Pink and Gold Rococo Nails

Today’s “metallic” nails for the challenge are very unlike my usual personal style. It was nice to step outside my box though, as I was super happy with the way these turned out! Girly and fun and kind of rococo-esque, don’t you think?

My pink base is American Apparel Coney Island. I haven’t used an AA polish in a really long time… I always forget how great they are. Their colors are lovely and the formula is really nice.

The frame embellishments on my pointer and pinky are from a grab bag I ordered at Ocean Nail Supply. I can’t remember where I got the brass studs from, but I imagine you could find something similar from ONS or a site like Daily Charme.

I chose one of my favorite gold polishes for the accents: China Glaze Goldie But Goodie. I like the complexity of it — it has these gorgeous flecks and a sort of coarse visual finish to it. I used nail vinyls from Love, Angeline for the pattern on the middle and ring fingers.

More metallic manicures:

• Nfu Oh 61 silver holographic
• Magnetic metallic with gold leaf
• Distressed metallic gradient
• Matte metallic gold French tips

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Vintage Striped Wallpaper with China Glaze Desert Escape

Have you guys checked out the China Glaze Desert Escape collection yet? I really dig the color makeup of it. There's something for everyone, you know? You've got a neutral, a metallic, a squishy red, a girly pink, a funky turquoise, and a silky magenta.

I reached for four of the six shades from the collection to put together this easy nail art. I think it's kind of charmingly vintage, yeah? Like, maybe you'd see it in your grandma's bathroom, and she's had it like that since the 1960s.

And gueI think just about anyone could pull this off. All you need to be able to do are vertical stripes (the easiest of all the stripes) and dots!

The shades I used are:
China Glaze What's She Dune? (nude)
China Glaze Don't Mesa With My Heart (pink)
China Glaze The Heat Is On (red)
China Glaze Meet Me In the Mirage (rose gold)

1. Begin by applying a base of the nude. 
2. Use a nail art brush to paint on a wide stripe of rose gold down the middle of your nail. 
3. Stack a medium red stripe on top of the rose gold stripe.
4. Stack a thin pink stripe down the middle of the red stripe, then add two sets of two thin pink stripes at the edges of each nail.
5. Add red and pink dots in pairs of two in the open spaces.

Unlike China Glaze collections you may be used to, the Desert Escape collection is only available on LockandMane.com. Each shade retails for $7.50. Have you picked up any? Do you have plans to?

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NCC presents: Poison ivy nail art

The theme for June is Super Heroes and Villains for the Nail Challenge Collaborative. I decided to make a Poison ivy nail art. A female villain found in Batman, which want to protect the nature etc. I decided to make a simplified version. And I ended up liking my non accents the best actually, and overall I'm not that happy with the manicure. I think it was because I was in such a hurry. Anyways, here it is. What do you think?

Polishes used:
China Glaze - Scattered & Tattered, swatch
Kleancolor - Poppy Field
Pure Ice - Wild Thing swatch will come)
Essence Satin Matte nail polish
L.A. Colors Art Deco - Bright Green
L.A. Colors Art Deco - Yellow
Sure Promise (black)
Green flower rhinestones
Green 1 MM round rhinestones

An InLinkz Link-up

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Girly Gradient Nail Art with EverGlaze by China Glaze

This spring, China Glaze throws their hat into the ring of longwearing polish systems, joining the ranks of lines like CND's Vinylux and Sally Hansen's Miracle Gel. These systems are set apart by claims of gel-like wear and shine, without the need to cure in a lamp or the lengthy removal process. China Glaze's EverGlaze system brings CG's signature bold colors and fun finishes among more traditional color choices, ensuring that there's a shade for every type of gal.

The system includes a nail prep solution, the range of colors, and the EverGlaze Active Top Coat. The prep solution is similar to a nail dehydrator, and it is meant to remove dirt and oils from your nail plate before polishing. This helps the polish stick longer! The Active Top Coat comes in a UV protected bottle.

For this nail art, I used:
EverGlaze Case of the Mondaze
EverGlaze Adrenaline Rush
EverGlaze A Toast to You
EverGlaze Back to Black

Case of the Mondaze is actually a gorgeous cobalt blue, but when I sponged it over Adrenaline Rush in my gradient, it turned purple! A happy accident, I say!

The Active Top Coat is thick and shiny, dries quickly, and doesn't smear nail art. It's a winner, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it (I can be very picky with top coats, you know).

Unfortunately, I'm unable to do a wear test of my own at this time -- nail school is tough on polish, and even my full-fledged lamp cured gels don't hold up sometimes!

EverGlaze is available now in Sally Beauty stores and on SallyBeauty.com.

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Comparison; Nails Inc - Belgravia and China Claze - There's Snow One Like You

Yea I know, maybe not the right season. But while I'm at it, a comparison between Nails Inc - Belgravia and China Claze - There's Snow One Like You. Both are white texture polishes as you can see.

Nails Inc - Belgravia 

• Jelly with sparse on texture, white hexagons and prismatic hexagons(which never look prismatic on the nail).
  
• 4 coats (needed 5 on some nails).
  
• Very difficult application, almost fishing for the texture and there is some dabbing needed to not get bald spots. In general less textured and not as "tipex white" as TSOLY.
  
• Drying time is about 35-45 minutes. Quite similar to TSOLY, but I guess the many coats increase the drying time.
  
• Cost; about $11 (CAD) (At the time I bought it, it was comparable to about 8 euro)

China Claze - There's Snow One Like You

• Jelly/crelly filled with texture and white matte hexagon glitter.
  
• 2 coats
  
• Also difficult application, the formula is thick and "lumpy" with the texture/glitter, however much easier than Belgravia. Much more textured and more white than Belgravia.
  
• Drying time is about 30 minutes which is normal for textures (imo).
  
• Cost; about $4 (US) (At the time I bought it, it was comparable to about 4 euro)

Nails Inc - Belgravia

Nails Inc - Belgravia

China Claze - There's Snow One Like You

China Claze - There's Snow One Like You

So, overall I prefer China Claze - There's Snow One Like You. I know it has more of a cottage cheese feel or like really fluffy new fallen snow, but I like that. Also, TSOLY is half the price of Belgravia, and also TSOLY need half the amount of coats, which should mean that it would last twice as long (if any one would empty a bottle..). I didn't experience any major tip wear with any of them (however I wrapped the tips) but the only thing I didn't like with both of them is that the "texture balls" are gray toned plastic (as for all textures, but here it shows more). After a couple of days wearing for both TSOLY and Belgravia the gray plastic shows a tiny bit after some wear and tear (since there's no top coat), and makes the white look a bit "dirty" in an unpleasant way. Belgravia beeing less white from the beginning has an disadvantage there.

So, do you have any of these?  Which one do you prefer? Do you even like matte textures? ;)

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Abstract Roadmap Nail Art, for the Adventurer In You

The last road trip I went on was to California, where my boyfriend and I (plus a couple of our best friends) went to Disneyland. The trip was a blast, and we were basically pros at navigating the Disney FastPass scene and making the most of our days. It was magic!

Then, on the way back, the air conditioning in my car died. Oh, and did I mention that this was in June? In the middle of the desert? That sucked. But such is the nature of road trips, right? You gotta roll with the punches! And the mishaps always make the best memories.

The China Glaze Road Trip collection celebrates that wanderlust, those adventures, with twelve boho chic shades. In the spirit of the road trip, I used five of them to create some abstracted road map nail art.

Nail polish used:
China Glaze Boho Blues
China Glaze Sun's Up Top Down
China Glaze My Way or the Highway
China Glaze Pinking Out the Window
China Glaze Pop the Trunk

I used Boho Blues as the base, cause it's my favorite shade in the collection. How great is that cornflower blue? This is two coats of it. Then I painted (and dotted!) on some loose road map details with the other four shades.

I'm actually super happy with the way that this look turned out; it's not too literal but not too ambiguous. Maybe if I'd been wearing this when my AC died I wouldn't have been so crabby!

Here's a fun fact about this collection: it makes up a big part of the set of polishes that I use in nail school with clients! Boho Blues has been huge for pedicures while Pinking Out the Window is a popular manicure choice. Have you picked up any of the shades in this collection yet?

The China Glaze Road Trip collection is available now at beauty supply stores like Sally Beauty and Ulta.

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China Glaze - Def Defying, swatch

China Glaze - Def Defying is from the 2012 Cirque du Soleil; Worlds Away Collection. It's a bright green going towards yellow (sorry for the slightly dark photos taken in the evening). It looks streaky on the first coat but levels out on the second. With thick coats I need 2 coats and with thin coats I need 3 coats. Basically I just love this shade and can't get enough of it, for more greens you can check out Green Wednesday. :)

Love my rings ^^

Bought from head2toebeauty together with some other from this collection.

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China Glaze Electric Nights for Summer 2015 Swatch and Review

China Glaze's new summer collection, Electric Nights, draws inspiration from the electronic dance music culture with nine neon cremes and three neon glitter toppers. It's not my scene but these polishes sure are! They're bright, they're fun, they're bumpin'. Read on to check out my swatches!

Point Me to the Party - One coat over white
A rainbow neon glitter topper with pink, magenta, orange, green, and blue neon glitters. The glitter density was good and it's just so FUN! You may have seen something like this from indie brands before, but it's pretty cool to see a major brand embracing the neon glitter.

Let the Beat Drop - One coat over white
A neon glitter topper with pink, magenta, and orange glitters.

Can I Get An Untz Untz - One coat over white
A neon glitter topper with blue, green, and purple glitters.

Daisy Know My Name? - One coat over white
I wish my camera had been able to accurately convey how neon this one is! It's a super bright neon yellow, especially when layered over white. It went on smoothly and evenly.

DJ Blue My Mind - Two coats over white
I'm pretty obsessed with this gorgeous deep sky blue creme. Of the two blues in this collection, this one is my pick.

Glow With the Flow - Two thin coats over white
This is another one where the brightness just did not translate well to my camera. This bright pink creme is super gorgeous. It's very Barbie-esque, but in the best of ways.

Home Sweet House Music - Two coats over white
A neon creamsicle orange. So citrusy, cheery, and bright!

PLUR-ple - Two coats over white
A bright purple creme. I'm obsessed with this shade of purple. So deliciously bright. It went on a little streaky but mostly evened out after the second coat.

Red-y to Rave - Two coats over white
A bright neon traffic cone red-orange. This is another standout for me, it's great!

Treble Maker - Two coats over white
A bright kelly green.

UV Meant to Be - Two coats over white
A light sky blue creme. This is the lighter counterpart to DJ Blue My Mind. A great pool blue for summer!

Violet Vibes - Three coats over white
The bright magenta huge on this one is gorgeous, but I found the formula to be a bit finicky. It was streaky for the first two coats but evened out on the third.

Overall, I found the formulas to be on the thinner side. During application, it was best to get a slightly larger bead of polish than I would normally use, and polish it on to the nail with a light touch to minimize streaks.

As you may have noticed, I decided to swatch all of these over a white base to boost the brightness. I wasn't sure which ones would need it and which ones wouldn't. As it turned out, not all of them needed it. You can check out jessface90's swatch video to see many of them swatched alone.

I wish that the neon-ness of these had come across more clearly! They're bright and happy and lovely. Overall, it's a classically China Glaze collection full of bold, fun colors and trend-setting glitters. This collection is set to release in April, so start gearing up for summer now!

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Neon leopard nail art + matching pedicure

Today I have some nails from last summer, I've been a bit reluctant with these because they come with a bad memory, not with the nail art though. While I had these on I did some acrylic nails on a work buddy and I got an allergic reaction even though I was super careful, I think I accidentally nudged a piece of paper which acrylic acid while cleaning away the stuff (because I had gloves on during the whole thing). Anyhow, to make a long story short, the allergic reaction made my cuticle itch terrible and I got tiny little bumps on the skin around my nails (it doesn't show so much but if you look carefully you can see it in some of the photos). After the photos I removed my polish and went no-polish for a week or more to really make my nails relax from any chemicals. I also went crazy and oiled constantly. One thing is for sure, I wont touch acrylics again, I'll stick with nail polish. ^^

Anyhow, to the nail art; I did a gradient with neon green, yellow and pink and then I did dots in the same colors and then filled them in leo style. Quite happy with the result.
And warning to the sensitive ones; there's one picture in the end with my matching pedicure. :)

Polishes used:
China Glaze - Hang Ten-toes
China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard
China Glaze - Sun-Kissed
Kleancolor - Black

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