Polish All the Nails

Are you ready for the most cutesy nails ever seen on this blog?  I'm starting off with a warning cos they're a bit ridiculous.  So I've been on a bit of a gradient kick lately ever since I figured out that you just have to follow all the tutorials out there.  I saw a particularly awesome pastel and paisley design on tumblr the other day and thought I'd give it a shot.  Not only did the gradient work, the stamping did too! To start, I applied two coats of L.A. Girl Delicate and, once dry, painted strips of Revlon Pink Lingerie, Urban Outfitters Mojave and Revlon Cloud on my makeup sponge.  Three coats of dabbing got my colours nice and even, smooth.  I have trouble getting in around my cuticles so I helped the coverage along a little with applying the polish directly.  Once the gradient was dry, I waited another ten minutes before starting my stamping. Trust me, there's nothing worst than getting all the way to the stamp application stage only...

I've been following the Reddit weekly challenge over at /r/redditlaqueristas and the theme this week is Winter.  I pretty much only do the challenges when I feel like it.  I like the winter challenge so I put my thinking cap on.  I knew I wanted it to be sparkly and to use stamps.  I've done a mani with blue and silver sparkly foils before so this time I decided to go for snow at night.  I love walking the now at night, so quiet and peaceful.   I started this mani off with two coats of Nicole by OPI Razzle Dazzle.  Next, I put a blob of Sally Hansen Celeb City on a piece of paper and daub it with a makeup sponge.  I wanted just the tiniest speckling of silver to look like gusts of snow so I did a few swipes on the paper with the sponge to get most of the polish off.  Then it was lightly dabbing my nails.  Next, I used my Bundle Monster plates with Konad White Special Polish to add the snow flakes.  Top with a top coat and you'r...

So after the success of yesterday's snakeskin stamping mani I had to try something else.  A long time ago I had fun layering the same stamp in different colours and I wanted to try that again.  I wanted something a little subtle, a little girly so roses it is! Starting off I added two coats of my new favourite neutral Orly Pure Porcelain.  Using plate BM14 from Bundle Monster, I rolled on the roses.  I found that after my thumb it was best to start with the light colours first.  Using Joe Fresh White, I added two roses to each nail.  Next, the same with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Silver Sweep.  Finally, Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme.   The Verdict: I love how this came out, despite most of these being overexposed cos my camera hates neutrals almost as much as it hate reds and neons.  Super girly, it makes a nice change from my usual mega glitter :)

I'm not sure how interested you are but I'm actually a web developer by trade.  Writing this blog has been really interesting for me as I'm learning - from the content side - how to give you the most interesting posts and photos.  One of my biggest sources of traffic is for the American Apparel polishes as there just aren't that many reviews and pictures out there.  I stopped by the store the other day to see if there were more polishes I could swatch out and that's when I came across Neon Red.  NEON RED.  I love a good neon and trust me, this one doesn't disappoint, unlike stupid Orly Hot Shot . As I've mentioned a couple of times, I have horrible, bright green stains on my nails from I-don't-even-know-what.  This causes a bit of a problem as a lot of the polishes I want to try out, like neons, are kinda sheer.  Hence my surprise when I found out that Neon Red actually covers really well.  And it's eyeball-aneurysmly bright, which is always ...

On a recent trip to Sally's Beauty, I was sad.  So very super sad.  Despite having made the trip there two weeks ago and being promised they would get the Finger Paints Special Effects collection in, they managed to sell out completely in two weeks!  And this is a place in the middle of nowhere!  I've looked everywhere online and they just don't exist anywhere.  That makes me sad.  To cheer myself up, I bought the neoniest neon coral IN THE WORLD.  Let's talk about it. Orly Hot Shot is the brightest neon coral I've ever seen.  However, application is a PROBLEM.  My nails are pretty stained from all the polish and this polish is so very very sheer.  I added three coats and you could still see the stains.  My solution was to add a coat of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White and that did seem to help.  These pictures are two coats on top of the white.   To jazz up the mani, cos, you know, it totally needs it, I ad...

As posted earlier this evening, I got another exciting parcel in the mail tonight !  The 25pc stamp set from Bundle Monster and the 5 American Apparel polishes I ordered before xmas.  Given that I picked up a nice neon green tonight as well, I thought I'd give a Daisies-in-the-Grass stamped mani.  I'm reasonably happy with the result,  I just struggled with the application.  The tiny bottle of white polish that came with my stamper has gone all gluggy and none of my other whites seemed to be thick enough to pull off a strong stamp.  My little finger was the best but the others were meh.  I tried to fix it with a dotting tool but again, not the best.  The green Cosmetic Arts polish I picked up a Winners today was also not the greatest.  Three coats and still a bit spotty in places.   Oh well, will just have to keep trying!  Check back soon, I did an AMAZING mani after this one :D

Just a quick post to show you what finally arrived in the post today!  After something like a month my American Apparel polishes finally arrived! Same day as the 25 piece stamping kit! And the same day I hit up Shoppers and Winners for sales!  Yay!  </exclamationMarks>

Keeping with the theme of actually using polish I buy in massive hauls, I spent some time tonight playing with with one of my favourites, Orly Velvet Rope.  I've been particularly keen on trying this one as the shift in colours from blue to purple is really strong, depending on the light.  Of course, that doesn't show that strong in the photos but trust me, it's good.  A little on the application before I move on to the stamping; it's not bad.  It really needs three coats to make sure there's no bald spots.  Reasonably shiny, nothing mind blowing. As it's been a little while since I played with my stamps, I went a little crazy.  All these stamps came from the 21pc Bundle Monster sets and I'm pretty happy with the results.  I like the mixture with the different pattern weights, makes it almost a mixed-up ombre.  Yay stamping!

Wandering around the mall today I found this delightful shade from Nicole by OPI called I'm a Pool for Love.  Deep purple, loads of glass flecks, it looks like glass and I love it.  Opaque in two coats as well which is nice.  And since I can't leave anything alone, I added an accent nail with Bundle Monster plate 16.  Check it:

As part of my quest to learn more about how to do my nails fabulously, I picked the Bundle Monster plates and tried them out.    This is the first time I attempted a layered look and I'm really happy with the result.  It may not be sparkly but I'm still pleased with the result. The colours used here are Sally Hansen Wet Cement and Konad White and Black.  As I mentioned in my previous post I'm just starting out and would love to hear any feedback over whether more or less photos are good, more descriptions, etc.  Thanks for reading!