Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Green Gradient with Golden Shamrock

March 18, 2014happyjoylove Glitter/Holographic, Holiday/Theme 1 Comment

I’m not Irish and I don’t even like to get sloshed, but I enjoy Saint Patrick’s Day because

1. My favorite color is Green and Rainbows (yes, that’s the answer I give, don’t judge me)

2. I LOVE GOLD

3. I love clovers (today I wore my real 4 leaf clover necklace)

4. I’ve always secretly wished I was red headed and green eyed

5. I love me some cabbage and potatoes

6. I don’t like to get hammered, but I do still love a good beer

7. Did I mention rainbows?

The real big deal about today’s manicure is that it’s actually the first time I’ve ever attempted a gradient. I followed the basic process of painting white on all my nails, then painting 3 shades of green onto a cosmetic sponge and dabbing each nail.

I did between 2 and 3 layers per nail with the sponge. Then I added green glitter on the tips. For my ring finger I painted a coat of China Glaze Angel Wings over the entire nail, then added a shamrock.

The shamrock is 3 metal studs, which I painted over and then painted on the stem.

And yes, for St. Paddy’s day it should be 3 leaves because St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach about the holy trinity. Overall I like how it turned out, but I know I can do better. I have the excuse that I was on a time schedule because I did these right before heading out to a St. Paddy’s party!

To all my Irish friends, I hope you had some luck today, or at least some cabbage.

Polishes and Supplies Used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base and Top Coat
2 Coats Sally Hansen Xtremewear White On
Cosmetic Sponge for gradient
Nailite Mint Green
Maybelline GoGo Green
Ulta The Jungle Look
Pure Ice I’ll Behave
1 Coat INM Out The Door Top Coat
Revlon Fall Mood
China Glaze Angel Wings
Studs from BornPrettyStore
Poshe Top Coat

The After Party Nails – Zoya Payton Burgundy Sparkle

January 29, 2014happyjoylove Glitter/Holographic Leave a comment

So as my previous article stated, I just had a super fun dance performance this past weekend. After my Sunday performance my family took me out for an early birthday dinner. We were headed to a nicer restaurant so I quickly swiped off my neon nails, but didn’t get to repaint them until later that evening.

Some members of my dance group invited me to a get together at one of the local clubs to celebrate the same night. I opted for the opposite of neon stamped nails and went for dark and sparkly with Zoya’s Payton. The best part about this polish (other than the amazing color-changing flecks) is the price I got it for. It was on clearance at Ulta for half price ($3.99), but I also had a coupon and points so I effectively paid about $1.50!

The photos show two coats of Payton with INM Out The Door top coat. I put the top coat after each layer of color because it can extend the wear of the polish. This color is fabulous with one coat, a nice magenta, but two coats gives a dimensionality to the sparkly flecks that is drool-worthy.

I decided to get all fancy with my photos and use the rose I received as a performance gift from mom :).

The polish seems to be holding up well, only 1 chip after 3 days, but I have noticed that the color comes off when I rub my nails on something; guess if I misplace my pen I can just write with my nail.

On a side note, I realized that my accent nail is basically a Tesla Logo; which I’m completely okay with because I think they are the sexiest cars on the road.

Polishes Used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base and Top Coat
1 Coat Zoya Payton
1 Coat INM Out The Door Top Coat
1 Coat Zoya Payton
1 Coat INM Out The Door Top Coat
BornPrettyStore Studs and mini rhinestone

Groove Is In The Heart Neon Nails with Stamping

January 29, 2014happyjoylove Dotting, Glitter/Holographic, Stamping, Tutorials Leave a comment

Where to begin? You may have noticed that I haven’t posted in about 3 months and that my last post was something to the extent of “I don’t feel like writing, here are pictures”. Well, when it rains it pours and unfortunately my father passed away from cancer along with another close family friend within a month of each other. To top it off, these sad events happened during the holidays (I hosted Thanksgiving too)…oh yes, and I got a horrible full body rash (from stress I’m sure) that was unbearably itchy and horrendous and I would never wish it on my worst enemy! I’m hopeful that the scarring will go away :\.

Point being, I fell off the bloggy wagon (even though I did continue to paint and photograph my nails) and so now I’m hopping back on, full speed ahead!

I’m jumping back in with a super bright manicure I did to match my dance performance costume. I have been taking an adult hip hop class and this past weekend we had our performance – we danced to the song “Groove is in the Heart” by Deelite so I went for 60’s style bubbles with a heart on the accent finger.

I did my nails on Monday so they’d be ready for both dress rehearsals (plus group photos) and figured I’d have to do them again before the performance. Well guess what? I didn’t, because they lasted for the whole week. Look at how they held up, the photo below was taken on Sunday.

Not only do I give credit to my Making Your Mani Last techniques, but I’ve also been doing a newer process which makes a big difference. Do a layer of topcoat in between each layer of color for extra wear time! This mani was done with cheap LA Colors and Sally Hansen polishes, so it’s not that I was using some amazing expensive magic polish. I will give credit to Poshe Top Coat, though, because I used a super thick layer on top, so I’m sure that helped too.

The process was one layer base coat, one layer white, two layers neon colors, one layer INM Out the Door top coat, stamping with black, glitter on accent nail, dotting tools for pink and white circles, 1 layer Black Tie Optional on thumb and then a thick layer of Poshe Top Coat.

Sunday nails that were painted at the beginning of the week, look how they held up!

I shared my neon polishes with some of my dancing buddies 🙂

Shout out to everyone Studio Gray for an amazing show! I had so much fun and maybe I’ll post some action dance shots when I get them.

Polishes and Supplies Used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base and Top Coat
1 Coat Sally Hansen Xtremewear White On
2 Coats generic LA Colors neon pink and yellow (got a mini set from Ross, no color names)
1 Coat INM Out The Door Top Coat
Wet n Wild Black Creme for stamping
Salon Express stamping plate for the heart and Konad M85 stamping plate for the bubbles (I have a knock off konad plate from BornPrettyStore, but they are no longer selling it, same design)
LA Splash Baby Octopus for the holographic silver glitter on the accent nail
1 Coat Hard Candy Black Tie Optional on the thumb
Poshe Top Coat

Boil Boil Toil and Trouble Ultra Purple Witch Nails

October 22, 2013happyjoylove Glitter/Holographic, Holiday/Theme Leave a comment

I don’t want to type much today. Here are my purple witch nails. I put loose glitter on the non-accent nails that make me think of mermaids. Usually I match my right and left hand, but in this case I only did a witch on my right. I love the purple color by Ulta, but I was having some trouble with the brush and also this color responds strangely to topcoats. Enjoy!

Polishes Used:

Seche Vite Base Coat
Ulta Ultra Violet Femme for the purple background
Sally Hansen Xtremewear Black Out for the black witch’s hat and eye dots
Sally Hansen Xtremewear Perfect Pear-ing for the witch’s face
Sinful Color’s Summer Peach for the witch’s hair
Ulta High Roller for the gold buckle
Sally Hansen Xtremewear Wet Cement for hat accent
Loose glitter that I got from the Dollar Tree, woot!
Poshe Top Coat

Rainbow Fuzzy Nails – Contest Winnings Arrived!

October 9, 2013happyjoylove Brand/Product Reviews and Comparisons, Glitter/Holographic Leave a comment

So, I’m a little back-logged on posts, but better late than never! A while back I did a small post about winning a contest from Janella at boldnbeautifulmakeup.blogspot.com. She did follow through on sending the prizes (all the way from Canada!) and I was so excited that I wanted to use most of the colors all in one mani.

What does that mean? Rainbows of course! This was my last summer manicure before my Fall/Halloween transition (also look for a massive post coming up about Fall nails).

Fuzzy Rainbow Nails 3 For this manicure I used Color Club’s Take Wing as the base, two coats each, then coordinated the fuzzy coat colors on each finger.

Polishes Used:

Seche Vite Base Coat
Pink – Color Club Wing Fling with Wool Lite
Orange – Sparkle and Soar with Peach Fuzz
Yellow – Daisy Does It with Fuzzy Fantasy
Green – Fly With Me with Fuzz-Sea
Blue-Green – Metamorphosis with Tight Knit
Purple – Milani Totally Cool with Tweedy
Poshe Top Coat

So long summer nails, welcome Fall!

Spooky Spiders and Wicked Webs – Halloween Nails

October 7, 2013happyjoylove Dotting, Glitter/Holographic, Holiday/Theme, Stamping 2 Comments

All weekend I was thinking about doing some kind of witch theme on my nails, but come Sunday evening I flip-flopped into designing a black widow spider and webs.

The spider is hand painted – first I made two dots to form the body and head, then used a fine paintbrush to do the legs and the distinctive red mark. The web design is from my stamping Cheeky Jumbo Plate A – it was initially a pattern I didn’t think I would use, but it is actually one that I gravitate towards the most and it was perfect to give the spider web vibe. I think a cute alternative to doing webs on each nail would be to do black and white stripes; still very Halloweeny.

This was my first time using a mint Nailite polish that I got on clearance for a whopping 42 cents (directly from their website). It took two coats to be opaque, and although it seemed a little streaky when applying, the color became even after drying. The brush is pretty thin so you can’t cover your whole nail in one swipe, but nonetheless it turned out well.

Now all I need is a Spider WOman costume :).

Polishes Used:

Seche Vite Base Coat
Sally Hansen Xtremewear Black Out for the black base
Nailite Polish Mint Green for the accent finger green base
Sally Hansen Xtremewear White On for the spider web stamping
Sinful Colors Under 18 for the red marking on the spider
China Glaze Fairy Dust over spider web nails
Poshe Top Coat

Removing Glitter Polish Like A Pro

September 24, 2013happyjoylove Glitter/Holographic, Tutorials 4 Comments

In many cultures and civilizations there exist rights of passage where, upon completion, a member moves from one rank to another or is considered a more integral part of the group. I feel like in The Naildom (The Domain of Nails) having your first rage inducing hour-long session of removing glitter polish is a right of passage.

The problem is I don’t think this is a right of passage anyone should really endure, no matter how masochistic one may be. I don’t think you need to have shreds of cotton balls stuck to all your sparkle coated fingers while you’re spewing profanities (totally not speaking from personal experience).

I’m here to tell you there’s a better way. I’m here to help you transcend from your lowly nail scrubbing practice to the magical world of tinfoil finger hats (<—what?).

Steps To Removing You Sparkle Nails

Gather supplies – cotton balls or pads, tinfoil, scissors, polish remover (acetone works best, but is strong).
Use scissors to cut tinfoil into 5 squares somewhere around 3×3″ – play around with the size that fits your fingers best.
Put some polish remover on a cotton ball, place cotton ball on fingernail, then wrap tinfoil over fingertip and cotton ball together.
Repeat with four other fingers and let sit for 2-3 minutes. I like to do one hand at a time, but you can do all 10 fingers at once if you have the skill. If you only do one hand at a time then you can reuse the foil and cotton balls on the opposite hand.
Remove the foil/cotton ball from each finger, then reuse the cotton balls to EASILY swipe of the softened glitter polish.
Repeat on other hand.
I follow up this removal by scrubbing my hands/nails with a homemade coconut sugar scrub (mix sugar and coconut oil) which helps remove most of those leftover little glitter bits and also gives your nails/hands a punch of moisture and softness after soaking with the polish remover.
Bask in the glory that you just took off your glitter polish in a few minutes versus a few hours.

Sakura Cherry Blossom Nails with Matte Green Base

September 16, 2013happyjoylove Brand/Product Reviews and Comparisons, Dotting, Glitter/Holographic, Tutorials 4 Comments

Happy Monday. I’m submitting this post a little out of order because after I wrote my draft I somehow didn’t save it properly so I have to reeeewwwrrrriiittteee it. Anyway, Arizona Iced Tea anyone? I can’t say this mani was inspired by the drink of my childhood, however, it definitely is reminiscent of their old can. I did also have someone tell me it reminded them of a porcelain teacup.

Polish Performance

This manicure was my first attempt at using a matte top coat as well as my first time using Sally Hansen’s Complete Salon Manicure line. I will say I now know why this line runs for around $8 versus the the $2-3 you’ll pay for their Xtremewear line. The brush is amazing! I had to do ZERO clean up on this manicure because I had so much control with the brush and polish. It’s very soft and it has a rounded shape that fit the curve of my cuticles perfectly.

I was quite surprised at how thin one coat of the polish is…so surprised that I took a photo.

1 Coat of Sally Hansen Jaded

I used two coats, but really I think this polish would be best with 3 or 4 if you want full opacity. I definitely like the color of it too and I will say that these photos don’t do it justice (the pics look a little more grey and less green).

The matte topcoat did what it said, it turned super shiny polish into a smooth flat matte finish. I did notice some micro bubbles and I’m not sure whether it was from the top coat or from not letting the colored polish below dry long enough. I was on the fence about matte manicures for a long time, but this experiment has definitely changed my mind and I look forward to playing with more options!

Techniques:

The branches were just a simple few lines drawn with a fine paint brush and the flowers involved using one of my jenky homemade dotting tools (read: a sewing needle stuck into the pink eraser of a pencil).

Place 5 dots of polish in a circle and then place the needle in the center of each circle and drag a line towards the center. This will create the look of dimensional petals. I put a dot of CG Fairy Dust in the center of each flower for extra pop. You can always use a different number of dots to get a variety of flower patterns.

Polishes Used:

Seche Vite Base Coat
Green Base – 2 coats Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Jaded
China Glaze Matte Magic Top Coat
Branches – Ulta Taupe On A Rope
Flowers – Essie Luscious Lips
Flower center accents and forefinger – China Glaze Fairy Dust

What are your favorite polish colors to make matte?

RAINBOW SPARKLES! 3 Color Glitter Gradient

September 15, 2013happyjoylove Glitter/Holographic, Tutorials 4 Comments

So. Much. Sparkle

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I love rainbows and sparkles

So look at my freaking nails!

Technique:

This is three coats of each color. Basically I put gold at the base of each nail, then went back around and put green in the middle of each nail, then painted blue on the tip of each nail. Rinse and repeat two more times. These do not have a top coat currently, although I may add one on to see how it looks and to make the polish hold up.

Polishes Used:

Seche Vite Base Coat
Gold – Ulta Boogie Nights
Green – Pure Ice Treasure Hunt
Blue – Ulta Indigo-Go Girl

Weekend Wedding Nails Plus a Refresh

September 8, 2013happyjoylove Brand/Product Reviews and Comparisons, Glitter/Holographic Leave a comment

One of my friends all the way back from high school had her wedding reception this past weekend so I decided to do a simple white pearl manicure with heart accents to honor the festivities. I achieved the shimmery white by using one coat each of three different polishes listed below. The adorable gold hearts are from the stud set I previously spoke about from BornPrettyStore.com.

Halfway through the week I opted to refresh the manicure by painting different China Glaze polishes on each hand. The left hand got two coats of CG Seashell while the right hand got two coats of CG’s Holographic Not in This Galaxy. I love how Seashell looks; it is painted over the white so I’m not sure how that influenced the color, but it’s a “just right” color for me….and it’s very shiny.

The other CG polish has very fine holographic particles so it is quite subtle (not really noticeable indoors, sunlight really does the trick for this one). When inside, it looks more like a metallic polish, when outside you can see the full holo spectrum.

I have to say the consistency of both these polishes was great (not thick) and the brush was high quality and thin for accurate application. Even though it’s September I feel like I have February Valentine nails going this week!

Polishes Used: