Multichrome and Blogging Flakiness

Hello. Long time no post... Again. I've still been doing tons of nails and then storing them away for "later." This post has been sitting half finished for about 2 months now. Oops. I'm feeling a little bad about that. Since the blogging has been a little rough I think I'm going to try to keep up with my Instagram so I can at least get some new stuff out there. Writing a whole blog post takes so many thoughts and words. I think Insta might be more my speed these days. 

I recently placed a big order with Born Pretty because I've been dying to try out the chrome and holo pigment powders. This one is a multichrome flakey powder thing. The shift is really noticeable and pretty. I did one layer of the flakies over regular black polish and topped it off with a water based top coat from Sparkle & Co. Next time I want to layer on more flakies to see if a denser coat makes a difference. It was hard to get the flakes to stick in some places so I'm going to try adding top coat and then another round of flakes to see if I can get more full coverage. 

Getting Spongy

In more ways than one? In the spirit of sharing all the boring details of my life I feel compelled to tell you that I'm on a very depressing diet of healthy foods. I've been feeling a little extra around the middle lately and I've finally found the motivation to eat healthier and exercise a bit. It's been almost three whole weeks and not much progress aside from having kickass nails. I'm currently cheating with a delicious beer at my favorite brewery.

These nails were inspired by a cool Instagram pic which I fully intended to link and give credit to until the untimely demise of my beautiful new phone. I haven't been able to find the original picture after losing all my saved files. If you know who did this first let me know. I'm back to using my nearly unbearable iPhone but that's a story for another day. 

I started with a base of Nina Ultra Pro, French Pink. Next I taped off sections of the nail, 4 times for each. Using Seche, Calla Lily, I sponged a light layer so that the white polish built up more at the tip. The effect is subtle but really cool. I want to try this again with different colors.

Everyone's Irish on St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's is on a Friday this year?!? I'm not sure if I should be excited or scared. I don't usually make plans but this year might have to be an exception.

I had the idea to mix my favorite green and gold polishes for a subtle St Patrick's look.

The golds: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure- Golden Rule + Victoria's Secret- Runway Angel, Sally Hansen Color Foil- Liquid Gold, Orly- Bling, 24k gold leaf with clear polish, Nina Ultra Pro- Big Spender

The greens: Revlon- Tantalize, Seche- Charming, OPI- Plaid About You, China Glaze- Rare and Radient, Zoya- Ivanka

Do you have any exciting plans this St Patrick's Day?

Valentine Schmalentine

Meh. That about sums up my feelings for the holiday called Valentine's Day. Accordingly, I have half-assed some shimmery nails and slapped some hearts on to make it festive.

I started with two coats of Seche, Calla Lily then added three coats of Color Club, Snow-Flakes. It's a very subtle flakey shimmer effect over the white polish. On my thumb I stamped some hearts using Bundle Monster plate BM-317 and Mundo de Unas pink and red stamping polishes dotted on randomly before scraping to give a two-tone look.

New Year, New Galaxy Nails

Look at that... I'm only 9 days late on my New Year's nails. As usual I have no resolutions this year. Either I'll be completely awesome as  intended or the mundane details of adult life will drag me into a comfortable mediocrity. No sense getting all philosophical about it.

I sponged a galaxy type design using a ton of different polishes. LA Colors- Reckless; EverGlaze- Royal Satin; Sinful Colors- Let's Talk, Dream On; Orly- Saturated; China Glaze- Pool Party, Home Sweet House Music, Fairy Dust. The real reason for this design was to match these fantastic Swarovski crystals. They color shift depending on the angle so I tried to pick up all the colors from the crystals in my galaxy. The cream color on the accent nail is OPI, My Vampire Is Buff.

What are your predictions/resolutions for 2017?

Seche Premier Color- Charming

I've known about Seche Vite top coat for a while, but this is my first time trying out their polish. The line was relatively new to Sally Beauty but it's already being discontinued. I picked up this green shade and 7 others on super discount- about $1.85 each down from $9.99. 

 This color is called Charming. The shade is nice but the formula could be better. I found it to be a bit thin and had trouble with it dragging. I have two coats on here and still have a little patchiness at the cuticles where the color pulled away as I brushed over it. A third coat or waiting longer between coats probably would have helped a lot. For the sale price I'm ok with it but would have been a lot more irked at full price (funny how that works).

Have you tried these? If so what did you think?

Christmassy Marble Nails

I was seriously considering "Marblous Christmas Nails" as my title for this one. So bad! I need to get more sleep for sure. 

Even the right hand turned out pretty good. 

These nails were inspired by my latest home renovation project (and the Nailasaurus marble nails tutorial). The red nails are China Glaze, Seeing Red. The marble nails are Sinful Colors, Snow Me White and Black

Happy holidays everyone!