Starry Night Nails

For this manicure, I decided to try stamping in two colors at once. I've read various thoughts on how to handle this, but I basically just put each color of polish on a different part of the plate, scraped in the direction that would avoid smearing them together, and went for it.

 The base color is Cover Girl Rhythm and Blue, which I got as part of a two pack at the Dollar Tree. For the stars at the top of the image I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep, and for the grass at the bottom, I used Sally Hansen Color Quick Green Chrome. Sadly, the silver and green are so similar it's a little hard to tell the difference.

The image is from Red Angel plate RA-105. Again, I was a little disappointed to find that the details in the stars didn't stamp very clearly. To add a little more interest and cover some spots that didn't transfer well, I used my dotting tools to add some dots of Finger Paints Key to My Art to the stars. The final product reminds me a little of The Starry Night.

Vincent van Gogh [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Chain Link Mani

For some reason it's taken me forever to find the right use for the chain design from Bundle Monster plate BM12. It's been one of my favorites since I got the plates, so I don't know why I haven't gotten around to it before.

For the main base color, I used China Glaze Stone Cold from the Hunger Games collection, which is matte on it's own. I stamped the chains with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep. For my accent nail, I used a background of China Glaze Icicle and stamped it with KleanColor Black. I put a coat of Essie Matte About You on everything (including Stone Cold, to make sure the chains were matte too).

I really LOVE the way this looks! Sadly, it wasn't very durable. As you can see in the picture, just showering the morning after doing my nails was enough to give me some tip wear. By the end of day two, Stone Cold was coming off in big chips. I don't have many matte polishes, so I'm wondering - are they usually this fragile?

Birthday Fairies Mani

Today is my birthday, and I decided to celebrate by creating a mani celebrating some of my favorite things: lots of color, fairies, and my favorite polish ever.

The base color is China Glaze Cheers to You, which is pretty much my favorite polish. I should have gotten a back-up bottle as it seems to be sold out pretty much everywhere at this point. This year's China Glaze Icicle looks pretty similar, so maybe I'll grab one of those before they're all gone.

On top of Cheers to You, I stamped a different fairy image on each finger using several different polishes. My thumb, middle finger, and pinky are all images from Chez Delaney plate D10 stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Mint Sprint, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue, and Mint Sprint again respectively. For my pointer finger, I used Red Angel plate RA-112 stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Presto Pink, and for my ring finger I used Red Angel plate RA-113 stamped with Revlon Top Speed Grape. I finished by adding accents with a flower cluster image from Bundle Monster plate B17 using the same polishes.

I have been wanting a few of the Chez Delaney D series plates forever, and received them as a gift for Christmas, so you'll be seeing more of those in the near future. My Red Angel plates are also new, also a gift, and also sure to make lots of appearances. One note of caution about the Chez Delaney plates: they have a very sharp edge, and I cut myself pretty badly trying to get the protective film off (worth it).

Cheers to You is so sparkly, that I had to take most of my pictures in the shade so you could see the stamps clearly. Here's one in the sun to show the awesome shine!

Summer Rain Mani

Almost completely by accident, today's manicure ended up being the exact opposite of my last one. I say "almost" by accident because my last mani included gold stamping using a Sally Hansen polish. This time, I wanted to try a similar Sally Hansen in silver to see how it worked. The long and short of that experiment is: Don't waste your hard earned cash on the Konad Special Stamping Polish in Gold or Silver. Gold doesn't work at all and Silver doesn't work well enough to be worth it. I haven't tried any of the colors yet, so I can't speak to those. Now onto the good stuff.

I started today's manicure with Essie Coat Azure from their Spring 2011 French Affair collection. Coat Azure is a medium, sky blue with a little bit of blue and white shimmer. This polish seemed a little thick going on, and after the first coat was streaky enough to worry me. However, with a second coat it leveled out very well and became completely opaque. The color is great; it's a really rich, summery blue that reminds me of the sky on a beautiful day. It's a perfect shade for summer when you want something subtle and not-too-bright. My only complaint is that the shimmer is much less obvious on the nail than in the bottle. Overall, though I'm happy with this one.

On top of Coat Azure, I stamped a concentric circle pattern from my Bundle Monster plates using Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Silver Sweep. I originally planned to use a different pattern from the same plate, but when I looked at this one, it occurred to me that it would look like rippling water in this color combo. Silver Sweep stamped perfectly and instantly became my go-to silver stamping polish (boo, Konad Special Polish). I don't have much else to say about that, except that it was hard to catch the cool look of this mani in a photo. The silver is so shiny it kind of blurs the pattern in a way that it doesn't in person.

In light of my dissatisfaction with the Konad stamping polishes, I'm curious about the warnings on their sight about not putting them directly on nails. Does any one know what might happen if I did? Or is it just that they're too thick to go on well?

Sari Mani

This is my first manicure using some long-awaited Konad stamping polishes. I started out intending to use the gold, but it didn't work very well. I've tried it again since then, and still no dice. I'd welcome any tips to get the gold to work. In the meantime, I went with silver instead.

I stated with a base of Wild and Crazy Colors Bombay. Between the name and the color itself, I was immediately reminded of saris (I love Inadian women's clothing). The formula on this polish is pretty good, especially for the low price ($1.99 in my area). It was thick enough not to puddle much and was very opaque in two coats. It dried very quickly to a satin finish, like a neon. The only downside is that it seemed to chip very quickly; it only lasted about two days before it had enough small chips for me to want to change it. I think adding a third coat might have helped with that.

I used Silver Konad Special Stamping Polish to add a design at the top and bottom edges like the embroidery on a sari. The detail didn't photograph very well, but showed up a little better in real life. Here's a close up that shows the detail a little better.

I finished up with a coat of Out the Door to coat to give the whole thing a nice shiny finish. I'll finish with a picture of the kind of sari I had in mind when working on this mani.

Fireworks Mani

One of my other hobbies is playing video games on my Nintendo DS. My spouse got it for me largely so I could play what was, at the time, the newest version of the game Animal Crossing. The finished mani in this post reminds me of the celebratory fireworks that happen a few times a year in that game. (Sorry in advance for the hideous state of my cuticles. I'm spending today moisturizing and getting them back into decent shape.)

I started with a base of China Glaze Hologram from the Tronica collection, which is a silver polish with a holographic finish. The formula was just the right texture: thick enough to easily control the placement, but thin enough to go on smoothly. I used three coats to maximize the sparkle, but it was basically opaque after two. I really like all the Tronica polishes that I have, and this one is no exception. Here's an indoor picture that shows the holo effect a little better. It still doesn't really show the full sparkly awesomeness.

For the stamping, I used a round flower pattern from one of the older Bundle Monster plates. I stamped the pattern randomly twice on each nail, once in Revlon Top Speed Bubble and once in Revlon Top Speed Royal. The Revlon Top Speed cremes are great for stamping, and these went on easily.

And now, for comparison purposes, one more mani picture with a picture of an Animal Crossing fan (it was surprisingly hard to find a good picture of the AC fireworks online).

First Silver Shatter Mani

I've been excited about this polish for a while. It's the new OPI Silver Shatter from their Pirates of the Caribbean collection. This polish and Mermaids Tears were the two I've had my eye on, and I surprised myself by wanting to try Mermaids Tears first once I had them in hand. Once I'd tried that, this had to be next. Since finding out about it, I thought it was a little odd that OPI decided to release Silver Shatter with a collection full of pale, muted polished. I've always thought it would look better with a darker color that would give it more contrast, so I went with that look for my first try.

I started with a base of Revlon Plum Night. This polish looked like a creme in the bottle, but in fact it's a dark jelly. It's a thickly pigmented dark purple with a brown tinge. Once it's on, it looks almost black. It was thick and opaque in two coats, but I had to use a light touch and be careful not to drag thin spots in the polish with the brush on the second coat. Silver Shatter is thinner than the other crackle polishes I've used, which made it easier get a thin, consistent coat. I actually don't think that is a good thing, as I feel like thicker, more random coats make for more interesting crackle patterns. I'd also read that Silver Shatter changed its color depending on the base coat, and I think that's why it looks almost gunmetal over Plum Night. I want to try it again over something a little lighter and compare the colors.

Blue Hearts Manicure

I was feeling sad when I sat down to do my nails last night, and I wanted to do something that would both reflect my mood and cheer me up. This is what I chose.

I started with a base of my absolute favorite silver polish, the appropriately named China Glaze Cheers to You. This is a great polish, which goes on in two easy coats and is super shiny and sparkly. Next, I stamped a pattern of three small hearts on the side of each nail with Revlon Top Speed Royal. I've used a couple of shades this brand for stamping and they work well. They do dry quickly though, so no dawdling on the stamping.

I didn't take a picture of my other hand, but the design is on the same side of the nail. I've read about using two stampers to reverse designs and create mirror images on each hand, but I've never tried it. Frankly, it sounds hard! Does anyone have any experience with this they could share?