Pink Cat Eyes

Today have a mani refresh with Nails Inc. Porchester Square. I have seen some beautiful nail art done with striping tape and wanted to attempt the same. My attempt... not to great.

It doesn't look horrible but it just wasn't exactly what I was going for. My triangles were a little thinner than I had anticipated. To get the crisp and clean lines I used thin striping take to mark off the triangular areas. The placement of the tape on the nails gave the illusion of the triangles being thicker than they appeared in the end.

The polish I used for the triangular shapes also was not the best option. Although a great shade, Cover Girl Outlast, Bon Bon was a little on the thinner side. I should have tested it out before using it since I had to use two thicker coats for opacity. Not so good when working with any kind of tape, as it needs to be removed right after application of the polish so the tape does not pull up the polish!

This was a great learning process, definitely something I will try again with new knowledge in mind to improve the process and final look of the mani.

Naurally Neutral

Happy Friday!

I was lucky enough to be treated to a bunch of polishes from a family friend who works at a drug store. I was introduced to brands and shades I probably would have not otherwise purchased, about half of them I have already worn and talked about on my blog and this Nails Inc polish is another!

Porchester Square is a neutral, taupey grey creme. The formula was great and it applied easily in two coats. I have a thing for neutrals during the winter and I am really digging this shade.

As with the Nails Inc "gel" polishes I wore recently, I found that this polish did not hold up well at all after a few days. So disappointing! Does anyone else have wear issues with Nails Inc. polishes? They have some lovely shades and formulas but the polish just does not want to adhere to my nails!

Misted Glitter

Today I have a mani refresh with the last OPI polish I shared, Did Your Ear About Van Gogh? I decided to layer a glitter polish over top to see how well it blended the shade with my skintone. The gold glitter is Orly Lavish Bash.

I have been craving some soft nude polishes with glitter, but due to ongoing breaks in my middle finger nails (both right and left hands) I needed a nude polish with full coverage to hide the false nails I have been wearing over top the broken ones. Did Your Ear about Van Gogh? did the trick for now and Lavish Bash was a great sparkly topper. I applied one coat of the glitter over the base polish.

 

It is not as apparent in the photos, however, the glitter did help to distract from the mismatched tone of the base from my natural skintone. What do you think? Do you have ant suggestions for some good opaque nudes I can try out while I wait for my nails to grow in?

Did You Ear About Van Gogh?

Have you gotten back in to your work/school schedule yet? I'm not gong to lie, last week was tough for me, but waking up today was not as bad... I am sooo looking forward to the next excuse for any time off!!

Today I have a neutral shade from OPI's Holland collection, Did You Ear About Van Gogh?. This is a taupey nude which I found is at least a shade darker the n My Vampire is buff, for comparison. Originally I thought they were pretty close, but once on the nail the comparison was easy to see against my skintone.

The formula was great and went on smoothly in two coats. Although a nice shade, I kind of prefer My Vampire is Buff, I like the lighter tone with my skin colour. On the other hand, Did You Ear About Van Gogh? is great for layering and using as a base for nail art.

Contest and Bundle Monster Mani

Hello ladies,

Today I have a mani refresh with China Glaze, Below Deck and BM plate 21.

I never realize how beautiful the BM full nail designs are until I see them on someone else! I don't even recognize it as a BM pattern, so for this mani I wanted to try a design I never used before. I would describe it as a criss-cross kind of argyle inspired pattern. This looks really good on the nail :)

For the stamping polish I used Sally Hansen Chrome in Amber, I love the contrast between the chrome polish and below deck. What do you think?

Since this is a BM design, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you guys know that voting starts today for the nail art contest Bundle Monster is hosting here, I believe voting starts at 11:00 am. Please read below for more information:

*EDIT - Voting Starts at 11:00 am HST. I think this equals to 9:00pm EST? Please correct me if I'm wrong!*

Basically to participate you have had to create nail art with Bundle Monster art supplies and/or design plates. The 25 winners who receive the most likes of their artwork will win the new BM image/design plate collection which also consists of new 25 plates! The submission timeframe has now closed which means the voting can begin and runs through April 20th.

I have participated in this contest with a duochome base and a full nail design on top from BM plate 19, you can see my entry here. As much as I would love for you all to go here and vote for me, please check out the contest and vote for those you feel YOU like the best. I'm super excited about this contest and hope I make it in to the top 25! I have been taking a peek at the entries every couple days and they are all really awesome and unique in their own way.

If you have a design you have submitted for this contest, please let me know in the comments section so I can check it out :) Good luck to all who entered!