Summer Manicure

I saw this manicure on The Nailasaurus' blog and thought it was so cute and interesting looking.  It was surprisingly very simple.  I bought Sinful Color's - Aquamarine but had yet to use it so when I saw this manicure, I thought I can incorporate the pretty blue color and had the perfect jelly pink - Sally Hansen's Love Rocks to go with it.  When I began I started using a thin short painting brush from Michael's craft store.  That was a mistake.  The lines were way too thick and messy looking.  So since I don't own an actual nail art brush, I used a striper polish brush that I clean well with acetone.  That made a huge difference.  My lines are no way exactly straight and my right hand is not very neat since I'm right handed, but I was happy with the way it turned out.  It was my first attempt at a manicure of this type and my first time using a nail art brush in this way.  Tonight I will work on getting up the pictures of the giveaway for next week.  Thanks for visiting!!

Mother's Day Manicure

Base Color: Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails - Love Rocks,  Stamp Color: Jordana - Cabaret & Rhinestones from E-Bay

So this is my first official nail art post.  I put the kids to bed and got to work on this. Please excuse my photography, I'm working on it.  I shared pictures from different types of light.  I'm trying to find out what works best.  So for the last month or so I've been using Nailtek Foundation 2 as a base coat and Seche Vite as a top coat.  I notice that my manicure won't last beyond a day and a half or so with that combination before it starts peeling off in sheets.  I also noticed that my nails are peeling.  I'm not sure what's causing it but I decided to go with something different.  

I purchased Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails base coat and used OPI's Rapid Dry Top Coat for this manicure.  I'm trying to find a top coat that will dry as quick as Seche Vite but not shrink.  As much as I love Seche Vite's drying time, I can no longer ignore the ridiculous shrinking and awful smell.  I can do a manicure and within a few hours the nail polish has shrunk back so much you don't even have to look closely to see a big space of naked nail at the top of my nail.  I can't see putting so much time and effort into a manicure only for it to be ruined by shrinkage. Although for this manicure after using OPI's Rapid Dry top coat, I was forced to go over it with Seche Vite. OPI's Rapid Dry just didn't cut it.  It had very little shine and was taking forever to dry.  I'm going to try out Essie's - Good to Go fast dry top coat.  We'll see how that goes.

I do like the Sally Hansen base coat though.  My nails do feel stronger than with the Nailtek base coat.  And they have yet to chip.  It's also free of the "The Big 3" harmful toxins, and inexpensive ($2 Walmart) which is always a plus.  On another note, I have been reading Sammy's blog post's from her Nailsaurus blog all weekend.  She has a post on just about everything nail related, I was reading up on her photography.  I can't believe her work! She is out of this world good!  It's like each post is better than the last. I thought I would share her link because it got my nail art ideas going.  Thanks for visiting!!