NOTD: 4th of July Rhinestone French + Tutorial

Happy 4th to all my American readers!  It's about to get hot hot HOT here again into the 90's, so as soon as I post this I think I'll be turning on the a/c =)  Nothing too special planned, but any day I don't have to go to work is a good day as far as I'm concerned.

This ended up to be my only holiday-themed mani for the 4th... time just got away from me.  I had a pink idea that I was going to do in red white & blue, but since I didn't get to it I think I'll do it in pink like I originally planned.  This was really pretty simple & didn't take as long as I thought it would, even with having to place all the rhinestones.  Base color is Wet n Wild French White with a couple layers of China Glaze White Cap on top, then I used regular slow-drying top coat to adhere the rhinestones:

Here's the tutorial:

Thanks for reading.  I know there seemed to be a lot of celebrating last night, but if you're celebrating tonight also remember to keep it safe!

~Colette

4th of July NOTD: Zoya Jo & Elke + BM05

I did this before I went to my brother's house, just something simple but I had a few chips on my book cover challenge mani so I was forced to take it off even though I was sad to see it go.  I used Zoya Jo (blue), Zoya Elke (red), and the stamping is done with Konad White Special Polish & Bundle Monster plate bm05.  Then I added the rhinestones ... a few of them look kind of glommed on, I used too much topcoat to set them, but other than that & a few crooked stars, I like this:

There were actually a ton of ideas I had this year that were 4th of July related & I just didn't get around to them.  For example I didn't do any fireworks on my nails!  So I may tweak the color scheme & still do some of them, or else they'll just have to wait until next year.

We had some barbecue & some laughs at my brother's house, and I'm in for the evening now.  I'm sure the dog will be going crazy as soon as the fireworks really get started ... they didn't used to bother him when he was a puppy, but now he just freaks out & wants to hide =(

Stay safe, be happy =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Red & Blue Funky French (Ulta For Bitten & Underground)

I liked this, but I didn't love it because most of the day at work my tips looked black, you couldn't really see that they were vampy red & blue =(  I started with 1 coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, then I alternated the tips with Ulta For Bitten & Ulta Underground.  The silver smile line is China Glaze Millennium - and I'm not sure I like that part of the mani either, but it needed a smile line (to cover my messy freehand tips) & I'm really not sure what color would have worked better.  I used one more coat of Fairy Dust over everything, and I included a couple of blurry shots that show off the holo better:

Also, I think I've decided that chevron-shaped french tips are a little more flattering to my nails at this length.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Finger Paints Spun Sugar + BM21 & BM14

This was not one of my favorites from the past week.  I started out with Finger Paints Spun Sugar, I think this was 3 coats & still a little streaky & VNL, but it was too late for me to add a 4th coat if I wanted it dry enough to stamp on.  Which I did, because no way am I wearing plain white nails.  BO-RING LOL.  I added stamping with Red & Blue Pearl Konad Special Polish, and Bundle Monster plates bm21 (the larger image) &bm14 (the smaller stars):

Very nice for the holiday but just not interesting enough to keep me from taking it off - I only wore this for Tuesday.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Ulta Bombshell

So, I decided to make this kind of unofficially 4th of July mani week.  I don't know if I'll manage the entire week LOL, but so far starting with my marble I have managed to keep to a red, white & blue color scheme.  Although this particular mani uses just the red, I think the holo glitter makes it holiday appropriate =)

Ulta Bombshell is a cherry red jelly with holo glitter throughout. Pictured is 3 coats, I can see VNL at certain angles so it probably would have benefited from a 4th coat, but it wasn't super-noticeable & I enjoyed it all day ... even though I was wearing this on Monday when I broke my nail.  It was horrible ... and yes I took pics =)  I have a naked nail post in the works, but I'm going to post the stash first.  Anyway, pics:

And, just because ... why not?  In motion:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: 4th of July Water Marble

I wanted to do something for the 4th, and also to play with a new marbling technique that makes stripes in the water that I discovered while experimenting.  I really like how this turned out, although I did get some bubbling ... not sure if that was because I was doing 2 nails at a time or what, because the nails with the least bubbles are my thumbs, which I did individually.

I used all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear colors - Cherry Red, Blue It & White On.  I picked up the red maybe a week ago at Target specifically to use for this actually.  My favorite nails for this marble are the thumbs, not just because they don't have bubbles but the stripes are the best:

I was going to redo my middle right because it came out crooked & everything else was even but in the end I just left it & funny enough I got lots of compliments on that particular nail LOL, so maybe I'll see about doing a mani where all the nails aim for that part of the design.

Here is the tutorial:

One note, that I forgot to talk about in the tutorial, is that in this case it really does make a difference the order you drip the polish.  I originally tried blue > red > white > repeat & the red bled into the white & turned it pink (below left).  So I switched the order to red > blue > white (below right) & the white stayed white.  Once again, water marbling takes PRACTICE!  I know I don't show my marbling fails very often but please believe they happen LOL.  Thankfully they usually happen when I'm practicing on paper & not actually when I'm doing a manicure:

I am fast approaching my 500th post!  & really, what better way to celebrate than stash pics?  =)  The Zoyas pushed me over the 1,000 bottle mark.  I'll be taking a ton of pics, and maybe a video, although I'm doubtful my camera can handle that much moving around (because it sucks ...  because there is no refocusing, zooming or anything else once you start recording ...) so that may need to wait until I buy a new camera or even a digital camcorder.  I haven't quite decided yet, I'm trying to educate myself LOL so I actually get something good.  Any suggestions you want to drop in comments or email would be appreciated =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette