A preview of things to come

I got quite a few new colors lately and I thought I'd give you a quick preview of things to come. I will of course be doing a full write-up on each of these colors but I had to try them out as soon as I got them!

From left to right: Wonder Beauty Hippie Fest and Crotch Rocket, Zoya Astra and Myrta

A close up of Hippie Fest and Crotch Rocket

A close up of Astra and Myrta

On first glance, I love all these colors. Obviously, since I wasn't going to wear these four different colors like this and was going to be taking them off, I didn't bother to clean them up. I will definitely be doing full manicures of each and voice my opinions. But for now, just a peek!

Finals Procrastination

If you read any of my recent posts, you know I had finals last week. Of course I had to procrastinate a little bit and what better way to procrastinate than pain my nails? Since I was spending the majority of my time studying depressing topics like cancer and heart disease (I'm a MA Pathology student), I decided I needed bright, fun nails. I decided to try out two previously unused Zoya polishes: Charla and Apple. 

Charla is a bright tropical blue with a metallic finish. Apple, as the name suggests, is a vivid green color that is packed with gold sparkle. 

I decided to do contrasting hands as you can see since I couldn't decide on a main color. Boy do these colors SPARKLE!!!! They are so bright and fun!

Since I finished my nails and still felt like procrastinating more, I added some stamping. This was my first mostly successful attempt at full nail stamping. I was excited, and the fun print and colors cheered up my studying. Win! You can find Charla here and Apple here. They are normally $8 a piece but if you follow those links and sign up for a new account, you can get one free for just the price of shipping. Happy painting!

Sassy Lacquer, Hits, and Zoya... Oh my!

I apologize up front for this being a super long post, but I got so many exciting new polishes and I couldn't wait to try them. First up I have Zoya Blair, which is a deep metallic red.  It goes on beautifully and provides full coverage in two coats. 

Then I received my order from Sassy Lacquer. She is new to the franken market and I was lucky enough to grab her whole collection before she sold out. Her current collection consists of 3 color changing top coats, and I couldn't wait to try them. So, I immediately layered them over Zoya Blair.

 First I tried Pegasus Jizz (now named pegasus plasma) over Blair as an accent. It added quite a beautiful copper sparkle.

Of course, I then had to try the other 2 colors. From left to right I have on Chameleon Charge, Electric Eel, Pegasus Jizz, and Chameleon Charge. The colors all look beautiful over the deep red, but it doesn't give the best representation of their actual colors. So, I redid my nails with a black base this morning, to better show the true beauty of Sassy Lacquers new polishes. 

From left to right; Sassy Lacquer Pegasus Jizz, Chameleon Charge, Electric Eel, and Hits Moonbeam

First up we have Chameleon Charge, which is a gold to green shift top coat. These were had to photograph in the bottle but not so on the nail as you will see.

Next is Pegasus Jizz (Plasma). This is a beautiful copper, red, to green shift. 

The last of Sassy Lacquers polishes is Electric Eel which has a blue to green shift.

 To round out my manicure I plan on wearing for a couple days thanks to finals is Hits moonbeam. This is a multi-chrome glitter than changes from purple to blue to green.

From left to right I am wearing: Electric Eel, Moonbeam, Pegasus Jizz (Plasma), and Chameleon Charge.

Here are you seen the beautiful shift effect of all 4 polishes. They are so sparkly and different! I am completely in love. I used 2 coats of each plus a top coat of seche vita.

The first close-up I have is of Pegasus Jizz (Plasma). Look at that shift!! It's stunning! You can so easily see the distinct color change between the red, copper and green. 

Next I have Moonbeam, but Hits. This also have a beautiful shift, this time for blue to purple. Unlike the all over shimmering beauty of the Sassy Lacquers, Moonbeam consists of different color small glitters. This doesn't give it quite as smooth of an appearance as the Sassy Lacquers, but it is still beautiful in it's own right.

 I had a difficult time photographing the lovely blue to green shift of Electric Eel. Here you can see the pretty blue color. The green shift is much more apparent in the whole hand photos. In sunlight, it turns into this stunning turquoise green color. I love it!

Last, but definitely not least, I have Chameleon Charge. If you look at the base of my nail, you can see the gold shimmer slowly transition into a brilliant emerald green. 

Needless to say I am in LOVE with Sassy Lacquers new polishes! They go on like a charm and produce absolutely gorgeous results! She is currently sold out but is taking wait-list orders. The set of Pegasus Plasma, Chameleon Charge, and Electric Eel is $27. Pegasus Jizz (now title plasma) is available alone for $9. You can contact her here (http://kcrephmams.blogspot.com/p/sassy-lacquer.html) to join the wait-list. She is phenomenal at responding. I can't wait to try these new Sassy Lacquers over more polishes! Happy painting!

Nail Care and Painting

I received a request to outline my nail painting method and how to care for nails. It took me a bit to get to but here you go!

Step 1 - Remove Cuticles

Fist, lets review nail anatomy. Most people think the cuticle is the flap of skin surrounding the nail. I thought this too for the longest time, but that is not true. That flap of skin is called the eponychium and should NEVER be removed. The eponychium is important as it keeps bacteria from getting in. The true cuticle is on the nail itself in front of the eponychium and can be difficult to see. This is what we want to remove since the true cuticle can drag down over the length of the nail, causing rough or poor adherence of the nail polish.

So, how do we remove the cuticle now that we know what it is? I use a product called Cuticle Away. You can purchase it on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Cuticle-Away-A-I-I-436709-1-oz/dp/B000EVL3CY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335463311&sr=8-2), however, I picked my bottle up at CVS. 

First you place a drop on each nail. Try not to touch the tip of the bottle to the nail. That way you avoid adding bacteria to the bottle

Then I used the included orange stick to spread the cuticle remover all over the nail. Since this is the first time I'm removing the cuticle, I have to cover the whole nail because the cuticle could have been dragged down the length of the nail as it grew. In repeat applications, you would only need to do the zone of new growth. Then you let the cuticle remover sit for 45 seconds.

After the 45 seconds are over, you take the orange wood stick and gently scrape the nail to remove the cuticle. You will see gunky looking stuff coming off, that is the cuticle. Once you have done all your fingers, rinse them off with water and repeat for the other hand. Here is a link to a video showing exactly how this process is done.

Cuticle Removal - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttxRWkbwGIg

Step 2 - Paint the Nails!

Now onto the fun part! Here's my little trick, to help with easy clean-up cover the skin around the nail with lotion. To do this, I dip a q-tip in my hand lotion and put a decent layer around my nail. You can see it globbed up a bit on my pinky finger below.

Then, take another q-tip dipped in nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol and swipe over the nail to remove any lotion on the nail. I always use a base coat before applying any color to my nails. Why? It helps the polish stick better and it helps keep your nails from being discolored. I currently use Orly Top 2 Bottom, which I picked up at CVS as well. 

Now time for color! I used Zoya Anastasia - a deep purplish-pink with a strong gold transition. I use a 3 stroke method. I start by placing a dot of polish at the base of the nail. I then spread it up one side of the nail, then the other, and finally the center of the nail. This technique minimizes the appearance of brush strokes in the dried polish.

Lacquerized has a great post showing this method - http://www.lacquerized.com/2010/05/how-to-how-i-paint-my-nails.html

Then I follow up with a coat of topcoat. For this I use Orly Top 2 Bottom again since it is a dual purpose polish. 

Step 3 - Clean-Up

Now to make that mani look perfect. Remember that lotion we put on earlier? Well now we just wipe it off! Any nail polish on the skin should peel right off with lotion. Easy as pie! However, I forgot to take a picture of this cleaned up mani. Oops :(  If there is any polish left on the skin that doesn't come off with the lotion, you can dip a q-tip in some nail polish remover and carefully wipe the polish away. 

Step 4 - Moisturize

Last but not least we want to moisturize. You can buy all types of cuticle oils and moisturizers, but what I've found that works the best is basic olive oil. All you have to do is put a drop on the eponychium (hooray for learning!) and gently rub it in. That's it! Now you have a prefect pretty manicure in 4 steps!