Photo
February 07, 2012
I love doing my nails, but I’m probably not a true inductee to the crowd of nail art or polish junkies. I don’t buy collections that come out just because they’re the new OPI or China Glaze collection. That being said, I checked out the Nicki Minaj collection for OPI a few weeks ago as I was ready to check out of Ulta with a couple of Essie polishes. My friend Nicole happens to work there, and DAMN is she a good saleslady! She snagged me, hook line and sinker. I picked up the one polish from the collection that I was most attracted to: Save Me. Save Me is a clear polish containing fine silver glitter and small rod-shaped bits of holographic confetti. The holographic effect is just like the stickers you may have seen on the inside of NFL or NBA hats; rainbow-y and changing with the light when you move your fingers. When it comes to glitters or sparkly polishes, I’m like a magpie. Save Me is a gorgeous color, and when paired over a silver paint, incredible. I loved flexing my fingers in the sunlight. The first picture captured some of the blinding foil-like qualities of the look; with this picture I tried to angle my fingers so you could see the color of the holographic confetti. I love Save Me, but the little confettis were a bit annoying. They’ll stick off the tips and edges of your nail. I tried to pull off as many little poky parts as I could, but some of it was no dice. Also, with two coats of topcoat, the surfaces of my nails were bumpy and ridged. However, it’s a small price to pay when it comes to the bling factor of this look. I’ll survive! 

I love doing my nails, but I’m probably not a true inductee to the crowd of nail art or polish junkies. I don’t buy collections that come out just because they’re the new OPI or China Glaze collection.

That being said, I checked out the Nicki Minaj collection for OPI a few weeks ago as I was ready to check out of Ulta with a couple of Essie polishes. My friend Nicole happens to work there, and DAMN is she a good saleslady! She snagged me, hook line and sinker.

I picked up the one polish from the collection that I was most attracted to: Save Me. Save Me is a clear polish containing fine silver glitter and small rod-shaped bits of holographic confetti. The holographic effect is just like the stickers you may have seen on the inside of NFL or NBA hats; rainbow-y and changing with the light when you move your fingers. When it comes to glitters or sparkly polishes, I’m like a magpie. Save Me is a gorgeous color, and when paired over a silver paint, incredible. I loved flexing my fingers in the sunlight.

The first picture captured some of the blinding foil-like qualities of the look; with this picture I tried to angle my fingers so you could see the color of the holographic confetti.

I love Save Me, but the little confettis were a bit annoying. They’ll stick off the tips and edges of your nail. I tried to pull off as many little poky parts as I could, but some of it was no dice. Also, with two coats of topcoat, the surfaces of my nails were bumpy and ridged. However, it’s a small price to pay when it comes to the bling factor of this look. I’ll survive! 

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January 29, 2012

A Genius Way to Take Off Your Polish

The foil method. Man. Let me take a minute to just sigh dreamily. My first impression of it was, “What the hell, that’s weird.” Who wants to painstakingly cut foil squares and then wrap them around your fingers for ten minutes? It sounds like some kind of weird treatment they’d do to you in a salon.

But no. The foil traps the polish remover-soaked cotton ball directly on your nail, and I’m sure body heat is involved somehow. When it comes time, you pull the foil off, making sure to press down on the cotton, et voila!

This method is genius for glitter looks.

What You’ll Need

  • five cotton balls
  • nail polish remover
  • ten 4”x4” squares of foil

Pull each cotton ball apart to make two puffs of cotton. (I know it seems too thin, but I’ve actually had more success using less cotton then when I tried using whole cotton balls. Who knows!) Soak them in the polish remover, place directly over your nail, and press down securely to make sure the wet part is tucked down in the little crevices on the sides of your nail.

Place the foil square over your nail, placing your nail in about the middle of the square. Wrap the foil snugly around your finger, forming a foil tube around your finger. Fold the excess edge at the tip over, towards you and on your nail. If the foil was feeling kind of loose before, folding the tip over should make it feel more secure.

Depending on the amount and kind of your polish, anywhere from six to nine minutes should do it. If you did a lot of layers or you have glitter, keep them on for nine. If it’s regular polish, six should do it. The trick here is not leaving them on for too long since it’ll start to burn, plus you don’t want the cotton to start drying.

Pull off and do your “wait a second that was too easy but I don’t give a shit because all my glitter polish is gone, yeah bitch!” dance.

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January 28, 2012

Galaxy Nail Breakdown

In a salon far, far away…

Just kidding! You don’t need a salon to achieve this. The galaxy nail is, I can safely say, probably one of the most popular and coveted looks of 2011. When done right, they do look like they were done by a professional in a salon. I shudder to think how much you’d be charged if you brought a picture of this look to a nail tech that had the time and patience to go for it.

There’s good news and bad news to breaking down this look:

The Good

  • Galaxy nails can be achieved if you follow the instructions step-by-step.
  • If you’re a polish junkie, you likely already have the colors you need. 
  • You don’t need expensive or complicated tools.

The Bad

  • You need some artistic talent to achieve this. They are little paintings on each nail. Luckily though, if you’re a nail art fiend, you already do have artistic talent!
  • This is a hugely time-consuming look if you want it to be perfect. Again, since you’re a nail art fiend, you’re a perfectionist when it comes to your nails too, so that’s a given. 
  • They’re easy to mess up the first few times you try. You really do need to practice this look before getting frustrated and giving up.

Okay. Now to address what you’ve been thinking since you saw that picture up there: “Um, what the fuck, those galaxy nails are shitty.” Yes, yes they are. This was my first attempt at galaxy nails. I was frustrated and pissed off after I finished; I’m used to nailing (*rimshot*) looks the first time I try them, and I’m not used to spending 2+ hours on a failure.

Read More

Photo
January 28, 2012
Watercolor nails! Props to this link for the idea and the method. I loved this, and it was superbly easy. The colors I chose are exactly the colors I chose for my water marble nails (post coming soon)—neon yellow, orange, and pink. In theory it sounds awesome, but on my actual nails you can see it tends to look like Starburst-themed nails. Yes, the candy. I’ll be trying this look again soon with different colors. How cool would this look if you used black and gray on top of white? White: OPI in “Alpine Snow” Pink: Orly Nail Lacquer in “Va Va Voom” Yellow: Piggy Polish in “You Had Me at Yellow” Orange: Orly Nail Lacquer in “Orange Punch”Topcoat: Seche Vite

Watercolor nails! Props to this link for the idea and the method.

I loved this, and it was superbly easy. The colors I chose are exactly the colors I chose for my water marble nails (post coming soon)—neon yellow, orange, and pink. In theory it sounds awesome, but on my actual nails you can see it tends to look like Starburst-themed nails. Yes, the candy.

I’ll be trying this look again soon with different colors. How cool would this look if you used black and gray on top of white?

White: OPI in “Alpine Snow”
Pink: Orly Nail Lacquer in “Va Va Voom”
Yellow: Piggy Polish in “You Had Me at Yellow”
Orange: Orly Nail Lacquer in “Orange Punch”
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Photo
January 28, 2012
I love this look. Solid black nails tend to be boring, and since the ’80s they’ve gotten a bad rap as being an essential uniform detail for the goth teenager crowd. A matte topcoat instantly changes black nails to a modern chic look. Matte topcoats are amazing and a simple, easy way to completely change the look of a polish, but they do have their drawbacks. They don’t protect against scratches or chipping very well, and you may see some of the shine return to your nails after a few days. (Supposedly avoiding lotions or greasy substances will help with retaining the matte—as you can see in the picture above, I applied cuticle oil after my manicure; it didn’t seem to have an adverse effect.) I wore this for about four days before I felt I needed to remove it. Also, the application of matte topcoats can be a little tricky; too much won’t do anything, too little and you’ll only grab parts of your nail.I had seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo the day previous to doing my nails, and I couldn’t help but think that this look would’ve been awesome for Lisbeth Salander, if she ever painted her nails. Black: China Glaze in “Liquid Leather”Matte: Essie’s “Matte About You”

I love this look. Solid black nails tend to be boring, and since the ’80s they’ve gotten a bad rap as being an essential uniform detail for the goth teenager crowd. A matte topcoat instantly changes black nails to a modern chic look.

Matte topcoats are amazing and a simple, easy way to completely change the look of a polish, but they do have their drawbacks. They don’t protect against scratches or chipping very well, and you may see some of the shine return to your nails after a few days. (Supposedly avoiding lotions or greasy substances will help with retaining the matte—as you can see in the picture above, I applied cuticle oil after my manicure; it didn’t seem to have an adverse effect.)
I wore this for about four days before I felt I needed to remove it. Also, the application of matte topcoats can be a little tricky; too much won’t do anything, too little and you’ll only grab parts of your nail.

I had seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo the day previous to doing my nails, and I couldn’t help but think that this look would’ve been awesome for Lisbeth Salander, if she ever painted her nails.

Black: China Glaze in “Liquid Leather”
Matte: Essie’s “Matte About You”