Throw Back Tuesday - Sally Hansen Nail Prisms (Pic heavy)

 Is throwback Tuesday even a thing? Whatever, doing it anyways!

I'm starting to feel the fall vibes, despite the weather feeling more like late spring than early fall! But hey, I'm not complaining! I had a strong craving for a summer-y duochrome and ended up in my Sally Hansen drawer. I pulled out a few Nail Prisms I have yet to try and decided on Ruby Saphire.

 

This violet chameleon is a part of the long ago, and sought after, Nail Prisms collection composed of bad ass holos and vivid shifting duochromes. That being said, this polish is defiantly made of not so good chemicals, it's pretty evident from the first whiff of the open bottle! Although this polish is still usable, the formula in this one I particular is super thin and on the sheer side. It also takes FOREVER to dry!

How did I deal with it and make it look beautiful on my nails without putting a lot of time and effort into my nails? Simple, a black base coat. One coat of Ruby Saphire overtop the base of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Black Out and a quick dry topcoat makes everything better.

What colours flash in this polish? Indigo, purple, pink, red and orange!

The black base makes this shade look super vampy, but I am digging it! I'm usually way nervous pulling out my prisms because I know they can be finicky. But just look at that finish!

Oops! Forgot to Post!

Remember the thermal gel I blogged about earlier this year from Madam Glam, What Color is the Dress? The one I wore for a while? To keep from getting bored with one polish on my nails for a month I did some refreshes, one of which I did some stamping!

I felt like a noob, you guys! It has been too long. It took a short time to get the hang of it again and pick the right polish, but in the end I loved the look.

I used Bundle Monster plate BM-604 and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Brushed Gold To stamp with. I love the clean gold lines over the deep base. When I decided to remove the design I kept the gel on along for at least another week!

Confetti Snow!

I was inspired by the snow this past week for my current mani, I was thinking something soft and white. Sitting right there on my desk, in front of me at the time, was Funky Fingers Jawbreaker. Jawbreaker is a multi-glitter base up of various sizes suspended in a sheer milky base.

I layered Jawbreaker over a white base so I could get away with minimal coats for full coverage. My white base of choice is Sally Hansen Ghost, a basic white creme. It was not fully opaque in one coat but it gave me the base I needed. I then applied two coats of Jawbreaker over Ghost to add depth between the layers. The milky white base also made the shiny glitter appear softer, almost pastel in some cases. 

I cleaned up the cuticle area and added a topcoat to seal the glitter and add some shine. I am loving this look right now, white nails, anything but plain or boring!

Colourful Collage

Today I have a mani from early January. It had just started to snow and I wanted a glittery mani. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but I will try this technique again another time. I applied Finger Paints Colorful Collage to a cosmetic sponge and blotted in to each nail that was already coated in a think base of OPI I Theadora You.

I was initially going for full coverage with this but it didn't work out. I think I applied one to two coats of the Colorful Collage before adding a another coat of Sally Hansen Salon Open Mica Night, a sparse square holo glitter topper.

I topped the whole thing off with Seche Vite and called it a day. I want to try this look again with a holo or chrome base to fill in the glitter more. Otherwise, this was a super fun and sparkly glitter mani!

How To Block A Zombie

Today I have a quick and easy mani refresh with China Glaze Zombie Zest and NAME. I was getting some slight tip wear but wanted to get a bit more mileage out of my mani so I did some colour blocking. I did this for the same reason this past summer and have been wanting to try it again ever since. It's super easy to do, I literally did this 10 minutes before leaving the house!

The most important and time consuming part is sectioning off the nail with striping tape, although it didn't take that long. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out to full in the space. Always remember to remove the tape right after application for a crisp line and to avoid having the polish drying on the tape and peeling off. Tweezers are hand in application and removal of the tape.

I sealed it off with Ask Cosmetics top coat and was out the door! I really love this look. I love how something so simple can make something look more than it actually is.


Annnnd... Incase there weren't enough photos in this post, I decided to add a matte topcoat after a few days, which I think I loved even more than the glossy look!

Target Closing Polish Picks

Target has just started to liquidate (if you can call it that) merchandise since their stores will be closing their doors in Canada this year. Kind of sad, I think they didn't give it enough time and the locations of their stores were not the greatest. They only just opened up a location close by late summer 2014! After renovating and setting up shop for less than a year the are shutting it down.
I was able to score some polishes for a reduced price, I won't argue with that! My first trip I purchased Sally Hansen, Mint Sorbet and L'Oreal, Too Dimensional?, both of which I have already worn

I'm pretty sure that they were only about 10-20% off, but the Xtreme Wear polishes were originally priced a lot lower than I have seen them before, just under $2 before the discount. I got Mint Sorbet for just over $1 and Too Dimensional? for just over $3. Not too bad.

As for sales, in the first week I went, nothing I was really reduced all that much... yet! But I'm sure anything that was discounted well was already scooped up before I got there. I waited until they dropped the prices any further before heading back a week ago and picked up a few more polishes which includes some Cover Girls and a Sally Hansen

From left to right I have Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Vio-last and Goldilocks and Sally Hansen  Triple Shine, Statemint.

Vio-last is a saturated blurple creme and Goldilocks is a deep orange based yellow, it reminds me of the shade of a school bus. Typically I would have not purchased the Cover Girl brand of polishes since I don;t usually consider them when shopping. However, I was impressed with a polish  was  gifted recently (Bon Bon)  and decided to try some others. They have some great brights. I got these both for 50% off the original price which made them under $3 each.

Sally Hansen Triple Shine, Statemint is a yellow based lime green creme. I also got this at 50% off, which came to under a dollar because the last ticketed price was clearance.

Swatches for all three polishes are shown below at one coat each!

I don't think I will be heading back to a Target before they close their doors in Canada. I still think it's a shame they are closing so prematurely, it may have worked had they given it more time. At least I still have the the U.S locations when I am cross boarder shopping.

Fun With Nail Wraps!

I was recently offered a sample from a former co-worker of mine who has been dabbling in Jamberry Nail Wraps. Obviously I accepted! Today I have a mani inspired by the nail wraps I received, Wild Flower.

Wild Flower is a bright and sunny floral pattern with a sky blue base and a variety of muticoloured flowers. I used the wraps as an accent nail on each hand and combined it with Sally Hansen Triple Shine, Statemint. Statemint is a yellow leaning green creme, it contrasts perfectly with the bright floral pattern of Wild Flower.

 

Statemint applied well in two coats and dried fairly quickly. I applied one coat of Seche Vite over both the polished nails and the nail wraps. What I love about these wraps is that they are vinyl which makes them pliable and really stick on to the nail! You simply heat, apply and push the vinyl wrap on to the nail. I have tried these wraps before and they were surprisingly a lot more durable than I had anticipated. This time I tried it over a base of Bio Seaweed Gel UV base (which are applied to the rest of my nails as well). I found the wraps held up on one nail better than the other and came to the conclusion that it was the gel beneath that had it peeling slightly at the base of my nail since the wrap went lower than the gel base.

Even with the slight peeling at the base of one nail it still held up surprisingly well to day to day activities such as washing dishes, cooking and showering. The hot/warm water did not effect the bond of the wrap on the nail which was great. I'm curious to see how it would hold up in a hot yoga class, maybe I will test these out again next time, I once had a fake nail pop right off in class! Oops!

Although I applied a top coat of Seche Vite over the nail wraps, although it is not really necessary it adds some extra shine.

For more information on this and other nail wraps, feel free to contact Brenda directly though Facebook and like her page or visit her personal profile through Jamberry. Thanks again for the samples!

Nail Fail

It may not appear to be a"nail fail" exactly, however I do pride myself on great photography and editing...

I wanted to do a simple mani refresh with Color club, Pardon My French and Bundle Monster plate BM-423. From afar it looks great, maybe even in the first two photos I have displayed as well.

I have a feeling it may have been the actual plate that threw me off with this one. The design may have been too deeply engraved and with the stamper being squished on top, it created the weird texture with in the design. You can see more clearly in the photo below.

Not the worst nail fail, but it still bothered me to the point of removal for a different Easter mani. I'll have the play around with different stamping polishes to make this pattern work because I really love it and want to get a nice clean image the next time I decide to try it out.

Have you had problems with this design as well?

Merry Easter!

Was anyone else's Easter reminiscent of Christmas morning? SNOW in April? When will this winter end! Luckily the weather was warm enough to melt the fluffy snow by the next day and the sun was shining brightly again Monday morning.

I wanted something light and bright for Easter so I chose China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around. Little did I know it would also match the snow! Dandy Lyin' Around is a soft white crelly polish with a beautiful glass fleck shimmer that shines throughout. I used two coats in my photos below. It provided decent coverage at tow coats, however some people may be fore comfortable with three. It appears slightly more sheer in the photos than it does in real life.

I decided an accent nail of chevrons would be a great pattern for Easter. I chose a soft pink, Sally Hansen "Chrome Nail Makeup" in Amber Chrome. It's been a while since I have used my nail art plates or a chrome polish. I'm not sure if it was my lack of practice or the plate it's self but the pattern was not 100% opaque, it looked like it had a texture running throughout. Luckily it was not completely visible to anyone but me, However, in a test mani I tried out before this one it bothered me to the point of removal! That post to come next week.

For the accent nail I used Bundle Monster plate BM-423. I have to get back in to stamping, so much fun :) Maybe once my China Glaze Road Trip polishes arrive in the mail I will be inspired with some spring printed nails.

Mint Sorbet

Has anyone ever heard of or tried a real life mint sorbet... I can picture it in my head, but the flavour that comes to mind it lime or lemon. Either that or mint chocolate chip ice cream, which I guess would make more sense because the flavour would be more minty. I actually did a Pinterest search and found recipes for mint sorbets that were mostly lime or lemon based, funny! Random thoughts.

Sally Hansen, Mint Sorbet was a polish I picked up during my first trip to Target's closing extravaganza... hardly! Not yet anyways. I had been considering this polish for a while, but know I own probably a handful of mint polishes already. I purchased it anyways lol. This rich mint creme pastel glided on the nail effortlessly.

Two to three quick swipes of each nail was blended together perfectly. I could have gotten away with one thick coat, but I find cremes tend to show wear faster with only one, so I added a thin second coat to top it off. Clean up (what little there was of it) was a breeze and Seche Vite added a high gloss shine and aided in quick drying. I must be getting in the mood for spring with this bright and airy colour. Too bad the weather is still in the negatives and snowy :(

Bon Bon Dazzler

I have a such a a girly mani today. Winter doesn't normally inspire me to wear pink polishes, you know, unless its Valentines or something. The other day I saw a lovely mani, similar to what I created, and decided I wanted to try it myself. I can't recall where I found it and don't even have the photo for reference, but it was simply a pink mani with a glitter accent nail

I used Cover Girl Outlast in Bon Bon as my base pink. It is a bright and squishy medium pink creme. It was a tad on the streaky side but application was good. I didn't mind applying three coats for full opacity. This shade is girly and bright, something I have not worn in a while. I'm happy I tryed something different!

For my accent nails I used  Sally Hansen Gem Crush Razzle Dazzler which is a full coverage glitter made up of baby pink glitter and small silver hex glitters. The formula was esy to work with and I only required two coats to reach full opacity with no base polish.

Fave Halloween Polishes 2014

Halloween is quickly approaching, I just can't wait for Friday! Today I  have a short list of my all time favorite Halloween themed polishes... this year anyways! Every October I go through my stash and go through all the Halloween shades I have. Here are some of the polishes I cannot get enough of in the month of October. For previous swatches of these polishes, click on the polish name in the title.

China Glaze Its Alive

A deep green jelly base saturated with bright lime green glitter in various sizes. The deeper base makes the glitter appear to be darker. Such a great shade, China Glaze has amazing green polishes for Halloween.

Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice

The perfect Halloween shade must include orange and black! Pumpkin spice is made up of a murky black jelly base and coper orange glitter. At first I didn't see the hype over this polish, but I was in love the first time I wore it. And yes, I have two bottles, it's that awesome! I needs about three thin coats for full opacity, but it is well worth it for the final outcome.

Orly, Monster Mash

A slimy green jelly base jam packed with green and holo glitter of various sizes. This polish is so awesome! My favorite of Orly's Halloween collection from 2012. I actually layered this over It's Alive for Halloween in 2012!

China Glaze Boo-gie Down
This is the newest favorite to my list, I purchase it last year at the end of the Halloween season.
I just recently wore this as an accent in a Halloween themed mani last week. There is a lot going on in the bottle, matte black (various sized hex and bar glitter) and white glitters with a sprinkling of gold and copper hex glitter. Such a great mix for Halloween. I love it over a sheer nude, super classy, and the formula is awesome! Super easy to apply with great coverage as a topper at one coat.

What are your favorite colours and polishes to wear during the month of October?