Category: China Glaze

Posted on

“You’re the boss, applesauce.” Andy Warhol inspired nails.

I’ve been all about the floral lately. I found these Andy Warhol inspired nails on Pinterest, and knew I had to recreate them. A few years ago, I was completely obsessed with everything Warhol related–I even had a pair of Levi’s from their Warhol collection. So I knew I had to create my own version of those flower nails.

Surprisingly, they were really easy to create.

andywarhol

First, I painted my nails with a base color of green. I used Sinful Colors Strapped. It’s a dark Forrest green, which dries to a Matte finish.

andywarhol2

Next, I created my “grass” using the dry brush technique with a collection of other green colors: ACO by Ardene in Sour Apple, ACO by Ardene in Green Peace and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Kiwi Bikini.

andywarhol3

After my grass was complete, I created my floral using a medium sized dotting tool and my four colors: Essence Love Letter’s collection in Rosy in Love (light pink flowers), China Glaze in Metro Pollen-tin (yellow flowers), ACO by Ardene in Lollipop Queen (purple flowers), and Revlon in Siren (orange flowers).

andywarhol4

Finally, I finished off with a layer of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash (yey! I finally have a new bottle and am so happy) and tada! Andy Warhol inspired floral nail art.

andywarhol5

And in the sunshine. =)

andywarhol6

So what do you think of these Andy Warhol nails? Did I do justice to my original inspiration?

Posted on

Favorite Polishes: Bizzare Blurple.

I’ve been trying to make an effort to go through my stash, and wear polishes I don’t wear as often. Sometimes I get a little too excited about new polishes, and forget about my old favorites.

bizarreblurple

This is Bizarre Blurple, but China Glaze. It’s a darker purple base color, filled with itty bitty blue micro glitters. I’ll be honest, I bought this polish just because of the awesomeness of the name. I got it on a 3/15 clearance sale at the Chatters by my work in the beginning of the year, the same time I picked up my bottle of OPI’s My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I needed to grab two more polishes for the deal, and when I saw the name I was like “Yep! Mine!” However, the second I put it on my nails I realized just how beautiful this polish was. I’m a sucker for purple and blue polishes, and this is the best of both worlds!

It also makes a great base for nail art.

bizarreblurple2

The above manicure is from back in January, when I first picked up this polish. You can see the blue micro-glitters a little bit better in the flash. Just looking at this old picture makes me remember why I love it so much. Different lighting just changes it so much.

Have you ever bought a polish based strictly on its name? I have to admit–not the first time I’ve had to have a polish because the name was just too perfect. God, if I could get a job naming polishes, I would be set!

Posted on

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 20: Water Marble.

Okay, so I can’t water marble.

I can’t do it. I don’t know how people can create such beautiful water marble manicures, but I am not one of them. However, I didn’t want to not have anything to show for day 20–except a whole bunch of failure–so I looked up “water marble without water” in google, and what did it lead me to? A dry “water marble” technique. Score! So it’s not your typical water marbled nails, but it was something I could actually accomplish so I figured that was better than nothing!

(If you’re interested, I used this youtube tutorial by cutepolish.)

drywatermarble

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Revlon polish in Minted–mint green polish.
  • China Glaze in What a Pansy!–purple polish.
  • OPI in My Boyfriend Scales Walls–white polish.
  • ACO by Ardene in Sea of Beauty–baby blue polish.
  • ACO by Ardene in Kiss from a Rose–pink polish.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat.

Even though I couldn’t do a proper water marble, I LOVE these. They spring color combination pops on the nail, and I just love the swirls. Even though I only did it on two accent nails for this manicure, I think it would love amazing all on my nails, and I will definitely be trying it again so I can play with it more (and with more color combinations).

 

 

 

Also, I’ve been thinking about this challenge, and I have to admit I’ve started to feel a little confined by it. I started it so I would have inspiration, but lately I feel like it’s restricting the manicures I want to do. There is SO much inspiration out there, and so many manicures I really want to try! I still want to finish the challenge, and not be a quitter, but I think I will be spreading it out with some other manicure ideas. Especially as my brand new dotting tool set just arrived, and I’ve yet to be able to really play with it, and it’s begging me to do some awesome floral nail art!

 

Posted on

The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 18: Half Moons.

So I didn’t go exactly with the prompt for Day 18 of the challenge. After a long day at work, I kind ran out of time to do a traditional half moon manicure, so I kind of went the reverse, and revisited the ruffian manicure (which I’ve also seen referred to as a reverse moon manicure).

I’ve done a lot of typical moon manicures in my day — it was one of the first nail art techniques I tried, aside from polka dots. But I’ve yet to perfect the technique for the ruffian manicure, so that was another reason why I wanted to give it another try. Even though I’ve watched all the tutorials, I still can’t comprehend how people can get their lines so perfect!

reversemoonmanicure

reversemoonmanicure2

For this manicure, the polishes that I used were:

  • Essence Color & G0 in That’s What I Mint!
  • China Glaze in Flying Dragon
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat
  • LA Girl Quick Dry Top Coat.

For a second attempt, these aren’t bad. As you can see, I missed a spot on my pinky finger when I was going through with Flying Dragon, which I didn’t notice until I took pictures. I still haven’t perfected the technique, but with practice it’s getting a little easier.

I really do love how the ruffian manicure looks–it’s a little something different from your typical moon manicure. And it’s a great way to play with different color combinations–you can color block, or choose complimentary colors. I really love the contrast of Flying Dragon and That’s What I Mint!

 

=)

Posted on

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 17: Glitter

I went with a simple manicure for today’s prompt. I really, really wanted to try out China Glaze’s Sand Dollar Make You Holla which I picked up a couple weeks back, and haven’t yet had a chance to wear.

glitter

Sand Dollar Make You Holla(isn’t that just the most amazing name ever!) is an off white–almost pale pink–base with teeny tiny rainbow glitters through out. It’s a textured polish, which China Glaze released from their Sea Goddess collection. And it is beautiful. I’ve seen other nail bloggers compare its finish to icing, and I have to agree. Even though the application is quite sheer, it does build quite nicely. This was three  applications, and they went on super flawlessly.

I really love this color. It’s so different from any other texture polish I’ve picked up, and I’m glad I have it in my stash. I’m also thinking it would be perfect to use for a cupcake manicure, as it already looks like icing!

Also you’ll notice I’ve featured the Timmie’s a lot lately. They just came out with a cinnamon bun latte for a limited time, and they’re right up the street so the boyfriend always gets me one in the mornings. I seriously love anything cinnamon, and these latte’s are starting to become an addiction.