Showing posts with label Go Overboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Go Overboard. Show all posts

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Snowflake Nails

Hey everyone! I've got another quick holiday look to share with you today!

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Tis the season for me gravitating toward not the most traditional holiday colors. I really like how this turned out!!!

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The base is Emily de Molly Crystal Crown – a gorgeous white holo with a golden glow.

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For the snowflakes I broke out Color Club Blue-ming (the aqua), Essie Go Overboard (the teal) and B Polished Red-y for the Holodays (one of my favorite classic Christmas reds). I used Bundle Monster BM-S216 for all the snowflake images. I then took a dotting tool to add to the snowflakes and tie the colors together!

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Anyway, things are winding down here at work, and I'm in twidling thumbs mode. I have one more holiday look I hope to get on the blog before Christmas and I should probably do my actual Christmas nails tonight. Or just pray the look I'm currently rocking lasts through the holiday!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Practicing my gradients

I have been trying to perfect the gradient method for awhile. I have attempted it a few times, each time I walk away amazed with how beautiful it looks, but so disappointed with all my errors in application.

If I could just do a smooth perfect gradient I would be happy.

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I love love love this color combination. For this gradient I used Essie Go Overboard, Zoya Alexa and Essie The More the Merrier to create a teal to lime green gradient. And just because I was not happy with the final result, I put some China Glaze Fairy Dust to cover up the imperfections.

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I'll tell you my number one complaint about gradients, the white undercoat. White pigmented polish is from the devil. I have yet to find a white polish I am pleased with. Some gradients don't require a white undercoat, but I find in order for the colors to be bright and appear as they are in the bottle, the white undercoat is a must.

Unfortunately, white polish is never good in one coat. Usually takes at least two and then maybe a third depending on how chalky and streaky the formula is. And then when clean up is involved, you end up cleaning the edges and showing the white undercoat by accident.

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As you can tell I tried to cover that up with a smaller brush, note the darker teal edges, trying to cover up the accidental white undercoat. In an attempt to make the gradient look a little better, I added a stamp to it.

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I used my Lily Anna Plate 10 to stamp a coral looking design. It looked ok, but I think I prefer the gradient on its own. I just wish I could apply the gradient perfectly.

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So now I plead with you dear readers, what tutorials help you with the perfect gradient? I've watched a million online tutorials and they all show the same thing, and it is never helpful. So do you have tricks for the perfect gradient? Please share them with me!!!

Friday, June 13, 2014

Wave nails inspired by The Mercurial Magpie

The nails I am featuring today were inspired by a post The Mercurial Magpie did a few weeks back. She featured the most adorable octopus nail stamp. I truly loved her color combination, and while I didn't have the polishes she used in her post – I did my best to imitate using polishes I have!

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I used OPI Gargantuan Grape as the base for the manicure, and then, because you Fairy Dust All the Things!, I added a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. Using my favorite stamping plate MoYou Sailor 04, I stamped waves with Essie's Go Overboard. 

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I really liked this simple nail art, but next time I think I'll layer something over it, like a whale stamp or something! Maybe a piece of dolphin glitter too!

And just to keep it real, I took a photo of my right hand (the one I'm never as good at) so you can see I'm no pro at stamping. It's tough stuff!

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Are you talented with stamping on both hands? I'm learning, but definitely not as good as I could be!