Light Blue Gradient

I have a special mani to show everyone today. This is a gradient mani using only Wet n Wild- Blue Wants to be a Millionaire. I got many compliments on this, and was asked frequently where I got my nails done; but I did these myself and it was fairly easy! Blue Wants to be a Millionaire is a sheer blue jelly with micro prismatic glitter particles. It builds up very nicely and is opaque in three coats. Although it looks like the finish of this would be rough due to the glitter, it was so smooth that it felt like I was wearing a creme. I topped it off with one coat of Gelous followed by one coat of Seche Vite.

I did not use a sponge of any sort with this gradient, just the polish brush. First I painted my entire nail with one coat of Blue Wants to be a Millionaire. I then painted about 2/3 up my nail with a second coat. Lastly, I painted a third coat on the top third (the tips) of my nails. This turned out amazing and this polish works so well for gradients!

The formula on Blue Wants to be a Millionaire is INCREDIBLE! I had this mani on for over three days with no chips whatsoever! I didn't want to remove it, but I have plenty of untrieds to get through. This polish can be found fairly inexpensive at Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreen's. It usually retails for $1.99, but Wet n Wild usually has good deals and I've seen it for $1. The pink sister polish to this (in the same collection) is Hannah Pinktana. I did a gradient using it last Valentine's Day.

I have been slacking on regularly updating my hauls, so here are some goodies for your viewing pleasure!

Wicked Polish! The names of these sold me. Plus they're very unique! 

F4 Polish- Drunken Zombie and Candy Lacquer- O Christmas Tree

Loreal- Amazon's Flash, Julep- O Canada!, ULTA- Hide and Go Sequins mini (Deborah Lippmann- Across the Universe dupe), Blue Cross Halloween pumpkin, Disney Villains unamed bronze shimmer

All that Glitters- Horror Business and Night Fright and Illamasqua- holiday duo with Glitterati and Viridian (my first Illamasquas!)

HURRY UP AND ENTER THE THANKSGIVING MULTI-BLOGGER GIVEAWAY! LESS THAN TWO DAYS LEFT :)

Some Red Mani Combinations

I have not updated for a few days because I had a busy week, but I have two manis to show you that both feature red!

 Here's China Glaze- Oxidized Aqua over an unnamed Sally Girl red mini. Oxidized Aqua is part of the Crackle Metals collection that came out last summer.

 These colors went pretty well together. The red leaned more orange, so blue and orange are definitely contrasting colors. I was impressed with how much Oxidized Aqua crackled. You could see a lot of the red through it. 

I feel like I've been wearing crackles like they're going out of style. No pun intended.

This particular combination reminds me of this:

Here is the unnamed red by itself:

 With the flash (pre clean-up) it almost resembles a coral. It's between a coral and a red-orange. I wish that it had a name!

Here it is without the flash. It looks more orange here and this is probably more accurate to how the shade looks in real life. Those Sally Girl mini bottles are so awkward to hold because they're teeny tiny!  It was also rather difficult to tell if this polish was a creme or a jelly because it was somewhat sheer. I am only wearing two coats of it here, so it leans more towards a creme.

On to my next red mani!

 This is OPI's Double Decker Red topped off with Crown Me Already! I also cut my nails, so the nubs are back yet again.

 I did a gradient of Crown Me Already over Double Decker Red. Crown Me Already is from the Summer 2011 Miss USA collection. For the first coat I went about 2/3 down the nail, and then put three coats of Crown Me Already on the tips so that it was opaque.

I love doing gradients with glitter and I enjoy the way this combination looks on short nails; very classy and elegant.

Here's Double Decker Red on it's own pre clean-up with the flash. It is from OPI's 2003 British Collection. This one is a black label. The formula was a little thin and runny but with 2 coats it was opaque.

I've been pretty good with my hauling lately, but here are some new additions:

Revlon- Sparkle Aplenty, 2Chix- Chucky Finster, Maybelline Boho Gold and Avante Green

Effie Trinket Inspired Mani

In honor of the Hunger Games, I decided to do a mani inspired from the mani that Effie Trinket wears during the reaping in the movie. I'm going to see it tomorrow and I can't wait! I used two coats of Sally Hansen- Red Ruby followed by a gradient of Julep-Oscar. This picture is with the flash.

Here it is blurred without the flash. I was really surprised how smoothly Oscar applied. Normally glitter this concentrated feels really gritty but it has a very smooth finish to it. 

Here's a more in-focus picture without the flash, but of course the lighting made it look yellowed.

Here is Sally Hansen- Red Ruby all by itself pre clean-up. My cuticles look HORRIBLE here!  This is an old one. I'm guessing it's almost ten years old! The bottle says "Chrome Nail Makeup". The polish isn't nearly as chrome as the bottle depicts it to be, but I thought it would be a perfect shade for this mani. Also the color doesn't remind me of it's name "Red Ruby". It looks more like a fuchsia. I have many polishes that have survived throughout the years and I'm planning on featuring them in my blog. I have purchased nail polish thinner and revived most of them. I am going to start a new tag and call it "the vintage gem". I'm going to try to incorporate these on a consistent basis.

Valentines Day Mani, Nail Mail, and CVS Haul

The winner of the 100 followers giveaway got back to me. Congratulations Joanna! She has a blog, you can check it out here. Thanks for entering everybody! Remember I will have another giveaway in the near future!! Alright, so on to my Valentine's Day Mani!

I decided to give a gradient mani a try. I used Wet n Wild- Hannah Pinktana with Nicole by OPI- Step to the Beat of My Heart. Hannah Pinktana is a sheer pink jelly with micro prismatic glitter. It worked very well for a gradient mani. How have I not tried a gradient mani before? They're amazing! I used the Step to the Beat of My Heart a few times before. In my head I call it Justin Bieber Hearts haha. Before I had difficulty with it because the pointy ends of the hearts would stick up and catch on things and rip off. This time I waited for the polish to get tacky after I put Step to the Beat of my Heart on and then I used a toothpink to press the hearts in the polish. This way all of the edges were submerged in polish. I then topped it off with Seche Vite.

Without the flash.

I went to CVS and picked up some new polishes. I have seen pictures of the Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect line and have wanted them for a while. I picked up Dune and Sea. I have a job interview on Thursday so I figured Dune would be the perfect neutral. I picked up Sea because it was green!

CVS had the new Wet n Wild Spoiled line. I picked up Show Me the Money, Pet My Peacock, and Trust Fund Baby (Correction Tape dupe)

Shuffle the Deck, Ants in My Pants, Jewelry Heist, and I Gotta Confection to Make. Most of these glitters look like they are meant to be layered over a base color.

I then received some nail mail from Sherry from Happy Berry Naiad. This is Etude House- Bling Bling, and ORLY- Satin Society. I can't wait to try these!