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| Base: Zoya - Kierra Gold: Nina - Big Spender Seche Vite top coat I was very pleased to see that the color was very true to how it appeared in the bottle. The formula is extremely smooth and easy to apply. Me gusta mucho :) |
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| Colors: Blue: Revlon - Indigo Night Orange: Nina - Tangerine Dream This is a taped design. Took me quite a while to cut the pieces of tape to be the right size, but only because I'm a perfectionist. Otherwise, this was a very easy design. I didn't take the tape off soon enough, hence the scraggly edges on the chevrons. The orange polish was also hopelessly runny, so that's the deal with the orange-y mess on her ring finger. No time for cleanup tonight :/ |
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| Go Gators! ;) |
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| Left to right: Kierra, Holly, Elisa There were SO many colors to choose from, and it took me three days to decide, but these were the three colors I decided on. I don't have just a normal green or red (both which I think are a staple in any nail polish collection), so I decided to seize this opportunity to obtain some! Kierra is SOOO gorgeous and it's going to be the first one I try out. Holly and Elisa are perfect as well, and I think they'll definitely come into good use when Christmas rolls around again. |
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| This is just the box they came in. The package also came with a pamphlet of all their colors, upcoming and current. |
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| I definitely think this is pretty decent for a first attempt. I painted the branches with a detail brush which is why they are so thick. I don't have a small striper just yet, so if you have one, I definitely recommend using that instead. I made the flowers with a dotting tool and I put rhinestones in the center of the flowers on my ring finger as an accent. I was immediately unhappy with them as soon as I placed them down :/ I feel they cover too much of the flower, but, what's done is done and they don't look too bad. I also added glitter over top which I think gives some nice dimension.
Colors:
Teal: China Glaze - Aquadelic
Black: NYC - no name
White: Nina - French White
Pink: Donna Michell - no name
Glitter: L.A. Colors - no name
(sorry for all the no-names...I have a lot of random drug/dollar store brands)
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| Just another view of my left hand |
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| My right hand. I painted this with my non-dominant (left) hand, and I don't think I did too bad of a job! I will say, this design lends a lot of room for mistakes, so with an unsteady non-dominant hand like mine, if a branch ends up a little more crooked than I had planned, it's okay! Definitely a very forgiving nail design for those who don't have as much control over their non-dominant hand like me. |
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| Right hand. Apologies for the pre-cleanup. |
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| Took this immediately after application. This is also without a topcoat because I later on I decided to add some glitter on top. |
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| This is what it looks like with glitter. In the future, I probably will not do this because I feel it takes away from the integrity of the color.
Overall I really REALLY like this color a lot. I'm rather fair-skinned, so I think it is a good contrast against my skin tone. This is the first time I've painted my nails with China Glaze and I was extremely happy with the results. The consistency on the polish was perfect, and it didn't leave brush strokes or smears of any kind.
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| Left to Right:
Seche Vite top coat
Nina - Maple Syrup
Nina - Beige-a Vu
Nina - Big Spender
Nina - French White
Nina - Tangerine Dream
CG - Secret Peri-wink-le
CG - Aquadelic
L.A. Colors - no name (Dollar Tree)
Donna Michelle - no name (Dollar Tree)
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Seche Vite, Maple Syrup, Beige-a Vu, Big Spender, and French White
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Tangerine Dream, Secret Peri-wink-le, Aquadelic, and the two dollar store no-names.
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Here are most of the manis I've done over the past few years. I've done quite a few more in the past, but never thought to take a picture of them! :( The majority of them are pre-cleanup, so sorry about that! I'm definitely learning as I go and always finding new ways to do things. So constructive criticism is definitely welcome! :) |
| One of my very first. Did this for our first football game my senior year. Apologies for the poor quality. Not sure of the colors I used here. |
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| Another one of my very first that I got from this YouTube tutorial. In the tutorial she used black, but I decided to use a dark blue instead.
Base color: NYC Skin Tight Denim.
Dots: a bunch of random polishes I borrowed from my younger cousin and I do not recall the names.
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| My first attempt at zebras stripes. I later attempted to paint them on all my nails, but failed miserably :/
Base color: Claire's Color Changing Mood polishes. No specific color name, but the two "moods" are confident/peaceful.
Stripes: Pure Ice - No Means No
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| This is one I did on my friend that I found on Pinterest. It was VERY easy to do, and I think it turned out pretty well!
Base color: Same Claire's color from previous.
Black: NYC (no name)
Silver: Sally Hansen - Celeb City
White: Random polish by Kiss
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| My first Christmas mani. The Christmas tree was taped. Taken from this tutorial.
Base color: A brand I found at Tilly's called "Destined." No specific name.
Green: Once again, the Claire's Mood polish. (I was on winter break at home and these were the only two colors I had brought with me.
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| Second Christmas mani. Holly berries and a present-like accent nail. Not my favorite I've ever done, but oh well. I used the same colors as in the previous picture. |
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| A mani I did on my younger cousin. First attempt at interlocking dots. She didn't want it on all her nails, so I did it as an accent nail.
Base color: Finger Paints - Art Dealer Teal-er
Red Glitter: Destined (no-name) |
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| Accent nail mani. Not sure what to call the gold flecks. It's not exactly glitter. Confetti maybe? Not long after this, I trimmed of few of the confettis sticking off the top because they kept getting caught on things.
Base color: Finger Paints - Art Dealer Teal-er
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| Did this not long before Christmas. Hand painted Christmas tree. I also painted one on my right hand but, being right handed, it wasn't nearly as good.
Base color: Destined "no-name"
Tree: Finger Paints - Art Dealer Teal-er
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| These are my grandmother's nails. I did some hand-painted holly berries on them. She already had her nails painted with a sheer polish. She wanted me to paint something Christmas-y on her nails, so I just painted over the polish she already had on. I didn't have any of my brushes with me, so I did this with a bobby pin and a tooth pick. Took me quite a while, but I like how it turned out :) |
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| Another accent nail mani. This blue reminds me a little bit of Essie's Butler Please. Not quite a dupe, but kind of close. This was my first time using a Revlon polish and I must say, I was very impressed. This was ONE coat of polish. I felt the polish was dense and dark enough to not need another. I also really loved the brush, which is thicker than normal brushes. Something like this. It definitely made application a much quicker process. Very VERY pleased with this polish. It is definitely one of my favorites :)
Base color: Revlon Colorstay - Indigo Night
Glitter: L'Oreal - Sparklicious
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| I definitely have a thing for accent nails. Did this for new years because it matched my dress. Kind of reminds me of mermaid nails :) I like this duochrome a lot, but the only thing I was a little disappointed about was the color doesn't look exactly like what it does in the bottle. That's okay though! Teal is one of my all time favorites. I have about 6 different kinds. I'm a teal hoarder.....
Base color: Sinful Colors - Gorgeous
Glitter: L'Oreal - Sparklicious
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| My most recent mani. I just got my rhinestones in the mail and went to town with them! This was my first attempt at half moons, as well as rhinestone application. Definitely my favorite one I've done yet! It was super easy to do, and a lot of my friends said they thought it looked professionally done :)
Red: Essie - Leading Lady
Silver: Sally Hansen - Celeb City
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