Nail Art Challenge #14 - Light Up the Night

A dramatic inky black manicure with a fireworks inspired set of feature nails.

I was going for an explosive firework effect on the ring finger with trailing sparks on the middle and pinky fingers. Sadly any shot I could get in focus completely flattened the fire of the micro glitter, but hopefully the inset gives you a little better idea of the twinkling "spark" effect of that polish. It really is quite pretty in real life.

The Midnight Glitz (middle and pinky fingers) is a combination of large black and pale gold larger sized hex glitters with flat black and holographic micro glitters. Below is a swatch sample with two dabbed layers. I feel a little better about my shots after doing an image search of this polish as it seems NO ONE can get a good picture of it. This is as close as I've seen anyone get.

I always find pairing base colours with (non rainbow-y) multi-coloured glitters to be a challenge. This one seems  to work best with a dark metallic grey.

I don't know how well it would work over a brighter polish and I'm not terribly thrilled with the larger glitters, but it was EXACTLY the combination I needed to coordinate with the larger holo in this manicure. I wish I had used a layer of it under the polish I used for my ring finger. It looks pretty sexy in the bottle so it might be cool on its own if you can manage to build up enough layers.

I will definitely be either thinning the base of the large scale holo glitter or seeking another like it. I love the glitter but the base is like jelly.

Bonus shot: I FINALLY did my toes too.

Lemon Meringue Pedi- Shoes by Børn

Double extra bonus link: This is a shot of all the products I used to achieve the Light Up the Night manicure, including the non-polish pre prep and post mani quick dry stuff.

Nail Art Challenge #13 - Under the Sea

A carefully matched Ombre Manicure in increasingly deep aqua/jade tones.

I guess it's pretty clear I have a thing about this colour! I don't think you could buy a set that close all at once.

I love wearing manis like these and it came out better than I could have hoped, but I'm not looking forward to the upkeep on these fussy satins! I've had the two darkest satin colours *over a decade* and boy was that obvious when I started using it. That dark jade colour fought me every moment. The only polish here under a year old is the glittery accent colour.

I'm glad I got back to these posts, the odd thing is that I actually DID the last two manis but didn't get a chance to take pics of them before they got too messed up.

Nail art Challenge #10 - MomMommaMomMommyMumMomma WHAT?!?!

A no nonsense, in your face, but still somehow incredibly cheery mani in a bubble gum pink creme and a midnight blue jelly with silver hex and micro-glitter for Mother's Day.

If you've ever met my Mom this combo probably makes a great deal of sense.

I've already had to touch this up a fair amount but that could be due to a number of factors.

I have been trying the Orly Bonder base coat lately because my CND Stickey is getting low, but I don't think it has the staying power.

I like that the Poshe topcoat doesn't shrink on me like the Seche Vite, but it doesn't seem to have the gloss or strength.

It could also be the Sinful Colors as it's not the best quality polish. Though I can't complain too much considering the price.

You may or may not have noticed that I COMPLETELY SPACED on the May the Fourth be With You mani (pun intended) so I'll be making that up at some point. Wedding stuff happened, work is INSANE right now, and I simply lost track of time. Sorry!