The Neverending Pile Challenge - Jelly

I had to really dig into my coffers before I found a handful of jellies - but in the end I settled on a gorgeous purple beauty that I'd never worn before!

Polishes used: Color Club Savoy Nights and Revlon Grape Fizz

I picked up Grape Fizz from a bargain store, and while I'd tried it out on a swatch stick, and on paper, I'd never worn this glass-flecked jelly. Alone, it's very sheer, and would probably take 4 coats to be opaque - but that's what makes it perfect for sandwiches! It also smells of artificial grapes - honestly it's a bit too sweet for me :D

Grape Fizz Jelly glitter sandwich

I paired the jelly with an untried silvery-blue glitter from Color Club - Savoy Nights. It's a full coverage glitter with large and tiny silver-blue hexes in a lightly tinted base - and here you see a single coat of it! I applied a coat of Grape Fizz, a coat of Savoy Nights and then two coats of Grape Fizz again.

Fizzy and delicious?

I have to admit I love the depth the purple jelly gives to this glitter. I was not really fond of Savoy Nights, but this has been a lovely manicure to wear. And that's two untrieds vanquished!

Thanks for looking, and check out other jellies below!

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Tri-Polish Tuesday - April round 3!

Another Tuesday, another Tri-Polish Challenge awaiting. This week is super busy for me - and so will the next few, so I will let the pictures do the talking.

Polishes used: Barry M Cyan, Rimmel Sunshine, Spoiled Fuzzy Dice, Misa I Will Survive

Being pressed for time and inspiration, I went with my staple dotticure. This time I used a black background to make the bright colours pop - but it turned out that the yellow and pink needed two 'dabs' to actually be as bright as over white. Next time I might start with white dots as a base.

Semi-random dotticure

I started with a pink dot on each nail, and used the blue polish to create dotted spirals leading away from it. I then filled the gaps with yellow dots, vaguely trying to follow a spiral shape as well. Once everything was dry, I secured it all with Color Club fast drying top coat.

Yellow, blue and pink dots

Thanks for looking, and check out other TPC manicures below!

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The Neverending Pile Challenge - Frost

This was a proper challenge prompt - I hate frosty polishes. I can deal with some brush-strokes, but the true frosty look is awful. Hence, it took me a while to figure out what atrocious polishes I own, and then what to do with them. In the end, I chickened out and used a technique that eliminates the frostiness altogether :D

Polishes used: Revlon Varnished, Orly Shimmering Mauve and Color Club Masquerading.

I started with two coats of the fairly frosty Color Club Masquerading. Once that was dry, I used a small piece of a make-up sponge to add random bits of Revlon Varnished. Alone, and applied with a brush Varnished is probably the king of awful polished - runny, incredibly brush-strokey and with a tendency to separate even in the brush!

Distressed sponged nails - a much better use of frosty nail polish!

Once that was dry, I added blobs of Orly Shimmering Mauve, which alone is ugly and frosty. Here it imitated rust pretty well. Finally, I went over it with some more Masquerading to darken the areas I was too heavy with the sponging. Once everything was dry, I secured it all with Seche Vite.

Metal, rust and dirt

This manicure took 10 minutes to do, and I got quite a few compliments for it. And during it, I learned that the two polishes I really hated - Varnished and Shimmering Mauve are actually pretty OK when sponged on. So if you have a frosty polish just grab that sponge and see if you can turn it into a beauty!

Thanks for looking and check out other manicures below!

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FingerFood's Theme Weeks - Fishtail

This week's theme is a technique I had never tried before - a fishtail braid. This is why I love challenges - they make me attempt things I'd never dare without the prompt!

Polishes used: China Glaze Spontaneous, Jess Disco Diva, my own franken, Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It and Star Gazer 232

I started with the plainer nails, and did the actual fishtail a day later. The base colour is one of my own franken-polishes - I had a bottle of very runny silver microglitter polish (which came with a striping brush, completely unsuited to the polish), and I poured it into a larger bottle and added some purple and grey polish until I got the colour I wanted. I may still tweak it in the future, but right now it's a lovely dusty lavender with insane amounts of silver microglitter and two coat coverage. Once this was dry, I added a glitter gradient of Jess Disco Diva on the tips. The effect screamed Disney princess to me :D

Fishtail braid manicure with a franken-polish of my own

The next day I sat down with a podcast, and started the time consuming process of painting the braid. Seriously, I had to wait for each individual stripe to dry - it took me at least 30 minutes in total. I picked out three polishes that would compliment the base - two purples and a silver foil - and followed the tutorial by the amazing Lucy from Lucy's Stash. It took me a while to figure out the best brush to use for this - the bottle brushes were too big, the detail brush too small, and in the end I went with a striping brush. Once the whole thing was dry, I secured it with Color Club top coat.

Glitter and fishtail braid.

As you can see, the fishtail is not very neat, and leans off-centre. However, I am quite happy with it - it was my first go at this technique. The polishes I chose were perfect for the job, opaque and easily applied, and the striping brush worked well. I will probably use this technique again in the future, but only as an accent nail - I don't think I have the patience to do an entire hand!

Polishes I used:

• China Glaze Spontaneous - an almost pastel medium purple crème, nicely opaque (two coats alone) and very easy to apply.
• Jess Disco Diva - a mix of two sizes of purple and holographic glitter in a clear base. Swatched here.
• Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It - a darker saturated purple crème, excellent for nail art and nearly a one coater on its own. 
• Star Gazer 232 - incredibly opaque silver foil, perfect for all nail art purposes.
• My own franken - so far nameless, and obviously unique!

Thanks for looking, and check out other challenge manicures below!

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The Neverending Pile Challenge - Random Untried

For the random untried challenge today I picked out a polish duo I got a while back from Sally Magpie's - Essence Ticket to the Show and Front Row or Backstage? It's been hanging around in my drawer, looking all sad, and despite the sunny weather I was feeling up for something dark and vampy.

Essence Ticket to the Show with a gradient of Front Row or Backstage.

I started with two coats of Ticket to the Show - a black base with gold and red shimmer. It was very easy to apply, and very sparkly in sunlight. Once that was dry, I used a sponge to add a gradient of Front Row or Backstage? - a bronze-gold shimmer in a smokey translucent base. Finally, I added two bronze studs from the Andrea Fullerton line, and covered it all with Seche Vite.

You can see the sparkle in the sunlight.

I love glitter gradients - they are so simple to do, and look really well.

Thanks for looking, and check out other random untrieds below!

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FingerFood's Theme Weeks - Delicious!

I've had this manicure ready for a while now, but I just couldn't find the time to edit the photos and write the post. But finally, here it is!

Polishes used: OPI Off With Her Red and NYC High Line Green

 
I had actually proposed the 'Delicious' theme myself, but when it came to it, I had to really think about what I could do with my nails. Pie? Chocolate drips? Cupcakes? In the end, I went with a simple yet genius technique developed by Chalkboard Nails - embossing dimples in the still plastic nail varnish to create a 'perforated' effect. And what else is dimpled like that? Strawberries!

Strawberry nails

I started with two thick layers of OPI Off With Her Red, and the quickly added a generous layer of Color Club quick drying top coat.  When this was touch-dry (but still squishy underneath), I used a small dotting tool to impress the tiny dimples into the polish. I found that I had to go over some spots, since the polish would rebound - but overall this was a super easy process!

Delicious strawberry nails - nom!

After the red part was dry, I used a thin detailing brush to pain the green leaves with NYC High Line Green. I didn't worry about getting them accurate - just that they look cute. Overall, this was such a fun manicure to do - simple and super effective!

Thanks for looking, and check out other delicious manicures below!

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