Revlon Dreamer and Whimsical

My mom came over to get her nails painted and brought a light blue Revlon cream with her.  It’s called Dreamer and I couldn’t NOT try it out!  To add some pizazz I topped it with two coats of Revlon Whimsical.  Whimsical is infamous for being very sheer so it was nice to pair it with a blue base.  These Revlon polishes dried pretty quick even though it’s very humid here.  I didn’t even have to use my seche vite to make ’em dry.  Say what???  That never happens.

So while I was painting my mom’s nails I asked if she thought I should file mine down a little.  She quickly said YES and that I’m starting to look like Edward Scissorhands!!  MOM!?! Hahahaa!  Is that how you should treat your personal (and free) manicurist?!

So next time you see me I might have an updated and shorter look!  We’ll see…

Ruffle Nail Art

I’m so excited about this nail art technique called Ruffle Nails! Every nail fanatic needs to try this- it’s easy and has lots of wow factor.  All you need to do is grab your favorite polish shades and a dotting tool (or bobby pins) to make some over-lapping rows of dots (it helps to use the largest tool you can find so the dots aren’t too small).  If you’d like to see a step-by step tutorial here’s a great one by Chalkboard Nails.  Now that I’ve discovered ruffles- I’ve got all these ideas swimming around in my head- neon ruffles, rainbow ruffles, black n white ruffles…  I want to try them all!

My first attempt came out much so better than I expected!  I casually worked on this design while sitting on the couch and I honestly didn’t try too hard.   I figured I’d end up taking it off with polish remover and then give it a real go later.  Well, I couldn’t believe how cute my test mani came out so I took some pics!  I used some of my favorite green and purple polishes here… and I think the matte topcoat really pulled it together nicely.  The variety of colors and the satin finish made my fingertips look like fimo clay! ↓

I went with a cool color combo of blue, pink and grey for my second design. ↓

One thing I like about the ruffle technique is that it’s so easy, you can even do a great job on your ‘other’ hand!  I’m right-handed so my left hand nail art usually looks good, and my right-hand comes out how should I say… non-photogenic? LOL.   Well, not with ruffles!    Try it out for yourself and let me know your results!

♥ Mood struck polish as my base (teal)

♥ Wet n wild I Need a Refresh-Mint (light green)

♥ Revlon Charming (light purple)

♥ OPI Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI (dark purple)

♥ Orly Gumdrop (light teal)

♥ MASH Matte Topcoat

♥ Orly Faint Of Heart as my base (grey)

♥ China Glaze First Mate (navy blue)

♥ Revlon Blue Slate (medium grey/blue)

♥ China Glaze Dance Baby (pink)

♥ Orly Kiss The Bride (light pink)

♥ Seche Vite Topcoat

french manicure using nail guide stickers

You can easily do a french manicure at home using inexpensive nail guide stickers! I purchased a pack on ebay for $2.99.  You basically apply the guide sticker to the end of your bare nail … and then paint the tip whatever color you choose.  When you remove the disposable sticker you are left with a painted tip with a nice clean line.  I did get get a little impatient when I was applying them (my OCD came out when I was trying to position the stickers just right!)… but overall, they were pretty easy to use.

Since I like to jazz things up…and the traditional french manicure is a lil boring for me…I tested out my new stickers using bright colors and sparkle topcoats!!  For my blue mani I used the traditional curve-shaped stickers with ‘Revlon– Blue Slate’.  For my my purple mani I used the chevron-shaped stickers with ‘Sephora by OPI– Eve-y on the Eyes’.  I must say, I’m LOVING the chevron-shaped stickers!  The angles in the design made my nails look long and strong!

BTW, french manicure guide stickers are great for ladies with short nails because you can purposely position the sticker further back on your nail bed to create the appearance of a longer tip 🙂

French manicure using Revlon Blue Slate for tips and NYC Starry Silver Glitter as topcoat

Chevron-shaped French manicure using Sephora by OPI Eve-y on the Eyes for tips and Cover Girl Crystal Mist as topcoat