Another Gradient

Man, I know.  I do a lot of gradients.  It's because I'm lazy, and they look good, and there's an absolutely endless amount of color combinations that you can use.  They're wonderful.  Hugs and rainbow sherbet to  the person who invented sponge gradient manis. 

For this one, I chose the boldest colors I could find at the time.  It ended up being royal blue, purple, and neon pink.  I think they look really great together- kind of cohesive- and are super bold, which is what I wanted at the time.  Awesome for summer.

Boom.  Brights.

Products Used:
Revlon Royal
China Glaze Gothic Lolita
Venique I'm a Sucker for Wedges
Zoya (as base coat) Purity

Long Time, No Blog- Winter Gradient

Wow ok so the last time I posted was in August.  I've been awful.  Terrible.  Working two jobs plus my etsy shop has really been kicking my butt, so much so that I hardly even have time to paint my nails at all, let alone do anything worth blogging about!  So I'm hoping to start managing my time a little better and to step my nail game up.  The holiday has really inspired me to get crackin- not to mention I am getting MARRIED in 5 months and really need to knock this nail biting habit by then.  So here's hoping I kick off and keep this thing going!  Starting off with yet another gradient--

Awww yea.  It's no secret that I love a good gradient.  They're super fast, super easy (minus the cleanup) and they look like you spent a ton of time on them.  I got a bunch of compliments today at job #1, so I would consider that a success.  Although they chipped after a day and a half- I blame that on super short stubby nails.  I really love these colors for winter- I wanted to do silver snowflakes or polka dots on top but I just loved them the way they were.  Maybe next time!

Products Used:

Revlon Top Speed Royal

China Glaze Electric Beat
Essie Borrowed and Blue

Summer Pastel Arrow/Chevron Manicure

I got tired of doing dots, so I decided to go with the latest trend- chevron stripes!  Except that this one doesn't repeat the pattern, so does that just make it a pointy stripe?  Or an arrow?  Can a chevron stripe be singular?

Yea I freehanded this and it's pretty obvious, huh?

Products Used:

China Glaze Peachy Keen

China Glaze Sweet Hook

Revlon Minted

Watercolor/Tie-Dye (Picture Heavy)

Something a little different!  I asked the fiance what colors I should use, so credit goes to him.  I think they came off super awesome- pastel colors are more like a watercolor, and though this is the exact same effect I feel like these brights make it more like tie-dye!  Either way, I'm super obsessed with the way they look, and although I did a pretty crappy job with cleanup, I think this is one of my new favorites (along with gradients). What do you think??

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (base)

Zoya America

China Glaze Dance Baby

Revlon Royal

Quick Winter Travel Mani

Here's what I did with my nails for travel.  It was quick, easy, and my family was really into them (they don't understand that crackle does its thing all on its own hahaha!)

Wintery, huh?  Like ice!

Products Used:

Revlon Top Speed in Royal

Sally Hansen Crackle in Snow Blast

Swatch: Revlon Glitz & Glam

Wow!  This one sure suprised me.  I found it randomly in the store mixed in a basket of random colors, and I thought what the heck.  Microglitter in shades of pink, why not?  Then I got home, tried it on and wow!  I wasn't expecting it to be set in a raspberry base!  But it is, and it's very lovely.

Forgive these pictures.  The polish looks lumpy and goopy almost- that's my fault entirely, not the formula.  This is three coats over a coat of white- like I said, I wasn't expecting it to be set in a colored base- so it's on there pretty thick and sloppy.

See the different shades of pink glitter?

Another Winter Inspired Mani

I recently went on a bit of a splurge!  One of the polishes that I added to my collection is Revlon's Powder Puff, which is one of their matte suedes.  I was sort of expecting it to look like white out- just a flat white color.  Instead, it's pretty sheer, and it has this lovely opalescent shimmer to it.  It is very pretty, but I couldn't stand the visible nail line.  (I didn't take any pictures of Powder Puff on its own, but I will soon).  On top of Powder Puff, I went for a shimmery red/gold stamped pattern that reminds me of poinsettias!

Products Used:
Revlon Powder Puff
Essie Wrapped in Rubies
Bundle Monster BM205

Pink Stamped Floral Mani

I wanted something quick and easy, and boom!  Pink on pink, my nails have been hosed down with pepto-bismol.  Easy, fairly subtle, and work appropriate.

Products Used

Revlon's Pink Chiffon

Sally Hansen Beyond Perfect in Cassis Comfort

Bundle Monster BM16

Fall Leaves on Cheeky Chops

Since I felt kinda weird wearing around these yellow nails, and I'm too cheap to take it off immediately, I decided to go forth with some fall inspired stamping!

I used Butter London's Cheeky Chops as a base since I'd swatched it previously, and stamped on top with a Bundle Monster design in red, orange and brown.  I like it, but I thought it was missing something- so I topped it with my matte topcoat, and I like it.

Products used:

Butter London Cheeky Chops

Revlon Hot for Chocolate

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed

Gap nail polish in Admire

Essie Matte About You

Bundle Monster plate BM04

Halloween Nails: Purple and Orange Glitter

I had to work today at my internship, so I decided not to use any stamps or anything super fancy, so I just stuck with some glitter.  I think it came out pretty nice- and it matched my outfit today (purple tights, orange shirt, black boots/skirt/cardigan).

Products Used:
Wet n Wild Black Creme
Revlon Facets of Fuchsia
Love & Beauty Rust

Blue and Purple Stamping

I got the new Bundle Monster plates a few weeks ago and just now got around to trying them out.  They look great, and I love the new wider designs.

Here is a simple design using Sally Hansen Pronto Purple over Essie's Borrowed & Blue, with Revlon Metallic on the accent nail.  Got all that???

Products used:

Essie Borrowed & Blue

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pronto Purple

Revlon Metallic

Bundle Monster plate BM 201