Stamping with Skull & Glossbones

Sometimes I get it in my head that I want to do theme nails (like I've done for Bunco the last 2 months). This month my book club was discussing "Fifty Shades of Grey" so naturally I started thinking about what I could do with grey and black polish.  I thought about doing a water marble or something, but ultimately went for something way easier, some more stamping with my Essence plate.

I started with a base coat of OPI Skull & Glossbones, then used Sinful Colors Black on Black for the stamping.  It worked really well as a stamping polish.  I LOVE this manicure.  In fact, I am still wearing it 12 days later, which is pretty much unheard of for me.  I have some wicked growout at this point, but I don't see the point in doing something new when I need to go get a fill in 2 days.  One thing that's interesting is I have almost zero tip wear, and NO chipping.

 

I feel like my base color looks a little lighter/less saturated gray in the photos, in real life this looks so sophisticated.  I will definitely stamp with this color combo again!

Mustache Mani!

Last night was my monthly Bunco night, and our theme this month was mustaches!  I had seen the most adorable mustache nails on Pinterest, so I decided to give it a go.  I think they turned out adorable!

These are actually super easy to do.  All you need is some black polish and a couple of dotting tools.  I have a small dotting tool, but for the larger circles that form the middle, I used the other end of a small paintbrush I have.  I used Wet N Wild 2% Milk for my base coat, and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the actual mustaches.  And of course, a topper of Seche Vite, though you want to make sure the black is completely dry before putting that on so it doesn't smear or bleed.  I watched the tutorial video here to learn how to do this! 

Guilty Pleasures - 37 Color Water Marble

Yeah, I wore 37 colors at once.  Let me explain...

I am part of a monthly Bunco group, and this month it was my turn to host.  My theme was "guilty pleasures," so we had scorecards with things like Jake Gyllenhaal, fried chicken, Britney Spears CDs and fruity cocktails on them.  We had Cheetos and some delicious cupcakes and mini corn dogs.  We had a REALLY delicious cocktail with marshmallow vodka, creme de cacoa and cream soda.  While I was thinking about MY guilty pleasures, of COURSE nail polish came to mind immediately.  So it got me thinking... how many different colors could I wear at once, and how would I put them on?

I thought about a patchwork mani, but I eventually settled on a water marble.  With experimenting with colors, it took me a couple of hours to finish this, but it was worth it - people loved it!

I had several turn out the way I've wanted my others to turn out.  I used distilled water this time and it seemed to help with getting the polishes to spread much more than I've ever gotten them to do before.  I was surprised how much I like the glitter nail and that China Glaze Riveting turned coral, and it was fun getting to know which of my polishes work best and ideas for new color combos.

 

 

The colors I used, from left to right:

 

Pinkie: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Bronze Pink, Revlon Matte Ruby Ribbon, OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, Sinful Colors Bare
Ring: CoverGirl Nailslicks Starry Blue, Revlon Color Illusion Purple Twilight, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Rock-a-bye, Revlon Perfectly Plum, CoverGirl Nailslicks Wild Plum
Middle: Ulta High Roller, Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, China Glaze Swing Baby, Pure Ice Iced Copper
Pointer: Pure Ice Splash, Sally Hansen HD DVD, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Pure Ice All Night Long, Ulta Bam-blue-zled
Thumb: LA Colors White, OPI Skull & Glossbones, Sinful Colors Black on Black

Thumb: Revlon Double Truffle, OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know, Wet N Wild Cocoa Shimma (This one turned out pretty crappy, so no close up shot)
Pointer: Sinful Colors Bare, Sally Hansen HD Byte, Pure Ice Super Star, Zoya Jacy
Middle: Pure Ice Oh Baby!, Sinful Colors Frenzy, Ulta After Party, Sally Hansen Gem Crush Glitz Gal
Ring: Sally Hansen HD Resolution, Ulta Limelight, OPI Jade is the New Black, Ulta Jaded, Piggy Polish Envy
Pinkie: China Glaze Riveting, Ulta High Roller

Another Capitol Colours Mani

Today I have another Hunger Games inspired mani using the China Glaze Capitol Colours collection.

First I want to share with you one of my very favorite polishes of all time, Stone Cold.  It is a gorgeous soft charcoal matte, I am totally in love with it.  It's unique and sophisticated and just beautiful.

So pretty, but I wanted something fancy.  I decided to do a french tip and I hadn't tried out Luxe and Lush yet, so I decided to do some flaky glittery tips.

I liked how it turned out, but to be honest I'm not a huge fan of the type of flaky glitter in Luxe and Lush.  It doesn't lie flat, and I don't have a glitter tamer, so even with a coat of Seche Vite over top , it was catching on things.  I think with this type of polish it really needs a couple of topcoats at the least.  It is pretty for sure, but I also just hate removing glitter polishes, especially ones with large chunks.  Oh well, I guess it's worth it for the prettiness!  I hope you like this one, and that you got to enjoy the Hunger Games this weekend if you are a fan like me!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Prep's Cool

When I first bought my Sally Hansen Salon Effects back in November, I actually bought four boxes.  I finally decided to use another one, and went with Prep's Cool, a cool black and silver argyle design.

I had even less trouble with application this time - so easy!  I used acetone when I went to take it off and the silver came off super easy, but the black took a lot more work.  I did have an idea that you could easily remove all the silver and be left with just the black diamonds on your nails - a creative mind could find something fun to do with that!

This was tons of fun to wear, and I got a bunch of compliments on it!

Wish List

I have tons of polishes I am drooling over at Pinterest and on my Amazon wish list, and they just keep getting fuller.  Right now, these are the ones I would most love to get my hands on.

Image Source: Beautopia

Zoya Ki.  Just look at that gorgeous duochrome color!  It reminds me of those oil puddles on the ground that always look so pretty, or of peacock tones.

Image Source: Chloe's Nails

I've been wanting some magnetic polish for a while, but what I really like about the China Glaze Magnetix is the differently shaped magnets.  Specifically, I am totally in love with the star pattern!  This color is Cling On and I love it.

Deborah Lippman makes some pretty fabulous polishes, and this was one of the first ones I ever laid eyes on.  It's called Across the Universe and it is basically 'my' colors - my very favorite blues.  I don't have many glitter polishes, they're not totally my thing, but every once in a while I see one that I know I'd love.

These are just some dotting tools - it's one thing I don't have that would let me do more fun stuff.  I also want some stamping plates, but don't have any particular ones that I'm really coveting right now.

Image Source: Goose's Glitter

This is another glitter polish.  There are tons of stores on Etsy that seem to have homemade glitter polishes - these people are doing crazy sales because these polishes are so popular.  This one is Oh Yes I Did from Laquistry.  Like I said before, I am not a huge fan of a lot of these polishes that are completely saturated with glitter.  But I really love the color combo in this one, it is a little bit more unique.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

This gorgeous one is Fantasy Fire from Max Factor.  I LOVE this color combo because it's unusual, and look at the way the glitter just glows.  It really looks like burning embers.  These sell for around $30-35 on Ebay, so it's not likely I'll add it to my collection any time soon.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

This is Get It On 'Em, one of the polishes in OPI's Nicki Minaj collection.  I don't know what it is about this color.  Sometimes I look at it and think it's hideous, but I'm strangely drawn to it, and I think I need to have it.  I think it would look really great under a black crackle, I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to wear it on it's own.

Image Source:  Let Them Have Polish

Honestly, there are tons of Zoya polishes I'd love to own.  They make great, solid colors that are a nice addition to a collection.  We have an Ed Wyse in town and I went for the first time the other day, their selection of OPI and Zoya polishes is insane.  The beautiful teal cream above is Bevin, and the green below is Shawn.  It looks in the photo above like Bevin comes out a little matte, but it's also gorgeous with a shiny top coat.  I love Shawn for it's pure green-ness, one of my favorite colors in nature.

Image Source: Let Them Have Polish

Image Source: Polish Mayhem

I have been interested in matte polishes lately, and Orly Purple Velvet is just one of the ones on my list.

These last three are the ones I want the most, I just drool over them.

Image Source: Scrangie

I have one Holographic polish, it's from the Sally Hansen Magical collection from a few years ago that's been discontinued for a long time.  I REALLY want to add some true holos to my collection, and just look at how absolutely amazing this Gosh silver holo is!  It is amazing.

Image Source: Chloe's Nails

So, this is actually two polishes, but I love the combo so much!  This is a manicure the Chloe did over at Chloe's Nails.  The top coat is the one I want most, it's Teal Scales from Funky Fingers.  Just look at that!  I have never seen a crackle that looked so pretty.  It's layered over China Glaze Flying Dragon, and I just think the combo is to die for.

And this is one of my biggest lemmings right now - the China Glaze Capital Colours collection.  This is the official ad, but these colors are way more amazing when you see them actually on nails.  You can see them all actually swatched over at Vampy Varnish - but be prepared to fall in love with them!  She has a giveaway going for the ENTIRE COLLECTION that ends today, and if I won it... I would be beyond ecstatic!

What's on your wish list?

Classic French With a Twist

Sometimes when there are so many polishes and ideas, it's hard to pick just one!  Last night I found myself wanting something new, but I didn't really feel like doing all the work for a complicated tape mani or water marble.  I took to my Pinterest board and found inspiration from Chloe's Nails (as is often the case!).

Feminine, classic, and so, so pretty!

Base coat is Sinful Colors Bare - it is a gorgeous creamy pink with subtle pearl shimmer.  I saw it in the bottle, and now that I've worn it, it's probably my favorite pink polish in my collection.

The tips are Sinful Colors Black on Black, and a top coat of Seche Vite for that extra shininess.

I am in love with this mani!

Funky Frenches

I like doing funky French manicures.  Here are some of the ones I've done and photographed in the last few months.  Sorry for the poor quality cell phone photos, these are from when I was just posting my nails on Facebook and not much else!

Christmas Mani - Clear base, Sinful Colors Show Me the Way tips with an Ulta After Party topcoat

One of my all time favorites - Ulta Alter Ego with Sally Hansen Chrome Black Pearl tips 

Sinful Colors Black on Black with Essie Matte About You, then a clear topcoat for glossy tips

Another Christmas Mani - Ulta Jaded with Ulta After Party tips

I'm not sure if the tips here were black or a dark gray, then I applied a 

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms South Sea Pearl topcoat

Classic white tips with a Sinful Colors Frenzy topcoat

Sinful Colors Rise and Shine with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Emerald Express

I'm not sure what this pink is, I don't think I have it anymore.  Sinful Colors Black on Black tips

What's your favorite way to do a French tip?