This manicure was very simple to do and I purposely used a sheer red color on top so the layers underneath would show. This added to the plaid effect and gave the mani some dimension.
The first post I’m making is for the first manicure I did recently. It’ simple enough: I used In the Cab-ana by Essie as my base and Maximillian Strasse-her by Essie for the French tips. After my base coat dried I used tip guides by Orly to create a nice sharp line. If you don’t have strips you can always use the circular stickers used to repair notebook paper holes. (I find they work just as well unless your nails are extremely broad.) After applying the tips I used Seche Vite top coat to smooth everything out and leave a nice, shiny finish. Voila! A simple, easy manicure that anyone can do.
What do you think?? Don’t mind my knobby knuckles đ
Have a great week!
Today’s post is a mish mash of items. I’ve got a review, two manicures, and some glitter.
First up is this simple manicure I did using In the Cab-ana by essie. This is easily one of my favorite polishes and I use it all the time, especially when it’s such an awesome summer color. Today I simply applied two coats of polish and let them dry. Afterwards I applied some Seche Vite topcoat to the tips of my nails and sprinkled glitter on top. I let this dry and then used Seche Vite on the entire nail to help seal in the glitter. What resulted was an awesome, easy-to-do manicure!
More below!
Today’s post is going to be quite substantial as it contains a backlog of reviews and even a manicure. There’s also a lengthy update about the page itself and my plans for the future. Polishes reviewed include Resurrection by Sally Hansen (Complete Salon Manicure) and Lollipop by Orly.
Today’s review is of China Glaze’s Cracked Medallion. I had never used any crackle polish before and found it to be as awesome as I’ve been hearing. It immediately dresses up a plain manicure in seconds and doesn’t require painstakingly neat brushstrokes in order to achieve this look. My base is Revlon’s Chic and once you have it done (which also doesn’t have to be super neat because the crackle polish can hide small mistakes) it only takes seconds to apply this polish. It does take a long time to dry so I utilized my Revlon Top Coat which rounded out a quick and easy manicure. I will definitely be purchasing more of China Glaze’s crackle polishes in the future.
Click below for more photos.
This manicure was freehanded and took about half an hour. The base coat is Sand Tropez by Essie and the other stripes include Play Date (Essie), Big Spender (Essie), and Smokin’ Hot (Essie). At first I really wanted everything to be perfect so I actually used tape for the first stripe (the lilac color). I quickly realized I wasn’t going to have enough patience to let everything dry between stripes and decided to do it on my own. I actually kind of like the subtle imperfections but I wish–as always–I had done a better job with cleanup. I don’t know what my deal has been lately but I feel like my nails just look messy no matter what I do. I think it has to do mostly with my cuticles needing some serious help. They’re dry, uneven, and all around crappy looking. Tomorrow I’m heading to Sally’s Beauty Supply to find some cuticle remover and I might even push them back. I’ve read it’s best to avoid doing this too much so I’ll try to keep it to a minimum but I don’t think there’s any avoiding it if I want to keep things even. Anyway, here are lots of photos of this manicure. Please tell me what you think!
Are you sick of it yet? =)
Today’s manicure is brought to you by Big Spender (Essie) and Mint Apple (Sinful Colors). I had originally planned on doing more with it but the Mint Apple proved difficult. It’s hard to explain but it’s one of those polishes that just ends up really thick, even with just one coat. Because it was so goopy (new word time!) I knew that unless I let it dry for a few hours or a day it would end up peeling off with another layer of tape. Oh well, it looked good anyway, right? I wish I had cleaned it up a little better though. I was working with regular light and didn’t have the overhead on like an idiot so I missed a few things that I never saw until after the photos were taken. Ah well, such is life. Try to imagine this mani without the crappy cuticles and random spots of polish!
This manicure and the last both used Scotch tape. I don’t know why but that’s my favorite kind of manicure to do right now. It’s so fun and easy, not to mention it’s really a quick way to achieve perfect lines (which is good for someone who is so picky like me). Obviously this particular mani isn’t 100% perfect but that has more to do with me being a newbie than anything else. I have confidence that once I get a little more practice I’ll be able to do something damn near perfect… or I hope so at least!
This manicure comes to you courtesy of lots and lots of clear Scotch tape. Anyone can do this kind of manicure as long as you’re at least somewhat patient. The hardest part is waiting for a layer of polish to dry before using the tape. If you don’t wait long enough and you put some tape down, it can easily pull your polish up and totally ruin that nail to the point where you will have to start over entirely. This happened to me on one nail so I quickly realized it’s best to be safe and let everything dry 100% before moving on to the next step.
As you can see in the following pictures I messed up a few parts. Once I did the final layer of my middle finger (the aqua color) I made the mistake of using a topcoat too quickly and it spread that aqua color to the base of the nail. There’s also my thumb where I somehow ended up with a little of the orange in the grey. I decided it was best to leave it instead of trying to paint over it with more grey because it would have made my nails look, well, lumpy.
What I used:
– Audacious Asphalt (Maybelline)
– Siren (Revlon)
– Club Prive (L’oreal)
Back to back posts, yay. I’ve been put on bed rest after this whole miscarriage ordeal so I have plenty of time to do nail stuff. In fact it might be the only thing that will keep me from going crazy over the next few days. I can’t really get out and do anything and tend to get cabin fever pretty easily so expect a lot of posts in the next few days! I need to get my mind off of things and nails are a good way to accomplish that.
Anyway, this morning I was trying to pass time while waiting for my doctor’s office to open. Depressing, right? Well, my mood got to me and I ended up doing this somewhat demure manicure using Recycle by China Glaze as the base coat and Timeless by Revlon for the chevrons. It’s actually a pretty good looking manicure if I do say so myself. These little chevron stickers can be a little tricky sometimes (at least they have been for me in the past). You have to be sure to let your base coat dry 100% or the stickers will peel it off when you remove them. Not only this but they’re hard to align perfectly, especially with wet nails on one or both hands.
I love both of these polishes independently but they look fabulous together which is why the chevrons were used. I didn’t want to do a boring, monotone manicure so I chose this style instead. It too about 30 minutes from start to finish and would probably take less time for someone who is a bit more experienced.
Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed doing this manicure and feel free to leave comments below. I would love to hear any input anyone might have on how to make my blog better so please comment away!
I’m going to let the photos do the talking this time and save what I’ve got to say for another post. The first manicure was done using Mint (base) and Dreamer (both polishes by Revlon) and White on White by China Glaze. I also used a top coat by Revlon.
The second manicure was done using Swing baby (base) and Unplugged, both by China Glaze. I used plate number BM10 by Bundle Monster to achieve the giraffe-type pattern.
Rookie Nails 