W: Whirled Away and Re-fresh Mint, China Glaze

Well. I had some ambitious plans to do a water marble mani for W, but that failed at that. So here was my back up, a glitter, from the Cirque du Soleil collection.

Whirled Away, China Glaze.

Re-fresh Mint, China Glaze.


Below is my failed attempt at water marbling.  I had tape all the way around my finger, but I had it on so long I got tired of it and took it off.  Now I know why everyone tapes the sides of their fingers.  Anyhow. I spent an hour trying to get a suitable marble pattern in the water.

My problem was the polish kept setting too quickly.  I don't know if it was the polish or I was just not working fast enough..... I watched a bunch of videos, and tried a bunch of different polishes, no luck. I also used room temperature tap water, then tried room temperature filtered water.  It did not seem to make a difference.  I had to give up.  I may try again later.

I have new found respect for ladies that can water marble!

The base color is Orly's After Party in case you are wondering.  Sinful colors Savage is the marbling color I really wanted to work with.

Well that is it for today.

J: Jacob's Protection, Essence Twilight Series

Believe it or not, I only have three bottles of nail polish that start out with the letter J.  So this week is just a quick swatch of Jacob's Protection, from Essence Twilight Series.  JP is a black jelly polish with blue shimmer. The shimmer isn't very strong and looks black most of the time.  I have a bunch of these types of polishes, I should do a comparison post one day.  Anyhow here is two coats which were super easy to apply and dried pretty fast.

I got my bottle in a swap with the beautiful Criminal Nails.

That's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

F: Fish Braid Manicure

It's Wednesday again.  Time for "F" of the ABC challenge; F: for Fish braid mani.  Today's post is picture heavy so I'm going to stick to just this topic.  This was my first attempt at fish braiding. It wasn't too hard to do and turned out well.  I'll be doing this again in the future, with better colors.

Left Hand.

Right Hand.

I only did three nails because I ran out of nail polish strips.  Just as well, because I started to get tired...

So, how did I do this?

First I painted two coats of nail polish onto a plastic page protector and waited three hours for them to dry.
I used Color Club Style Icon (red), Revlon's Jaded Night (green), and Sinful Colors, Black on Black.

Then scraped up the rectangles of dried paint.  See?  They are like vinyl sheets.

Cut them into strips.

Applied one coat of base coat, then start placing the strips onto the nail in a braiding pattern, alternating the different colors.

Trim off the excess with a cuticle trimmer.
Clean up the cuticles with a brush and acetone.
Slap on a thick coat of top coat.
Viola! See below.

I used American Classics, Gelous base coat, and INM Out the Door top coat for this.

I'm so glad I finally got a chance to do this!  It was fun and the lines are nice and crisp.  I am pretty bad at nail art, so this technique is much easier for me to do.  I found out about this technique, I think from Sammasaurus at Nailasaurus....a long time ago... I'm too lazy to search for the link.

I love how this challenge is only once a week!  I've been enjoying just painting my nails and not taking photos every other day, for now. I'm going to go and see what the rest of the ladies in the challenge are up to!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

B: Barielle Blackened Bleu

I decided to join the ABC challenge. I hope I can keep up!  Today is B, Barielle's Blackened Bleu.  BB is a sheer black jelly with blue shimmer. This is three coats and it feels really thick.  The formula is really nice and easy to work with though.

I haven't tried it yet, but I think this would be really nice to layer with.  The first coat I put on was really sparkly.  The more coats I added the sparkle kind of subsided.  Still pretty though.

I have a blog sale going on right now, and a giveaway.  Don't miss them.

Halloween Night! China Glaze - Ghoulish Glow

Yep, yep... everyone is out trick or treatin and I'm at home posting..... a Halloween mani from hell.

Does this look scary?  No... oh, okay.

Happy Halloween!!!

Here is three coats of Ghoulish glow all by itself.  It is translucent, kind of foggy looking.



And in the DARK!  The more coats you put on the higher the glow intensity.

Then I added some nail wraps.  These were a total bitch to put on right!  I'm not doing this again.

You can go ahead and tell me - "Ummm, Jenni, this looks like a five year old did your nails.."
Go ahead.  I won't be offended.  I might get defensive, but I won't be offended.  Plus my hands look terribly dry!  I'm cringing!

Horrible, horrible, horrible.  It took me an hour and half to apply these wraps and there was no way this was going to be wrinkle free.  The cashier at Sally's warned me that they were horrible.  She advised me not to go all the way to the edge because of peeling issues.  Well they started peeling at the cuticles instead.  On top of it, after apply Seche Vite, the entire nail wrap just start to pucker.  Testament to the Seche Vite shrinkage theory.

Here they are in the dark!  Neat, huh?

I painted black tips to hide all the wrinkling at the tips, which worked out okay.
But they still look bad to my standards.

In the dark again.

See the puckering from Seche? 
Black tips are Sinful Colors Black on Black.... an excellent black to own, I might add.

Here are my nails without the bottle so you can see how they really glow.

Well that's it for now!  I hope everyone is having a nice time tonight. 

Thanks for all the caring comments in previous post.  My hubby, animals and I survived the storm.  All of us are intact, no damage to anything or anyone.  I am content indoors with electricity and heat!  There are many things to be grateful for right?

China Glaze - Black Mesh

I've got another Halloween themed mani to show you.  Your going to see more of these, because I'm having way too much fun.

Right hand

Left hand.

Underneath.  Here's what it looked like before I added Black Mesh.

What's nice about this mani is that you don't have to be neat, just slap on some colors in an alternating pattern.  Then add Black Mesh and you can't tell that underneath its messy.... its probably better that is messy.

Here is what I used.  L to R, Gelous as a base, It's Alive, Burnished Bronze, Fall of Surprises, Santee purple glitter, Sinful Colors I Love You, ChG Black Mesh, Jelly Pop top coat.

Last year I did not get into the crackle craze.... kind of a shame because I'm really enjoying it!  Now I want to buy a bunch of crackle polishes on eBay now!  So silly!

Jim Gaffigan Nails

What? You ask?  I know, this is a lost reference, but I'll explain.

For those of you who don't know who Jim Gaffigan is, he is a comedian who recently released the long awaited "Mr. Universe".  Mr. Universe was filmed recently at the Warner theatre here in D.C. and the backdrop inspired this week's nails.   Gaffigan does a lot of jokes on eating junk food, being lazy and religion.  If your in the mood for comedy, any of Gaffigan's materials will have you LYAO!

Does this look like anything to you?  My husband had no idea what this mani was about.  His first reaction was, "What is that?"

I told him, "It's my Jim Gaffigan nails."

"How is that Jim Gaffigan?"

I reply, "It's the spotlights and the curtains.".....  Oh well, failed nail art I guess.

This took me three and half hours to do, with all the dry time.  I used tape to make the spotlights.  Sinful Colors, Black on Black is the background, and Diana Manicure 1715, 1716 for the blue and yellow, and Funky Fingers blue and purple glitter.  I do have to say Sinful colors, Black on Black is a really nice black to own.  It is a true black with a very nice precise formula.  Not too thick not too thin and was a breeze to apply.  Lots of bang for you buck.  I got it during their 99 cent sale at Walgreens.

Below is a clip from Jim's latest show.  There is a ton of his old material for free on youtube.  I paid the $5 to watch Mr. Universe and it was money well spent!  Very entertaining. 
See the lights in the background?




"The thing about art, Joe, is that it comes from somewhere." -Angelica, Joe vs. the Volcano.

Enjoy!

Techno Androgynie

Today I have a super fun glitter sandwich to show you.  Orly's Androgynie with China Glaze's Techno!  The layers are in this order, base coats, Androgynie, Techno, Androgynie, Techno, top coat.  If you don't have Androgynie you could still replicate this, with any sheer black jelly polish, and there are lots of dups of Techno out there.  Black with silver, holo, hex glitters makes a nice contrast.  Don't ya' think?

Goofing off here.

Macro, Macro.

 I will be very sad to take off this mani.  I had so much fun photographing it too!

Wet N Wild Spoiled - Black Mamba (BM)

BM is a black and silver metallic foil polish that was a breeze to apply.  Thick and not sticky, this polish reminded me of Ulta's Alter Ego.  The paint just flowed from the brush at an even pace. I did not have to keep dipping and readjusting, no bald spots, no cuticle drag... so very nice.  Two coats with Revlon's quick dry top coat.

Side Note: According to National Geographic, the black mamba, because of its venom, is the world's most deadliest snake.  I did not know this and bumped into this information when googling black mamba.  I thought it was some kind of dance.... WRONG, O WRONG!  Not only is the black mamba the world's deadliest snake, its not even black.  Its actually a pretty tan color but the inside of its mouth is the color of THIS NAIL POLISH. GROSS!  I don't have copyright permission, so click here (Nat'l Geo) and here (for inside of mouth pics, scroll down).

Thanks, Wet N Wild for totally creeping me out!  I forgot how beautiful this polish is and how it is a nice alternative to black.

Thoughts?

Orly – Mattified Androgynie

Androgynie – neither masculine nor feminine, yeah that’s about right. 

I’ve had Androgynie for a couple of months and became reluctant to try it because of the lukewarm reviews online.  So, when I finally did, all I had in my mind was doubt, doubt, doubt.

Androgynie is a black jelly with mini gold glitter and multicolor hexagon glitter.  It looks like it’s from outer space.  Great concept, poor execution, I will tell you why. 

The jelly applies nicely, but the glitter settles at the bottom of the bottle, so I ended up shaking the bottle after painting every other finger.  The black is a bit dark and covers up the glitter that is on the first coat, and the second coat the glitter gets lost and the polish looks murky.  So, I decided to try to pick up some individual glitters out of the bottle by dipping the brush in and letting the polish run off the brush by itself, then dabbing the glitter on to the nail.  That helped kind of, still murky.  So I added INM’s Northern Lights holo glitter top coat (teeny tiny, nano glitter), which helped brighten Androgynie a bit.   This was a lot of effort.  Was it worth it?  Probably not for most people, but I was okay with it.   But wait, I’m not done.

So, I wanted to do something different and added Orly’s Matte Top at the end.  I’m glad I added INM’s top coat first, because Matte top dries slowly.  The glitter seems to stand out more with the matte coat, perhaps because the glare from shiny top coat is removed.  Matte top adds an interesting effect.  After a couple of days the polish really started to grow on me.  I may revisit this polish again.

Dear hex glitter, why won't you come out to play?

What I used: Orly’s nail defense base, 2.25 coats of Androgynie, one coat INM’s northern lights silver holo top coat, one coat Orly’s Matte top coat.  Androgynie is from the Holiday soriee collection. $5.99 Sally’s.

On the side note, I think this polish would be great maybe as a two polish set, one bottle black, and the other just clear with the glitters.  Are you listening Orly?  Probably not... Oh, well.

Thanks for watching and enjoy your weekend!

Deborah Lippmann – Ruby Red Slippers

Ruby Red Slippers (RRS) by Deborah Lippmann (DL) is a black jelly base with red hexagonal glitter, and red micro glitter.  Easy to apply, a pain to take off, as you can imagine with all glitter polishes.   My picture shows 2 coats with wrapped tips, as there was serious shrinkage or tip wear? after less than one day of wear.  I used Orly’s Nail Defense base, 2 coats DL, one coat China Glaze Fastforward top coat. 

DL RRS reminds me of black and red lingerie and has a vampy look to it from a far.  Has anyone tried China Glaze’s Lubu Heels?  I would love to compare the two.  I think if you have one of these two you wouldn’t need the other.

DL RRS was a gift to me from my sweet hubby.  $18 from Neiman Marcus.