Neon Gradient Hawaiian Chevon Nails

So the other night I had one of my newer friends over and she so wanted to learn how I do my nails. She was very curious how to do gradients and stamping, so I broke out some polishes and went to town – having her mimic me as she went.



And this is the result. I ended up doing the gradient I had been thinking of when I was review the Indigo Banana neon collection and then randomly stamped the other plates just to show her something you could do with a design.



For this look I used Indigo Bananas Neon the 10th Element, Zinc Industries and Phlogiston Paradise for the gradient and then I stamped using my MoYou London Pro Plate 08 for the flower image and stamped the chevron image using my QA 91 plate.



And my friend's nails turned out great too! This was her first attempt at nail art and I think she did a stellar job! She used the same MoYou plate I used, just a different image and she did all the nail art work her herself, I just showed her how to do it! Really great for a first time I think!

I really ended up liking how they turned out and I ended up wearing them for two days. On Friday last week I had just about had it with how long my nails were. I was having issues typing and my nail length was really getting to me. But I was sad because I really liked these nails and wanted to show them off to my aunt who was arriving that night.



So I got home on Friday and decided if I was going to change it up I was at least going to get the opportunity to file/mani bomb and redo my nails with a pretty polish. But this time I started the whole process with the filing down my nails and much to my surprise my nails were not ruined! It was a miracle. I was so super happy I could file down my talons and not ruin this fun Hawaiian gradient look! As you can tell in the photo above, the filing did not make anything chip. In fact these lasted chip free until Sunday when I took them off!

So do you like this look? Getting sick of my gradients yet, because I'm not! :) Hope you all are having a great week and Happy Hump Day!!!

Purple Gradient Three Dot Comparison Nail Art

This season has bred some very beautiful purples, and while I'm not typically a purple lover, this season has changed my mind completely.

Let's face it, neons are everywhere right now, and I have three different neon purples I wanted to see side by side – so I created this simple gradient three dot dotticure so we could compare these purple neons!



For the background I used the lovely Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Petal to the Metal. Petal to the Metal is a lovely soft lilac holo with a lovely golden glow and subtle iridescent golden flakies (you can see those puppies later in the macro shots).

The application for this polish was smooth as butter. Two coats for this opacity and it was not difficult to work with at all. I've really been enjoying this brand a lot lately and the fun ladies of the Octosquad! I've got a few polishes from Dave's summer collection coming to my mail box as we speak. 



Anyway on to the purple neons. We have from bottom to top: Indigo Bananas Phlogiston Paradise*, Indigo Bananas Zinc Industries*, and KBShimmer Sarong Place, Sarong Time.

Let's check out some macros to really take a close look at the dots side by side!





As you can see Phlogiston Paradise is a more blue based bright purple. I've been wearing this as a pedicure and I love it. It was seriously the purple I have been searching for forever! Zinc Industries is the more magenta leaning bright purple, and Sarong Place, Sarong Time is the same hue of purple almost with a tinge of coolness. The KBShimmer also seems to be a tad lighter than the Indigo Bananas.



I really liked how simple this look turned out and I think it as a great way to show off the differences in these three bright beautiful shades.

So which of these purples floats your boat? What do you think of the three dot look? I'm liking it as much as the double side dot! :)

*Press Samples

Neon Stripes using Indigo Bananas

Hey guys, I have the best news ever! Thanks to a new friend of mine, I am back up and running with my friend's old iPhone 5! So incredibly happy at the moment, you have NO idea!

Today I have the most awesome look using Indigo Bananas Neon, The 10th Element polishes.



Most of these were sent to me as a press sample, but when I the collection went live, I knew I just had to order the missing pieces to complete my neon set! So here they all are, side by side!

For the base of this polish, I used Indigo Bananas Aether Or, a light grey linear holo which is the perfect backdrop to really make these neons pop!



I thought it might be really helpful to see these colors side by side, so you can really decide which are your favorites. I must admit, these nails have been a total hit. Everyone has been noticing them, some people saying they remind them of the twirly lollipops you can buy at Disneyland, while others saying they remind them of Fruit Stripe gum. Either way, they are super happy and bright nails and have been bringing a smile to my face all week long!

 

Using these awesome macro shots I'll go over the which stripe is which (from bottom stripe to top)! Most of these are color accurate, especially now that I have an iPhone 5 back and running!

Top left: Carbon Dallas, Phlogiston Paradise, Zinc Industries and Neon, The 10th Element.

Top right: Rhubidium Rhod, LiLoo (Lithium Loo), The Uranium Evil, Sulfur Green.

Bottom left: Sulfur Green, Diva Plumbum, Carbon Dallas, Plogiston Paradise.

Bottom middle: Phlogiston Paradise, Zinc Industries, Neon, The 10th Element, Rhubidium Rhod.

Bottom right: The Uranium Evil, Sulfur Green, Diva Plumbum, Carbon Dallas.

These stripes cover the entire neon creme selection of the Indigo Bananas Neon, The 10th Element collection and I think it is very helpful to see them side by side. You can tell that Zinc Industries is the warmer of the purple colors (leaning more magenta), while Phlogiston Paradise is a bluer leaning purple (which leans a tad more blue in these photos than in real life, curse you purples!). Side by side with Carbon Dallas (the blue in the collection) you can really see that Phlogiston Paradise is truly a bright purple!

You can also see that the most neon polishes of the collection are clearly LiLoo (orange), The Uranium Evil (yellow), Sulfur Green (green) and Neon, The 10th Element (pink). All the other colors are bright and totally belong in the collection, but these I've listed I feel are the most neon.

To make the stripes, I used KBShimmer Connected Thick/Thin lines nail vinlys, and painted the stripes over three thin coats of Aether Or.

You can now purchase the entire neon collection at the Indigo Bananas website. For the neon cremes mini bottles (8ml) are $6.25 and full size bottles (15ml) are $10.

Which of these do you want to get your hands on?!!? I am so happy I have the complete set. I can't wait to play even more with these. And also I am so truly happy to have an iPhone 5 back, my blog didn't even skip a beat and for that I am so very thankful! :)

Introducing Indigo Bananas Neon, The Tenth Element

Ok guys, I know I said I was going away for a week, but I had epic nail mail I knew I needed to share with you all, especially since this Indigo Bananas collection is release today! :)

*Press Sample*

This is the Indigo Bananas Neon, The Tenth Element collection, minus two polishes. As I am just headed out of town, I only had time to do a quick skittle look before having to prepare to leave town so I'll just tease you with these quick photos!

From thumb to pinkie we have: Rubidium Rhod, The Uranium Evil, Diva Plumbum, Carbon Dallas, Phlogiston Paradise and I am holding Zinc Industries. Not pictured, but in the first shot, is the orange – LiLoo (Lithium Loo).

Now I didn't have time to do anything but watermark these photos, but most are color accurate. The hardest to capture was Diva Plumbum (the teal) and Phogiston Paradise (the purple). Diva Plumbum is color accurate in the center shot (the other two make it look too light) and Phogiston Paradise is the most color accurate in the sun shot, though it is a little brighter and less blue than that. Seriously though, I have been dreaming of Phogiston Paradise for awhile now, so happy to have a polish like this.

The formulas on these are much better than other neons I have worked with. Most are two coaters, Rubidium Rhod (red) and Phogiston Paradise could almost be one coaters. The sheerest were The Uranium Evil, yellows are always notoriously bad and Diva Plumbum. Diva Plumbum still looks pretty good in two coats, I added a third for good measure. The Uranium Evil was opaque in three thin coats. 

Right after I did these nails I of course changed my plans for my vacation nails and added in some of these awesome Indigo Bananas. I also just got a macro lens for my iPhone and so this is the first of many macros you'll see in the future! For this gradient I used The Uranium Evil, Diva Plumbum and Carbon Dallas – with a holo top coat. 

These babies will be available May 9 at 10 a.m. EST on the Indigo Bananas website. There are a few other polishes coming out (a neon pink and green are also a part of the neon set) as well as some other goodies (crystal flakies, holo and a super mega multichrome flakie). So go check it out.

For more details on the release and the new collection, visit the Indigo Bananas Facebook page and if you are an Indigo Bananas lover, you should totally join us in the We're Bananas for Indigo Bananas Facebook fan group, the more the merrier!