2012 Challenge: Icing "Secret Stash" French Mani

Happy Sunday! Today I have a mani that I wore for all of 5 hours before cringing one too many times and literally scraping it off my nails. (Terrible, I know.) The second 2012 Challenge mani I have for you is a french tip mani. I don't usually like the traditional french tip so I made it my own and used pink and black. 

Secret Stash, 2 coats

I will admit, I hate the nail sticker and rhinestones. I thought it would jazz things up but I ended up hating the result. I was literally running out the door after taking the last photo and didn't have the option of taking it off. Anyway, by the time I was heading back home half the mani was destroyed by yours truly. I picked the stones and stickers off and was scraping the black tips off. I used the Two-Way Nail Art Polishes and let me just say it: they are terrible. They dry horribly and it's possible to scrape the polish off even 3 hours after applied, even with a nice coat of SV on top. I'm disgusted.

Onto the good parts of this mani. Icing Secret Stash is the most perfect pink polish. It is so vivid - it's what I think of when I think quintessential pink. The second good part was the I free-handed the black tips and I feel like I did a relatively good job, considering how goopy and messy this nail striping polish is. I wanted a really thin black line but because of the terrible consistency of the polish I had to make it slightly wider than I had wanted. Oh well, for 5 hours of wear, I can deal.

[EDIT: I would classify this polish as a jelly crème consistency. Thanks to StephanieLouise who asked me that in the comments - I forgot to mention it! I consider the jelly crème to be another good thing about this mani - it's a great finish!]

Black tip french mani - they're still on my "cool" list. Are they on yours?

Mani "Catch Up"

Today I have a few nail looks that I'd like to share that I created during the month hiatus from my blog. I mentioned in a previous post that I had been waiting on some supplies from eBay and during the month that I didn't post I received about 80% of them. These three looks were created using the materials I purchased. Look out for a review of them in the next week or so.

This first look is a french mani outlined in black with detailing on the accent nails (ring fingers) and was done free-hand, with no guides. I consider this to be a "nail-fail". I removed this as soon as I got the picture. I didn't like the difference in my nail lengths. Either way, I posted this to show what you can do to 'spice' up either a new manicure or an old one. (I used rhinestones, my dotting tool and nail art polishes to create this look.)

Please excuse my hideous cuticles in this photo, I promise you I did fix them after this picture was taken. Clearly my priorities were out of whack when I took this photo. (Picture & then make them look good?? Seriously...) Anyway, I painted them a medium blue with no shimmer and then added a silver/white rhinestone and surrounded it with six chrome coloured hexagon glitters. I wasn't completely in love with this look, but I do love this nail polish colour. (Nina Ultra Pro in 'Sailor') I removed this the next day.

This is my favourite look out of the three. Again, I used rhinestones and only on the accent nails. My was a shimmery wine colour, which I love. (Nina Ultra Pro in 'Molten Ruby') I added a coat of SV (Seche Vite) and while it was still wet I applied the rhinestones. Then I topped that nail off with another coat of SV to keep everything in place. I kept this look on my nails for 3 days.

That's it for now! Thanks for reading.

Spring Flower Manicure

I'm back with another nail look. I did this manicure a few weeks ago (before all my nails got chopped off...) and I really liked how it turned out.

Polishes:
Orly - To Have And To Hold (2 coats)
Wet'n'Wild - Hannah Pinktana (3 coats)

I realize the tips aren't completely perfect and my cuticles could be a bit neater, but since I only wore this for just over a day I was pleased with it. I did two different styles of daisy's in this nail look: one that is spaced and the other which is joined. My preference is the spaced one, however it requires more patience and precision. I added a pink glitter polish to the tips and added my Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat and it was done!

Comment & let me know: flowers - yay or nay?

Thanks for reading.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Last night my manicure died. More specifically, my thumb nail. Just as I was headed to bed I nicked my nail against the desk and with horror (melodramatic, I know) I saw that the nail couldn't be salvaged. I went to bed upset having thought it would last a full week. (I did this look on Friday, March 25th, 2011.)

This morning I removed the polish from my nail and sat waiting until inspiration hit. A few days ago I purchased quite a bit of supplies (polishes, glitters, nail tools, etc) and decided I would try a new look out but only on my thumb. Below is the look I created. I will be re-polishing it with my purple/silver diagonal design from my first blog post.

When life gives you lemons - make lemonade, or in my case, a new nail design! (If only temporarily.) Enjoy!

Starting with a clear base coat I free handed the white tip french manicure. I then added a blue/green sparkle polish to the tip. Blue acrylic paint was used for the polka pots, with light blue craft glitter overlapping them. I finished with a generous topcoat to keep the glitters in place.

Thanks for reading!