Cartoon Inspired Nails

I keep seeing this pop up on the Reddit nail polish board and decided to finally get them a whirl.  I also keep mistakenly call them comic book nails, which I guess technically works; but they're supposed to look like cartoon nails, like the nails of a cartoon, drawn!

For this manicure I did one coat of Finger Paints Black Expressionism and then two coats of Essie Mojito Madness.  I wasn't able to do a straight line along the free edge wit the green so I went back and used a nail art brush with the same black polish to finish the edge.  This is over Orly Bonder, sealed with OTD, and then I mattified it afterwards.

What do you think? Better mattified or shiny? Goofy or clever?

Glowy Blue Embers

Every once in a while I'll layer some polishes together and fall in love and want to set up residency on my fingernails, hahaha. I'm currently wearing one of my favorite polish combinations ever and I'm super excited to share with you!

"Natural" Light

This is one coat (!) of Zoya Song, with one coat Hits Phenomena Afterglow and one coat Finger Paint Asylum.  The layerings are over a coat of Orly Bonder, sealed with a coat of Gelous and then Out the Door. There's like, a circus-y carnival on my nails.

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Don't forget! The dual giveaway is still active!

The prizes!

Click HERE to enter!

Galaxy Nails!

I wanted to give galaxy nails a try after seeing so many wonderful examples.  Mine, unfortunately, look uh, much better at a distance.  They're not awful but I hope to do better next time.

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I used a previous mani to build on, click HERE to go back and see it.  That explains what I built on, since it was also a layered manicure.  It can be seen below.

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Upon that manicure I used a couple different things to create the effect.
-Hits Zeus (sponged over)
-Hits Demeter (sponged over)
-WnW Black Creme (sponged over)
-Finger Paints Asylum (sponger over)
-Acrylic paints in various colors (used to make the "galaxy" design)

I used paint brushes with the acrylic paint and a make up sponge for the nail polish.  I knew I wanted it to contain orange for contrast reasons.  The dots were done using  a dotting tool with paint, not polish, to make them irregular.

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Flash

Have you done galaxy nails? I'd love to see your examples!

Essie Lapiz of Luxury & Finger Paints Motley

I revamped my previous mani with Essie Lapiz of Luxury by removing the popbeauty accent nail and added Finger Paints Motley.  Such a pretty combination!

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This is 3 coats of Lapiz of Luxury over one coat of CND Stickey sealed with Out the Door.

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Lapiz of Luxury wore really well!  No chipping, nice dry time, wonderful formula.  This is one coat of Motley.  A less dense flakie, but still very pretty.  It adds a subtle sparkle.  It also looks amazing over black.

The whole effect is really subtle and understated, but I like that.  If you're looking for something eyecatching I'd suggest Motley over black or red, even. I can't wait to play with all my new flakies!

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 Thanks for reading! (=

worst formula EVER and a haul

EUGH. I have encountered the worst, most awful formulated nail polish in my entire life.  I have 5 year old dollar store polishes with more grace and dignity than this one.  And I'm mostly pissed because this is supposed to be a somewhat reputable brand.

 BEHOLD Finger Paints "Chrsyanthe-mum's the word"

This is 3 coats.  I orignally did my nails once, and it bubbled and had drippy marks all over it.  So I tried again and added a little thinner.  Then that still wouldn't work.  So I added more thinner. STILL SUCKED.  This nail polish was so freakin' thick I can hardly even describe it to you.  It left severe streaks, would go on my nail and then drip all around my cuticles.  I don't know if this was a bad bottle, or what, but I've never, EVER worked with such a pain in the ass polish before.

One coat.

Streaks streaks streaks. It was SO goopy.  If I screw something up I will take fault for it, but at this point in the game I know how to apply nail polish and many other aspects of it.  This was not lack of skill - this was lack of quality. And that upsets me.

I rarely buy polish that costs more than a few dollars unless its a holiday or I did something good.  I bought this at Sally's for 4.49$ with my club card.  It pisses me off that it was so shoddy.  And it also pisses me off that I found a green I like but probably won't ever wear again!  Something tells me something went wrong here; either a bad batch or someone had left the lid off of the bottle at the store or something.  I can't comprehend a 5$ polish being that much of a POS.

Pretty ring though (=

 Accented with Funky Fingers "Under Mistletoe"

What I picked up yesterday:

Ulta "Red Carpet Red"
Ulta "Encore Pink"
L.A. Colors "Jewel Tone"
BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP EVER
Essence "Choose Me!"
Essence "Ultimate Pink"

What gets to me the most is I bought Jewel Tone, Choose Me! and Ultimate Pink for a DOLLAR each - and I love them.  I go outside of my norm and spring for a 5$ bottle (full price) and it blows.  The Ultas were on sale - 2 for 4$!  You win some and you lose some, I get that.  But this is my blog and I like to bitch when bitchin' is necessary LOL.