Today's mani: Anniversary peacock nails

Heya gang! Yesterday was my and Mr. ALIQUID's second anniversary--it definitely doesn't feel like two years already! We celebrated with some big steaks at a nice restaurant (OK, I ate about a third of my steak and took the rest home). And of course I wanted to do a nice mani for the occasion!

The other day I watched this tutorial about how to make stamping "decals" without actually having to let them dry and peel them up. This kind of blew my mind (I'm probably the last person to discover this technique, right?). So I decided to try it out, and it actually works! Stamping decals without bubbles and wrinkles, hooray!!

I started with a base of Zoya Song and added a coat of Out the Door. While that was drying, I used the peacock feather stamp from MoYou Pro 03 with Julep Harley and colored in the spots with Zoya Ziv and Ivanka. I let the stamp dry on the stamper for a minute or so, then stamped it directly onto the nail. I guess the topcoat grabs the stamp even after it's mostly dry!

Today's mani: Bridesmaid's nails!

Happy Monday everyone! We had a great time this weekend celebrating my sister-in-law's wedding. She and her new husband are both amazing people, and Mr. ALIQUID and I were honored to be part of the wedding party. This was the first wedding we've been to since our own wedding two years ago, so it was nice to let someone else get all the attention while we got to enjoy the food!

Of course I did a mani for the occasion, and I made sure to grab a few pics for you! The wedding colors were navy blue and coral, and my bridesmaid's dress was navy, so I went with coral and silver for the mani.

I decided to do stamping decals over nude nails for a delicate look. I used an image from MoYou Pro 09 and stamped it with Julep Harley (the silver) onto a plastic bag. I colored in the flowers with OPI Sorry I'm Fizzy Today, and also removed parts of the image with acetone (the solid color flowers looked like fuzzy blobs, so I didn't want to keep them). Once the decals were on my nails, I added some silver dots to fill in some of the empty space.

This was one of those manis where you could see all the little bubbles and wrinkles up close, but it looked great from a normal viewing distance, so I was happy with it!

Here's a rare glimpse of Mr. ALIQUID with me--aren't the flowers beautiful?!

I was totally blown away by the job the hairstylist did on me, especially since I didn't give her much direction! I just told her "I want an updo, but not too high up," and she did the rest!

Last but not least, here's Trudy after we picked her up from the boarder's yesterday. She was pretty wiped out after the experience and has spent the entire day so far sleeping it off.

Nail fail(?): monochrome stamping decals

Good morning! Today I have what I consider to be a nail fail. I wanted to have another go at making stamping decals. Previously I had tried the method where you let the decal dry on the stamper, the disadvantage of course being that you can only make one at a time (unless you have multiple stampers, I guess). This time I made them on a plastic baggie, starting by putting down some splotches of topcoat and letting them dry, then stamping on top of that.

Here you can see the decals in progress (and one where I screwed up the stamping):

I used a stamp from Winstonia W111, which is a cool sort of art-deco pattern. I stamped with my go-to silver, Julep Harley. Then I decided to fill in the little arches with various shades of sparkly teal: Sally Hansen Jet Set Jade, Julep Valerie, Zoya Zuza and Scofflaw Wraith Pinned to the Mist (I really must swatch this one alone sometime).

So far, so good. The problem came when I went to put the decals on my nails. I just cannot figure out how to prevent them from getting all bubbly and lumpy! The result:

I put on a matte topcoat to try to obscure some of the imperfections, but they are still glaringly obvious to me. I can't help being a perfectionist, I guess.

If someone out there has mastered the art of stamping decals, please share your secrets!!

Today's mani: Gruesome gradient

Happy Hump Day! October is almost over, can you believe it?? I hate how fast time goes by!

Well, you might have noticed that I haven't really gotten into the Halloween spirit as far as my nails go. Halloween just doesn't interest me now that I'm too old to get free candy. Plus, orange doesn't look very good on me. But I figured I should do at least a couple manis before the holiday passes.

Instead of orange, I decided to use a slime green color, which is equally creepy to me! I did a gradient with Essie Shake Your $$ Maker and Revlon Stiletto. When I was done, I decided it needed something more, so I did a little stamp with Winstonia plate W116 and Julep Harley (my go-to stamping silver). What do you think--is it ghastly enough?

I'll probably do one more Halloween mani, since I doubt this one will last until Friday (I'm going to be deep-cleaning our apartment for the next few days). See you then, boys and ghouls!

Today's mani: cappuccino watercolor gradient

Happy Monday! Today I decided to try out a new-to-me nail art technique. I was inspired by the Nailasaurus mani that I featured in my Museum-Worthy manis post for September. She did a beautiful gradient using a nail art brush instead of a sponge, which makes it look more rustic and artsy than a traditional gradient. (There's a tutorial in her post if you want to see how it's done!)

I decided to do an all-brown gradient. The end result looks like a cappuccino to me!

The polishes I used were, from dark to light: Revlon Stormy Night, Julep Annemarie, Julep Otte, and OPI You're So Vain-illa.

I actually did this mani twice. The first time I put too much polish on the brush and lost the brush-strokey look I was going for. You almost want to do a dry-brush technique, and don't forget that you can go over the same place again if the color is too sparse.

Have a great week!

An ode to brown polish

Hey there! Fall is almost here, and that means pumpkin pie, apple cider and brown nail polish!! I love brown polish of all shades, but I know that's a pretty unpopular opinion. I see a lot of comments like, "that's a nice color, but I never wear brown."

But I think brown gets a bad rap. Think about how many shades of brown there are; you are bound to find one that you like and that goes nicely with your skintone (don't forget that nude/off-white shades are technically brown too!). Brown polish can work as a great neutral/work-safe shade, or a super vampy shade that's a little less harsh than black.

I have over 30 brown polishes in my stash, and I picked out a range of them to show you how versatile brown can be. Join me, won't you??

(I apologize in advance for the yellow stains on my nails in some of these photos. I accidentally got Yellow #5 all over my fingers!)

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Two teals

Happy weekend! This is my last Neverending Pile Challenge post for now. This has been a great challenge for me, just because I finally shortened my untrieds list (temporarily at least)! I'll have to keep making an effort to wear untrieds from now on!

This prompt is dupes: match an untried with a tried. Well, the polishes I picked looked pretty similar in the bottle, but turned out to be completely different on the nail. So these aren't really dupes at all, but they're pretty so I'm going to show them to you! I have OPI AmazON...AmazOFF on my index and ring finger, and Julep Lena on the others. They're both gorgeous teals with a little bit of shimmer.

As usual, my camera can't photograph teals, so this picture has been color-corrected. That's why it looks slightly weird.

I love both these shades, but I think the formula on the Julep was better (it's a one-coater!). Both of these will stain your cuticles, so be careful!

Total untrieds tried: 72 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Grandma nails

Hi folks! I hope those of you in the US had a safe and fun holiday weekend! It's very hot and humid here today, and we have no A/C, so I'm a little grumpy. The heat is also doing weird things to my bottle of Out the Door, so in case you're wondering why my mani looks a bit bumpy and bubbly...that's why.

Anyway, this is my last week doing the Neverending Pile Challenge! I can't believe I've kept it up for three months now! I think I only skipped two prompts. And I've tried a LOT of untried polish.

Today's prompt is your best granny color. What's more granny-like than dusty rose? I have two shades of dusty rose/pink that I thought would go well together: China Glaze Fifth Avenue and Julep Joy. I didn't have a lot of time (you'll see why very soon!) so I just did kind of a messy dotticure.

Despite its fuddy-duddyness, I actually really like this kind of color, since it's closer to a neutral than your average pink. And it looks way better on me than true pink does.

Total untrieds tried: 71 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Independence Day mani!

Happy 4th of July to my fellow USians! It's been raining nonstop today thanks to Hurricane Arthur, but we still had burgers and potato salad for dinner. Plus we could see some fireworks from our bedroom window last night!

My 4th of July mani also satisfies today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme, which is free polish (meaning a polish you got for free). I used China Glaze Man Hunt, which I got in a Secret Santa swap, as my base color, and made some faded-looking stripes using Zoya Carmen, Julep Harley and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. I was inspired by this beautiful mani by Manicurator!

Since the Manicurator post didn't have any directions on how to do this pattern, I had to work out my own method. I put down striping tape above where I wanted each stripe to go, then I sponged on each color using the edge of a triangular makeup sponge. I wanted the stripes to be crisp on top and fade away on the bottom. I really like this style, so I'll have to do it again sometime!

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend!


Total untrieds tried: 69 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Brown

Happy Monday! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme is brown. I know not everyone is a fan of brown nail polish, but I love it. I think because browns have a nice earthy, natural quality that other neutrals don't.

Anyway, today I did a simple striping tape mani (pattern shamelessly stolen from Chalkboard Nails) using Julep Annemarie and Revlon French Roast. French Roast has beautiful multicolored flecks in it--I really should swatch it separately sometime!

P.S. This is my 250th post!!

Total untrieds tried: 65 + chevron decals + 3 stamping plates


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Ugliest(?)

Hey all! What a lazy day we had today...it's starting to get hot and humid here, so all we felt like doing was sitting around and watching TV. Oh well!

I'm finally catching up with the Neverending Pile Challenge with Friday's prompt, which is ugliest. Obviously this is another totally subjective call on my part, but I did have a polish in mind from the start...I chose Julep Karen, which is a pale-but-not-pastel orange shimmer with gold flecks. The silver shimmer gives it a kind of unpleasant greyish cast in my opinion. I paired Karen with Julep Hannah, a greenish-tan creme that I actually really like, but I know some people would consider it "pretty-ugly". It's an ugly combination anyway!

I think this shade of orange might be the single most unflattering color on me EVER. If you're wondering why I own Karen, it came in a Julep mystery box, so I didn't actually choose to buy it!


Total untrieds tried: 55 + chevron decals + 1 stamping plate


 

2014 Blogger Challenge #11: My polish stash...photographed!

Good morning! I'm finally returning to the 2014 Blogger Challenge. You might have noticed that I haven't done it for a couple months--there were some prompts I didn't have much to say about, then I kinda got distracted. But I thought today's topic would be a perfect place to get back on the horse. The prompt is collections. What do I have a giant collection of? Nail polish, of course! If you like to see pictures of organized stuff, you will like this post!

This will obviously be image-heavy, so click the jump to see it all!

FingerFood's Theme Buffet: Yet another galaxy mani

Good morning! For this week's FingerFood's Theme Buffet we're doing galaxies. I think this is my third attempt at a galaxy mani. My previous efforts were mediocre; I think this one is the best I've managed so far.

I'm actually most proud of the fact that my star placement is pretty random--I really have to struggle not to make everything symmetric! I used Zoya Storm for the base (because really, how could I not?) and Maybelline Porcelain Party, Color Club Age of Aquarius, Julep Bea and Revlon Passionate Pink for the rest.

This mani reminds me--have you been watching Cosmos? I think it's great to have some real science on TV again, since all the "educational" channels have switched to reality shows now. I think the show does a great job communicating the mindblowing-ness of nature! If you like it, you should definitely read some of Carl Sagan's books--he was an all-around amazing human being.

The Neverending Pile Challenge: matte gradients

Hey folks! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge prompt is gradient. Another great excuse to use multiple untried polishes! For this one I decided to go all neutral and all matte (I have a surprisingly large number of matte neutrals!). I think this is the first time I've done horizontal gradients. I made each nail carry on one of the colors from the previous nail so each blends into the next.

I'm not sure what this reminds me of--TV static maybe? (Do you guys remember static??) The polishes I used were Maybelline Mod Moss, Julep Noelle, Julep Nora and Julep Amber. Interestingly, I tried this mani with a topcoat and didn't like it--I think it accented the different colors and made the mani look kind of confused.


Total untrieds tried: 45


 

FingerFood's Theme Buffet / Neverending Pile Challenge: A cloud of untrieds

Happy Friday! I'm doing yet another multi-challenge post today! This week's FingerFood's Theme Buffet prompt is something new, and the Neverending Pile Challenge theme is use as many untrieds in one mani as you can. Well, I didn't go crazy trying to cram a million polishes into one mani, but I did manage to knock six polishes off my untried pile!

To satisfy the something new prompt, I decided to try a technique I had never used before: the cloud mani. This kind of nail art, like the fishtail I did recently, seems simple on the surface but requires a decent amount of motor control. Mine isn't perfect, but I really like how it looks! (Pardon the glare in the photo...it's the bane of my existence.)

On three nails, I used Zoya Dove, Zoya Wednesday and Essie Mind Your Mittens. On my accent nail I used Julep Eden, Sephora by OPI Break a Leg Warmer! and Julep Evelyn. I love the combo of greys with all sorts of colors!

Total untrieds tried: 28

Today's mani: deconstructed Easter egg

Happy Easter! I hope everyone celebrating has a great time and some great food! Sadly I haven't had a real Easter dinner in seven years, and since it's still Passover there's a lot of stuff my husband can't eat. So I celebrated today by doing my nails (of course)!

I decided to do a mani that was reminiscent of Easter eggs but not full-on pastel. I'm calling it the deconstructed Easter egg. :-D

On my index and pinky fingers, I used a base of Julep Kimberly from their most recent mystery box. I still can't get over those speckled polishes! This one reminds me of those Easter candies that are egg-shaped and taste like malted milk balls. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

On my index finger I painted a chick using a small brush and the corner of a makeup sponge (because what comes out of a deconstructed egg? A chick!). I used Julep Bea, China Glaze Peachy Keen, and Revlon Stiletto. Mr. ALIQUID loved the chick and named him Frankie!

On my other two nails I used a base of Revlon Trade Winds and added some Easter-egg-style patterns. (Middle finger: Essie Neo Whimsical, Julep Bea, Zoya Blu; ring finger: China Glaze Peachy Keen, Maybelline Green With Envy, Essie Play Date.)

I finished everything with Revlon matte topcoat since eggs are matte!

What's your favorite thing to eat on Easter? Mine is lamb and mint jelly, followed by Jelly Bellys!

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #14 / Neverending Pile Challenge: Jelly beans

Ahoy! Today the planets have aligned to let me complete two challenges with one manicure! The FingerFood's Theme Buffet prompt for this week is delicious, and the Neverending Pile Challenge prompt is pastel. What's pastel and delicious? JELLY BEANS!

I'm a huge Jelly Belly fan. When I was a kid I belonged to the Jelly Belly fan club and got to try experimental and limited edition flavors. They're still my favorite Easter candy (well, I buy them after Easter when they're on sale!). My favorite flavors are probably root beer and juicy pear!

This was a very simple mani. I started with a base of Sally Hansen Petal Pusher (I needed three coats and it bubbled on me, boooo). Then I painted the jelly beans with a small dotting tool using Julep Minnie, Parker, Bea, Courteney and Alice, plus Zoya Blu. I finished with Revlon matte topcoat!

I managed to knock five untried polishes off the list with this mani (all but Parker and Blu)! This brings my total no-longer-untried count to six for the Neverending Pile Challenge! I'm gonna be keeping count for the whole challenge! (Remember, I started with close to 200 untrieds, so I still have a long way to go...)

What's your favorite Jelly Belly flavor?

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #10: Dots and stripes

Finally posting this week! I've been working really hard on my next polish collection (and posting previews on my Facebook page) and I think you guys are really going to like it!

Today I got around to this week's FingerFood challenge. The theme this week is dots and stripes. I cheated slightly by making my dots into stripes!

I love this mani because it's pretty minimalist in terms of color, but still interesting to look at. I started with a gradient of Zoya Bevin and Julep Roc Solid, then mattified it with Revlon matte top coat. Finally I added alternating lines of dots using the same two polishes. In real life the dots fade even more into the ends of the gradient and it looks really cool!

Check out the rest of this week's manis!

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #8: Cute

Hey all! I can't believe we're eight weeks into FingerFood's Theme Buffet challenge already! Where did the time go??

This week's theme is "cute", and as everyone knows, the cutest thing in the universe is a pile of puppies. So here's my doggie manicure!

Hee hee, this makes me smile every time I look at it! I like how the dog on the far right looks kind of skeptical. I started with a base of Zoya Sweet, then added the dog heads, spots and ears with Revlon Stiletto, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Revlon Stormy Night, Julep Otte and Sephora by OPI Leotard Optional. I added a layer of Revlon Matte topcoat and did the eyes and noses afterwards so they kept a little shine.

I asked Trudy if she approved of my mani, but she was still recovering from her busy day yesterday (busy =  going for a walk):

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #6: Hearts

Hey all! This week's theme for FingerFood's Theme Buffet is, appropriately, hearts! I'm really excited about this mani because I tried making stamping decals for the first time and I was pretty successful at it!

If you haven't heard of stamping decals before, there are several methods, but basically they involve using a regular stamper to make a sheet of clear polish with a stamped pattern on it that you can attach to your nail. They avoid some of the difficulties involved with stamping, like getting the stamp to line up the way you want on your nail. I followed this tutorial from heartNAT!

Here's my mani (I'm using my right hand because this decal came out a little better):

I think it turned out really cute! For my accent nail, I started with a black base (Revlon Stiletto) then created my stamping decal with Winstonia plate W102. Here's a shot of my stamper with the decal drying on it:

I used Julep Harley (the silver) for the stamping itself, then colored in the empty hearts with China Glaze Neon Flying Dragon and Zoya Amy. (It's OK if some of your coloring gets on top of the stamped outline, since this side of the decal will end up face-down on your nail.) Then I added a coat of Zoya Armor and let it dry for an hour. Finally I peeled off the decal (carefully!) with tweezers and stuck it down on my nail--wipe some acetone around the edges of your nail with a brush and that will help the decal stay in place until you topcoat it.

The only trouble I had using the decals was getting them to smooth out completely on my nail, and I got some bubbling. (I wonder if it would be better to stick them to a wet nail instead of a dry one?) It's also a very slow process unless you have multiple stampers available, so unless you're just doing accent nails, you might want to make the decals the day before you do your mani. Definitely give it a try though--the results are worth it!

Don't forget to check out the other lovely manis for this week's theme!