Author: Shannon Rae

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Out of this world Galaxy Nails–with a bonus tutorial!

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After being inspired by two of my fellow nail art girlies on Instagram (mymintnails and banulovesnailpolish) the other day, I was in the mood for Galaxy nails. The last time I did them was in April during the early weeks of this blog, and I hadn’t tried them since so it felt like a good time.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!?
  • Unnamed Blue Joe Fresh Metallic Polish I got as part of their holiday collection this season.
  • LA Splash Heiress.
  • LA Splash Glitz & Berry.
  • LA Splash Maroon.
  • Quo by ORLY Trashy Glam.
  • ACO by Ardene Showtime.
  • China Glaze Fairy Dust.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat.

I’m seriously so happy with how my galaxies turned out. I’ve done galaxy nails a couple of times now, and always get frustrated by the fact I don’t find they look very Space-y. However thanks to using ACO by Ardene’s Showtime for glitter placement (the stars) and China Glaze’s Fairy Dust I managed to create my very own galaxies on my nails.

And I thought since I’m trying to create more tutorials I would share my steps for creating this manicure. I know everyone has their own way of creating galaxy nails, these are just the steps I took for the above manicure.

 

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  1. Paint all nails black (OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!?) and apply quick dry top coat.
  2. While that is drying, applying OPI Glitter Off Base Coat around cuticle area. I do this to keep the sponging I do when creating gradients and other like manicures off my fingers and minimize clean up.
  3. Sponge on first colour (the unnamed Blue Joe Fresh polish with shimmer.) Depending on how sheer the polish is, you may have to sponge a couple times to be able to see the polish.
  4. Continue sponging using a variety of other colours. I try to keep my sponging in a line so you get that galaxy look. I also will apply some polishes thicker than others, or just sponge small spots so that it’s not too heavy handed.
  5. Using a dotting tool, place stars in random places on nail. (ACO by Ardene Showtime.) I also used some of the bigger glitters in Showtime for along the sponging.
  6. Apply a coat (or two) of Fairy Dust over everything. Then, after a couple minutes apply your top coat to seal everything in. Once that’s dry, you’ll be able to peel off your protective layer around your cuticles, and clean up what you might have missed around your cuticles.

And tada! You now possess galaxies on your finger tips. Galaxies are one of the easiest nail art designs you can probably do because they can be done with pretty much any polish, at any level, in whatever style you want! And the plus side is–it’s almost impossible to screw them up.

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In case you’re interested, my ring is courtesy of Kristalized_Designs on Instagram (who also happens to be my sister!) She designed two gorgeous midi-rings for me, and is going to be designing a little something special for an upcoming giveaway I’m going to be holding. She’s in the process of getting her Etsy page up and going, but you should definitely check out her page for a sneak peak at her designs. Everything is hand made and one of a kind (there is even a picture of her making the above ring.)

 

So what do you think of these galaxy nails?

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Comparison Post: OPI My Dog Sled is A Hybrid vs. ACO by Ardene Jungle Green.

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The other day, I picked up My Dog Sled is A Hybrid by OPI (which you may have noticed in my chevron moon post the other day.) When I used it, I couldn’t help but think it looked an awful lot like an ACO by Ardene polish recently released — Jungle Green. So obviously I had to compare the two to see just how close they are and if maybe I found a less expensive dupe for MDSAH.

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I have Jungle Green on my pointer finger and pinkie, and My Dog Sled is A Hybrid on my middle finger, ring finger and my thumb. As you can see–definitely not dupes. Jungle Green is definitely brighter and a little more Neon than MDSAH. Comparing the two, I’d called MDSAH more of a Jade even, especially when side by side of Jungle Green. Both colours are absolutely gorgeous, but they had no twins. Not at all.

As far as application–MDSAH is actually a dream to apply. It takes two coats, but they go on like butter, with no streaks or bald spots to be seen! I wish I could say the same for Jungle Green–it was not a dream to apply. It was also two coats, but when I went to apply the second coat the first coat seemed to drag, which was not fun considering the top had already dried some. So strange. Top coat balanced everything out, but… yeah. I’ve never had that happen to me before.

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So what do you think of these two polishes? While Jungle Green is not a dupe for My Dog Sled is A Hybrid, it is a pretty polish–application issues aside. For my Canadian girls, you can pick up Jungle Green at your local Ardene’s location or online for $3.50 or as part of a promotion (usually 3/10). I picked up my bottle of My Dog Sled is A Hybrid as part of the OPI Little Northies Collection at my local Chatters.

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Silver Stamped Snowflakes.

 

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Last month, I made my first ever Born Pretty Store purchase, after dawdling about the idea for a while. I was in awe over all their options for stamping plates. I’m totally in awe of all the stamping I’ve seen around. I haven’t stamped in a while–almost a year! So I decided to order some fun plates with images I could never create freehand. One of my favorite plates I ordered was a collection of sweater-style winter prints. So when they arrived the other day, I knew I had to use them–immediately!

I stamped these nails at 7am, before having to get ready for work so they’re not perfect. But for my first time stamping in a long while, I’m really proud of how I did.

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The polishes I used for this manicure:

  • China Glaze Frostbite (applied over undies of China Glaze I Sea the Point)
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City — stamping.
  • ACO by Ardene Style Icon –gorgeous chunky silver and holo glitter.
  • Born Pretty Stamping Plate ID #6457 (Lace Snowflake Pattern).
  • Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

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This is about as close to a Christmas Manicure as I’ve gotten so far this year, but I really love this sweater print. I’m already collecting a whole bunch of designs in my head I want to do for Christmas this year, so I have a feeling once December hits, there will be a lot of Christmas/Holiday manicures to share. There are also a few I did last year that I’m really itching to recreate and see how things have improved.

What Christmas manicures are you itching to do?

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More Chevron Moons, and my new favourite nail art pen!

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I have a serious obsession right now with chevron moons. They’ve replaced regular half moon manicures as my favorite I-don’t-know-what-to-paint-on-my-nails designs. I have given up on trying to do the perfect tape manicure, but I have to say I’m really happy with how my freehand lines are coming along. Definitely a HUGE improvement from when I first started. Plus with my new Essence Nail Art tattoo pen, it’s so much easier to draw on thin lines as opposed to using my stripers! Plus I find the polish doesn’t gunk up the same way that my stripers do.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Orly Decades of Dysfunction — off white base colour.
  • OPI My Dog Sled is a Hybrid — chevron moon.
  • Essence Nail Art Tattoo Pen
  • Seche Vite Rapid Dry Top Coat.

Seriously, I’m in love with this nail art pen. I bought a couple Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens years ago, but never really got into using them. However, I’m absolutely in love with this Essence Pen so I think I’m going to have to bring them back out and give them another try now that I know what technique to use to get nice lines. And it makes creating freehand lines such a breeze! Since most of the designs I create are freehand, that is a big help to me!

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So what do you think of my chevron moons? Like I said, I’m so in love with chevron moons right now–more so than any other kind. It’s a great, easy way to add something else to an otherwise plain manicure–in a short amount of time!

Also I just have to make a shout out to @mynailpolish_addiction on Instagram who twinned me with an awesome (and sparkly!) chevron moon mani and Starbuck Gingerbread latte! Jessica is actually the sweetest ever, we’ve become great friends since meeting through Instagram! You must check out her nail art because the girl is fantastic and SO talented!

**I purchase the Essence Nail Art Tattoo pen on my own accord, and have not be compensate for my comments in any way.**
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Another round of Bestie Twin nails and pretty herringbone nails.

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I’ve been having a blast doing Bestie Twin Nails with all the fellow girls I’ve been meeting on Instagram, so today I’m going to share another fun #bestietwinnails I got to do with one of my fellow nail girlies, @bene_loves. I’ve been dying to do a herringbone designs on my nails for a while, and I’m so excited she joined me in on it! We decided on the colours Dark Purple, Light Purple and Dark Pink then went to work creating our designs. (To check out what polishes she used for her design, just click on her name and check out her Instagram. She’s amazingly talented!)

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For my manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Lilac You — my favorite light purple!
  • China Glaze Grape Juice — dark purple.
  • Essence Color and Go Girls Night — dark pink.
  • LA Colors Art Deco Striping Polish — black.
  • Seche Vite Rapid Dry Top Coat.

Oh my god, can I just say how freaking much I love this design! Like I said I’ve been really wanting to give the herringbone design a try, but last time I tried my striper was not my friend and I got frustrated and gave up. So glad I didn’t give up this time, because WOW! I used the tutorial by @DiamondNailArt which was a huge hope in getting this right. =) I still had a couple issues with my striper gunking up on me while I was doing this (hate that!) I think the next time I try this manicure, I’m going to use my Essence Nail Art Tattoo pen which I just picked up! I bet I could create a much smaller herringbone pattern.

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Oh look! My nails match my scarf! =)

What do you think of this Herringbone design? I’m so in love with it! I’m definitely already thinking up a whole variety of different designs… I can definitely see me doing another one using Christmas colours! Because Christmas is quickly approaching, and now that Remembrance Day is over, I’m already planning my Christmas manicures!