SIMPLE SUNDAY: Retro Fishtail

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

SURPRISE! I have a post for you! I am probably on a plane right now, but I wore this look for a dinner out on Friday and I decided I wanted to share it with you.

PINK NAILS PINK NAILS WEE OO WEE OO. Seriously I don't think I've had pink nails since I was 10. I'm calling this a retro fishtail because the colours seems very... "70s wallpaper" to me.

This started with three coats of Mt Augustus (which is paler in real life, sort of a bright pastel pink with coral leanings), followed by two coats of Pastille for the upper fishtail, and one coat of Educate for the lower fishtail. Some studs, and done!

This shot gives you the shimmer in Mt Augustus, the holo in Pastille, and the green flakes in Educate.

Polishes used:

Elevation Polish - Mt Augustus (which I think got discontinued?)

Mentality Nail Polish - Pastille, Educate

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

1.5mm studs from Born Pretty Store

Okay, now FOR REAL I'm leaving you all for a week. You can follow my adventures on Instagram, I'll try to post interesting photos about my trip there!

xo,

J.

SIMPLE(R) SUNDAY: Paisley Print

This is technically Monday! But I'm still awake, so it's still Sunday as far as I'm concerned.

For this look, I began with a base of Play Me, sponged some Lil Miss Sunshine on the upper halves, and then did the paisleys using a small dotting tool, Honey Dew, and 1977. They are pretty messy little paisleys, I must say. But I wanted to keep it relatively quick in honour of Simple(r) Sunday.

Cleaning up Lil Miss Sunshine was unbearable, because it's a glass fleck/foil finish. So I apologize for the subpar clean-up job!!

This photo is all wonky in terms of skin tone, but it shows the shimmer in Play Me (and Lil Miss Sunshine) much more accurately than the two photos above. I recommend clicking it to zoom in:

I'm thinking that I'm going to tackle a contest entry tomorrow, so hopefully it'll turn out in reality as it is in my head! :)

Polishes used:

Contrary Polish - Play Me

CrowsToes - Lil Miss Sunshine

piCture pOlish - Honey Dew

la couleur couture - 1977

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Seche Vite (top coat)

small dotting tool

wedge sponge

J.

Turquoise Water Marble

Today I decided to throw in the gauntlet and try my hand at water marbling again. I'm pretty happy with how these turned out! I may even one day do a marble that isn't the floral motif!!

For this, I started out with five different colours, but only two were water marbling properly. In real life, 1977 reads a bit more green, and is therefore a true turquoise. la couleur couture colours are amazing at water marbling. They have a thinner consistency that spreads out on the water beautifully.

I broke my thumbnail! My thumb is truncated!! ;___;

Polishes used:
la couleur couture - 1977
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Grey Zone
Revlon - Spirit (dots)
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri (top coat)

I think I'm going to work in 3D florals next! Wish me luck~


J.

Spun Sugar Gradient

I'm sorry this didn't go up yesterday! I finished these quite late at night and didn't have it in me to edit photos and write up a post. But I am doing so right now (hiyah).

For these, I started with a base of Still Waters-- it's a lovely colour deserving on its own post, and its incredible glowiness is a big part of why the jellies light up in the sunlight as above. It also applied like a dream in 2 coats; because the shimmer is almost (but not!) frosty in its intensity, you need to work your brushstrokes a bit to get them evened out, and Still Waters is probably the most indulgent polish I've worked with in months. It has an almost marshmallow squishiness to it and it stays smooth as butter for as long as you need it to. Superb.

I then dusted the tops of my nails in the turquoise glitter. Once done, I did the spun sugar technique with the three jellies, going from light green at the tips to dark green in the middle to dark teal up top. I left space for the glitter to shine through. I then topcoated it all to make it last until I could take photos today, but I won't do that next time. It takes away from the spun-sugariness.

Getting the colour balance proper on these was nigh impossible. Sorry for kinda leprotic hand colouring.

Purposefully blurry to show the glitter shininess.

Polishes used:
Liquid Sky Lacquers - Still Waters
Nfu Oh - JS34, JS35
Zoya - Frida
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
INM - Out the Door (top coat)
Martha Stewart micro iridescent glitter in Wintermint

I think I'll do a painting next! I have some ideas, but it seems all my pre-planning goes off the rails lately...


J.

Jelly Watercolour Nail Art

Today's look is not exactly how I imagined it would turn out, but it's not bad for a first attempt. :) I've long wanted to do the watercolour technique (wherein you dab on nail polish then use them as watercolours, except with acetone instead).

For this look, I started with a base of two generous coats of Funny Bunny, which I topped with two generous coats of Poshé; this protects the base colour from the effects of the acetone. I then dabbed on Y'All Come Back, Ya Hear? and spread them around with acetone until I was happy. I did the same with Guy Meets Gal-veston, Houston We Have a Purple, Katherine, and Frida.

MY NEVER-SEEN LEFT HAND!!
I started on this hand and kept these nails simpler than the ones on my right hand. I'm not sure which look I prefer.

Once the colour dabs were dried, I covered them in another coat of Poshé. Somewhat annoyingly, the brush I was using for the watercolouring had previously been used in a foil polish, so there are little bits of microglitter in this mani that I wasn't anticipating. (Most noticeable if you zoom the above and check out the ring finger.)

Not content to leave well enough alone, I decided to try the water-spotting technique overtop:

To do this technique, you drop polish into a cup of water (use a glass cup, or a disposable plastic cup) and then, when it has spread out, you spritz the surface of the water with hairspray/perfume/hand sanitizer so that the polish starts glomming together and opening up holes, as above. You then dip your fingers into the design, remove the excess floating on the surface of the water with a cotton swab, and then spend roughly a million years cleaning up the excess polish on your skin! Yay!

This was my first time doing it, so the results are not ideal (hello, pinkie, you pain in the hiney). Through trial and error, I found that my perfume in a travel atomizer worked the best (that's what produced the index and middle fingers).

Polishes/supplies used:
OPI - Nail Envy Matte (base coat), Funny Bunny, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?, Guy Meets Gal-veston, Houston We Have a Purple
Zoya - Katherine, Frida
INM - Out the Door (top coat)
Poshé (top coat)
pure acetone + small paintbrush

I think tomorrow will be something simpler. I'll institute Straightforward Sunday. :)


J.