Category: Claire’s

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Dark and Metallic Sponge Manicure.

 

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Oh man, I wish I had better pictures of this NOTD to share with you, but unfortunately I took these while at work in the late afternoon, so the beautifulness of this manicure was kind of lost. (Side note–I just got a brand new phone with an awesome camera so expect upcoming posts to have MUCH better picture quality.) However, regardless of the lack of pretty pictures, I still had to share this gorgeous manicure because I was super in love with the outcome.

 

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Mary Kay Blue Knight (base color)
  • ACO by Ardene Golden Luxury (middle finger & sponging)
  • Layla Soft Touch Golden Touch (middle finger)
  • Essence Color and Go Mister Rusty (sponging)
  • Claire’s Poison Apple (sponging)
  • Claire’s Venomous (sponging)
  • Claire’s Evil Queen (sponging)
  • Nutra Nail Quick Dry Top Coat.

 

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Oh man, this manicure just was perfect for fall. I wanted something reminiscent of the color changing of the leaves, and I think I succeed with this multicolored metallic sponge manicure. Even one of my co-workers noticed how cool my nails looked, and commented on how neat it looked, which always makes me feel good about my nails. =) Next time I wanted to try this with a super dark green Essence polish I picked up not too long ago–I think it will look even more perfect for the fall weather.

 

So what do you think of this manicure?

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A Peek into my Stash — Part One.

Warning: this post is going to be VERY picture heavy.

So I’ve been thinking for a while of going through my polishes, and actually documenting what I own. With it all packed away in it’s storage unit, something I forget what polishes I actually have. When I saw Confession of a Nail Polish Addict‘s pictures of her own stash, I was inspired to take the work to document my own. I’m going to be breaking it up into a couple posts, just because it would take a crazy long time to take pictures of everything, and then put them in all one post (that would be a lot of pictures!) So instead I’m going by my drawers — today we have the bottom two drawers of my storage uni.

So without further ado, here is part one of my stash post. =)

Continue reading “A Peek into my Stash — Part One.”

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In love with Spring, Coral and Floral.

Happy first day of June!

Oh how happy am I that Spring is in full bloom. Summer has always been my favorite season–I love the heat. So in honor of Summer being all that much closer, I did a pretty floral manicure. There are so many floral/rose and polka dot manis floating around I felt inspired. I’ve been working on perfecting my roses and with my new tiny nail art brushes I got not that long ago, I feel like my technique has definitely improved.

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The polishes I used to create this floral manicure was:

  • Sinful Colors in Island Coral –pinky coral on my nail art free nails.
  • ACO by Ardene in Bridezilla — off white/nude background color of my nail art.
  • Claire’s Neon Purple –roses
  • Unnamed Claire’s Pink shimmer polish –roses
  • Bourjois Paris in 1938 Mais Oui —roses
  • Boujois Paris in 2002 Effect 3D Lip Gloss — roses.
  • ACO by Ardene in Green Peace — darker green of leaves.
  • And another brighter lime green I can’t remember the name of.
  • Nutra Nail Top Speed Top Coat (with green tea.)

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As you can see from the close up of my flowers, they actually (kind of?) resemble roses–or at least I think so. Thanks to my new, and much smaller, nail art brushes creating the swoops of different colors really makes a big difference in how these flowers turned out. I also really like the color combination of the pinks and purples and this Sinful Colors coral. It all makes for a wonderful Spring-soon-to-be-Summer manicure.

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My nails are so happy to soak up the sunshine and increasingly warm weather. I have a feeling that I’ll be creating a lot of floral manicures. Now I just have to find the perfect complimentary spring dress to match, and I’ll be all set for the day.

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My first sucessful chevron moons!

I have a really, really exciting manicure to share with you all today.

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As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good chevron, but I’ve never been very good with creating chevrons with tape as something always seems to go wrong. However I found a foolproof way to create chevron moons, and I’m a very happy girl. I also documented the process so I could share with you my easy tutorial on how to create these chevrons if you–like myself–have trouble getting tape manicures to work the way you want. =)

Continue reading “My first sucessful chevron moons!”

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Long lost goodies.

So the other day I was over at my parents. They’re moving away the beginning of next year, so I’ve had to go through the few boxes I left in their attic when I moved out. I knew a box containing the stash I had collected while living at home, and after going through a couple I found it!

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Surprisingly–considering it’s been sitting in an attic for the last two and a half years–it survived. I was expecting a lot of causalities, but there were only a few polishes of mine that didn’t make it. (Mostly shatter and crackle polishes). But what excited me most of all was that all my Claire’s Mood Polishes have survived.

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Claire’s Mood color changing nail polish in peaceful/confident.

When these polishes first came out (I believe it was in either 2010, or 2011), I was obsessed with them. I loved the thermal effect, and promptly bought 4 of them–3 are Claire’s brand, the other Icing brand. Unfortunately, I don’t think the years have been kind to the polish. Maybe it’s my base coat or top coat, but the color change isn’t as vivid as I remember it being.

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Index & Middle finger: after running under hot water. Ring & pinky finger: unchanged.

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You can kind of see the change on my index and middle finger (after dipping in hot water).

I’m slightly disappointed that they seem not to work as well as they once did, but never the less the color is gorgeous so I’m happy to have found this and all my other polishes I’ve been without for so long. I’m especially excited for all the nail art combinations and swatches to be had.

It’s like Christmas in May. =)