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!