V: V-french with OPI Skull and Glossbones

Hey there!

Quick post... we are on V for the ABC challenge and I did a simple V tipped french, some call this a chevron french as well.  This is OPI Skull and Glossbones as a main color with China Glaze Call of the Wild for the tips.

I love grey and brown together, it's what I wear when I get tired of black.

I did this free handed but you can easily use tape if you want.  I did a tutorial on v-tipped french manicures a while back with tape.  Click here to see the tutorial.

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies in the challenge!

S: Skittle French

Hey guys!  For this week's ABC challenge for "S" I did a skittle French manicure.  Check out the various pastels with matching tips.

The polishes I used were:

Thumb: base: Revlon, Sunshine Sparkle
Tip: Revlon, Make Mine Mango

Index: base: China Glaze, Kinetic Candy
Tip: ChG, First Mate

Middle: base: ChG, Go Go Pink
Tip Kiko #362

Ring: base: ChG, Refresh Mint
Tip: Revlon, Posh

Pinky: base: Sinful Colors, Mauve
Tip: Cult Nails, Viscous

Of course you could replicate this with polishes of similar colors.  That 's it for today. Please check out other "S" manicures this week.

Q: Queen Cupcake, Funky Fingers

This week's ABC challenge is "Q", a difficult letter, I would think.  I only have one polish that starts with the letter Q, and it is Queen Cupcake, from Funky Fingers.

Queen Cupcake is a pastel pink with gold shimmer.  I don't know if the formula is going bad, (one year old) but this was difficult and streaky on application.  Below is three coats to even everything out.

I also did a funky french with a pastel coral color, so as not to bore you.  I used one coat of Sunkissed by Mineral Fusion, on the tips.  You can find Mineral Fusion nail polish and makeup at Whole Foods grocery stores.

I usually free hand my french manicures because I'm too lazy to use tape or guides and I don't want to wait for the main color to dry.  I lay the brush flat, parallel to the edge of the nail, starting at very edge and swipe across. Go to the other side and swipe across again until the stripe meets in the middle.  I use the entire length of the brush to make a straight and crisp line.  It usually comes out straight.

So that is it for today. It is absolutely beautiful outside this time of the year.  If you are experiencing nice weather, please go outside!

Funky French with OPI Save the Gift Wrap

Hey guys!

Anyone headed over to Zoya today?  They are having a promo, buy 3 free with $10 shipping for US customers.  The code is zoya2013.  The sale is today until 1/13.  I found out about it here.

Well here's today's funky french.

The tips are Zoya's Dita, two coats, freehand.  It looks bumpy but it isn't.  I put a thick coat of ChG's Fast forward top coat and it is really smooth.  The best advice I have for freehand-ing tips is to lay the brush flat, lengthwise, paralleled to the free edge, against the nail and swoop across.  If you make small dabs across, the line won't be straight.

Dita isn't normally this dark, the green underneath is showing through the polish.

Here is Save the Gift Wrap by itself.  This is three coats, the formula was a bit thin, and I had to wait between coats to dry or else it would clump.  I'm not impressed with this one.  Save the Gift Wrap is an Ulta exclusive.  I got it as a freebie, with a coupon, and I had to buy two other OPI's.

Time magazine: Style & Design, Spring 2012, photo by Peter Hapak.

Above is the inspiration for this mani.  Emily Blunt looking fantastic.

That's it for now.  I'm going to zoya.com to see if this code works.  Let us know what you picked out, if you go to Zoya this week!

Funky French with Bare Bones and Brownstone

Hey there!

I don't know if I'll be around the next couple of days.  Hurricane Sandy is suppose to make landfall tomorrow morning and I'll probably be out of power, thus no Internet....   so God help us!  The grocery stores have been ransacked and there was crowd at Lowes madly grabbing at the generators.  There were three large stacks (36 generators) and I looked at them, walked away, got some outlet covers. (I'm painting a spare bedroom.) When I came back, my husband says.. "Look! One whole stack is gone already!!!"

So I said, "Do you want to get one?"  (They were $649).

He answered, "What's the wattage output?"  What kind of answer is that?  Silly goose!

"Beats me?"  I said back to him.... I think he started panicking because the crowd was, then he started to frantically read the side of the boxes.  I can see how the panic is contagious.  I started hoarding canned ravioli at the grocery store, just because other people were hoarding food too.  I put a few back.

Well, we didn't get one.  I hope we don't regret it, but I can live without electricity for a day or two and the environment might feel a little relief if some of us can actually stop burning some fossil fuels for a day.  I really start to get concerned when the water gets shut off.  The last time that happened was 2003, with Hurricane Isabelle.  Well we have two, 50 gallon rain barrels so we can at least flush the toilets.

Anyhow, I leave you with this funky french to have a gander at.

There's Bare Bones, my most visited swatch.

Bottle shot of Brownstone.

Revlon's Bare Bones is my number one, most visited post of all time, which amazes me.  It is a nice color and all but the formula is not the best.  It's from the colorstay collection which I have come to conclusion that the extra cost is not justified.  I don't think it lasts longer than regular polish and they take forever to dry.  Plus they don't work very well with my China Glaze top coat.  I had some bubbling issues (after applying top coat) and the paint started to run all over the place too (also, after I applied top coat).  I forgot I should have used the Revlon quick dry top coat instead.  Oh well...

Brownstone is from last year's China Glaze Metro collection.  Don't be a smart ass and ask me uptown or downtown because I don't think that matters. haha  Anyways, its a nice rusty brown and the formula on that is superb.  My bottle has been sitting around for over a year and I didn't have to shake it, it still looks new.  Where as bare bones,on the other hand, the pigments were separating and it needed a good shaking and inversion for a couple of hours before I decided I could paint with it.

Soooo, if your in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeastern U.S.,  (Shout out in the comments section!)  I will be hunkering down to ride out the storm with you.

Otherwise, I'll see you after the storm passes and the sun comes back out!

Chevron French with Beverly Hills Plum

Hello out there!

Here is this week's simple work mani.  Instead of traditional smile lines we have V shaped tips.  This was quite striking, a few people wanted to touch and inspect my nails.

Orly's Beverly Hills Plum adds a nice healthy rosy glow to my nail beds.  Natural but enhanced.  Orly is known to add "optical brighteners" to their polishes and I noticed as I was applying Beverly Hills Plum, it has a tiny sparkle to it. 

Well here are my naked nails to compare.

Eeeek!  The tips are yellow! I look like a chain smoker!  Let's cover those up shall we?

I've tried a bunch of different base coats, none of them really work to prevent staining.  I've been wearing Orly's Nail Defense a protein treatment then Orly's Bonder as a base for every manicure for the last month and a half.  I'm still evaluating if that is working or not.....

For a Chevron tutorial look under the How to tab.  Or click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chevron French with Revlon's Red Bikini

Here's my very first chevron french manicure.  I used Orly's Velvet Rope for the tips with plain ol' Scotch tape.  I really loved how this turned out.  Funky frenches are a great way to recycle an old mani by rescuing tip wear. 

How did I do this?  Easy.

Pull about 9-10 inches of Scotch tape and cut them into ten pieces, make sure you cut off the jagged edge from the tear line off so you have a smooth edge.  Place the corner of the tape in the center of the nail, tip facing the edge. 

I know there is very little tip wear here.  After two days, Revlon's quick dry top coat  holds up.

Make sure the edges of the tape are a smooth as possible.  Here you can see it is still not that smooth.  I used a cuticle pusher to smooth mine down.  Pull the tape taut if that doesn't work.  Tape stretches, so just pull. 

If still can't get the tape down smooth and paint seeps underneath, just dip a small brush in acetone, dab on a paper towel and lightly remove the seepage.

Paint the tips.

Pull the tape off right away.  Do not wait for the polish to dry or you might pull off more polish than intended.  Use tweezers to pull the tape if your other hand is wet.

Clean up with a brush and acetone.  Apply top coat.  I used Seche Vite here, because it is such a good leveler, China Glaze's Fastforward top coat is another superior leveler.  The final effect looked as if the purple and red are a seamless layer.  Very smooth and shiny finish. 

The thumb came out perfect, no seepage, and perfect tape placement  Probably because it is my biggest and flattest finger.

There you have it, V French.  I am going to do this again!

Nailene Fake Artificial Drugstore French Nails

A few weeks ago I wore a couple of French manicures and was obsessing over smile lines.  Well I was standing in Rite Aid and found myself looking at fake nails.  The last time I wore fake drugstore nails was 18 years ago to my senior prom... I've never have been interested in wearing acrylic or gel nails (the real artificial nails) due to the expensive upkeep and having to frequently visit a nail salon.  Well, I decided to try these out because the smile lines are perfect, and maybe it would make for some interesting blogging material.

Well, I have to say fake drugstore nails have come a long way in almost two decades.  The glue is a lot stronger, the nails are thicker, tapered for a smoother fit, and come in many more designs and sizes then ever before. 

My real nails are longer than the nails the kit came with, especially the ring and pinky fingers. 
The cuticle end is nicely tapered, which provided a smooth fit.

After three days of wear.  Not too bad.

I thought these would be eaiser to apply than painting my own nails, but actually this took me a total of 50 minutes to do, longer than I expected.  Well, this was my first time, so I was new to selecting the right size, lining them all up, applying glue and setting the nails.  Well a plain natural nail manicure is eaiser for me to do than putting these on, but putting on fake nails is easier and faster for me to do than nail art. 

It is recommended that you trim your nails down before you start.  I did not, so some of the nails did not fit as intended.  Also, it is recommened that these should not be worn for more than 7 days.  I did not think these would last 7 days, because 18 years ago, fake drugstore nails would last for me a maximum of two days, if even.  They used to pop off by themselves and the remaining glue was easily chipped off.  I used to pry the remaining nails off without much effort or pain.  Well, today this is not possible.  I wore these Nailene fake nails for a full three days and they were not going to come off.  The glue was solid and there was no way I could pry them off without doing some serious damage.  I had a little bit of tip wear at the end of three days.  Otherwise these nails were durable and strong.

Cell phone picture, actually came out better than my regular pictures.

I decided to take them off after three days because they felt really thick and heavy and I started to get worried about fungal growth underneath because the I did not have a full water tight seal.  Water did get trapped under the fake nails and would just sit there.  Also as a precaution I did not cook or eat any finger foods with my hands while I was wearing these nails.  Fork, spoon, knife for everything!  I did not want any food particles trapped under the nail either.  So gross!

See the gap?  Water and debis can get caught in here.  My left had a better fit and looked more like my pinky finger.

I removed my fake drugstore nails with Kiss artifical nail remover kit.  The kit comes with a useless wooden pick, a file and remover.  The package instructs you to cut down the fake nail, but I did not because my real nails were underneath.  Removal is kind of a pain, it is done by mechanical and chemical means. So I buffed the tops of the nails with the coarse grit side to break down the top coat, and then soak the nails in the remover.  The sides of the container have teeth so you can brush your nails against them to help speed the removal process.  The fake nails started to break down right away.  After two minutes of soaking, I started to scrub for three and then I got tired.  So I did the other hand, and alternated hands until the fake nails were all gone.  I still had some residual glue and small pieces of nails that I scrapped off with the wooden pick and used the fine grit side of the file to file away left over glue.  The total process took me a total of 20 minutes, 10 minutes per hand.


  

See the little teeth/brushes?  Great to remove glitter!

TIP:  I have to add, I used the Kiss kit to remove some glitter polish on my natural nails and it worked really well.  

Lastly, since there was some lemon extract and orange oil, (I could smell the citrus) so the Kiss kit's acetone is not drying.  I'm really glad I got this kit to remove my fake nails or else I would have had to use pure acetone without a brushy container, and that would have been really drying and taken much much longer. 

Thoughts?  Has anyone tried this?

China Glaze Innocence - French

It has been a really long time since I last wore a classic French manicure.  I've tried a bunch of different ways to get the perfect smile lines and I'm never fully satisfied with the outcome.  Here it is freehand because I was too lazy to use tape or guides... 

I need more practice but what I find works well freehand, is to start at the corners of the nail and lay the brush flat and just swipe at a downward angle towards the center of the nail and then go to the other side do the same thing and meet in the middle. 

I used Orly's Pointe Blanche french tip white, the brush is thinner than regular nail polish, which makes it a little easier to handle.  I also added Wet N Wild's Snow Globe glitter to the tips which covered up the unevenness of the white. 

The base color is China Glaze's Innocence, a soft pink creme, opaque in two coats.  I need the opaqueness because my nails are badly stained at the tips, from all the teals and greens I was wearing in March.  I topped everything off with some Seche Vite.

Below, is a bad impromptu picture from a week prior.  A different French mani I did, also freehand.  The tips came out better, but I used three coats of Orly's Rose Colored Glasses, which was not opaque enough to cover up my yellow stained nails.  You can see the yellow starting half way down the nail, especially on the ring finger.  The glitter is Nubar's White Polka Dot.  I didn't plan on posting it, so I didn't bother to take better photos...  Sorry for the blue-greenness my florescent lamp is causing.

Three coats of Orly's Rose Colored Glasses, one coat of Nubar's White Polka Dot.

Do you have any favorite polishes that you do your French manicures with?

BTW, you will see more of Nubar White Polka Dot.... I love, love, love this soft pearly white glitter, especially for work. 

WNW's Toad-ally Amazing Funky French

I don't know if this is totally amazing but it is "Toad-ally amazing"....  I did a funky french with Wet N Wild's Silvivor and Revlon's Jaded Night. 

Right hand.  Sorry for the dry hands. WNW's Toad-ally Amazing as the main color, Jaded Night on the tips.

Added this so you can see, Jaded Night in the bottle.

Left Hand.  Silvivor on the tips.

I ended up liking the tone on tone, Jaded Night french mani more than silvivor.  Silvivor was too bright for me and I felt like a space cadet. 

I still need practice doing tape manis but I think I'm getting the hang of it.  I think the trick is to pull the tape and stretch it a bit to make sure it lays really flat and paint doesn't seep under it and to pull it off while it is still wet.  I used plain scotch tape.

More WNW to come!