Hunger Games Mani - Flame Nails for The Girl on Fire!

I do believe I mentioned my obsession with The Hunger Games in a previous post on a few of the polishes from the China Glaze Hunger Games Collection! Well, let's just say that from the minute I read that Katniss had her nails painted in flames... I knew what I would want to wear when going to see the movie! It's a bummer, however, that every design I saw or tried just didn't look very good. THEN I SAW THIS! My friend Debby sent me a link to this blog, The Nail Network... and I became obsessed with the idea. She had an easy to do flame mani combined with a tutorial... I couldn't resist. :) SO - here are my flame nails for The Hunger Games!

To do this mani I started with two coats of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve, with a coat of Seche Vite on top, below.

Then I used a nail art brush and painted lines coming up from the base of my nail with Savvy French White White, so that it would let the other colors stand out against the blue background.

Then I put China Glaze City Siren over the white on a few of the stripes.

Then, I did the same with China Glaze Riveting, adding a few more stripes with orange. I used Riveting in another mani here if you would like to see it.

Then finally, I filled in the rest of the white with China Glaze Lighthouse, and then went back and kept adding more stripes of Lighthouse and Riveting on top of everything until I felt like it looked right. Then I put Seche Vite on top. I am really happy with how it turned out - thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild The Crown Is Mine Over Black

Hi there! This is one of the polishes from the Wet n Wild Coloricon Be Jeweled Collection! These are some new duochrome glitters, and this collection is cheaper and comparable to China Glaze's Prismatic collection. If you click on the links, Scrangie did posts of each of these collections in full with more detail. From reading her posts I heard that these glitters look really nice - and a bit like galaxy nails - when layered over black, so that's what I did for this mani. I started with one coat of Wet n Wild black creme, then put on one coat of Wet n Wild The Crown Is Mine with Seche Vite on top. I didn't feel like the duochrome was that obvious with this polish, I just really saw it go from lighter to darker purple at different angles (which you can slightly see on the last two pictures??). However, I also did buy Wet n Wild Bow In My Presence which seems to have a stronger duochrome effect in the bottle, I am curious to see how it is on my nails... which I will of course share with you when I wear it! Thanks for looking.

Watermelon Sponge Nails - Color Club Twiggie & Warhol

Ya know... I actually didn't start out this mani with watermelons in mind! First I pulled out Color Club Twiggie and put on two coats of it, below. This color was actually not the best formula. It went on very streaky and ended up sort of lumpy? Usually after the second coat you can even the polish out and it will do some self leveling... not this one. It makes me sad though, because I really love this creamy minty green! After putting on a coat of Seche Vite it wasn't as obvious... but in the below picture I think you can still see how uneven it is. Boo :(

Then, because I was using Color Club, it made me think of Warhol... which I hadn't used yet! I thought it might be fun and summer-y to combine the colors, so I used a faux sea sponge to sponge Color Club Warhol on the ends of my nails. I actually recently used the sponging technique, here, for a green gradient mani... if your curious about it.

I actually wore this for a full day and really wasn't a big fan of it... and the color combo reminded me of watermelons... so when I got home from work I added some of Wet n Wild Black using a dotting tool. I didn't put on perfect dots, I kind of drug the dotting tool along the nail to create shapes that were a little closer to watermelon seeds. Then I put on a coat of Seche Vite. I think I like how this looks better with the little dots, because I feel like the mismatched colors have a purpose now! :) Thanks for looking!

Orly Au Champagne and Essie As Gold As It Gets

For this mani I did something simple due to lack of time! To do this I started with two coats of Orly Au Champagne, below. This color came from the Orly Holiday 2011 Holiday Soireé Collection. I really think I could have used a third coat because it was a bit streaky, and it seemed like it took a really long time to dry. It also dries with a satiny finish which is nice for something different.

Then, this is with one coat of Essie As Gold As It Gets, with a coat of Seche Vite on top. I liked this combination, but I don't think As Gold As It Gets gets to really show it's beauty as much on top of the shimmer of Au Champagne... I think it would look pretty over black, or another cream. :)

Green Gradient Mani

I wanted to get one last fun green mani in for St. Patrick's Day and I choose to do a green gradient. 

To do this mani I started with two coats of Savvy French White White with a coat of Seche Vite on top, below.

I have done a blue gradient mani once before using a makeup sponge, here. I have read that using a sea sponge can offer a better gradient effect so I picked up a faux sea sponge from the grocery store and cut pieces off of it to use for this mani. Below is a picture of what I used in case you aren't familiar with what I am talking about.

Then I used five different greens to create this effect in this order, China Glaze Into The Lime Light, China Glaze Gaga for Green, Orly Lucky Duck, OPI Don't Mess With OPI, and Ulta Envy.

 I took pictures after putting on each of the colors, but there was green polish all over my skin... it wasn't very attractive so I decided not to add them to this post, lol. :) I covered the entire nail with the first and lightest color, and put less and less of each of the following colors as I went up the nail. Then when I was done I put a coat of Seche Vite on top.

Orly Fresh and Sinful Colors Last Chance Circle Mani

I got this super fun idea from Wacky Laki, here. She did this with black and red, and I had been wanting to do another green mani for St. Patty's Day... so the minute I saw this I had to do it! I love all of her mani's, she is extremely talented!



 To do this mani I started with two coats of Orly Fresh, below, with a coat of Seche Vite on top. I am loving this color!! I am a sucker for green though :)

Then, after my nail was completely dry, I used hole punch reinforce stickers and I placed them on my nail in random places one nail at a time, and painted Sinful Colors Last Chance on my entire nail. I lifted up the sticker and the parts that were covered by the sticker is where Orly Fresh shows through. I have used these stickers a few times before, and here is the post I did showing a picture of them on my nail when doing a reverse french mani. These didn't turn out all that perfect because there were some spots where Last Chance bled under the stickers, and I also smeared it a few times when removing the stickers. However, I don't think it's all that noticeable in person and I love the bold look from this technique!

Zoya Trixie and Green Dot Mani

I wanted to do a green mani since St. Patty's Day is coming up, and I am obsessed with green... so it's the perfect excuse! I saw a similar idea for this mani on Rachel Marie's blog. She used some different colors, but it's the same basic idea.



To do this mani I started with two coats of Zoya Trixie, topped with a coat of Seche Vite, before I dotted.... because I have no patience for normal nail polish to dry. Seche Vite has me spoiled!

Then, using a dotting tool I put various greens dotted onto the corner of my nail. The colors that I used were China Glaze In The Lime Light, China Glaze Glittering Garland, Color Club Perfect Mol-ten, Ulta Envy, Orly Fresh and Zoya Mitzi. I feel like I used too many different greens on this mani... but I don't mind it too much. I guess I got too excited since I just love green so much!

Misa Grey Matters and China Glaze Lorelei'sTiara

I saw this cute combination on Chalkboard Nails, here. It was seeing her mani and this color combo, that made me buy Misa Grey Matters! I am very glad I did... I love it. Her version of this mani is much more delicate, and even though mine didn't turn out as cute, the color combination was perfect together.

To do this mani, I started with two coats of Misa Grey Matters, below.

Then, I lightly brushed on a coat of China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara, a glitter from their Eye Candy 3-D Glitter Collection from this holiday 2011, on the top half of my nail. Then I took a second coat and added to the top fourth of my nail to try to give it a gradient affect. Then I put a coat of Seche Vite on top.

China Glaze Magnetix Cling On & China Glaze It's Alive

I actually bought quite a few of the new magnetic polish from China Glaze Magnetix Collection, but haven't used any yet. If you are not familiar with magnetic polish yet, I did a post about Layla and Nails Inc. magnetic polish a little while back, comparing the two - here.  On my index, middle and pinky I used two coats of one of the new magnetic polishes China Glaze Cling On. I managed to get a jumbo smudge on my index finger before I took pictures :-/ ... On my thumb and ring finger I used two coats of China Glaze It's Alive, with a coat of Seche Vite on top. It's Alive is from the Haunting Collection, from this past Halloween.

I also wanted to mention what I thought about the China Glaze Magnetix compared to the other two brands of magnetic polish that I own. For Layla and Nails Inc. I feel as though I had to hold the magnet a lot longer (10-15 seconds), because if you only hold it for a few seconds the polish wants to merge back and the stripes don't show up as distinct. For the China Glaze magnetic polish, I felt like after just 5 seconds the stripes were complete and didn't move back. I did feel as though the polish was a bit shear, and holding the magnetic over it too long made some of the parts separate and look very thin. Having said that, it's one of the more affordable magnetic polishes and I like that China Glaze made a nice variety of colors in their collection.

Revlon Royal Jelly Sandwich with Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada

This is two coats of Revlon Royal, with a coat of Seche Vite on top. Royal is a dark blue jelly, and I am in love with it! It was actually a bit streaky in the first coat, but I think for the most part the second coat evened it out nicely. I had to wear this by itself for a day because I loved it so much - then I just had to do a jelly sandwich! If your not familiar with what that is, you start with a coat of jelly polish, add a coat of glitter or flakies, and then add another coat of the first polish on top. To do this, I added a coat of Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada, below.

Then, I added another coat of Royal on top of the glitter, followed by Seche Vite top coat.

....and finally - I was curious to see what it would look like with a matte top coat! This is with a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love. 

Neon Stripes and Color Club Revvvolution Konad Stamp

Hi! I got this cool idea from OMG! Polish 'Em! - she does such adorable mani's! Here is the mani that inspired me. I don't know why I don't really think if doing designs UNDER stamping, but I love how it turned out. To do this mani, I started with two coats of Savvy French White White, below, to make the colors stand out a bit more.

Then, I added stripes using some of my nail art stripers. I used Sinful Colors Me First, Sinful Colors Hey Dear! and L.A. Colors Art Deco Green and put Seche Vite on top before stamping.

Finally, I stamped with Color Club Revvvolution using Konad plate M64, and topped it with Seche Vite. I have used this stamp once before, here. Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Street Chic

 



This is two coats of China Glaze Street Chic, from their Metro Collection, with a coat of Seche Vite on top. I am surprised at how many of the polishes from this collection I have managed to acquire slowly but surely. I got this one on clearance at Sally's for $1.99. Can't beat that! I was in the mood for a nice chocolate brown cream and this is what I wore for a few days and I really enjoyed it. It also applied really nicely, and it is a touch darker in person than it photographed. Thanks for looking.



Zoya Bevin + Zoya Maisie

This is two coats of Zoya Bevin, topped with a coat of Seche Vite. It's a beautiful cream that is seriously such a beautiful color! I just love green, and this dusty green/blue/grey color is wonderful! It applied nicely and I am so glad thought I bought it. I wore this on it's own for a day before I added one coat of Zoya Maisie, below. For some reason I just couldn't capture the beauty of Maisie in these pictures. The flakies flash blue and green real life, when you look at it from different angles. For some reason the flakies look so sparse in these pictures too, it didn't seem that way in person. I really loved wearing this combination... and I love flakies!

By the way... I went out to TJ Maxx and got myself a new purse during my lunch break, and my Mom noticed when I was wearing Bevin alone - that it kinda matched my new bag! Love it! I snapped this picture with my cell phone.