Tip of the Week

Hey guys, I know it's only Wednesday, but my schedule is pretty full for the rest of the week/weekend, so I figured I would go ahead and post this week's tip.  

Do you ever get frustrated with how long top coats take to dry?  Ever thought your top coat was dry but woke up the next morning and there were imprints of your sheets on your nails?  To stop this, after putting on your top coat, put your hands in a bowl of ice water.  I wish I could tell you what this does chemically to help dry those pesky top coats, but I have no idea.  I do know that the cold temperature will set the color more quickly (this is why some people put their hands in front of fans to dry their nails). It works like a charm!

Just get a bowl big enough to put your hands in, put some cold water in it, and then throw in some ice.  Hold your hands in for as long as you can, swish the water around, take your fingers out to give them a rest for a while, put them back in.  For real.  It works. 

Happy painting!

Tip of the Week

Hey guys, my next tip for you is - Make sure your nails are 100% dry before using a topcoat.
 Topcoats are a wonderful thing, but putting them on too soon can mess up your whole mani by dragging the colors.  There is no frustration like that of having spent hours doing your nails, getting them just the way you want them, only to ruin them at the last second (after they're done, I might add).  Yes, I have done this many, many times.  I still do it more than I would like.  Doing your nails takes patience, which sometimes I just don't possess.   It can make for a cool, subtle effect if that's what you're going for, but if you want crisp, clean lines - WAIT TO PUT ON THAT TOPCOAT.

Review of Pure Ice China Girl

So for my first review I thought I'd show you a color I've been dying to try.  Naturally, I had to listen to David Bowie while I did this.  I think I've mentioned before that Pure Ice may be my favorite brand, and here's why!

• Firstly, I love the metallic sheen of their colors. There is something so appealing about the way they shine and reflect light, and it really sets them apart from other brands.

• Secondly, it coats evenly.  That's a lovely addition.  

• You also don't even really need more than one coat, depending on the color I suppose.  This time I used two coats, but I didn't really need to.  
• Next, it dries relatively quickly!  These took about fifteen minutes to dry, which is far superior to some brands (coughSallyHansenXtremeWear) that can take up to a few hours to dry completely.  Sheesh.
• IT'S CHEAP!  One bottle is only $1.97 at Walmart.  That's a clearance price on most other brands.  It is absolutely worth two bucks.

HOWEVER.  There are a couple cons that I wish weren't there:

• It leaves stroke marks.  You can pretty much see where the brush was with each stroke.  A minor aggravation, but still annoying.  Sometimes putting on a topcoat can help minimize them.
• It doesn't take much to make it bubble.  Seriously, bubbles in a mani are so infuriating.  It's one of those little things that can make the whole finger look bad.  

But really, that's about it.  The pros definitely outweigh the cons.  Pure Ice is affordable and it looks great!  I'm going to give it.... hmmm... 4 out of 5 stars!

 

(Again, pre-cleanup)

Second Attempt at Water Marbling

This time I used Sinful Colors's Snow Me White, Essie's Play Date, Sally Hansen's (GASP!  I know I said I had boycotted this, but I thought I would give it one last shot) Plum Power, and Rimmel's Purple Rain.

This is probably my favorite mani thus far, but don't worry, I promise I will start doing something other than water marbling soon!  It does, unfortunately, take more polish than I would like, and if I keep doing it I'll run out of colors!  I'll put up a tutorial on how to do water marbling in the future, and that will probably be my last post about it for a while.  

Usually I don't like to use Sinful Colors because it's so cheap and you have to put on a hundred coats before you see a change in the color, but this Snow Me White is working really well.  I used it as my base coat for this mani as well.  Generally, Essie is pretty good, but you would expect it to be if you're paying $8 per bottle.  It coats pretty evenly, which is something that is super obnoxious if it doesn't.  Like I said, I've boycotted all of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Line because I've had horrible trouble with it globbing up in the bottle and not thinning out with nail polish remover.  It's also pretty hard to get to cover evenly.  BUT, as you can see, I got this bottle for under 2 bucks, so I figured I'd give it a chance.  I may even use it in the future.  I've not had a chance to try my Rimmel by itself yet, but it's proving itself worthy with this mani!  That was also on clearance.

P.S. sorry for the mess again!

Tip of the Week

My first tip for all you ladies (or gents) out there painting nails, is: ALWAYS USE A BASE COAT!

Not only does it help adhere the polish to your nail, but it also protects your nails from tearing apart.  After painting your nails a few times without a base coat, sometimes your nails will begin getting brittle and falling apart.  Base coats add a layer between your nail and some of the harsh chemicals in acrylic polishes. 

Base coats typically dry pretty quickly, so you don't have to worry much about it adding too much time to the already long process of drying nails.  

You can get base coats for cheap, but in most cases you get what you pay for.  A cheap base coat often won't keep your mani adhered for as long as a more expensive brand.  I like my FingerPaints base coat, as well as my Chi base coat. 

If you want to be painting your nails for a long time, it's important to take care of them!

Happy painting!

Water Marbling?!?

Oh man, this is it guys.  It's only taken me like six months to figure out how to do this.  BUT I'VE DONE IT!  Sorry about the messy cuticles, but I'm super excited. 

ALRIGHT.  So I used Chi's Base/Top Coat and then put on a layer of NYC's French Tip color (I apparently need more white).   Always use a white beneath this and let it dry, as it makes the colors stand out more.  I also didn't realize how gently you have to scrape the toothpick through to make the design... Lesson learned: SUPER GENTLY.  

Also, kind of roll your nail into it so you get the sides.  That's something I will do differently next time.  There are some slivers on the sides of my nails now that are just white.  Bummer.  All in all, I'm super excited.  This is my First Attempt (FA), so expect better in the future!

Walking Dead inspired nails

Here's an oldie, but one of my favorites.  My Walking Dead-inspired nails!  I did these when season 2 was resuming in February.

So I definitely won't do this the same way if I try it again.  I put down a layer of white and then spread around the red, I did some taping for the triangular flesh-tears.  From there I tried to put the green on AROUND the areas I had painted.  Mistake.   I did it right for the taping, but the other ones not so much.  I used just a black nail art pen to draw the stitches on and the lines on the brains.

Here's what I'm currently wearing (on my left hand).  I'm in love with this new color called Jamaica Me Crazy by Pure Ice.  It's the pinkish fuchia base color.  I used Savvy Totally Turqoise, Essie Play Date, and Rimmel Purple Rain for the dots.

 And of course, my Flight of the Conchords-themed accent thumb!  Freehanded!

So here's today's haul!  $10 for all five of these.  Not the greatest deal, but definitely not bad.  Chi is a brand I've not used before, so we'll see, but I'm definitely excited about these colors.  So left to right: Chi Base and Top Coat; Chi Milk Shake; Chi Chardonnay Everyday; Chi Playing Hard to Get; Chi Razzle Dazzle.

Welcome!

Hey guys, so this is really going to be quite similar to my facebook page, aka a place for me to store all these pictures!  Except, of course, I am going to be much more thorough about designs and brands and stuff.  I'll probably do little reviews of brands as I come across them, and any good deals that I find.

The pictures (unfortunately) won't be professional... or even good for that matter, but I imagine you'll get the gist of things!  Forgive me while I'm still figuring out all this blog stuff.

So... Welcome to my page!