Molten Metals

So they other day on the The Daily Nail: REVIEWS, I posted swatches and reviews of the new Milani Liquid Metal Intense Color Collection, which are AMAZING, so I thought I'd give marbling with them a whirl. I'm seriously bummed that I can't capture the gorgeousness of this marble on camera, it's like jewels melted on my nails with their sparkly goodness. If you have the polishes, I suggest you try marbling with them, they're a bit tough to marble with, but the jewel-toned swirls they produce are worth the swearing and frustration they caused.

I used Milani Metal Gear as a base, then used Milani Molten Rock, Milani Hot Metal, and Milani Melt Down to marble over it. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Also, I keep forgetting to mention that I answered all the questions on the 'Thank You For Being A Friend' post the other day, my reply to everyone is in the comments. :)

You're In My Sights

Once upon a time, in a frigid land (Michigan), long, long ago (about 6 years) there were two girls who were the best of friends. They lived together, they went out with friends together, they cooked together, and they...killed together?! Ok, Ok, not really.

To clarify the story, when I was so very much younger, 23, I lived in that frigid land (Michigan), and was one of the girls in the above story... the other was my friend Jacquie, whom I affectionately called/call Yaki. We went to school together for design, lived together for a year, hung out with all the same people, and eventually...got sick of having to explain what we did for a living, what it entailed, and why we did it, so we decided to come up with a far cooler sounding profession...we were going to be professional hitwomen. The joke went so far that I designed us each business cards and had them printed. She was 'the brains', because she was the organized one, and I was 'the brawn' because #1, I have huge muscles (not really), and #2, I can shoot guns. The business cards were simple (mine is shown below, but don't get any ideas- it's not my phone number anymore..hehe), with only the words 'the brains' or 'the brawn' on the front of a black business card in the middle of a gunsight, and on the middle of a stark white back, just a phone number, nothing else. It was fun. We never actually performed any hits, but we did kill a few beers and Yesterdogs* in our time...

*(best hot dogs on earth, in Grand Rapids, MI...order the 'Lucy' if you go)

Fast forward to now. Yaki and I are separated by a few years, and a few thousand miles, but I still have those damn business cards, so today, I did nails to match. :)

My business card:

The nails:

I used American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Nubar Stronghold for the gunsight, then I used Sally Hansen All the White Stuff as a base for American Apparel Downtown L.A. for the red dot in the middle. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Bang Bang, this lady shot you down

36 - 18 - 33

If Barbara Millicent Roberts, or as you may know her, Barbie, was a really person- THOSE would be her measurements- 36" 18" 33", and she would be 5'9". Can you imagine?!?! :) I have nothing against Barbie, I even owned a few in my day (though for some reason my sister and I shaved their heads at one point- did you know that doll hair doesn't grow back?!). To be honest, I still own ONE Barbie, it is the MAC Cosmetics & Barbie Limited Edition Barbie, but I bought that one because I'm a huge MAC dork. (and it is still in the box it was shipped in, INSIDE the packaging!) Anyway, reader Frannie B asked me if I could do a Barbie-inspired nail including the silhouette for her daughter, so here you have it... BTW, my nails have been pink two days in a row... I wonder what's going on with me?! *checks forehead* :-P

I used China Glaze Secondhand Silk as a base with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud to paint the B from the Barbie logo as well as the Barbie head silhouette. Topped everything off with Seche Vite top coat to make everything shine like the hard shiny plastic of Ken's junkless region below the belt. ;)

FUN FUN FUN!

My client here found an amazing inspirational picture on the internet. This is our version of it. Very colorful and fun!

Light spring colors topped off with a little meeeooow!

If you look closely you can see I did an abstract light blue and brown background. Then I added the 3d flowers and some little 3d pearl dots. All of my nails are done with acrylic.

This is opi gel polish in "I'm india mood for love". I added a 3d cupcake. Yum!

Another set of nails that reflect my love of purple and stars.

Just a super cute idea that I stole from another nail tech. Sometimes other people's ideas are just so good that you can't resist!

Eyeko - Vintage Polish & A Mint Green Comparison

Eyeko Vintage Polish

Hi everyone! For today I have another pretty Eyeko nail polish to show you. This is Eyeko's Vintage Polish, for jade green nails. Like all Eyeko polishes the packaging is really cute. But the formula didn't hold up really well next to the previously reviewed ones.

I applied 3 coats, and found the formula to be thick and droopy. It also was a bit streaky, but a good top coat will take care of that. This one belongs to an older collection (The Limited Edition collection) though, and their polishes have improved a lot since then.
I really like the color though, since it's a bit muted I think it would look good against a lot of different skin tones!

Mint Green

I always thought mint green was.. well, mint green. But good old Wikipedia is showing me all kinds of variations:

celadon	moss green	magic mint	mint green	mint

Mint Green Comparison

I also did a quick comparison with the light green colors I own. I've read that Eyeko's Vintage Polish and Chanel Nouvelle Vague are dupish, but I don't think they are, Nouvelle Vague is definitely more blue, but they do share some characteristics like the level of brightness and saturation.

Eyeko polishes cost £3.50 (€4.- or $5.40) for 8.5ml. Eyeko products can be bought online at www.eyeko.com. Their shipping is extremely cheap: either free (if you're in the UK or Europe) or $5.40 for all international orders.

This polish was sent to me for review by Eyeko

Preppy in Pink

Pink and green together to me always looks preppy, and definitely more so in stripes. :-P I had to rush today's design because I forgot I had bowling tonight, and got the call asking where I was AFTER bowling started. :-/ Yikes!

I used China Glaze Secondhand Silk as a base, then applied Nubar Green Tea with BundleMonster plate BM20. Topped it off with Seche Vite top coat.

Get Minxed!

The other day I went to see Sex and the City II. I'm not a big fan of the show or the movies, but there's no way around this: Kim Cattrall's nails were HOT. Throughout the movie she is sporting around 8 different Minx designs, all done by Naomi Yasuda.

What are Minx nails exactly?

Minx is a solid film with an adhesive back that is heat activated. The heat gives Minx the conformability to fit over the compound curves of nails and seals it onto the nail bed. The patent pending proprietary material Minx is made of can be easily removed with heat by either the manicurist or the client.

There are many celebrities rocking this look at the moment, like Lady Gaga, Kate Perry and Beyonce. They sure know how to turn me into a jealous little vixen.

Lady Gaga sporting the famous Golden Lightning design

Get minxed

Seriously, I think they're amazing. Me and my dear friend Judith were already planning on getting some Minx nails done, but now I'm seeing them pop up everywhere they're stuck in my brain. I bet it's going to be pretty expensive, but I think every nailoholic should allow themselves to experience something like this once. Right?! I'll definitely show the outcome on here!

But, this is where it gets nerve-wrecking: what design to choose? There are so many cool ones! You can see an overview here. I'm totally drooling over the "Deep Blue with Silver Lightning Moons" design right now, but I can't make up my mind.

The latest

Minx also has come up with two designs to celebrate the World Cup this year, unfortunately they didn't design a Dutch flag, so uhmm I'll skip that one just to be safe.

If you had to pick one design, which one would it be?

For more information check www.minxnails.com

Image credits go to: Marie Claire, InspiratioNail, IMDB and Meeno Photography

Vosges Visage

I've made it no secret…I LOVE chocolate. Love. IT. I like it dark, milk, white (which isn't really chocolate), filled with caramel, with nougat, with nuts, with peanut butter, BACON?!?!?!, even with coconut, which I hate in any other situation. Anyway, to the point, I get a catalog from a lovely chocolatier called Vosges from time to time, and besides the fact that their chocolate is amazing (seriously, try Mo's Bacon Bar in Milk Chocolate, it will change your life), the art on the Easter catalog was awesome, and I've kept that catalog for months in anticipation that I would do nail art based on the cover illustration one day…and today is that day… :-P

The inspiration

The nails

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with MAC Showy for the line work, Orly Pink Chocolate (perfect right?!) for the pink, American Apparel Palm springs as the peach color on the index finger, OPI Who the Shrek Are You? for the lighter green color seen on the thumb and cuticle edge of the middle finger, and Nubar Green Tea for the leaves on the middle finger. I topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat to give it a tempered chocolate-like sheen and strength. ;)

Matte vs Glossy Ideas

Hi everyone! The weather is not playing along today, it's sooo dark that swatching is utterly useless. So that's why I came up with this little blogpost. Maybe you remember the above picture? I'm not a big nail art fan, but I'm a sucker for subtle stuff. I used a Konad image plate (M57) and stamped a top coat on a matte base, and I really liked the look of this combination.

You don't necessarily need Konad to combine matte and glossy, you'll only need a matte nail polish (or matte top coat) and a shiny top coat or clear polish.

more examples

I came up with some examples, that might be boring for many, but I'm eager to try out myself. If you've got some nice suggestions, please do share!

Matte base with glossy tip	Glossy base with matte tip	Moon mani on matte base	Moon mani on glossy base	Slim glossy tip on matte base
Glossy Ruffian on matte base	Diagonal half	Glossy dots with dotting tool on matte base	Glossy anchor, either stamp or freehand	Glossy stripes, with a striper on matte base

Of course the options are endless! And you can choose any color you wish!

Well dear readers, this was it for today, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the last day of the weekend!
- Michele

The Heat is On

Ok, so the title has nothing to do with the nail art today, which is unusual, but I was at a loss as to what to call this one. However, I DO know that it is hotter than Satan's scrotum here in Vegas today, it's like Lucifer himself has rested his balls on the chin of Las Vegas. Last week it was in the 60s-70s-80s or so.... then it jumped to the hundreds in the last 2 days. WHY, GOD!?! :-P I swear when I go out in the sun I can actually smell my skin sizzling. Sexy, eh? It's so hot my eyelids are sweating, I wasn't built for this crap. :-P

Anyway.

I finally got around to using my butterLONDON Artful Dodger, I've had it for months!

I used butterLONDON Artful Dodger as a base color for all nails but the ring finger, which I used L.A. Girl Army Green. For the large dot, I used American Apparel California Trooper, and for the brown lines, I used MAC Showy. Topped everything off with two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Don't forget to check The Daily Nail: REVIEWS later tomorrow, there will be some new reviews & swatches!!

Also, I will have the answers to the questions asked on the 'Thank You For Being a Friend' post. I typed them all up, but got an error when I published my comment, so I lost all I typed (this time I'll be smart enough to type it in another program and cut & paste. :-P)