Week 8: Corset Mani

Happy Monday guys! I'm so happy to be off work today! I can't believe eight weeks of this challenge has already gone by. I was excited about trying out this corset look until I sat down to do it. Oh what a pain in the butt this mani was. I tried out several variations with rhinestones and stamping but those were uber fails, so I settled on freehand. I always forget how bad I am at freehand nail art until I sit down to do it.

Here's a pictures strip to show the progression of the manicure.

I started the mani with two coats of Sinful Colors Tutu from their Valentine's Heartbreaker collection. Not bad for a sheer light pink.

Then I did some stamping with Sally Hansen Pink Satin and Red Angel image plate 106. I did a poor job on my ring finger, but I didn't figure it would matter much since I was going to be adding large amounts of black.

I used American Apparel Hassid to create the two black panels on the side Sally Hansen Silver Chrome for the lace hooks and a black acrylic paint for the laces. I topped all that with Orly Fifty-Four for some shimmer. You guys know how I am about shimmer. Loves it!

Definitely  not my best work, but it'll do. Next week's challenge is for a Vintage mani--what does that even mean? I'm glad I have all week to think about it. Thanks for stopping by and if you have any ideas about vintage mani look feel free to leave me a comment.

Week 4: Plaid Barracuda

Happy Monday! Here's my Week 4 Challenge Mani:  Plaid. 

I did three coats of Sally Hansen Barracuda and stamped the plaid pattern from my Mash plate M60 with Sally Hansen Color Quick in Turquoise Chrome.

I'm not thrilled with the way this turned out. I couldn't get the lines to transfer straight and the Turquoise Chrome overpowers the beauty of Barracuda.

See here's Barracuda alone.

So pretty!

Here's to hoping that my Week 5 Challenge Mani (Newspaper Nails) turns out better.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush: Review and Comparisons

A while back I picked up the eight colors in the Sally Hansen Gem Crush line from CVS. At the time they were BOGO 50% and included in a special deal where if you spend $30 then you'd get a $10 gift card. Can you guys tell that CVS is like my favorite drug store ever. I need to buy stock in them. Anyway, I finally got around to swatching them and I even did comparisons! Yay!

First up we have Showgirl Chic. It has tons of silver and blue glitter suspended in a clear base. I did three coats here. Similar but not an exact dupe to China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara.

L-R: Showgirl Chic, Lorelei's Tiara, Showgirl Chic, Lorelei's Tiara

 Lorelei's Tiara took two coats to reach opacity and its blue glitter is more dense and lighter in color than Showgirl Chic. So they're not exactly dupes, but choosing one over the other is a matter of personal preference.

Next up: Bling-tastic. I did three coats as well for this one. It's an aqua blue with silver hex glitters scattered throughout. Very similar to OPI's Gone Gonzo.

L-R: Bling-tastic, Gone Gonzo, Bling-tastic, Gone Gonzo

The silver hex glitters in Gone Gonzo are bigger and there's more of them packed in, but the smaller aqua glitters are essentially the same.

Big Money is easily my favorite of the bunch. Two coats seen here. It's got fine gold glitter and larger lavender glitter suspended in a clear base. It's unique to my stash and I can't think of anything else that would be similar. If you see this GRAB it and run (but don't forget to pay for it. LOL). The gold is not so yellow that it wouldn't flatter cooler skintones so it seems like it would be universally flattering.

Cha-Ching has fine red glitter and larger hex glitter in a clear base. I did three coats here and I expected to hate this because I'm not really the biggest red polish fan, but I actually like this one. It looks really close to OPI's Gettin' Miss Piggy With It! I don't have that one, but I suspect that the silver hex glitters in that one would be larger as was the case with Gone Gonzo.

Be-Jeweled. My second favorite of the collection. (Duh, it's purple!) I did three coats here. I love the way the pink hex glitters stand out against the finer lavender glitter. Bonus: I'm going to go ahead and call it a dupe for Wet N Wild's It's All In The Cut, so if you missed out on the Ice Baby collection or it never showed up in your area, go ahead and grab this. (Although I have heard through the grapevine that the Ice Baby collection, which was supposed to be a Walgreens exclusive, is starting to show up at CVS. But the Sally Hansen is a bigger bottle, so there's that to consider.

Here's Be-Jeweled and It's All In The Cut side by side. If I hadn't written down what polish I put on what finger I wouldn't be able to tell you what was what. But you be the judge.

L-R: Be-Jeweled, It's All In The Cut, Be-Jeweled, It's All In The Cut.

One other thing I will say is that the Be-Jeweled's formula was a bitter thinner than the Wet n Wild, so it took three coats to build to opacity versus the two coats I did of the Wet n Wild.

Razzle Dazzler has fine pink glitter in a clear base with larger silver hex glitter. Three coats seen here. I thought it would be similar to China Glaze Material Girl, but there's no silver glitter in that one.

L-R: Razzle Dazzler, Material Girl, Razzle Dazzler, Material Girl

Material Girl was opaque in two coats as well, but instead of larger silver glitter mixed in with the fine pink glitter it has larger pink holographic glitter. Hard to capture, but it is really reflective.

Lady Luck. Three coats here of this fine fuchsia glitter with larger holo glitter. As with the others this one is in a clear base. Very pretty.

 Glitz Gal. Smokey gray fine glitter in a clear base. Lots of holographic glitter that my camera refuses to show you on the nail, but willing to give you a sneak peek in the bottle. Ugh.

Comparison time! I actually ought to be ashamed that I have not one but two other nail polishes to compare this with--China Glaze Some Like It Haute and Wet N Wild Diamond In The Rough. Actually I had a third, Orly Rock Solid, but that one is finer and smoother, while the other three are chunky.

L-R: Glitz Gal, Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal, Diamond In The Rough

These three are so similar I'm actually ashamed that I have all three...not really. LOL. One thing I did notice is that the holographic glitter in Some Like It Haute seemed to be slightly more prominent than the other two, but both Glitz Gal and Diamond In The Rough hold their own.

Overall I'd say this is a nice collection. Lot's of dupes from other companies, but it also has some unique shades. Must haves for me are Big Money, Be-Jeweled, Razzle Dazzler and Showgirl Chic. I hope this help anyone who has been wavering about these. Happy polish hunting! Let me know if you pick up any of these.

*Updated* CVS Beauty Clearance

When I saw Nouveau Cheap's post about the CVS Beauty clearance being on, I  knew I had to investigate for myself. I LOVE CLEARANCE.   Note: The stores I went to didn't have stickers on any of the merchandise yet, so it's worth scanning the items you're interested in at the magic coupon/price check machine to see if they're included in the clearance sale. In two CVS trips I discovered the following on sale: Shades with an asterisk next to it means that the shade was reported as clearance on makeupalley.     Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, 75% off (at my store $2.07):Thinking of Blue
Purple Pulse Black PlatinumNavy Baby

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength (old bottle), 75% off ($1.37 each at my store)
Diamonds & Rubies
Royal Romance*Tyin' The Knot
*Luminous Tulips
*Save the Date
*Lilac Chantilly
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 75% off ($0.82 each at my store):
Purple Potion
Plum Power
Hot Magenta
Crushed
Ivy League
Blue It
Red CarpetWet Cement *Go Green
*Gunmetal   Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, 75% off ($1.37 each at my store):
Quick Sand
Grape GoingWined Up
Blue Streak
Whirlwind White

Revlon Nail Enamel 75% off ($1.45 at my store): Plum NightRaisin Rage
Hushed Blush
Demure
Steel Her Heart
Tuscan Sun
Temptress
Fire FoxPeach Petal
Frankly Scarlet
Lilac Pastelle
Ruby RibbonEmerald City
Silver ScreenSheer Rose*Powder Puff  I hear the magic coupon machine is printing $3 off 2 Sally Hansen products, but I didn't get that coupon.   **Update** Wet n Wild's Mega Last line is 50% off.  
I also found that the following Sally Hansen Salon Effects shades are 75% off:Violet NightIt GirlTeal With ItCry BabyRed-y For TroubleGrooveSqueezedElectric Shock 
I found two shades of Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro 75% off:Black SatinGold Silk 
I know this list isn't exhaustive, but I hope it can at least give you a good start. Happy clearance polish hunting! Let me know what you guys find.

31 Days of Manis: Day 28, The Golden Arrowhead

I decided on a tribute to my parents' heritage for my "inspired by a flag" mani. They emigrated from Guyana in the 1970s. I was born in America but they've told me countless stories about their home country. I've never visited, but I hope to one day. Anyway here's my mani, which does absolutely no justice to the Guyana flag know as "The Golden Arrowhead."

The colors in the Guyana flag are symbolic with the green representing agriculture and forests, the white for the country's rivers and water, the gold for mineral wealth, black for endurance, and red for zeal and dynamism.

The green is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green, the white is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White, the gold is American Apparel Manilla, the black is Wet n Wild Black Creme and the Red is Wet n Wild Everybody Loves Redmond.

This challenge is really winding down. Tomorrow I'll have nails inspired by the supernatural. After that I have two more manis to complete before this challenge is officially over!

31 Days of Manis: Day 24, Inspired By A Book

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

I wanted to do a Thanksgiving-themed mani that would also fit into today's challenge: inspired by a book.

Google to the rescue! I found this Thanksgiving e-cookbook! It's free and it has some interesting recipes, traditions, decorating ideas.

I never claimed to be good at free hand nail art so be warned. What you are about to see is a hot flippin' mess...

The base color is OPI's Ginger Bells and the sad looking turkey was made with Sally Hasen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White.

I'm going to go eat some carrot cake and hope that tomorrow's mani, which is supposed to be inspired by fashion turns out better.

31 Days of Manis: Day 20, Water Marbled

So I'm not exactly skilled in the art of water marbling...

I can get the design to look decent in the water...

But my placement is off and it doesn't transfer well to the nail. 

And as you can see I haven't quite figured out how to prevent air bubbles. So frustrating.

I painted my nails with one coat of Orly's Frisky and used Orly's Enchanted Forest and Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze for the marble design. 

Well let's see if  L , Kisten and  Katherine fared any better with their water marbled manis. Tomorrow is the first day of the last segment of this challenge: inspiration. We have to come up with manis inspired by a color. 

31 Days of Manis: Day 19: Sally Hansen's Galaxy

Galaxy Nails! At first I was worried about creating this look, until I realized that it was just sponging and dots. I can do that! So here's what happened.

 

 I decided to use a bunch of my Sally Hansen nail polishes to create this look.

Here's the gang:

L-R: Barracuda, Lacey Lilac, Black Diamond, Uptempo Plum, Night Lights, Lavender Cloud

And here they are all hanging out on my nails.

Well I'm ready to see what L , Kisten and  Katherine did for their galaxy manis. Tomorrow, the last day of the patterns segment of this challenge, we'll have water marbled nails. Time is flying! I feel like I was just opening my bottle of OPI's Smitten with Mittens for my Day 1 Red Nails.

Halloween Candy Mani

I've seen a lot of candy corn Halloween manicures but I wanted to pay homage to its lesser celebrated brethren, candy pumpkin! 

 Here's what I came up with.

The ingredients:

L-R: China Glaze Papaya Punch, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep, Orly Here Comes Trouble.

Over my base coat I did one coat of Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. I love how you get full coverage at one coat with this baby! At first I tried free handing the candy shape but that was an epic FAIL, so I turned to my trusty friends over at Bundle Monster.

Enter plate BM-223.

The images on this plate are so random, a holiday bell, a ghost, a full zebra and full geometric print and two other swirly patterns.

The top of the bell image turned out to be perfect for the base of the candy shape. I stamped it a bunch of times on each nail using China Glaze Papaya Punch and dotted Orly's Here Comes Trouble for the top with a nail art brush and voila!

Not too shabby eh?

I'm diggin' it.