My St. Patrick's Day Manicure

Well, hello folks!!

As usual, I have my holiday appropriate manicure....posted a few days late. Ah well.

I used Sinful Colors Exotic Green with Different Dimensions Wee Bit Irish. In reality, I'm not even a little bit Irish but I did enjoy sporting this green manicure and certainly caught the eye of a lot of people at work that week!

Yes, my pictures are not lightbox quality and they are taken with my phone but I think they are really accurate and hey, it's way more convenient right now.

Enjoy!!

My Fourth of July themed manicure using magnetic polishes

Happy 4th of July everyone!! I had most of the weekend off and just had to work a little bit today. It's been an amazing, relaxing weekend with awesome weather and a lot of hanging out with family thrown in. I'm really sorry to see the end of it!! 

Even though I'm behind in showing you guys my regular manis, I have to try to show you my holiday manicures relatively on time. I have been really into magnetic manis lately, not that you could tell since I haven't shown you most of them yet. Since I've been so into them lately. I decided to do a magnetic polish July 4th mani. 

For this look, I dry brushed a magnetic polish over the same color metallic polish, added a thick coat of Seche Vite and then used a neodymium magnet over it. 

The polishes I used for this are Sinful Colors Snow Me White (white base), Orly Torrid (red base), Wet n Wild Pop up Blue-tique (blue base), Finger Paints Colorful Collage (holo hex glitter), Wet n Wild Don't Break the Circuit (blue magnetic) and a non name magnetic red from Rite Aid bought some years ago.

I forgot what an amazing red Orly Torrid is until I used it again for this mani. I had used it last for an anniversary mani some years ago. It looked amazing mattified at that time. I'm also very glad I didn't write off Don't Break the Circuit either after my last experience with it. So glad neodymium magnets started getting used with magnetic nail polishes! I love it much more than the magnets with designs right now.

That's all for now! See you next time!

Blue Gradient flowers over Sinful Colors Treasure Chest

I showed you a swatch of Sinful Colors Treasure Chest in my last post. Today, I'm going to show you my second attempt at gradient stamping and this one I like even better. The first one was here. 

The polishes I used are Konad White and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue By. The image plate used was Uber Chic plate 4-03.

Also, I can't believe that I ever found the time to do a video but my silly little video of me wiggling my fingers around was kinda fun so I had to make another video and try my hand at actual editing this time. So, to see a short video of how I did the gradient stamping, check out my page on Instagram. 

Thank you!!!

Sinful Colors Treasure Chest

Today I want to show you texture polish, Sinful Colors Treasure Chest. I have always been a fan of textures and when Sinful Colors came out with their own version of it, I was excited!! I picked up a few colors with Treasure Chest being one of them.

This is one of my favorite colors to wear. Something about that bright seafoam green color just gets to me. Add a little golden shimmer to it and I'm sold! The color just makes me so happy!

It is a texture polish and even though it's not very very textured, it would require more than one coat of topcoat to smooth it out. And then maybe another coat the next day. I wore it without any topcoat for a couple of days and then stamped over it, which I will show in the next post. 

I always think textured polishes look weird in pictures but in real life I think they look fantastic. I'm glad I gave them a chance starting with the Zoya Pixie Dusts because I do love them so! 

Ok, it's 10:30 pm and I'm completely dragging. Off to bed I go!

Thanks for looking!

Sinful Colors Captivate Me (trying to imitate Masura magnetic polishes)

Hi guys!
I am very excited to show you guys today's post! After having drooled over Jeanette's (@theswatchaholic) Instagram pictures of magnetic manicures using a neodymium magnet fior a few weeks and then looking at pictures after pictures of Masura magnetic polishes online and lamenting the fact that they are so hard to obtain here in the US, I finally decided to get my own neodymium magnet and try out this new technique of using magnetic polishes. I swear this has given my old magnetic polishes new life. This much more powerful magnet doesn't put little designs on the nail, it just moves the metal powder in the polish around in such a way that the end result looks like rich fabric or a gemstone. I think my nails today look like red velvet (not the cake, the fabric).

This is Sinful Colors Captivate Me, purchased by me ages ago when everybody was making magnetic polishes. It is a berry red with tiny little holographic particles in it. As with all magnetic polishes in my experience, it took two coats for full opacity. It was thick but easy to work with.


I stamped over it with China Glaze Passion and a design from an Uber Chic plate 1-03.

And more pictures from different angles.

Now more pictures of it stamped.

I even took some videos to try and capture the depth the polish gets when using the neodymium magnet. I just purchased a thin rectangular magnet from Ebay. 

So, the method: I painted a coat of polish over all the nails. Then one nail at a time, I put on a second coat of polish, immediately held the neodymium magnet over the polish at an angle with the thin side facing the nail for a few seconds. It doesn't even have to be all that close to the nail. You can literally see all the metal powder in the polish gather together under the magnet. Then a few seconds later, I rotated the angle about 180 degrees for just a second.to disperse the particles slightly. That's the method I used here. Maybe I'll find a different method later that I also like but that's what I've picked up from watching Russian nail bloggers with perfect manis on Instagram work their incomprehensible magic on a 15 sec video. 

Thanks for looking!!

My first mermaid nails with Barielle A Bouquet for Ava

So, I have been busy this week. We went to the zoo last weekend and two days ago, we went to the aquarium. I'm pretty sure the kids don't care one bit since they're so young but I've been having a blast! So, in honor of going to the aquarium, I did my first mermaid nails! I'm pretty proud of how they turned out too!

For this look, I used Barielle A Bouquet for Ava, which is the darker teal. I did a gradient with Barielle Swizzle Stix and A Bouquet for Ava and went over the tips with Sinful Color Nail Junkie. I then stamped over the gradient with the fish scale stamp from the Red Angel plate RA111. The stamping polish I used was China Glaze Passion from the Romanitique collection. All of the ones from that collection are great to stamp with. 

Here's a visual of the polishes I used.

I love stamping over gradients. It may be my new favorite thing next to a watermarble accent if I can afford the time. What's your favorite nail art style?

Sinful Color I Love You

From the very beginning of my nail polish obsession, I knew that I loved purples. It's probably the color I have the most and I need very little reason to buy more. Sinful Color I Love You was one of the first purples I bought but it took me forever to actually wear it. It has a purple jelly base with microglitters/microflecks that I believe are duochrome purple/gold. It's super pretty and I just love this color!!

What I didn't love so much about this polish was how sheer it was. It took FOUR coats to get sort of opaque and get rid of the visible nail line. Tip shrinkage was inevitable with Seche Vite. Normally, that would keep me from using it again but then again, really pretty purple!! I'll just find a way to make it work with layering or jelly sandwiches. I love the color way too much!

Meanwhile on the home front, working on looking for good daycare options for the older son while trying to figure what the heck the rash is on my baby son's face. He is seriously cute but this rash is very much not :-(

Do you guys have any polishes that you might have otherwise purged if not for how amazing you think the color is?

Sinful Colors Winter Wonder with dots

Hey all.

I'm back with a winter polish mani. This is a Sinful Colors polish from a couple of years ago. This, I believe, is a dupe for Zoya FeiFei. It is such a beautiful polish! Took me three coats to get opaque and I added some dots on the side for a little interest.

Thanks for looking and hope you have a nice day!!

Pink Watermarble with Sinful Colors Polishes

Hi peeps!

Today, I am happy to show you my first embellished watermarble design. Ever since the first time I saw this, I have wanted to try it out. I like the results of my middle finger way more than my ring but I was in a bit of a rush when I did this. 

I used all Sinful Colors polishes for this watermarble. I find that all the Sinful Colors creme polishes work fairly well for watermarbling. I absolutely loved the color and consistency of the bright pink color. What isn't consistent is the spelling of the name. I swear that's how it's spelled on my bottle!

Have a good day everyone!!

Sinful Colors Mercury Rising splatter skittlette

Hello lovelies!

How is everyone? Hope everyone had a good weekend! I can't believe how busy things have suddenly become for me! Between a baby that still wakes up multiple times a night, a full time job that's ramping up, THE exam of my career coming up in three months and the holidays, my plate is so full I'm surprised I'm still carrying it!! 

Anyways, I'm not going to say much here except that I loved this mani and I wish I'd worn this longer. This is my first splatter attempt and I finally got the hang of it with some trial and error. Aaannnd, I love the results!! I especially love it as an accent nail.

Polishes used in this mani:
             Orly Powder Puff (3 coats); this is my go to off white
             Wet n Wild Femme Trouper (texture, from Rite Aid)
             Sinful Colors Mercury Rising (brown with shimmer, 2 coats)
             Wet N Wild Fast Dry Ocean Grotto (lovely green foil shimmer but sheer on its own)

Sunday Stamping: Halloween Stamping, Black and White Halloween mani with Hard Candy Black Tie Optional

Hi folks!

This post is going up late, seeing how Sunday is more than halfway over. This is my mani for the Sunday Stamping challenge, Halloween themed stamping. I really, really wanted to do a black and white gradient so I finally did it for this mani. Then I took Hard Candy Black Tie Optional out of my untrieds and used it with a few randomly yet strategically placed matte glitter in orange, purple and lime green. I added glowing orange eyes to the skull while the image was still on the stamper, stamping decal style. If anyone is curious about what I'm talking about, I can elaborate if you ask me.

I really love how this looks. Love the randomly hand placed glitter mixed with the black and white glitter. I placed a few glitters down first, then painted a coat of BTO, then placed a few more glitters over it. A lot less time consuming than you would think because it was random placement. I will have to do this technique more often. Gives the impression of having an entirely new form of glitter polish.

Here's all the polishes used in this mani. The plate is Bundle Monster BM 225.

Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris

Sinful Colors Snow me White

Sally Hansen Wet Cement

Hard Candy Black Tie Optional 

Sinful Colors Courtney Orange

Adventures in Stamping Sunday Stamping: Autumn Nails

Hi everyone! Happy no more summer...at least in the northern hemisphere. (Do I have any below the equator readers?) Today's mani is along those lines. I'm part of a Facebook group called Adventures in Stamping and every Sunday participants are asked to submit a stamped mani with a theme. This Sunday, the challenge theme is autumn nails. I gotta say, I'm not too proud of this one. I love the colors of the gradient but the stamping is waaaayyyy too subtle. Oh well. 

The polishes I used are 

Sinful Colors Courtney Orange

Sinful Colors Mercury Rising

Stamped with SC Mercury Rising, SC Sugar Sugar, KC Metallic Green, L'Oreal Because You're Worth It

Plate used BM 04

I am really loving the gradient colors though. Did I already mention that?

My Delivery Mani: Sinful Colors Rise and Shine Gradient with Sally Hansen Fuzz-Sea

Hi all! So I'm actually pretty surprised I managed to cobble together a few minutes here and there over the last couple of days to come up with this post for you. The baby is sleeping and therefore I should be too but, go figure, I can't. So I might as well get this post up!

So, this is the mani I ended up having on my nails during the delivery. Not blue like I thought I would end up wearing but that's what happens when the delivery is a surprise! It actually held up really well afterwards as well since I didn't take it off for over a week. Except for growth at the cuticles, it hardly chipped or got tipwear.

The polishes used for this mani are:
Sinful Colors Rise and Shine (darker green)
Sinful Colors Pistache (Lighter green)
Sinful Colors Snow me White (far left)
Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Fuzz-Sea

The fun thing with this mani as well was that I used Elmer's glue around the nail to help with clean up after creating the gradient. It is sooo easy!! The picture below shows the Elmer's Glue liftoff in action.

The picture below shows what it looks like after all the Elmer's Glue has been removed from the ring finger. The middle finger still needs the Elmer's Glue removed. What's left over is really minimal!

Sinful Colors Neptune Baby Shower mani and I'm on Facebook!!!

Hi everyone! Another long week where the days just flew by! So much so that I am only now finding the time to post this mani. 

First and foremost, I'm on Facebook!! You can find the link to my page in the row of buttons on the right side of this page ----->. If you like to be on Facebook, please "like" my page and you can follow along with the posts through that as well.

As promised, I am showing you guys the mani I wore for my baby shower. The main colors used are Sinful Colors Neptune and Orly Powder Puff. I've used the Orly in other manis before when I just want a slightly off white base. It works well to wear in two to three coats. Dries in a decent time and with careful application, doesn't have any annoying bald spots. 

The accent nails are done with a combination of stamping, dots and glitter...oh my! After stamping, I added little colored dots with SC Neptune and Revlon Wind Fall. The glitters were hand placed after fishing them out of the different glitter polishes listed below. Sounds more time consuming than it actually was! The glitter pieces looked like little flat jewels on my nails.

A sunlight picture.

The colors I used for these are:

         Sinful Colors Neptune

         Orly Powder Puff

         Revlon Wind Fall

         WnW Black for stamping

         Glitters from:

                  Jordana Cosmic

                  Love & Beauty Crystal/Multi

                  Love & Beauty Dark Blue

Stamping Plate Cheeky XL B

My invitation was the inspiration for the mani.

Hubby rating: 10/10. He loved it :-)