I WON!!!

A few weeks ago I entered lorrainetyne.com manicure contest and I won 🙂 I never win anything so I was super excited. Above is the manicure I submitted (my tutorial on how to make your own dinosaur nails can be found here). You can check out the wonderful lorrainetyne blog here and see the other winning manicures.

I won this beautiful bracelet. 🙂 Here is a closeup of the bracelet with my current nails. I used an unnamed silver polish from Urban Outfitters and Smoke and Ashes from the China Glaze Capital Colors Collection to create a half-moon manicure.

Shine Of The Times and Seche

I stopped by Sally Beauty Supply today and finally picked up a bottle of Seche Vite top coat and base coat. They are currently buy one get one free. I have read countless blog posts about how amazing this combo is but I was waiting on a good promotion so that I could finally get them at a good price. Shine of the Times is from the Essie’s Luxeffects Collection released at the end of 2011 and The Luxeffects Collection is available now at certain CVS drugstores, but there were only a few left at my local store and it is no longer available on Essie’s web page because it is currently sold out. So if you love it as much as I do don’t walk, run to a store in your area that carries Essie.

Shine of the Times flashes between red, orange, gold, and green in a beautiful rainbow flakie effect. I layered one coat of Shine of the Times over two coats of a nameless dark blue jelly from Urban Outfitters, and dare I say it looks like Cult Nails Unicorn Puke…. of course I do not have Unicorn Puke to compare it to, but from what I see online this may satisfy my craving for the now unavailable Cult Nails beauty (you can google an image of Unicorn Puke or look at my other flakie review to see a picture of the bottle). The flakies are varied in size and it is more densely packed than my only other flakie (Finger Paints Motley reviewed here) allowing for close to full coverage over a dark polish. The formula is easy to apply and dries quickly, especially after using my new Seche Vite which seems so amazing compared to other tops coats I have used in the past. My second photo of Shine of the Times is is less direct lighting and you can see more of the dark base color.

Within my collection I would have to say Shine of the Times is easily the most interesting nail polish. I would highly recommend picking up a bottle.  Here is a close up below showing the amazing color morphing characteristics of this unique top coat.

White and Grey Mani

I decided to break away from glitter, if only for a few days 🙂 I opted for a more neutral, but not boring grey and white tape manicure. I used Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear nail polish in #300 White On and fully painted my index, middle and ring fingers with one coat. I love that this is a one coater polish but the only problem that I face is that it dries too quickly and can get a little thick on the brush and transfer too much to the nail. I may be on the lookout for a new white polish, so if anyone has suggestions I would greatly appreciate it 🙂 Then I used Urban Outfitters Grey 4 to fully paint my pinky and thumb nails with two thin coats. Using the same technique as my other tape manicure (here) I waited until the white was fully dry then I taped off a portion of my ring and index nails and painted the uncovered area grey. Then after I allowed the polish to dry for 15-20 seconds I gently peeled the tape off.

 

I was going for exactly half but it turned out a little diagonal. The photo above would have looked so great if I had gotten the lines perfect I got a lot of complements on this look and I will be trying this using glitters or bright neon colors soon.

 

Last Friday Night Half Moons

I decided to try a half-moon manicure with my new Katy Perry by OPI polish Last Friday Night. I used the same technique with round reinforcement stickers that I used in my last half-moon post. I painted below the reinforcement stickers with an unnamed blue jelly polish from the fall Urban Outfitters nail polish set. And after I allowed the dark blue to dry I applied Last Friday Night to the upper portion by using a small nail art brush.

Urban Outfitters Nude 4 and mini “how to”

I tried a polish from Urban Outfitters Nude Collection called Nude 4. I really like the color in the bottle, it looks very close to my skin tone in the bottle, but alas it dried much darker leaving me with icky pale skin. I found the brush was very difficult to use because it was thin and super stiff. I applied two coats to achieve smooth application. It dries with almost a satin finish which is nice, but decided that it was a little too boring looking for my taste so I decided to do a design inspired by Polish Me, Please! (one of my favorite nail blogs by the way 🙂 http://polishmeplease.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/spring-2012-trend-watch-checkered-nails/) She has great instructions for checkered nails.

Here is two coats of Nude 4 before top coat:

 

Here is how I adapted the instructions from Polish Me, Please!

Step one: Cut out squares of tape making sure they have nice straight lines. I put them on the back of my hand to keep them within easy reach and to make sure they were not super sticky. If I forgot to do this the tape sometimes smeared or peeled up the polish.

 

Step two: Place the tape on nails in any design making sure it hangs over the sides of the nail for removal.

 

Step 3: Quickly paint the nail (I used Hard Candy’s Matte-ly in Love) and let it dry for about 15-20 seconds then you gently peel away the tape. And you are left with a cute easy design:) I only did two nails per hand but the possibilities are endless.

 

 

Urban Outfitters Blue

I tried a second polish from the Urban Outfitters Fall Collection. I really like the color, it looks very Tiffany and Co blue, but the brush was very difficult to use and had bent bristles. It took two coats to achieve smooth lineless application. I waited for it to dry and then used a tiny black sharpie brand marker to draw a cute little mustache on my ring finger. You have to seal any design made with a sharpie, but only after it has dried or you have streaking and or your design is ruined.

 

Here is the final manicure:

 

Teenage Dream Vs. Urban Outfitters Glitter

I decided to do a side by side comparison of OPI’s Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry Collection and the unnamed pink glitter from the Fall Urban Outfitters Boxed Set.

They look relatively similar in the bottle, but when worn Teenage Dream has better coverage, you can not see the nail line with two coats. The pink glitter base is very similar and from far away you can not really tell the difference between the polishes. The Urban Outfitters polish has smaller holographic pieces and has a smoother texture when applied. I personally prefer OPI’s Teenage Dream, but the Urban Outfitters was a much better deal. See a more detailed review of Teenage Dream here: https://blahblueblog.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/teenage-dream/

Here are side by side close up comparisons:

OPI's Teenage Dream 2 coatsUrban Outfitters Pink Glitter 2 coats

 

Urban Outfitters Pink Glitter 2 coats

Urban Outfitters Boxed Set Of Nail Polishes

On a recent trip to Urban Outfitters I stumbled upon a boxed set of nailpolishes with great colors and an even better price. $4.99 for 5 polishes. The box was damaged, and the sales lady said it was missing the clear top coat, but all in all a great deal. I have not tried any of them, but the pink glitter looks very simmilar to OPI’s Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry Collection.

Urban Outfitters Finds (wish list)

I was looking online for christmas gifts and I came across these two items that I love from Urbanoutfitters.com 🙂

If I had to choose one I think that I would have to go with the doggy lamp but it comes at a hefty $78. I would also have a hard time spending $44 for a nifty tiger rug…. Oh well maybe I can catch one of these on sale.

 

Glittery Green Layering

I really love this glittery green color. I usually wear the Urban Outfitters Green 9 alone but the other day when I went to Sally Beauty Supply I decided to buy the new Finger Paints Art You Wondering which is a very similar color of super fine turquoise glitter in a clear polish.

Urban Outfitters Green 9 and Finger Paints Art You Wondering Bottles

I first put on a clear base coat to protect my nails for staining, it also makes it easier to take the polish off. Then I used two coats of Urban Outfitters Green 9, allowing it to dry between applications. Then when my nails were completely dry I added one coat of Finger Paints Art You Wondering. I think that the colors matched up really well, you wouldn’t think that they were two separate brands. This layering is pretty inside but when you see it in the sunlight it is dazzling.