Saturday, April 5, 2014

Blue Ombre With Glitter

 
Apparently, updating a nail blog is next to impossible when you work 14 hours a day. I've also launched a personal blog, Whimsy & Wanderlust, like I don't have enough to do.

But anyway, I do my nails now when I can—which includes squeezing in a manicure while visiting my mom and grandma.

Without any of my usual tools and polishes from my nail polish kit, I attempted to do a gradient. Surprisingly, it turned out halfway decent, using a hodge podge of colors I found in my mom's stash.
(Sorry for the terrible photo)

I started with a single coat of OPI Alpine Snow. It doesn't matter if it's not opaque; I just use it to brighten the color of the gradient, since it's done without a brush. 

After that, it's time to start the gradient. On a paper plate, I lined up drops of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, OPI Yodel Me On My Cell and Cosmic Love from Ulta's Shine On holiday mini set (the dark blue with hex glitter). Instead of my usual makeup sponge, I used one of my mom's sponge brushes. It made a mess—I don't recommend it unless you don't have any other options. 

On the bright side, it did give the gradient a really cool texture and depth. I finished it off by adding a light coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, a fine glitter that has some hex pieces in it. 

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Monday, October 28, 2013

Rainbow Drip Nails

This is also a design from the late summer archives ... my return to polishing after a two-month break. Seriously. I think my nails went nude for at least seven or eight weeks.

I'm a little rusty, but I think these turned out reasonably well. It's not the greatest color combination for fall, but I always love the way that white nails look so crisp and bring out the brightness of whatever shades are layered on top.



From L to R (all OPI): Casino Royale, Did it on 'Em, Fly, Kiss me on my Tulips



 




Sunday, October 27, 2013

More Pink and Black Color Blocking

I finally got around to sorting some of my old photos, and realized I had never posted this from the summer. I think this just goes to show the chaos my life has been lately.

In any case, here are a few quick shots of the color block I did back in July or August. I'm pretty sure this was a tape mani, using Sinful Colors 24/7 (pink) and OPI Alpine Snow (white).




Back to Blogging


​I'm almost embarrassed to start posting again after being MIA for several months, but here I am.​ It's been an insanely busy summer and early fall, but in a good way. A promotion at work has meant longer hours and events to attend on nights and weekends, but it's been so worth it. The only drawback that I can see so far is that my poor nails have been unpolished and chipped for the larger part of the last few months. I've also been doing some traveling; in August, I visited Mexico City for the first time, and more recently I took short trips to Chicago and Vegas. In the next few months, I'm heading up to SF to visit one of my best friends, then hopefully Mammoth after Christmas.

Other big(-ish) news: An article I wrote on a San Diego-area nail salon was published this summer in NAILS Magazine. Despite working in the publishing industry for the last couple years, I still get a little thrill every time I see my name in print, especially when it's on a topic that I'm really passionate about!



They got the URL wrong (glitterandglossnails.com), but still cool!

​Things will be slowing down at work in another month, so I'm hoping that by my birthday, I'll be back to doing nail art (and posting) on a more regular basis. Fun fact: Wendy and I share the same birthday in November!
As I have more time, I'm also going to try to give the blog its annual design refresh and try to talk Wendy into posting something for the first time this year.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Summertime Blue and Purple Polka Dots

Yikes ... I've been so busy lately that I've neglected the blog a bit. I'm back today and really excited today because (hopefully) this will be the last post using photos from my ghetto-rigged lightbox! As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, the husband bought me a fancy lightbox for our anniversary so I can take some proper photos as soon as my schedule opens up.

It's been a pretty amazing few weeks. Wendy was home from dental school, so we finally sat down and had a long overdue nail polish night to create some summer-inspired manicures. This was actually done pre-Fourth of July, and a lot has happened since then (including being rear-ended on our spontaneous trip to Vegas!).

Here's some fun polka dot nail art featuring OPI and China Glaze colors.



I recently bought a new bottle of OPI Alpine Snow, so my white base is smooth and non-streaky, just the way I like it! It's amazing what a difference new polish can make.

The blue dots are done with my large dotting tool and China Glaze Hanging in the Balance; the small dots were done with the opposite end of the tool and CG Creative Fantasy. Both polishes are from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away collection that came out late last year.


If you don't have a dotting tool, you could try bending a bobby pin and varying the amount of polish collected on the end to create the polka dot look. I did this the other day on my grandma's nails while I was visiting her and my mom but didn't have any tools with me, and it turned out relatively well (though the dot sizes aren't quite as consistent).


Hope to be back soon to try out my new lightbox!

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