Say What?

Ok. I have no idea what to title this manicure. I can't decide if it's snake-like, girlie camo? Who knows. All I know is that I like it.

obligatory sparkle shot:

I painted three coats of Zoya Apple and then added OPI Black Shatter on part of my nail. I defined the edge of the shatter with a stripe of Zoya Areej and finished the manicure with one coat of CND Super Shiney.

Faux Leopard

I did not intend on having nails that in my mind looked like a leopard, but that's all I see with this look. I have been experimenting with my OPI Black Shatter and the leopard look was actually a fluke result of said experimentation. Depending on how thick you polish the Shatter and the direction of your brush strokes, you can change the look of Shatter. In the previous vacation post, I went for a very thick coat of Shatter and it dried with larger chunks of black and less "shatter lines" (meaning it crackles less). This time I wanted to change my brush strokes, so I first painted (being much lighter in the application) the outside edges of my nails. Then, as I painted down the center of the nail, I moved the brush side to side in sort of a zig-zag motion. This is the end result:

Flash:

No Flash:

I painted three coats of Zoya Tiffany and one coat of CND Speedey. Once fully dried I applied OPI Black Shatter as describe above and coated with Seche Vite.

On a side note, I have found that Shatter does shrink your base polish leaving exposed tips. I did wait for my polish to fully dry before applying Shatter as instructed, but I'm thinking a crackle side effect is shrinking polish....

Vacation Manicures

I'm back! Had a wonderful time on vacation--it was warm, relaxing, refreshing! I told you I brought my nail polish with me. I was also lucky enough to come across a Sally's Beauty Supply in Mexico. Of course I had to check it out! They had so much more nail art supplies and decals than any of the stores I frequent. I wanted to buy them all, but I restrained myself by only purchasing a few.... They also carried the brand Color Club (which I have heard lots about, but up until now never owned) so I bought two colors. It was fun! Anyway, it's great to be home with all of my tools. Here are some of the pictures I captured of nails; the pics aren't that great, but you get the idea!




Green Crackle: Three coats of China Glaze In The Lime Light and one coat of OPI Black Shatter. I coated the manicure with China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat.

An Ocean Life Threesome: Coral color is China Glaze High Hopes, Pink is Color Club Peppermint Twist, Blue is Factory Girl. I used various stickers from Cina Under The Sea for all the nails plus China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat .

Pink Flowers: Three coats of China Glaze Ahoy and nail decals from Siena Diamond Nails (I can't find the exact link to the flowers, but here is the company's site.) China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat.