Rainbow Gradient?! Yes, Please!

Yes you read it right!  I have a full on rainbow on my nails tonight.  I have been wanting to do a vertical gradient for awhile but I didn't just want to do the same colors on each nail so I decided to use them all.  I mean, why not?!  Rainbows are fun!

Here it is!  It's super bright and I love it.  I think it's so fun and quirky...like me!  I don't really think I need to explain how I did it seeing as how almost everyone knows how to create a gradient by now.  I didn't do the sponge method though.  I just did it using the polish brushes.

As you can see some of the colors didn't blend as well as I had hoped like neon green and teal blue on my middle finger, but whatever!  You can't tell me that it looks bad.  lol  I did this entire mani over a white base if you were wondering how they all got so bright.  I had too since three of them are jellies.

Are you ready for the list of polishes I used?  It's long.  There are ten of them.  The reason for there being ten is that I used all these same polishes on my toes (which you will see below so if you don't like feet then don't read any further than the polish list) for an ombrè pedicure. 

WHAT I USED:
Orly Oh Cabana Boy - pink
popBeauty Ablaze - neon orange
OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear? - orange
Spoiled Did I Dye It Too Blonde? - yellow
China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard - lighter neon green
China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada - darker neon green
butterLONDON Slapper - teal
China Glaze Blue Sparrow - blue
China Glaze Creative Fantasy - darker purple
China Glaze Señorita Bonita  - lighter purple

Next is my pedi pic...look away if you aren't a foot person (who really is a foot person though).  I promise they aren't bad.  (:

Thanks for checking in tonight.  I had so much fun doing this mani and you better believe I'm going to stamp over this.  lol

Leopard Print and Gradient Mani

Hey Guys!  I'm back from the dead.  lol No actually I'm finally moved in and unpacked in my new place.  We had issues with our internet when we moved in as well so we were bored out or our minds for 5 days.  I also broke most of my nails when we were moving the furniture and all so now that my nubs are a little more grown out, I knew I could finally make some manis happen.

I was going through my stash trying to find a fun color to wear that I haven't worn in a long time so I chose essence Choose Me.  Perfect name, right?!  Since my Melmer drawers are in such disarray from the car ride over (all the bottles tipped over and are all mixed up now), this little guy made his way up to the front of the drawer and so he was "The Chosen One".

So here it is...the finished product!  I thought I would mix it up and do some leopard print and a gradient.  On my ring and middle fingers I used China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and OPI Designer...de Better! to create the leopard print.

On my pinky, pointer, and thumb I used Designer...de Better! to create the gradient.  I didn't use a sponge like I normally would because I really didn't feel like making a mess tonight and also being covered in silver shimmer.  I just did it using the brush which I haven't done in a super long time.  I forgot how much I liked that effect.

I love how the whole mani sparkles and is super shiny.  My favorites are the ones that blind you in a good way.  lol

Well I am so happy to be back blogging and to be all settled in my place.  There shall be lots of fun manis coming soon.  Night!!

Crumpet's Nail Tarts Present The Tri-Polish Challenge

It feels like forever since last Thursday when I posted my last challenge mani.  I had such a terrible morning that ruined my whole day that I wasn't sure I even wanted to do my nails, but I worked up the energy to make it happen and man did it happen.

See what I mean?!  I went all out I think.  I started with a base of Zoya Kimber and then added dots of popBeauty Ablaze and Zoya Zuza.  Over Zuza, I added tiny gold studs from my new essence Nail Decoration Kit.

For my water marble nail, I started with a base of popBeauty Ablaze and then tried to create a flower petal design.  Aaaaannndd that's about it.  (:

Since pink is my least favorite color, I have to say this isn't my favorite mani on me.  I think it's really cute, but maybe on someone else.  lol  Oh and I did use my new essence Gel-Look topcoat and I love it.  You should all go pick up a bottle if you can.  It was only $3.49.

China Glaze Bump & Grind

Good Evening!!

I am so exhausted today for some reason so this will be a fairly short post.  Besides as I'm trying to type it up, I'm zoning out and making all kinds of typos.  I went to Ulta the other day for shop for some super cheap nail supplies (if you missed that post, HERE you go!) and I saw that they already had the displays for OPI Bond Girls sands and China Glaze Textures.  I really thought they weren't supposed to be out until next month.  So since my OPIs are on their way, I thought I'd pick over the China Glazes and saw one that I really liked:  Bump & Grind.

This one, along with two others, were on my wishlist, but I actually didn't really like the other colors as much as I thought I would so I took them off and bought only this one.

Bump & Grind is a bright magenta creme base polish with the textured and matte finish.  Unlike the other textured polish that most bloggers have shown (Zoya, OPI, Kiko) these are all creme base with no shimmer. It's nice to have something a little different, but at the same time I'm in love with shimmers so I don't really know how much this will get worn.

I am happy that I bought this polish, but I don't think I'd buy anymore of them.  I just really love the glitter and the sparkle of the sands and pixies.  What's your thought on the cremes vs. sparkle textured polish?  Are you into the textured trend at all?

This didn't really turn out to be so short after all.  Go me!  lol Have a great night!

Nail Art for Less

This is a post I've been wanting to do for a long time, but I just never buckled down to make it happen.  Well today I wanted to get out of the house and what better thing to do when you're bored but shop.  I also don't have a ton of money right now so this post was perfect.

Tonight's post is all about being frugal when it comes to nail art.  I know there are a lot of companies out there pushing nail art supplies for gobs of money so with the popularity rising, I wanted to let you all know that you can create super fun manis for a fraction of the price.

These are all my goodies!  I got so much stuff.  Everything you see here is the essence nail art decoration kit in gold, Minx nail wraps in Summer Splash, All Season Naturals cuticle stick in French Vanilla, A.S.P crystal nail file, Claire's nail jewels, Claire's nail wheel with pearls, studs, and beads, and Claire's striping tape.

Here is the close up (the best I could get anyway) of the Minx nail wraps.  I got these at Ulta in the clearance section.  They had other designs as well, but this was the last one and the best one.  I didn't even read the package either so when I opened it and saw that is was and mani AND a pedi, I was pretty excited.  The price on the package says $4.99 (from $18) but my receipt says $2.99 so another great surprise.  Oh and it was 20% off.  Woot!

Here are some embellishments that I picked up from Ulta and Claire's.  The essence nail decoration kit contains 3 types of gold glitter, some tiny studs, and small sheet of gold flake.  This also comes in silver but they were out.  The Claire's gems and jewels are Buy 1, Get 1 50% off right now, so you should all check it out.  I picked up these beautiful jewel stickers that remind me of an Indian or Bollywood themed nails and the nail wheel is full of rhinestones and studs in silver and gold, but my favorite part is the white and black pearls.

Also at Claire's I saw they had striping tape and although I still have a roll unused, why not pick up more, right?!  I wanted to know how well it worked and it comes with 3 colors, gold, black, and silver.  For $6.50, I thought it was a great deal given the promotion that is running.

Now how could I buy all these goodies and NOT get a top coat?  I couldn't.  So I got the essence gel-look top coat which from what I understand is supposed to leave a super glossy gel finish...so like my Gelous, maybe.  We'll see.  Sally's had a coupon for the All Season Naturals cuticle stick so I thought I'd give it a try.  Oh the coupon was buy the cuticle stick, get the A.S.P nail file FREE!!!  I've never tried a crystal nail file so I'm nervous.  The sound is weird and makes me cringe a little.  lol

And the grand total...

$23.17!!

I really hope this post was helpful for all you ladies on a budget.  I can't wait to try all of my goodies and show you all what I come up with.  If you've found any great deals, let me know.  I'm always on the lookout.  Have a great night!

Crumpet's Nail Tarts Present The April Tri-Polish Challenge

Here we are at day 2 of the Tri-Polish Challenge.  Just to recap, the colors for the month are pink, orange, and turquoise so I'm using Zoya Kimber for pink, popBeauty Ablaze for orange, and Zoya Zuza for turquoise.

I started with 2 coats of Ablaze and then I sponged Zuza and Kimber in random places on each nail.  That effect was pretty cool, but I couldnt' just leave it at that.

Then I used Bundle Monster plate BM-201 and Kleancolor Metallic Black for the stamp.  It's not awesome, but whatevs.  I also thought my nails were completely dry before I stamped, but they weren't so I got some smooshing and cracking.  I think it looks kinda cool though.

I still can't get over my first Tri-Polish mani on Tuesday, but this one is still cool.  The colors just work so well together.  Great job on that Crumpet!  (:

Crumpet's Nail Tarts Present The April Tri-Polish Challenge

So here we are again for the Tri-Polish Challenge hosted by The Crumpet.  I'm gonna be honest.  I almost forgot about the challenge.  I didn't even realize it was the 3rd week of April already.  Gosh!  How time flies!

The colors for April are pink, orange, and turquoise.  I chose Zoya Kimber (pink), popBeauty Ablaze (orange), and Zoya Zuza (turquoise).  I'm totally loving my color combo so I can't wait to get the rest of these manis done.

This is my favorite mani I've done in a long time.  I usually get really excited about my gradients...when they come out good anyway.  This one came out amazing.

First I did the gradient on all my nails and then used some striping tape to create a lazer effect or I guess more of a starburst.  Then I used a thick coat of Zuza to try and cover the gradient.  You can still see some bald spots, but whatever.  I also didn't want to cover it up completely so I thought a cross print would be fun on my middle and pointer fingers.

I really love the contrast of the colors and how the crosses seem to jump off the nail.  Super cool!  Now I can't wait to brainstorm my next Tri-Polish mani for Thursday.

Color Club Wing Fling

For the longest time I wanted to add China Glaze 108 Degrees to my growing polish collection, but everytime I went to buy it I always went home with something else.  So when I went shopping recently at the beauty supplies, I saw Wing Fling and realized they are dupes.  I personally like Color Clubs better so this was perfect for me.

I only needed 2 coats for full opacity.  I love how smooth the formula was too.  That's why I love shimmers so much.  And I love this shimmer in particular because of that amazing blue flash that only shows up on the nail.  

Look at it!  It's so stunning!  (:

OPI Lights of Emerald City

Normally I don't put this much effort into a swatch, but I have been wearing this one over and over for the past month, and I love it.  I just can't get enough.  I mean, if you know me even just a little bit, you know I absolutely love white glitter!  So when I saw this at the nail supply I nabbed it.  Get ready for awesomeness!

Here I layered one coat of LOEC over Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth.  I had a little trouble digging out the larger white glitters, but this was just one coat.  I did get quite a bit of the smaller square glitters.  They are opalescent and beautiful.  They don't show up that great on the purple though so let's move to blue.

Here I layered one coat over Color Club Hydrangea Kiss.  Still had a little trouble getting the larger white glitters out and still the opalescent glitter doesn't show that well, but I love the combo of this glitter over the dusty blue.

Here I used China Glaze Four Leaf Clover.  I did get more of the glitters out this time because I turned the bottle upside down (duh!).  I did have to place them randomly so that they wouldn't drag to the free edge of my nail.

This is my ultimate favorite combination.  I left the bottle upside down over night and I actually didn't have to place the glitter.  This is just one coat over Zoya Storm.  The opalescent glitter shows up so great against the black and I love that it's showing up orange/yellow/red too.

Overall I had no problems with this polish.  The formula builds up to be really thick if you're applying more than one coat so do what I did and turn the bottle upside so that you can easily get the larger white glitters out.  

So this is my second pick from the Great and Powerful Oz collection.  The other is What Wizardry Is This? and they are the only ones I really liked so I'm glad they're mine.  What are the one's you chose?!

Sand Art With Zoya London

Evening All!

I know I showed you all the entire Zoya PixieDust Collection, but I have yet to do any nail art with them...until NOW!  For this mani I used Zoya Dannii and Zoya London and then a couple black pearls.

Oooh!  Ahhh!  Don't you love it?  I know it's very simple, but I really love it.  I think the shimmer of Dannii with the texture and sparkle of London work really well together.  I got these little black pearls in a wheel from Claire's.  It came with studs and rhinestones and these black pearls (white ones too).

I used 2 coats of Dannii and used striping tape to get such a straight line for the deep v.  Instead of brushing on the sand, I dabbed it just to get it even.  This mani is with no top coat.

I hope you all love this mani as much as I do.  I did it in green on the other hand, but I smudged it before I could get a photo.

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