Konad: NYC Royal Foil over Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Here's the manicure I mentioned the other day, my first Konad success! Only because it wasn't a Konad stamper.. it was the As Seen On TV Salon Express stamper from their kit sold at Rite Aid. And ok it isn't actually my first success, it's my second..but it's the first complete manicure with this kit, my first try that came out well was just some test nails. Since the Konad stamper just doesn't seem to work for me, I'm willing to trade it and the nail scraper to a new home, since some people have much more luck with it than others (like Erika and I.) I really like how it came out, I love the chrome purple/silver glitter combo. I used it in a past manicure as well. The leopard design is from Konad plate m57. As the title states, I used the NYC Foil Nail Enamel in Royal Foil that Erika gave me over Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff Secrets Frost, and I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel look topcoat. I was so proud of myself, nail stamping is actually lots of fun when it actually works!

Konad: NYC Royal Foil over Sally Hansen Secrets Frost, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
Royal Foil looks awfully like Sally Hansen Sapphire Chrome (which is actually purple, so I have no idea why they named it that.) This could be a dupe for it, but I'm not sure if they came out at the same time.. this is a vintage NYC polish so it's very possible. I should whip them out and compare them :)

Nautical Mani

Finally, after ages of swatches, a detailed manicure!

First, a swatch of the base color. I used Canmake #50, a navy blue polish.
Oh blue nail polish, why must you be so notoriously hard to photograph?? This is actually a deep navy blue polish, and try as I might I just could not get the actual color to show up. Natural light was even worse, it looked light blue!
I had this planned for months specially for last month when I went to Okinawa(which was AWESOME.) I used Canmake #50, NYC French White Tip, and Homei quick dry Your Person of Destiny

Nautical Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
I know I posted several months ago about how terrible the Diamond Nail Homei polishes are. The glitter Homei polishes are actually really good, great colors and tons of multi-sized glitter, and mine even came with a free nail tool. It's the Diamond Nail Line (which, incidentally, I haven't seen recently) that bites. I'll post swatches of both in a later post :)

The Engagement Ring, And A Microglitter/Hexagon French Mani!

My ring is sized and fits and I just had to get some glittery tips to match the bling - wow I am so elated. I can't begin to explain how I feel right now. And it's certainly going to take a LOT of getting used to, as I do not wear jewelry. At all. Nothing. So here is my mani, I did a pale pink base coat, used NYC glitter on the tips, and China Glaze Fairy Dust as a top coat. It's a new take on my old glitter tips mani which I realllly love..but more light and summery. The other was more wintry.

a close up of the ring!

(here it is before I added Fairy Dust on top)

Also thought I'd share a bit of a reallllly blingy mani I did last night but decided to change. It's Clarins 230 with a hexagon glitter on top, I was just experimenting, and I really liked it, but decided it's just a touch too dark for the summer.

Super light gradient nails

Super light gradient nails, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

This is actually the second person's nails I've done, the first I couldn't really get a good picture (I have one, but it is super dark.)

Yoshi's co-worker wanted her nails done, but since the companies are really strict here she was really limited on what she could choose. Believe it or not, I used 3 polish colors here and one fine glitter!

The base color (yes there actually is one ^^;;) is Hanagoyomi Cape Jasmine (kuchinashi.) I then painted the tips of her nails with two coats of NYC Nail Glossies #213, a gorgeous though super sheer pearly golden pink. Then, to blend the two colors together, I applied Sally Hanson Diamond Strength in Diamonds on the border of the colors and blended before they dried. To add a splash of color and accentuate the gradient, I sprinkled a dark pink fine glitter on the tips, and coated it with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

"I'm back, baby doll!"

If anyone knows where that is from, you are awesome;)

sorry for the lack of posts, last weds morning, I pulled a muscle in my back that made it very hard to do anything remotely easy..aka.. everything.  But I did manage to do a few manis. This manicure was from a few weeks ago, guh.. I know! So bad at posting my nails!

This is Zoya's South beach. I love this color, but you need about 1000 coats just to see the green. I mean I'm sure they didnt mean for it to be a topcoat, but yeah... thats pretty much what it is. It is to bad, because it has so much potential! Under it.. shock.. NYC black. I swear, black makes every nail polish so much more amazing. It is just a fact.

Here is the other manicure that I did last week( that Im still sporting because its clarins 230!) and I dont want to take off that magic that is unicorn pee! But its all peeling and gross so it has to be done!

 

Crap picture, as I had to use my camera phone. Also take note of that crap konading, doesnt it just have a certain je ne sais quoi? But as I said before I am utter crap at Konading, so you were prepared. But that is it for now, work awaits! Tata for now,

Spring pink pedi

Yay, it's finally starting to feel like spring!!

Spring pink pedi, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

I've been avoiding pedicures for a looong time, mostly due to the fact that I haven't had a salon pedicure since December and because of that, my feet were looking pretty scary.
I had some time today and decided to give one a shot myself.

The main color is a no-name hot pink pearly polish. For the big toe I painted the upper corners with NYC Polyester Pink Creme, put Broadway Nail Art stickers on the border of the two colors, and topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

It's Wednesday, and I'm wearing pink!

Hi everyone, happy Wednesday!! I actually have an older mani and swatch to post, but I thought I'd post this one first since it's Wednesday, and well, I so happen to be wearing pink!

First the good news: The Japanese school that I will be attending isn't just a Japanese school, it isn't even just a language school. They offer all sorts of programs in the arts, which just so happens to include-are you ready for it-classes for Japanese manicures! The best part is- the regular class is about $10, and one class per month FREE for students! What does this all mean? Well I have a chance to become professional in Japanese nail art, SQUEE!

Ok so back to the manicure. Yoshi just got me a book on Japanese manicure tips and tricks (still learning some of the Japanese terms yet for this stuff) and I saw a relatively easy tutorial for marbling (well, much easier than water marbling anyway, and less messy) so I decided to try it.

First, here's a swatch of NYC Long Wearing Polyester Pink Creme #108A. Just like the other NYC polishes, it took four coats to get an even color, but it is a nice shade:

Now the mani. This is my first attempt at a marble manicure, so forgive me if it isn't super-awesome :p

First Marble Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
For the base color I used NYC Long Wearing Polyester Pink Creme #108A. I used Visee Glamorous Sparkle #10(I still can't find my fine brush, so I used a toothpick..) for the glitter half moons on my nails. Half moons are really big here. For the actual marbling, I used NYC Long Wearing French White Tip #134 and Revlon Limited Edition Diamonds Are Forever. I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

Thanks for reading!

I don't care if it's spring!

Okay, I do. But it's been raining like crazy and I well, I wish the whole April Showers would hurry so we could get some dry land! Okay complaining over..

I had my friend Tarah visiting and we decided to do our nails (when I say "we" I really mean "Tarah, lets do our nails.."Not now.." "Now?" "nope" "Now?" "Nooo" "How about now?" "Okay...sure.."

 I knew I wanted to break out Zoya Faye, and I also knew when I got the email for the bogo that I needed to get this color. I also came to the realization that I have way to many nail polishes. Of course I got the email about 2 minutes after this decision. But yeah.. that didnt last long. (Tarah, also did Faye on her nails, she also said she wished she had nails like moi..)

But I digress..I saw a recent post from Nails by Chloe, where she layered black nail polish and Faye, and got this amazing color. Well I knew I had to do the same! Here are the results:

I wish I took better pictures! This is one of the most insane combo's. It's like a pink chocolate shimmer on one side, but then a bronze like orange on the other side. Over all, a very simple and very gorgeous combo. Just make sure you make the black opaque. I had to use 4 layers of black to get every streak out. But then again that could be the fact that it's NYC. 99 cents, can't complain!


Don't forget today is the last day for the contest! Enter before 11:59pm to be counted.

New mani and NYC French White Tip #134 Swatch

So last night after I cracked my thumbnail (damn shampoo samples, why do they make them so hard to rip open??) After I repaired and bandaged it I gave myself a new manicure. Of course, that thumb will be out of pictures for a while.

First I did a swatch of NYC French White Tip #134, as I was using this polish as the base for my next manicure anyway, so I thought I'd take a shot of it first on it's own.

NYC French White Tip #134 Swatch, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

This polish, like a few of the other NYC Long Wearing polishes I've tried, takes 4 coats to get an even color. The first few coats are uneaven and streaky. The end result is a pretty decent nail polish, however, and they make some very awesome colors, I especially like the glitters.

Here is a shot of what it looks like after two coats:

And here is the final product. For this manicure (of course I started with a good base coat) I used NYC #134 French White Tip as the main polish. As with all of the NYC Long Wearing colors I've tried, it takes about 4 coats to get an even color. The first 3 are streaky and uneven. For the thumb and ring fingers, I used a no-name hot pink polish, and on top I used NYC #105 Starry Silver Glitter, which I am really starting to like!

Collection Pics (Julie)

So I had to follow suit since Erika has such an amazing collection! Mine isn't nearly as large or beautiful, but I'm working on it. Actually, this past summer, I sold just about all of my NP at my yard sale because I had no room for anything! Everything you see here is pretty much brand new, as of late summer '10. So rest in peace former collection! I am impressed with how far I've come since then though! My heart belongs to sparkles, the chunkier the better. I have many different brands, and plenty more coming in the mail this next week. So I will update this post as they show up. Here's what i have so far:

I have a horrible make-up bag that is soon going to be replaced with some kind of kaboodle. Take a peek inside...kind of a beautiful mess!

We'll start with Finger Paints. A nice inexpensive brand with really pretty swatches. I am not really too into their NP because I notice that even with a decent base and top coat, they like to peel off in one big strip. So I've limited my FP collection to strictly colors I MUST have. And these are really beautiful!

My Nubars *Swoon* Nothing much needs to be said about this brand. It's a growing obsession and I expect many more soon.

My Ulta swatches - the aqua color is fabulous!!! The pink is gritty and I'm not a fan, but the sparkles in this color attracted me to it. It's very beautiful.

My love, my life...China Glaze! I have more CG than any other color. I'll start with my very favorite 2 colors. This is Pixie Dust and Golden Enchantment. I don't remember the name of the gold one. But they're top coats and complete just about any color you can imagine, and reflect about every color of the rainbow. These should serve as staples to any nail polish collection, because they really do complement just about every swatch.

I have the blues....My China Glaze Blues...

Metallics:

Some random beauties (my favorite of the 4 being the black with red sparkles.

Prior to my yard sale NP clean out, I had just about every color made by Sinful Colors. Now I only have two. Mainly because I'm not a huge fan of their formula. But these colors are irresistible.

My Color Clubs - do you see that orange/pink/luminescent swatch to the right? Wow, i know!! I need to get a few bottles of this because I run through this color really fast. I probably wear it more than any other color.

Here is my first nail art swatch. It's a really pretty black with colorful sparkles.

My very lonely and bland Essie collection. I do like them, but I haven't explored essie all that much yet.

My 3 Orlys. Another brand I don't care for the formula all that much. But they do come out with some really great colors once in a while that I can't leave behind.

Hello, sparkles! My one and only O.P.I (more are coming!), NYC in the most amazing swatch I've seen from them, and a Forever 21 color that I adore.

Just LOOK at this color! I know! Gorgeous!

You're not so bad yourself OPI. (this is from the burlesque collection)

2 extra brands - Sally girl I won't be buying again, the application is awful. Nail Savvy I found new at the thrift shop and have no idea where to find this brand.

It's a nice concept, I love the pink and blue sparkles though! Anybody else make a better formula with a similar color?

My beloved Deborah Lippmann in Bad Romance.

And you see? I wrote this too soon, because just as I posted this blog, my brand new Hard Candy showed up! Do you SEE this swatch? No I mean do you really see this swatch? Holy moly, it's freaking fabulous! It's called Hot Pants. It's infused with large and small sparkles and a translucent pink jelly base. Woohoo! This just made my day brighter!