Neon Nails

Day 22 of Julie’s Nail Art Challenge is all about neon nails!

For this mani I used 3 of my absolute brightest polishes:

China Glaze ♥ Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

China Glaze ♥ Sun Worshiper

Cynthia Rowley ♥ Un-named Pink

I also sponged some of the colors over each other – just to blend it a little bit.  Maybe that’s why the french tips look more coral than pink.  I can’t believe how bright this is… plus, it was super-quick and easy.  What great no-fuss look for the summer!  I think I’m ready for my vacay now please! 😀

If you recognize this nail polish then maybe you’ve seen my water marble nails from last week!

Water Marble with Clear Nail Polish!

We’ve made it to the halfway mark of Short And Sweet in Texas‘ nail art challenge!  Day 15 is all about water marble..if you don’t know what it is here’s a good youtube video by DearNatural62.    If you’ve ever water marbled before then you know how fun it is to pick out a bunch of cool colors for your swirly design!  But have you ever thrown a clear polish in the mix???  That’s what I’m experimenting with today- water marbling with clear polish!

I started by painting my nails with a cool combo of 3 neon colors.  It looked awesome so I took some pics which I may share on day 22/neon day of the challenge 🙂    Then I did the water marbling technique using only 2 polishes- clear and black.  So basically I dripped drops of black, then clear, black then clear, etc into the cup… and when I swirled it around with a toothpick I got this cool black design with clear ‘spaces’ in between.  The spaces allow the bright neon to show through from underneath.  Pretty neat!  Then I made a few polka dots using my black polish and a dotting tool just to spice it up (and fill in the gaps).

And in case you are wondering how clear polish works for marbling…. other bloggers have said that topcoat or clear polishes don’t spread well in the water.  I actually experienced the opposite- I found that my Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle actually spread better than all of my other pigmented polishes!  This is great news for me since I thought I hated my Nail Shine Miracle- I never use it as a topcoat since it bubbles and takes forever to dry.  But now that I know it works for marbling- it has a new purpose in my stash!

I like how bright this design is in real life- it’s kinda crazy lookin!  I went outside during sunset and my polish was so neon it nearly jumped right off of my fingers!  Too bad I didn’t get that cool ‘signature’ swirly marble design though- I wound up with these black and clear stripes instead.  No matter what I did I just couldn’t get my polish to drag properly with the toothpick.  So no swirls for this girl…. but my black and clear stripes still look cool!   Water marbling… why you so tricky?

Polka Dots and Glow in the Dark Nail Polish Review

It’s day 9 of the 30 Day Nail Challenge for April and the theme is polka dots!

Today I’ve got Glow In The Dark Nail Polish from Claire’s Cosmetics to share with you.  I purchased this un-named pink polish last month at Claire’s Boutique in the mall.  Since the theme is polka dots I used my Konad M79 stamping plate and some black Konad polish to accent my ring finger.  It looks cute and summery but let’s get to my review…

First off, the polish comes in this awesome bottle that has a light in the top!  The whole bottle lights up when you press the button on top of the applicator brush!!  Good packaging ploy, Claire’s Boutique!  They enticed me to spend the $7.

After applying my first coat I was surprised at how sheer it was- it barely tinted my nails pink at all.  So I started investigating the bottle to see if there were special instructions.  Maybe I was supposed to put the polish over top of an opaque color?  I peeled off my price tag- to reveal no instructions at all.  I guess you are supposed to wear it by itself.  But hold on!  Wait… under the price tag sticker I found an expiration date!  The bottle says it was manufactured in Feb 2011 and it expires in August 2013…that’s only a couple months away!  Well, that would’ve been nice to know!  I wish I still had my receipt- I’m tempted to write a letter to Claire’s to suggest that they not intentionally cover the expiry info!

I applied three coats and I still have a lot of visible nail line.  But I figured I’d stop at 3.  It dries fast though, which is nice.  It has a very strange formula due to the particles of glow in the dark stuff that’s in it.  It was thin but gritty and I had to paint with as few strokes as possible.  If I painted over a section that was just painted- then the polish would lift off and it looked streaky and thin.  Application was weird but it dried quickly so the three coats weren’t a hassle.  The final result?  A sheer neon with a gritty matte texture.  Here’s a closeup.↓

I put a nice thick coat of seche vite over top to try and smooth it out.  It still feels a little bumpy though, but no biggie.  So the next question is….  HOW WELL DOES IT GLOW IN THE DARK?

It glows just fine.  Nothing that I would write home about, but I’m not disappointed either.  It works as expected.  I wonder if it would glow more with a bright base coat underneath?  Also, my bottle’s getting close to expiration so perhaps a newer bottle would glow more?  I’m surprised that it didn’t glow in pink… instead, it was more of your standard yellow glow, typical of most glow-in-the-dark stuff.  Wonder what it looks like under a blacklight?  I had a hard time photographing this… but here’s an untouched shot of it in the dark. ↓ On the computer this pic looked okay, but on my Nook Tablet it looked so dark.  Sorry, but I tried!

Overall, I do like this polish.  I really love the tone of this pink.  It almost has a peach tint to it and it makes me look tan!  It’s so summery and tropical and the sheerness of it makes it look like a sheet of neon glass over my nails. Normally I don’t like sheer polishes- but this one reminds me of summertime so I will definitely wear it again.  The glow-in-the-dark thing is fun… so why not?  I’m glad I added this polish to my stash.  The more I wear it the more I adore the color.  I feel like I need a vacation, sunglasses and a drink with an umbrella in it!

Have you ever tried glow in the dark polish?

Summery Pink Panels

Today is PINK  DAY as part of the 30 Day Nail Challenge.  I created a nail art design I’ll call pink panels using only a dotting tool .  I started with two coats of Orly Kiss The Bride– which is pretty watery and streaky.  If I was wearing Kiss the Bride on it’s own then I would definitely have needed three coats.  Then I selected the following three pink polishes for my panels/squares:

OPI ♥ Elephantistic Pink

Zoya ♥ Ali

China Glaze ♥ Dance Baby

I used my smallest dotting tool to shape the squares.  I got pretty good control and clean corners from using that tool-  I’m sure I woulda muffed it up if I used a paintbrush!  This design was pretty easy to do, but a little time consuming.  I’d say the squares took me about an hour from start to finish.  I like the outcome and how the Zoya Ali looks like so bright against the other pinks!  I didn’t realize how neon Ali is- I will definitely be wearing it this summer!

Now I’m inspired to try this look with green polishes – I bet it would look like a tortoise shell 🙂

Orly Ridge Filler Review

We all know that base coats are essential to a good manicure.  But there’s so many kinds out there.  I only started using Orly Ridge Filler a few months ago, but it has quickly moved up the list to one of my most-used nail products!  I love Orly brand Ridge Filler for a bunch of reasons as shown in my pic…

BENEFITS OF ORLY RIDGE FILLER:

♥ As a base coat it does a great job of smoothing out your mani.  It builds up a nice even layer that makes your polish look so smooth and professional.  It’s perfect for disguising ridges or uneven nail surfaces.  (My mom swears by this stuff and won’t let me paint her nails without a coat of Orly Ridge Filler underneath!)

♥ The white tint makes for an awesome base for colored nail polish.  It helps build up opaqueness and you may need less coats of color than normal!  This works especially well with neons or sheer colors.

♥ It acts as a good primer to prevent staining. I reach for my Ridge Filler any time I paint my nails navy blue or any other dark color that would typically stain.

♥ It even looks good on its own!  If you want a nice neutral nail but are pressed for time or feeling lazy…. try one or two coats of Orly Ridge Filler by itself (just don’t go too thin on the coats or it may look a little streaky).

♥ It dries rather quickly.

My only complaint is that the formula is kinda runny so you’ll need to paint it on carefully so you don’t flood your cuticles.  Still, I find myself reaching for this base coat a lot.  Just another reason for me to love Orly!

Black n Blue Matte Colorblock

I watch a decent amount of prime-time cable (okay, I watch A LOT of cable) and lately I’ve noticed a definite fashion trend:  almost every leading lady in the last few weeks has worn dark blue and black together!  Personally, I’ve always steered clear of blue and black since the old rule is that ‘navy and black clash’.  But the more I see these two colors together, the more I likey!  This trend inspired me to do a color-block nail design using the following:

♥ one coat of Orly Ridge Filler as a base

♥ two coats of Cynthia Rowley unnamed neon blue polish

♥ a striper brush and Wet n Wild ‘Ebony Hates Chris’ for the black accents

♥ MASH Nails Matte Topcoat – I needed two coats to make it matte since the black Wet n Wild was super-shiny!

Why doesn’t Cynthia name her polishes?  I’ll never understand that!  Well, I’m gonna go ahead and name this neon Shark Week since it’s a vivid dark blue that reminds me of the bottom of the ocean.  The shade really lightens up for the camera so I tried some different lighting conditions to get the blue to stay as true as possible. It’s still way darker in real life… but c’est la vie!

I have heard that Cynthia Rowley nail color is hard to find.  Luckily, I received a three pack set from my lovely sister for Christmas!  In case you’re trying to get your hands on some in the US… I think she found it at Marshall’s Department Store.