Sparkling Water

Last night I made a major change and filed all my nails short, and also made the tip much more square. I'm still not sure if I like the squareness, but it is easier to type with short nails!



As for polish, I just did two quick coats of Sally Hansen Triple Shine Sparkling Water, which is a very pretty teal blue with a very sparkly shimmer.  I actually put on this polish on Wednesday, and just filed it away with my nails when I did the big chop last night.  Probably the nail polish purists would faint if they heard that, but I didn't get any chipping or anything, and it worked  fine.  I did add another layer of top coat after filing.



Love it!  I also have Wavy Blue from the Triple Shine line, which is a bluer blue, and I really like them both.  So sparkly! The Sparkling Water has a definite greenish lean.

Lacy

I did a pretty lacy mani yesterday.



I ordered four Konad stamping plates (M-26, M-57, M-60, M-64) a couple weeks ago, and finally got around to using one.  Konad plates are expensive compared to the other sets that come with 20-25 plates, but it's kind of nice to be able to pick out only the plates I'll use.  I've been watching videos on YouTube and browsing Pinterest, and these four plates kept coming up in designs I liked.  So I figured I should get them!



This mani used two coats of Sinful Colors Rich in Heart.   I stamped twice on each nail with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and the lace design on Konad plate M-57, then added a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust.  Revlon base coat and Seche Vite topcoat, as usual.



Rich in Heart is a pretty dark brown with a subtle red shimmer.  It's dark, and looks black from a distance and in some lights, but I like it.  The Fairy Dust lightened it up some.  I do so love Fairy Dust.  I should get another bottle in case... you know... the world ends and they stop making it....

I'm quite happy with the way this turned out.  I know I said on the last brown manicure that the stamping and the sparkles were a bit over the top, but that may just have been because the stamping was in gold.  In this mani, it works just right.

Dark duochrome

The manicure I did last night is with a really cool duochrome polish, Essie For the Twill of It.  I used a base color of WnW Wild Shine Black Creme, and one coat of FTTOI.  I was really impressed with how opaque FTTOI was, even with just one coat.  Without a base color you'd probably need two coats, but one was fine here.

Duochromes are fun.  From a distance, it looks like a shiny dark steel gray.  Closer, when the light hits it one way it looks green...



And then when you change the angle, it shifts to purple...



And the whole range in between.



I really like this polish.

Tiffany glitter

Another fun manicure today.  The french manicure was starting to chip and look messy so I took it off.  I think it might just be the Snow Me White.  Both the purple gradient and now the french tips have chipped horribly, and both used Snow Me White.  Oh well.

Anyway, this mani is fun.  I really like the various Tiffany/robin's egg blue polishes.  I don't have the original China Glaze For Audrey, but I do have Orly Gumdrop and this one, Wet n Wild Megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint.



So, this is two coats of WnW Megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint, topped with one coat of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Over the Rainblue.  Revlon quick dry basecoat, Seche Vite topcoat.



I really like the WnW Megalast polishes.  I have five of them- the formula on all is great, and I LOVE the wide brush.  It makes polishing a breeze, with minimal cleanup.  I Need a Refresh-Mint leans much bluer than Gumdrop, and the formula is marginally better.  I think I generally prefer the bluer look.



The glitter topper is great, too.  It's large and small blue hex glitters, with some silver holographic bar glitter.  Application was a bit of a pain, since it had to be dabbed on and the clear base tended to get too thick, but it was worth the little of bit of effort required to distribute the glitter.



Overall, I really like these polishes and this manicure, and plan to wear it for several days.

First ever french manicure

Well that was weird.  I have never really liked the look of french manicures, but for some reason wanted to try it tonight.



I took off the beautiful green flower mani earlier because it was getting some tip wear (plus it's the weekend and I like doing nails on the weekend...), and BAM...broke the nail on my right pointer finger while picking up my laptop.  I didn't have any nail glue, and really didn't want to cut all my nails down to nubs, so I ran out to Walmart, which was the only store in town that was still open at 10:30 on a Saturday night.

While I was there I picked up a Wet n Wild 2% Milk, just because it's been intriguing me for a while. Even though I don't like french manicures, you know.  I figured I could just wear it as an all-over nude nail or use it as a base for stamping or something.

When I got home and had repaired the broken nail (See it up there? You can't even tell!), I had this crazy idea to do a french mani.  So I did!

This is one coat of WnW 2% Milk, one coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White on the tips, and then another coat of WnW 2% Milk over everything.

And you know what? I kind of like it.

The tips are  just freehanded, and it was pretty good for a first attempt, I think.  It was much easier on my right hand since I'm left-handed, but the left hand came out OK.  Practice will help a lot...

I had been pretty skeptical about the value of such a light, sheer polish like the 2% Milk, but it really does even out the manicure, and tones down the stark white. It even covers the remaining yellowish staining on my nails. Next time I may skip the first coat of sheer before I do the white tips, unless the yellow shows through.

Fresh daisies

Today I did my favorite manicure to date.  Well, maybe a tie with the snowflakes last month.  Don't make me choose!



This is two coats of Sinful Colors Exotic Green, topped with the sort-of-plaid stamp from the Mash-39 plate in Zoya Hunter, the daisy stamp off the Salon Expressions SE-19 plate in Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and finished with medium and tiny dots of Sinful Colors Pistache.



I mean, really.  LOOK AT IT! It's so springy and pretty!  I love it!

Brown and gold

I never thought I would ever see myself wearing brown nail polish.  I don't really know why... I like brown.  I guess it just seemed boring for nail color.  But it's not.  It's rich.



This is two coats of OPI You Don't Know Jacques!, stamped with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Go for Gold using the Mash-41 plate, and topped with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust.  Revlon base coat and Seche Vite top coat, as usual.

I like the color of You Don't Know Jacques!, even though I didn't expect to.  It's a rich taupe brown, and not too gray.  I'm still not sold on gray or gray-taupe polish.  Warm colors are better with my skin tone, and I think most grays are too cool for me.  This is a nice medium brown.



I think the Fairy Dust might have been the slightest bit of overkill, but I do like the sparkle.  Next time I'll probably do either the stamp or the sparkle, but not both.

Still, I like the way it came out.

Girly

I did another pink manicure today, because I took the Girl Scouts to a basketball game and it was "Wear Pink Day" to support breast cancer awareness.  Therefore, all things pink.



This is Orly Sugar Plum, two coats, topped with a Sinful Colors Snow Me White stamp off the Mash-41 plate.



Pretty, girly, manicure.  A little more pink than I usually go for, but nice for a change.  The Sugar Plum is a nice clear pink shimmer, not too purple or too dusty or too dark.