A Summery Gradient

Hello again! Today I'll be showing you a manicure I did several weeks ago, after I tried Zoya Beatrix. I thought Beatrix and Destiny looked really nice together, so I decided to do a gradient. I used Beatrix as a base and sponged Destiny on top, then finished off with a couple coats of top coat.

Red Gradient

Hey there! Today's my first post as a 20-year-old, and I decided that my birthday present to myself was going to be no homework or studying (except for the final edit of my paper this morning), so I've been watching Whose Line is it Anyway and painting my nails all day. :) The manicure I took off today was the one I'm showing you now - I made a red sponged gradient using Borghese Sonata Berry, Rimmel Rapid Red, and OPI Red My Fortune Cookie. I wasn't sure how well it would turn out, but I really liked the results.

I always forget how much I like dark red polish until I put it on...it somehow has the effect of immediately making me feel classier. Borghese Sonata Berry is the perfect dark red because it's dark, but not so dark that it looks black. With the other two reds added, I think it makes the perfect gradient! 

Zoya Wednesday Gradient

Hello there - I just posted yesterday, but here I am again! I'm enjoying the brief respite between last week, when I had a bunch of tests, and finals week, which is in two weeks (starting the day after my birthday! woohoo! </sarcasm>). In the meantime, I'm hoping to be able to do some nail art and other fun stuff when I'm not doing homework...and probably some when I should be doing homework, too, because that's how I do things. Today, I have the sponging gradient I wore on top of Zoya Wednesday. In addition to Wednesday, I used China Glaze For Audrey, Essie Mint Candy Apple, and a tiiiiny bit of Essie As Gold as it Gets.

 natural light

natural light

natural light

Sorry the coloring is a bit weird on the second image - I decided to keep it in the post anyway because it shows the flaky glitter a little better than any of the other pictures. I briefly considered adding a bit of white at the tips before topping it all of with As Gold as it Gets, but I like it perfectly well as it is. The overall effect reminds me of the sky on a bright, but partly cloudy spring or summer afternoon. This can tend to have the effect of making me want to go lie outside and take a nap instead of working, but then again, it doesn't take much to do that. :) Have a great day!

Day 10: Gradient

Today's post will also be a brief one, as I once again have way too much reading to do in too little time. For today's gradient, I used Sally Hansen Sun Kissed, Revlon Victorian (from the Just Tinted collection), and China Glaze Golden Enchantment. I was very happy with the way it turned out, and then I went to bed and got sheet marks. Whoops.

natural light

natural light

natural light

natural light

That's all! I promised a short post, didn't I? :)

Blue Glitter Gradient

Creative name, I know...what can I say? I guess I could make the excuse that I knocked my homework list down from 15 to 5 yesterday and it's made me completely batty. Yeah, that'll work. Speaking of completely batty, I just realized that of all the manicures I've done since I got here, two have not had blue in them. Clearly, I'm all sorted as far as SLU spirit goes. Today's post is a manicure I did somewhere around the middle of last week - I haven't been good at keeping track of exactly when things happen lately. Anyway, I used Revlon Royal (best blue ever) and Savina Diamond Ice.

indoors, natural light

In case you're wondering why there's no sunlight picture, it's because I took several and they all looked like crap. Regardless of my nail photography ability, I think this turned out pretty well, though I had trouble getting glitter on the very tips of my nails. Does anyone else have that problem when doing glitter gradients, or is it just me? I picked Diamond Ice because it had both warm- and cool-colored iridescent glitter, which I think makes the look more interesting. At first, I'd considered adding another glitter, but I decided that simpler was better in this case. And now, back to homework...

P.S. Should I start pulling out the candy corn and blood splatter nails, or is it a little early for that? (This is not a rhetorical question.)

Grey-Blue Gradient

Happy Memorial Day! If you're American, be sure to take today as an opportunity both to honor the courage of those who serve in our military...and to eat some great food. :) If you're not American, then happy Monday! Today I have my next-to-last National Brain Tumor Awareness Month grey mani, and my next-to-last fact: "As many as 69% of children with brain tumors will survive, but they are often left with long-term side effects." - Miles For Hope My mani for today is, as I'm sure you deduced from the title, another gradient. This time, I used OPI Skull & Glossbones for the grey, American Apparel Peacock for the blue, and different mixes of the two for the colors in between. I finished it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for the top coat.

indoors, artificial light

I took pictures of my right hand this time because I thought it looked better than my left, and I am incapable of holding a nail polish bottle in an appropriate picture-taking pose with my right hand, so you just get those three fingers today. Later in my mani's lifespan, as I often do, I added some crackle - in this case, I used Sally Hansen Fracture Foil.

indoors, artificial light

It looked much cooler in real life, I assure you, but my camera was so distracted by the shininess of the silver that it didn't do such a great job at picking up on everything else. I imagine gold, white or black crackle would also look very cool over this. Until tomorrow!

Birthday Cement

An estimated 64,530 new cases of primary brain tumors are expected to be diagnosed in 2011. - American Brain Tumor Association 

Yeah, I come up with the most clever titles... *rolls eyes* Sorry, I just couldn't think of anything else to call this post. Anyway, this is going to be a short one, because it's almost tomorrow and I need to paint my nails so I can go to bed (really, I just need to go to bed, but I'm not going with naked nails!). This is the mani I wore yesterday and today, and which prompted my nephrologist (I had an appointment yesterday) to say, "I like your nails. They're shiny." :D I love my doctors. Anyway, here it is:

indoors, artificial light

Like it? I did a glitter gradient with Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday over a base of Sally Hansen Wet Cement, then added a coat of Essie Matte About You. That's all for today...I said it was going to be short! I'

Don't forget, you have 50 minutes left to enter my giveaway! (And I have 50 minutes left of being 17! Woohoo!)

Greydient

(I forgot to put my fact in earlier...whoops. But here it is now!)

A brain tumor is a cluster of abnormal cells growing in the brain. - American Brain Tumor Association

For my first grey manicure of the month, I did a grey gradient. I'd never done a gradient manicure before, but it was surprisingly easy - in fact, I used a packing peanut for my "sponge," and it worked out just fine. I used a base of Dr.'s Remedy Healing Heather Grey, then added Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, and finally, added Zoya Kelly. I then applied Wet n Wild Clear and Seche Vite to smooth it all out.

indoors, artificial light

I'm really happy with the way this turned out - I think the colors blend quite nicely, and combine to make this kind of dirty, grungy look that is still chic. I'm a fan. Since I only have a few greys in my collection and every post except those on Fridays will have grey in it, I think it'd be safe to say that I'll be doing more, different greydients throughout May - grey to blue? grey to pink? grey to green? Anything could happen... :)

Finally, you may have noticed that I put a tab on the top of my blog for National Brain Tumor Awareness Month. I changed a couple of the things that I said in my earlier post, so you may want to go check it out. Until next time (which is hopefully sooner than the gap between this and my last post)!