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.
So, for some silly reason, I decided to do a challenge... You know me. I can never commit to a full challenge, so we'll see how this works out. I chose Crumpet's Nail Tarts Golden Oldie Thursday challenge because 1) it will make me use older polishes that have been collecting dust in my helmers, 2) hopefully it'll help me get back on track with blogging more regularly, and 3) it isn't all about nail art! So, let's take a look at the rules and then my mani.
First, here are the challenges I've signed up for:
Next, the rules are as follows:
- The polish you use must be at least a year old.
- If you haven't been a polishaholic for that long, you can use the oldest polishes you have.
- The polish should be previously used, but if you're stuck, you can use a polish from your untrieds stack.
- You can use more than one polish as long as it fits the rules.
All polishes were either purchased by me or were given to me as gifts.
So, my choices for tonight's challenge are Cult Nails Time Traveler, which is my favorite navy blue ONE COAT creme, and Lynnderella Mlle Violet de Bleu.
Both of these polishes are over a year old, but only Time Traveler has been used before. I just couldn't do this mani without using MVDB. It was entrenched in my brain, so I just had to go with it.
First, I put down one coat of MVDB without undies. I wanted the naked parts of my nail to peek through the stripes and glitter. MVDB is a very densely packed glitter polish, so I needed to use the dab method. It spread easily and dried quickly. I ended up using a layer of KBShimmer Clearly on Top just to make sure that the striping tape didn't mess up my undies.
Next, I used a pretty significant amount of striping tape, and then topped it with Time Traveler. Have I mentioned that it's a one coater? Yeah. Awesome... So I only needed to use one thick coat for the desired effect. The only bad thing about Time Traveler is that it's a skin stainer, so make sure you keep it away from the skin around your nails.
I let this mani dry a little bit on its own, and then I applied another layer of Clearly on Top. I love this stuff because it doesn't shrink, it dries hard, and, for the most part, it doesn't smear nail art. After that, I was done!
Nail art always takes me forever to do, which is super frustrating and why I never usually do it. However, the outcome is just so pretty that I may try to incorporate more nail art into my repertoire. I really enjoyed doing this week's challenge, so I'm pretty pumped about doing the rest of them! Next week is purple, and I have a polish that I wore to my sophomore homecoming that I'm planning to use. And if you know how old I am, you know that was a little over 15 years ago.
You can purchase Cult polishes here. Follow them on Facebook and IG for news and updates. Unfortunately MVDB has been discontinued. I was lucky to find this beauty on a blog sale, so keep your eyes on the sales boards because they do pop up every once in a while! You can purchase other Lynnderellas at their eBay store. Follow their fan pages on Facebook and IG.
Check out the rest of the gorgeous stripe manis from the other GOT Polish participants!
All polishes were either purchased by me or were given to me as gifts.
