Gradients

I've been doing quite a few gradients lately and have been loving them!  Here's one I did not too long ago!

Started with a base of two coats of Sally Hansen Contempor-airy, no top coat.

I always find that my gradients work out better if I top coat and let them dry, so added a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top, then let the nails dry for about 10-15 minutes.  

Did a sponged gradient using Sally Hansen Contempor-airy and Sinful Colors Endless Blue.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  

Stamped with image from UberChic UC 15-02 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate.

Finished with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

I really liked that this was a bright pop of colour during this late summer when I'm still wearing brights as it's too early for fall nails yet!

Thanks for looking!

Cringe Worthy

I'm going through archived nails for posts while I think these turned out OK, I know I didn't post them because I didn't think they were post worthy due to the cleanup.  I can't believe there was so much polish left at the edge....even with latex barrier!  Please overlook this as you see what I came up with!

Lina Mad for Mandelas 01

After applying a base of Fancy Gloss Neon Yellow, did a radial sponged gradient using Fancy Gloss Neon Yellow, Neon Orange and Tomato Soup. 

After (not so great) cleanup, stamped using Lina Mad for Mandelas 01 using Painted Polish Midnight Mischief.  I have since changed my sponged method as I always apply the lightest of the polishes then apply the top coat and let it dry as I find when this is done, the polish doesn't come off the nail, versus on it, which sometimes happens when there is a lot of polish saturation with sponging.  You can see it happen on these nails too, which is why I do it differently now. 

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish. 

Thanks for looking!

Walking on Sunshine

Late to posting but these nails are for #Music Mani Monday, this time inspired by Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.  A great summer song and appropriate for the summer weather we had all long weekend long!  A little smoke hazy at times from the wildfires up north, but it was a good weekend spent with the family, which was nice.

Started with a base of Sally Hansen Writing on the Walls with accent nails of Quo Latte Love, no topcoat. 

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

After the topcoat dried, did a sponged gradient on some nails using Morgan Taylor Let's Do A Makeover, Sally Hansen Catch Me if You Clam and Sinful Colors Power Moves.  I had to do some improv on the pinky but knew I'd be stamping over it so it didn't have to be perfect.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Did beach waves on the middle and index using Clear Jelly Stamper CjS-208 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate and MdU 91.  Ring finger is Uprettego JR-424, pinky is MdU ZZ Summer 2 and thumb is SugarBubbles SB 031 using Painted Polish Midnight Mischief.  

Added footsteps in the sand on middle and index using images from CjS-208 and What's Up Nails A019 using Painted Polish Midnight Mischief.

I shrunk the image from SugarBubbles SB 031 to fit on my thumb.  Even shrinking it to the smallest size barely fit my small nails but at least it did fit!  Here's how much is shrunk; it really does make a big difference if you have small nails like me.  

Uprettego JR-424

Clear Jelly Stamper CjS-208

Finished with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  

 Hope you had a good weekend and are enjoying the themed music nails on Monday!

Failed Shadow Stamping

I did these nails on September 24, 2019.  I can't recall if shadow stamping was a thing then or not but if it was and I was trying it out, it clearly didn't work out here!  So many fails in these nails but they are kinda cool in their own way so thought I'd share now!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a gradient base of Color Club East Austin and Youthquake, no top coat, with East Austin as the full base.  

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using an image from UberChic Of Art Magic using Painted Polish Blanc Slate and Midnight Mischief.  I'm not sure if I was shadow stamping, or just wanted something more obvious for the stamped image.  

Uberchic Of Art Magic

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  This is obviously before my use of Apipila No Smear Top coat....or maybe it wasn't even out then.  Quite possible.  This was in the float your topcoat to not smear your stamping days and even though I always waited a bit before applying topcoat, sometimes like shown here, it wasn't long enough or too heavy of a hand was used.  Thank goodness, no smear top coats are available now!  Although, looking at these nails, it might have been cool if the smear was all through the nail on all nails as it kinda gives it a web look!

Thanks for looking!

Tropical Flowers

One of the cool things about vacationing in the tropics is the oh so pretty tropical flowers and I always stop and take lots of pictures of them when I see them.  This is an ode to the tropical florals that I see while on vacation. 

Started with a base of OPI Living on the Bula-vard and Essie Love-all Game, no top coat.

Layered with Fancy Gloss Ethiopian Opal, no top coat.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using Lina 4 Seasons-Summer 02 and UberChic UC Beach Please, using Painted Polish Midnight Mischief.

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.  Had a little bit of stamping smear on the middle finger; this is why I now use Apipila Smudge Free top coat before top coating.

I also used Essie Matte About You as thought it would be nice to see the flakes of the Fancy Gloss and it didn't disappoint.

 

Thanks for looking!

Beachy Blues

I did these nails in the heat of summer last year and I think they are perfect summer nails.  I think they need to be repeated!

Started with a base of two coats of Morgan Taylor Take Me To Your Tribe, no top coat.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  I always top my basecoat with quick dry and let it dry about 5 minutes before doing any sponge gradients as I find it doesn't lift the polish during the sponge process.

Did a sponged gradient using Morgan Taylor Take Me To Your Tribe, BKind Sauble Beach and Quo Stormy Night.  Interesting fact; I was about 5 km from Sauble Beach when I did these nails!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped with an image from UberChic UC 28-03 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate, no top coat.

Finished with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Thanks for looking!

Hearts!

This was an experimental velvet mani and while it's not my best work, I don't think it was my worst.  It gave me good feel for how to do a tinted base on top of a velvet magnetic mani anyway and I will take what I learned this time and apply it to the next one, and hopefully it will turn out better!  Here's what I came up with!  

Started with a base of Polished for Days white soft focus, then added three coats of Cirque Chemistry, magnitized with a 30 lb. magnet.

I knew I was going to put a tint over it as I don't have a red magnetic polish, so topped with Essie Blush Stroke, which wasn't as red as I was looking for, but I at least was happy that you could see the velvet affect underneath.

Topped with a coat of Cirque Lucky Jelly, which was the red I was going for, or at least red enough, yet you could still see magnetic affect underneath.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using image from Nicole Diary-S23 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate.  This was a good image to use as you seen the Valentine themed image, yet seen the velvet nails underneath.

Nicole Diary S-23.

Topped with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

 If I was to do this again, I would try it with a darker base as it took a lot of coats for the silver polish to be opaque enough, so likely a black maybe?  Or look for a more opaque silver magnetic as I have all kinds of ideas with topping jelly polishes over a velvet nail.

Thanks for looking!