30DC: Day 11 - Polka Dots

Hey guys!  Just to let you know, I'm still in the process of moving, so I haven't really been able to post anything.  I've still been doing my nails though, so hopefully I can get more posts to you soon!  Today I just have a quick mani I did over the weekend.

To create this look, first I painted a white base.  Then I dotted the light grey in varying sizes, with bitter dots at the tip, and smaller dots toward the base of my nail.  After that, I repeated the same process with the medium grey and finally with the black.


I've had this idea in my mind for a while, so I was glad to get it out of my system.  I really like how it looks; it kind of reminds me of bokeh in photography.  If you don't know what that is, here's an example!

Colors Used:
White: China Glaze - Snow
Light grey: Zoya - Kristen
Medium grey: Zoya - Kelly
Black: China Glaze - Liquid Leather
Topped with Poshe topcoat

30DC: Day 10 - Gradient

Since I've done so many regular gradient designs during this challenge, I decided to do something different.  However, my first attempt did not turn out quite like I wanted.  The gradient wasn't very smooth and looks messy.  What I tried to do is similar to a border mani, but instead of clean-cut lines, a gradient goes around the edges.  I'll probably be trying this in the future again.

Colors Used:
China Glaze - Bermuda Breakaway
American Apparel - Gold Flash

91. Zoya - Anja

Anja is a vampy red-leaning purple that kind of reminds me of red wine.  Or dark purple plums.  Whatever, it's a lovely color regardless!

This was 2 easy coats, no topcoat required.  Like always, love the Zoya formula!

90. Diamond - Drift Away

Drift Away is a gorgeous dusty red-toned purple.  This was a gorgeous color, and it was very easy to photograph as well.  This might even be a jelly, based on my application.  The pictures pull the color a tiny bit redder than it is in real life, but nothing too dramatic.  This polish dries really glossy, and it looks so pretty!

Despite the lovely color, the application was kinda horrible.  There was a decent amount of dragging, and I needed 3 coats to even everything out.  Despite this, I will be keeping this polish.  I will just have to be more careful with application in the future :)

Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips - Purrfect Harmony

Hey guys!  I won't be able to polish myself for the next week due to moving, so all the posts this week are older ones I didn't get a chance to post earlier.  I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try out the nail polish strips I bought a couple weeks ago.

The box came with a small file, about 14 nail strips in varying sizes, a cuticle stick, and some instructions.  Me, being the impatient person I am, didn't read the instructions carefully enough and messed up the first strip.  D'oh!  Purr-fect Harmony is a rainbow of leopard spots on a silver background, with the spots progressing through the rainbow in a gradient.

Left hand

I thought these were a bit difficult to apply at first, but after a while, I (kind of) got the hang of it.  However, I did have to do some cutting with scissors to get some of them to fit properly.  I had a lot of leftover strips after doing my fingertips, so I did my toes too!  I'll spare you guys the sight of my toes...

Gasp!  The rarely seen right hand.  I actually like the colors on this hand better than on the other hand :)

In the end, I had 1 whole strip left, even after wasting a couple.  It's just too bad that you can't save these; once you open the plastic container, these things are exposed to air and start drying.  I put on topcoat over the strips, due to habit, but I don't think that was the best decision.  some of the edges are lifting up now.  Oh well, hoping it still stays on for the entire week.

Final verdict: I actually find that doing my own mani is much more relaxing than using these strips, but I really like this design.  I know that leopard spots are really easy to do, but I could never do them, so these strips are a great way for me to wear this design!  They're so colorful too!  it combines gradients and animal print, love!  It's also a good quick manicure for vacation and such, where you don't want to bring along all your manicure supplies.  Next time I use these, I might try to get an entire manicure out of half the strips, to try to preserve the strips.  It's definitely do-able, if you have nails that are a bit shorter.

Comparison: Sally Hansen Infinity Band vs. Golden-I vs. Fergie by Wet N' Wild Grammy Gold

Here's a comparison requested by Raechelly!  These are 3 drugstore brand golds.  Golden-I is from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line, Infinity Band is a LE from Sally Hansen Diamond Strength, and Grammy Gold is from the new Fergie by Wet N' Wild collection.

First impression from the bottle shot: Grammy Gold is a lot smoother than the other 2, with Infinity Band with the coarsest particles.  Infinity Band is paler than the other 2, Golden-I looks to be the most warm-toned.

From left to right: Grammy Gold, Golden-I, Infinity Band

At the first coat, Grammy Gold is the most opaque.  It could probably be a one-coater if you were careful.  However, I hate the brush on it; it's quite similar to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon brush.  Grammy Gold is the slowest to dry.

Grammy Gold on pointer and ring.  Infinity band on middle.  Golden-I on thumb and pinky.

Golden-I and Infinity Band look to be pretty similar; both are a shade lighter than Grammy Gold, which is warmer and more saturated than the other 2.  Grammy Gold actually has the largest, chunkiest particles, and Infinity Band had the smoothest finish.  All 3 applied pretty well, with Golden-I having the thinnest formula, and Grammy Gold with the thickest.

Final verdict:  You really don't need all three of these.  The two Sally Hansens are pretty much the same, there is no real difference on the nail.  If you want a one-coater, the Fergie polish is the way to go.  It'd probably be good for stamping.  However, the brush kind of puts me off the Fergie; it's just way too big to handle neatly.

Comparison: OPI Done Out In Deco vs. Planks a Lot

Today, I've decided to do a comparison on two OPI polishes: Planks a Lot, and Done Out in Deco.  In the bottle, the two really remind me of each other, but when you put the bottles side-by-side, there is a very noticeable difference.  There are definitely no dupes here.

PaL is more of a lilac color, whereas DOiD is more of a lavender.  PaL has a lot of pink in it, but it's a darker, more saturated color.  Also, I don't know if its because of the age of the bottle, but DOiD separates in the bottle, whereas PaL doesn't.

I would also say that the coverage of DOiD is better.  I only needed 2 coats for opacity with DOiD.  This picture shows 2 coats of both polishes, and while DOiD was completely opaque, PaL could have used another coat.

30DC: Day 9 - Rainbow

Hey everyone!  Today's challenge is rainbow nails!  They look cool, don't they?  They remind me of beams of light, kind of like those diagrams they show in physics textbooks where a prism defracts white light into the individual colors.  To read about how I created this look, look after the jump!

89. OPI - Planks a Lot

Today's quick and dirty swatch is Planks a Lot, a very lilacy purple.  This is a really nice color, I just wish it covered a little bit better.  Not really much to say about this polish; it's kind of similar similar to Done Out in Deco.  I think I like Done Out in Deco better though, since it matches better with my skintone.

This picture is 3 coats, no topcoat, no clean-up.  You can see that the polish dries a bit darker than the bottle color.

88. OPI - Done Out in Deco

I got this polish a long time ago, back when I was just dabbling into nail art.  For a long time, this was my favorite polish, and even today I still get a lot of compliments on this.  Done Out in Deco is a very flattering lavender color.  It's got a lot of white in it, but it's nice because it's not overly chalky.  It's actually a touch dusty, and I love dusty-colored polishes like no other.  I love wearing this color in the spring!

This is a quick and dirty swatch: 2 coats, with no top coat, no clean-up.  The polish was separating a bit in the bottle, but the formula is still good, even after a good 2-3 years.  Typical OPI formula, a little sheerer and more watery than Zoya and China Glaze, but glides on the nail more easily.

30DC: Day 8 - Metallic

Hey everyone!  So for this day of the challenge, I decided to do a metallic gradient.  I love doing gradients, they're pretty, so easy to do, and often are faster than doing a regular manicure where you just paint the color on.  I did green and gold because I thought it'd be a nice combination (kind of like money, you know), but in retrospect, I'm thinking I would have liked silver more.

Colors Used:

China Glaze - Passion

Color Club - Perfect Mol-ten

30 DC: Day 7 - Black and White

Today I have tuxedo nails to show you!  This design is cute, yet simple, so everyone can do it!  The lines aren't as crisp as I'd like them, but that's my fault for not using the right kind of tape...

First, I painted my nails white.  It was weird walking around with white nails, but I was too busy to do the design until later.  Then I taped off a triangle at the base of my nail and painted black on top of that.
Using a dotting tool, I added the white and black dots down the center of the nail, and did two big dots and a little dot for the bowties.  Voila!  A cute tuxedo on my nails :)

Colors Used:
China Glaze - Liquid Leather
SH Xtreme Wear - White On

87. Wet N' Wild - A Show at the Palladium

A Show at the Palladium is the base of my subtle sparkle mani.  This is a gold foil with particles on the medium side.  There also appears to be some copperish particles too.  This polish was part of the Chrome collection, so I was a little disappointed with the grainy-looking surface.  However, it did dry without brushstrokes.

See the dark particles?

This picture was 1 coat.  The polish itself had a good consistency and dried fast, but the brush is big and unwieldy.

30DC: Day 6 - Violet

Violet can mean purple right??  I assume these first 6 days of the challenge are the rainbow.  Anyways, for this day, I did a skittles mani with 5 different polishes, since I actually have enough purple polishes to choose from.  Some fingers could have used another coat, as I realized over the weekend, but it was still really pretty!

Colors Used (from thumb to pinky):

Zoya - Anja (2 coats)

Diamond - Plum Pie in the Sky (3 coats)

OPI - Planks a Lot (2 coats)

OPI - Done Out in Deco (2 coats)

American Apparel - L'Espirit (2 coats)

86. American Apparel - Passport Blue

Hey guys!  It's been a while since I posted, but I've just been swamped this last week.  We had a big dragonboat race last weekend down in SoCal, and then this week was finals week for summer classes.  So here's a quick and dirty swatch for you guys.  This is Passport Blue, the blue that was used in my last mani (the striped gradient).  I love this kind of blue; it's dark and creamy, but it doesn't look at all close to black.

American Apparel polishes' formula is amazing!  They're always the right consistency, and are very opaque.  I used 2 coats here, no basecoat.  It didn't leave any staining, despite it's really dark color, and you could probably get away with one thicker coat for full opacity.