Neon vertical gradient holo nail art happyfuntimes!

As much as I'm excited for autumn and cool weather and pumpkin spice and Halloween nail art, it is still summer.  Technically autumn doesn't begin until September 22; it doesn't feel like autumn begins until at least October here in Maryland.  So, behold, I have more in-your-face neon nail art for you!

This is pretty similar to the last vertical gradient that I did, except this time I used a white base and focused on neon polish rather than holographic polish.  (But don't worry, I still added a holo top coat because YASS.)  Also, this time I didn't go in the order of the rainbow, but in the order of however I felt like it.

 

My nails almost-flawlessly transition from Essie Strut Your Stuff to Salon Perfect Loopy Lime to Sephora Brazilian Sun to ORLY Ablaze to OPI No Doubt About It to ORLY Hot Tropics.  Admittedly, the OPI to ORLY nail could be a bit brighter, but I got impatient after 3 sponged-on coats and didn't feel like doing 4 or more.

 

dat holo <3

Half of these polishes dried matte, because they're neon and apparently that's a thing with neon polishes.  I don't really know why.  Is it because science?  Do super-neon colors work better as chemicals if they have a matte finish?  Someone who knows things about making polish please tell me.  As fun as a half-matte, half-glossy nail would be, I chose to go all glossy because China Glaze Fairy Dust has a glossy finish.  And this manicure NEEDED to be holo because ALL manicures should be holo.  (I think my new-found obsession with Simply Nailogical's YouTube videos just may be turning me into a holosexual.  Cristine, be proud, you've converted another one!)

After a few days, I decided to add to the magic that is this mani.  How else to add to this besides a trippy vinyl design? :D

I didn't really feel like getting out my macro lens, but I took a sort-of macro with my regular camera.

My edges got a teeny bit sloppy, because I laid the black polish on thick and it smeared a little when I lifted off the vinyls.  A bit disappointing, but still an incredible mani, don't you think?

I still have a couple of bright summer-y manicures to show you over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!  Are you getting sick of the brightness and looking forward to deeper autumn manis?  Personally, I'm SUPER stoked for autumn, but neon polish is my favorite so I'm going to stick with it as long as I feel like it.  And by that, I mean until I start thinking of great Halloween manis!

October nail art challenge Day 4: Candy Corn!

Oh boy!  I love candy corn!  And I have the absolute perfect colors for it.

Sally Hansen Orange Zest, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, and Salon Perfect Sugar Cube paired up for a great candy corn gradient.  My nails look good enough to eat!  In fact, they smell good enough to eat, too.  The Mani of the Month box that I got for September is Monster themed, and Dream Polish put in a scented base and top coat.  The scent is called Zombie Food, and I can't quite place it, but it smells delicious!  Scented polish technology has certainly come a long way from the nasty grape stuff I had when I was a kid.

Here's the challenge for you!  It's not too late to start playing along, so start thinking about what pattern you'll do for the 7th if you'd like!

Destash Sale!

This has been inevitable for months now.  My nail polish stash has finally reached its breaking point, so I'm selling off some of my underappreciated stash!  Please note that there are no flaws with these polishes (save for some separation in a few of them, which can be fixed).  And I'm not hating on any of these polishes or brands.  In fact, I'm selling these off because I recognize that they're too pretty to be stuck in my Helmer, getting passed over for my other shades!  It's just that I either never reach for these shades, or I have another bottle or two of a very similar color by a different (or the same) brand, or some combination of the two.

Some are lightly used (LU) - one full manicure or 4-nail swatch; some are barely used (BU) - used in nail art or Do I Need Them All but never fully swatched; and some are like new never used (LNNU).  (I say "like new" instead of "brand new" because most of these have been sitting in my stash for a while and I feel weird saying that they're "brand new.")

Note to indie makers: if you feel that I am doing your business a disservice by reselling your polish at these prices, please contact me!  I don't want to offend any of you, because I truly love you all. 

$6 Polishes

Finger Lickin' Lacquer Rockin' Robin: LNNU
Philly Loves Lacquer Wooder Ice: LNNU

Zoya Sage: LNNU
China Glaze Don't Be Foiled: LNNU
Jamberry Ruby: LNNU

$5 Polishes

Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Fuzz-Sea: LU
Sally Hansen Big Smoky Top Coat Smoky: BU
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker: LU

Zoya Frida: LU
Zoya Mikka: BU
Essie Style Cartel: LU

OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too: LU
ORLY Saturated: BU
ORLY Hook Up: BU

Virago Varnish Faith Hope Courage: LU (some separation has occurred)
Firecracker Lacquer Purple Peep-le Eater: BU
Smoky Mtn Lacquers Eggstra Special: BU
6 Harts Polish Blue Eyed Bunny: BU

Finger Paints First Edition: BU
Finger Paints Monet Money: BU
Finger Paints Magritte's Masterpiece: BU

China Glaze Ingrid: BU
China Glaze Flying Dragon: LU
Julep Elle: LU

$4 Polishes

Sweet Heart Polish Peach Cobbler: LNNU
Zoya Anais: LNNU
Jior Couture Seeing Is Believing: LU

$3 Polishes

CDB Lacquer Passionate: LU
CDB Lacquer Everyone's a Star: LNNU
Gothic Gala Lacquers Pretty in Peep: LNNU
Live Life Polished (I'm not 100% sure if that's the right brand) Blue Moon: LNNU
ULTA Aubergine Queen: BNNU

Amelia Knight Color Couture Gold Glitter: LU
Amelia Knight Color Couture Coral Creme: BU
Amelia Knight Color Couture Silver Metallic: BU
Amelia Knight Color Couture Purple Metallic: LU
Pop-arazzi Lime-ousine Ride: LNNU

Covergirl Glosstini Pyro Pink: BU
Covergirl Glosstini Flamed Out: LU

As a special, I'm offering my nail polish cozies at a reduced price with every bottle of polish that you purchase!  Standard size cozies are regularly $5, Long cozies are regularly $6, and Mini cozies are regularly $4.  But if you're buying from my stash sale, then you can get Standard/Long cozies for $3 and Minis for only $2!  Polish cozies are a great way to help protect your pretties in the mail; they're also adorable when giving polish as a gift!  Colors will be random but I promise that they'll be pretty.  You can order up to one special-priced cozy per bottle of polish that you order; if you'd like to order extra cozies, they'll be regular priced.  (Large sized cozies are not applicable to the special pricing as none of the polishes that I am selling require a large cozy.)

Shipping charges & payment

Shipping costs $4 for up to 4 bottles.  Add one dollar per bottle above that.  So if you order 3 bottles, shipping will be $4; if you order 8 bottles, shipping will be $8.  Orders of $50 or higher will receive free shipping.  I will ship USPS First Class, which includes a tracking number.  If you wish to add insurance, signature confirmation, or any other USPS add-on, you will be responsible for the additional cost.  These prices are for United States postage ONLY.  If you are international, shipping charges are likely to be quite high but they can be arranged.

Payment will be done through PayPal.  After you fill out the form below, I will calculate your total and send you a PayPal Friends and Family request.  There is no fee for this if you use your bank account directly (rather than a credit/debit card)!  Please allow up to 24 hours for a request to be sent as I am a human who can't just hit refresh all day. :)  If your total is not what you expected, feel free to contact me before paying and we'll figure it out.

I will do my best to check the form responses quickly and make sure to update this post with the polishes that have been sold.  In the event that multiple people request the same polish before I get a chance to update the post, I will solely go on a first-come, first-serve basis according to the time stamps on the Google Forms response.  I will NOT allow bidding on any of the polishes, nor will I play favorites to anybody.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at katenailingit@gmail.com.

Okay, I think that covers everything.  Fill out the form below, and share this post with anyone you think might be interested in buying off some of my stash!

Independence Day Nail Art

Happy Independence Day Weekend, everybody!  And happy regular weekend to my non-American readers ;)

The Fourth of July was the very first time I tried my hand at nail art - you can see my 100% freehand, no-tools flag design in last year's post.  Ever since then, I've enjoyed playing with different designs to celebrate the holiday.

This year's design is inspired by Jamberry's wrap design  Black and White Quad.  I've been doing abstract designs for the past two years, and I kind of wanted to stick with that.  I'm also really proud of how not-yellow my nails are right now, so I wanted to show them off with a bit of naked nail art!

The colors I used are the same as always for the 4th: OPI An Affair in Red Square, China Glaze Blue Iguana, and Sally Hansen Hi Ho Silver.  My bottle of An Affair in Red Square is quite old and I didn't add enough polish thinner to it - so it was actually really hard to get even coverage across the tips of my nails.  It was so thick and gloopy that even with two coats of fast-dry top coat, plus a few coats of Zoya's quick-dry drops, AND washing my hands a few times in cold water, it was still wet enough to get dinged and smooshed after a few hours!  It may be time to retire this beauty :'(

So, after I'd painted the silver base on my left hand, I was suddenly struck with inspiration to use my Crackle polishes.  I tested the idea out on my right ring finger and I liked it so much that I went a little crazy with different combinations!

My silver crackle is Sally Hansen Fractured Foil, while the blue is OPI Turquoise Shatter.  I used the same red, blue, and silver underneath the crackles and decided to see what crackle looks like over naked nail because why not?  I think my favorite look on this hand, especially for the Fourth of July, is my ring finger.

What do you think of this mixed mani nail art?  Which style is your favorite?  Got any exciting plans for the holiday?  Let me know in the comments!

HOLO RAINBOW

I've recently discovered that gradient nail art is one of my favorite things to do.  But so far, I've always done the same gradient on all 10 nails, using a maximum of four colors.  This time, I decided not only to do each nail in a different color, but also to switch up the direction of my gradient!

This vertical rainbow holographic gradient turned out pretty darn awesome, although it looked a little bit neater in my head.  And I couldn't stomach the idea of leaving out an entire nail, or of photographing my right hand, so once again you get to see my stubby little broken pinky nail!

I used Gothic Gala Lacquers Make It So, My Partner In Crime, It's Green Sir, The Dancing Doctor (all from the Star Trek collection), Sinfully Stephanie, and All Mixed Up Lacquers Look At My Holo from the Nail Chicks Be Like... collection.  Each nail got two colors, starting with red and ending with pink as the rainbow goes.  Then I topped it all off with China Glaze Fairy Dust because why not make it sparkle even more?

As you can see, I had a bit of a hard time sponging the colors all the way down to my cuticles.  Even though I used a latex mani barrier and sponged all over it, I just couldn't fill in that little line of black base around my cuticles.  A problem I find unique to vertical gradients.

This was all done on top of a black base, Salon Perfect Oil Slick.  I decided to use black as a base instead of white to help make the holos pop, and to make the mani look a bit darker overall.  I'm pretty sure that a white base would have made the colors look a lot more pastel, which would be nice but that wasn't the look I wanted today.

SHAZAM!  Look at that holo polish + Fairy Dust in action!

I had intended to make a video tutorial for this look, but as I was setting up my tabletop tripod, one of the legs snapped right off!  I do still have my full-size tripod but it was way too awkward to work around.  Maybe when I get a replacement tripod, I'll just have to do another gradient and make a tutorial!

Side note: my right pointer finger has had a nerve twitching in it on and off for a few weeks now.  It's not painful and it stops for a day here and there, so I haven't bothered to get it checked out.  Anyway, when that nerve twitches, it causes my pointer finger to twitch really quickly.  It's been annoying to have to deal with that while painting my nails - this was going on the whole time I swatched the Nail Chicks Be Like collection - but, clearly, I managed to work through it!  I'm impressed that I was able to do a full nail art mani with my twitchy finger.

What do you think of this design?  Let me know in the comments!

China Glaze Let The Beat Drop

As I browsed the clearance polishes on a recent visit to ULTA, I debated buying up every Zoya shade (they were $4.95!), but decided against it since all they had was a few shades from the Matte Velvet collection, which I was never even really tempted by.  Then, I noticed this glitter from China Glaze's summer 2015 collection on clearance for only 97 cents!  I would practically have been cheating myself if I didn't buy that one.  So I got it!

The base of Let The Beat Drop used to be clear.  Many swatchers painted this over white last summer, and their white polish is still white.  But the base in my bottle has drastically changed to not just a tint but a straight up pink jelly base.  That's probably why this was on clearance for less than a dollar.  I have no idea if this is a fluke in my bottle, or if the color bleed happened to every bottle after a year.  I'd be really interested to know if this polish has a shelf life, so to speak.  If anyone reading this has had this polish since it came out, please let me know if your base has changed color!

Even with the base color change, I still enjoy the neon glitter.  It does make some of the glitters harder to see, but that just makes the dark magenta glitters stand out that much more!

I couldn't decide on one color to show under the glitter, so I went with a bunch.  My pointer finger has two coats over naked nail; middle has two coats over white; ring has two coats over black; pinky has one coat over China Glaze I Brake For Colour.  The pink base doesn't really show up over black in the photos, but in direct sunlight in person it looks pretty weird - slightly-pink-tinted-black just isn't my cup of tea, I guess.  But in dimmer and artificial light, it looks great over black!

I really like the glitter density of this one!  Application was nice - the base wasn't goopy or runny, and the glitters didn't cling to the brush or stay globbed together on my nail.  I wasn't left with any bare spots at one or two coats, either.  Because my pinky nail is so skinny, I got more density over the nail on one coat than I got on any of my other nails, which is why I didn't bother adding a second coat on that nail.

I tried Let the Beat Drop out on top of a neon green and a neon yellow on my right hand, and blech.  The pinkness of the base did not blend well with those colors, so much so that I didn't even want to show it on the blog.  I bet it would have looked great over those colors when the base was clear, though!

What do you think of this glitter?  Do you have it? if you do, has your base color changed from clear to pink over time?  Please let me know in the comments!

(This swatch is a few weeks old, from before my pinky nail broke off.  It hasn't sprung back to life in the last week, which would be awesome!)

Winter Break Nail Art

I was super busy over the holidays!  Derek's parents came to visit us in mid-December, and we went to the Poconos for a week.  They were with us for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, as were Derek's brother and his girlfriend.  Six of us in one apartment sure was crowded, especially for a whole week!  Derek's parents stayed with us until halfway through the first week of January.  And then two days later, Derek and I headed out for Jamaica for his former roommate's wedding!  It. was. incredible.  We stayed at the Half Moon Resort in Montego Bay, and it was absolutely paradise.  A week after we got back, my best friend since 8th grade came to visit us for a few days!  So, basically, I was in vacation mode from mid-December to mid-January.  It was a lot of fun but honestly kind of exhausting - I'm really happy to be back on my regular schedule.

Despite all of the awesome things I did throughout the month, I still had time to do my nails several times, plus Maddie's and Allison's.  Rather than spread everything out over the course of several posts, I figured I would just dump the month's nail art into one post.  Get ready, there are a LOT of pictures ahead!

First up is my first Christmas-themed manicure, which I did in the first week of December (I think. it's been a while.)  I used Zoya's Naked system to clean up the color of my nails and brighten my white tips, then painted on stripes using Spoiled by Wet n'Wild Show Me the Money, OPI Wocka Wocka, and OPI My Voice is a Little Norse.

This look was inspired by Juli of Juli's Nails and Co.  Her original post can be found here.  I loved her design so much that I had to recreate it using Christmas colors!

Right before we left for the Poconos, I once again recreated my favorite winter wonderland scene.  Only this time, I used a different color for the background: Julep Margaret.  The white is Salon Perfect Sugar Cube, and the glitter flakes are once again Nicole by OPI Heavenly Angel.  I also threw a coat of Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun on my middle finger, because more glitter = more fun!

Since we were in the Poconos for a whole week, I of course wanted to redo my nails.  We were planning on going to see the new Star Wars movie while we were there, so I did a sort of abstract representation of the Force: Dark Side/Light Side.  For this look, I used Gothic Gala Lacquers The Search For Spock, Sally Hansen CSM Hi Ho Silver, and China Glaze Fairy Dust.

I kept the Force look on for as long as possible, but sadly we didn't end up going to see the movie.  On Christmas Eve, I did both my nails and Maddie's for Christmas!

My middle finger nail was inspired by one of the Christmas ornaments that I made!  I used Sugar Cube as a background and topped it with Twisted Colors Elf Vomit and some Fairy Dust.  I also used Gothic Gala Make It So and It's Green, Sir. 

The overall idea for this look was vaguely inspired by an old mani made by 3girlsnails on Instagram.  I actually can't find a link to the original post because I can't find 3girlsnails anymore!  I've had a screenshot of her mani on my phone since last May, and this user must have changed her IG handle or something.  If anybody knows what she calls herself now (or if she has disappeared from the nail art community), please let me know! 

Maddie wanted a very similar look for Christmas, although she didn't want the glitter accent.  I used the same colors on her as I did for my own Christmas nails - after all, I only had a small assortment of polishes with me on vacation!  One difference I made for Maddie was that I used a thin layer of CDB Lacquer Spirited underneath the red and green to make the holographic features of the colors pop a little better.

Maddie and James have a pretty big group of friends who live quite close to us near DC, so we all went to party with them on New Year's Eve!  I wanted to have another chance to wear my gorgeous flapper dress that I won from Unique Vintage, so I asked Maddie to glam it up with me.  Only this time, I did my makeup and nails in a more modern fashion! 

I went for a glitzy gray-to-blue metallic gradient on my nails.  The blue is actually a thermal nail polish, but I think because of the gradient you couldn't really tell.  Either that, or because it's winter my nails were just constantly super cold ;)  I sponged CDB Lacquer Angelic Demon and He Sees All on top of Zoya Ryan.  The two CDB Lacquers are from the Apocalypse Averted collection, which I own in its entirety and will eventually get around to swatching!  And because I was feeling glitzy, I put two little star studs on my pointer and ring finger nails.

The main reason we didn't get around to seeing The Force Awakens is because Maddie had never seen the original movies, and she wanted to see them first.  We did manage to watch the three films over the course of the two weeks that we spent together, but unfortunately we didn't see Episode VI until their last day with us.  So after they left, Derek and I FINALLY got to go see the new one together!  (I solemnly swear to see the next two episodes on opening weekend.  Waiting three weeks to see this one was agony for me!) 

I of course wore my Han Solo dress from Hot Topic.  And I figured that if Han Solo was a girl (Hanna Solo?), she would totally paint her nails to match her favorite outfit.  So I did just that!

I used Zoya Demetria and Ling, and Salon Perfect Oil Slick and Sugar Cube.

I was quite proud of the vests I painted on my thumbs. :3

Naturally, I did paint my nails to match my dress that I wore for the wedding in Jamaica, but I didn't take any pictures of the look.  It was a very simple mani - Zoya Zuza with an accent nail of China Glaze I Brake For Colour.  Since I've swatched both of those polishes on the blog already, I didn't really feel like taking photos of it for the blog.

Allison's nails were something new for me!  Her nails are usually very short, but she got some acrylic tips put on right before she came to visit us.  I've never painted acrylics before, nor such pointy stilettos!  There were a lot of exciting things I would have liked to do, but Allison prefers a more simple look, so we went with a black and silver French manicure using Oil Slick and Hi Ho Silver.

 I like interlacing fingers with someone when I do our nails together:

Ugh, please ignore the giant ugly cut on my knuckle.  There will be more details on my pink nails next week!

What do you think of all of this nail art?  Which look is your favorite?  What kinds of holiday designs did you wear during the holidays?

Christmas Crafting: Nail Polish Ornaments

Got any nail polishes that you love the look of but never wear and don't want to get rid of?  Do you own any Mentality nail polish that you don't feel safe wearing?  Or are you like me, and have a ton of polish and want to actually use some of it up?  Then I've got a craft that I think you'll enjoy!

 

I got this idea from Elizabeth of My World Sparkles Lacquers.  At first I was a little weary to dump out significant amounts of polish at a time, but then I was like "oh please, look at how many bottles of nail polish you have! Do iiiit."  So I bought a 12-pack of small glass ornaments from JoAnn Fabrics (I assume you can find these at most craft stores and pretty much anywhere with a good selection of ornaments) and decked them out!

Elizabeth used much bigger ornaments, so she set hers up on top of open mason jars while they dried.  Since the ornaments that I bought are so small (probably about 1.5" in diameter), I propped mine up on top of opened lotion bottles and their caps.

The process was simple, though a bit lengthy:

1. Pour polish into bulb

2. Swirl polish around, coating entire interior

3. Pour out immediate excess (back into polish bottle - no need to waste yet!)

4. Set ornament tilted downwards, so that no polish will drip out, and allow excess to gather

5. Pour out excess polish (at this point, it's probably thickened enough that you won't want to put it back into the bottle.  I laid out paper towels and newspaper.)

6. Set ornament upright

7. Repeat steps 4-5 if necessary

8. Set ornament upside down and allow to drip out. (Keep an eye on it, though - I let too much polish drip out of one of them and it ended up less opaque than I wanted it!)  Elizabeth put paper towels into her mason jars for this step, but I didn't really want to clean out all of my lotion bottles.  What I ended up doing was only dripping out one ornament at a time into an empty water bottle.

9. Add a second coat if necessary, and repeat steps 1-8 (but don't pour the excess back into the bottle in step 3 if you're using a different color!)

When layering different polishes in these, be sure to do it in the opposite order of painting your nails!  Apply glitters/toppers first, then the base color.

Since I was doing so many of these, I usually started the next ornament after step 3 of the previous one.  It was so much fun!  My dining room was filled with lots of odd scents between the opened lotion bottles and all of the nail polish!  Not exactly the smell I'm used to when decorating for Christmas. :)

Here's a video tutorial of my process:

 

I'm so excited to hang these on our tree this year!  Since we don't have a tree yet (it's in the mail!), I used a bobby pin and my regular light box to take photos of my lovely new ornaments.  Pretty crafty, eh?

Sinful Colors Twilight Twinkles and Sally Hansen CSM Hi Ho Silver

I actually bought Twilight Twinkles specifically for this craft!  I'd hoped that I would use most of it up, but there's still plenty left.  These small ornaments probably only use about 1/4-1/3 of a full-sized bottle of polish.  If you really want to use up a whole bottle of polish, either get bigger ornaments or do multiple ornaments in the same color!

Twisted Colors Elf Vomit and China Glaze White on White

I was hesitant to use Twisted Colors polishes in these ornaments, because sadly Twisted Colors has closed their shop, possibly forever.  But the three Christmas polishes that I got last year are just so perfect for these that I decided to sacrifice some future manis.

Jior Couture Son of a Nutcracker

Nicole by OPI Heavenly Angel and Zoya Mosheen

I considered adding a white background to this one, but I rather like it clear!  Hopefully I can place it strategically in front of a light bulb on the tree so the light can sparkle through.

Ellagee Jeweled Egg Hunt

Okay, I'm going to need to swatch this one soon.  It's amAzing.  All that density is in only two coats!  I'm sure that on the nail, one coat would be almost completely opaque.

Wet n Wild Rockin' Rubies and Sally Hansen CSM Red My Lips

Youch, my phone really messed this one up.  It's nowhere near this neon red in person - and it's actually quite sparkly!  But cameras hate the color red, as I've learned quite well over the past year.

Twisted Colors All Spruced Up and Spoiled by Wet n Wild Green to be Heard

I mean, how could I NOT use this one for an ornament?!  It's so perfect!

Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals and Sally Hansen CSM Blue My Mind

This is the one that I accidentally let too much polish drip out of.  Oops!  I still like it.

Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough and Hi Ho Silver

The Wet n Wild polish is actually pretty black, but even two coats of it was super sheer in the ornament.  I chose to use a silver background because I figured black would be a bit too dark for a Christmas ornament!  (As in, literally too dark.  Not that I think black is too depressing or whatever.)

Twisted Colors Star of Wonder and Essie Style Cartel

Unghhh. So pretty!  It's much darker and more sparkly in person, but as always, dark colors + camera = bleh.

 

Jior Couture Means a Little Bit More and 

Creative Cuticles Nail Polish Please Have Snow and Mistletoe

I couldn't decide which of these glitters I'd prefer to use, so I mixed them!  I really like the glitter ornaments that I didn't add a background color to.  They look like snowglobes!

Wet n Wild 24 Carats

The little flakes don't show up so well in this shot, but this polish has some gorgeous red flakies in it!  It's super gorgeous and very Christmasy.

Have you ever done anything like this?  What are your favorite Christmas/holiday decorations?  Let me know in the comments!