Then & Now Week 2

Hey peeps, today I have my second installment of the Then & Now challenge.  I got more rainbow and animal print for you.  I sort of love rainbow and animal print hehe!

I loved the original design, you can see its post here and here on tumblr.  I remember I did these right before Hurricane Irene hit NYC last year.  It's also one of Mr. Starlett Approved's  favorite designs of all time.  He's been waiting for this day a long time haha.

For my first try to get the gradient I just painted each polish in thick stripes and overlapped the colors on my nails.  I used Sally Hansen Hot Yellow, Milani Tropical Fiesta and Milani Breezy.  I used one of those Sally Hansen nail art pens for the leopard print.

This time around I figured out the best way for me to do gradients.  I started with 2 coats of Milani  Yellow Whiz.  Then directly on a makeup sponge I painted vertical lines with Yellow Whiz, Milani Fast Fuchsia and Brucci Gianna's "Rockin" Blue, overlapping just a bit.  I did that about 3 times for each nail and it came out great and didn't take forever.  I like when designs don't take forever :) I used my Cina Black Nail Art Pen for the leopard print.

On the accent nails I used 2 coats of Floss Gloss Dimepiece for the base.  Oh gerd I LOVE it, it's so sparkly!  The formula was thick and coarse, which I don't mind.  That's what makes it so sexy and glittery and I only needed 2 coats for full coverage.  It's just packed to the max with glitter.  Which means I needed 2 coats of Seche Vite to smooth it out.

On top of that, as you can see in this photo, I painted multi-colored leopard print using Yellow Whiz, Fast Fuchsia and GRB.  I was originally going to leave it like this.  Then later on I added the larger black leopard print.  I was worried it would be too much but it's perfect to me.

Have any of you joined in on the challenge?  If so definitely let me know ;)

What I Used:

• Milani Yellow Whiz
• Milani Fast Fuchsia
• Brucci Gianna's "Rockin" Blue
• Floss Gloss Dimepiece 
• Cina Black Nail Art Pen

Thanks For Stopping By!

Negative Space Tape Manicure with Studs

Hi everyone! I decided to play with my striping tape again.  I wanted to try to do more with it.  Rather than being my lazy self and doing just 3 stripes which I've already done...twice :) Tape manicures are tedious and that's a bit of a deterrent for me.  All the cutting and placing and waiting for nail polish to dry, I get tired just thinking about it.  While doing dishes I had an idea that would cut out the long nail polish drying wait time...NEGATIVE SPACE!!!

I still did a base coat and that dries in no time at all.   Check it, I made patterns with the striping tape rather than just stripes WOOT WOOT. I actually didn't go crazy and wanted to give up while doing these.  That always happens when I decide to work with tape. Mostly because I'm worried something is going to get messed up.

I figured out how to make tape manicures work for me.  I literally work on one nail at a time.  Not moving on to the next nail until the previous one has top coat on and is dry.  It's not very time efficient but it gives me a piece of mind.

The studs weren't actually a part of the original plan.  I didn't add them on until after I uploaded pictures of my nails on my laptop.   Looking at in photographs I felt like it was missing something.  

Does that ever happen to you?  You finish your nails, love it and then after looking at it on a computer screen feel the need to add more  Are you a tape manicure girl?  Striping tape or Scotch tape.

What I Used:

• Revlon Sparkles Aplenty
• Brucci Jamie Lee's Jam
• Born Pretty Store Black Striping Tape
• Born Pretty Store 2mm Silver Square Studs

Thanks For Stopping By!

31 Day Challenge 2.0 Day 19

It's Galaxy Day Hooray, I love galaxy nails. It's one of the first nail designs I saw online and my jaw dropped.  That may have been the moment I became obsessed with nail art.  I had to learn how to do it myself.  Funny enough my first attempt at it was last year for this challenge.  Wow, I remember thinking they were amazing.  I was so proud of them.  They aren't very sexy haha.  I'm happy to say I've gotten much better at galaxy nails when I did them back in February. Galaxy nails are definitely in the same category as Leopard/Cheetah print, Zebra print, Polka Dots and Stripes.  Everyone does them but no one can not love a sexy galaxy design.  They are just out of this world!!! Pun intended lol.  Of course, you know I had to try to spice up my galaxy nails for todays challenge ;) Warning: this post is a bit picture heavy!

Behold Galaxy Drips!  A product of another nail art dream I had. I need more nail art dreams in my life. Ahhh they came out so awesome.  I love these...like hard.  I actually had a few ideas for todays design but the drips kept calling me.  So happy I listened to myself. These came out exactly as I imagined.

Mr. Starlett Approved says it looks like the galaxy is taking over the nail polish.  I disagree, nail polish is taking over the galaxy.  #NailPolishRulesTheWorld lol at least our world, right?

As difficult as the design may look it was really easy actually.  I started with 2 coats of Brucci Mango Taffy then used the largest ended dotting tool and placed 3 random dots of City Colors Dark Blue on each nail.  Using the brush of the City Colors Dark Blue I made a line from the dots I made to the tip of my nail and then connected the lines at the tip.

Then I went over the drips with L.A. Colors Jewel Tone, a purple and blue glitter.  I let that dry completely before I started sponging.  After it dried only using the very tip of my makeup sponge that I cut into small pieces. I sponged Wet n Wild French White Creme then Sally Hansen Going Green, O.P.I Fly and Wet n Wild On a Trip around the white.  I also sponged on a random spot using Wet n Wild Black Creme on each nail. Finally I added more glitter using New York Color Starry Silver Glitter and some scattered white dots for twinkling stars.  Of course I couldn't stop there.

I had to make it Glow in the Dark :) using Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Luminescent.  Especially because my first galaxy attempt I tried and failed to get it to glow properly and take a photo.  Yes I had some stray sponge marks on my base colors I just went over it using a tiny brush.  Since my base color was a jelly, cleaning up the mistakes wasn't flawless.  I know better for next time though ;).  

Polishes Used:

• Brucci Mango Taffy
• City Colors Dark Blue
• L.A. Colors Color Craze Jewel Tone
• Wet n Wild French White Creme
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green
• O.P.I Fly
• Wet n Wild megalast On a Trip
• Wet n Wild Black Creme
• New York Color Starry Silver Glitter
• Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Luminescent

Thanks For Stopping By!!