Category: Manicure

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ACO by Ardene Sugar Rush.

First, I want to apologize for the lack of nail art lately. I’ve been a little busy at work with the Summer rush starting, so by the time I get home I’m exhausted and creating something complex is a little daunting. I’m going to try and get back into the swing of things though.

Today, I have another swatch for you.

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This is Sugar Rush by ACO by Ardene, a “sugar effect” nail polish that was released as part of their new collection of nail polish. When they were first released, I was super excited because I’m kind of in love with textured nail polish–I bought almost all the colors immediately. This was the last of the collection I needed to buy to complete my collection.

Sugar Rush is a cornflower blue polish, with tiny white matte micro glitters scattered through out. Unfortunately, of all the sugar effect polishes I have from Ardene (all four) this one dried the least textured. I ended up applying top coat over it (as you can see above) because it just looked uneven and bad when it dried. I’m not sure if it was the bottle I got, since all the other ACO sugar effect polishes have tried immaculately.

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My camera was not having photographing this polish, as you can see–it created almost a glow around the polish. Regardless of the fact it was being a pain, I love this color so much. And I have a cute summer dress that it would go with so perfectly.

I hope I’m not the only one who buys certain colors because of how well they match certain outfits?

ACO by Ardene polishes retail for $3.50 at stores–although they usually are on promotion for 3/$10. As you probably saw from my stash, I own a lot of their polishes (perk of working there haha.) If you have a chance to check their polishes out, you definitely should.

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True Blue and Chevrons.

I’ve got some simple nail art to share with you today. I meant to post these yesterday, but by the time I got home from work I was pretty much a zombie.

For this NOTD, I was trying to recreate the pattern of my favorite mug. I don’t it’s perfect yet, but for something I did real quick before bed I do really like how they turned out. Plus all my lines were straight which yey!

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • ACO by Ardene True Blue — the blue/teal base color.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in White — white chevron pattern.
  • Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top Coat.

This polish was very frustrating to try and capture a picture of. On my nail, it’s a deep teal color but the second I started photographing it appeared much more blue than it actually is in person. Didn’t matter if it was inside or outside. These pictures are the closest I could get to the actual color, but still come across more blue than the polish truly is.

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All about Neon.

So I have a swatch of a fun neon polish to share with you today from China Glaze’s 2012 Summer Neons collection.

What is it about Summer time and neon colors–I just can’t get enough! I was checking out the Chatters by my work recently, and they were had marked down all their clearance polishes to $4.99. Anyone knows me knows that I love a deal, so I ended up picking two polishes– China Glaze’s Pink Plumeria, and OPI’s I Snow You Love Me. The second I saw Pink Plumeria, I knew I had to put it on my nails as quickly as possible!

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As I’ve stated before, I’m a sucker for anything Coral so the second I saw this color I fell instantly in love. It’s a neon-ish Coral with a subtle golden shimmer scattered through out. It’s less pink than the picture above shows (thanks to my camera flash not capturing it properly) but on the nail it comes out a very vibrant coral. I’ve read that some people had problems with application, but I found the formula flawless–honestly it went on so smoothly I was shocked. It was a little sheer, so I did apply two coats with left me with very minimal visible nail line. I could have done three coats for full coverage, but it really wasn’t needed. I had no streaks, or patchiness at all. The polish does dry to a matte satin finish, so I added a coat of Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top coat to give it a glossy finish.

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I can’t not say enough how much I absolutely LOVE this polish. The subtle shimmer is beautiful, and the color is so perfect for Summer. The only issue I had was a tiny chip on my pinky finger this morning, but that could have been brought on by the house cleaning I did before starting my day. Regardless, I couldn’t stop staring at my nails all day. They even perfectly matched my dress that I wore on my coffee date with my best friend today. (Couldn’t have planned that better if I had tried!). Even he noticed how pretty and bright my nails were. =)

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I know this was a limited edition polish from two years ago, so I’m not sure how easy it would be to find now. But if you have a Chatters near you, I would recommend checking out the clearance sale they have on right now because you never know what lost goodies you might find!

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I’m feeling tropical… print nails.

I’ve been feeling floral a lot lately, so I wanted to try something different. At work, we’ve been getting in so much tropical floral print so I was inspired to try mimicking something tropical on my nails.

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The (many) polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors Cinderella — blue base color. (I also layered it over a coat of Sinful Colors Be Happy because damn… it’s sheer.)
  • Sinful Colors Dream On — flower color.
  • Sinful Colors Coral Reef — flower color & polka dots.
  • ACO by Ardene Ardene’s Secret — flower color.
  • ACO by Ardene Kissed by a Rose — flower color & polka dots.
  • Sinful Colors Strapped — leaves.
  • Pure Ice Wild Thing — leaves.
  • ACO by Ardene Green Peace — leaves.
  • China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin — dots.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in black — flower stem.
  • Nutra Nail Speed Dry top coat with green tea.

 

So what do you think of these tropical floral nails? I think the flower on my ring finger turned out best.

Also is anyone else as excited about iced coffee season as I am?

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Freehand, and sort of abstract, chevrons/zigzags.

After my successful chevron moon manicure last week, I wanted to try another chevron manicure as I haven’t done very many in the past. I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest, and figured with my new small detail nail art brush, I could make a good attempt at freehand chevrons.

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Left hand.

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Right hand.

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.
  • ACO by Ardene Neon Pink.
  • Maybelline Sapphire Siren.
  • Sinful Colors Be Happy.
  • China Glaze What a Pansy.
  • Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top Coat.

I’m calling these abstract because… well… they’re not the cleanest lines. Surprisingly, my right hand turned out better than my left, which is funny because it was done using my none dominant hand! Never the less, I’m proud of how they look! When I first started doing nail art, I never would have been able to create something like this without it turning into a big blobby mess. It’s nice to remember that on days when I see others nail art and feel envious that I’m not that good… all it takes is lots practice.

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Seeing these, I feel so proud of being able to create these freehand. For real first attempt, I think I did pretty good. And the colors just look so great together! This is also giving me an urge to do a “then and now” nail art post, just to show myself how far I’ve come from my first days of doing my nails, to now. It would be fun to recreate my first nail art attempts, just for a personal comparison. Maybe that’s what I’ll dedicate next week to. =)