Yellow Ombre Manicure

Happy Yellow day...no actually it is National Hot Dog Day today, and what's the best condiment on top of a hot dog?...MUSTARD! Well, at least that's what I like on it :)

So in honor of this day, I give you a yellow ombre manicure!

Thumb to Pinkie:

Ilamasqua "Scorch"
China Glaze "Lemon Fizz"
China Glaze "Happy Go Lucky"
Barielle "Lemon Drops"
Essence "Sundancer"

I tried to find a super light yellow creme in my stash that would have worked instead of the white thumb, but.... no dice! I thought Sally Hansen "Yellow Kitty" would work, but it was not light enough.

Here are all of my yellow creme colors, that I swatched to find the right shades...

As is typical of most yellow polishes, these required 3 coats to be perfectly opaque, with no bald spots!

Happy National Hot Dog Day!

Keep it Sweet!...your life...not the hot dog, LOL! :)

My NCLA inspired nails.

Hello!

I saw a picture of a set of nail wraps by NCLA and thought..."I can do that with polish" :)

My manicure is on the left, the NCLA wraps are on the right...Not bad, if I do say so myself!

NCLA

I wore this manicure while my index nail was growing back from a bad break.  I was hoping it would make the nail seem longer, but I think it did the reverse, LOL!!! Oh well...I still like this idea! :)

Essence "That's What I Mint" and Barry M "Watermelon".

I started of with a nice thick coat of Barry M "Watermelon" and then carefully applied 2 coats of Essence "That's What I Mint", in a nice smooth arc on top, leaving the dark green exposed around the entire edge. 

I made sure to continue the smooth arc all the way down the sides, being careful to keep the same amount of dark green showing from underneath.

Barry M "Watermelon" is from the Gelly Hi-Shine Collection earlier this year.  It is a dark evergreen creme that dries to a nice high shine.  It applied perfectly, and almost has a Gel like consistency. 1 coat was all I needed for this manicure.

Essence "That's What I Mint", is from their Colour & Go released for Spring 2013.  It is a light mint green creme with silver and green micro-shimmer. The shimmer is very faint on the nail and more prominent in the bottle. 

I will have to try this idea again when my nails grow all the way back, and then see if it makes them seem longer or shorter, until then...Keep It Sweet!

Essence and Color Club: Freehand Cloud Design

Today I have a tutorial manicure! Not my own, but one from a fabulous blogger.  I saw this great tutorial on Nailside, and I immediately knew I could do it!:)

I used: Essence "Back to Paradise", Color Club "Antiquated", and Essence "My Little Orchid".

I started off with 3 coats of "Back to Paradise", which is actually a dark evergreen "crelly", which is a cross between a creme and a jelly finish. Gorgeous! Then I added 4 strokes of the Color Club in cascading rows down the nail.   Then after letting the gold dry for 1 minute, I followed suit with the purple. That's it!

I love the combination of these colors, it's very FALL like, LOL! :)

I applied my regular top coat regime, but waited a bit longer for the accent nail to dry, since it now had so many coats on top.  After I decided it was dry enough, I topped it with just 1 coat of Seche Vite!

Keep It Sweet!

Purple Crack....

Tonight PRINCE will be performing in Chicago, my old home town. :( Alas.... I did not buy tickets, because I have other commitments, and I know I can do a lot more with my money than buy a concert ticket AND plane ticket......but I was THIS close to going, trust me!!!

So in honor of the concert, I WON'T be seeing (I've seen him in concert 4 times), here is a purple manicure, that I did a while ago and frankly forgot all about... until today! :)

2 coats of Essence "Where is the Party?" under 1 coat of China Glaze "Fault Line".

The essence is a duo-chrome shimmer, with flashes of green, purple, and sometimes silver, hey I guess that makes it a multi-chrome shimmer ;)

It applied easily in 2 coats, it was a bit runny on the first coat, but the second coat went on nicely. Once it was dry to the touch I applied one coat of the China Glaze crackle.  It is hard to capture the chrome flashes in the pics, but in person, it is very obvious on the nail. :)

Since the crackle dries with a slight matte texture, I applied my usual top coat to help it dry and give it shine! I know we've all seen crackles and we are "over them", but I think it's nice to be reminded how much we initially liked them and were intrigued by them in the beginning. :)

Overall I really like this manicure even though my camera did not, LOL :)

Keep It Sweet!

5 new Essence swatches

Happy Friday! I've a roller coaster of a week, but finally it's over and I have 2 days to recover.

Anyway, here are some little cuties from Essence that I received in an international swap with Simon from Italy.

Essence "Glamorous Life"
2 coats, no top coat

Gorgeous pink shimmer. This is a nice bright fuchsia jelly-like base with bright pink shimmer inside. This polish was easy to apply, but still pretty sheer in 2 coats, I bet this color would be best over another fuchsia color or maybe even white :)Gorgeous!

Essence "Princess Prunella"
2 coats, no top coat

Princess...YES, Prune? NO!  I wouldn't call this prune, more mauve frost. Apply well in 2 coats and the formula was nice and smooth.  If you look closely you can see pink and blue shimmer in this beauty, very nice. I'm not a fan of "frost polish", but this is still very nice.

Essence "Gleam In Blue"
2 coats, no top coat

A very pretty bright, yet light, blue! This color can show brushstrokes, but if you apply the color smoothly you should be able to get a perfect manicure!


Essence "Hard to Resist"
2 coats, no top coat

Gorgeous navy blue shimmer, bright and beautiful. This color is very similar to other blues I have, but that does not take away from how great it still is.  Applied nicely in 2 coats, smooth and rich, no pooling, no staining. :)

Essence "Midnight Charm"
2 coats, no top coat

Nice navy blue frost. I'm not in love with it, but it was opaque in 2 coats.  The formula was a bit thick, but still controllable and easy to apply.  Not terribly unique, but still great for fall. :)

Overall, these little beauties do not disappoint.  They are cute and small, a great price, and my favorite part is the bottle tops always match the color, I think that is sooo cute! LOL!

You can swap for them with an international swapper or you can go down to your local ULTA and grab them yourself.  :) I do not know if you will find these exact colors, but I know ULTA carries this brand.

Keep It Sweet!