I've Got The Blues

I actually don't emotionally have the blues, but it's a fitting title for this manicure. I always get a bit upset with how my Konad manicures run a bit (I'm sure it's more that the flaws are heightened with a macro picture) but I'm getting over that. I do like the color combo on this manicure.

I painted three coats of China Glaze Sea Spray and used Konad plate m64 with Special Stamping Polish in Coral Blue Princess and one coat of Seche Vite.

Bottom Up and Top Down

These manicures were painted back to back and in my mind went together. I loved the base polishes so much in this set I just wanted to do a little accent colors on the bottom and top. I really liked the way they turned out, but I had a very hard time capturing "Bottom Up" on camera.

Bottom Up:



Top Down:

"Bottom Up" is three coats of China Glaze Blue Iguana and I used a sponge to apply a dappling of China Glaze Cheers To You and one coat of Seche Vite to finish.

"Top Down" is three coats of Zoya Charla and I used a sponge to dapple Orly Glitz & Glamour and adding one coat of Seche Vite.

Dad's Day

It was father's day on Sunday and I thought even though my dad isn't a lover of nail polish, I still owe him a manicure. I wish I would have had more time to post it on father's day. But he saw it in person and that's what counts!

I painted three coats of China Glaze Senorita Bonita and then hand painted the letters first with Zoya Tamsen and then to make it more noticeable, China Glaze Cheers To You. The heart is outlined with Zoya Apple and filled in with glitter I purchased from Esther's Nail Center. I used Seche Vite as a top coat.

Redesign!

Hi Everyone! I have done a redesign of my site (if you haven't noticed). I added a secondary blog specifically for swatches and pictures of the polishes I use. I have a lot to upload, so bear with me, I'm not going to do it fast. But now all of my posts will have a link to a swatch of the color(s) I used in my manicures. So check out swatches now either from the navigation tabs above or at http://ipolishedswatches.blogspot.com/

Happy Polishing!

X Marks The Spot

My nails are pretty long (for me) right now. I always think that long nails deserve red polish and that's what I painted. I decided to brighten it up with two of the colors from the China Glaze Island Escape Collection.

With Flash:

Shimmer Shot:

I painted three coats of China Glaze Go Crazy Red, used my dotting tool to add the dotted lines in Papaya Punch and Electric Pineapple. I finished the look with one coat of Seche Vite.

Muted Sparkle

I was trolling my Blogger dashboard with recent posts and came across this one by Swatchaholic and thought her idea (taken by another blogger's idea) was a good one. As you know I'm obsessed with sparkles and thought layering over one of my traditional glitter manicures would be an interesting idea. My problem is that I don't really like jelly finishes typically in my nail polish collection, so I was limited in my choices. I do like the way this manicure turned out--it's very subtle (if you compare it to what it was before the top coat of polish) but still sparkly. It is very opalescent but I'm not sure that really translates in the pictures.

Flash:

Indoor:

I painted two coats of Zoya Skye and then added LA Splash Cosmetics Nail Glitter in Golden Egg and then added one coat of China Glaze Innocence over it and added a touch of Golden Egg in the corners of each nail and topped the manicure with one coat of Seche Vite.

Blue Moon

I got the idea for this manicure while watching Water For Elephants. I can't show you any good screencaps from the movie of Reese Witherspoon's nails, but she had a version of a half-moon manicure using red nail polish and silver tips. I, of course, wanted more summery colors. This combo was fantastic and if you can't tell from the pictures, it was shimmery, bright and awesome!

Flash:

Indoor:

I taped off the bottom moon and tips of my nails with masking tape and then painted three coats of China Glaze Blue Iguana. I then freehanded the green tips using Zoya Apple. After I applied two coats of Seche Vite to finish the manicure.

Sunnyside Marble

This manicure was a result of a idea inspired by a compliment on another manicure I painted. I wondered what a "half marble" would look like--and really if it would be even possible to achieve. I am happy with the results, but because of circumstances you can never anticipate when painting with your color choices, it was a bit painstaking in execution (I'll explain more below). It turned out pretty and that's why you're getting a lot of pictures.

Right hand:

Left Hand:

Side Shot:

Notice the shimmer!:

I first painted three coats of Zoya Pippa. (Pippa was not as opaque as I hoped, thus the three coats. It was also a bit on the thick side and didn't want to dry fast. I did apply Qtica Half Time Drying Accelerator, but my polish was still was not as dry as I wanted when I was ready to marble). Originally I wanted a completely dry base coat of color that I could tape off for the marbling. But since I couldn't get Pippa to dry fast enough, I decided to paint a light coat of petroleum jelly on the bottom half to protect that portion from letting the marble paint adhere. I then marbled Pippa, China Glaze Blue Iguana, and Senorita Bonita. When the marbled polish was dried, I carefully peeled back the nail polish that was covering the portion of the nail brushed with petroleum jelly. It was tricky, sticky and complicated, but eventually I got the hang of it. I washed my entire manicure off of the petroleum jelly and once all clean and dry, I did a few touch ups with acetone to get any remnants of polish that was where I didn't want it. I applied one coat of Seche Vite and called it a successful but tedious night!