Nail Art: Patchwork Mani

Oh hey guys! It's been a while since my last post - things are hectic since school has started, and my school is the over-crowded/guinea pig one so things have been a little crazy.

The previous manicure I did I forgot to take a picture of! I haven't done that since I started the site, so I'm just really stressed.

Also I joined the swim team this year, which really sucks for my poor nails <3 It's also senior years, so I have to focus on my grades.

Anyways, here's some nail art I did, trying to follow Kayla Shevonne's awesome manicure tutorial. I'm not really a pastel girl (but I'm learning to be!), so I used my metallics and such.

^ Click the peekture for nail art awesomeness^

The polishes I used were Sexy Silhouette &  Frostbite from China Glaze, as well as Positive Energy from Nicole By OPI. The black 'stitches' are using my Kiss nail art brush thing.

That's all for now ~ Hopefully I can post soon!

-Melanie

Three Manicures

Oh hey guys! Sorry for my lack of updating.. I've been super busy too lazy to bring down my cable to transfer stuff, LOL... I'm lazy...

Anyways, I've built up three swatches because of that (I've also got some new nail art and make up to show/review, sooo yeah!) and I figured I should probably post them all since I kinda disappeared - I suppose. All in all, what I've got to show you is Strawberry Fields, Watermelon Rind, and Sex In The City from China Glaze, Party Of Five Glitter from Wet 'N' Wild, and a reappearance by Groupie from L.A. Girl.

 [This post is picture heavy! Be warned!] 

First off, I want to say I didn't haul these or buy these all at the same time. I feel like I'm dying a bit more when I do that. I like to spread out my buying ;D Also, excuse the dry cuticles.

This is Strawberry Fields from China Glaze.

 

 I used to totally be against most.. well, girly shades of pink - but I've always been captivated by the swatch wheel of this at my local Sally's Beauty Supply. Unfortunately, nearly everytime I look for this, it's gone, and some incredibly obnoxious fuchsia is sitting there. I got lucky, and was searching behind other pinks and boom! Found it!
Anyyyyways, this polish applied awesome! I only used two coats, but my smile line might've been more hidden if I had gone with another coat. It's a pink with shimmery gold flecks in it that I was so in love with. I wouldn't wear this all the time, but LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Next is a glitter accent mani, featuring Sex In The City from China Glaze, and Party Of Five Glitter from Wet 'N' Wild.

 Awesome! I love blues and I have this bad obsession with those tropical looking teal colours (I have so many). This reminded me of those, but it was definitely more blue than green. I added the glitter because I wanted to make use of my glitter polishes, LOL. I hate removal (even with foil) so I usually only do accents.

SITC was only two coats, by the way. Even more awesome!

Lastly, this is the manicure I still have on. This is Watermelon Rind from China Glaze, and Groupie from L.A. Girl (which you might not know, is my all time favorite purple. Yeah. That's right)

This one was inspired by Donatello the turtle (and the boyfriend who picked green). Honestly? I wasn't 'wowed' by this polish. It looks kickass in the bottle, but I was.. eh. Not too impressed :/ If it weren't for my accent purple nails, this polish would've been off in two days. Application took three coats for opacity.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed those manicures ^_^ I have some more posts, and now that I've actually gotten a bunch of photos on my computer, they'll be up within the week (maybe. I'm so lazy)

-Melanie

Splatter Mani!

Here's a mani I did following The PolishAholic's tutorial. Honestly this shouldn't have been so darn difficult for me... but it was. Moving on!

I didn't tape my fingers nor did I spray the polish out the right way... So to say this was messy is quite the understatement, LOL. I did find an easier way though - put a drop of polish on finger, and proceed to blow it out with the straw.

I think something's wrong with me, haha.

So I used Maybelline's Eternal Snow (it's reaaaaaaaally old!) as a base, and for splatter colours I used Avon's Nailwear Pro in Tangtastic, The Face Shop's YL702, and Cara's 206. I really dislike how Asian brands give their polishes numbers instead of names >:(

I based this mani on summer-y colors, woooo ! I also did this in like late June, haha.

Toodle-loooo ~

-Melanie

China Glaze: Sexy Silhouette

Today I have a very awesome hot pink from China Glaze. This one is called Sexy Silhouette, and I bought it around the same time I bought Blue Iguana and Watermelon Rind (both of which are China Glazes).

Unfortunately, my Nikon Coolpix L110 camera could not correctly capture the sexy hot pink-ness that is Sexy Silhouette, but here is a 'close' attempt.

 Definitely over-exposed. Sadly, my the camera on my Nexus S phone has more accurate colours and proper exposure. It sports only 5 megapixels, yet my Nikon has 12 megapixels.

Um, what?

But I'm off-topic. If you look below, you will see a very accurate photo of Sexy Silhouette. It's so pretty! I love how bright it is - I've been looking for a really nice hot pink, and this is definitely my favorite. This says a lot, since I don't really like pink, anyways.

All in all, Sexy Silhouette is definitely that - sexy. It applies smoothly (add white underneath for extra umph!) and removes great (no staining! yay!), but it's definitely not for your mom! (Or at least, my mom. But then again, she only wears washed out pastel pink, ugh)

Till next time!

-Melanie

Prom Nails (I found em!) & Stamping.

So I was casually looking through my camera's memory and boom! There's my prom nails. Honestly, I thought I took the photos on my phone, which I've been doing a lot since it gives more accurate colors than my Nikon, sadly...

ANYWAYS, here's a double swatch type post. First off is a scotch tape mani from a tutorial over @ Chloe's Nails, that I used for my Jr. Prom - it features two coats of a white nail polish from Avon, and two coats of a pink Korean nail polish from a store called Cara.

 

Major bubbling happening here! Seriously, what went down? I noticed Seche Vite sometimes does that to me. I'm pretty sure I need to just stop shaking the bottle :P

Anyways, I totally didn't execute this well, and the pink was WAY more fake Barbie than I hoped. It looks fine in the photo, but the photo lies! D:<

OKAY, next up is one from another one from the Cara store, from a brand called Nail Colordium. Definitely was too plain for my taste (though I LOVE THIS COLOR, OHMYGOSH)

 

Stamped with my Bundle Monster plate to make up for it! I used another Nail Colordium polish with this.

 I'll probably edit this post later when I figure out which plate I used, and if anyone asks I'll put up the names (or numbers) of the polishes I used.

Till next time :)

-Melanie

Two Swatches !

Sorry for my lack of posts this week - Valentine's Day certainly kept me busy (^_^) and I because of the tiles I work with in glass art, my nails get wrecked... pretty fast.

Anyways, here's two manicures I did for Valentine's day.

First off is a bright red from Rimmel London. This one is called 310 Red Carpet, and from what I've seen they don't make it anymore.

 As you can see above, I attempted to add some flair to this mani and added on a sticker. They were nifty, but I must've applied them too fast because it got all yucky after I applied my Seche Vite.

Note: these pictures were taken about three days after wear. No major chipping, and only two coats ^_^

Here's the second one I did, simpler this time. This is Claire's Mood Changing Polish in Calm/Wild. It's a really shimmery pink-when-warm/purple-when-cold polish. It does not change by mood, it changes based on your body temperature. It looks really cool with longer nails! Anyways, this polish USED to work for me. I always use three coats, but this time I got a maaaaaajor chip (I blame you, Seche Vite!) so I took it off pretty quickly.

Hope you had a great Valentine's day!

-Melanie

Double Sally Hansen.

Back from my vacation! It's been hectic the past couple days - but I got some excellent shots of the polishes I wore! First up is this lilac polish from Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails line, #35 Applause.

Normally I hate the colour lilac. Pastels in general, usually (I like my colours bright and vivid, thanks) - but this colour... I'm really likin' it so far. It's a lilac that kinda goes darker in not-so-great lighting, and pink sometimes.

This is actually a one-coater, but I always put two for good measure. So, including base coat & my new Seche Vite top coat, that's only 4 coats. Cool beans!

 Next is the one I wore on my entire trip to Las Vegas [no chipping, just tip wear - 5 day trip!] on top of my base and under my Seche Vite top coat. It's from Sally Hansen's Salon Manicure line, #340 Black Platinum.

 This polish was a three-coater, and I absolutely fell in love with it! It's not quite black so it doesn't offend my mom, and it's like a gun-metal type dark grey that felt really chic on my nails. It's like instead of vampy black nails, it's a chic metallic look. Love, love, love!

Hopefully this double swatching makes up for the lack of posts during my vacation ~

-Melanie.

Twilight Nox: Debutante

Today I have from the... Slightly ashamed to say, Twilight Nox nail polish line. This one is called Debutante. Despite my concerns of it being sheer, this baby needed only two coats! Shabam!

Debutante's colour really reminds me of white champagne. It's kind of a metallic peach, but then in other lights it can look light pink and gold! I'm really diggin' this, even when it's very pale on my hands. I also happened to do that manicure type style where you paint the ring finger a different colour? Yeah, it's great for when you have those gritty glitters like I used, but it honestly... looks weird. It keeps me interested in my nails, but it's very strange. I used Twilight Nox's Disco Darling, but no pictures. The sun didn't really come out, and to be truthful, Disco Darling looks ugly in the shade. Ugh. Maybe pictures later?

I got this polish when it was on sale at London drugs for around $2.99!

-Melanie

Drugstore Beauty!

Sorry about my break from swatches - none of the pictures I took turned out very good because it's been raining all week! Roar!

Here's a drugstore polish - Pulsating from Rimmel (London?).

 Above in the sun (which didn't last long), and below in the shade (which was actually two minutes later).

This colour is a very "bam! right in your face!" kind of polish. It's actually got a fuchsia-y hint which is great since pink is not really my colour... I'm wearing it to distract from my nail band-aid :]. Anyways, these pictures were taken after two days of wear. As you can see, there's no chipping, just some natural nail growth (which makes me super happy!)

I purchased mine for around $4 at Walmart, although I think it might be $3. This is an oldie from my stash.

By the way, anyone enter those giveaways I posted? Fingers crossed!

-Melanie.