Sky Blue Dotticure

Today I have a dotticure to share:

This manicure was quick and easy to do, and a lot of fun to wear. It's simply a bright sky blue base, with silver, orange, and dark teal layered polka-dots. This is the perfect type of mani to do if you want to incorporate a little nail art into your manicure, but don't want to do a lot of thinking or planning. I haven't been doing a lot of manicures lately, so it has been really fun to revisit this hobby after a little while away!

Yellow, Green, and Blue Dotticure

 Today I have a nail art manicure to share:

This yellow, green, and blue dotticure was really quick and easy to do. I just alternated some blue and green holographic polishes as my base colours, and then added dots of various sizes and colours with a dotting tool. The overall look was very whimsical - it was a lot of fun to wear!

Below, I have a shot of the polishes that I used o create this mani:

I used 3 polishes to create this manicure. The base colours were two different holographic polishes from Cirque Colors, 'Emerald' and 'Sapphire'. These polishes were both originally released in Cirque Colors' 'Facets 2018 Collection', which was themed around various precious gemstones. The third polish was a bright yellow that I used for the dot design. It is called 'Hit the Lights' and it was part of Nicole by OPI's collaboration collection with Selena Gomez, which was released way back in January 2013!

I have so many nostalgic feelings around the (now retired) Nicole by OPI line! I remember how OPI saved the majority of their fun, bright, and bold shades and formulations for this line. It was so much fun to browse through them in the drug stores!

Below, I have some additional shots of the manicure.

Blue, Orange, and Silver Stamped and Dotted Manicure

I finally managed to do a little nail stamping! It's been a while, but it was fun to get back into it again. Here's what I came up with:

I started with a simple base of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure 'Calypso Blue'. Then I stamped some silver accents on my middle and ring fingers using an image from my ÜberChic Beauty ‘Culture Rich’ stamping plate. I finished it off by using a dotting tool to add orange dots on the nails.

The manicure came together rather quickly, as the embellishments were done pretty much at the spur of the moment. However, I really like how it turned out!

 

Polish Cutout Decal Mani: Version 3

Today I have another polish cutout Decal manicure to share:

 

I still had some sheets of polish leftover from my decal making manicures that I shared on the blog a few posts ago: the 'Polish Cutout Decal Mani' version 1, and version 2. I didn't wan't to waste the sheets of polish, so I came up with a quick abstract mani using strips of polish I cut from the sheets using my pinking shears, and regular scissors. I topped the manicure with a matte glitter topper called 'Can I Get an Untz Untz' from China Glaze's iconic 'Summer Nights' collection that they released in Summer 2015.

The finished look isn't exactly as I had envisioned, but I kind of like the chaotic, random vibes that this manicure gives off! Cutting up the nail polish strips and applying them directly to the nail was a great way to use up more of the sheets of polish.  There still are more odds and ends left, so if I feel up to it, I may be able to do one more version of the 'Polish Cutout Decal Mani', but we'll see...

Blue, Gold and Orange Skittles Mani featuring Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

As discussed in my last post, I managed to do another skittles manicure! This mani features the iconic original version of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Pacific Blue'. This polish caused quite a stir in the nail polish world when it was reformulated back in 2014. The original version was super popular, and much beloved in nail polish circles, and has now become somewhat of a collector's item. I've had the bottle in the photo above for several years now - I'm estimating that I may have purchased it anywhere between 7 to 10 years ago!

In the manicure, I used Pacific blue on both my thumb and ring finger. I chose complementary shades of light blue, gold and orange to complete the look.

Polishes Used

Morgan Taylor ‘No Filter Needed’

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear ‘Pacific Blue’

Rimmel 60 Seconds ‘Dazzle’

Orly ‘Melt Your Popsicle’

I really like how this manicure turned out. The colour combination is fun and energetic, and works really well for the summer! I'm happy I was able to throw a neon polish into the look, with Orly's neon orange 'Melt Your Popsicle', as well as a bit of bling with Rimmel's gold shimmer polish 'Dazzle'. 

Swatch: Revlon 'Blue Lagoon'

In my last post on Revlon's 'Tangerine', I mentioned some other polishes that were released in the same Summer 2011 'Summer Romantics' collection. 'Blue Lagoon', the subject of today's post, was one of those polishes. 

Blue Lagoon is as soft powder blue creme polish with a silver shimmer. It is quite beautiful, however, I was a little disappointed with the performance. Now of course, this is a 9 year old bottle of polish, so the problems may be due to age - but it is also a pastel, which is also another notoriously difficult formula work with. 

I found the polish to be a little patchy on application, which required more coats to get even coverage. However with more coats, dry-time increases, and consequently, the likelihood of dents and smudging also increases. I encountered all of the above! The swatch in the photo above is 4 coats, and the last was applied just before taking the picture, in order to smooth out the surface of the lacklustre manicure I was working with after 24 hours of dry/smudge time!

It looks pretty decent in the swatch photo (minus the cuticle overflow that I didn't want to risk ruining my still wet manicure to remove!), however within hours after that the manicure was smudged again, as the polish was still soft.

In summary: Older polishes can sometimes take longer to dry, but you can usually combat that by doing fewer coats. The problem here is that this pastel polish needed three or more (normally applied) coats to look good.  I suppose I could try again to see if I can get the polish to look good with one or two carefully applied coats, and then top coat to protect... I just don't know if I'm willing to try again right now after all of the frustration I had with this manicure!

Blue and Silver Stamped Manicure featuring China Glaze 'Dorothy Who'

Polishes Used

China Glaze ‘Dorothy Who?’

Sally Hansen Color Foil ‘Sterling Silver’

Stamping Plate Used

Maniology/Bundle Monster ‘Chic Peek’ BM-XL476

ÜberChic Beauty Love and Marriage – Plate 02

Here's a little mani that I threw together with a glitter polish that I had handy, and some nearby stamping plates! This is the first time that I've used my bottle of China Glaze's 'Dorothy Who', so I'm glad I was able to take this one off the untried list... It truly is a lovely shade of blue! 

After painting my nails with the polish, I wanted to jazz the look up a bit with a little stamping. I had used the ÜberChic Beauty Love and Marriage 02 plate for my last manicure, the Burgundy and Gold Stamped Mani, and had not put the plate away yet, so I decided to use it again for this manicure. The negative space heart stamped image on my middle finger is from that plate. On my ring finger, I stamped a textural image from my Bundle Monster Chic Peek BM-SL476 plate.

KB Shimmer 'Funky Cold Patina'

Today I have a swatch and brief review to share of a fun polish from the indie brand KB Shimmer. The polish is called 'Funky Cold Patina', and it is a turquoise crelly polish with copper, shades of blue, and purple hexagonal metallic glitters of various sizes. It was initially released in the KB Shimmer Spring 2015 collection.

First of all - I love the name! As a punny play on the title of the 1980's Tone Loc song 'Funky Cold Medina', in my head, I can't help but say the name of the polish in the same cadence Tone Loc uses when he says the verse in the song! 

Second, I love the concept. The polish is clearly inspired by the patina formed by copper oxidation:  verdigris. I've done a couple verdigris manicures in the past, and my next post will be another version of a verdigris manicure, featuring and inspired by this polish.

As for the polish itself, it applies beautifully, has a great formula, and is absolutely gorgeous. I also really like how this shade of turquoise looks on me. In addition, I've noticed that the polish has held up really well over the few years that I had it, with no bleeding of the glitter colour into the base, and the polish consistency remaining perfect for smooth application. To me, this appears to be a great testament to the quality of the materials being used by the brand!

All in all, I'm really happy with this polish, and I can't wait to play with it in the next look that I create... stay tuned!

'Panning for Gold' Stamped Glitter and Pond Manicure

Today's manicure is a water-themed look centred around the idea of panning for gold. I wanted to do a pond manicure using the Essie jelly polish collections that I've been playing around with for the last few posts, the 'Silk Watercolor' collection from 2015, and the new 'Glazed Days' collection released earlier this year.  

Polishes Used	Stamping Plates Used
Essie Silk Watercolor ‘Pen & Inky’	ÜberChic Beauty – Moroccan Delight
Essie Glazed Days ‘Ooh La Lolly’	Über Mini: Texture-licious – Plate 2
China Glaze ‘Water You Waiting For’
Sally Hansen Color Foil – 'Liquid Gold'

However, I wanted to do something a little different for the pond manicure, so I came up with the idea of irregular gold flakes visible through the layers of blue and teal jelly polish, as if they were small pieces of gold at the bottom of a river bed, being brought to the surface while panning for gold.  I used this concept for my index and middle fingers, using Essie jelly polishes 'Pen & Inky', and 'Ooh La Lolly', and then painted my other nails using 'Water You Waiting For', a gorgeous teal glitter from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil 'Worlds Away' collection from Winter 2012. This polish was included in my 'Project Polish' list of polishes that I'm trying to use up soon(ish 😉). 

I finished the manicure by stamping a gold arabesque pattern over my ring finger as an accent, and then topping everything off with a quick dry, glossy top coat. The arabesque pattern was from the ÜberChic Beauty - 'Moroccan Delight' plate, while the gold flakes in the 'Pond' portion of the manicure were stamped from ÜberChic Beauty's Über Mini 'Texture-licious' plate 2. Below I have a collage featuring a few additional shots of the manicure.

I really like how this manicure turned out! It actually kind of reminds me of the 'Teal and Gold Crackle Sandwich' manicure I did years ago on this blog as part of my '2015 Crackle Polish Challenge'. 

I really love how the featured 'pond' portion of the mani turned out, but interestingly, this manicure has really revived my appreciation for the China Glaze glitter 'Water You Waiting For'. I've always loved the stunning, deep teal shade, but wearing it now, I see how well it works with my skin tone, and just how genuinely sparkly and beautiful it is!

Swatch: Jelly Belly + Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Collab, 'Berry Blue'

Today I have a quick swatch to share of a polish from the Jelly Belly + Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Collab, 'Berry Blue'. This is the lighter of the two blue polishes in the collection. I typicaly like the Insta-Dri formula because the polishes tend to be very pigmented and opaque one-coaters, making them ideal for stamping. This collection in particular had a lot of crisp, clean colours that would work well in a variety of nail art applications. 

As anticipated, this blue performs really well as a quick-drying one-coater. I've actually used two coats, and a glossy top coat in the swatch photo above, since I actually put it over my previous mani: a chipping glitter crelly that I wanted to change, but didn't feel up to taking off at the moment (I forgot to use peel off base coat!). 

Monochromatic Skittles Mani

I love manicures that allow me to use a lot of polishes at once, because I like being able to go through my untried polishes. That was basically the inspiration behind the skittles manicure that I am sharing today.

These polishes were all new to my collection, most of which were picked up during boxing week and January sales. I really love how they look together!  If I had to pick favourites, I would have to say that I really like 'Viva Antigua!' and 'First Timer'.

Polishes Used

Essie 'Poolside Service'

Essie 'Viva Antigua!'

Essie 'First Timer'

Essie 'Going Guru'

Essie 'Passport to Happiness'

All in all, I really like how the manicure turned out! It's a simple adjacent colour scheme and ordered more or less from darkest to lightest shade. It's essentially a manicure which allows you to just have fun playing with colours!

Essie 'Nama-Stay the Night'

Today I did a simple manicure using a new polish that I bought during a boxing day sale. This is Essie's 'Nama-Stay the Night' from Essie's Resort 2016 'Going Guru' Collection.

I can't even to begin to tell you how much I loved this polish! The colour is so intense and gorgeous, and it applied beautifully with a wonderful formula. This stunning shade of blue took my breath away - I couldn't stop staring at my nails as I was wearing it. 

I actually acquired all four of the polishes from the 'Going Guru' collection, along with a lot of other Essie polishes, during the boxing day sale I mentioned, as the polishes were heavily discounted. This was one of the standouts from the haul that I wanted to try right away!

I have a lot of complete older collections in my own nail polish collection, so I've been thinking about starting a series of 'Flashback' reviews of older collections... maybe a 'Flashback Friday'? I think it could still be helpful to review some of these older collections because even though a lot of them were limited time only, a lot of the polishes can still be found on-line and some beauty supply stores for a few years to come, and then in destashes and blog sales afterwards.  Cataloguing these older collections would also help me keep track of what's in my personal collection. Hopefully I can start doing this later this year.

Ice Crystal Mani using Nicole by OPI 'Rich in Spirit' and China Glaze 'Snow Globe'

Today I have another 'Project Polish' manicure to share. This mani uses 2 of my 'Project Polish' polishes: Nicole by OPI 'Rich in Spirit' and China Glaze 'Snow Globe'. I'm calling it the 'Ice Crystal' Mani:

Polishes Used	Stamping Plate Used
Nicole by OPI 'Rich in Spirit'	Bundle Monster Winter Kingdom -
China Glaze 'Snow Globe'	Plate BM-XL485
Konad white stamping polish (not shown)

I really like how this manicure turned out. The overall effect is very Icy and Wintry. It was a nice change to do a seasonal manicure in December that is winter-themed as opposed to holiday themed. Below I have a few additional shots of the manicure that show a bit more of the details of the stamped images.

Ice Crystal Mani - Thumb Close-up

Ice Crystal Mani - Ring, Middle, and Index fingers

The more I use 'Rich in Spirit' the more I appreciate it's beauty and versatility. It really is just a cool toned silver, so it works in so many different applications - pretty much anywhere that I would typically use a silver polish. With that in mind, one of my most used polishes is Sally Hansen 'Silver Sweep', mainly because I use it a lot for stamping. Hmmm, this is now giving me the idea to experiment with using 'Rich in Spirit' as a stamping polish.  Stay tuned to see how that works out in a future post!

Glitter Mani using Nicole by OPI 'Rich in Spirit'

Today I have a quick glitter mani to share using one of my 'Project Polish' polishes: Nicole by OPI's 'Rich in Spirit', and a glitter polish that I'm thinking of adding to the project: 

The glitter is called 'Paparazzi', and it's by Claire's Cosmetics, from their Splatter Effect Collection. I used the teal version of this polish called  'Flashing Lights' in my 'Blue and White Splatter Manicure'. 

Polishes Used: 'Paparazzi' and 'Rich in Spirit'

For a simple gliter mani, I kind of like the way the colours work together!

Spotlight on 'Project Polish' Polishes: Nicole by OPI 'Rich in Spirit'

Today's spotlight on my 'Project Polish' polishes, is on 'Rich in Spirit' from Nicole by OPI's Spring 2011 'Liquid Metals' 4-pc collection:

In the picture above, the colour looks a bit like a typical metallic silver polish, however, the polish is actually a gorgeous light steel-blue shimmery metallic foil. It is quite unique to my collection in that I don't have very many (if any) pastel metallic polishes. I have a blue metallic foil from the Sally Hansen 'Color Foils' collection, but the blue is more saturated.

Even though this was from a Spring collection, I can see this as a great winter colour as well, since it's so reminiscent of ice. I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to get a lot of use from it this winter and during the holidays!

Blue and White Splatter Manicure using Claire's 'Flashing Lights' and Sally Hansen 'Sky's the Limit'

Today I have a fun glitter manicure I did using one of my 'Project Polish' polishes, Claire's 'Flashing Lights':

Since this polish is a topper, I'll include my 'Spotlight' on the polish (where I give a little history, and some details about my 'Project Polish' polishes) in this post. Claire's 'Flashing Lights', is a blue splatter effect glitter with matte turquoise hex and bar glitters, and white hex glitters. From what I can see on-line, it looks like this polish was released in 2013. I used a sister polish from the collection, a black version called 'Splatter Paint' in a couple previous manicures that I blogged. The earliest is from August 2014 (and here is the other). I remember I bought a bunch of these splatter effect polishes from Claire's on clearance, so I probably bought them in late 2013 or early 2014 - it's really shocking how quickly time flies!

Polishes Used

Claire's Cosmetics Splatter 'Flashing Lights'

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure -                   'Sky's the Limit' (colour number 565)

For this manicure, I decided to go with a mostly monochromatic theme, so a chose a light blue Sally Hansen polish as the base, 'Sky's the Limit'. I'm pretty sure that this was previously untried, so I'm glad I got a chance to use it despite doing this project. That's one reason I'm really glad that there are topper's included in this 'Project Polish'... It's only been a few weeks, but I'm already starting to feel a little constrained. Once I realized that I needed to choose a base colour from my collection to go with this topper, I was so eager to look through my stash of polishes to find one to use! 

I'm probably going to have to take a small hiatus from the project a little closer to the holidays, because I'm really looking forward to doing some fun Christmas manicures using Reds and Greens, and I don't want to feel pressured to include some of the 'Project Polish' colours.  

Polishes Used

Navy Blue and Gold Mani using OPI 'Holidazed Over You'

This manicure was created using various images from Lina Nail Art Supplies Stamping Plate 'You're a Damasque! - 01'.  I really like how the look turned out:

I'm starting to realize that I don't really enjoy wearing dark polishes on their own these days. However, I really love how dramatic they look when paired with silver or gold metallic stamped images. The dark base provides the perfect high contrast background for the beautiful metallic images.

I did something similar with my 'Burgundy and Gold Mani', as well as my 'Navy and Silver Dot Design Mani'.

Here are some more images of the finished look:

For this manicure, I got to use yet another untried polish - OPI 'Holidazed Over You'. 'Holidazed...' is a very dark navy blue jelly from the OPI 2017 Holiday collection: 'Love OPI, XOXO'. The polish is absolutely stunning. I love the finish! The highly pigmented navy blue hue combined with the transparent jelly formula give the polish so much dimension. It looks super squishy and super shiny - like polished onyx, or a pool of ink.  

Polishes Used

Polishes Used

Orly 'Luxe'

Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Liquid Gold'

OPI 'Holidazed Over You'

Blue and Gold manicure using Quo by Orly 'Celestial Star'

Today I have a quick 'remix mani' to share:

Polishes Used

Quo by Orly 'Celestial Star'

Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Yellow Gold'

I kept my ring finger the same from my previous 'Venetian Marble Mani', and painted over the other fingers with a deep blue sparkly polish from Quo by Orly, called 'Celestial Star'. I did a bit of stamping on the thumb (not shown), and middle finger, using an image from Bundle Monster + Magically Polished Collaboration plate BM-XL205. The polish I stamped with was Sally Hansen Color Foil in 'Yellow Gold'.  I also embellished the middle finger by painting a diagonal section in gold over the stamp, and then dotting along the edge with the blue polish.

This was one of those situations when my previous manicure was showing a bit of chipping on a few nails, but I didn't feel like removing my nail polish and starting fresh with a new manicure. Hence the remix mani, where I salvage or touch up any nails that still look fine, and paint over and/or embellish the rest!

I believe that the 'Celestial Star' polish was also untried, so I'm happy that I got to use it. I bought it years ago, along with 2 others from the same collection (the others were called 'Turquoise Moonlight', and 'Night Sky'). From what I can see on line, it looks like they came out around 2011. I noticed the polishes when I was organizing my collection recently. All 3 of them looked like they were thickening and evaporating in the bottles, even though I don't recall ever having used them (I may have years ago, and forgotten perhaps?), and the bottles seemed to be completely closed. I noticed this with a few other glitters, foils, and crackles. It seems that my creme polishes hold up relatively well over the years, but on occasion, some of the special effect polishes will thicken and/or dry out.

In addition to the 3 Quo by Orly polishes I just mentioned, I found 7 others that this appeared to be happening to. I put them aside to do a 'Project Polish' with - a challenge to use them up within a certain time period by putting them into heavy rotation. This may be a little tricky though, since they are all special effect polishes. I'm going to have to get creative to still be able to incorporate nail art while using polishes as my manicure base! I'll try to do a more detailed post later with pictures of the polishes.

Blue and Gold Mani with Water Marble Decal Accent

Well, hello!  It's been a while, but I'm finally back.  I really can't believe how quickly time flies - one minute you're in the groove of updating your blog, and the next, over 2 years have passed since you last posted! As I explained in my 'Nail Polish Declutter' post, I had been taking a hiatus from nail art. I recently decided to try to get back into it again, so I'm restarting this blog to journal my journey.

Blue and Gold Mani with Water Marble Decal Accent

The picture above is a quick manicure I did using two Orly polishes from my collection that caught my eye ('Luxe' and 'Sweet Peacock'), and one of the water marble decals I made in my 'Water Marbling Made Easy' post over 3 years ago (yes, it was one of the exact same decals I made that long ago - they really hold up well when carefully stored away between sheets of paper towel!). To jazz up the look, I made a diagonal stripe of gold on the thumbnail, and used a dotting tool to make contrasting dots and rings on some of my nails. Not bad for my first attempt at nail art in what feels like ages!

I actually did this look a few weeks ago, but it took me a while to post it. I'm working with all different equipment from the last time I posted, so it took some time to get all my files, gear and programs together to be able to start blogging again.

Polishes Used: Orly polishes 'Luxe' and 'Sweet Peacock'

All in all, I'm happy with the way this look turned out. I'm also really looking forward to posting new looks in the future!

Blue Glitter Impromptu Mani

Today I have a quick post to share an impromptu mani that I threw on over my last manicure. I even recycled the gold accent nail from that mani.

Sorry that the picture is a little out of focus - I literally only have this one semi-usable shot of the manicure! I didn't get a chance to take photos right after doing the mani, as I usually prefer to do. As a result, I almost forgot to get a picture entirely! At one point, I did this quick snapshot of the manicure just in case I forgot to do a proper photo shoot before I removed the polish. Sure enough, that is exactly what ended up happening!

Here are the polishes that I used:

Polishes Used

L.A. Girl Glitter Addict ‘Jostle’

Sally Hansen Triple Shine ‘Wavy Blue’

Essie ‘Rock at the Top’

Quo by Orly ‘Filthy Rich’

The manicure is just a simple royal blue shimmer polish topped with a royal blue glitter polish. The gold accent nail is essentially the same, but there, the gold glitter polish is applied in a glitter gradient.