28 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Nail Art
Tags
I love bright orange and black together so I focused on that color scheme for this week’s NAIL theme.
I love how fluorescent Color Club “Wham! Pow!” is. I used 2 coats as my base.
I generously applied Formula X for Sephora “Bombshell” Effects Top Coat to my index, middle, and pinky finger.
I applied a generous coat of Milani “Sprinkles” to my ring finger.
I sugar spun Zoya “Gwin” and Essie “No Place Like Chrome”.
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
22 Tuesday Oct 2013
Posted in Reviews
Tags
I am in search for a good creme white and yellow.
The whites I tried (China Glaze “White On White”, Sally Hansen “White On”, Essie “Blanc”) got very gloopy and thick within two uses.
The China Glaze polish was unusable. The bottle was totally full but I never managed to get any polish on the brush.
Essie was just awful from the get-go and I had to toss the polish. It was too thick and the dry time was very slow, even with thin and streaky strokes.
I liked Sally Hansen, I got full coverage with one coat but the consistency changed as well.
The yellows I tried (Cult Nails “Deal with It”, Color Club “Almost Famous”, the Milani Fast Dry yellow) also changed consistency very quickly.
I never liked Cult Nails because it was very tacky and no matter what I tried to do I could not get even layers. The dry time was extremely long.
In general, I am not a fan of the Cult Nails polishes.
I purchased Sephora by OPI “Cab Fare”. I liked the polish but it was too sheer on it’s own. Even after four coats I could still see my nail bed. Also, it has shimmer and I really wanted a bright creme.
Help!
I just realized I am totally bashing these polishes. My opinion is my own and I did not have a good experience with them. Other people might have had better luck with these polishes and brands. There are some great polishes from these brands that I really like, however, these polishes just did not work for me.
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
20 Sunday Oct 2013
Posted in Nail Art
Tags
Bundle Monster, Essie, marbling, Milani, Nail Art Ideas Linkup, Sally Hansen, Sephora by OPI, stamping, Urban Outfitters
My pets make the most noise during the night. For nocturnal beings, they have the worst eye-sight and tend to bump into everything! They are such weirdos. They drown out all other noises!
I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear “White On”, Sephora by OPI “Go My Own Way” and “Cab Fare“ as my bases for this manicure.
I really like how Essie “No Place Like Chrome” stamps. It’s really opaque. I have to let it dry a little on the stamping plate though because it is awfully slippery. I also used Milani “Dark Coffee” for stamping. I used Bundle Monsters plate “BM 316” and “BM 323”.
For the marble I used Sephora by OPI “Go My Own Way”, Urban Outfitters “Blue Velvet”, and Essie “No Place Like Chrome”.
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
07 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Nail Art
Tags
Born Pretty Store, butter London, Color Club, Essie, freehand, marbling, Milani, Nail Art, Orly, Sally Hansen, SpaRitual, sugar-spun, Wet n Wild
Short and Sweet in Texas is holding a Halloween Nail Art contest and I decided to submit a picture!
I am so excited about this because I incorporated the marbling and sugar-spun techniques. Spiders terrify me so after I finished taking pictures I just ignored my thumb.
I hope you enjoy it and please vote for my submission. I believe it is the 3rd picture in the album.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.592089537519139.1073741830.540216189373141&type=3
Bases:
Ring: Color Club “Wham! Pow!”
All others: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear “White On” covered by butter London “Knackered”
Detailing:
Water-Marble: Orly “Bonder”; Wet n Wild “Black Creme”
Sugar-Spin: Essie “No Place Like Chrome”; SpaRitual “Bismuth”
Free-hand Spider and Web: Milani “Black Swift”, Essie “No Place Like Chrome”, SpaRitual “Bismuth”
The bat was a water decal purchased from the Born Pretty Store. I am not sure if I applied it correctly because the sticker came off white.
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
05 Thursday Sep 2013
Posted in Just for Fun, Nail Art
Tags
#31DC2013, Color Club, Essie, freehand, Milani, Nail Art, Serum No 5, stamping
I sat down to start today’s prompt feeling very unmotivated. Green never looks good on me and I do not know how to make it look good. I stared at all my green polishes for a good few minutes before it dawned on me that I had just settled down with a bowl of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.
My favorite!
I then realized I had all the right colors for a Mint-inspired manicure!
Green Nails Prompt
I started with two coats of Color Club “Twiggie” on my index, middle, and ring finger.
I used two coats of Milani “Mint Chip” (hah…) on my pinky finger.
I used a small brush to apply strokes of butter London “Knackered” on my ring finger before adding a layer of Serum No5 “Happy Special Day”. Unfortunately, the butter London polish was so sheer it did not show up under the sprinkles top coat.
I applied small brush strokes of Essie “Blanc” to my index, middle and ring finger to mimic mint chip ice cream.
I quickly applied two coats of Milani “Sprinkles” to my index and middle finger; and one coat of Seche Vite to my ring finger. I wanted to blur any sharp lines.
Once my ring finger dried I used Bundle Monster plate “BM-307” and Milani “Quick Teal” to stamp a cupcake!
I applied a very light coat of Sprinkles on my ring finger to seal the look.
I am not a fan of the base colors but I really like green mint ice cream so I went for it!
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
03 Tuesday Sep 2013
To see the accompanying post click on the image below.
I tried many blue manicures for over a week. I am not a huge fan of blue polish so I had difficulty settling on something. I finally decided on this one. It had a soothing effect on me because it reminded me of the ocean and the waves crashing on the shore.
While I feel calm looking at my nails, I know that they accurately show how I felt back in August. I had no control over my emotions. I very rarely feel so low and I felt confused and helpless. I could not find a way to boost my spirits.
August Blues
I used two coats of Milani “Blue Moon”. I am on the fence about this polish. The formula is thick but easy to work with. It dries quickly. However, the brush is not great. The bristles are uneven which makes it difficult to apply the polish around the cuticles. Otherwise, it is a great color. It is a heavily shimmered navy blue.
I then used a small brush to apply random strokes of Essie “Blanc”, Milani “Peacock”, and Color Club “Pucci-licious”.
For my ring finger, I water-marbled the same colors minus “Blue Moon” and the addition of Zoya “Crystal”.
I finished with Cult Nails “Wax That” effect top coat.
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
28 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted in Nail Art
Tags
Essie, freehand, Nail Art, Seche Vite, Urban Outfitters, Wet n Wild, Zoya
When I was a child, I loved art-related activities. One of my all time favorites was ScratchArt.
Do you remember ScratchArt? A black waxy substance covered a multi-colored piece of paper. You scratched away the wax coating to show the colors underneath.
I decided to try doing a ScratchArt-inspired nail art.
This nail art was tricky. It was important that each layer of nail polish dried completely or the colors got muddy.
I started with two coats of Essie “Blanc”. I added Seche Vite top coat. I did this so I would not rub down to bare nail.
I applied two coats of Zoya “Reece”, “Crystal”, “Goldie” and Urban Outfitters “Blue Velvet”. Urban Outfitters is so pigmented I only used one coat.
I ended with two coats of Wet n Wild “Black Creme”.
I used Q-tips soaked in nail polish remover to gently rub away the polishes. I used an upward stroke towards the tip of the nail. I did not rub the Q-Tip back and forth because the colors mix together.
I used fresh Q-tips for every two or three swipes to get sharp color contrast. They needed to be totally soaked in polish remover or the colors mix.
Did you ever use ScratchArt as a kid?
Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.
