Pastels 4 - Sea Green

For my final pastel post for NCC, I went really pale.  The main color I chose to use is Sally Hansen Sea.  Now, I really don't know why it is called this as I haven't ever seen a sea that is this color.  It really should be  "sea foam".  But, I don't name polishes for a living.  LOL!  Anyway, I used quite a few of my untrieds with this one.

I started with 1 thin coat of Milani White on all of my nails.  The Sally Hansen Sea is very sheer so I needed 3 coats on all of my nails except for my pinkie where I only used one coat since I was putting glitter on top.  The glitter is Wet n Wild Born Into Privilege.  I used one coat for that.  I put a layer of Seche Vite on all of the nails at this point to encourage the curing of the thick layers.  I used Milani White on the Spot for stamping this time.  My middle finger is SH203 and my ring finger is BM-220.  I also have some little pearly things from The Born Pretty Store that I hadn't used before.  Since this was such a delicate manicure, I thought they would fit right in.  I put another coat of Seche Vite on top of everything.  I didn't go over the pearls with the Seche because I doubt I will wear this one very long.  I have managed 24 hours including a shower, dishes, and about 25 hand washes without them coming off.

Only one photo today.  I couldn't get good shots of this one to save my life.

Enjoy the other pretty polishes!

April Tri-Polish Challenge #4

It's the last installment of the April Tri-Polish Challenge manicures.  YAY!  I love these colors, but I was stuck on what else to do with them.  I'm ready to move on after this one.

Revlon Tangerine; China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise; China Glaze Escaping Reality

Today I didn't use an "undie" polish!  I KNOW!  It will be ok...I hope.  My poor nails stain fairly easily.  Anyway, I just went straight to 2 coats of the Revlon Tangerine after I applied my base coat.  I put one coat of Seche Vite on over that.

I used BM-209 for all of the nails.  I used Pure Ice Superstar! for the white stamp.  The black stamp is American Apparel Hassid.  The version on my pinkie is a combination of the 2 designated China Glaze colors (pink & turquoise).

I added some random dots using a dotting tool in the pink & turquoise colors.  It turned out way better than I had thought it would.  I wore it to work today and actually got complimented.  That is always a plus.  LOL!

I finished it all off with another coat of Seche Vite.  The orange is really pretty and the pink & turquoise play nicely on it!  Good job to Debbie on picking these colors!

Take a look at the other wonderful looks!

April Tri-Polish Challenge #3

Viva la WOW!  I have been wanting to do this type of mani for a long time now.  I have seen some amazing manicures like this and I just love it!  This month we are using the perfect colors for me to try it...so I just had to!

Revlon Tangerine; China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise; China Glaze Escaping Reality

I used 1 coat of Milani White as my base color.  Then I sponged my nails with two colors.  You can see that I alternated them.  I sponged about 5 coats on to get it fairly opaque.  I think 1 or 2 more may have been even better, but this came out pretty decent.

I put 1 coat of Seche Vite on to smooth out the texture before stamping.  I used China Glaze Liquid Leather to stamp the image on BM-223.

I wish the black had been more opaque but then again, it kind of gives it a more rustic feel.  Plus the wonderful color shows through more.  The gradients came out super pretty!

I will have to be doing this manicure again!  I just love how it came out!

Be sure to look at the other wonderful #3 entries!

April Tri-Polish Challenge #2

For the second manicure in this month's challenge I took my own advice to just "wing it".  As a reminder to what my polishes were:

Revlon Tangerine; China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise; China Glaze Escaping Reality

This is what I ended up with:

I had seen a video on doing this type of manicure and thought it was pretty neat so I gave it a go.  I did the lines free-handed which totally amazes me!  I can't believe I was able to get my lines straight.  LOL!

I only used 2 colors for this one.  I just love these together!  I used Sally Hansen Ivory Skull as my white base coat (one of my favorite white polishes).  After doing the tips, I put a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust over it.  I followed that with 1 coat of Seche Vite.  This should get me through the weekend.

Take a look at the other #2 mani's!

April Tri-Polish Challenge #1

Oh my!  Time sure flies around here.  It is time for the April Tri-Polish Challenge to get under way.  The 3 colors for this month are Orange, Pink & Turquoise (not blue).  Here is what I chose:

• Revlon Tangerine
• China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise
• China Glaze Escaping Reality

So many thoughts run through my head on what to do for these challenges.  When will I learn to just "wing it"?  I am always running late on these things and all day long I see what the other lovelies have been submitting and I am envious.  These ladies are SO talented!  Well, here is what I ended up with:

It's a little bit of a skittle.  I started with one coat of Milani White as an undie.  Then I painted each nail a different color (3 coats) except the ring and thumb fingers.  I wanted something different for accent nails so I did a sponge gradient with all three colors.  

I chose to use a stamp on the tips.  It turns out I am not too good at it.  I will need to practice more with this technique.  I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and Mash-43 to get this look.

I'm already thinking of what to do for the next one.  This is a very summery look.  I am glad that it is supposed to finally be a bit warmer here this week.

Be sure to take a look at the other wonderful works!

Pastels 3: Blue-Green

For my third pastel mani in the Nail Challenge Collaborative April pastels challenge, I went to my untried swatches...It is slowly growing.  Swatching over 1000 polishes takes quite some time!  I've made it through my China Glazes, Sinful Colors, and Orly's.  Wait, I got sidetracked for a second there.  LOL!  I went to my "green" swatches and came up with 2 complimentary colors for a gradient.  China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On & Sinful Colors  Mint Apple.

Do you ever notice that it is "all of a sudden" that your nails are just too long?  I hit that point today.  I filed them down prior to this mani. Oh, and please pardon my dry skin.  I took these photos before I put lotion on.  I went to re-do them and got distracted with housework and managed to chip a nail a little bit.  So, I kept these.

I started with one coat of Milani White as an undie.  I then put 2 coats of China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On on my ring finger.  I put 2 coats of Sinful Colors Mint Apple on my pointer finger.  On the rest I did a sponge gradient of the two colors (about 4 passes).  I wanted just my tips to be darker so I kept the Mint Apple focused there.

As I was playing with my stamps, I easily found one I liked for this.  I used BM-214.  There are some feathers on there that I could easily separate to only use part of it.  I used the whole image on my ring and pointer fingers.  I am so in love with the Color Club holos for stamping so that was my go-to again.  This time I used Angel Kiss for all of the stamping.  I used only a portion of the stamp for the tips of the remaining fingers.  I used 1 coat of Seche Vite over everything to give it a shine.

I find this one to be perfect for spring!  I am loving the pastels!!!

Take a look at the other fun pastel looks!

Pastels 2: Pink

It is time for another pastel manicure.  I love pastels, but I am finding that I don't have enough of them in my collection!  Since I am on a "no-buy" right now, I will have to make do with what I've got.  LOL!

Today I went with pinks.  I had a polish in mind that I wanted to use and a technique that I thought would work out OK.  I knew I wanted to use Revlon Popular in this one and that I was feeling a tape mani.

I used 1 coat of Milani White as my undie polish (as usual).  In case you are wondering why I use this one all of the time: I have 2 bottles of it and I don't especially love it.  It is a good undie polish but requires 2-3 coats for full coverage.  I then put on 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Tickled Pink and topped with some Seche Vite.  I did my best to let this thoroughly dry before starting the tape portion.

I did ONE NAIL AT A TIME.  I used regular scotch tape for this, but I just made sure to remove most of the stickiness from the tape before applying it to my nail.  I applied 1 coat of Revlon Popular to the tips and quickly removed the tape.  I let that dry as much as possible and added the silver striping tape.  I then put 3 coats of Seche Vite on top of this.  Does that seem like overkill?  I have such an issue with the striping tape edges peeling up that I wanted to be sure it was firmly set.

I am in love with this!  It is just so pretty!  The striping tape makes it look neat & polished!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to see the other lovely pastel manicures:

Orange Base

Orange?  Yeah, not really the best color for my skin tone but I thought I would give it a try.  I'll keep this simple today.  I used 1 coat of Milani White as an undie polish and followed it up with 2 coats of China Glaze Peachy Keen as a base color.  I really hoped to go with only one coat to keep the color a bit lighter but it just wouldn't cooperate.

I used CH10 for the stamp with China Glaze Thataway.  The stamp is really lovely!  It is so subtle that you can barely see it from a distance.  I used some "glequins" from The Born Pretty Store on my accent nail to get a shooting star effect.  I followed everything up with some Seche Vite.  The accent nails required about 3 coats to get it smooth.

Thanks for taking a look at this one.

Pastels 1: Violet

We are back to challenges in The Nail Challenge Collaborative!  It is pastels for April.  And today marks the 1 year anniversary of this group.  If only I had been with the group when it started!  I have enjoyed these ladies so much over the last few months.  I am so grateful to be among them and all of their talent!

On to the mani!  I chose violet for my first pastel for the month.  I love my purples!  I have done my swatchcicles for all of my China Glaze polishes now and I have them separated into "tried" and "untried" cups at the moment.  Everyone teases me that there is no way that I can use all of my polishes and I need to prove them wrong!  I used 4 "untrieds" for this mani!  Yay me!  LOL

What I used:

• China Glaze base coat
• Milani White as an undie (1 coat)
• China Glaze Sweet Hook as a base color for all nails (2 coats)
• Stamps:
• BM-314
• China Glaze Tart-Y For The Party
• Color Club Eternal Beauty
• Accent Nail: China Glaze Marry A Millionaire
• Seche Vite

The holo in the Color Club is just amazing!  I wish I could capture what it looks like in the sun!  But, it is night time right now and I want to be sure to get this posted TODAY!  I love it as a stamping polish!

Happy Anniversary!  Take a look at the other lovelies and their pastel #1 posts:

Autism Awareness Day

Today is Autism Awareness Day and I love to support good causes.  So, I went blue to Light It Up and support a very prevalent issue.

I am also working on a swatching project as I have finally received my "swatchcicles".  I have done the majority of my China Glaze polishes but still have somewhere around 950 more to go.  Once these get done, I have a plan to use my "untrieds".  For this mani, I used 4 untrieds!  YAY!

You can see here what the "swatchcicles" look like and the polishes I used.  They are all China Glaze: Hanging In The Balance, Blue Sparrow, First Mate.

Here are all of the polishes I used for this manicure:

I used Color Club Over The Moon for my stamp accent nails.

I used Hanging In The Balance as a base color for my middle and ring fingers.  The middle finger has a blue striping tape design added and the ring finger has a coat of Blue Sparrow on top.  Blue Sparrow dries matte, so I have a coat of Seche Vite on top to make it shiny again.  On my index and pinkie fingers, I am wearing 2 coats of First Mate.  I used Over The Moon to stamp with BM-319 for the puzzle piece accent. I used the same striping tape on my pinkie.

The color combo is really pretty!  This is only the 2nd time using the striping tape and I am still getting the hang of it.  It needs at least 2 coats of top coat to seal it in.  Even then, after several hand-washings, it did start to come up.  My learning on this one is to cut the tape just slightly higher on the nail (no overhang).

Please take a look at the other lovely solutes to this special day.