often. Actually, all of these were gifts aside from Pure Pearl (which I got to do candy canes on my mom last year) and Clear Cut Diamond, so I guess I do have some idea how I got them. I’ll have to tell everyone to start getting a different color so I can do glitter gradients in a different hue. Anyway, enough rambling.

What do you guys think?

Hey guys! I’ve been sick and busy lately, but I did get Live and Let Die and The Living Daylights from OPI’s Skyfall collection, and here’s the former. I love this color - is it dark green? Dark teal? Dark gray? All three? And the hint of shimmer. Aww yiss.

Coming up right after this is a pink glitter gradient for the 31 Day Challenge!