TopCoatIt

This is the mani I actually wore for Easter. I don’t usually post quite so many pictures, but I loved this one so much that I just had to throw in a couple extra shots.

My base polish was OPI Swedish Nude. It’s very sheer and needed three to four coats for decent opacity, so I needed a ton of dry time before it was safe to tape my chevrons off. I slapped a top coat on it and went back to it a few hours later. Thankfully I hadn’t damaged anything in those few hours that needed touching up.

For my chevrons I used NYX Girls White.

I hope everyone (who observes the holiday) had a wonderful Easter weekend! If you’re not an Easter observer, I hope you had a great weekend too!

It’s been a while since I did a chevron so I decided to do the dotticure version.I love the combination of black and aqua-ish blue.  I used Wet ‘n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint and black acrylic.

How do you like my short little nubby nails?  I’ve been trying to keep them a little shorter lately, but I broke my middle nail pretty low and there was nothing I could do but shorten them all.  Oh well.  They grow pretty fast, so they’ll be back to normal in a week.

I had a great Thanksgiving and I hope you all did as well.

I just love this color combination.  It’s very autumnal.  I had grand plans to do one of Nailside’s explosion manis but evidently I’m explosion mani handicapped.  Her tutorial makes it look easy peasy.  Not so, for me at least.  I’ll keep trying to master it.

But in the meantime, I had to figure out something else to do with the two accent nails that I had messed up already.  Chevrons and polka dots.  My base polish is OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window.  My brown is Essie Chocolate Cakes and the fantastic orange is OPI DS Luxurious.  After messing up the explosion more than once already, I was too impatient to wait for the polish to be dry enough to tape off the chevrons, so I freehanded them.

Off topic, how many of you are black Friday shoppers?  I am not!  I would rather spend the extra money to avoid the crowds.  I may take advantage of cyber Monday though.  I like the peace and quiet of shopping from my own home.

Only one picture today, I’m not in love with this one.  However, I do love these colors together. For this mani, I used Wet ‘n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint and Essie Alligator Purse.  Have I already mentioned before how much I love Alligator Purse?  You should all own it.  Short post today ladies.  I’ve been working on something else that’s big and exciting today, so my time has been split.  Stay tuned for that reveal.

I don’t often paint my nails full black because it can be so hard to get off.  It sure is pretty though.  A black nail is so dramatic; it commands your attention.

I realized it had been a long time since I’d used a matte top coat, so I decided to play with one today.  I started with Cult Nails Get It On base coat.  I NEVER polish with black without a base coat.  It doesn’t always guarantee that there won’t be any staining, but it definitely increases the odds.

My black is China Glaze Liquid Leather.  I was very, very careful with my application so I wouldn’t have to do any clean up.  I hate trying to clean up a black polish.  It stains my cuticles sooo bad, which in turn makes my pictures look awful.  To clean up necessary today.  I applied this in slow motion.  The top coat I chose was NYC Matte Me Crazy.  This was the first time I’ve used it.  I’m not blown away by it, but it got the job done.  I felt like I needed two coats to hide the brush strokes though.

When the Matte Me Crazy was dry enough, I applied my tape.  My thumb, index and pinkie fingers all have a chevron french tip, while my middle and ring fingers have what I call a dart.  Has anyone else heard a better name for this design?  I really can’t think of anything else to call it.  I like my darts the best.  Playing with matte and glossy finishes is a fun way to have a bit of a peek-a-boo effect with your nail art.  It’s there, it’s subtle and may go unnoticed, but that doesn’t lessen the dramatic impact.