My Manicure for 1 March 2015

Today I have a full "skittle" manicure to show you, which happened by accident, because I only intended to put the pink polish on 3 nails on each hand, but I was watching TV while I was doing my mani, and before I knew what I'd done, I had pink polish on all five fingers on my left hand.  So, I just went ahead and did my other hand, but then added other polishes to my thumbs, index and pinky nails, mainly because I didn't like the color or finish of the pink nail polish on my nails, but also because I wanted to feature the Moonstone polish "Sample 10" on my middle fingers.

Photo taken in shade.

Products used:  Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coats, OPI "Pink-ing Of You" , Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear "Golden-I", Moonstone "Sample 10", Savvy "High Voltage", L.A. Colors Color Craze "Tinsel", and China Glaze "Bridezilla".

I started with one coat of base coat to every nail, then one coat of OPI "Pink-ing Of You" to every nail.  It was at this stage I had realised that I was supposed to be doing a "skittlette" manicure, with a feature nail and another nail with a different colour on it. (Big BOO BOO that!!!)  I then added another coat of "Pink-ing Of You" to my thumb, index and pinky nails.  However, I still did not have full coverage, so I added another coat, but still the coverage was patchy.  The polish is very thin, and not easy to work with.  It was very hard to stop it from looking patchy no matter how careful I was. That was when I decided to do a full "skittle" mani to cover up the patchiness by adding three different glitters/toppers to the pink nails, hence the "skittle" instead of the "skittlette" manicure.

Next, I added two coats of "Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear "Golden-I" to my ring fingers.  This polish is sooooooo beautiful, and I almost got full cover with just one coat, but used two for this mani, and because it is over a coat of pink, the effect is gorgeous, with just a tinge of pink showing through.  The finish is beautifully smooth and shimmery, and it went on like a dream. I will definitely be using this polish a lot in the future when I want a golden nail, or for stencils and/or nail art, and will have to go out and find another bottle before they decide to take it off the market (I hope they haven't already), because the bottle is only 11.8ml, so it probably will not last very long.

Then I added two coats of Moonstone "Sample 10" to my middle fingers.  This is a colour that, unfortunately, is no longer available, and Caitlin (the owner and maker of Moonstone polish) told me she has lost the formula, so she can't make any more.  When I first received this polish in the mail, I was so blown away by it that I went straight back to the site and bought the last bottle Caitlin had, and have since bought several more.  It is a beautiful, very, very pale blue crelly, loaded with heaps of gold and holographic micro-glitter; gold, hot pink and pink tiny, round glitter; small white square glitter; and larger pink hexagonal glitter.  It was wonderful to work with, and looked gorgeous over the one coat of pink underneath, even with just one coat, but I wanted to get the full crelly effect, so I used two coats for this manicure.  It went on smoothly, and two coats was more than enough to achieve the effect I wanted.  It looks like milky jelly with layers and layers of different glitters (see the close-up below).

My next job was to try to cover up the patchy pink polish, so I went searching through my glitter polishes and toppers and found three that completely transformed the OPI "Pink-ing Of You" to something beautiful.

The first one, which I added to my thumb nails, was Savvy "High Voltage".  It is an amazing glitter polish, loaded with gold and holographic micro-glitter (and I mean LOADED), as well as heaps of small pink and gold hexagonal glitter.  It can be used on its own, with two coats giving good coverage, but I just wanted to add a little extra to cover up the flaws in the pink polish underneath, so only used the one coat.  It was lovely to work with, and no fishing around in the bottle was needed to find the glitter. It was like adding a light smear of gold leaf with flashes of pink and gold glitter, and the shimmer effect is just beautiful.

The second glitter/topper polish I used was L.A. Colors Color Craze "Tinsel", which I added to my pinky fingers.  It is a pink jelly polish, with lots of pink and holographic micro-glitter, and larger pink and holographic hexagonal glitters.  Just one coat smothered the pink with a slightly richer, pink jelly layer that sparkles like diamonds.  It's just gorgeous in real life.

The last glitter I used is a sheer, pale pink polish with lots of holographic shimmer from China Glaze.  It's called "Bridezilla", and is simply beautiful.  It can be used on its own by using two or three coats, but even then it is very sheer, so I prefer to use it as a pink shimmer topper, and the effect is stunning.  This would work over almost any light or dark colour, and I can't wait to try it over black one day (SIGH!).

Overall, what could have been a disaster, because of the bad performance of the OPI "Pink-ing Of You", turned out to be a lovely skittle manicure, IMVHO.  I'm really happy with the result, and here are some pictures for you.

 

 

Both photos taken inside.

   

First photo taken in shade, second taken in sun.

  

The first photo is a close-up of Moonstone "Sample 10", the second one of the whole mani in the sun.

As a follow-up to last week's mani, by the time I took my polish off yesterday, 6 days from when I put it on, there was hardly any wear anywhere except the tips, which had only worn because I am constantly typing on my computer.  It left no stains on my nails, and came off very easily.  I am just so thrilled with all the Superficially Colorful polishes I have tried so far, and I can't wait to try another one from the "Remants Of Winter Collection".

 
Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  I have no idea what I'll have to show you next, but I will try to make it as interesting as possible.

God bless you, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

P.S. All polishes mentioned in this blog were purchased by me, and I was not paid in any way for my reviews.

My New Year's Eve 2014 Manicure

I've just realised that I haven't blogged about my New Year's Eve manicure yet.  I've been so busy, that I forgot all about it. So, here it is!

I decided to use the China Glaze "Unforgettable Collection" I received in the mail the day before, which I thought was really gorgeous and would make a great New Year's Eve mani.  The colors included in the set are:  Platinum Silver, Liquid Leather (black), Bridezilla (pale pink shimmer), White On White, and Nova (holographic glitter in a clear base). Here's a photo of the collection.

I started with one coat OPI Natural Base Coat, which is still my favourite.  It hasn't let me down once when I've used it, so I'll be keeping an eye out for it on special for sure.  Next I added two coats of Platinum Silver to my pinkies (two coats was all I needed for great coverage), two coats of Liquid Leather to my ring fingers (2 coats also ample here), three coats of White On White to my thumbs and middle fingers (which was still didn't give the cover I would have liked), 4 coats of Bridezilla to my index fingers (I think I should have added a pink nude under this, or some other pale colour), and one coat of Nova to my ring fingers over the Black Leather.  Then I added some quirky cat stickers I picked up online some time ago (can't remember where - AliExpress, I think), and I love them.  I adore cats (have two of my own), so I will most likely be featuring cat-themed nails quite a bit :)

I finished off with one coat of my OPI Top Coat, which I still think is better than Seche Vite if you don't want any shrinkage of your polish, and you want your manicure to last more than a couple of days.  The OPI dries quickly, and leaves a great shiny finish.  Seche Vite dries your manicure faster, but as I usually have plenty of time, I won't be using it very often.  I certainly don't think I'll be replacing it after I've used it all (I've still got a large bottle to go). I'll only use it if I need my mani to dry extra quickly. As usual, I will add another layer of top coat every other day to freshen it up and keep it on longer.

As you will notice, the tip of my index finger is still showing where the nail lifted off the nail-bed down the side of my nail because of the chemo earlier in the year (see just under my logo).  My other index finger is the same, and so are several of my other nails.  In fact, my left index finger is actually looking worse each time I take my polish off.  I'm praying it is not going to come off completely.  I'm hoping they will all grow out normally, but I don't know if they will or not.  I know a lot of people get permanent damage from chemotherapy.

Also, on Saturday evening I banged my lovely middle fingernail, shown in the photo, which I have been nurturing along for months and months, and took a great chunk out of it, so I had to file it right back.  I nearly cried, because now the nail looks all lopsided as the break was so far down my nail.  The cat on that nail now has part of his tail and bottom missing.  I immediately covered it all with another coat of OPI Top Coat, and hopefully it will last until Tuesday, when I intend doing my nails again.  The reason it broke instead of flexing is because the top half of my nails are still so very fragile because of the chemotherapy damage, and still look brown and ugly without any polish on them.  I file a tiny bit back each time I do my nails, so they are slowly growing out, and I guess I'll just have to be patient.  My middle finger on my right hand is still being held together using the "tea bag patch" method because the tip is threatening to come off at any time.  The patches are working well each time I do them, though, so I can definitely recommend it as a solution if you have a split in your nail.  I just couldn't rescue the other one because it broke right off.  BUMMER!!!!

The only polish I didn't particularly like in this collection was the White On White.  It went on very patchily, and was hard to get full coverage, even with three coats. The other colours were lovely to use, and went on very smoothly.  I particularly like the Liquid Leather, which is a black polish I'll be going back to time and time again, I think.  It went on so smoothly, two coats were more than enough, and the finish was really glossy.  I just love it!    I'm still struggling to get the stickers to go where I want them to on my nails, though, so a couple of them are a bit crooked.  The trouble is they are just so darn sticky :).  I'm going to try water transfers next time and see how they go.

Well, that's me for another week.  God willing, I'll be back again next week (if not before) with my next mani, and I hope the New Year is a great one for you and your loved ones.  Have a great week!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

I have nothing to declare - all polishes were from my personal stash, all bought and paid for by me.

Christmas Nails for 2 December 2014

Hi, everyone.  Today I have my first Christmas-themed nails for 2014.  I had a few disasters whilst preparing to polish my nails - three of my nails that I had been nursing along with patches finally gave way, so I had to file them back even further.  Very discouraging, but I persevered, and this is what I finally came up with.  Sorry the photo isn't better, but it's a really dull day here in Tasmania, so the light wasn't very good.

 

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab Strengthener, then followed with one coat of OPI Natural Base Coat.  The red polish is China Glaze "Just Be-Claws", which went on really easily. The colour is a rich, shimmering red, and I only needed two coats to get full coverage.  I love this polish, and will be using it a lot in the future, I"m sure.

The white polish is OPI "Alpine Snow" - I needed 3 coats to get full coverage, and even then I still had some streaks. The colour is very nice, but I must say I'm not a fan of this particular polish. I was using stickers and decals anyway, so I used them to cover up the streaks. The snowflake and Christmas tree stickers, and round gold decals, were just some miscellaneous ones that I had in my stash, which I chose at random. I wasn't really happy with the size of the gold decals on the Christmas tree nails, and I would have preferred to pick out some individual pieces of smaller glitter from one of my gold glitter polishes, but it was getting very late and I didn't have time to do them again, and I needed to finish, so I left them as they were. Another lesson learned - give yourself more time to do your manicure! 

I then applied one coat of Calvin Klein "Hallucinate", which has a clear base with gorgeous, tiny holographic glitter thickly spread throughout.  The glitter does not drop to the bottom of the bottle, either, which is a real bonus.  I was really surprised at what a difference this glitter polish made to the overall effect of the whole manicure. The photo does not do it justice, and in sunlight it is just beautiful.  It covered up the streaks in the white polish, and I think it actually saved the manicure.  Thank the Lord for glitter polishes!

I finished up with 2 coats of OPI Top Coat, which I am absolutely in love with.  My manicure from last week was still intact before I took my polish off to do this week's mani, which was great.  Of course, I did apply a new coat of Top Coat every other day, as usual.

I can definitely recommend the China Glaze "Just Be-Claws", but I'm going to have to find another white polish if I want a good finish.  I'd appreciate any recommendations for good, shiny white which gives good coverage if anyone can help.  Being a newbie, I'm still checking out all the reviews on blogs, etc, so maybe I'll find one there.  One of the main problems I have is the inability to get so many of the beautiful polishes that I see recommended on other people's blogs.  Tasmania is really deprived with quantity, quality and range of polishes available, and it is so hard to get polishes online at a reasonable price.  Hopefully, with nail art starting to take off here in Tasmania, demand may force suppliers to offer more options for us in the near future.  So, if you live in Tasmania, and want our stores to stock more choices, LET THEM KNOW that you aren't happy with the limited stock on offer. 

So, that's it for my manicure this week.  Unfortunately, I damaged it in a couple of places while I was doing the clean-up on my fingers (so please don't look too closely), but I'm still learning, and hopefully next week's manicure will be better.  We all learn from our mistakes, so I'm just looking on this as a learning experience, and practice makes perfect (I hope).

Thanks for checking out my blog, and I hope you'll come back again soon, to see how things are going with my nails, to find out what I have discovered online that has helped me a lot, or something that I've fallen in love with.

God bless you, and peace be with you all!  Have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

P.S. I have received no monetary or material gain from my reviews of the products used for this manicure.
Everything comes from my personal stash, all purchased by me, either in-store or online.