Dior Inspired: Or How I Had A Little Breakthrough

I have so much stuff to put up I wanna show you guys, including new nail polishes, nail art that I've created and a few random nail related items. I thought I would start at the beginning of my list and show you some nail art that I'd been thinking of executing for a little over a month. Well, I actually did execute it but I wasn't very happy with the results so I had to start over a couple of times.

This mani is based on a dress by Christian Dior from his Fall 2013 Couture collection. I wanted to recreate the textures and line of the dress along my four fingers.

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For the satin finish, I started with three thin coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On and let them dry thoroughly before applying two coats of OPI's I Juggle... Men. I've had the latter for a little over a year and the formula has thickened and I think (...think) that the coverage of translucent glitter  is a better because of that.

To mirror the sequins from the dress, I tried creating a my first ever franken but for some reason or another, it didn't turn out as good as I hoped and its glitter coverage was poor. I bought a multi-coloured glitter that had the colour range that I was looking for but then again the coverage left a lot to be desired.

I decided to layer the glitters instead to make the 'sequins'. After sticky taping my fingers in the different designs. I sandwich a coat of China glaze in Electrify within two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Rockstar Pink. I removed the tape immediately after applying the last coat of glitter and the lines still came up acceptably crisp.

After the three coats of glitter, I applied one coat of Seche Vite to even it all out. I tried to be very careful to make sure I wrapped my tips with glitter to have a full coverage but it seems like the Seche Vite caused some shrinkage and pulled the glitter back.

As a final step, I used Rimmel Pro Matte Finish top coat on the white to give the finishes a little bit more contrast. 

Yes, my pinky is looking chunky. In my first try, it looked like a thin french tip and not like the dress. I had the idea of taping my finger again closer to the cuticle and painting over it, thinking that it would dry a little flatter. :( It looked better than it would have otherwise so I let it be.

  

Now for the little breakthrough. I'm particularly happy with this manicure for the reason that I managed to clean up white polish AND keeping the edges tidy and wearable. It took a lot of patience and time but I did it!!! 

The above photo shows my second attempt but it felt incomplete, I had tip wear after about half an hour after finishing the mani and look at the clean up on my ring finger... I had to re-try it. I'm very glad I did. My first attempt was majorly smudged and wasn't even worth photographing.

I hope you guys enjoyed this mani. It was really fun to do, even if it took me three tries to come up with something I was satisfied with.  

Till next time, 

Laura

No Glitter Jelly Sandwich Here

I think this post will be one of lots of confessions of my nail polish fascination. The first one would be the fact that I loooooooove the way glitter jelly sandwiches look (you know, one layer of sheer polish, one of glitter, one of sheer polish?). Every time one pops up in a blog, I can sit there looking at the pictures and find every sort-of-hidden piece of glitter in that particular manicure. Why haven't I done one? To be completely honest, I have about 30 untried polishes (would that be confession number 2?). I feel like I need to start using those before I revisit any of my older ones that I know would work for that particular look.

While looking through my polish drawers, I found one of my untrieds that was very glittery, Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Bejeweled. I have this sort of compulsion at the moment where, if my nails are bare, I need to apply polish immediately, otherwise... I'm not sure what would happen, since I usually give into the urge. So on the Bejeweled went  without hesitation and I thought I could create some sort of jelly sandwich with it. After applying the first layer, I realised I had the order of the polishes wrong, decided to abandon the idea and just enjoy the one-colour-of-polish-at-the-time experience. 

Once two layers of Bejeweled dried, I looked at my nails and came to the conclusion that such glittery, pale colour didn't suit my skin. I went back to the polish drawers and found a more colourful glitter to put on top, which ended up being Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Rockstar Pink. I liked the look but the holographic glitter in Bejeweled got lost with the Rockstar Pink. I applied a last, very thin layer of Bejeweled and this was the final result.

I guess this would be bring me to my third confession. I don't plan what I'm painting on my talons 99% of the time. If I ever do, it turns out completely different or I don't end up liking it, so spontaneity is usually the key for me.

Anyway, we're all here for polish, not confessions. I'm sure you've seen the bottles around but I'll show you again just because I can.

The Gem Crush polishes came with a flat, stiff, medium length that is AMAZING for picking up the glitter. No having to fish for it or lay the brush really flat and hope that the glitter will stick to your nails. Sally Hansen has done a good job with this one. 

Now, after all the blabbing, here's a picture of how the transition of this mani happened. On the left, two layers of Bejeweled, in the middle, one coat of Rockstar Pink over two coats of Bejeweled, and finally on the right the creation of the glitter glitter sandwich (was that a creative name or what?).

This extremely glittery mani was also extraordinarily gritty. I'm hoping the two photos below can show the difference. On my left hand (left photo), I applied three thick coats of Essence XXXL Shine Gel-look Top Coat and the grit could still be slightly felt. On my right hand (right photo), I didn't apply any top coat and I think you can see the difference. 

Not sure if you noticed from the pictures above but my right hands looks a little rugged. This would be confession number four. My right hand usually goes without moisturiser, base or top coat and when I painted them the polish goes all over cuticles and fingers. It's not gonna get photographed, so it can be left untreated, for lack of a better term. Oh no! Not after this pictures. My right hand will be treated with as much love as the left. After all, it does most of the work...

And last but not least, I hate nail polish remover. I dread the moment when I have to take out the cotton and soak it on that smelly, irritating substance that removes the beloved polish.  When I applied all the glitter above, the first thing that popped into my head was the fact that at some point I would have to remove it. Well, that's what happens when one wants to sparkle. No pain, no gain.

Fortunately for me, all the grittiness with no top coat cracked in day at work. The below photo was taken on my lunch break because I felt it wasn't going to last the whole day and I wanted to show you. *Warning: The following image might disturb polish lovers.* 

My shoulders now rest lighter getting all that off my chest and I can breath easily (since I didn't have to unpolish one hand!). I hope I haven't bored you though.

Until next time, 

Happy polishing!!