Patchwork

My first week of classes is complete! I have so much reading and homework to do already :( But at least my nails are cute. Today, I have a patchwork mani for you.

I made this mani by starting out with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Violet Voltage, a lavender. I was really impressed; it covered really well in one coat! There was slight VNL, but I stuck with one coat since I knew I'd be covering the tips anyway. I let that dry and used tape to section off the nail before adding a coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Golden-I, a really pretty antique gold. I let that dry before sectioning off my nails with tape once more. Then I added a coat of Sexy Divide by Essie, a deep purple. I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Unfortunately, I had a little bit of shrinkage from the Seche, which you can see in this close up picture :(

I'm pleased with how this came out though! It's quite pretty. I wish I had the patience to do tape manis more often.

Chrome and Rainbow Polka Dots!

Classes started up for me yesterday, so I decided to do some fun nail art for the first day of school. A little bit of rainbow never hurt anyone!

I started with a base of No Place Like Chrome by Essie. I had seen a good review of this polish, but I did not like the formula on this one. It was streaky and a bit thick, and if I painted over an area, the brush would pull the polish and create bald spots. Maybe some polish thinner will help it out?

Please excuse my bandages...I had an unfortunate run in with a thorn bush!

I grabbed a dotting tool and added some rainbow polka dots to the silver to make this mani more fun. Here are the colors used:

Turquoise: Turned Up Turquoise (China Glaze)

Pink: Oh Cabana Boy (ORLY)

Green: Fresh (ORLY)

Purple: Grape Pop (China Glaze)

Orange: Sun Kissed (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear)

Having a cute design on my nails always cheers me up. If I have to wake up at 8 in the morning for class, at least my nails are bright and happy!

Once Upon A Polish: Dragon Spit

I have some sad news: During all of my unpacking, I broke a few nails. I had to file them all down into little nubs to make them even :( So sad! I decided that if I had to have tiny nails, I would make them extra glittery to compensate. And so I tried out another indie polish. It's called Dragon Spit by Once Upon A Polish.

Dragon Spit is a mix of blue, orange, red, purple, and pink hex glitters with red and blue bar glitters and tiny red square glitters suspended in a clear base.

It's really shiny and lovely! I decided to layer it over Flying Dragon by China Glaze, a neon purple with tiny fuchsia and blue microglitter. Then I added just one coat of Dragon Spit. The glitter was pretty easy to work with; I just needed to dab it a tiny bit to get it even.

I actually had a really hard time deciding what to layer this over! Here are some other color combos I was considering:

From left: Dragon Spit over Rose Among Thorns (China Glaze), In The Lime Light (China Glaze), Grape Pop (China Glaze), and Pure Energy (Color Club)

Overall, I was pleased with this polish! I have some other Once Upon A Polishes that I'm excited to try now. You can purchase Once Upon A Polish from their Etsy shop, which can be found here.

Cover Band: Sticks N' Stones

Sorry about the lack of posts! My parents and I drove out to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, and we've spent the past few days unpacking and such. But now I'm all moved into my new apartment for another semester of college. Anyway, onto the polish! Today I bring you Sticks N' Stones by Cover Band.

Sticks N' Stones is a mix of black and white hexes in all different sizes, black square glitter, and black and white bar glitter. There are also some holographic bits in there, but they're not very prominent.

I decided to layer it over a new red polish I picked up, Hey Sailor by China Glaze. And let me tell you, Hey Sailor is great! It covered completely in just one coat. Then I added a coat of Sticks N' Stones.

As you can see, the glitter is very dense. I had to do a little manipulating to get everything even, but this polish was no trouble at all.

There are so many layering possibilities for this polish! I can't wait to try it over other colors.

You can find Sticks N' Stones at Ninja Polish. I would definitely grab a bottle while you can :)

Happy Hands: Flowers On The Highway

I have another indie for you today. This one is by Happy Hands; it's called Flowers On The Highway.

Flowers On The Highway is a glitter topcoat. It contains an assortment of matte/satin glitters: small pink and black hexes; medium green, lavendar, and pink hexes; and large yellow and white hexes. I love the name of this one. It really does remind me of flowers growing wildly along the highway!

Glitter close-up

I decided to layer this over one of my new polishes: Kalahari Kiss by China Glaze. Kalahari Kiss is a camel creme. I used two coats of that, then added just one coat of FOTH. Look at how dense that glitter is!

It did take some dabbing to get the bigger hexes where I wanted them. They had a tendency to migrate to the end of the nail, but I was able to move them around.

Even though it did require some dabbing, I didn't have to fish for any of the bigger glitters! What you see on the nail is what came out on the brush. I topped it off with one coat of Seche Vite. My nails feel a little bumpy (if that bothers you, I'm sure another coat of top coat would smooth it out), but the glitter lays flat to the nail.

Thumb detail

Overall, I'm really impressed with this polish! There are so many layering possibilities. I can't wait to try out the other polish I purchased along with this one. It's called Afternoon Thunderstorms.

Happy Hands polish can be purchased from their Etsy store. Full-sized bottles go for $8.00, a pretty good price for an indie brand!

Nail-venturous: Humble Bee

I spent the past few days out in Pittsburgh, training for my new job at college (hence the lack of posts for a few days!). I didn't have much time to do my nails before I left, so I decided to try out one of my new indie polishes. I bring you Humble Bee by Nail-venturous!

Bottle shot

Humble Bee is a mixture of black and yellow microglitter with medium black hexes suspended in a clear base. All of the glitter is matte.

Glitter close-up

I wanted to conserve polish, so I started by painting on a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. Then I painted on two coats of Humble Bee, waiting a few minutes between each coat to prevent the glitter from sliding around.

I've read that these polishes tend to be thick, but I didn't think it was thicker than any other glitter polish on the market. The polish was easy to control, and the glitter distributed evenly.

Thumb detail

I added two coats of Seche Vite which made the polish almost entirely smooth.

I have to say, I'm in love with this polish! The matte microglitter gives such an interesting effect. I was lucky enough to snag another Nail-venturous polish, Floam, in my order. I can't wait to try that one out too!

Nail-venturous polish is made by Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-venturous. You can buy her polishes at Ninja Polish.

Color Block and Funky Dots

I have some fun nail art for you today...I have no idea what to call it though! Color block and dots makes the most sense, I suppose.

I had been wanting to try out a new China Glaze polish I picked up a few weeks ago, First Mate. So I went through my collection and found some other colors that went well with it, and came up with this color combination. I really like the combination of dark/neutral and brights!

I started with a base of Below Deck by China Glaze. This color is hard to describe; I guess I'd say it's sort of purple leaning nude color. I waited for that to dry. Then I taped off half off my nails and painted a coat of First Mate, a dark navy creme, on the other half of the nail.

I gave that a bit of time to dry before I started on the dots.

Using a medium size dotting tool, I added alternating dots of China Glaze in Electric Pineapple, a yellow-green creme, and China Glaze in Purple Panic, a purple neon, to each nail. Then I went back and took a smaller dotting tool to add smaller dots inside of each dot.

I finished it up with a top coat of Seche Vite, and voila! Fun, funky nail art.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Nails!

Hello everyone. I'm down the shore for the weekend, but I'm stuck inside due to my injured foot. Thankfully ABC Family is having a Harry Potter weekend! I'm a huge fan of the series, and today I have some Harry Potter nail art for you. I'm still testing the wear of Mr. Bubble, and it still hasn't chipped (which is extraordinary; most polishes chip after 2 days on me). 

I did this manicure over a year ago for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two (has it really been that long since the release already?!). I dressed up as a student of my house, Ravenclaw, and went to the midnight release with my best friends. We were first in line! I decided that some Harry Potter themed nails were necessary for the occasion. I did a nail for each house: Gryffindor on my index fingers, Ravenclaw on my middle fingers, Slytherin on my ring fingers, and Hufflepuff on my pinkies. I painted the lighter base color on each nail first, then used squares of tape to make the checked design with the darker color. On my left thumb, I painted the HP logo, and I painted the Deathly Hallows mark on my right thumb. They're a bit messy; bear in mind that this was over a year ago, relatively early in my foray into more complicated nail art. Nevertheless, I liked how they came out!

Right Hand

Left Hand

I used a ton of colors in these, but here's a list:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On
Red: Brucci Nail Hardener in Therese is Red Hot
Gold: OPI in Curry Up Don't Be Late
Bronze: Sephora by OPI in Rumba Romance
Blue: OPI in Yoga-ta Get This Blue
Silver: Sephora by OPI in Queen of Everything
Yellow: Sally Hansen HD in Lite
Black: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out

And that's all of them! I'd like to do Harry Potter nails again someday. I got a lot of comments on these.

Mean Green Gradient

Since I'm still wearing Mr. Bubble (4 days with no chipping or tip wear; color me impressed!) and I have a ton of old manicures in the vault, I have another old picture for you today. I did this green glitter gradient in the spring, inspired by everything in bloom. Here's a picture!

I painted on a base of Electric Pineapple by China Glaze, a creme that's pretty much right between green and yellow. Then I used a makeup sponge to apply KleanColor's Green Holo. I decided it still needed something, so I added a little bit of Sinful Color's Call You Later to the gradient.

I'm a big fan of glitter gradients; they're easy but always come out beautifully.

Lush Lacquer: Mr. Bubble

Today, I'm wearing my first indie polish ever! It's Mr. Bubble by Lush Lacquer. I know some people have complained about how long it takes to get their polish from them, but my order shipped very quickly.

Mr. Bubble is full of different sizes of blue, pink, and white glitter suspended in a clear base. But this isn't any glitter; it's matte glitter (which I'm currently obsessed with).

Here's a close up of the glitter in the bottle.

I decided to layer it over Victoria's Blue Eyes by Brucci, a darkened sky blue creme. Here's one coat.

As you can see, one coat was still a little sparse, so I added another coat of Mr. Bubble and topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite. There's still a little bit of texture, but nothing too bumpy.

Close up of the thumbnail.

The polish went on smoothly with even glitter distribution, and I didn't have to fish around for big hex glitters. Overall, I'm really happy with this polish!

You can purchase Lush Lacquer here from their Etsy shop.

Rainbow Polka Dots

I still haven't gotten around to painting my nails :( Maybe later on today I'll hobble into my room and give it a shot. So again, I have a picture from the vault. I think this manicure came out great. It's really fun and really easy!

All you need is a dotting tool and some patience :)

I used a ton of colors in this. I started out with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. The polka dots are the following shades:

Orange: Sun Kissed by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear
Blue: The Real Teal by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear
Pink: Flirty by ORLY
Purple: Frolic by ORLY
Green: Fresh by ORLY
Yellow: IM Beauty by Sephora by OPI

And that's all I have for you today. Happy Sunday!

Eclectic

Today, I present to you a manicure that I did a few months ago. I actually haven't been able to do my nails for the past few days since I'm recovering from foot surgery and need to stay off my feet. I already feel bad that my parents have to wait on me, so I'm not going to have them hunting around my room for nail polish too! In the meantime, I bring you this colorful mani:

I think I was just too indecisive about what to put on my nails, so I went for a mix of things. I used a striping brush on my pointer finger and dotting tools for my middle finger and pinky. The purple is Milani One Coat Glitter in Purple Gleam (I always find that these "one coaters" really need two coats), the yellow is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, and the turquoise is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in The Real Teal. I was really happy with how this came out! The colors worked nicely together.

Obligatory Introduction Post!

Hello,

I'm Hannah :) I've been accumulating an impressive collection of nail polish for about four or so years, and I've been doing nail art for about two years. I decided that it's high time that I started blogging about it.

I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog as much as I'll enjoy writing it!