Polish All the Nails

Ever have those days where you just can't make up your mind?  Of course you have.  That's me with these nails.  This is the first time I've tried a glitter placement on pointy nails and it's surprising how much the shape can affect a gradient.  I was going to go with the gold-green-blue gradient but then the black and white was cool and then I'm like ooo purple and stuff whatever.  At least the glitter is good.  Let's take a look at Rainbow Indecision Nails, shall we?

I know it's now 2014 but I've never been the biggest fan of doing things because the date says so.  I do, however, want to reflect on 2013 as a year.  I'm just so grateful to all of you for being so supportive.  I'd probably keep my nails sparkly even if no one came here but having such wonderful people constantly show their support through comments and views on all the various platforms....it's just great.  So thank you!  I love all of you.  You let me be myself and it's wonderful. Enough with the gushing, fancy seeing my favourite nails for 2013?  I was going to do this whole thing where I just swatched all my favourite polishes but I lost interest and made it too complicated, so let's just look at sparklies, shall we?  Here are my sixteen favourites, in no particular order....

When you've done as many posts as I have, coming up with new content gets really difficult!  You end up having to be creative, even if it means throwing on all the glitter you have on your nails.  Which is awesome, because I'm not the biggest fan of the more subdued manis.  If it hurts a little to look at, that's what I want.  Let's take a look at what it looks like when you cover your nails in glitter, with no two pieces alike on an individual, nail, shall we?

I don't even know how to introduce these any more.  It's a lot of glitter.  Like, a lot.  I was showing off my glitter stash to instagram yesterday and realised I had more holo glitter than I thought, in the smaller size that fits with my matte and metallic rainbow glitter.  So of course I'm going to do something excessive with it.  Cue the pictures!

Oh man, it's getting super hard to keep coming up with ideas so I'm just going to keep on plumbing different techniques.  I'm super into sponge gradients these days so I thought I'd try my hand at overlaid gradients, in rainbows of course because they're the best.  And that way, I get to show off my giraffe ring!  We all win!  Well, we would have had I taken more care to remove the yellow polish stains from my fingers :/ To start, I applied two coats of my new white, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  Everyone seems to be using it these days and I can see why, it's one of the nicer, more even whites I've used in a while.  Next, I loaded up a makeup sponge with stripes of China Glaze Pool Party and Surfin' for Boys and American Apparel Neon Yellow to create the underlying gradient.  I'm getting pretty good at gradients these days, I find that I just need the two coats of gradient.  Makes things quicker.  After a coat of Seche Vite, I applied my...

Hot damn am I glad that Valentine's Day is over and I can finally stop staring at the collection of pink and red polishes on my desk that I never used.  Sure, it's nice to have all the holidays be inspiration for manis but it gets a bit old after a while.  Now it's all over and done with for, what, a month til Easter, I just had to have a go at a fantastic neon mani I originally found on Pinterest: Sparrow Nails' combination of China Glaze Purple Panic and Turned Up Turquoise Neon.  It's too blindingly bright for me not to! To start, I painted all but my ring finger in Purple Panic, leaving it to be Turned Up Turquoise.  Two coats is enough with these frosty neons, which is nice.  I added a coat of Seche Vite to each finger because I'm impatient and it makes the taping easier.  I then used my striping tape, painter's masking tape, pinking shears and dotting tools to make the various patterns.  Once they were all done, I finished off with another ...

So I know every lady and her nails have reviewed the Liquid Sand OPI polishes but who would I be if I didn't jump on that bandwagon too?  There's no way I could pass up a matte sandy glitter!  It's just too out there.  Anway, let's take a look at the blue polish in the collection, Get Your Number. Get Your Number is totally unique in my collection.  I don't say that lightly, I have a ton of nail polish.  It may not look like anything earth-shattering in the bottle - a medium blue thin jelly with holo and iridescent glitter - but it really does dry like sand.  It's a little too sheer for me to be comfortable wearing it on its own so I layered two coats of Sally Hansen Navy Baby on there first.  I then added the one coat of Get Your Number and look how interesting it looks!  I added a coat of Seche Vite to my ring finger to contrast the finish differences.  I have to say that I'm not the most fond of the rough finish but it's ok, I'll...

So apparently I'm a bit broken as no sooner did I finish my nice, staid monochrome dot gradient mani that I took it off and replaced it with a mani so eyeball-punchingly neon and rainbow glittered that my brain still hurts.  Yeah.  Glitter and neon, baby! You didn't need your eyes in solid format, anyway, right? I started this monstrosity off with three coats of American Apparel Neon Yellow.  I'm quite fond of this polish as not only is it a true highlighter yellow, it covers well without being too streaky.  That's often a problem with the neons but this one was fine, even without underwear.  Then, using my usual technique, I added the rainbow glitter stripes to my thumb and ring fingers.  As that wasn't enough, I mattified the other fingers, cos you know, why not.  Cameras cannot possibly be expected to handle this level of neon but trust me, this is very very bright.  

Being that Toronto is having quite the glorious summer at the moment, I figured I should be a proper person and do something a little more summery than the blacks I've been playing with lately.  So why not do a mini that is green, has glitter, an accent gradient and matte over the top?  That's a thing, right?  The result kinda reminds me of an air brushed tshirt you buy on holiday, but WHATEVERRRRSS. First up, I felt I had to do green.  Green is sorely under-represented 'round there here parts so why not.  First step here was to add two coats of my favourite green, Revlon Posh.  Next, I poured a small puddle of Revlon Sassy (fitting, cos I'm a bit sassy today) and mixed a corner with some top coat.  I saw a tutorial somewhere that built up a gradient using a mix of colour and top coat that seemed effective. Using a makeup sponge, I built up layers like I do with glitter gradients - starting with 2/3rds of the way down my nail, then half, then the ...

It's fair to say that I spend rather a lot of time on Reddit Laqueristas (and yes, the 'c' is missing).  There was a post on there last night asking about how a ruffian manicure was done, and, having nothing better to do, I thought I'd give it a shot! Add a coat of Revlon Silver Coin.  Leave this to dry completely, then add another coat.  I only used one and it lifted at the corners.  Two would have been better.   Apply a coat of a quick dry top coat, like Seche Vite and leave to dry completely. Leave it to dry another five minutes. Once completely dry, use labels or tape, cut into semi-circles, and apply over the cuticles, leaving ~3mm of base colour showing.   Paint on your black polish and remove tape before it dries. Add a coat of Seche Vite, for staying power. Add your matte top coat.  I used Joe Fresh Matte, as it works well.  Voila!

Alrighty everyone, time for a bit of a change of pace.  I'm currently relaxing at my parents place in Australia (I normally live in Toronto) and they keep dragging me up mountains instead of letting me blog! So, let me introduce my first guest blogger (I have quite a few to come), the lovely Athena from  ilacqitalot .  LOVE that name, by the way! Hello lovely ladies!  My name is Athena & I am THRILLED to come to you as a guest blogger on Polish All the Nails!!!  I am obsessed with nail polish/nail art & am just getting started LITERALLY on my own nail blog.  I'm so happy she's given me a shot at this.   Let's take a refreshing dip into a lovely China Glaze shade shall we?  Flying Dragon (Neon) caught my attention as soon as I laid my eyes on it... Love & Lust at first sight :)  Flying Dragon (Neon) looks Fuschia in the bottle but is more of a berry purple on the nail.  At first glance you can see very fine pink speckl...

I find that a night, when I do my nails, I'll play around with a couple of different techniques to varying levels of success.  Take last night for example.  I had my heart set on a black and holo snakeskin stamping thing but I kept not waiting long enough for everything to dry and it just wasn't right.  Of course, by the time I gave up, it was laaate so I did what I do every time I run out of time - indie swatches!  There's always so much glitter in Nerd Lacquers, Lacquistry polishes and so on that I can bang one out quickly.   Which brings me, finally, to Nerd Lacquer Cyance Friction! Cyance Friction is just the most gorgeous shade of turquoise and packed with all types of copper and aqua glitter, topped off with a pink sheen, just like Entirely Unlike Tea.  Application was really nice, I only needed two coats to be happy with the opacity.  As an extra touch, and to keep it with the stone roots, I added a matte top coat.  Such a pretty colou...

As a side quest to track down and obtain every type of sparkly there is out there, I'm also always on the look out for a polish that's different.  I don't care what the colour is, it's texture, nothing as long as it isn't something that's available in some variation from every brand.  Stopping by Sephora last weekend, I found a polish that certainly fits the "different" criteria - Sephora by OPI I Only Shop Vintage. I Only Shop Vintage is a really pretty "vintage" gold shimmer.  A dusty gold, I actually think the name is a perfect fit as I can really see this colour perfectly in a bag or pair of shoes in a thrift shop.  Application was decent, the pictures you see here are three coats.  I also wanted to try something a little different this one.  I've had a few failure tonight and I couldn't leave you on just a standard colour swatch.  After I added the three coats, I added a coat of Seche Vite, a coat of Joe Fresh Matte top coat...

When trying out American Apparel California Trooper earlier I had an idea that it might look good with some geometric shapes.   Turns out it does !  I was so interested by one of the polishes I used for the shapes - Revlon Royal - that I just had to try it out on its own.  Man do I love this colour.  Revlon Royal is one of the richest blues I've seen.  A true, beautiful royal blue.  It's more on the jelly side for the consistency which is interesting given how densely pigmented this polish is.  Application was nice but it did need three coats to get the opacity I'm comfortable with.  Once on though, it's so shiny, so rich, I love it.  

Tonight was yet another first for me: first attempt at a full nail dot pattern with dotting tools and first time ever wearing brown polish!  I picked a good brown to start with, it's a gorgeous chocolate - Savvy Chocolate - colour with a strong copper shimmer.  Application was nice; what you see here is two coats.  Inspired  by a post I saw the other day (if you happen to have seen it, please let me know and I'll link!) I added a series of dots in matte top coat.  It turned out so well! The dots add so much texture and makes a great combination with the shimmer peaking through underneath.   Also, yay, Reddit's back! Post all the posts!

Last night I was looking through my list of followers and their sites and came across a style from GretalRabbit  that I just had to try, white dots on black and vice versa.  I'm so happy with how it came out!  I started with two coats of Wet n Wild Black Creme and added different sized dots to the corners.  I thought I'd play with the accent finger too, adding two coats of Love and Beauty silver bar glitter.  The glitter covered really well, by the way.  Finally, bonus matte version!  I think I prefer it in this case as it makes my nails look like pieces of a mug, which I actually like!

I have been on quite the polish spree tonight!  The last look, and one I'm going to stick with, is a really awesome matte neon pink glitter!  I have my wonderful friend Marlo's birthday tomorrow night so I'm ready with this hot pink mani.  Starting off, we have American Apparel Neon Violet.  This really is one of my new favourites.  What you seen here (admittedly a bit buried) is one coat!  The colour is to die for too.  Next, we have a very thick coat of KleanColor Born to the Purple.  As much as I love it in the bottle, it SUCKS to apply.  You end up with a huge thick coat just to get some of the large glitter pieces on there.  And it smells weird.  Anyone know why KleanColors smell so strangely?  Anyway, this is all topped off with a coat of Joe Fresh Matte Top Coat.  I LOVE the final result.  So neon, yet matte, the contrast is great. On to the pictures! Also, if there are any ladies coming to the Reddit ...

Have to look official tomorrow to get our visas renewed so I have a more toned down manicure to show you.  Toned down for me, at least.  I recently picked up Orly Star Spangled at a Sally's Beauty and man is this the most amazing red.  It doesn't really show in the pictures but this one absolutely glows and glimmers.  Full of tiny glass flecks, this one really lives up to its name.  As I seem incapable of just leaving a mani alone I thought I'd try a shiny/matte french a la Chloe's Nails.  I'm really happy with the result!  It's just enough to show a different texture without being over the top.  This also gave me a chance to try out the Joe Fresh Matte Top Coat I found the other day.  Both of these polishes applied really well, Star Spangled was opaque in two coats despite looking more like a jelly.  The matte effect is strong in the top coat too, better than the Nails Inc. one I found a while back.  Anyway, picture time! ...