DIY: HOLOGRAPHIC TOPCOAT for $2.49 WOW! (not spectraflair)

It's the time of year where you can crack out the crazy wigs, slap on the crazy makeup and even dress like a slut with no judgmental looks - HALLOWEEN.

With Halloween's arrival I cannot help but raid my local Walgreens/CVS (UK equivalent of Superdrug/Boots) for the latest crazy colored cosmetics: glitter, nail polish, lipstick, fake blood - I love it all!

One of the fab nail gals I follow on Instagram found a great glitter at Walgreens which does not bleed or change in topcoat. Naturally I was intrigued, and later she posted some great pictures of this holographic glitter. So off to Walgreens I went, and indeed, for $2.49 I found this amazing glitter. 

I rushed home and added the glitter to a new Color Club top coat I had in my stash. And voila it was great!!!

Now for those of you doing this at home, I have a few notes for you:
1. This glitter falls. It's fine but heavy, it isn't in suspension base, it's in a topcoat for don't be alarm when it sinks to the bottom.
2. I advise you use mixing balls, 2 of them in the bottle. It will assist in rigorously shaking up the sunken glitter. Mixing balls can be used from old polish bottles, or 2 small ball bearings.
3. Add as little or much of the powder as you like, but keep in mind that the more you put in the fuller the coverage and more likely it is to get clumpy. It's better to lean to the lighter side and just use 2 coats on a nail, than make the polish super overloaded with glitter.

PRODUCT: Fantasy Makers Confetti, Net wt. 5.4g, color 12500 Glitz
Found at: Walgreens (in Florida for sure)
Fantasy Makers is owned by Wet'n'Wild, so this should be found at stores where this brand is carried.
Other places it could be: CVS, Rite Aid, Halloween Stores, some grocery stores.

So I added it as an accent to my middle finger, this was two coats.

J x

Summer Mermaid/Fish Scale Nails!!!!

I was inspired to do this from an Instagram contest and pretty much loved the outcome. So I will let you know how to recreate this look (please excuse my ring finger, nail break :'( RIP)

Things you will need:

So basically 3 different blues going from light to dark. Light blue and darker blue transparent glitter hex, and tool for placing glitter, Q-tips, your favorite polish remover, base coat and top coat (I advise using Seche Vite because it is thick enough to encapsulate the glitter, although you risk shrinkage, make sure to cap your tips) - and lastly PATIENCE! lol


Now I know for gradients most people use sponges or similar things unless you have an airbrush machine (big $$$), but for this you don't actually need to sponge because the gradient is going to beneath the glitter therefore a perfectly even and precise gradient is not necessary.


HOW TO:
I started with 2 coats of Milani Pool Party as my base, after drying I took Spoiled Deeper Dive, making sure that the brush only had little polish I dabbed it from the tip to half way up the nail bed. Finally I took the Color Club Cold Metal from the Foiled Collection and capped the tip and merged up to a quarter of the nail into the Deeper Dive. 


NOW WE NEED TO USE THE PATIENCE! :P
I put one coat of top coat, dipped my placing stick into the top coat then tediously picked up each glitter hex and placed it on the nail. I did half in light blue and the half towards the tip in the darker blue hex. I suggest that you paint only half the nail with top coat, fill it with hex, then paint the other half, because the top coat at the tip will be dry by the time you are ready to place the glitter, which means you will have to reapply the top coat and just make the whole thing look thicker. Truth is you get quicker at it as you go :)


Now you encapsulate the whole design with a thick top coat such as Seche Vite, make sure to cap edges to reduce shrinkage :) and enjoy your fishy or mermaid fingers :*

ENJOY!!!! :) x

We Love To Play With Our Tips! lol

Alrighty then, so we love to play with our tip, we have French, American, Chevron, Gradient, Ombre etc. So I decided to play up my new hot summer orange for an elegant but seasonal look, with a 2-color chevron mani with hex accents.


Items Used
Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro - Sunset Orange (this is fairly translucent, almost a jelly)
Nicole By OPI - Not A Gold Bigger
Milani Jewel FX - Red
Color Club Top Coat
Dotting Tool
Tape

I prepped as for any normal mani, and buffed nails (get rid of any yellow or ridges). Applied a clear base coat, I use CND Stickey (I know its green but it goes on clear!). I then taped diagonally across the tip for the orange. I paint across the tip and edge of tape and then remove the tape and allow the orange to dry. I decided last minute that I would free-hand the gold and it turned out ok, I'm lucky. But in future I will just use the tape as I would a normal Chevron mani not a stripe and wish for the best :)
I then used a dotting tool to pick and apply red glitter hex from the Milani polish to the nail. I finished with a good coat of top coat and voila! I likey these ALOT!


Enjoy,
x

2011 NAIL SUPPLY HAUL!!!!!! YAY!

This is my first haul post, I will have a youtube video of this in the coming weeks, as well as the youtube slideshow of my new year nails, which I will link here to this blog!


So I will post this with pictures to start and explain prices and possible ideas I have for my new goodies! :)


Well my first package was from Hong Kong, so I put in the order in December but it always takes forever to receive and I paid extra for first class shipping and tracking.


First off is my new uv 9w lamp:

I got this for my uv sealer top coat, it was cheaper than the others on ebay etc., but I didn't need to buy an expensive OPI one since I am not using a gel system.

Naturally next was the uv sealer, I got 3 for about $7.00 but 2 broke in transit, so I'll be working on getting those replaced:

Tips! Not the ones that you get after a full set but the ones you need to stick on lol! I actually was a little disappointed with these as they came rounded and without a well, meaning I'll actually have to cut out a smile line or drill one in, which wastes more time, so I may just have to use these as spares and buy more. btw I got 500 in all 10 sizes.

Other tips! I just had to go all out and buy the crazy ones, I am a sucker for animal print so I got the zebra ones :) hoping to do something crazy with them, maybe some nail art and stuff! :) Also what I like about pre-printed tips is that if you want to speed up your sets you can just cover the whole nail with clear acrylic and the design part is already there, add some simple black, white or silver dots/lines/swirls and you are good to go. This can save a lot of time and afford, rather than cracking out the black and white acrylic and layers, and drilling the design out. So my zebras I got in 10 sizes and 70 count.

I got pearl white and as you can see there is no smile line - more work for me!!! grr!

Fun and Funky!!!!!!! Also they have a clear well and the black stripes overlap meaning the design  almost fades in. If the client wants a dramatic smile line rather than a fade I'd just drill out the clear to make a sharp smile.

Ok so next item up is the tip and art cases, I bought these super cheap at 30 cent for the small and 50 cent for the large. I got 3 small and 2 large.

Now for the fun stuff - Nail art and makeup!!!!!


*I got glitter hexagons in 12 colours! :) these are great for nail art and creating window effects on clear tips. Also I have a fav video on youtube, where this nail tech adds light pink ones to a regular pink and white set and it just looks fab! Gotta try that out.
**Also in the goodies I have dried flowers for that summer eau naturelle look! 
*** Recently from a new supply store locally I got these glitter stars that I used in my new years nails, I got this large pot for only $5.00!!! What a steal!
**** Yes, Yes, another rhinestone wheel with 7 colours! :)

These are actually iridescent, they have pink and green tones which look so nice under acrylic! 

Ok last but not least! FALSIESSSSSSSS :)


I couldn't resist, so I got 10 pairs, 5 full and 5 natural:

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So this concludes my haul, I missed out a few items but when I do a vid I'll include them there (mainly regular supplies and sanitizing stuff).
Look out for new designs with these products!
Hope you enjoyed reading, check back soon! Get Glitzy Gals :)
Happy New Year, peace&love x