Mmm, watermelon!

Here's a tasty manicure perfect for summer! I was inspired to try these after seeing a lot of different versions on Pinterest. My version came out a little messier than I would've liked, but it gave me a few ideas on how to clean it up for next time! This is going to be kind of a tutorial version since I remembered to take pictures at each step!

Step one: base coat! This would make a nice Christmas manicure, too. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet and Zoya Holly, one coat each. 

Zigzags

Can I hire someone to come up with titles for me? I seriously think that's the hardest part of blogging. Actually posting regularly being a close second, of course. Anyway this might be my favorite of the summer so far, though it's a bit on the darker side for the summer. What you're looking at today is a blue purple gradient beneath a stamped silver zigzag pattern from my MASH stamping plates.

The left hand! Which one of these is not like the other...?

Okay! For the gradient I used four different colors, two blues and two purples. The darker purple is Essie Sexy Divide, one of my absolute favorite polishes. The lighter shimmery purple is Sinful Colors Purple Diamond. The next is Sinful Colors Love Nails, a translucent turquoise. Finally, we have Sinful Colors Midnight Blue, an equally gorgeous marbled royal blue.

The infamous right hand! Which actually turned out just fine.

I stamped the zigzag pattern using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, and I loved the way it made the manicure brighter. I was originally going to stamp in black, but I'm glad I chose otherwise. Thanks for reading!

Sand, Summer, and...Starfish!

So this was just a quick manicure I did, not to wear out, but I was just experimenting with gradients a bit.

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I as my 'sand.' You can see the tips of my nails showing through on this picture, so if you're using this polish by itself, I would recommend two coats for full coverage. On this manicure it won't matter so much because that's where we'll be adding some ocean! 

Baa, baa, black sheep...

...have you any wool? (Long post and lots of pictures below!) By the way, like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepolishedbean :)

Pinky finger was my favorite but hard to see in this pic! But there's a better one below!

Okay, so I should've posted this last week but my roomies and I have been in this I DON'T WANNA [do work or anything really] mood for a while, so productivity has been very low recently. Hopefully this is a change towards more productivity! Haha...

Flamin' Nails

I think there used to be this appetizer at Chili's called Bloomin' Onion or something...yeah, I'm not good at titles. But this manicure is pretty cool! Err, hot!

The right hand! (In case you couldn't tell...?)

I used image or stamp plates with this awesome flame design to complete this look. I started with a base coat of NYC Taxi Yellow Creme. Then I created a gradient, using a makeup sponge to apply Sinful Colors Cloud 9 (an sheer orange shimmer) and just a dab of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet on the tips of my nails. For the ring fingers, I used a base of NYC Cashmere Creme and built the gradient with Sinful Colors Love Nails and Midnight Blue. I also added a dab of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Golden-I and White Out here and there to the red and blue nails respectively.

The left hand! I like this one better, what do you think?

Next I used a flame design on my MASH plate to apply flames to each nail, using Red Carpet and Midnight Blue. Lastly, I finished with a top coat. (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Invisible) I really wanna get myself some Seche Vite, but I just bought a few bottles of the Sally Hansen clear coat (they were on sale at Target!). By 'just,' I mean, of course, a couple months ago...

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Like my Facebook page, please! :)

Frozen Inspired Elsa and Anna Nail Art

For the first time in forever, I've had time to do my nails! And my roommate's nails! (Inspired by Disney's Frozen)

Frozen-inspired nail art! 

I was actually planning on putting snowflakes on my nails, but when it came down to it (I made some decals using the plastic bag/decal method but wasn't completely satisfied) I decided to go with a more whimsical approach. All in all, I think it came out great (so sparkly!) and then of course, proceeded to do something similar for my roommate.

Nintendo Love

Sosososo apparently it's year of the Luigi! Yeah, I don't know either. Click on the Luigi if you want to figure it out for me.

Anyway, what better way to celebrate Nintendo than some Luigi nails? Yes, yes? I love the Mario Bros. franchise. Love the games. Mario Kart? Yes. Old school Mario? Yes. Super Mario? Yes. Yoshi? Definitely. Daisy? Kicks @$$.

Anyway...above is the finished product, and below I'll share a few work in progress shots. 

Colorful Trees with Birds

This was such a fun manicure and probably my favorite of the summer! I got the idea for this manicure here. Check it out! Lots of pictures here so don't forget to click the read more button!

I made a few changes to the look as compared to the link above. Instead of a gradient across all ten nails, I did the gradient the same across each hand.

The polishes used in this manicure from pinky finger to thumb are: Sinful Colors: Purple Diamond (light purple), Essie: Sexy Divide (dark purple), NYC: Cashmere Creme (light blue), Sinful Colors: Love Nails (medium blue), Zoya: Holly (dark green), Sally Hansen: Ivy League (light green), Sally Hansen: Golden-I, Zoya: Penny (bronze-y orange), NYC: Burgundy Broadway Creme (red), and Sally Hansen: Posh Plum. For the birds and branches, I used Sinful Colors: Rich in Heart (dark brown).

Minions Galore!

Ba-na-na! 

Minions! Have you seen Despicable Me 2? This was my manicure when I went to see it! I thought the movie was pretty cute, though not as good as the first one. 

Below is a work in progress picture. I did a lot of layering work on this. (By layering I mean: paint a coat, let it dry, paint another coat, let it dry...kind of tedious.) I also did these nails outdoors, which caused some of my polishes to dry fast (which is nice for the base coats, but makes it difficult to do finer details). 

The polishes used are: Zoya: Darcy (yellow), Rocky (blue), Storm (sparkly black); Sally Hansen: White Out, Black Out, and a combination of the white and black to make grey. 

Minions-to-be

Not my cleanest manicure, but definitely one of the most fun to create. There are lots of different minion manicures online, so if you like what you see, search for more! 

Thanks for reading! Next time, colorful trees! 

Po-ta-to-nahhhh...

Apples and Earthworms

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! 

Not my hands again, this is a mani for my friend who likes books. (Are you a bookworm?) I did a light tip gradient with Sally Hansen: Golden-I and stamped the worms with Sally Hansen: Ivy League. The apples on the thumbs and ring fingers are free-handed. For the body of the apples I used NYC: Broadway Burgundy Frost. The stem, leaf, and shiny spot are Zoya: Holly, Sinful Colors: Rich in Heart, and Sally Hansen: White Out, respectively. 

The apple on this ring finger came out the best, in my opinion. 

This was such a fun manicure! I loved this design, and it lasted a long time. I usually don't wear my manicures longer than 5-7 days, but I think this one lasted for a good two weeks with normal tip wear. 

Thanks for reading! See you next time! 

ALL the nail polish!

Here's a conglomeration of the manicures I've done for others this summer! None of these hands are mine, but the nail art is! I'll try to be brief in the descriptions. Lotsa pictures, make sure you click the "read more" button! 

This first mani is made using a base color and adding several different colored dots using a bobby pin. You can also use dotting tools of different sizes, but I'm cheap and make do with bobby pins, haha. The second picture below is the same style with slightly different colors (and a different person's hand). I also added an accent nail of contrasting color on the second manicure. Have you seen my original design?

Stripes and a Turtle

Happy Wednesday!

Today I have some tape manicure pictures! Much to my surprise, I loved this manicure (even though there's no blue or glitter). The design on my ring finger is a turtle stamped using a makeup sponge. Much like how you might apply polish to the makeup sponge to make a gradient, I applied green on the sponge in the shape of a turtle. It didn't come out quite as bright as I would've liked, but I loved the design. 

The polishes I used were Sinful Colors: Rich in Heart (brown), Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Golden-I, and Zoya: Holly (such a pretty green, great for the holidays). I used the brown as a base. Leaving one tape per nail, I painted over with gold. On the third coat, I placed three tapes, two for the gold stripes, and one more to protect the brown stripe. 

Below is a work in progress picture. 

Turtlesssss....I wish the new image plates I got recently had turtles. And a bigger dolphin image. Anyway, thanks for reading! See you next time!

Iron Man Inspired Water Marble and Art

I'm back with a water marble today! 

Okay, so I admit it, the water marble is the same one from here. But I also improved on execution! Look at my pointer and middle fingers! So pretty :) (If you can't tell, I really liked how this turned out.) The polishes I used for the water marble on my pointer, middle, and pinky fingers are all the same as the ones used in my Hunger Games water marble, so check that out if you haven't already! I'll just go over the Iron Man designs on my ring and thumb.

I made this manicure in early May for the Iron Man 3 Premier. I based the thumb design on the 2nd core that Tony Stark makes (as opposed to the original circle shape) and the ring finger design on the iron man helmet. I don't have brushes (sadface!) but I do have nail striping tape which I used to block off thin lines on the face and the triangle outline. For the triangle, I started with the inner triangle and then added a white border afterwards.

Polishes used for the triangle: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: White On, NYC: Cashmere Creme, and Zoya: Maisie. Polishes used for Iron Man face: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: White On and Black Out.

Below I'm holding this adorable Iron Man mini clay figure that my good friend made. Isn't it cute? If you look closely you can also see I have a bit of tip wear on the edges of my nail because this photo was taken several days after the first. The whole manicure held up for a long time. I usually take off my polish before it has a chance to chip (so I can try out a new manicure) but from what I remember, this one stayed near perfect for at least 8 days. 

Thanks for reading! Has anyone else seen any good movies recently? I've seen a whole bunch this summer so far...I'm actually going to a movie tonight, too! Next time:

Mind Your Own Beeswax!

Busy bees...(oh look I came up with a decent title!)

This picture was taken with flash, and I'm sad to say it's the only picture I have of this manicure. But I've been taking better pictures recently! I promise.

This manicure was made using striping tape. I started with a base of NYC: Taxi Yellow Creme, added tape, painted over with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Black Out, then removed the tape. Finished with a top coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Invisible.

On different screens, the yellow may appear closer to white. On my phone it's a very bright yellow, whereas on my computer it's more pale in comparison. In person, this manicure also appeared as black and white stripes from far away...I have a brighter yellow now, so the next time I try this manicure, it'll hopefully be a little bit more obvious. I also have a cool bee design on my new stamping plates which would also go well with this manicure! Looking forward to trying it sometime in the future.

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Special: Happy 4th of July!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled posting to bring you...4th of July themed nail art! Pop Quiz: does Great Britain have a 4th of July? (Don't forget to click Read More to see more pictures!)

Yay for stars and stripes! This manicure is mostly stripes, though I do have part of a star on my thumbs. Time permitting, I was planning on some little stars on my pinky finger, but I took too long doing everything else.

Hearts...and Dots

 Happy Valentine's Day! (Don't forget to hit the read more button!)

Just kidding. In case you needed ideas for a holiday half a year from now, here's some <3 inspired nail art. (Or if you have a time machine, 'cuz that'd be really cool.)

Tiger Stripes

Tiger stripes, version three! See more tiger-inspired designs here and here.

So this is definitely my favorite tiger stripes design so far. I used nail striping tape with a base of Zoya: Penny and painted over with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Black Out. Finished with a top coat for extra shiny. 

Though I am fond of the hand painted stripes, this look is so clean and sleek. Which look do you prefer?

Also, if you haven't noticed, check out the follow and subscribe buttons on the sidebar! 

Work in progress

Thanks for reading! Next time, Valentine's Day art (from 5 months ago, hahahahahaha).

Classic Red

Today's manicure is simple and classy!

Hi, readers, friends, and family! These aren't my nails, but they are my work! I used two light coats of NYC: Broadway Burgundy Frost to create a nice even base coat. I then added three gold dots in the corner of each nail using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear: Golden-I. (Using a bobby pin! No need for fancy tools, just use the round end to dip into the polish.)

On an unrelated note, I had the weirdest bus adventure yesterday. I got on the bus around lunchtime, my usual route...about 3 stops before my stop, some lady and guy in the front start yelling. The lady is half sitting in the aisle...the guy is yelling that the lady bit him, and for a few minutes, they're both screaming at each other accusing I don't know what. Unrelated guy in the back of the bus starts making strange comments...I won't repeat them all, but one of them was "It's okay, you can bite me, mama." Needless to say, unnecessary and...strange comments. 

Anyway, by the next stop, bus driver is going around trying to figure out if anyone saw anything. Apparently, strange dude saw everything and moved to the front of the bus to talk to the bus driver. Meanwhile, the lady and allegedly bitten man had moved their conversation to outside the bus. So far, the bus hasn't moved from the stop for a good five minutes or so (a lifetime in bus time) and everyone is wondering what's going on...when suddenly, bus driver says, "Everybody off!" At which point, I'm thinking: Okay, do I wait for the next bus? Do I catch a different route taking me the same direction? Or do I walk, 'cuz it's not too far. 

Luckily, I deliberated long enough that a police officer and what looked like a bus manager or supervisor both came around, probably took some statements, then cleared the bus to take passengers again. The cool part about this? Half of the bus's previous occupants were gone, so I get two seats to myself (for a couple streets until I got off.) A few hours later, I did my friend's nails...apples and earthworms! If I remember to take a picture, it'll be up on the blog soon! 

That's all! Just a nice simple mani that anyone can do at home! Try it out yourself and let me know how it turns out. Thanks for reading! 

Dots and More Dots!

Back to nail art! (And regularly scheduled posting.) 

Pictured: Essie, Sexy Divide 

Did I mention how much I love this purple polish? I used lots of different polishes in this manicure, but I'll try to name them all. The purple is Sexy Divide by Essie and the light blue is Cashmere Creme by NYC, both used for my base colors. For the dots, I used both of the above polishes as well as those below.

Sinful Colors: Love Nails (marbled turquoise)

                     Purple Diamond (sheer glittery lavender)

                     Frenzy (purple and blue glitter)

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear: Blizzard Blue

Forever 21: Royal Blue

The dots were applied using a bobby pin. Below is my other hand.

Pictured: Sinful Colors, Frenzy

How do you like this manicure? I really liked this look! I've tried it in different colors since, but I think this is my favorite. Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Stained Glass Inspired

Whoops, think I was supposed to post this yesterday! Bean is back with more nail striping designs!

This is another manicure using nail striping tape. If you want to read a little more about the tape, see my previous post here. I started with a base of Sinful Colors: Black on Black. I then placed some nail striping tape over my nails (where the black lines are now) and painted over them with Sinful Colors: Love Nails (blue), Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Ivy League, and Sinful Colors: Frenzy (purple and blue glitter). The thumb reminds me of a beetle. Adding a coat of clear smudged the lines a little, but I really like the design! (And there is glitter! Who doesn't love glitter?)

(Pictured is me holding Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Disco Ball, if you were wondering.)

Thanks for reading! See you next time!