Purple Shimmer Mani

This is not a gel mani...I'm giving my nails a break from gel this week, and they desperately needed a trim.

 Anyway, I got two China Glaze Shimmer Crackle colors a few weeks ago, and I was looking forward to using them.  I was let down by the HUGE lack of crackle, however its a beautiful shimmer.

I started out with Salon Sciences Instant Artificials...this is an awesome bottom coat.  I only use one coat, but you can use two, it makes your nails a lot stronger!  Make sure to always seal in the edges of your nails with EVERY coat of polish!  This is the key to lasting mani's!!!  Trust me!!!

I then painted two coats of Sinful Colors Amethyst...I really love this line of polish, its cheap, and they have a ton of really fun colors.

I then added one coat of Seche Vite, the miracle top coat!

Just an FYI...I was doing my nails (thinking I had longer to get ready to go out with the hubby) I had just added the top coat of Seche Vite, and hubs says "You gonna be ready in 5 min?"

Thanks to this miracle top coat I was able to run upstairs, change, do hair and make-up, and not mess up a single nail!! 

(BTW...I got ready in 10 min...yeah, I'm awesome)

When we got back I added one coat of China Glaze Crackle Latticed Lilac.  I can see why this color was on sale....no crackle!!!  Now, I did a thin coat because with China Glaze's regular crackle you get thin cracks from a thin coat, and thick cracks from a thick coat....so its possible that I would get some crackle if I used a thicker coat.  No problemo though!  I really like the final result!  The purple shimmer is really pretty, even though it didn't turn out the way I thought.

And of coarse my toesies match my fingers (don't they kinda have to)  :)

BTW...I've been wearing this mani for 4 days (in fact these pictures were taken on day 4)

Just goes to show that sealing your nails is the key!  It's a must do!

The products I used:

- Salon Sciences Instant Artificials

- Sinful Colors Amethyst

- Seche Vite

- China Glaze Crackle Latticed Lilac

Dry Shampoo Miracle

I am a huge fan of dry shampoo!!!

Below is a picture I took of myself over vacation, my hair hadn't been washed in 5 days....some may say "gross" (sister)...some may say "go you!" (me)!

I've used a few different kinds of dry shampoo, and I finally found my favorite!  I've posted this shampoo on my blog before, but not with a picture of how my hair looks with it.  Just spray, wait a few min (I usually do a quick blow-dry for added volume), brush and re-curl hair!  

I used to have thin, greasy hair - in high school it looked dirty by the end of the day.  As I've gotten older my hair has gotten a little bit thicker and dryer.  However since I stopped washing it everyday its gotten a little bit thicker and dried out a bit more.  I used to have to re-wash just my fringe...but since the discovery of this awesome dry shampoo I can go more days without washing, and don't have to re-wash the front!
This shit is awesome!!!  I would highly recommend it!

Experimenting with Gelish polish :)

I know I haven't blogged in a while, I was on vacation, then I just got busy, and kinda forgot to :)

Anyhoo....I've been doing some experimenting with Gelish polishes.

Here are my results...

Below is a mani I did at the beach.  In order to use a Konad stamper with gel nail polish just do your bottom coat and coats of color, (as you normally would) then use the nail cleanser (which is basically alcohol) to get rid of the sticky-ness, then stamp as you normally would, let it dry, and add the top coat, put hands under the light, and DONE!  :)

Here is a mani I did on my brother's girlfriend, Ashley.  I used a gel top and bottom coat, but used a regular polish with the Konad stamper.  It's called a Gelish sandwich.  Her nails started chipping the next day.  However the nails that I stamped had Seche Vite on them, and they didn't chip....I however had better results...keep reading....

A different mani/pedi....I did this design free hand!  Go me!!!

This mani however was a disaster.  I did Gelish bottom coat, 3 coats of color, 1 coat of Seche Vite, and Gelish top coat...I don't think I let the colors dry long enough and that's why it rippled...not pretty at all!

I tried to fix my screw up by trying a straw mani I saw on Pinterest (I think I use too many colors...it wasn't good either)

I should have stopped here with two colors...well next time :)

Yuck!

And yuckier!

I decided to go ahead and remove this disaster of a mani and start over.

This is my current mani which I love.  I used Gelish top coat, 3 coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella (love this color), 1 coat of Seche Vite, Konad stamp each nail...let dry for a while (very important step), and finish off with Gelish top coat.  I have been wearing this mani for 5 days!  I think its pretty safe to say that for the most part you can use regular polish in-between Gelish top and bottom coat and get the same (or at least similar) results!

Feeling Great!

If your like me and your nails and toes HAVE to match...you will be happy to know that I found a match for Gelish's Gossip Girl (the color currently on my nails).  I really love the Sinful Colors polish.  It's only $1.99, and it lasts like an $8.00 polish.  Sinful Colors Feeling Great is a perfect match!

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Gelish Nails...at home!!!

As I stated in my previous post, my lovely husband got me a UV light for my birthday!!!  I've been wanting to do my own gel nails at home for a while, and the light is the biggest expense.  I thought my starter kit would arrive a week before my polish so I went to Sally's to see if they had any polishes on sale.  They did, so I picked up 3 colors (two different greens, and a blue)

On a side note - dont go to Sally's to get Gelish stuff.  The started kit was $30 on Amazon, and $50 at Sally's.  The mini polishes I got at Sally's were on sale for $8.00, the polishes I got from Amazon were also on sale for $8.00 and they were full-sized!  So, if you don't mind waiting, and paying a little for shipping, I would highly suggest going to Amazon.

This is the light that my hunnies got me :)

My Gelish mini kit!

See what I mean...all these polishes were on sale for $8.00.  The two from Amazon were almost twice the size of the mini's!

This is the color I used for my gel manicure.  I don't usually go for green, but this is such a pretty color.

These are the four polishes that come with your kit. 

Start with clean, dry, nails.  Shape and buff before you begin the following process...

1. First you use the ph bond, this is a thin liquid that dries your nail bed and prepares it for the gel.
2. Next you apply the foundation.  This is a very thick formula, but it goes on smooth, make sure to apply a THIN layer...put nails under UV light (the amount of time depends on the wattage of your light).
3. Now it's time to apply the color of your choice.  Put your nails under the light after every coat (two is usually how many you will need, depending on the polish).
4. After you are satisfied with the color of your polish, apply the top coat.  This has the same consistency as the foundation.  Put your nails under the light for the last time.  Be very careful not to get ANY polish on your finger.  It won't hurt anything, but it starts to "lift" all your polish off your nail.  It's a learning process...you'll get better as you go :)

When you are finished apply a bit of nail cleanser to a cotton ball and wipe all of your nails.  Lastly apply the nourish to your cuticles.  This smells so good!  And it feels good on your fingers..apply it everyday if you want!

The artificial nail remover is to remove the polish...apply a good amount to a cotton ball, place it on your nail and wrap in foil, leave on for about 15 min.  It's basically just regular nail polish remover, so when you run out, just get some at a drug store.

It took several coats to get the green the color I wanted, and I put it on a little thick, so it turned out kind of gloppy....especially my ring finger.

This is the color I put on my toes...it matched almost perfectly!!!

However I couldn't stand how my nails looked, they were so gloppy.  So the next morning I removed the green and applied a beautiful pink.  This color is called Gossip Girl, its one of their most popular polishes...and I can see why.  It's beautiful!  I made sure to apply very thin coats, and seal the end of the nail...its looks much better!  Don't you agree!!!

two posts in one

So I've been ridiculously busy with the whole end of the school year stuff, and my sisters wedding...plus there was the whole, not knowing what school I will be in next year (long story).  Anyhoo, I've haven't blogged in awhile, so I'm showing two mani's in one here.....

Mani #1

This polish matched PERFECTLY with the gel polish I already had on my nails...really quite amazing!  I don't remember the name of it, and its upstairs, and I'm outside, but its a really pretty red.

So, first I painted two coats of this beautiful red to cover any flaws and re-growth, then topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I got some nail tape in the mail last week, and was really excited to use it!  I applied the nail tape to my pointer and ring finger, and painted this beautiful essie purple color over it (again...the polish is upstairs, sorry)

And voila!  Add a another coat of Seche Vite to the purple nails, and you are done!

Mani #2

For this mani I used two colors from Orly.  Liquid Vinyl is a very shiny very black, black...it's a really cool color!  On top of the black I added Be Brave.  This is a glitter polish, but instead of the glitter being small and round they are long, like confetti...very cool looking!

Here is an outside picture to really show the sparkles...they are so pretty!  Next time I will be using two top coats..some of the sparkles don't lay flat, and its really noticeable after they dry.  I just filed the stubborn pieces down a bit with the glass nail file...but another top coat would have also done the trick.

On a side note....when I was reading about techniques to get your polish to stay on longer, and also how to do your own gel polish manicures (see below!!!) I kept seeing people say "make sure you seal the nail"...I'm thinking what the hell is that?
Basically its when you paint the whole nail and then paint the very tip of the nail, holding the brush sideways, so you are "sealing in" the polish.  This is so amazing!!!  I've had the above glitter mani for 4 days and no chips!!!  With the base coat I used (because I took the gel polish off, and I didn't want my nails to break before I put new on) my nails usually only make it one or two days before I get a few chips!!!  But with this new technique...no chips!!!

For my birthday my hubby got me a UV light to dry gel polish!  Now I can do my own gel polish!!  I am super excited!!!
I am waiting on the Gelish starter kit to arrive in the mail (it should get here today or tomorrow), (just an fyi....its $50 in Sally's but only $20 at Amazon...the starter kit, not the light.  Chris got the light off Amazon for about $50), I also ordered two really pretty nail colors, but they won't be here until next week.  So I went to Sally's to see if they had any on sale - they did, they are the "funky" colors, but they're pretty.  I will also be experimenting with using regular polish in-between the gelish top and bottom coats...stay tuned!

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