Experimenting with Matte Polish

Brown and blue gradient for today!

To create this look, I used a makeup sponge to apply Sinful Colors: Rich in Heart (brown) and Love Nails (blue) as a gradient. I then used NYC: Matte Me Crazy to matte-ify the nail polish. Lastly, I added dots of clear polish (Sally Hansen: Invisible) as decorations on the outer edges of the nails. 

The second picture was taken using flash, so it's a little funky looking, but I think the dots are a little more visible. Matte Me Crazy is the cheapest matte top coat I've seen (I think it was under $5) and though the matte isn't extreme, it still does a pretty good job of flattening the color. I've also heard/read than adding cornstarch to a clear polish (or any other polish of your choice) can mimic the matte effect! 

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for some birds and...mushrooms? in the next few posts.

Zoya: Anastasia

Hello! I'm back from my short trip. Actually I'm back from recovering from my trip, haha. Just a quick manicure today.

This is Anastasia by Zoya. I used two coats in this manicure, three coats would be best for a fully opaque look. This is a really interesting color because it looks so pretty but once I put in on my nails I start doubting myself...and I end up taking it off because it doesn't quite look right on my nails. Maybe I have the wrong skin tone for this color? But the holographic sparkles in this polish are delightful. Perhaps someday I'll figure out how to wear this particular color...

The second photo is my attempt at color correcting; the actual color of this polish is closer to mauve and purple, though in the bright sunlight it looks more reddish brown. This second picture should look a bit more purple-y than the previous, but on my computer screen for some reason it looks really really similar....(need a level up in skill on photoshop!)

That's all for now! Back to regularly scheduled posting (hopefully). See you next time!

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!