Iron Man? Is that you??

LOL. Ok, so it's not really Iron Man but wih the color combo on this mani

it really reminds me of the super hero.

For this look i used the following:

1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #485 Golden-I.

I sponge applied Pure Ice Iced Merlot.

and with just a tad of the Golden-I to blend it all, two times.

Then, of course, toped it off with a coat of SV.

When i first attempted to do gradient sponging it was not successful.

 There are a few things that most tutorials usually leave out.

1. Make sure your sponge is damp *not dripping wet - not dry* DAMP.

I dip my sponge in room temperature water and ring it out to get it the right dampness.

2. The thinnest and lightest color should go on as your base color.

Some of the tutorials out there make it look easy just put it on the sponge and push it on to your nail.

NOT! You need to have a base color for the other colors to stick to and blend with. I've noticed the thicker the polish the better. Just because the color is dark does not mean it will work well.

3. Don't just set your sponge on your nail. Dab it two or three times.

This helps transfer the colors and blend them. Do not dab it to much or you will lift the color!

Two or three times is plenty. Move on  to the rest of your nails and if you want the color to be darker/brighter do it again after it has had time to dry.

4. Make sure you change your sponge often enough or you will end up with pieces of clumped polish or sponge on your nice mani.

5. Don't worry if it looks rough or like it hasn't blended enough, once you put your

 top coat on it will smooth out. This is also a great time to use that top coat that 

smudges and drags all your nail art, it will really help blend it even more.

I just love these 2 colors togehter! So much shimmer!

 I hope my rundown helped anyone who has been having trouble getting this technique to work

e.l.f Polish Review

I was on the e.l.f website a couple weeks ago and got an offer for a free Sunkissed Summer Gift bag with my purchase. I actually love a lot of  e.l.f's cosmetics, most of their stuff is actually really good quality for an extremely cheap price! Anyway, in my gift bag there was a bottle of their nail polish in Champagne. For a $2 bottle of polish it's pretty nice and it covered completely in 2 light coats.

It's hard to tell in the pictures but it has a beige kind of base with a kind of coral shimmer.

I topped it off with my new top coat. Seche Vite

I went to Sally's Beauty to pick this up since I'd heard it was the best top coat.

I am glad I made this purchase. It really does dry very quickly, I even applied it to my polish before it was dry, but it still dried up extremely fast.

The only downfall i came across is that my mani didn't last very long. Now this isn't a huge deal for me because I tend to change my polish quite often, but for those of you looking for a long lasting mani, the e.l.f polish isn't going to cut it. But all in all I really do like the e.l.f polish and they have 40 different colors too! I'll definitely be getting some more!

Pretty In Pink

I based it with Confetti in Dance Party Pink...this polish is soooo

thin I ended up using 4 coats to get it even.

I topped it off with a coat of Spoiled by Wet n Wild in I Got A Confection To Make,

just to give it a bit more brightness and sparkle. Topped off my ring fingers with

some stamped flowers - Pure Ice in Iced Merlot - and a couple rhinestones.

Mani Of The Day...

Well my post today is just going to be short, sweet and to the point.

I was looking to do a colorful mani and decided on Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue and Coral Reef. My cheetah spots were done with a touch of Sinful Colors Hottie.

Here's the end result.

Bright and bold!

"Matte Me Crazy"

A few months back i decided i had to jump on the Matte band waggon. I went nuts looking for a matte top coat, I even had my husband looking for me! Everywhere we looked we failed miserably. Then all of a sudden we found it at the Target, the same one that i checked about 15 times previously. Alas, there it was, at the bottom shelf of the NYC display. I hadn't read any reviews on this brand so i wasn't sure but I decided to get it anyway. It was $1.98 so why not?

I'd heard that some brands of matte top coat can still leave a major shine or alter the original color. Since this was a cheaper brand i guess i automatically assumed it would be an inferior matte. So after i searched for months then finally found this, I somehow managed to forget about it once i got it home.
The other day i was trying to come up with a new look for my fingers and i decided to break it on out. I settled on doing black nails with a hot pink accent nail with a black heart.

I used Sinful Colors in "Black On Black" which is an extremely glossy polish and

 Spoiled by Wet n Wild in "Uh As If" which is a more subdued shine. Once the matte top coat was applied i was pleasantly surprised. Even though the two colors started off with two different kinds of shine, this top coat brought them down to the very same flatness with just one coat. 

I was quite happy with the results.

For a $2 bottle of polish this was well worth the risk, and I'm all about the bargain polish!

Ta Ta For Now!

A Night At the Ball Park

Busch Stadium

The hubby and I went to the Cardinals vs White Sox game recently, so i had to do a baseball nail! I was a little worried about how my nails would look since I also very recently had a tragic situation. A BREAK! O_O

My poor, poor nail!

Now normally, i would have just patched it back on with my silk wrap and gel resin method i learned by JapanNailsAndMore on YouTube...

Learn how to patch your broken natural nails here

...but i had been battling breakages for a while and had been using the tea bag and nail glue method to patch for a while (effective but not as good as gel resin) and decided to start form scratch.

So here is the result of my big cut...

Not too bad. I still miss my long nails but at least i know that they don't look terrible short...as long as they're painted!

Well that's all for now. Till next time.

Playing Catch Up!

My very first blog post is going to be a big game of catch up. I have several pictures i need to post to get up to date with new ones. So here it goes.

#Water Marble

#Gradient Glitter

#Gradient Glitter

#Happy Spring

#Neon Rainbow

#Silver, Black & Pink

#Teal, Black/Teal Shimmer & Glitter

#Gradient Glitter

#Cinco De Mayo

#Hot Pink Zebra

#Naked!

#Shooting Stars

#Magnetic Polish

#Nail Stamping

#Tequila Sunrise

#Rainbows

#Seeing Spots!

#Relay For Life

Well that's all for now. I will be posting more soon!