Dots Gradient Rainbow Skittle Mani

A few days ago, Vivs and I were hanging out again, which means nails fun as always! I tried out dotting tools for the first time and came up with this dotted gradient look. The colors used here (from thumb to pinky) are: Sinful Colors Boom Boom, Sinful Colors Big Daddy, Sinful Colors Innocent, China Glaze For Audrey, and Sinful Colors Aquamarine. This was all over a single coat of OPI Don't Burst My Bubble. I started off by putting on a section of densely-packed and large dots on the tip of the nail so that it's completely covered. As I moved towards the cuticle, I gradually switched to smaller dots that were spaced further apart. The end result is a gradient made from dots. Quite adorable, if I say so myself. This might be hard to do on yourself, but maybe I'll try it someday.

Cool Minty Mani

Under Vivian's influence, I've been doing extra stuff to my nails aside from a basic, solid-colored mani. Here I have on China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, topped with a coat of China Glaze Snow Globe, and finally a coat of OPI Matte Top Coat. Re-Fresh Mint is a true mint green and lies on the very light and green side of the spectrum (compared to Essie Mint Candy Apple, at least). The formula was okay, opaque but watery and hard to control. I got complete opacity in two coats but there was some unfortunate cuticle-flooding. Snow Globe is an iridescent glitter with large and small hexagonal pieces. It flashes green, orangey-gold, and blue. The formula was nice too since I didn't have to work too hard to spread the glitter around. Along with the matte top coat, Snow Globe makes this mani look very cool and icy in a way. I am obsessed with the matte top coat, by the way. I must get my own bottle!

Nail Party! - Vivian & Lush Lacquer Clowning Around

Part two of the Nail Party!  Last Thursday, I received my most recent addition to my nail polish stash - Lash Lacquer Clowning Around!  So all I wanted to put on my nails was that, and didn't bother with doing anything complicated :) I started off with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff, and proceeded to apply one layer of Clowning Around.  Although one coat provided a satisfactory amount of glitter, Rebecca and I did find that we had to spread out and place the glitter ourselves.

with CND Air Dry

I decided that wasn't enough, and since I've been looking for a reason to use my OPI Matte Top Coat, this was the perfect opportunity!  I have always loved the look of mattified glitter, it still seems cheerful but subdued in a classy way... 

with OPI Matte Top Coat

Which do you prefer?  

nail polishes used :)

Nail Party! - Rebecca's Colorful Nails

(left to right) Innocent, Big Daddy, Aquamarine, Clowning Around

Hey all! Yesterday was a nail party night, as it often becomes when Rebecca and I hang out together xD Since all the photos are with me, I'll be posting everything :) Up first, Rebecca's nails!

Since she didn't want to completely take off her Orly Kiss the Bride, she decided to do some funky nails!  The polishes she used are Sinful Colors Innocent, Sinful Colors Big Daddy, Sinful Colors Aquamarine, and Lush Lacquer Clowning Around.  Bottle shots below! 

She then layered Aquamarine over her thumb nails - a beautiful bright one-coater, even without a base color!  Big Daddy went over the pointer finger, and Innocent over the middle - Innocent was a bit streaky and might need a second coat.  As you can see, Clowning Around was on the ring finger, and with the help of some striping tape, beautiful diamonds were created on the pinky!  You can see some streaks from the top coat being applied too early though :( 

Speaking of top coat, Rebecca got a new bottle! She decided to try CND Air Dry Fast-Set Top Coat.  To me, the formula seemed very watery (in fact, I dropped some on my desk!) but seemed to do the job fairly well :) 

CND Air Dry

Orly Kiss the Bride

Orly Kiss the Bride is a light pink creme. The formula was pretty disgusting. It was streaky, watery, and didn't level out so I had to rescue the mani with a thick layer of top coat. Ugh. I guess I'm still on the lookout for the perfect light pink.

The last pic is most representative of the color.

L'Oreal Safari Chic

Last week I had on L'Oreal Safari Chic, a grey and olive-y sort of green. I would classify this as a creme with silver micro-shimmer. By that, I mean that the shimmer barely shows up on the nail so it pretty much looks like a regular creme, which is actually quite nice in my opinion. The formula was nice and covered well in two coats, although it was slightly thick if you held the brush out for longer than 2 seconds (I guess it dries fast?). This was my first L'Oreal and I'm pretty satisfied!

Dat micro-shimmer

I think it looks really pretty with gold!