Free Form Stripes

Good morning! I have a fun manicure to show you today! (I promise, I am almost caught up to my Instagram..and will be posting blog posts as I go...)

As I told you all before, I bought a ton of new Orly mini bottles, so naturally, I had to keep using them! So here we go!

I must admit, I do not think these are my best work. My lines could be much better, and the dots, which I wanted to look more like lace than regular dots, did not turn out to my liking. But failed or successful manicure will be featured on my blog. I'm human. So I have bad days too.

Here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
2 coats Orly It's Not Me, It's You
I used Pure Ice Black Rage for the black french tip.
Kiss White Striper for the stripes.

I found Orly's It's Not Me, It's You to be wonderful! I absolutely love the shade, the application, and how girly this polish is. This is for sure going on my full bottle wish list!! I love it!

Clearly, I need to do a little more practice on my stripes, but I found the Kiss White Striper polish to be perfect as well. It is my unsteady hands that are the problem. Lol.

Well, until next time....

Christina



Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Coastal

Gooooood morning!!! I just want to let you all know that my blog will always be behind from my Instagram. It is tough for me to get onto the computer sometimes. (My eldest daughter is a Minecraft addict. No joke.) I literally write a weeks worth of posts in a night so I don't miss on posts, and don't spend every day on the computer. (Plus with the billions of doctor appointments for my youngest, I really don't have time to blog during the week....but this blog is everything to me, so I MUST keep writing!)

If you have an Instagram, come follow me!! @ManicureMommy   :D

On to the manicure! A while ago I purchased Revlon's Coastal Surf and I have been dying to do something with it!!

Here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gealous
2 coats Revlon Coastal Surf
I stamped with Konad Special White polish and plate BM-322.
Used Julep Alicia for the orangy dots.
1 coat Seche Vite

How crazy fun are these nails? They're so bright. So...summer! :) I absolutely love this blue nail polish. It is bright, and cheery, and a perfect shade. The application was pretty good. Revlon seems to be a bit thin for me, which causes some bald spots...but the second coat covered any flaws.

I really love how this stamp manicure ended up! I am totally in love with Julep's Alicia, so I try to use it as much as I can....and I think it is a perfect contrast color for this blue! I also used more Coastal Surf to dot on top of Alicia.

I really love how summery this manicure is. Right now I have a love/hate relationship with summer ending. I love to wear bright polish (and I will, even in winter!) and shorts and tanks...but my hubs comes back home in the fall...so I am ready for summer to end. Lol. What a dilemma!


What do you all think of this manicure??

Until next time....

Christina

Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Lava Lamp Nails

Goooood morning!!

There has been a trend on Instagram that I knew I had to try. There isn't a definite name to them, but I like to call them Lava Lamp Nails.

I must admit, these were harder than I thought they'd be. But since I've done them once, I am positive I can improve my skills on them. In concept, they seem very easy.

So here's what I did.

1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
2 coats NYC French White Tip
I painted half of my nail with Pure Ice Black Rage
Then I took a medium sized dotting tool, and placed the dots along side the diagonal line I created. Then placed the opposite color  dots on each side of the line.
I topped it all off with Seche Vite.

These nails really look so cool on. I feel like they're melting into each other. It's beautiful. I, being my worst critic, see some flaws, but practice makes perfect, so I will for sure be doing these again. I'm glad I did the mixture of black and white for my first time with these. I think it really shows the dramatic dripping to the work. I love it.

What do you all think of these? Have you seen these be done before? Would you try this? What colors would you use?

Until next time....

Christina



Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Dupe & Gradient

GOOD MORNING!!!!

Last night I discovered that I have a dupe in my collection! I told myself that I would try so hard to NOT let that happen, but it did. Luckily this dupe was only $0.99. So kudos to me for buying polish on the cheap!!

I bet you can't tell what polish is what. They are literally identical! So here's what they are:
Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter and Wet n Wild I Need a Refresh-mint. I have Wet n Wild on my thumb, middle and pinky. And Finger Paints on my pointer and ring finger.

I have:
1 coat Sally Hansen's Double Duty base coat
1 coat Orly's base coat
1 coat of each polish
No top coat.

Apparently I love this color. Lol. When I got the Wet n Wild color, it honestly looked more green in the store. But as you can see, it is definitely a dupe for all those fabulous turquoise/blues out there.

Shortly after I took these photos, my children were supposed to be asleep, but I heard Seyhan screaming bloody murder. I ran into their room, and Zoey had thrown a book at Seyhan, ripping out a good sized chunk from her cheek. So I had to clean up blood, kiss boo boos, and calm Seyhan down before she started puking from freaking out. It was a disaster, and well, my polish got destroyed in all the mayhem.

So after I did my motherly duties, I went back to the drawing table. I follow a nail girl on Instagram, and she posts the most beautiful gradient dot manicures I have ever seen. (I am going to find out if she has a blog, so I can link it here.) I was so inspired, I decided to do my own!

I used:
1 coat Sally Hansen's Double Duty base coat
1 coat Orly's base coat
2 coats Wet n Wild Sugar Coat
(In order from bottom to top)
Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book
Wet n Wild Candy-licious
Sally Hansen Heart of Stone
NYC French White Tip

Laura, the Instagram inspiration guru, has an etsy shop! Her link is HERE!

I absolutely love this manicure. I was worried I wouldn't like it. And I started out with just doing a dotted accent nail. But once I was done, I knew I had to do them to all of my digits!

This manicure did take me a while. And I think once I keep doing dotted manicures, I will get faster. As instructed by Laura, I staggered my dots. I really think it makes it look more uniform. I used my second to the smallest dotting tool.

I think the gradient colors look so cool! I've tried other gradient manicures, and they always look horrible on me...which is why I've never featured one on my blog. But this one I am proud of! My right hand is a bit wonky, but I think if I keep practicing, I can perfect my left handed dotting skills.

The only complaint I have with these polishes: The Wet n Wild salon line has the WORST brushes. I see what they were trying to do...but it isn't going to work for every nail type. The brush is big, flat, and is cut in a curved semi circle. I guess it was designed to pretty much match the shape of cuticles. Which sounds like a good idea...but it caused me to have A LOT more clean up than a simple smaller square brush.

Other than that, I love the formula of Sugar Coat. It is a bit sheer, but after two coats, it was pretty opaque with only minimal free edge lines.

What do you all think of this manicure? Would you try it? Do you like the colors?

Until next time....

Christina


Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Jacket Buttons

Good evening fellow nail bloggers! I have a fantastic manicure for you!

I asked my daughter, Seyhan, what she thought my nails looked like, and she said jacket buttons. :) I think she's right.

I really really really like this manicure! Here's what I did:
1 coat Sally Henson's Double Duty base coat
1 thick coat Pure Ice Black Rage
I used Color Club Gingerbread Man for the dots with my dotting tool
1 coat Essie Matte About You

I love love love my Pure Ice Black Rage. If you use enough the first time, you don't need to do a second coat! The application is always a breeze, the brush is perfect, and the formula is amazing. I use Black Rage more often than any other polish in my stash of 70.

I only have flash photos to share with you all. I didn't get a chance to take photos this afternoon. My daughter, Zoey, has a therapist who comes to our house to work with her. And that took up a lot of our time today.

I am really happy to report how well the Gingerbread Man polish did with Matte About You. I was afraid it wouldn't look good, since it is more of a foil type polish. It took on the matte, but stayed glittery...which is the only way I can explain it. I think I will have a hard time taking this polish off.

I really wanted something more edgy, but to stay with the dots, since my dotting tools are being severely neglected.

I am a huge fan of black and gold combos. Something about the two together makes me wanna dance. Lol.

I also have yet to run into any problems I've read about online about Matte About You. I read the reviews on Amazon.com before purchasing it, and some people say that the matte doesn't last long, and ends up shiny in a few days...I haven't had that problem. Others said it chipped within hours...Again, no problems here. I also have two kids, and I'm currently the only parent...and mine holds up pretty well. I never expect a manicure to stay perfect more than two days. I expect tip wear and chips. I'm really rough on my hands. Another reviewer said that it started peeling from the middle?? Whaaat? Maybe they got a bad batch, cause I've never ever ever seen it do that!!! Maybe I'm not that picky about my nails...so if it does end up shinier...I don't notice it at all.

I hope I have given you a good reason to go out and buy a matte top coat! I know I don't regret my purchase! <3

Until next time....

Christina



Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Folly

Good morning!! Sorry that I have been MIA. My husband left for deployment on Friday. So it has been a little rough around my house. My eldest has been acting out negatively from this deployment...so it has been pretty hard on momma!

I do have a pretty cute manicure for you all today. This manicure is a few days old, so I do have tip wear and a chip and broken corner on my index finger, all thanks to peeling potatoes.

Here's what I did:
2 coats of Sinful Colors Folly
Then I took every orange/coral/salmon/light pink/yellow I owned and used my dotter tools to add the dots.
Then I did a thick coat of Seche Vite.

I wanted the dots to be flat..and not look like paint over paint. I think I achieved that with the thick coat of Seche Vite.

I really like Folly. It could have gone on in one coat...which is a win in my book!!

I have never done polka dots before. I wanted them to be different sizes...and I think I did a pretty good job for my first polka dot job. :)

What do you all think? Do you like the color combo? The dots? Folly??

Until next time....

Christina


Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Konad

Saturday I received my Konad stamper and two plates (m57 & m60) that I ordered!! I cannot explain how happy I am to finally have this awesomeness!! It is uber easy to use, fast, and it looks awesome. I will say that you do need to practice practice practice to get the stamps to look okay.

I got the double stamper, mainly because of my children and their tiny fingers. I did some dots on my daughter, Seyhan's nails last night, and it looked so awesome. The best part, it dried crazy fast. So I didn't have to worry about her little fingers getting polish all over my house.

Last night I tried out different polishes, and different designs on my nails. I will admit that I was getting very frustrated. It is hard for me to get the pattern straight onto my nail. The stamps aren't big enough for my fat thumbs, so I need to figure out what to do there. (Any suggestions?)

ALSO, I did not buy the Konad special polish. I'm thinking that I might HAVE to at least buy the white and the black. My white polish isn't goopy enough, and doesn't show up as well as I'm sure the special polish would. I was trying to avoid buying the special polish, because it is kind of expensive. $6.00 for polish that is goopy like old polish? Sheesh. So maybe I will have to goop up my black and white and see how that works.

After receiving my Julep polishes, I could not wait to use them! So here is Alicia. I think it looks great with my skins. I used a basecoat (Orly), two coats of Julep Alicia, the pattern, and a coat of Seche Vite.

Now, with my cuticles, I have been having one heck of a time getting them used to all the pampering that I have been giving them. They've been peeling and cracking. And I have been using oils, lotions, and scrubs. I think they're just like "whoa, we had no attention for years, and now all of a sudden you want to love us again???" I think they're rebelling. Typical.

For this look I used the dot pattern on my m60 plate. I think these nails turned out adorable. I will for sure be doing it again.

Until next time...

Christina

Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*