My First Water Marble Manicure - 24 March 2015

Yesterday I did my first water marble manicure, and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

Picture on left was taken inside under artificial light, and the one on the right was taken in the shade.

 
Please forgive the rough skin around my finger tips and cuticles, but my nails have had a pretty tough time over the last few days.  My index finger and my middle finger on my left hand, and my thumb on my right hand, all have patches on them.  They broke half-way down my nails - they have all pulled away from the nail bed down the side of the nails because of the chemotherapy damage, and they are still very thin and fragile there.  I still don't know whether this damage will be permanent, or if they will grow back onto the nail bed as the new nail growth comes through.  Only time will tell!  I went out today and bought some Revitanail "Strengthener", "Keratin Strengthening Serum", Nourishing Oil" and "Hand & Nail Cream".  They are on special at Terry White's Pharmacies, 3 items for the price of 2, this week (in Australia), and I'm going to start using them all as often as possible.  I'm afraid I haven't been following my own advice lately because I've been so busy, and have also been feeling really depressed and not at all motivated, so I have to start practicing what I preach again and try to get things back on track.

Now, on to my water marble manicure.  I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" strengthener because all my nails are so fragile, and I'm hoping this will help to keep them from breaking.  I got 6 bottles of it REALLY cheap before Christmas on eBay, but forgot I had it.  When my nails broke (after I'd stopped crying - literally), I started thinking about what strengthening base coats I had that I could use, and I remembered I had this.  So, God willing, I won't have any more breaks for a while.

I then added two coats of OPI "Alpine Snow" white cream polish to all my nails. I don't really like this polish because I need three coats to get a smooth finish, but because I was actually planning to do a plastic wrap marble manicure (tutorial here http://polishandpearls.com/watercolor-nails/ and elsewhere online), I just left it at two coats.  However, I couldn't get this manicure style to work with the polishes I wanted to use, so I decided to try an actual water marble instead (tutorial here http://www.beautybay.com/EssentialBeauty/Articles/watermarblenailstutorial and in many other places online). 

I then smeared Vaseline around all my nails and part-way up my fingers to make cleaning up a lot easier, because water marbling is very messy.  I had to be careful not to get any of the Vaseline on the actual nails, because it would have stopped the nail polish from going onto the nails.

Next, I filled my bowl with tepid water straight from the tap, and added drops of OPI "Alpine Snow" (white), Face of Australia Pastels "Boys 'N' Berries" (blue), OPI "Mod About You" (pale pink) and OPI "Planks A Lot" (lilac) (in this order).  I did this three times for each design (twelve drops in all), and then used a toothpick to make my design, following the above tutorial as a guide.  All the polishes spread over the water really well, which was great. I used a small glass bowl because I wanted to do all my nails at the same time, instead of individually or in pairs, which is the usual way it is done, because I was so frustrated that the other design hadn't worked and wanted to get it over and done with.  My design was a random one, instead of any particular design, in which I just swirled the colours around and through each other until I was happy with the distribution of the colours.  Then I just dipped all five fingers of my left hand in the bowl at once, and repeated all this with the other hand.

I finished off my manicure with one coat of Revlon "Quick Dry Top Coat", which gave me a beautiful, glossy finish. I am rather pleased with the end result, and really love the way the colour combination worked out.  Of course, I still have a lot to learn about this technique, but with all the advice and tutorials available on YouTube, and numerous blogs and websites online, I should be able to have a lot of fun trying out new designs, and a multitude of colour combinations, in the future.  It really is quite easy to do, I found, and the mess was easy to clean up because I had used the Vaseline around my nails and fingers.  Next time I'm going to try using sticky tape around my nails and fingers, and see how that goes.

Thank you so much for visiting, and I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you.  If you so wish, you can follow me by filling in one of the boxes at the top right-hand side of the page, and I'd love you to share it with your nail-art friends.  Now I'm off to put some cuticle oil on my cuticles and lots of hand-cream on my hands.  I couldn't believe how dry they were until I took the  photos.  My new phone has a really good camera, and it's picking up flaws in my manicures, and every little bit of damage to my nails, cuticles and hands, which don't show up when you just look at them day to day.  So, I've got lots of work to do to repair all the damage, as if I didn't have enough problems with my nails already.  Oh, well, that's my own fault, I guess, for letting things slide.

Have a wonderful day, and may God bless you!

Hugs

Christine

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

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

Before and After Photos of My Nails, Manicure for 23 February 2015, and Polish Review*

Hello once again!  Today I have some photos of how my nails are coming along since I started my blog, my manicure for this week, and a review* of the polish I used.  Firstly, the photos of my bare nails BEFORE and NOW.
 

BEFORE (19 October 2014)

NOW (24 February 2015)

When I saw the two photos side by side I couldn't believe the difference.  Admittedly, some of my nails have pulled even further away from the nail bed, but otherwise they are a lot stronger, and in much better condition than they were when I first started my blog.  It just goes to show what a little TLC, and lots of time and effort, can do when you put your mind to it.  It's been a long time, and I still have a long way to go to see if my nails will really recover properly, or if I'm going to be left with nails lifted off the nail bed down the side, etc permanently.  At least they look OK with polish over them, and the colour is a lot better.  I apologise for the horrible looking hands, but that is a result of losing a lot of weight and old age (I'm 66), and excess skin does not disappear and shrink back - it just sits there and looks horrible and wrinkly.  I lost 15 kg after 2 foot operations 4 years ago, and this is the result. So don't let these weight loss people tell you that you can immediately look wonderful after you lose a lot of weight.  I have excess flab all over my body, arms and legs that is just sitting there looking ghastly.  I'd love to know how these people in the weight-loss promos look so wonderful - they must all have cosmetic surgery to remove all the excess skin.

Now, on to this week's manicure and the review.

The polish I am wearing this week is another Superficially Colorful polish called "Turbulence", which is from Jin's "Remnants of Winter" Collection.  Jin describes it on her site as "a dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving."

 

Photos taken in shade (click for closer view)

I started with a coat of Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, then two coats of "Turbulence" to all my fingers, and added a coat of Savvy "Purple Viking" to my middle fingers.  I then added a gold decal to my index fingers, bought from echofairyland on eBay, and finished with a single coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat to all fingers except my index fingers, on which I used two coats as extra protection for the decal.

"Turbulence" is another amazing polish from Superficially Colorful.  It went on like a dream, and two thin coats were more than enough to give full coverage.  It dries with a semi-gloss finish, with some micro-glitter scattered throughout, so it has a slightly rough, textured finish.  Jin mentioned on her site that it really needs a top coat to get the best effect, and she is correct. Once the top coat was applied the finish was lovely and smooth.  The colour was beautiful without the top coat but, once I added it, the effect just bowled me over.  It is so hard to describe, because it changes with the light, and with each movement of your hand.  One minute it's purple, then it's burgundy, then it gets a dark blue shift, and then you'll see just a shimmer of pink/violet. You can just make out the little bit of glitter in it if you look carefully (it shows up really well in the sun).  What looks like stains on my fingers right next to the nails is just a reflection from the polish.  That's how strong the colour is.  The extra glitter from "Purple Viking" is very obvious in the sun and the close-up swatches below.  I really didn't need to add the coat of Savvy "Purple Viking" to my middle nails, but I usually do a skittlette manicure, so I added it anyway, and the colour matched "Turbulence" perfectly and gave it that little bit of extra pizzazz.

All in all, I think Jin has got another winner with this polish, and I suggest you head over to Superficially Colorful right now to check it out, and all of Jin's other polishes while you're there.  I haven't been disappointed with any of the ones I've tried so far, although I know I had my misgivings about "Don't Leave Me This Way" last week (mentioned in my review of the "Troubled Love" collection last week). However, the longer I had it on my nails, the more I grew to love it.  I had so many compliments from people who saw it, and it lasted 9 (yes NINE) whole days, with very minimal wear, so I am extremely impressed with the quality of the polish. 

Here are some more photos I took, and the colours are very close to what they look like in real life, but it is so subtle that it was hard to get all the different colours to show up. My hubby bought me my first smart phone the other day (Samsung Galaxy S4 i9505), and it arrived yesterday, so I was able to take the photos using it.  It has speech control for the camera (awesome), so it made it so easy to take the photos myself.  All I have to do is say "SHOOT", and it takes the photo.  Although, because it only seems to take the photo if it hears the "T" clearly, there is probably another word that would work if things are not going right LOL!  You can see the detail so clearly in the photos that I'm afraid it showed up some bits of polish and glitter I missed with my clean-up.  I'm going to have to be ultra-careful when I do them in future so that doesn't happen again :)  Now I just have to wait for my sim card to arrive and then learn how to use it properly.

Photos taken in sun (click for closer view)

  

Photos taken inside (click for closer view)

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoyed your visit.  I don't know what I'll do next, so you'll have to come back again to find out.  I've finally worked out how to add the gadget that allows people to follow my blog, so if you want to do so, don't forget to fill it out.  It's on the top right-hand corner of the page.

God bless you, and have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

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

*Polish reviewed and all other items mentioned were purchased by myself and I received no payment for my comments.

 dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving. - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/remnants-of-winter/turbulence#sthash.WhVZ4wJX.dpuf

a dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving. - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/remnants-of-winter/turbulence#sthash.WhVZ4wJX.dpuf

a dark violet-pink with a hint of color shift of blue, red and gold. Not a multi-chrome, just an undecided color that changes with the light. Inspired by the unquiet air, the faraway lightning storms and the clouds colliding and leaving. - See more at: https://sclacquer.com/shop/remnants-of-winter/turbulence#sthash.WhVZ4wJX.dpuf

Manicure for 17 January 2015 - Very Disappointing!

 

Above you can see this week's manicure, and to say the least, I am extremely disappointed with it.  I thought I would give Seche Vite another go for my top coat, in case the problems I had last time I used it were because of incompatibility with the polish I used, but I wish I hadn't used it again!  As you can see, after only 2 days (and in actual fact the morning after I did my manicure), the polish had started shrink back from the tips and bases of my nails, and a hard edge had formed along the side of some of the nails, instead of being lovely and smooth like the other top coats I've used in the past.  All I can say is, I will only use Seche Vite again if I plan to only leave my manicure on for a day or so, e.g. if I am doing a review of polishes for someone, etc.  If I want one that lasts, I'll use something else.  Oh, well, one learns from one's mistakes, but I'm upset because this was my first time doing an ombre manicure, and I was hoping it would work out as well as it looked before I put the top coat on.

The polishes I used for this manicure were from a Fing'rs EDGE OMBRE Nail Polish boxed set of 5 different mini purple nail polishes.  The set came with a bit of sponge, too, so that I could do a sponge ombre manicure if I wanted to, and I might try it in the near future.  I'm sorry the colours didn't come out quite right in the photo, because they really are so rich and pretty. We're still experimenting with how to get the best results with our different cameras we have in the house, but I'm still not happy with the way the colours turn out.  I'll have to try some different lighting experiments and see if we can find something that gives better results.

I started with a coat of OPI Ridge Filler Base Coat, followed by a coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.  The individual bottles in this set didn't have names for the colours, but you can see what shade I used on each nail, so it doesn't really matter.  All the polishes went on beautifully, and I only needed 2 coats to get lovely even coverage.  I then added one coat of Sinful Colors I Miss You glitter polish, which looks lovely under some lighting, but not so bright indoors in natural light.  The glitter in the bottle is a lovely tiny silver and holographic purple in a purple base, which was pretty transparent, but you could probably get full cover with 3 coats.  I might try this sometime and see how it turns out.

Next, I added 3 different shaped and sized gold decals to my ring fingers that I bought on eBay from echofairyland.  They have an amazing selection of Nail Art products, and their prices are amazing, so I can definitely recommend them.  Then, finally, as you already know, I added a coat of Seche Vite to all my nails, and another coat to the nails on my ring fingers.  No more need be said on that subject.  I think I covered it all at the beginning of my post.

The colours in the set look wonderful together, and I'll definitely be trying another ombre with them in the future, but with a different top coat.  I wasn't too sure how they would look before I started, so it really was an experiment to see what an ombre manicure looks like on MY nails, instead of on someone else's nails online.  I was a bit nervous before I started, as I always am when I'm trying something new.

Now to the other disaster that occurred while doing this manicure.  I had intended to do some stamping on my feature nails, but the two different stampers I already have, which I received in stamping sets, just don't work.  One came with my Salon Express Nail Stamping Kit, and the other one came with some stamping plates I bought online.  I tried using some stamping polishes that came with the stamping machine I bought to try (silly me), but they dried on the plates before I could even get the stamp on the plate.  So, I tried a couple of different nail polishes, but still no luck.  They aren't very soft, so that could be part of the problem, but even using the nail polish I barely got any of the image onto the stamper.  I tried a few different plates from different brands, but still no image.  So, I had to give up on that idea and I'll have to go back to the drawing board on that issue.  I'm going to try again with different polishes, and if I still can't get them to work, I'll buy a new stamper.  I even tried two different types of scraper, and an old credit card, but they didn't work either.  Altogether, the whole experiment was a disaster, and I was so looking forward to having a lovely design on my nails to show you.

I've also received my first request to do a review of some Indie nail polishes, which is a real thrill for me.  I didn't think anyone would ever ask me to, and I was really surprised when they said they wanted me to do some, and that they would send me their new collection to review.  I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the name of the polishes, so if you want to find out what they are and who they were made by, you'll have to check back in a few weeks (or earlier if they don't take too long to arrive).  It is not an Australian Indie polish, which is another reason I was so surprised that I was asked to do the reviews.

So, that's it for another week. I hope you'll come back often to see what I have to share with you, and you can now choose to follow me if you want to do so.  The links are on the top, right-hand side of the page.

God bless you, and have a wonderful week.

Hugs

Christine

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

Words of Life and Hope

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