Category: Pink Nails

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Nails for Days.

Wow, I’ve been MIA again…. we’ve been house sitting for my parents which means I don’t have all my polishes (or nail art tools) at my disposal. However, I have still been painting my nails the last week so I thought I would share with you the simple manicures I’ve been playing around with. I’ve been testing out the combination of using Essence Gel Look top Coat with Essie’s Good to Go top coat, and I have to say it’s been working for me. Usually I have chips in my polish by the end of day 1 (or sometimes half way through), but most of these manicures I’ve worn for 2+ days with minimal chipping. Considering I’m not gentle on my hands, that is actually kind of amazing.

 

flying dragon3 flying dragon

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • China Glaze Flying Dragon (purple)
  • Essence Petal to the Metal gold topper.
  • Essence Gel Look top coat.
  • Essie Good to Go top coat.

Oh China Glaze Flying Dragon… how I love you. You are now, and will forever be my favorite nail polish color…. I just wish you didn’t chip so damn fast! Thankfully though, adding my top look combo gave me these nails for THREE days with very minimal chipping until day three (when it all went to hell). I do love the combination of the Essence Gold Topper over dark colors though… looks so regal. (Also makes me crave fall a little bit… some one slap me!)

 

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors Be Happy (blue base color)
  • Icing Electric Graffiti (pink shatter)
  • Essence Gel Look Top Coat.
  • Essie Good to Go top coat.

I was feeling some crackle, since I haven’t used it in years. I used to love playing with crackle, and Icing’s Electric Graffiti was definitely my favorite of the ones I owned. That hasn’t changed. So bright, and so awesome.

 

ruffian2 ruffian

Polishes used for the manicure were:

  • Joe Fresh Latte (nude base)
  • Nicole by OPI Oy Oy Oyster (nude shimmer)
  • Essence Dive with me to the Island (teal ruffian)
  • Essence Gel Look Top Coat.
  • Essie Good to Go Top Coat.

Oh man, I had such high hopes for the manicure… I had visions of a gorgeous nude and teal ruffian… except the nude color my mother owns (which is dark for her) blends PERFECTLY into my skin… so it just looked like I didn’t paint for enough down on my nail. And the shimmer I added didn’t show up enough. Next time I’ll definitely go with something not so perfectly matched to my skin tone.

 

So as you can see, I’ve still been playing around with polish I just haven’t been as nail art crazy as normal. I’m also still bumming hard about my shorties, but they’ll grown… unfortunately just not over night (I wish!) Next week I’m on vacation from work so it will be A LOT more nail art time. In fact, in honor of my best friend who is getting married next week, I think I’m going to do a whole week of wedding manicures, for both bride and bridesmaids. And then at the end of the week, I can share the manicure my friend is letting me do for her nails for the wedding. =)

 

coffee

Now it’s time to finish my coffee, and get started on a super cool manicure I hope to share with you tomorrow.

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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. =)

 

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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.

floral

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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From the forgotten stash — Icing’s Romantic/Relaxed.

Today I have another polish from my forgotten stash with you–and another “mood” polish! Like I stated in my other Claire’s mood polish, I was quite obsessed with these when they first came out, as I had never witnessed a thermal polish before so these left me in awe. Now that I have my Mood polishes back, I’m definitely going to have to go on a search to find more for my collection.

Today’s polish is Romantic/Relaxed from Icing’s Mood Swing polishes.

pink

Romantic/Relaxed is a pink metallic polish with is scattered through out (while cold) which transforms into a gold polish when it is hot. I’d call the darker version of this polish (which I believe is the “romantic” part) almost a blush. The color is very pretty, and subtle and the gold shimmer scattered through out is gorgeous. It also dries to almost a satin finish, but I added top coat to help the polish last longer (and cause–I top coat all my manicures.)

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Romantic/Relaxed while cold.

The magic happens, though, when you hands start to warm up. (And this is why I love this polish SO much) Suddenly your polish goes from a blushy pink to a full on pale gold shimmer. I know I’ve heard some people online in swatches of this polish say they weren’t too keen on the either color, but I think both are beautiful.

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Romantic/Relaxed — while hot (index and middle finger) and cold (ring and pinky).

I was so much more impressed with the change on these as opposed to my Claire’s Mood polishes which I didn’t see as much of a difference while swatching. Icing’s Romantic/Relaxed seems completely unaffected from it’s time spent in a box in the attic.

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Romantic/Relaxed mid-change.

Overall, I really, really love this polish. My only complaint is neither Icing nor Claire’s carries any of their Mood polishes anymore. I really wish they would bring them back because I can guarantee I would purchase every single color they released.  Thermal polish seems to be a popular trend that isn’t slowing down, and now that I’ve been playing with the few that I have I need MORE!

So what do you think of this “mood” polish?