Winter Waterfalls

Filler post today guys, sorry! I just got off a 5-hour plane ride with a 3-year old (who may or may not had been cranky most of the flight) and the next 72 hours are going to be SUPER BUSY, so... yeah.

I did another waterfall. I'm not sorry, I effin' love this style! And with the blue, it's just.. augh, so GORGEOUS!! I stamped some snowflakes on to my ring finger, and freehanded the ones on my thumbs. I added the little rhinestones to hide some mistakes. These were so fun to wear!!

Had some fun with my watermark. Still figuring out Gimp.

I may have been playing with filters on instagram. Maybe. 

I should be back up to posting next week, but seeing as it's Christmas and I won't have my nail polish stash with me, I can't make any guarantees.

If I don't see you then, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!! (I'll be driving across the country, so I dunno if I'll be able to post for New Years' either... sorry). Please stay safe, and stay warm! 

Simple Gradient

Just a simple gradient today. I was gonna top it with a stamp, but the Seche Vite shrunk the polish and it would've looked odd. 

Indirect Sunlight. Man I love this blue! And the green omgomgomg!

Direct Sunlight. It's blurry, but it shows off the colors accurately.

For this mani, I used three colors. Sinful Colors' Snow Me White (base), Fing'rs Meet Me In The Green Room, and Sally Hensen's Co-Bolt Blue. 

I laid out two layers of Snow Me White, then two layers of Meet Me In The Green Room. A makeup sponge with Meet Me In The Green Room and Co-Bolt Blue and viola! This was so gorgeous. I really regret using Seche Vite, it would've lasted longer.

I really am in need of a good topcoat. I have a ton of bottles of Seche, but my manis keep shrinking after only a few hours. Even after making sure the mani is dry, it shrinks :/

I have to say, I absolutely LOVE Meet Me In The Green Room. I wish it had a better formula, as it's really quite thin, runny, and streaky. I'm really jonesing for a neon that's opaque...

Hope everyone is having a good summer!

Endless Blue by Sinful Colors

I have no clue when I picked this color up, or from where, though I'm pretty sure it was Walgreens when they had a sale of some sort. Doesn't matter though, because I ABSOLUTELY love it!

This color is a one-coat wonder. I went with two, but it's simply because I'm paranoid. Sinful Colors knocked this one out of the park! It's a medium creme polish, with a shiny finish.

Ooooh shiny holo!

I was thrilled to find I have a striping tape to match!

I freehanded that heart. Very proud of it.

The color is a tad bit darker on the nail than in my photos, but that's okay.  

I can't tell if it's the topcoat (Seche Vite) or if the striping tape always does this, but the color is fading from the tape, which is disappointing. It came in this pack, which is really a steal, especially considering the free shipping. 

The holo is, of course, a mix of China Glaze Cosmic Dust and Born Pretty Holographic #7.  I like the coverage Cosmic Dust gives in 2 coats, and the chunk of the #7. 

Because I was short on time, this got a coat of Seche Vite. 

I LOVE wearing these, and the way they turned out, even though I did vary somewhat from my inspiration. I just couldn't get the stripes the way I wanted them trying to freehand.

I'm actually pretty proud of this mani, took me about an hour, but that's because I kept fudging. I'm pretty sure I could have done them in about 40 minutes (including drying time) if I remembered which nails to paint what color and if it hadn't taken me 2 tries to do the striping before deciding on using tape.

Secret Santa Week 1

We're doing a Secret Santa where I work. For three weeks in December, you get a gift for your SS, the first two presents worth about $3-$5, the second $15-$20. This week, I got three bottles of nail polish, a mani kit, a pedi kit, and a cute little sock purse that I use to keep the new tools in my desk :)

I got two bottles of a jelly nail polish by Color Show, in the Polka Dots line.  Blue Marks the Spot and Pretty in Polka.

My reviews: 

Pretty in Pink: This one has a great formula. In two coats, I lost my free edge, and got a very even coverage of the glitter. It's a very pretty bubblegum pink with small, medium, and large-ish black and white matte glitter. The glitter is very easy to manipulate.

Blue Marks the Spot: This has a very, very sheer formula. What you see on my nails is four coats. The glitter is the same, and it's just as easy to manipulate. The only issue I came across was the sheerness.

Hehehe this is what it looks like taking it off.

I really enjoyed wearing these, even though they felt very busy for the first few hours. Once I got used to it I really liked them :)

My Secret Santa went waaaay over budget for the first week, but lemme tell ya, I'm VERY pleased!!! Thank you (if you read this!)

Welcoming Winter

I'm cold. We actually hit below-freezing recently, and that was horrible. I really need to get ready and buy myself a coat.

But I'm excited. Snow soon! And then I got this polish from OPI, Heavenly Angel, and it made me think of snow.

The base color is Essie's Bikini So Teeny. On my thumb and middle finger, I sponged two coats of Heavenly Angel. On my ring and pinkie fingers, I added a coat of Pure Ice's Oh Baby!, and on my pointers, I freehanded snowflakes using Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl. 

My review of Bikini So Teeny: Two-to-three coater. It's difficult to work with, because the second coat streaks the first, lifting it off the nail.

My review of Heavenly Angel: Definitely needs to be sponged on. The flakies aren't thick enough in the base to brush on. 

Bubble Nails

Looking around the blogosphere I came across bubble nails. She (I can't find the post, and I don't know who the poster was *sob*) used different sized straws to create bubbly-looking nails. I went on the hunt for straws, and here are my results :)

I added quite a few layers of different glitters and added a couple of dots here and there to make it look like different-sized bubbles. I really, really liked this one :)

With the glitter topcoats.

Without the glitter topcoats.

These were HORRIBLE to get off, even with the tin foil method, I waited five minutes, and still had to scrub a little. It was sooo worth it, though.

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? What would you do with this technique?