Holographic Skittle

Hey Y'all!!  How was your weekend?  I've had better, I've had worse, so I can't really complain. Except for one thing:  Fleas!!  Maybe y'all can help me.  We've been going back and forth to Florida over the last few weeks and had a sitter for our fur babies.  Well, with us gone, and the incredibly hot weather, we've been taken over by these *&%& fleas!!  I hate fleas!!  And not only are they making my poor babies miserable, they keep biting me too.  And only me and the fur babies.  The teen and the hubby seem to have yucky blood.  Now, while I do enjoy the fact that I have superior blood to my family, I'm tired of being a big, jiggly, itchy, scratchy mess.  My house smells like apple cider vinegar and flea dip.  The babies and I are tired.  Any advice?

Now on to today's mani!  Today I have a Holographic Skittle for you:

I Used:
Color Club- Harp On It, a silver linear holo
Orly- Mirrorball, silver linear holo with small holo glitters
Loreal- Masked Affair, a soft gray linear holo
Color Club- Beyond, a charcoal gray linear holo
Celestial- Reaper Crew, a black linear holo

First off, I know the color differences don't show up very well in the photos.  But in person, it was obvious.  Taking pictures of holos is really hard...taking pictures of holos and trying to capture the subtle differences in color, really, really hard!

Now for the mani.  Ombre nails are very easy to do.  All you have to do is pick five polishes in the same color family and paint each nail a different color.  For this ombre, I started with Color Club Harp On It on my thumb.  Harp On It is a bright silver linear holo.  On my index finger is Orly Mirrorball.  This is also a silver linear holo but it also has small holographic glitter.  My middle finger has Loreal Masked Affair.  Holy cow!!  Loved this one.  It's a gray linear holo.  Next up is Color Club Beyond, a dark, charcoal gray linear holo on my ring finger.  Finally, on my pinky, is Celestial Reaper Crew, a black linear holo.  Love that one!!

Photos show two coats with top coat.  I really enjoyed this one.  But then, I love anything that glitters and sparkles!

Hope you have a fabulous day!  Happy Polishing!!

An Ombre Gradient Skittle

Hey Y'all!!  Oh. My. Goodness!!  I tried to get this post up on Friday, but my computer kept updating.  Does anyone else keep putting off updating their computer until it has hours worth to do?  No?  Just me?  Oh well.  Happy Monday!  I hope y'all had a fabulous weekend.  We had a quiet one.  The teen went to a friend's house and the hubby and I went out to a nice dinner.  And slept!  This time of year wears me out.  Not only does the teen have a million things to do and a million places to be, the weather kills me.  In one week we can have 30's, 80's, sun, tropical storms, wind...all leading up to everything about to be covered in an inch of pollen.

But on to today's mani!  I have something I'm calling an Ombre Gradient Skittle:

I Used:
China Glaze: One Track Mind (a deep cobalt blue crème)
Orly- Tiara (small silver glitter in a clear base)
Finger Paints- Ho Ho Happy Holidays (micro silver and light blue glitter in a clear base)
Icing- Sapphire (a medium blue micro glitter in a clear base)
China Glaze- Feeling Twinkly (a dark blue glitter in a clear base)
Make Up Sponge

To start this mani, I painted two coats of China Glaze One Track Mind, a deep cobalt blue crème.  Then using a make up sponge, I sponged on the glitter polishes.  They are:
Pinky:  Orly Tiara, a silver glitter
Ring Finger:  Finger Paints Ho Ho Happy Holidays, a silver and light blue glitter
Middle Finger:  Icing Sapphire, a medium blue glitter
Index Finger:  China Glaze, Feeling Twinkly, a dark blue glitter
Thumb:  all the above

When sponging on the glitter, start about three quarters of the way down your nail.  Then go back and sponge on just the tip of your nail to give you a more concentrated glitter.  For the thumb, paint stripes of the polish on the make up sponge and dab on your nail.  It is really important to use a sponge at least for your thumb...the sponge will soak up the excess clear polish leaving you a more concentrated glitter.  I did two coats on my thumb.  Then just add the top coat.

I hope you have a fabulous day!  Happy Polishing!!

Ombre, Gradient and Stripes

Hey Y 'all!!  Happy Hump-Day!  I hope y'all are having a fabulous day.  I feel better today.  Yesterday stunk, I had a headache that just would not go away!  But 11 1/2 hours of sleep cured that!  I can't believe I slept that long.  But now, at least I feel better!  And I have a new post for you!

For today I have an Ombre/Gradient and Stripe design for you:

I Used:
China Glaze- White on White (white crème)
China Glaze- Pelican Gray (pale gray with a silver shimmer)
China Glaze- Silver Lining (clear base with small silver glitter)
China Glaze- Black Diamond (shimmery black)
Striping Tape
Make Up Sponges

I love how this mani turned out, but I have to say doing the stripes was a pain in the butt.  That's why two nails are gradients.

For the stripes I placed the striping tape diagonally then painted the colors in the order listed in the "I Used" section.  The ombre was also done diagonally.

I hope y'all enjoyed today's design!   Happy Polishing!

Pastel Gradient

Hey Y'all!!  Have you ever had one of those days that no matter how hard you try you just can't get anything accomplished?  If yes, then welcome to my Wednesday! The teen spent the night at  a friend's house so I thought, yay, I'll get a ton done!  Nope.  Didn't get one thing done.  Started a bunch of stuff, but didn't finish the first thing.  Except this post.  Which is going up late.  Dang.

Oh well.  I do have a fun twist on gradient nails for you today, a four colored square gradient:

I Used:
Sinful Colors- Snow Me White (white crème)
Sinful Colors- Unicorn (pastel yellow crème)
Sinful Colors- Cream Soda (pastel peach crème)
China Glaze- At Vase Value (pastel mint crème)
China Glaze- Lotus Begin (pastel lilac crème)
Make Up Sponge

I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White to help the pastels show up more.  Then, after wetting and wringing out a cheap make up sponge (from the dollar store), I painted the pastels in a square pattern on the sponge:

Then I just sponged them on to the nails in an up and down motion.  It took three coats to get the colors to where I wanted them.

Don't forget to top with top coat.

Hope y'all enjoyed today's post!  I'm going to give up on doing anything useful for the day and veg in front of the tv!  Happy Polishing!!

Tahitian Sunset (or Peach/Orange Gradient)

Hey Y'all!!  I've missed y'all so much!!  I told you things were insane, and they have been!  The end of the year is always so busy, but this year seemed even busier than normal.  And if all that wasn't enough, I thought I would enter a nail art competition.  Ah, stress.  And even though I'm losing the competition, I at least have a bunch of nail art designs coming up for you!  And if you follow me on Instagram, you can see all the designs :)

For today I have what I'm calling Tahitian Sunset because it reminds me of Tahiti:

I Used:
Sinful Colors- Hot Chili (dark rusty orange with micro holographic glitters)
Sinful Colors- Coral Riff (bright coral with subtle blue shimmer)
Sinful Colors- Anchors Away (yellow creme with strong orange undertones)
Make Up Sponge

Y'all know how I do gradients (and if you don't, just click gradient under the labels in the left hand column), so I'll skip the directions.

These Sinful Colors all came from their Simmer Down collection.  I can not tell you how much I love this collection!!  All the colors remind me of sultry, tropical nights!  And all the formulas worked beautifully!

I hope y'all have a fabulous day!!  Happy Polishing!!

Spring Reciprocal Gradient Tutorial

Hey Y'all!!  Happy last day of Winter!!  Finally!!  So, I've decided to continue my rebellion against
Winter with another Hurry Up Spring nail art design!  This may seem complicated as there are a few more steps than normal, but it doesn't take long and is so worth it!  So here is my Spring Reciprocal Gradient:

I Used:
China Glaze- White on White (white crème)
Sinful Colors- Unicorn (pale yellow crème)
Sinful Colors-Cream Soda (pastel peach crème)
Sinful Colors- Cotton Candy (pastel pink crème)
Sinful Colors- Mad About Hue (lilac crème)
Make Up Sponges
Scotch Tape

Start this Spring mani with two coats of white, I used China Glaze White on White.  I started with a white base coat to make sure the colors pop.

Next, paint thin lines of nail polish on a damp make up sponge.  Make sure that the lines are about the same length as your nails.  The order of colors is:  yellow, peach, pink and purple:

I made the yellow and peach a little thicker since the colors are so light.  Then dab the colors on your nails.  Remember to move the sponge around a little to make sure the colors blend.  This will require two coats, but they dry fast.

Once that has dried, place scotch tape on both sides of your nails making a vertical stripe.  I painted the stripe white, again to make sure the colors show.  Then repeat the sponging going the opposite way:

This takes two coats too.  Immediately remove the tape after the second coat.  Top your design with top coat and you're done!

I hope y'all enjoyed today's nail art!  Have a fabulous day and Happy Polishing!!

Black & Purple Gradient French Tips

Hey Y'all!!  Happy Monday!  I know, I know, that's an oxymoron, but I hope you're having a great day.  I'm excited to start a new week, anyway.  I have some fabulous posts for you this week, including a couple of beauty reviews, so be sure to be on the look out for them!

I'm also excited to show you today's nails!  I'm going to call this Black & Purple Gradient French Tips:

I Used:
Finger Paints- First Edition (dark neon purple crème)
Sinful Colors- Black on Black (black crème)
Make Up Sponge

To create this design, start with two coats of Finger Paints First Edition, a gorgeous dark purple neon crème.  Once that has dried completely, cut up a make up sponge, the wedge type (I buy mine at the dollar store).  I just cut it into 3 or 4 pieces.  Then run them under the faucet and wring them out.  This makes them bigger and gives a softer look to your gradient.

Then paint a stripe of Finger Paints First Edition and a stripe of Sinful Colors Black on Black on to the sponge:

Doing both colors helps them to blend together.  Then just dab on to your nails.  If you want the French Tip look, make sure you keep the black just on the tip of your nails.  You may need to do this two or three times to get the colors opaque.  Then just top with top coat!

I hope y'all enjoyed today's mani; I got a ton of compliments on it!  Y'all have a fabulous Monday!  Happy Polishing!!

Neon Blue & Purple Gradient

TGIF Y'all!!!!  How happy are you that it's Friday?  I'm thrilled!  So I spent all day today figuring out and ordering the now-a-teen's curriculum for this coming year.  But it's finally done!  Tomorrow she has dance class then we're off to get her new pointe shoes  That's yucky because they cost like $89 a pair and only last until her foot grows or 2 months  But the Yay part is that 1 1/2 hour trip to the store means a trip to Ulta for me!!!  Yay!!  And I think we all desperately need a day of rest on Sunday.

So here is my mani for the weekend:

I Used:
Sinful Colors- White on White (white crème)
Sinful Colors- Endless Blue (bright blue crème)
Sinful Colors- Dream On (neon purple crème)
Make Up Sponges

To start this mani, I painted two coats of White on White  I almost always use a white base for bright colors and neons to make the colors pop.  But if you wanted a more muted, subdued look, skip this step. 

Then, use a make up sponge for the gradient.  I just use the cheap ones from a dollar store.  I do run them under water to plump them up.  I don't know why, but this makes the gradient blend better.  Just run the sponge under water and squeeze out the excess.  Then using the brush that came with your polish, paint stripes on the make up sponge in the order you want them to appear.  I painted a strip of Dream On in between two stripes of Endless Blue:

Then just dab your nails with the sponge.  As you so this, your hand will naturally move a little making the blending perfect.  I did need to go over the nails twice to get the color I wanted.

I hope y'all enjoyed today's design.  And I hope you have a fabulous weekend!  Happy Polishing!!

Summer Challenge: Tiny Grains of Sand

Hey Y'all!!  How is your Tuesday going?  Mine is busy.  I just got a new camera and I'm so excited!!!  The wonderful hubby surprised me with it yesterday.  Now I can take pictures of my nails with a real camera instead of my phone's camera (but this post still has phone pics)  And, even better, I can now take pics of my now-a-teenager while she's dancing.  But first the hard part, trying to figure out how to work it!

But until then, I have the latest Summer Challenge ready for you.  Today's prompt is Tiny Grains of Sand, a dot manicure, so I have a Summery Dotty Gradient for you:

I Used:
Orly- Choreographed Chaos (light pink with light lilac shimmer)
Color Club- Gimme A Grape Big Kiss (bright red/purple)
Dotting Tool
Seche Vite Top Coat

I think this came out cute and looking like Summer.  And the best part is it's very easy to do.  I started with two coats of Orly Choreographed Chaos.  Then, using a large and medium dotting tool (or toothpick would work perfectly), I started making dots.  At the cuticle I made sure they overlapped to make a solid block of color, and then made fewer as I approached the tip.  Make sure to leave the tip plain.  Then just use a top coat.

Be sure to check out what the other ladies came up with for their Tiny Grains of Sand in the links below!  Happy Polishing!!

Summer Challenge: S'more Please

Howdy Everyone!!  I hope y'all are doing great today.  It's a dark and rainy day here in Georgia. I can't wait to curl up with a good book....or go back to sleep. 

So today is another Summer Challenge post!! 

So today's prompt is S'more Please, meaning Summer campfires, and here is my design:

I Used:
For the Gradient:
Sinful Colors- Snow Me White (white crème)
Orly- Unlawful (red crème)
China Glaze- Roguish Red (red/orange crème)
Kleancolor- Neon Yellow (bright yellow crème)
For the Water Marble:
Orly- Liquid Vinyl
Sinful Colors- Clear

I love these!!  I hate that I have to take these off.  I used two different techniques to create this look: a gradient and a water marble (click on the technique to take you to the tutorials).  I know this seems time consuming, but it really didn't take that long.  I used the Sinful Colors Snow Me White as a base for my gradient, but I still had to do two coats/sponges to get the colors right.  Then once that dried, I did the water marble.  All the details on how to do these two techniques are in the links above. 

I hope y'all enjoyed my Summer Campfire.  Be sure to check the links below to see the other fabulous designs!  Happy Polishing!!

Summer Challenge: Riding Off Into the Sunset

Hi Lovelies!!  How are you today?  I hope you're doing great!  I'm so excited!!  I have a new challenge for you today:

Fun right?  Today's challenge is Riding Off Into the Sunset, a gradient, and here is my design:

I Used:
China Glaze- Sun Worshiper
Nina Ultra Pro- Violet It Ride
China Glaze- Surfin' for Boys
Sinful Colors- Dream On
Make Up Sponge

So I went for a neon sunset, but in my defense, I have seen some pretty bright sunsets.  From the top of my nail (by the cuticle) to the tip, this is the order of the colors:  1) China Glaze Sun Worshipper, a super bright orange/yellow neon crème, 2) Nina Ultra Pro Violet It Ride, a softer orange neon crème, 3) China Glaze Surfin' For Boys (from the '13 Summer collection), a bright pink neon shimmer with violet undertones, and 4) Sinful Colors Dream On,  a super bright neon purple crème.

For this mani, I started with two coats of China Glaze Sun Worshipper.  Them, I just painted stripes of the colors, in order, on a make up sponge and patted them on to my nails.  It took three coats to get the colors this bright.  Just make sure that you let the polish dry in between coats.

I hope y'all enjoy this mani and be sure to check out the other fabulous ladies and their sunsets!  Happy Polishing!!

P.S.  My husband and I got married really young, and our wedding bands didn't fit anymore and my engagement ring broke, so what did my fabulous Chanel buying hubby do?  Bought me a new wedding set!!!!  Love it!!  And him of course, lol!!

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Blue Gradient for Autism Awareness

Hi Everyone!!!!  How happy are you that it's Friday?  I have two posts for you today and I have to get the house clean (and trust me, a month of the hubby's housecleaning, the house is in bad shape, ha ha).  This weekend my now teenager is finally having her very belated 13th birthday party.  So my house will be filled with 5 teenage girls all weekend.  Where did I put that wine??

Here is my second post.  Today is the 3rd day in the Autism Awareness challenge and it's Blue Gradient:

I Used:

Orly- Snowcone

Ulta- Blue Streak

Sinful Colors- Rain Storm

 

This design was made using the make up sponge technique (I have several on the blog under ombre).  The first and third pictures were taken outside and are true to the colors, but the picture below is what it looks like inside.  Weird huh?

Be sure to check out all the other great designs from these fabulous ladies:

 

Alicia from Makeup and Nails, Not War

ChiChi from I’m Just Me... ChiChi

Cordia from Seriously Swatched

Dionne from Glittery Fingers & Sparkling Toes

Erin from Paint Those Piggies!

Jessica from Nail Polish Anonymous

Jillian from Jilltastic Nail Design

Kelly from Peace Love Lacquer

Laura from Little Laura Loves

Nicole from Dipped in Lacquer

Paulina from Paulina’s Passions

Rachael from Rachos Nail Love

Roxana from Beautylicious

Tes from Tes Did It Nails

Tina from Light of the Moon Nails

Blue Rainbows, Autism Awareness Month

Hi Everyone!!  I hope y'all are enjoying your weekend!!  I'm excited!  I'm on my way to review a salon in the metro Atlanta area.  If any of you saw my post about the Make Up Meet yesterday, you know how desperately I need a haircut!!  I hope to have that review up for you by Friday.  I have at least two posts for you today (supposed to be 3...we'll see, ha ha), so I'm going to just jump in!

As you may remember we are doing an Autism Awareness challenge and today is Blue Rainbows.  And here is design:

I Used:
China Glaze- Don't Be A Luna-Tic (light blue linear holo)
And from lightest to darkest:
Sinful Colors- Sugar Rush
Sinful Colors- Why Not
Hard Candy- Itty Bitty
Pure Ice- French Kiss
Sally Hansen- Petrol
Medium Dotting Tool

The base of this mani is the China Glaze holo, Don't Be A Luna-Tic.  You may remember that I have a thin layer of acrylic over my natural nails, and you may have heard that holographic polish will only work on natural nails...WRONG!!!  Holos work perfectly with every nail type, you just need either a ridge filling base coat, or a top coat that levels.  And by levels, I mean if you paint your top coat over your finished nails and it leaves your nails smooth, it's probably leveled your nails off.  And I highly recommend this for those with natural nails...especially if you have a lot of ridges on your nails.

So I started with this fabulous leveling base coat I can't find anywhere, and then two coats of the China Glaze holo goodness!!  Then using a medium size dotting tool (or toothpick), I started my ombre rainbow.  I started down by my cuticle and just painted one dot, to help give my rainbow its curve.  Then I just dotted in a curve shape all the way to the tip, going from lightest to darkest.

Be sure to check out all the other fabulous bloggers and their blue rainbow designs...they are all listed below the photos.  Until later, Happy Polishing!!

Alicia from Makeup and Nails, Not War

ChiChi from I’m Just Me... ChiChi

Cordia from Seriously Swatched

Dionne from Glittery Fingers & Sparkling Toes

Erin from Paint Those Piggies!

Jessica from Nail Polish Anonymous

Jillian from Jilltastic Nail Design

Kelly from Peace Love Lacquer

Laura from Little Laura Loves

Nicole from Dipped in Lacquer

Paulina from Paulina’s Passions

Rachael from Rachos Nail Love

Roxana from Beautylicious

Tina from Light of the Moon Nails