Pretty Little Liars: Black and White

I'm sort of having a nail identity crisis of late.  I can't decide if I want to nub them, grow them out, round them, squoval them, or what.  Plus, they're starting to peel again, oh joy, and my glass files are simply not cutting it.  I have a bottle of Quimica Alemana Esmalte Endurecedor para Unas (HOLY MOUTHFUL BATMAN) that Amy from @atlcatsmeow recommended I try after the Rejuvacote debacle, but I'm a bit afraid to use strengtheners now.  I'm also afraid because it doesn't appear to be three free, and while I normally don't care about three free, I do wonder if those chemicals have attributed to the overall crappiness of my nails.  Either way, I know something's got to give, so I'll probably try to use that strengthener more than one mani every two weeks to see if it helps.  We'll see, and I'll definitely keep you posted!  I'm still picking at my polish, which has helped me to tear up some of my nails, too, so that isn't helping the peel factor at all...  Meh.  We'll see.  That all being said, you're going to see shorter squarer nails in tonight's post.

So, I'm still doing the Pretty Little Liars challenge despite the fact that I'm pretty much a season behind.  I'm all caught up with what's on Netflix, but I'm woefully behind on this season.  Today's #RedCoatTuesday challenge is to incorporate black and white into your Pretty Little Liars inspired mani.  Why are we adding black and white?  I have no clue, hah!  But, I'm just going along with the rest of the gang.  Eventually it will make sense to me!

For tonight's post, I'm going to let the photos do most of the talking.  I don't tend to do my more in depth reviews when I do nail art, so I hope that's cool.  Click on the photos see them in more detail.  All photos are under artificial daylight with two coats of Blaze over two coats of gradient and one coat of KBShimmer's Clearly on Top and an uber thin coat of Alter Ego She Shines to gloss it up after a day of wear.

I started tonight's mani with a black and white gradient using Cult Nails Nevermore and Tempest.  Apparently, I shouldn't have used my Lemony Flutter to grease up the skin around my nails for better mess removal...  Because it totally absorbed way too quickly, making it next to impossible to clean up!  What's worse?  Nevermore stained the ever living poop out of my skin, so now my fingers look all dirty.  Yuck.  I tried to get it all off with nail polish remover, but waiting to scrape it off under the shower was a better option for removal.

After applying a coat of topcoat to the gradient to ensure it would dry quickly, I taped off each finger using striping tape.  I then applied two thickish coats of Zoya Blaze and topped it with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

I honestly wanted to do this in the reverse with red on the bottom and gradient on the top, but I was afraid that the red would show up through the white too much.  I'm undecided on whether I like this.  In a way it's pretty and neat, but then it also gets on my nerves because it's not what I had envisioned.

You can buy Cult polishes at their store.  You can buy Zoya polishes at beauty supply stores like Ulta.