China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy nail art

Today I have some pretty simple nail art I did recently in some fun, bright summery colors!

Here is China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy and Zoya Trixie. I love FFF (Flip Flop Fantasy) because it is such a nice bright color and is so perfect for summer. It's just BAM! in your face!!

Ok, so I did 2 coats of FFF on my thumb, pointer, and ring fingers. Then I put 2 coats of Trixie, which is such a gorgeous silver metallic, on my middle and ring fingers.

Once they were dry I applied 6 strips of striping tape horizontally across my ring finger nail. Once I had the positioning of the tape in place I applied a nice thick coat of FFF over the top of everything. Then when I finished applying the thick coat of FFF I grabbed my tweezers and removed all of the the striping tape. You want to remove the striping tape right away before it dries so that it doesn't pull up what you want to stay on the nail. I also think it gives you a nice clean line too.

Then I waited for that to dry a bit and topcoated everything with Out The Door to seal it all in and add some shine.

Hope you all enjoy this mani as much as I did!!

Lady Bugs!!!

I wanted to show you all the cute springy mani/pedi I did for my Mom. She was browsing on Pinterest one night and came across a mani or pedi (I can't remember which, lol) of Lady Bugs and fell in love with it.

Now my Mom isn't one who loves lots of nail art on her nails so at first she just wanted this on her toes. I convinced her that if she was also going to wear red on her fingers she HAD to have her nails match her toes. It was actually easier to convince her than I thought it would be. She agreed to have one accent nail per hand with a matching Lady Bug.

Her base is Butter London Pillar Box Red (I bought her this color last year for her birthday and she loves it). Then I took China Glaze Liquid Leather and a small nail art brush and painted the lady bug head. It's just a half moon on the tip of the nail. Then I took a fine striping brush and painted the line down the middle dividing the lady bug's wings. Next I took a dotting tool and made the dots on the wings with the Liquid Leather. Finally I decided the lady bug had to have eyes so I dug into Mom's stash and found a white Sinful Colors striping polish. I took another dotting tool and made the white dots of the eyes and took an even smaller dotting tool and dipped it into the Liquid Leather again and made the centers of the eyes by dotting it into the middle of the white.

Once everything was all nice and dry we topped it off with some Out The Door for shine and protection. I think this turned out really cute and think I may have to do this on myself real soon!

China Glaze Towel Boy Toy

This is China Glaze Towel Boy Toy. I also got this one as a gift in a gift exchange. I don't know what it is, I may be going through a teal and blue phase but I am loving this color. I believe this one came from the China Glaze Poolside neon collection from 2010. I love neons and couldn't wait to try out a blue "neon".

This one is a bright pretty sky blue with a subtle shimmer. It dries matte but once you add a topcoat to this it is GORGEOUS!!! With the topcoat the shimmer is more visible. I suppose you could also leave it matte if you were in the mood for a matte finish but in my opinion this one is so much more beautiful with a topcoat.

The formula was great, I rarely have any problems with the China Glaze formula. It applied evenly and without streaks. Shown here is 2 coats of Towel Boy Toy and then one coat of Out The Door topcoat to add shine and bring out the subtle shimmer. Pictures were taken indoors with natural lighting that was coming in through my window and no flash.

I am thinking this is going to be a nice base for some winter themed mani I am going to do as soon as my new snowflake stamping plate arrives. I also think it is going to be great for the summer and well, honestly I can think of many different manicures I can do with this color year round.

China Glaze polishes can be purchased at Ulta, some salons, select stores, and of course check out China Glaze's own site.

Cult Nails Grunge with China Glaze Fairy Dust

I was drawing a blank when I was trying to think of something to do on my nails this week. I was trying to figure out some nail art I could do but just couldn't think of anything. Then I decided that I was just going to have a simple mani this week. I reached for my Cult Nails collection of polishes and pulled out Grunge. Grunge is a beautiful green and shifts from an army green to a lighter grayish green depending on your lighting. On myself it tends to stay the army green which I LOVE!!

So I applied 2 coats of Grunge over my base coat. For my base coat I am using the Sally Hansen Maximum Growth nail treatment. I am really loving it because I was having problems with my nails peeling but since I've been using this treatment, I haven't had a big problem with that.

Once I applied my 2 coats of Grunge I applied a nice coat of Cult Nails' own fast dry shiny topcoat, Wicked Fast. This stuff is exactly what it says, Wicked Fast! I love it and I am almost out so I am going to have to place a Cult Nails order soon so I can get more. I have to say that I love this green cream color! I wasn't sure how it would look on me with my skin tone but it is gorgeous! Maria over at Cult Nails knocked it out of the park with this one!! (As she does with all of her polishes cause they are all so gorgeous!!)

Then as I was putting away all my stuff from doing my mani I ran across China Glaze Fairy Dust. I had completely forgotten I had this stuff and decided to throw on 1 coat of Fairy Dust over my Grunge mani just for a little bit of sparkle. Not bad! It was almost like I had little droplets of frost or something on my nails (kinda thinking in winter themed mind frame here, lol). I may have to figure something out for a winter/Christmas themed mani to use Fairy Dust again.

Cult Nails Lacquers can be purchased here on their website. They retail for $12 for a full sized 0.5fl oz bottle. Wicked Fast retails for $10 for a full sized 0.5fl oz bottle or if you want to try out their base coat Get It On, you can get both Wicked Fast and Get It On in a package deal for $18, both are full sized bottles. You have to get them fast because in my experience, they sell out pretty fast, but not to worry, Maria restocks them fairly quickly!

China Glaze lacquers can be purchased at Ulta stores, Sally Beauty stores, and many other beauty supply stores and salons.

China Glaze Liquid Leather & Zoya Rikki

This is the recent mani I did for my Mom. She found her inspiration for this mani on Pintrest and asked me if I could do it for her. So I said sure! Now you don't know my Mom but she is usually very set in her color choices and is pretty reserved. I have been pushing her outside her comfort zone and getting her to expand her mani horizons. One of the colors I've been pushing for her to try is black. She always said no, that she didn't think she could do black. So when she showed me the Pintrest picture of this mani I assumed she wanted this design just with different colors. Much to my surprise Mom went out to Ulta and purchased the colors she wanted.

Mom showed me what she chose and I was shocked! She came home with China Glaze Liquid Leather for her base. BLACK!! Yes!! I've finally gotten her to try it (I never thought she'd buy her own but YAY!)! Then for her tips she chose a super pretty green, Zoya Rikki.

Liquid Leather was easy to apply, not thick or goopy, and actually we decided that one coat was good. Once it was dry I applied striping tape to use as my guides and applied Rikki. I did one hand at a time because I didn't want Rikki to dry too much before I had a chance to pull off the striping tape. I think that if you remove the tape before the polish is dry then you get much cleaner lines. Rikki applied like a dream. I wasn't sure how the color would come through over the black but this color is very opaque and I only needed one coat over the black to achieve our results.

Once they were halfway to three quarters dry I applied a top coat of Out The Door for protection, shine, and to speed up the remainder of the dry time.

China Glaze polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores, Sally Beauty, and other fine beauty supply stores and salons. Zoya can be purchased at Ulta, select salons, and here on their site.

China Glaze Bump & Grind

As I have said many times...I LOVE the textured finish polishes that are out! I can't get enough of them! So today I am bringing you my latest textured polish purchase. China Glaze Texture in Bump & Grind. This one is a bright pink textured finish. These do not have glitter in them they are just the textured finish. I can describe the finish as something similar to concrete. I use a base coat under these because I want to try to prevent staining I tend to get staining with bright colors, it might be just my nails).

 

I applied my base coat, 2 coats of color (allowing some dry time in between coats), and no topcoat. This is such a beautiful almost raspberry color and I am very pleased with this one. As with all the China Glaze Textures that I have used, they wear well and are just plain fun! I usually get about 4 days before I notice a slight bit of tip wear. I can wear these about a week before I need to change colors. I haven't had a problem with chipping on these either. They just wear like iron!!

 

I am truly impressed with these and I hope that they come out with more, maybe in some nice fall colors! Oh a girl can dream!

 

 

These pictures are with 2 coats, no top coat, and they were taken indoors with a flash. The color in the pics are pretty much true to life except that in my pics they look a little shiny but that's just cause they were a tiny bit wet yet and the flash just seemed to bounce off them.

 

 

 

Then just for something fun I added a couple clear rhinestones to my middle finger for an accent. Since I wasn't using a top coat I applied the rhinestones with a tiny drop of nail glue to secure them. They have even lasted 4 days, I haven't knocked a rhinestone off yet and so far I'm on day 4 of wear.

 

 

China Glaze polishes can be purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply, Ulta stores, some salons, and other beauty supply shops. This one I found off of Amazon (because everywhere around me was sold out) and it was $4.55 with free shipping.

China Glaze Skittlette

Here's a fun little skittlette mani I did reccently. I wanted something fun and something to cheer me up since I had been going through some medical stuff recently. So I thought what better way to cheer me up than to do a fun, cheery mani!!

For this mani I used China Glaze Purple Panic (the hot pink/purple), Zoya Purity (the white), and Zoya Raven (the black). Plus I wanted an opportunity to use the gold studs that I recently bought off of Amazon.

So I put Purple Panic on my thumb and ring fingers, and Purity on my middle and pinkie fingers, and lastly Raven on my pointer/index finger. Then I added some Purple Panic and Raven dots in different sizes to the Purity on my middle finger.

Then I contemplated on where I was going to put my gold studs...finally I figured since they were a little bigger than I thought they would be I put it diagonally on my thumb (kinda like a diamond). Now to get it to stay I had to add a drop of nail glue to adhere the stud to my nail.

Next for something fun on my pinkie fingers I added some hot pink rhinestones and placed them around a Raven dot to form a flower.

Once everything was dried I added a topcoat of Out The Door to seal everything in and give it that shine (which the Purple Panic needed since it dries to a matte finish). Hope you liked my fun, cheery, pick-me-up mani cause I know I did!!

Skittlette for Summer

For something really fun I decided to do a "skittlette" manicure (wehre every nail is different). Here is the base I started out with, I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy ( I LOVE this color for summer!), Zoya Purity, and Zoya Raven. I also decided to try my new Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots in Clearly Spotted for one of the nails.

I gathered my tools I would be using and started on my way...

I left the pointer finger and ring finger plain since they were each a different color than the other. I put random Flip Flop Fantasy and Raven dots on my middle finger which had on the Zoya Purity. Then I decided that on my thumb over the Flip Flop Fantasy I was going to add a coat of the Clearly Spotted, love this one and will be doing a post on this topper shortly. For the pinky I at first wasn't sure what I wanted to put on top of the Purity but then I decided I was going to make a flower out of rhinestones. To start that flower I put a dot of Flip Flop Fantasy where I wanted the center of the flower to be and then preceeded to arrange 5 black rhinestones around it creating the "petals" of the flower.

I then let everything dry so I could top it all off with a nice coat of Out The Door to seal it all in. I am so loving this mani that I hate to take it off when the time comes. Hope you all enjoyed this one!!

Striped Nail Art

So today I did a little striped nail art with some striping tape and textured polishes. It is so cute and fun that I wanted to share it with all of you!

I started out with a base of Zoya Purity on the nails that I was going to be doing the nail art on. Once that was dry I applied my striping tape in the design that I wanted.

When I was satisfied with the placement of my striping tape I then polished over the entire nail (striping tape too) with China Glaze Texture in Itty, Bitty, & Gritty. I applied 2 coats to the nails. I love this color so much! It's such a bright and cheery coral color and I am sooooo in love with the textured polishes.

Then instead of waiting for it to dry I immediately and very carefully peeled off my striping tape, thus revealing my base color of Zoya Purity. As you will see doing this with the textured polishes doesn't always end up with clean lines but that's ok because nothing is perfect (no matter how much I want it to be, lol).

I then applied the China Glaze Itty, Bitty, & Gritty to the remaining nails and waited for everything to dry! Dry time is average and application was a breeze! I think that it turned out pretty good and am already planning my next striping tape mani!! Hope you all enjoyed this! :)

Some China Glaze Texture polishes

Today I have a few of the new China Glaze Texture polishes. I love the Zoya Pixie Dust ones so I thought I'd give these a try. I loved their bright colors. The texture on these resembles concrete to me. They were very easy to apply and went on with no issues. Dry time was typical. I did not use a base coat with any of these and I would highly recommend a base coat because I had staining from all of the colors. I think the worst was the blue and then the chartruese, but the coral didn't stain as bad. No biggie though, a little whitening toothpaste scrubbed on them and I'm good to go!! So now I'll introduce you to the colors...



First we have Itty, Bitty, and Gritty. It is a beautiful coral color.

Then we have Of Course! a gorgeous bright blue. It kind of reminds me of a blue highlighter.

Lastly we have In The Rough, a lovely chartruese.

I think these colors and the textured finish are spot on for this season! I look forward to using them in future manis!


This next pic is one I snapped for you guys to show you that after a few days of wear I do not have any chips or tip wear. These really do wear like concrete! The only thing I noticed with these that I have not experienced with the pixie dusts is that dirt collects in all the nooks and crannys of the surface and does not clean off very well. That is my only complaint for these polishes and it's a minor one. I'll definitely wear again!!!

China Glaze Purple Panic

This one I am bringing you today is China Glaze's Purple Panic. I can already tell this one is going to be one of my go-to's for this summer. I LOVE this color. It is so bright and cheery! It says Purple Panic but I think it is the perfect neon pink with an iridescent shimmer.

The application on this was great. No streaks and not gloopy or clumpy. It applied easily. It does dry to a matte finish and the iridescent shimmer doesn't come out until you add a topcoat. I can't say enough how much I am loving this color!!

All pictures here are with 2 coats of Purple Panic and one coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast topcoat. These were taken indoors with flash. I was hoping to get outside to take pics today but the sun is hiding behind some clouds.

China Glaze polishes can be purchased at your local beauty supply store, Ulta stores, and salons.

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

When I was trying to decide what to do for a St Patty's Day mani I couldn't figure it out. I don't really have much for green polishes but when I went searching through my stash I came across this one. This is China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. It is a turquoise frost that I had a really hard time capturing the true color in pictures.

I found that the formula on this one was great. It went on really smoothly with no streaking. Even for a frost I didn't have those streaks. It dried pretty quickly and I was surprised to see it dries to a matte finish. Once I added the second coat and then added a topcoat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast the shimmer/frost really came out and I loved the color.

I know it's not much of a green but more turquoise so it wasn't really a true St Patty's Day mani but it was as close as I was going to get. I think this is going to be a great color for me to work with and now my next task is to figure out what I can do with it next.

China Glaze polishes can be purchased at a variety of stores and salons so I suggest you run right out and pick some up. All pictures shown are 2 coats of color and one coat of Wicked Fast.