Tag: Fingernails
Mango or Queso?
View this post on Instagram
I had been putting off trying Funky Fingers “Hang Ten, Brah”. Even though it is a solar polish, I was prepared to hate it…but I totally LOVE it.
I thought it would be a sickly boring yellow, but it turned out to be a lovely Mango flesh color, with a subtle green shimmer. I don’t even like Mango (it smells like dirty vagina), but the color is ripe and vibrant.
I realized while we were eating dinner tonight – “Hang Ten, Brah” is ALSO the exact color of queso (FUN FACT – my BFF thinks queso smells like dirty vagina).
I was going to take a pic of my nails and my queso, but I ate it too fast.
View this post on Instagram
This is “Hang Ten, Brah” in sunlight. It actually changes as much as the bottle promises, into a juicy tangerine.
I also used Funky Fingers “Scattered Sea Shells” on my thumb and ring fingers. It’s different sizes of white glitter with bits of pink, blue and Mango/Queso glitter.
This is just two coats with Orly Bonder and “HK Girl”. I could have gotten rid of the VNL with more coats, but I was feeling lazy last night.
Neither Bikinis, Nor Martinis
I am a fan of neither bikinis, nor martinis – but that’s not the reason that ncLA “Bikinis & Martinis” frustrated me. First off, it’s a plain, light coral – not a fan of coral. Application was streaky – even after 2 coats, I had streaks. I used a good base coat – Orly Bonder – and “HK Girl” helped a bit, but not entirely.
The most shocking thing about this polish is that the list price is $16. $16! Luckily, I got it as part of the Birchbox “Under the Sun” Limited Edition Box – but, still – $16 for a streaky polish in a basic color.
I think I’ll give it a try with glitter – glitter fixes everything.
Peacock Ombre
Sometimes I surprise even myself.
I got the idea from Instagram to layer sheer jelly polishes to ombre my nails. No sponges or special tools – I just overlapped layers of three polishes to melt from green to blue to purple. I used Sinful Colors “Sheer Flight”, “Prized Plume” and “Flight to See”.
I used Sinful Colors Base Coat, but I probably should have used something else – all the layers made a few thick spots and the polish slid and folded in a few spots underneath “HK Girl” (see my index finger). Other than that – the colors blended fantastically – I’m really pleased with myself.
Fourth 4th
This is it – my fourth 4th of July mani. I had every intention of posting this yesterday, but there was just too much grilling and Gatorade and watermelon and blowing stuff up – MURICA!
I am in LOVE with the red I used for the base – Sinful Colors “Ruby Glisten”. Yeah, I have a ton of red glitters, but this one is so deep and juicy – it’s by far the prettiest. This is just two coats, over Sinful Colors Base Coat, of course.
I accented my thumb and ring finger with Julep “Fireworks” – jazzy. Since I used “HK Girl”, this mani lasted all the way from Wednesday to Sunday – spectacular.
OK, I’m DONE with the red, white and blue!
MURICA!
It looks like I got into a fist fight with Uncle Sam and ripped off his testicles with my bare hands!
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. “Tokyo Pearl” is a tricky polish – It goes on smooth, but because of the pearly finish – it shows every brush stroke. I applied a thin layer of Sinful Colors “Queen of Beauty” to the tips for extra silver glitter, then streaked on Julep “America”. I was going for a stripey gradient with “America”, but I don’t think I had any other choice. This is one of my oldest Julep polishes, so there’s only about a third of a bottle left and it is starting to get dry. (Time to buy some nail polish thinner and see how that goes.) I did manage to get a few star glitters, but I wasn’t particularly fishing for them.
I finished with “HK Girl”. “America is such a sharp glitter, that I can still feel the edges in a few places – all the better to scratch with.
Baby, You’re A Firework
Yeah, I referenced a Katy Perry song. Go ahead and make fun…bitch, my nails are fabulous.
The patriotism continues with Julep “Fireworks” – a red, white, and blue multidimensional glitter top coat. I used Sinful Colors “Keira Blu” (like Keira Knightley?) – a sheer, shimmery blue. I was able to get full coverage with 2 coats – I love getting full coverage out of sheer polish – it adds so much more dimension to the color.
I used Sinful Colors Base Coat (it’s almost empty!) and “HK Girl” over the glitter. I also did plain “Keira Blu” on my toenails – I’ve got another trip to Schlitterbahn coming!
Patriotic Jelly Sandwich
Once a year, it’s totally expected to wear red, white and blue fingernail polish – the week leading up to Independence Day.
This is my first successful “jelly sandwich”. I used Sinful Colors “Prized Plume” (blue) and Julep “Tiffany” (red) for the jellies. I used Sinful Colors “Star Blast Off” for the glitter, sandwiched between layers of jelly polish. This is a glitter/jelly/glitter/jelly sandwich – 4 layers…or 6 if you count the Sinful Colors Base Coat and “HK Girl”.
“Star Blast Off” gave me LOTS of stars. I was very pleased that I only had to go fishing for stars a few times.
Jesus take the wheel when I actually have to get all this glitter off my nails. I am not looking forward to that…
Sparkling Water
How unexpected – I thought that Sally Hansen Triple Shine “Sparkling Water” was a microglitter, but it’s a shimmer – sparkling turquoise water with a violet shimmer. It might even be sheer enough for jelly experiments. “Sparkling Water” would also go well with “Mermaid’s Tale” – Sally really does do turquoise the best!
This is two coats of “Sparkling Water” with Orly Bonder and “HK Girl”. It’s a good, smooth polish, even though I suspect the bottle is rather old, since it was on clearance at Walgreen’s. I don’t own many Triple Shines, but I might start grabbing more on clearance – even though they’re one of Sally’s cheapest polishes, they do well.
Jelly Experiment
My Sinful Binge included several jelly polishes – so now it’s time to experiment.
Sinful Colors “Go Go Girl” is a luscious red jelly and “Mamasita” Pinata Blast is Blue, Pink, Red and White Matte Confetti Glitter. I wanted to do a “jelly sandwich” with the two. On each finger, I tried different combinations of layers of the two. “Go Go Girl” is more opaque than I expected, so it was really hard to see “Mamasita” underneath (see my ring finger). I definitely need to find a sheerer red polish for my jelly experiemnts, but I absolutely love it by itself (my pinky).
I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and ended with “HK Girl”. This combination of polishes lasted the whole weekend with minimal edge wear – I LOVE Sinful Colors!
Forever Young
Someday, I’ll learn how to use white polish without getting crusty edges around my cuticles…someday.
This here, is Delush Polish “Forever Young”, from their Downton Abbey themed Collection – “Downton A-List”. I’ve never seen a second of the show, but when I caught this mini on sale, I thought it was ridiculously cute. It’s a white base with opalescent and mint glitter, with a generous helping of red hearts. There are so many hearts that I would get 1-2 on each brushful – so nice.
I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and topped with “HK Girl”. Next time, I’ll try not to slop it all over my cuticles.