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 :)

Gel look frosty half moon mani

Good afternoon everyone :)

I came up with the idea for this manicure on a whim after I swatched the Tina Rose glitter polish and really wanted to do something with it. I took this one slightly blurry on purpose to show the sparkle. It is so hot now, and I thought I'd make a cool look to help beat the heat ;)

The main color is Tina Rose #316. This is a great glitter polish! It is almost as good as the SUPER sparkly/holographic one that I got back in Japan in 2009 (which is currently missing :( I really need to find it, I would LOVE to swatch it and do a comparison with this one!)
It has both big and fine glitter mixed in, and though not as good as the one I mentioned above I would definitely say this one is the runner up. They also have a gold version of this.. I may go and get it..
.

The white is New York Color French white tip. I used silver bullion to line the half moon circles, and I covered it with several layers of Coffret D'or gel look topcoat. I found a MUCH better gel topcoat (much better gel look with MANY less coats, even only one is good!) which I will swatch and compare to this one later.

Gel look frosty half moon mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

What do you think? :)

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.

Turquoise glitter and stone pedi

Turquoise glitter and stone pedi, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

It was time to change the polish on my toes, and I had just gotten this really pretty turquoise nail polish, so why not?

The turquoise polish is by AC. I'll swatch it on my nails another time.. as soon as I think of a good manicure idea that uses turquoise glitter ;) It's very pretty, the polish base is a clear turquoise color with big and small glitter pieces. It is actually much shinier in person, but my camera didn't catch that too well.

Next, I applied gel topcoat to give the stones a good base to stick to. Then I used a gold jewelry jump ring to frame the center hot pink stone, and coated it with gel polish to make give it the illusion that it is bigger. Then I placed two light pink stones on either side.

This one is simple, but elegant :)

Diagonal & reversed edge, holographic and "bullion" mani

For today's manicure I did get a little inspiration from one of my Japanese manicure magazines, the basic design, but to mix it up I changed the colors, reversed the patterns on two nails, and re-arranged the placements of the gold balls.

OPI Tickle My France-y swatch:

I called the gold balls bullion in the title, because well thats what they're called here, and well, I don't know what else to call them.. they aren't beads.

Diagonal & reversed edge, holographic and "bullion" mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
After my base coat I applied the base color, OPI Tickle My France-y. Its a great color, a mauve-y nude, which works so well with other pink and purple polishes. I then freehanded (let me tell you how hard that is.. and I did mess up and fix it a few times) the diagonal hot pink (no name) polish edges, purporsely reversing the sizes,(look at index and middle finger, for example, the bottom corner on the index finger is bigger, while the top corner on the middle finger is bigger) and I reversed the pattern on the thumb and pinkie fingers.

Next, I took a nail art brush and painted stripes, reversing the placement on the nails of course ;) of Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff Nail Color in Secrets Frost. I LOVE this holographic polish.. I need more!! After that, I placed the gold bullion in alternating places on the nail (seeing a pattern here? ^_~.) The spacing/placement on the nails is on purpose, no gold beads are missing/placed incorrectly. Finally I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

I actually found a much better gel topcoat, will blog about that one later!

Flower Glitter French Manicure

Hi everyone,

For this week I did a two-part manicure. I had done a similar manicure to this a few times last year before I started blogging, and I never took a picture of it, so this is kind of like part one. I wanted to take a picture of the original look before I added the rest of the flowers. I think the simpler look is more classy, but as I have worn it before I wanted to spice it up.

First I'll start with the swatch. Hanagoyomi is a cute line of Japanese nail polish that mimics the colors of flowers. It also comes in cute little heart shaped bottles. This color is called Cape Jasmine, or "kuchinashi." It is a pinkish tinted nude shade, great for French manicures. This brand also makes a birth flower line. I need to find more of these.

Cape Jasmine photo courtesy of gardenguides.com

On to part one. The main color is Hanagoyomi Cape Jasmine. I painted the tips with Hanagoyomi Cattleya (type of orchid.) The big purple flowers are stickers, and I painted the white flowers I used New York Color French White Tip and a no-name Japanese yellow polish for nail designs. I finished the look with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

This is part two. I painted the smaller purple flowers with Maybelline forever strong metallics + Iron Punked Out Purple.

Flower Glitter French Manicure, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Which look do you like better?