Orly Rage skittlette

I purchased Orly Rage a bit ago during a BOGO sale at Sally's. I don't have anything quite like Rage which is why I decided to get it.

I can't remember how many coats I used, but probably 2-3. On my middle and ring fingers, I placed some chevron nail vinyls, painted over with Wet n Wild Black Creme, and took the stickers off right away. My index and pinkie fingers are also a base of Wet n Wild Black Creme plus some gold studs.

Green Glitter Gradient

I'm not a person who is super big into fashion. I'm a jeans and tshirt kinda gal. And when I say tshirt I mean the kind with pictures on them like from Threadless. My husband is the same way, and we buy similar stuff for our little guy like this super cute shirt we just order from Kohls!

Anyway, I was browsing some photos from Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week for some inspiration. I came across the Zang Toi Fall 2014 collection inspired by 1930s Shanghai. It's beautiful! He used mostly a black palette with pops of emerald green. The designs are timeless and seem very wearable too. Zang Toi also worked with Zoya for this show (as the two have in the past)

I picked one of the cocktail dresses and created a mani inspired by it.

I started with a base of Wet n Wild Black Creme. Then I added a gradient at the tips using NYX Girls Emerald Forest. Finally I added a super sparse layer of Orly Mermaid Tale to the whole nail.

Here's the mani by itself. I love how it came out, and my husband did too. He said it was "cool" which is sorta big because he hasn't said anything lately about my other manis :P

Sweet Peacock & Water decals

These gorgeous flower water decals are another item I received from Born Pretty Store for review (disclosure policy).

I'm really liking reviewing their stuff simply because I would be buying it anyway! They're definitely is a bit of pressure to make my photos and mani look prefect since I am reviewing, but I've found a good spot in the house with some natural light that's been working really well. Plus I rather do few manis if they look awesome rather than a bunch that look like crap.

Anyway! I used two coats of Orly Sweet Peacock. It's super pretty, but Orly hates me. I've tried a few polishes before, but have given away/traded off/sold them all except one glitter because the formula just isnt compatible for me. The two coats were thin yet took FOREVER to dry even with fast dry top coat. Then this gorgeous mani chipped the next day :( it's lasting well on my toes though.

The decals are super easy to use. Just cut out whatever flower you want to use (I trim pretty close to it), take off the front plastic protection, place in a small bowl of water, and wait a bit. The decal will usually separate after 30 seconds to 1 minute. Use tweezers to gently place the decal on your nail. If you've done top coat before this step, your nail surface will be slippery and you can easily slide the decal around. Then let dry a bit, and add top coat!

I didn't do the top coat step prior to my decals this time. So I had a few minor places where the vines of the flowers went off the color base. I used my clean up brush and acetone and was able to clean that right up! I was very pleasantly suprised to find that out!!

I love use water decals sooooo much! I have a few I've purchased myself in the past. They are simple to use and make manis look so nice.

Don't forgot to use my discount code if you want to get these decals (or anything else) from Born Pretty Store.

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 23, Inspired by a Movie

 

My favorite movie of all time has got to be The Little Mermaid so of course I had to use it for today's inspiration.

I went with a mermaid mani. On ring finger, I created multicolored dotted scales and did scales using glitter on the other nails.

The base coat on this is 2 coats Sinful Colors Rise and Shine. It doesn't dry to a shiny finish, but I wouldn't call it a matte finish either. It's pictured on its own below.

For the accent finger, I created scales by dotting on Sinful Colors Rise and Shine, NYC MoMa (pink), Illamasqua Phallic (dark blue shimmer, but reading almost black here), Wet n Wild Metallic (silver), and A-England Lady of the Lake (purple holo).

For the other fingers I did a gradient using NYX Girls Emerald Forest and then painted Orly Mermaid Tale over whole thing. Mermaid Tale is a very fitting polish to use for this mani, I think!

Check out other manis inspired by movies below.

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 7, Black and White Nails

Just a quick post for today. I did these ahead of time because we had a family Christmas party on Sunday, and I wanted to wear something festive.

The base coat on this mani is Orly Androgynie. I used 2 coats here. Then I stamped using Konad White and plates BM-14, BM-319, and BM-323. I topped it with Sally Hansen fast drying top coat and then added Essie Matte About You.

Enjoy some other black and white manis below.

Orly Purple Pleather

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone! I had a great last 2 days with a few more plan for today. Tomorrow, I start teaching summer school so it's back to the grind.

Today for you, I have Orly Purple Pleather. I really loved the swatches I saw of this, added it to my wishlist, and got it from a friend. I do have to say that I'm a bit disappointed though. I used 2 thin coats then one thicker one to even things out. I left plenty of time between each coat, but I ended up with bubbles, ridges, and a dent from not-quite dry polish. This swatch is from last week so perhaps I can blame on it the super hot weather we had. I love the pleather finish of this (so unusual!) so I really want it to work!

Watermelon Nails

I decided to have some more fun with neons as well as include nail art which I haven't done in a while and a new polish. Whew. That'ss a lot of stuff!

The neon pink base is a color I won from a promotion through Cosmopolitan magazine last summer called Wild Thing. I used 2 coats here.  The glitter you see on my nails is Orly Mermaid Tale from their new Glam FX collection.  It's a beautiful glitter that looks awesome over black, but I wanted to try something different. The green glitter pieces definitely pop though it is a bit harder to see the blue pieces.

I finished everything up by painting a simple watermelon on my accent nail. I won't list the colors I used here, but if you want to know then just ask!

Orly Fowl Play

I got this polish a bit ago but haven't really had a chance to show it until now.  I did 2 coats of the polish all on its own without underwear ;-) Fowl Play is a pretty flakie/glitter mish mash polish set in a dark purple base.

I did have a long drying time with this polish, even though I waited between coats, used my regular fast drying Sally Hansen top coat, and waited for quite a while after. If you look close, you can just make out a smooshing on the tip of my ring finger.

You also may notice me little shorties. I was getting out of the car the other day and noticed that the nail on my ring finger had snapped off kinda far down. I shortened the other nails but didn't make them even with my ring finger because that would be way too short.

Finally, onto the pictures!

Dotted flowers

So I meant to post this earlier in the week but time really just ran away from me.

I created this design for Chalkboard Nails dotting tool nail art contest.

I actually took photos of my right hand instead of my left hand since the top coat left tons of bubbles.

For the base coat, I used 2 coats of Zoya Bevin.  The flowers/dots are done with OPI Fly, Orly Purple Pleather, and Ulta Encore Pink.

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 20: Sleigh or Sled

I come a new pretty in the mail yesterday, Orly Androgynie,  so I had to use in today's manicure!

First I used Androgynie as the base.  Look how pretty!

I mean, just look at all the glittery goodness!! This is two coats of Androgynie. It's a thinner black so it definitely needs it.

Inspired by this idea from Posh for Polish, I stamped on a sleigh and reindeer. I took forever to get the reindeer to work. Finally, I figured out I was scraping off too much polish and pushed down lighter, it worked! Doh, user error!

Finally, I added in some color details on the sled. In retrospect, I wish I would have left the actual sleigh part white because it looked better.

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails