Gradated Ikat

Helloooo lovelies!

Today's mani is my attempt to mash together the gradated dots look and the ikat look, inspired by a pair of shorts I bought recently.

The writing on my finger is because these are a contest entry. :) I figured this was a lot easier than awkwardly holding a small scrap of paper!

For this look, I began with a base of My Vampire is Buff. This is an excellent pale nude shade, but it's also a bit of a PITA as it requires four thin coats to reach opacity and uniformity. Boo, hiss! I wouldn't do it if the results weren't worth it, though. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my experience with 2013 (the top coat, not the year) have been AMAZING so far. This is my first time using it, and it goes on so well (more liquid than Seche Vite), the brush (as with all lacc colours) is my favourite thing ever, and no shrinkage!!! Glory hallelujah! I'll keep testing it, but this may be my holy grail top coat. :O

I then mixed up some ultramarine blue acrylic paint with white and/or black to make three different shades of blue, and dotted them on using my smallest dotter, starting with the lightest and ending with the darkest. It was a time-consuming process but very easy.

Polishes used:

OPI - My Vampire is Buff

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paint in blue, white, black

smallest dotting tool

something to distract from the monotony

I had a post planned for tomorrow but I've deemed it sub-par. Now I'm plotting out what the heck to do! I'll keep you all posted. Literally. Haha! Dum-dum-TSCH.

xo,

J.

EDIT: Here's a pictorial if you'd like!

Mirage

Hello lovelies!

Today's post is instalment #1 of 4 about a series of custom polishes that Kimberly over at Tryst Lacquers made for me. She's a sweetheart and her polishes are awesome; I strongly recommend you check them out if you haven't already. She only ships to Canada and the States at the moment, but I'm happy to do some nail mail magic if you spot anything you really want!

This is a much paler orange than it's appearing in photos-- the last photo gets it the closest. It's a pale orange with an edge of peach, filled with silver micro holo glitter and opalescent flakes. The flakes come in small to quite large, and the odd one is a pain in the butt, requiring you to wipe them off the brush lest they get all curly on your nail. A good coat of Glitter Food, though, and the bumps are all sorted out. It dries down to a good thickness, even with 3 coats. And, in spite of the flakes, it's a super-easy polish to apply and control. Kimberly makes a good product!

This is a simpler nail art in large part because I felt like something I could hammer out quickly, and because I used 100% nail polish for this look, so I didn't have the workable time of acrylics on my side. I think it came out quite cutely! That little buffalo skull is my favourite part, and the part I thought I'd have the hardest time with.

The opalescent flakes in an orange base strongly reminded me of mirages in the desert, so that's why I named it Mirage! :) I fiddled with the levels and colour balances to try to get the polish colour more accurate in this photo, but it's still a bit too darkly orange. You'll have to use your imaginations! ;)

Polishes used:
Tryst Lacquers - Mirage (custom)
OPI - My Vampire is Buff
Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
Nails Inc - Porchester Square
Zoya - Godiva, Tracie
Rescue Beauty Lounge - Recycle
Elevation Polish - Xixabangma, Streetside NYC, Temperance
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat; only on top of Mirage, not on top of nail art)

The other three custom polishes I have to show you are Confection, Rosin, and Calypso! I gotta brainstorm ideas...

DON'T FORGET ABOUT MY CONTEST / GIVEAWAY!!


J.

Tattoo-Style Chrysanthemum

I love chrysanthemums. They're so complex looking, like little floral nesting dolls, and they unfurl their long fine petals so delicately. They're like the peony's more restrained sister. :)

I did these up for an IG contest with a theme of 'tattoo style'. (Yes, the same one as my one-stroke roses of wallpapery questionable success!) I haven't been feeling my nail art mojo these past couple days -- a lot of Real Life stuff is weighing on me, I think -- but I was browsing through Google Images and was moved to at least try this out. And while it isn't as elegant as the drawing I based it off of, I think it's still a pretty eye-catching result!

I began with three coats of Flushed, followed by a coat of Wicked Fast. The flower and leaves are all acrylic paint. I loooove Flushed, but am not yet sure about Wicked Fast. It seems to be producing shrinkage on me (and I'm noticing dents in the fingers of my other hand long after Seche would have prevented them from happening). I like its thinner consistency for most purposes, but I find it best to stick with a thicker topcoat when putting it on top of nail art, so as to not disturb the art underneath (which is why I used Seche in this case).

Polishes used:

Cult Nails - Flushed, Wicked Fast (top coat)
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat)
acrylic paint in green, yellow, red, white, crimson, black
detail brush

So, worth the effort? Or at least better executed, as an idea, than last time?? :P

Don't forget my giveaway! Enter enter enter, it is so lonely without you!!


J.