Nail Fail for the Fourth!*

*Technically the Fifth. :P Happy (belated) Independence Day! I've got a wonderful nail fail to share featuring Salon Perfect's Starred & Striped.

Taken in direct sunlight... YAY Summer!

Starred & Striped is a matte glitter topper with red and white bar glitter and blue stars. I wanted to love this, I really did. I grabbed the bottle and internally debated about buying it... but the glitter looked so dense in the bottle I figured it's look great on the nail. Eh. This is three "coats" using the dab method. The stars came out of the bottle with some difficulty, but the killer is the inconsistency with the edges sticking up. Even with two thick coats of topcoat, I still had some star corners poking out. Disappointing!

Polishes Used
Salon Perfect Starred & Striped
OPI Your Royal Shineness

Nail Fail: Red Watercolor and Hit Polish Glitter

Hi there! I've got a nail fail today. I made an attempt at a watercolor mani, hated the way it looked, then decided to add some glitter topcoat instead. The saving grace here is the glitter from Hit Polish... it's so pretty! There were heart-shaped glitter in the mix too, but I couldn't get any out of the bottle.

Taken in natural daylight, via cell phone.

Lessons learned? I should stick with a lighter base color, or should pick swirl colors that are super contrasting/ darker than the base color.

Polishes Used
Julie G Cherry On Top
Dots Metallic Bronze
Zoya Dakota
Wingin' It Lacquer Burning Leaves
Hit Polish Queen of Hearts

Nail Fail: Pastel Water Marble with Glitter Accents

Happy Monday, everyone! Today I've got a lovely nail fail for you to gawk at... a strange attempt at water marbeling with pastels. 

Photo taken in shade.

Actually, the marbeling wasn't that bad. Once I added in some dots and glitter things got funky! When I purchased my 12 pack of glitter from eBay, they sent me a pot of clear iridescent glitters. I figured that they would add an extra touch of sparkle to things. WRONG. They kinda just blended in and were almost undetectable in person. I think they're made more for being worn over dark colors...

Polishes Used
L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented
CoverGirl #240
Zoya Creamy
Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet

Nail Fail: Dragon Glitter

Introducing a new segment! Nail fails!

Because everyone's put something on their nails and gone, "Ew. This looks horrible!" Here we go!

In the sun!

In the shade!

So here we have a combo that I thought would look awesome! But I forgot how sheer this glitter is. And the base color, Dragon Lady, had a purple shimmer in the bottle that did not show up on the nail. Boo! I just didn't like the way this turned out. Oh well!

Polishes Used

Fresh Paint Dragon Lady

OPI Divine Swine

Flip/Flop February: Day 26

Alrighty! Today's FFF choice was between my favorite polish or a missed challenge day. Umm... who can pick out just one favorite polish?! Not me, that's for sure! So I went with a missed challenge: a mani inspired by a YouTube tutorial. 

I went with CutePolish's OPI Spotted tutorial using black over Zoya's Aurora. I had one hell of a time getting this to work! The spray hand sanitizer I had sprayed way too hard (not a "fluff" of sanitizer, but a jet stream!), which just shot the polish into a clump. Then I tried other spray items around the house, including hairspray, leave-in conditioner, and body spray. No, no, and no. I finally opted to screw on one of the pumps to a different bottle of hand sanitizer we had around here. It worked... kinda... the polish was just floating around the water and refused to transfer without slipping away from my nail. Definitely a look that needs a bit more practice... and better sanitizer! :P

Colors Used:
Zoya Aurora
Sinful Colors Black on Black

Flip/Flop February: Day 17

Alright... today's choice was between newspaper or delicate print. I went with the thing I've never tried before, newspaper, and eh.... I do not like this look. 

I went with the rubbing alcohol method. I tried a Japanese newspaper I had been saving strictly for this reason but the ink wouldn't transfer. Poo. So I went with the solution to the crossword puzzle from our local paper. As you can see, I somehow got actual paper to stick on my pinkie and the ink was kinda smudged. Ick.

Color Used: Covergirl #260

Flip/Flop February: Day 9

Ok-dokey! Today I have another awkward toe picture for you! ^o^ The choice was between abstract and plastic wrap. I wanted to try to replicate all of the cool manicures I see online with swooping lines and dots and glitter (the ones that just scream "I went to a nail salon for this!" to me). Yeah... not so much. I tried though- and this is what happened!

I think I need a new black striping polish. Or just a striping brush... eh.

Colors Used:
(I think it was) Wet n' Wild Bijou Blue
Zoya Ziv
Color Club Black