Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Nails Niche Peeks: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri High Speed Glitter Gradient Nail Art

A SFW neutral color with a glitter twist.


Base color: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri High Speed, a purple-toned neutral cool gray (2 coats)

Glitter Gradient:
Fine glitter: Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope, a fine holo multi-sized glitter
Chunky glitter: Formula X Hubba Hubble

XOXO

Is

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Sally Hansen Giant Peach

Hi guys! Happy Easter to those who celebrate! Today I have a swatch of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Giant Peach for you.


Giant Peach is a pretty warm coral-leaning pink creme. It's on the muted side, so it can be worn to work as it's not too bright. It's very flattering, and I wore this for a few days, which is saying something for me... Usually I change my polish every day! 

The formula was pretty good, a little streaky on the first coat but evened out completely by the second. This swatch is two coats with topcoat (I apologize for the tipwear--I may or may not have been playing in some acetone right before this picture).

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's are so reliable and affordable. I love them! What's your favorite?

XOXO

Is

Saturday, April 4, 2015

City Skyline Nail Art

Hey guys! I went to New York City this past week for a visit to the Museum of Natural History, and I did my nails to match!

These are my city skyline nails...


Here's how I did it:


I started off by doing a sunset gradient. I used a makeup sponge and blue (Sinful Colors Blue By You), pink (Sinful Colors Cream Pink), and yellow (Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, the original). 


I then used black (Sinful Colors Black on Black) and created buildings by stroking down with the brush. Using the same yellow, I used a tiny dotting tool to make windows. I then finished off with topcoat.

Done!

I love the Museum of Natural History. The human origins exhibit is my favorite. Have you ever been there? What's your favorite exhibit?

XOXO

Is



Sunday, March 8, 2015

Nails Niche Peeks: Sally Hansen Tickled Pink and Sinful Colors Glass Pink


Three coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Tickled Pink, a light pastel pink, topped with Sinful Colors Glass Pink, a sheer pale pink with gold shimmer.

So pretty! SFW and delicate, with some pizazz!

XOXO

Is

Punk Floral Nail Art

Today's NOTD is a cool combo of girly and grunge! I was in the mood for some floral, but not too much pink. After Valentine's Day I tend to be recovering from pink overload, so I incorporated some edgier elements into this manicure. 




I started off with my base coat (Essie Fill the Gap) and then painted all my nails but the ring finger with two coats of Sally Hansen Satin Glam in Silk Onyx. This is a very dark charcoal with subtle glints of rainbow specks that dries to a satiny matte finish. For my ring finger, I painted two coats of OPI Alpine Snow, my new favorite white polish! Once that dried, I stroked OPI Alpine Snow down one half of my middle fingernail and allowed it to dry. I then used Sally Hansen Tickled Pink and a large dotting tool to make a big light pink circle in the corner of my ring fingernail. I did the same on the white half of the middle nail. Once that dried, I used a toothpick dipped into Nicole by OPI Something About Spring to make darker pink lines on and around the light pink circles. This creates an effortless rose! I then made leaves by dabbing a toothpick next to each rose, dipped into Color Club London Calling, a light green, and OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid, a medium seafoam jade green. I then added topcoat (NYC Grand Central Station) to the floral half of the middle nail and to the ring nail, but not the matte nails, as I wanted to preserve the different finishes. To finish, I added a stripe of topcoat down the center of my middle nail and put a line of Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art rhinestones where the two sections met to jazz it up.

I love this mani! Maybe because it's the perfect balance of punk and feminine, or because of the different finishes... Either way, this is one of my favorite manis I've ever done! 

Thanks so much for reading!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Chrome Geometric Negative Space Nail Art

Hello ladies! How's your 2015 going? I hope it's a happy healthy one filled with lots of achievements and blessings. 

Today's nail art is a really cool design, in my opinion. I tend to do intricate nail art on the weekends, since that's when I have time to relax. 



I was inspired by this manicure that I saw on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/312366924127751652/

For this manicure I started with a base coat and a layer of topcoat, then added two coats of Sally Hansen Color Foil in Titanium Flush, a pink mirror-like chrome. These polishes are pretty finicky, so be sure to see my post on How to Make Your Sally Hansen Color Foils Look Perfect: http://nailsniche.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-to-make-your-sally-hansen-color.html 

Once that was dry, I took a nail art brush and Essie Spin the Bottle, a creamy nude, and free handed a thick horizontal line in the center of my nail. After that, I used Sinful Colors Black on Black to make the outline of the nude stripe and the zig zags. I finished off with topcoat.

I initially was going to use tape over my bare nail and add Titanium Flush, but because of the quick-drying nature of the Color Foil I just couldn't get a clean line, so I substituted the negative space bare nail look with a nude polish and a tiny brush. 

I really liked this look. The geometric strip across the center combined with the reflective metal finish was really cool. I went to get a pedicure after I did this and I got so many compliments from the ladies who work there! 

What's your favorite nail art look to do when you have time? Have a great day!

XOXO

Is

Sunday, December 28, 2014

I Like Sandwiches...

I'm on Team Turkey. Panera is rather delicious. How bout you? Peanut butter? Jelly?

I'm expanding my horizons and trying a jelly sandwich today...

...well, not exactly.

A jelly sandwich is technique where you apply a layer of a translucent jelly polish, then a chunky glitter polish, and top that with another layer of jelly polish. I have a tutorial on this technique (you can find it in the Tutorials tab--it's the very first one in that category!) if you want a more in-depth description.

I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Greenlight (which, by the way, doesn't seem to exist. Literally, I can't find any swatches of it online.) Greenlight is a squishy green-toned teal jelly, and when I bought it I actually thought it was a creme. To my surprise, it was a jelly! Hurray!

The glitter I used is Maybelline Clearly Spotted, a really versatile topper of black and white matte hex glitters. 


What would a peanut butter and jelly sandwich mani be? I'm thinking a jelly, a glitter, a shimmer topper, and another layer of a jelly. Huh! I might have to try that out...

XOXO

Is

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Edgy Negative Space Nail Art

Hi guys! Today I have some nail art to share with you.

Negative space has been a big trend lately. I personally am a huge fan!


Here it is! I really enjoyed wearing this- I wore it for two whole days, a rarity for me!


First I used my base coat (CND Stickey) and let it dry completely. If you have stained or discoloration, you may want to use a ridge filling base coat or a sheer pink polish, but be sure to let it dry fully before moving on to the next step. Using Scotch tape, I cut of the jagged edges on one end and then positioned it at the base of my nail in a triangle shape and then user Sinful Colors Black on Black to fill in the exposed area. Then I immediately removed the tape.


Next, I used a striping brush dipped into Essie No Place Like Chrome and made two intersecting lines, each parallel to the edges of the bare triangle. (Geometry, guys. Yes.) 


I finished off with topcoat (Essie Good to Go) and added a silver Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art rhinestone. 



What do you guys think? I really like negative space nail art. You can really do a lot with it! How bout you guys! Do you like negative space nail art?

XOXO

Is





Thursday, July 3, 2014

How to Make Your Sally Hansen Color Foils Look Perfect

...as possible.

If you follow the world of nail polish, you are sure to know that Sally Hansen has been busy with a few new collections, one of which is called Color Foils! A nod to the Chrome line from the early 2000's, these babies are infused with aluminum to make them as shiny and reflective as can be. (With that said, they are not Minx. Color Foils are pretty dang reflective, but you will not miraculously discover ten little mirrors on your fingers.) 

Although these polishes are indeed quite awesome, we do hit one little snag. Sally Hansen instructs not to use base or topcoat with Color Foils. On top of that, chrome polishes tend to show every little imperfection in your nails, like ridges, peelies, dents, and much, much, more-- possibly stuff you didn't even know you had. While some ladies out there are blessed with smooth nails, others are not, me being one of them. Sadly, Color Foils do not react well with ridge filling base coats, or any other type, as a matter of fact. I tried. The polish went all baldy and clumpy and draggy, and while you may be telling yourself (if you are nail expert) "Oh, I can avoid this, piece of cake," you won't be able to. Sorry to burst your bubble, but no matter how well you apply with however light a hand, you will not be able to make these work with a base coat alone. It's just not gonna happen. Instead of buffing my nails to the point where they're tissue paper-thin, I ventured out to find a way to hide my ridges and dents by still using a base coat. Be a rebel, guys, and read on.

So here is what Titanium Flush looks like alone, without base or topcoat. Titanium Flush is hot pink chrome with fuchsia undertones.


You can see all of my ridges and dents, especially on my middle and pinkie fingers. Joy. 

I then removed it and tried it over my Essie First Base base coat. I can now confidently say that Color Foils look their worst over any sort of tacky base coat. It dragged and clumped and looked awful. Back to the drawing board!

I removed that and realized that my smoothest, driest coat of all would be of my topcoat, Essie Good to Go. I applied my two base coats, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener and Essie First Base, which together do a pretty got job of concealing my ridges. I then applied my topcoat. I waited until that was completely dry, and then painted two coats of the Color Foil. OH EM GEE!!! CHROMEY PERFECTION! 


I'm so sorry, but by the time I got to this combo I was pretty impatient, and I pretty much slapped it on and had no interest in cleaning up. I hope you can forgive me! :(

But seriously... How much of an improvement is that!? I experienced very little clumping and dragging, but my additional advice is to use a light hand and not press on the nail with the brush.

So to recap the layers are as follows:

1 coat Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener
1 coat Essie First Base
1 coat Essie Good To Go
2 coats Titanium Flush

Or...

1 coat ridge filler
1 coat topcoat
2 coats Color Foil

I hope this helps your Color Foils look as AWESOME as possible! Good luck!

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XOXO

Is


Monday, June 9, 2014

Some Recent NOTD's

Greetings, nail lovers! I have A LOT of catching up to do with my NOTD's, so I guess now's the time! Some of them are recreations of various YouTubers' or bloggers' designs, in which case I will link to their post. Oh, and one more thing! I've been doing my lovely friend's nails recently, so some of these mani's are hers.


Here we have a lace half moon mani. This is a sort of recreation of Lucy's Stash's Lace Half Moon Manicure, one of several that she's done. I used Spoiled Correction Tape to paint the white base. I waited for it to completely dry, then applied reinforcement stickers to the "half moon" area and painted over it with Sinful Colors Cream Pink, a squishy neon pink with gold shimmer, and peeled off the reinforcements, revealing a white half moon. I waited for THAT to dry, and then used a black Hot Designs nail art pen to make a smaller half moon inside the white one and then black dots at the edge of the white half moon, and then connected the small black half moon to the black dots with black lines. Wheeee!


Here is just a simple mani with an floral accent nail. This are the gorgeous nails of my very dear friend, who I am currently getting addicted to nails. The hot pink is Essie Mod Square, which you can find a review of here. The accent nail is Essie Fiji, with flowers made with a dotting tool. The blue is Essie In The Cab-ana and the silver centers are Essie No Place Like Chrome. This mani definitely shows that I LOVE Essie!


This mani is based on the Chit Chat Nails' technique called a Skittlette, which she describes here. I like this idea a lot! However, I didn't quite like the result. Originally I had made the my pinkie completely covered in pink glitter, but I didn't like the look of that, so I took it off and changed it up. I started with a black base (Spoiled Visually Slimming). I then used a tiny paint brush to paint small swirls on the middle and ring fingers with Essie Mod Square and then went over the swirls with Essie A Cut Above. I finished with a matte top coat and then added a faux rhinestone with A Cut Above at the base of the nails. Done!


This is a nice mani, cute and sweet. It is a recreation of cutepolish's Pearls and Pastel nails, which I really liked! I painted the bottom half of my nails with Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac. I then added white stripes to the purple with Spoiled Correction Tape with a tiny brush and used a dotting tool to add white dots where the purple met the naked nail. I added OPI Happy Anniversary! to the white dots to imitate the nail art pearls (which I don't have). I finished with top coat, and then added a matte top coat to the polish! Pretty!


Here are my awesome friend's nails again! This is a simply triangle look. I started with Sally Hansen Pixie Slicks, a nice bright pink. I then blocked off a triangle with Scotch Tape at the tip of the nail with Spoiled Paying With Platinum, an interesting duochrome. It's grayish with flashes of purple, and at extreme angles, green. It went well with the pink... I like green and pink and purple together!


This is a recreation of a look from a video by MissJenFABULOUS, a YouTuber. I started with Essie In The Cab-ana on my thumb, pointer, and pinkie fingers and Sally Hansen Pixie Slicks on my middle and ring fingers. I stroked In The Cab-ana down the middle of my middle and pointer fingers and then, with a tiny paintbrush, I flicked white (Spoiled Correction Tape) and the pink over the blue. On my 
thumb, pointer, and pinkie fingers, I made a large dot of pink at the base of my nail and a smaller pink dot above it, and smaller white dots inside the pink dots. Voila!


This was a rainbow dotticure. I used (in ROY G. BIV order) Essie Mod Square, Essie Really Red, Sally Hansen Sun Kissed, some non-brand random yellow ice cream shaped polish, Spoiled I'm So Jaded, Sally Hansen Blue Me Away, and OPI Funky Dunkey. I made rows of dots with a dotting tool. I wore it like that, then a few days later added Maybelline Clearly Spotted on top. It looked sort of ombre this way!


Now we have watermelon nails, again on my BFF. I started with Sally Hansen Coral Reef for the watermelon color, and then with the Kelly Green polish from the Hot Designs nail art pen I made a green French tip. I added a white line with the white Hot Designs pen in between the green and coral. Then, with the black pen, I added three seeds on the coral.


Last (and kind of least), we have a jelly sandwich. The polish I used was a bit too opaque, but oh well. I started with two coats of Orly Sky Blue Color Flip, a blue polish with a lavender and sometimes sea foam green sheen. I added a coat of Essie Set In Stones, a silver hex glitter, and then another coat of Orly. It turned out to be a bit thick, but it was a really nice mermaid-y look.

Whew! Well, that's it! I'm all caught up. I hope you enjoyed, and maybe it gave you some inspiration! If you decide to recreate something, please show me in the comments down below! See ya!

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XOXO

Is

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Neon Rainbow French Manicure

Today I have a rather exciting mani to show you, but I'll be short and sweet.


I'm so sorry, but I don't know the names of the colors I used for this except the base, which is Shell We Dance? from the Complete Salon Manicure collection by Sally Hansen.The pink and orange are Color Club, the yellow and green are Spoiled, and the blue is Sinful Colors. I used all of these colors over white (Spoiled Correction Tape) since they're neon (the picture doesn't reflect that too well). I finished with Good To Go by Essie, my favorite top coat.

This mani is great if you want something traditional, but fun and colorful and unexpected.

Refer to my French Manicure Tutorial post for how I did this French.

Thanks for reading!

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XOXO

Is

Sunday, April 13, 2014

NOTD: Plain Old White (With Added Pizazz!) Sally Hansen Disco Ball

Hi guys! I have today's mani to share with you. It's not much, but I was in the springy mood yesterday (temperatures are rising!) and wanted to do something clean and light.

That turned out to be plain old white (Spoiled Correction Tape) with some fine glitter on top (Sally Hansen Disco Ball from the Xtreme Wear collection).

Generally, I reserve white for summer, but it was so warm yesterday I couldn't help it!



I rather like it! The glitter doesn't show up that well in the photo (my apologies) but it adds a nice bit of sparkle and fun to the plain white polish. Disco Ball is very versatile that way... it adds pizazz to any color. I tried it with black as well...



You can see how the glitter really pops against the black.

So there ya go! A quickie little NOTD post. I'm so excited for the warmer weather! I really love Disco Ball as it can be used with any creme, and is fun without being to over-the-top.

What polishes do you use to jazz up plain colors?

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XOXO

Is