Lots of Layers

After a day at work my nail tips are usually worn, a hazard of having them rubbing against fabric on a constant basis.  While usually I will just change my polish every other day, there are times when I end up with a manicure that I either really like and want to hold onto for another day, or time just won't allow for a full polish change.  Sometimes it's a matter of I really liked a mani I did previously and want to try improving upon it.

This time it's the latter.  I really liked the way my Essie Luxe Effect polishes looked over the black cream and wanted to see what I could do with them.  I applied the polish but then didn't get around to the improving upon part for about a day.  By that time, I had very significant tip wear on my right hand as well as some pretty big chips on a couple of nails.  I needed an upgrade.

I ended up just using more of the Wet n/' Wild black creme to cover the bare spots.  From there I took OPI's Super Bass Shatter and applied a medium coverage coat over all of the nails.  Can I just say how much I love the color!  In the bottle it looks very similar to The One That Got Away from the Katie Perry collection but the shimmer doesn't separate like it does with TOTGA.  I didn't use the Luxe Effects for the patching because I figured it wouldn't be that noticeable one way or the other once I got the shatter on.

Once I'd achieved "shatter"  I took some Orly Sec n' Dry and applied it just to seal things (and because it was handy and I need to use this bottle up.)  Since it's a thinner top coat it doesn't level out at all but did help to seal everything, I've noticed that a lot of my shatter polishes tend to to be heavy drinkers when it comes to top coats.  Lastly, I applied a two coats of Seche Vite.  It smoothed over everything beautifully.  I did apply a butterfly sticker between coats on the middle finger.

So all told, I have anywhere from 8 to 10 layers of polish at this point and it's worth every one.  I love how this looks, almost more than I did the original look, I think that Super Bass coordinates with and sets off the Luxe Effects beautifully.  The Luxe Effects peek through with flashes of gold, orange and green, be still my heart!

What do you think, a winning combination?

Thank so much for stopping by and reading, leave me a comment telling me if you liked this look.  Until next time, take care!

This Thing Called Love.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  Or, as I used to say, Singles Awareness Day. After a horrid marriage that ended in divorce I didn't want to have a thing to do with men, but as time progressed and I healed and grew I realized that I didn't want to be forever alone.  After kissing a whoooole lotta frogs I found the man of my dreams...then lost him for about two years.  But the universe decided to give us another chance, and I am eternally grateful.  We're to be married this August.

Today we're going to go check out the house we're hoping will be perfect for holding the wedding.  I'm sooo excited!!

While these aren't the nails that I initially wanted to be my valentines day nails, the original ones didn't work out as planned (but that's another post) so these came up.  They're actually based off a look that I did for a business trip I took last week, only in a different version.   I'll show you the initial version another day.

I've been doing a lot more layering than I usually prefer.  This one has a base coat of Palladio Moisture Surge and then two coats of Color Club Sheer Chick just to even out the tone of the nail bed, then another two coats of Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat.  From there I applied Seche Vite and let the nail dry pretty completely, I didn't want to risk the color pulling up with the french guides. 

Once the base color was dry, I applied the french guides (seche brand) I then applied two coats of OPI Pink Friday from the Nicky Minaj collection.  Once that had set I peeled off the guides and took a teal Stripe Rite to cover the seam line.  I then took some clear polish and some hologram hearts that I picked up at my local nail supply.  The latter are rather thick and stiff so you have to force them to curve so the don't stick up off the nail.  Once that's done, I used the clear polish to adhere them to the nail. 

After that it was just a matter of a couple of coats of Seche Vite and I was done.  I noticed that the hearts tended to bleed color  as I went over them with the top coat so I had to be very careful about that, but otherwise I think it turned out quite cute and more than suitable for venue hunting. 
And tomorrow will be the anniversary of the day my sweetie told me he loved me for the first time.  I guess he didn't want to risk it being cliche on Valentines Day, so he waited until the day after.  That's what we celebrate.  :)
Well thanks so much for listening to me prattle on.  I know they say that you should stick to nails  in a nail blog, but I so much prefer getting to know the person on the other side of the screen, don't you?
Thanks so much for reading, and for your wonderful comments (that I'm trying to get better at responding too.)  :)  Until next time, take care!

Give it up for Nicki Minaj

Looking for my giveaway?  You can find it right here!

First I would like to say that these pictures are pretty true to color as far as the polish, but my skin by no means is this boiled lobster shade of red.  I've no idea what my camera was thinking. 

So I am loving these two shades from OPI's Nicki Minaj collection.  They are super bright, fun and sassy. Being as such I thought they needed a unique look.  I took my inspiration from indigonova1 because the colors and the effect just seemed to be perfect for each other.  I wasn't ready to jump in with all my fingers so to speak so I opted for two accent nails.

Did It On Em is the bright and fun green, which I used on my ring finger while Fly is the  blue that I used on all the other fingers.  Fly only needed two coats to be opaque while Did It On Em was thinner and had a streak problem it took 3-4 coats to get it opaque.  You'll noticed that my blues are  a bit different, I actually used acrylic paint for the stripes and dots just because I had the two matching colors and acrylic for me is easier to work with for detail work.

I really love this, it's is so bright and fresh and just plain fun.  I never saw myself as liking the more graphic prints on my nails, but I'm rethinking that now.  Aside from my obvious glitch on the index finger (oops) I discovered too late that there was something stuck in my Seche Vite brush that left little spots,  Lesson learned...wipe your brush. 

What do you think, would this make you rethink graphic patterns on your nails? 

Thanks so much for reading, until next time, take care!