A girl and her love of nail polish

Posts tagged ‘Orly’

30 Day Challenge Day 30 – Tutorial: Bold Retro Wallpaper Nail Art

It’s Day 30 of the 30 Day Challenge, and I’m proud to say that I made it all the way to the end without missing a day. Not bad for my first challenge!

Off the top, I’d like to thank Rachel from Polished Criminails for getting this iteration of the challenge going and for organizing the InLinkz codes that made it possible for us all to link to each other. And thanks also to all of the other bloggers that participated. I really enjoyed seeing what everyone else came up with.

So on to the manicure, which is inspired by a tutorial. It’s based on this video tutorial from IndigoNova1, recreated with a slightly different color scheme.

Black and White Retro Dot Nail Art with Color Club Tweet MeBlack and White Retro Dot Nail Art with Color Club Tweet Me
For the base I used Color Club Tweet Me from my September BirchBox, which is a chartreuse creme. I really didn’t like it in the bottle but I thought it would provide a great backdrop to this design, and I’m so glad I tried it out. I like it a lot better on the nail. And first glance I thought it was yellow, but now I see it as more of a green. As far as formula though, it goes on very streaky and patchy. I used three coats here, and had it not been for the fact that I was going to put nail art on top I would have needed a fourth.

Black and White Retro Dot Nail Art with Color Club Tweet Me

For the dots I used Orly Liquid Vinyl and Ulta Snow White, and then Kiss striper polishes in Black and White for the stripes.

Black and White Retro Dot Nail Art With Color Club Tweet Me

As recommended in the notes of the video tutorial, I used the blunt end of a wooden skewer as a dotting tool to create the largest dots. For the smaller ones, I used the head of a pin. This was pretty simple to create and pays off big with a strong visual element. It would look good in a lot of different color combinations.

Black and White Retro Dot Nail Art With Color Club Tweet Me

And here’s a look at Color Club Tweet Me on it’s own:

Color Club Tweet Me

Thanks very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed some of the manicures I came up with for the 30 Day Challenge. Next up for me is the Nail-aween Challenge from datyorkLOVES (not too late to join, if you’re interested) and the Polish Us Pink Breast Cancer Awareness campaign organized by The Subtle Shimmer and several other bloggers (another not-too-taxing one that you can still join).

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that participated in the 30 Day Challenge this month.
I know we all needed a lot of encouragement to get through, so thanks for providing it! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 29 – Supernatural: Vampire Nail Art

Coming in under the wire here on Day 29 of the 30 Day Challenge because it took me all day to figure out exactly how I wanted to portray the theme of vampires for my inspired by the supernatural manicure.

Vampire Nail Art

I’m a big fan of most things vampire these days: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, True Blood, Twilight, Being Human, Anne Rice novels, etc., etc..

I finally found this manicure based on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series, so I used that as the basis and then tweaked it a bit to be more generally vampire themed rather than specifically Buffy.

The thumb represents fire. The index finger represents dripping blood, ever-present in most vampire lore. The middle finger is a cross necklace. The ring finger is a stake through a heart and the pinkie is a vampire bite. So representing both sides with this one: the vampires and the weapons that can take them down.

Vampire Nail Art

Here are the polishes I used:
thumb: two coats of Color Club Catwalk Queen, Sinful Colors Lets Meet, Kiko 359, China Glaze Riveting, Ulta Steppin Out

Vampire Nail Art Fire

index: two coats of Ulta Snow White, Ulta Steppin Out

middle: three coats Orly Royal Velvet (untried for 30 Days of Untried), Kiss Silver striper polish

Vampire Nail Art Dripping Blood, Cross/Crucifix

ring: two coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl, Essie Very Cranberry, Kiss Silver striper polish

pinkie: two coats of Ulta Snow White, Orly Liquid Vinyl, Ulta Steppin Out

Vampire Nail Art Stake Through The Heart, Vampire Bite

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

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30 Day Challenge Day 28: Storm Warning Flag

For Day 28 of the 30 Challenge Challenge, we were tasked with doing a manicure inspired by a flag. I wanted to do something a little different, so I went with maritime weather warning flags.

Storm Warning Flag Nail Art

I based my design on the storm warning signals. The storm warning flag consists of a black square in the middle of a red square. Flying two storm warning flags indicates a hurricane.

Storm Warning Flag Nail Art

I painted my pinkie to mimic the storm warning flag and my ring finger like hurricane flags. The other fingers don’t represent actual flags, just other designs that picked up the color scheme.

Storm Warning Flag Nail Art

As for the colors, the red is Ulta Steppin Out — untried for 30 Days of Untrieds — which is a nice red but very thick. The black is Orly Liquid Vinyl and the white is Ulta Snow White. The white stripe on my thumb is with a white Kiss striper polish.

Storm Warning Flag Nail Art

Originally I was going to work in small craft warning and gale warning flags (on red triangle flag and two red triangle flags, respectively) but I didn’t like the way they came out so I replaced them with what you see here. I was trying to use striping tape to block of triangles, but the Ulta Steppin Out really was too thick to work for that. Maybe I’ll try this manicure again sometime with a different red.

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

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I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 27 – Artwork: Mark Rothko Nail Art

I had to enlist my sister for help with this one because she works in the fine art field. I needed recommendations on artists to look at for Day 27 of the 30 Day Challenge, inspired by artwork. She pointed me toward Mark Rothko, an abstract artist whose nearly 50 year career started in New York in the early 1920s.

Mark Rothko paintingsMark Rothko paintings

Mark Rothko Nail Art

I modeled each nail after a different one of his paintings.

Pinkie: I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Let’s Meet. The orange block is China Glaze Riveting and the white block is NYC French White Tip

Ring: The base is two coats of Sinful Colors Slate. The violet block is A-England Elaine and the white block is NYC French White Tip.

Mark Rothko Nail Art

Middle: The base is one coat of Essie Very Cranberry. The middle block is Sally Hansen Wine Not, the bottom block is Kiko 359 with a little Wine Not mixed in, and the top block is Megan Miller Lemon Ice, my untried for the 30 Days of Untrieds challenge I’m doing simultaneously.

Index: I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella. The top and bottom blocks are an unnamed shimmery turquoise shade from Paris Nail Lacquers (also untried). The middle stripe is the same color mixed with a little Wet n Wild I Need A Refresh-Mint

Mark Rothko Nail Art

Thumb: One thick coat of Orly Liquid Vinyl. The stripe is Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby mixed with China Glaze Riveting.

Mark Rothko Nail Art

Hope you like it!

 

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month.
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30 Day Challenge Day 25 – Fashion: Color Club Catwalk Queen

I missed the Emmy Awards Sunday night because I was watching football instead, but I did scan through the photos from the red carpet looking for inspiration for today’s manicure, Day 26 of the 30 Day Challenge, inspired by fashion.

I found this photo of Tina Fey and used it as inspiration for today’s manicure.

Tina Fey at the Emmys

Photo from eonline.com

I’d like to note at the top that this manicure looked nearly perfect last night, but by the time I was able to photograph it this morning, I was already experiencing significant shrinkage along the cuticle line from the fast-dry top coat. Sorry!

Gold Foil Tip Manicure with Color Club Catwalk Queen

I started with two coats of Color Club Catwalk Queen as the base and then added one coat of Orly Liquid Vinyl on the tips, topped with Poshe fast-dry top coat. Color Club Catwalk Queen was untried for me, for 30 Days of Untrieds.

Gold Foil Tip Manicure with Color Club Catwalk Queen

When I was ready to start the gold leafing, I added one coat of regular top coat to the nail, added the gold leafing and then sealed it with Poshe.

Gold Foil Tip Manicure with Color Club Catwalk Queen

The gold leafing I used is from my stash of vintage nail art supplies. I’m not sure if it’s still available anywhere, but it’s called Nail Nuggets. It comes as one-inch pieces of gold foil. I use an orange stick to rip away small pieces of the foil, dip the tip of the stick in top coat and use that to pick up and place the foil.

Gold Foil Tip Manicure with Color Club Catwalk Queen

Simple, but pretty.

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

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I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 22 – Song: U2 Silver And Gold Gradient

U2 is my favorite band, so there was little doubt as to whose repertoire I would look to for Day 22 of the 30 Day challenge, where the manicures are supposed to be inspired by a song. The problem was finding a U2 song that inspired something I could actually pull off with my limited nail art skills.

So that brings us to “Silver and Gold,” a song from U2’s Rattle and Hum album. This is a very literal interpretation of the title, obviously not representative of the dark themes of the song, which deal with Apartheid in South Africa and the power of money and wealth. Not sure how I would have put all of that onto my nails.

U2 Silver and Gold Glitter Gradient nail art

I found a video tutorial online for a silver and gold glitter gradient and used that as the basis for this manicure.

I started with one coat of Seche Natural nail treatment just to have a hint of something on my nails. Then I used two coats of Orly Rage, a rose gold metallic, to paint rough french tips on my nails. Then I dabbed A-England Merlin (dense silver glitter) along the line where the tips met my nail to start the gradient. Next I added Sally Hansen Ice Queen, silver and blue glitter in a clear base, to continue the gradient. I tried to avoid the blue glitter, just dabbing on the silver.

U2 Silver and Gold Glitter Gradient nail art

After that I switched to gold, starting with Petites Color Fever 24K Gold (gold and orange microglitter), then added some Mattese Elite Je Taime (medium gold glitter). This one was my untried, for the 30 Days of Untrieds challenge I’m doing simultaneously. I finished with one coat of Jordana Lilac Hearts (fine glitter with purple hearts in a clear base), just making sure to avoid picking up any of the heart glitter. One coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat to seal it.

U2 Silver and Gold Glitter Gradient nail art

Basically it’s just a lot of layering until I was happy with it. Pretty easy, even for someone with my skill level. Hope you like it, and hope Bono isn’t too offended that I didn’t try to represent the meaning of the song. 🙂

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month.
I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30 Day Challenge Day 19: Galaxy Nails

30 Day Challenge Day 19: Galaxy Nails

I’ve been looking forward to Day 19 of the 30 Day Challenge because I’ve been wanting to try galaxy nails and needed the kick in the pants to do it.

Galaxy Nails nail art manicure

By most accounts, creating galaxy nails is a simple nail art project. Well, it is and it isn’t. The technique is simple: dab and dot. Ok, got it. The challenge comes in that it requires a fair amount of restraint. Less is definitely more when it comes to galaxy nails. I read several blog posts and watched many video tutorials, all of which said basically the same thing: be sparse, don’t overdo it with the sponging, leave some space.

Galaxy Nails nail art manicure

But even fully armed with that knowledge, I found it difficult to know when to stop. I think a few of these came out rather nicely; a few are kind of meh. Overall, it was fun and I will definitely do it again.

Galaxy Nails nail art manicure

I used a lot of different colors here, but not all of them were used on every nail. I started with two coats of Orly Liquid Leather, a high-gloss black creme, for the base, followed by one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat. When it was dry, I sponged on various combinations of these with the corner of a makeup sponge:

  • OPI DS Mystery (untried):  purple-black jelly with gold shimmer
  • Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe (Untried): green/gold duochrome
  • Orly Stone Cold (Untried): bright medium blue shimmer
  • Zoya Wednesday: dusty turquoise creme
  • Cult Nails Enigmatic (Untried): eggplant with strong shimmer
  • A-England Morgan Le Fay: sheer white iridescent shimmer
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Wine Not (Untried): berry red with shimmer
  • Kiko 359 (Untried): peach creme

I finished each nail with one coat of Jordana Lilac Hearts. It’s a glitter polish with large purple hearts, but I just left those at the bottom of the bottle and only used the glittery base to get the effect of lots of small stars. Then I put on on a few (too many in some cases) dots with NYC French White Tip using a small dotting tool.

Galaxy Nails nail art manicure

Finished up with one coat of Poshe and called it a night.

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month.
I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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