Twinsie Tuesday: Interlocking Design Mani

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme has us doing interlocking design manis. I actually had to look this up to know what it was and apparently it's where you make a design with interlocking dots. I could tell right away this was going to be tricky for me, because there was (ugh) nail art involved. But I gave it a whirl and...well, I tried, honest!

For this mani, I used two Essie polishes: A Crewed Interest and Sweet Talker. I actually think this looks better in the picture than it does in real life, so hey, that's something at least! I like the color contrast with this mani, but that's about it. Let's not dwell on it any longer than we already have, hahaha.

Part of TT is trying new things and when you try new things, inevitably some of them are going to be not-so-good. I'm sure my Twinsies fared better this week than I did, so be sure to take a look at their manis!

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Twinsie Tuesday: Grunge Mani

I'll admit that I totally had to Google this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme because I wasn't sure what a grunge mani was. But that's part of what TT is all about is introducing us to things we otherwise might never try or even know about, right?

If, like me, you are unfamiliar with grunge manis, how they work is that you start with a base color and then thoroughly wipe down your polish brush before streaking another color over top of it. You can layer as many colors as you like and the intent is to create a distressed or grungy look--almost like a shatter-type effect without the shatter polish. Hopefully I did an okay job of explaining that...? I feel like my description sucks but I can't think of another way to explain how you do this technique. It's easier to show than tell.

So anyways, for my grunge mani, I used Illamasqua Scorch as my white base then streaked on Spoiled by Wet N Wild Did I Dye It Too Blonde?, China Glaze Sun Of A Peach, China Glaze Pool Party and Rimmel Black Satin (which came out kinda weirdly brown-looking with this mani). I wasn't quite sure what colors to use, since this is my first time doing a grunge mani, but I knew I wanted to use some neons to really emphasize the color contrast. The color palette I used turned out to be a little 90s roller rink-esque but I am totally okay with that, hahaha.

I'm really bummed that I broke a nail Monday afternoon, forcing me to chop down my nails to nubbins, because I think this would be an especially cool-looking design on long nails. But this is the first break I've had in ages so I can't complain too much

This mani was a ton of fun to do and it's actually a super easy technique! This is one of only a few Twinsie Tuesday nail art themes that didn't involve a bunch of botched attempts and swearing on my part. I'd like to try doing another grunge mani sometime soon and I'm looking forward to seeing if my Twinsies enjoyed this challenge as much as I did!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

China Glaze Sun Of A Peach

China Glaze Sun Of A Peach is a neon peach creme from the new Sunsational Collection. This collection has quickly become notorious for having some iffy formulas and unfortunately, Sun Of A Peach doesn't have the best one. But we'll get to that in a minute. For now, let's take a look at this pretty peach!

This was a tough polish to apply evenly. It was streaky and even after four coats, I can still see some little streaks and patches here and there that don't look completely covered. Seche helped level things out a bit though.

I did, however, get a ton of compliments at work on this color and it's definitely a fun shade. I just wish the formula was more forgiving. It was not as tricky to work with as its collection-mate, Too Yacht To Handle, but it wasn't great either.

China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's

What sort of terrible misunderstanding happened during the naming process for this polish? Why are there completely random apostrophes all over the place? The world may never know, but the former copy editor in me is not pleased! (Yep, I'm one of those people who practically have an aneurysm whenever I see things like they're/their, your/you're, etc. misused.)

Questionable grammar aside, China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's is a lovely color and the polish I was most looking forward to from the Avant Garden Collection. It's a peachy pink infused with a soft gold shimmer--so perfect for spring!

I was not let down one bit by this polish! It really is a gorgeous shade and the formula is top-notch. I used two coats here. This may be my favorite of the four polishes I picked up from Avant Garden. It's a tough call between this one and Fancy Pants, which I'll show you tomorrow. If you're a fan of peaches or pastels though, definitely check this one out!

Have you snagged any of the Avant Garden polishes yet? Which ones are you most excited for?

Adventures in Zooey Deschanel Nail Art

I have a confession to make: I am an awards show junkie. I watch the Oscars (my equivalent of the Superbowl), the Emmys and the Golden Globes every year. I really couldn't tell you what I love more: the gowns or the awards themselves. What girly girl hasn't thought about what she would wear if she was a star on the red carpet?

Hint: This. I would want to look like this. In case you were wondering, this is Chinese actress Fan Bingbing looking ten million kinds of fierce on the RC. Basically, I would wear anything that Fan Bingbing would wear.

 

Okay, so I highly doubt I'll ever get to have my Fan Bingbing moment. *sigh* But I can try to capture a little bit of red carpet glamour on my nails with some help from another leading lady who's becoming very well known for her red carpet nail art.

Zooey at the 2012 Emmys

Zooey is a modern style icon, so of course her nails have to look the part too, whether it's her adorable tuxedo nails at the Golden Globes or the retro TV design she sported at the Emmys this year.

Zooey's Emmy nails

Super cute, right? Zooey's look is pretty easy to replicate, even for a nail art newbie like me! I followed along with the steps celeb manicurist Tom Bachik did on Zooey's nails for the Emmys to create my own version of her mani. Here's how it all went down...

1. Start with a thin layer of a bright yellow polish. I used Wet N Wild Art Crime, but any yellow will work just fine. Don't worry about opacity or if it doesn't look completely perfect, because we're just using it as a base.

If you look jaundiced, you're doing it right!

2. Next layer one coat of a soft pastel peach, like L'Oreal Sweet Nothings that I used here, to soften the yellow. The way my camera captured this step makes my nails look way too yellow compared to how they really were, so I left a pic out for this step, but the look we're going for is a muted yellow. Your nails should not look completely peach, just softened.

3. On your thumb, make a small square in the center of your nail using a silver glitter. I went with OPI Crown Me Already! here.

4. Wait a few minutes for everything to dry, then outline your glitter square using a black nail art pen. I used a Sally Hansen one for my mani. Remember to round the corners on your outline to really get that retro look! Don't forget to draw in the rest of the details--antenna and TV stand legs--with your black nail art pen too. For the TV knobs, Zooey's manicure had Swarovski crystals, but I used a silver Sally Hansen nail art pen for my version.

6. The rest of Zooey's nails were spangled with Swarovski crystals here and there, so I dabbled Crown Me Already! on my nails to mimic the effect.

Ta-da! Okay, so my version isn't anywhere near as glamorous as Zooey's but this is pretty advanced nail art by my standards! I'm proud of myself for sticking with it, even when I had one of those inevitable "OMFG what have I done?!" moments. (*ahem* shaping the TV corners) Hopefully I didn't shame her gorgeous manicure too much with my attempt!

 

What do you think of Zooey's style? Have you ever tried to replicate a celeb manicure?

 

 

Disclosure: Sweet Nothings was provided to me by PR/manufacturer for this tutorial. This in no way alters or influences the content of this post. All other polishes were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.



Dollish Polish Toad-ally Awesome

I got my very first Dollish Polish colors in the mail last week and I'm very excited to finally try a brand I've heard so much about! The first one I tried is Toad-ally Awesome, a clear base with blue, gold, matte white and matte red glitters in various shapes and sizes. This polish comes from the Super Mario Brothers Collection and is inspired by the character Toad. I've never really liked Toad the character--although I do get some comedic value from the more recent Mario games where now they make him sound like a chain smoker--but I definitely like this polish! This is two coats of Toad-ally Awesome over Essie A Crewed Interest.

I did have to fish a bit to get some of the red pieces, but otherwise Toad-ally Awesome applies perfectly. I chose A Crewed Interest as my base because it's the same color as Toad himself, plus it seemed fitting to choose peach! Get it?

Yeah, I'm a nerd, I know. You can buy Dollish Polish from Dolly's official website or Llarowe.

Essie A Crewed Interest

This is the one and only peach shade in my entire stash--and a very recent addition at that: Essie A Crewed Interest. I don't really have anything against peach, it's just never a color I felt an urgent need to have. But this caught my eye when I saw the polishes for the newly released Navigate Her Collection and so I decided to give it a shot. A Crewed Interest is a pastel peach creme. The color reminds me a lot of band-aids actually--band-aids and orange sherbet haha.

The formula on this was pretty streaky. I used three coats and later on after the polish dried I noticed a few streaks and patches, primarily on my right hand which I can't paint as neatly or evenly as my left since I'm right-handed. The overall formula isn't awful but like with its collection-mate To Buy Or Not To Buy, I feel like A Crewed Interest's formula was kind of a step backward compared to the smooth creme formulas in the Cocktail Bling and Brand New Bag collections. Perhaps it's because these shades are both pastels, which are not exactly known for excellent formula and opacity.

For some reason I have a really strong mental associating between A Crewed Interest and OPI Pink Friday. I think it's because they share a similar softness and they're both creamy shades that remind me of sherbet colors. I'm not 100% certain A Crewed Interest is super flattering on my skintone but I like it anyways, probably because I don't have anything else remotely like it. If you already have some peach polishes then A Crewed Interest will likely be a pass for you but if you're like me and don't have anything peach, it'd be a good place to start.