This week I finally decided to try something I had been wanting to try for a long time, a rainbow gradient. I went out and bought a yellow a couple months just so I could do it, but I never got around to it. Since it's almost the end of summer for this teacher, I decided to go ahead and try it.
Surprisingly, this was the first color gradient I have ever tried. I've done glitter gradients, but those are a lot different. In order to get both colors on each nail evenly, I used these makeup sponges.
The colors I used are (from left to right):
China Glaze Shocking Pink
China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
Finger Paints Silkscreen Green
Essie I'm Addicted
Ulta Tutu Cute
On top of everything I used Sally Hansen Disco Ball to pull it all together.
So this week I decide to yet again go for a Gelaze polish, go figure. I went out and bought 3 new colors last week and went with a pink (Shocking Pink) and glitter (Fairy Dust) over the top for my nails this week. I wanted to do my nails with gel polish for California because I'll be here for 10 days and I don't want them to chip.
I didn't get a chance to take a photo of my nails before I left for California because I did them late at night and left before the sun came up, so I took this picture on the plane with my phone. I loved the way the light hit my nails in the photo, it captured the glitter perfectly.
Okay, I am officially obsessed with Gelaze gel polish! After taking off Dorothy Who?, I wore some regular polish for a week. That polish chipped within a couple days, so I am right back to the gel polish again. It seems like this is the only polish that I want to wear now. The fact that this polish won't chip is just too irresistible.
This week I reached for the only other color that I own and haven't personally tried yet, Ruby Pumps. I used it on my mom when I first bought the set. Although you can't see it in the picture (bummer), this is a glitter like Dorothy Who? The glitter is slightly more subtle than Dorothy Who?, which I think is why it didn't show up as well. The color pretty much looks exactly like the bottle.
Unlike Dorothy Who?, I got full coverage with two coats of the color, but I think that is because I did thicker coats with this polish. I would recommend doing three thin coats instead of two thick ones though because I got a little messier with this than I did with Dorothy Who?
Overall, I am really liking this color and I'm looking forward to see how long it will last.
As promised, here is my review for the new Gelaze line from China Glaze. Gelaze is their new line of gel polish. I had been wanting to try this out for a long time, but was hesitant because it is kinda pricey and I already have a ton of regular nail polish.
From left to right: Ruby Pumps, Rose Among Thorns, Dorothy Who?, top coat
Eventually I wanted to try it badly enough and decided to buy some. To start out, I purchased the Gelaze Necessities Kit from Sally's for $34.99. It came with Ruby Pumps, the top coat, a file/buffer, a rosewood stick, and cleansing wipes that wipe off the sticky residue at the end. I also purchased Rose Among Thorns for $11.99 because I wanted a summery color. I already had an LED light which I got for Christmas, so I was able to save there.
Items included in the Necessities Kit
Red Carpet Manicure LED light that I got for Christmas
In order to use this polish, there are some steps that you have to take before you start painting. This doesn't bother me because I always prep my nails before I paint them, but for other people, this may add some extra time. After you shape your nails, you have to push your cuticles back (which I always do anyway) and then buff your nails with the white side of the file included in the kit to rough up your nails so the gel polish will stick. The Gelaze website used to have a video showing all the steps to take before and while painting your nails, but for some reason it is no longer working. It was very helpful, and I wish it was still working. Here is the link to the Gelaze website in case you want to check it out. Even if you can't find the video, the Necessities Kit comes with instructions.
The next step is to wipe off your nails to remove any dust after buffing your nails. The instructions that come with the kit say to use a cleansing wipe, but I didn't want to waste the wipes on that because they don't sell the wipes separately at Sally's, so I put some rubbing alcohol on an eyeshadow brush and wiped my nails with that. So far, I haven't had any problems doing it that way.
When you start painting you nails, they say to start out with a very thin coat of polish. At first, I didn't understand why the directions were stressing this, but after doing the first couple nails I understood. If you use too much polish, it will pool in the corners of your nail and drip onto your skin. I didn't think that was a big deal at first, but soon realized that after you cure the polish under the light, it WILL NOT come off of your skin. Usually when I paint my nails, I can get a ton of polish on my skin and just wipe it off with acetone and an eyeshadow brush when I'm done. This is NOT the case for gel polish. Because of this difference, the first time I painted my nails with this polish, I had a good amount left on my skin that I couldn't get off. However, the second time I painted my nails with it, I was much more careful and had a better result. If you want to see the result of that, click here to see my Nails of the Week post about it.
Overall, I really like this line of gel polish! I think the best part about it is how long it lasts. I had Dorothy Who? on for two weeks and it didn't even chip. I only took it off because my nails had grown out so much. Now, when I had Rose Among Thorns on it did chip in a couple places, but I think that was more because part of my nail peeled up. I had that polish on for two weeks as well. I am wondering though if the glitter polishes like Dorothy Who? stay on longer than the cremes like Rose Among Thorns because that is usually the case with regular nail polishes. I will have to investigate that further and keep you updated.
Another great thing about this line of gel polish is that it doesn't have a separate base coat, the color has the base coat already in it. This is great because it saves a step, and therefore saves time, which I like. I have not tried any other gel polish (yet), but I like the fact that you don't have to do another step and don't have to buy another polish.
So, to sum up my really long explanation of this new gel polish, I think it's great and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking to try out gel polish for the first time. If you do try out, let me know how it goes, and if you have any questions about the polish feel free to ask me.
It's been a long time since I've posted a Nails of the Week. I got really busy with work at the end of the school year, but now that it's summer I'm hoping I will have more time to post.
This nail polish is from the new Gelaze by China Glaze collection. It is China Glaze's new gel polish line. This is the third color from this line that I have purchased and it is by far my favorite! I will be doing a review on the Gelaze line soon.
The color goes on a little lighter than what it shows on the bottle; it is more of a teal blue than a royal blue (which isn't quite evident from the picture). At first, I was upset that it was more of a teal color because I wanted it to match a new swim suit cover up, but I still really like the color. It also took three coats to get full coverage. According to the directions, you are only supposed to have to do two coats to get full coverage, but that's not something that really bothers me. I think the color is gorgeous and I love the way the glitter looks in it.
I have had this color on for about a week and a half now and it's still going strong. I have had absolutely no chips! That's a plus for me because I do my nails EVERY WEEK to prevent having any chipped nails. So I love that I am able to wear this color for two weeks.
Anyone who knows me understands that I have been obsessed with doing my nails for a very long time. For as long as I can remember, I have done my nails once a week, every week. I can't stand to have chipped nails or cracking nail polish so once a week they must be done, no matter what. It wasn't until about two years ago though that I really started getting into nail art. Since my blog is new, but my obsession is old, I thought I would share my top ten nail art favorites from the past.
1. Multi Colored Leopard Print
This is probably the first true nail art that I really did. Before this, I had probably experimented with some other designs, but none were really successful. This design was created using nail art pens that my mom bought. I guess it was those pens that gave me the courage to try some nail art, but I have since found that I am able to successfully do nail designs without them.
2. Zebra Print
After trying out leopard print, I was of course anxious to try my hand at zebra print. I had used the Sally Hansen Salon Effects polish strips to have zebra print nails before, but I wanted to be able to create them on my own. I used black acrylic paint and a small paint brush to carefully paint zebra stripes on my nails.
3. Pink Zebra Print
Since the first zebra print design turned out so well, I decided to try it again. This time I paired it with my favorite color, 24/7 by Sinful Colors. I really liked the way the zebra print looked with the hot pink.
4. Blue and Gray Chevron
Sometime last year, I discovered how to make a template for chevron nails with pinking shears and tape. I had been wanting to do a Chevron Mani for a long time because I had fell in love with chevron stripes. This was not my first time doing chevron (which did turn out well), but I really liked how well the gray paired with the light blue in this design. I liked it so much that I did my toes to match. For this design I used What's with the Cattitude (blue) and French Quarter for Your Thoughts (gray), both by OPI.
5. Polka Dots
This design from last summer was the first time that I tried polka dots. I was worried that doing full polka dots would be too much to handle so I decided to do it on only one finger of each hand. I have since done polka dots on all my nails and really like it. However, when I don't feel like doing ALL that work, I will do polka dots like this. The coral color I used was Flip Flop Fantasy by China Glaze.
6. Gray Chevron
This design was from last fall. I was wanting to do chevron, but I didn't want to do anything too bright because that wouldn't have been season appropriate. So I decided to do it with gray. This gray is the same color as the above chevron. However, this time I wanted to try the chevron free-hand for the first time. It wasn't as perfect as using a template, but it was a lot faster and I was happy how it turned out. The best part of this design was that I was able to create an outfit that matched, all the way down to the sparkle on my jeans and shoes! Again, those of you who know me also know I love to match.
7. Penguins and Polka Dots
This design is from last Christmas. I had been getting up the courage to try a penguins since the year before and I finally decided to try it. I thought penguins would be too hard to do on all my nails so I decided to do polka dots on all the other nails and alternate between red and green to bring in some Christmas flair. I also did a YouTube tutorial on this design which is linked beneath the picture.
8. Christmas Lights
To keep in the Christmas spirit after my penguin nails, I did some Christmas lights. I used acrylic paint to do the wire and nail polish and a dotting tool to do the lights.
9. New Year's Eve Mani
Around Christmas time I had gotten a gorgeous gold glitter, My Favorite Ornament by OPI, that I really wanted to use. So I paired it with black to create a New Year's Eve look. I used tape to create the gold triangles. I actually filmed a tutorial on it, but got really sick and was unable to finish it. I plan to finish it and post it for next New Year's.
10. Valentine's Mani
This design is from this past Valentine's day. I put loose pink glitter over pink polish to create a really glittery effect. I made the heart by painting a heart with nail polish on a plastic baggie. When the heart dried, I peeled it off with tweezers and stuck it on my nail.
I hope you enjoyed my top ten nail art favorites. Stay tuned for more nail art posts!
For my nails this week, I decided to do something creative since I've been rocking plain colored nails for the past couple of weeks. This mani is inspired by my favorite scarf that I got from Kohl's several months back. The blue color isn't exactly the same, but it looks pretty darn close.
The nail polishes I used were:
Turquoise- China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise.
White_ Ulta Snow White
Silver- Sally Hansen Celeb City under an Orly silver glitter
I did the chevron free-hand with black acrylic paint and a small paint brush. I used to do the chevron with tape and pinking sheers, but I found that it got a little messy (especially if I didn't let the white dry long enough).
