Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - All Aglow

There is a new display of SH Diamond Strengths floating around at your local drugstores. I bought 2 and they are totally gorgeous glass flecks. I've heard some say they remind them of the Color Club Take Wing collection, and could potentially be dupes.... but I don't have them to compare. Check it out:

Pictured is 2 coats of All Aglow layered over 2 coats of SH Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker.

It reflects two awesome purple hues that make it really interesting. The polish itself is fairly thin, I can imagine it have visible nail line even after several coats. Hence, my layering choice.

 I don't recall previous Diamond Strength's label being so tiny. The name of the polish is in fine print above the ingredients. I really had to hunt to find it.



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Zooey Deschanel Tuxedo Nails

I recently filed my nails into a more almond/oval shape. I like to experiment with this shape for a little bit before I take my nails down to nubs. 

This more rounded shape just begged me to recreate Zooey Deschanel's tuxedo nail art from a while back.

Here is how I did it.

I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White and then used a small striper brush to add skinny french tips. I used Sinful Colors Rainstorm.

 Bow details using the same striper and more Rainstorm.

Medium dots using a dotting tool.

Topcoat to seal the design!

What do you think?

I wish I had taken more time to be a perfectionist about the bows.

They aren't as pretty and perfect as they could be.

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Grandma's Flowers

Wet N Wild Megalast Undercover, it's that funky rose/mauve shade that either you love or hate. And most of the time it reminds you of what your grandmother likes as her nail polish color. Here it is and some vintage-y flowers I felt just added to the look.

Pictured is 2 coats.

I just used a dotting tool to create simple flowers. Then added a few random polka dots and tiny leaves using a small nail art brush.

I chose to do one solid accent nail and then just a line at my cuticles for the other nails.

The polishes I used:
base- Wet N Wild Megalast Undercover
flowers - Color Club Secret Rendezvous & Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl
dots - Lime Crime Milky Ways
leaves - Zoya Yara

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Orly is on Hautelook!

Check it out!

Orly is for sale on Hautelook today for $4.50/each!

(Also theBalm is for sale and ending soon. There is lots of polish!)



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Born Pretty - Purple/Sky Blue Mood Polish

This polish can be found for sale here $7.84

This polish changes colors according to temperature. 

When it's warm, the color is light blue. When it's cold, the color is purple.

The bottle itself looks marbled, which is really neat. No special comments on the polish consistency or brush. Both were pretty standard, nothing special. 

This is 2 coats layered over Sally Hansen Brisk Blue. I had read other reviews that said it could be sheer, so I went ahead and gave it some underwear. 

You can see the faux "french" design it creates because the free edge of my nails is colder than that on the nail bed.

Then here is a shot after I stuck those four fingers in cold water. 

The change is super quick and quite a contrast!

Check it out at Born Pretty and don't forget my coupon code:

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Coral & Blue Pinterest Toes

I'm really loving these mixed pattern pedicure designs! And some more stripes for my big toes? So fun! These lasted 3 weeks :) It helped that I used nail glue to attach the rhinestones. 

I copied this design found here. I plan on doing these again, but perhaps then I'll use more pastel shades like the original. 

I used Orly Snow cone, theBalm Coral Reef-ined, and Kiss Nail Art Striper in white. A mix of rhinestones from god only knows where. I've forgotten.

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Born Pretty - Quadrate Image Plate

This stamping plate from Born Pretty has 45 small scale images. It can be purchased for $4.99.

This is a quick look I came up with to test out this image plate. Base polish is Orly Au Champagne and I used Konad Black Stamping Polish. I just staggered several subsequent stamps of the wine glass image. You can see that the image didn't stamp cleanly every time. Not all of the image would transfer, especially around the base of the glass. 

The quality of this image plate is not the best that I've tested. The images are not engraved very deep, so the stamp does not pick up cleanly. It would be good for a beginner, I suppose. Someone that wants to try a lot of different images without the steeper price tag of other brands. Check it out and don't forget about my coupon code!

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Fall Dots

This is another as seen on Pinterest type design... This is the original link. I adapted it to work for nails though.

It makes me think of tribal, or maybe Native American......

 These are the polishes I used.

For tools I just used a medium striper brush and 2 different sized dotting tools.

 Kiss Nail Art Striper in black, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Essie Very Structured, China Glaze Life Preserver, Orly Decades of Dysfunction, & Orly Ancient Jade.

The base polish is not pictured, but it was Color Club Incognito.



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Shimmer - Erica, Lorene, Nichole, & Wendy

Shimmer Polish

Check out Cindy's Etsy shop, website, or facebook for more information on purchasing. Or you can always email her directly with your paypal address and the colors you would like to purchase: 

shimmer484(at)gmail(dot)com

 

Shimmer Erica

This is such a lovely combination! I LOVE GREEN!!! I can't describe it, but it's got a little bit of everything. Primarily peridot hue.

This is one coat over China Glaze Refresh Mint

 

Shimmer Lorene

This is 3 coats and where to begin? It has a nice raspberry jelly base. :)

 

 

Shimmer Nichole

Nichole is apparently very patriotic because this is red, white, and blue all the way. 2 coats

Shimmer Wendy

3 coats. Some purple, orange, light blue... Really nice!

Erica is by far my favorite of this bunch. But I've got a weakness for green.

 

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Dusty Pink Ombre

This is my favorite shade of pink to wear. I like the certain "dusty" & vintage feel of these pinks. I wanted to ombre with them because 4 of them were polishes by themselves! Only one nail did I have to mix for the right shade.

Thumb to Pinky:

China Glaze Something Sweet

Color Club Get A Clue

China Glaze Second-hand Silk

Mix of 3 drops ChG SHS & 1 drop B WO

Barielle Welcome Ohm

Here is a look at both hands together. Forgive my busted right thumb, I just recently wacked the corner off and had to file it down and rounded.



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Born Pretty Pastel Oval Rhinestones

These rhinestones can be found here at Born Pretty for $3.45. You can see it's a wide variety of pastel colors that are available in this wheel. Click to enlarge the pic and look at the duochrome goodness on the black oil slick ones on the bottom right. I have to find something special to do with those!

This is a simple look I came up with.

They are pretty straight forward as far as rhinestones go. Simply place them while your topcoat is still wet, or use a little nail glue. They do have a bit of height to them as you can see in this picture. But there are no rough edges to catch or snag things. I chose to not apply a layer of topcoat over these. That usually softens the definition of the facets.

I started with my naked nails, masked off the half moons using hole reinforcement stickers. Then I applied 2 coats of a China Glaze Spontaneous-ish franken. (It was a nearly empty bottle of Spontaneous that I added something from Ulta to... it was just a teal shimmery polish that didn't really change Spontaneous at all. But you can see faint shimmer bits... so hence the disclaimer)

Then I freehanded these little lines using a medium striper brush and Color Club Secret Rendezvous.

Then set the rhinestone on while the topcoat is wet.

Don't forget that you can get a discount at Born Pretty by using my coupon code:

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