Mosaics

I wanted to experiment with a random pattern of striping tape to get a mosaic look. I felt like these colors made for a unique combination.

I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White (let it dry THOROUGHLY) then masked off the geometric shapes with striping tape. I then filled in each section with polish and removed the tape before it had a chance to dry much. 

The polishes I used were: 

• China Glaze Lemon Fizz
• Orly Ancient Jade
• Sinful Colors Rainstorm
• China Glaze Passion For Petals
• China Glaze Sea Spray

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Feather Bright

Here is a bright, almost neon gradient look I worked up for an afternoon by the pool.

I used China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle, Color Club Power Play, & Orly Oh Cabana Boy for the gradient. Then the feather stamp is from Bundle Monster BM15 and I used Konad black polish for stamping. I freehanded the other swirl & dot details with a black striper polish.

Here is a swatch pic of just Too Yacht To Handle. It is a close cousin to For Audrey, but with a brighter kick. I can justify having both ;)

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Mint & Coral Combo

I can't seem to get tired of mint and coral as a color combo. For this look I threw in some lilac and black for a funky striped skittle mix.

I used China Glaze For Audrey, Rimmel I Lilac You, & the coral is a franken I made up. For the accent nail I used a base of white polish and then striping tape to mask off the stripes of varying widths. The black polish was just my Sinful Colors black striper polish.

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Dots & Hearts

Simple, but inspired by a Pinterest find. (here)

I used China Glaze Laced Up and Precision Sandstorm. The black details were done with a dotting tool and Sinful Colors Black on Black.

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Dazzle Dry - Frozen Lemonade, Fast Track Cherry, & Grape Lollipop

Dazzle Dry was kind enough to send me some polishes to review, and I was intrigued by not only their color selection, but also their claims to dry fast & be chip free for up to 4 weeks.

Each polish can be purchased for $9 each, and the Trinity Kit can be purchased for $28.50.

They are fast-drying, nitrocellulose-free, "5-free," hypoallergenic. Made in the U.S.A, and sold in Asia, Australia, and most recently, the United Kingdom.

"Dries in 5 minutes or less, has a gel-like, rock-hard finish, and is even safe for pregnant and nursing moms! And, unlike many conventional nail polishes, also free of  nitrocellulose. That's why they guarantee their polish is NON-yellowing and completely safe on your nails."

First up is their "Trinity Kit" which has the Nail Prep (which nourishes, strengthens your nails and promotes adhesion), Base Coat & Top Coat.

Their base coat dries to a matte finish and the top coat is quite THICK. Thicker than the bottom dregs of a Seche Vite bottle. It does dry within 5 minutes like they claim, and has a very glossy gel like shine.

"

*The polish colors themselves are each very thick and gloopy. I worried they would never dry, but that wasn't the case. They just applied differently compared to other polish brands in my stash.

Frozen Lemonade - creamy yellow.

For each swatch I used the Trinity Kit to prep, base coat, 2 coats of polish, then top coat.

2 coats was all that was needed to get complete coverage. No streaks or uneven patches. Very impressive for a yellow!

Fast Track Cherry - standard red creme. Very glossy finish. Even coverage with just 2 coats.

Grape Lollipop - neon purple creme finish. This one was the only one that was a bit patchy and uneven. Pictured is 2 coats, but even after a third, it still seemed darker in some areas. :(

I wanted to do a wear test and my sister volunteered to be the guinea pig. She can wear one color of polish a lot longer than I can. Here she is after I applied Grape Lollipop to her nails and followed to exact instructions contained in the Trinity Kit packaging.

Within 13 hours she already had a few corners chipping. This picture was taken after 4 days (with her cell phone, so excuse the color inaccuracy and fuzziness) you can see it had some pretty funky chipping and wear after that amount of time. She doesn't do anything extreme with her hands either. She has a toddler and works as a nurse like me, so I felt she provided a pretty neutral wear test. I'm not sure how one could manage to get 4 weeks chip free with this polish, but I feel it wears about the same as any polish in my stash. Usually after a few days, I have chips show up no matter the brand.

*These products were provided for review*

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Braceface Nail Art

This was a great suggestion from LittleMonsterx14. I remembered this cartoon once she suggested it! I really enjoyed it growing up. 

Some info from wikipedia:

 "Braceface is a Canadian animated series that aired on Teletoon in Canada, and on Disney Channel and ABC Family in the United States, as well as Pop Girl in Australia. It is produced by American actress Alicia Silverstone. Sharon Spitz is the main character of the series. Like most girls, Sharon sometimes does get into trouble and messes up like every other teen, but she always learns from her mistakes and sets things right in the end, no matter what the situation. Sharon is also known to be a clumsy girl and, would usually end up embarrassing herself somehow."

My poor planning lead to her face not fitting entirely on my nail. I wanted to include her cute smile since her braces were the whole point behind the title. So I just made braces run across the tips of my other nails. The blue is China Glaze Bahamian Blue and the rest are acrylic paints.

 Her face came out a little jaundiced looking because the yellow paint doesn't agree with anything being put on top of it. So the yellow from her hair bled through the beige face color by the time I took my pictures.

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Essie - Master Plan

Essie Master Plan

My mom knows how to spoil me. She picks up random polishes that she gets for a good price. Some are great finds, others are fails. She managed to get this Essie for $0.30! A discount grocery store near our home buys overstock items from pharmacies and this is what happens!

Pictured is 2 coats. A light putty/taupe creme.

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Revlon Scented - Gum Drop & Mad About Mango

My local CVS had some of these marked down 75% making them just $1.49! So I picked up the two that looked most interesting to me.

The formula on both of these left a good bit to be desired. 

Both were thin and watery requiring 4 coats to reach opacity

Gum Drop

A light purple. The scent smells like generic chewing gum to me.

Mad About Mango

Medium tone orange. The scent was fabulous! A refreshing fruity, definitely mango scent. Delightful.

I wouldn't have paid full price for these, but $1.49 was on par with the quality I got out of them.

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Born Pretty Embossed Metal Decals

Embossed metal sticker decals from Born Pretty. 

Gold swirls placed on top of Zoya Bevin.

This first set can be found here for $2.98. Option #1.

 It's easy, just peel and stick. Apply topcoat if you choose.

You can tell from this angle I had some lifting on my pinky nail. I thought I had pressed the stickers down firmly enough, but after I applied topcoat, this happened.

Silver snowflakes. Part of a sheet with many other designs including hearts and flowers.

This set can be found here for $2.98. Option #3. 

 These were placed over Kleancolor Cobalt.

Again, I had problems with them lifting. This particular snowflake had been positioned on a fold, and it just popped right back up. For the partial snowflakes, I just cut them with nail clippers and applied with tweezers. You can also see little silver flecks, and that's because the topcoat seemed to drag some of the silver off. :( Overall, it's a unique set of decals, but I wish they stuck down better.

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Born Pretty Store Stencil

Another attempt at the Born Pretty stencils found here for $3.09. You get 5 different patterns with 11 different sizes per sheet. My first attempt was the skull and crossbones here.

I used China Glaze Electric Beat & Sinful Colors Snow Me White. 

The stencils are easy to use, but provide only the most basic nail art designs. It is also hard to get intricate designs with these. I would think this would work best if you then chose to do some type of additional coloring on top of the white. The only hitch with these it that you really have to allow enough dry time for your bottom polish. Otherwise it'll pull it off.

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