Showing posts with label coral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coral. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

NOTD - Glitter Gradient

I learned my lesson the last time I did a gradient, so I went to Walgreens and bought some of those soft makeup sponges! I used those when I did this fun glitter gradient!

I started with two coats of Ulta Peach Parfait, a coral jelly. Then, I used the makeup sponge to dab some of Milani Gems onto the tips of my nails. I found that I couldn't get the opacity of the glitter that I wanted near the very tips, so when I was done sponging I just used the Milani brush to fill in the gaps.

After the glitter dried, I did one more thin coat of Peach Parfait to do a jelly sandwich effect! I finished it up with a coat of Seche Vite fast drying top coat to smooth out the bumps.

I think this mani is totally adorable and reminds me of cupcake sprinkles!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Skittle Gradient!

I have been in such a nail rut the past couple weeks! I have been wanting to attempt a gradient mani for a while now but always assumed it would be time-consuming and difficult. Then, I checked out this tutorial by The Nailasaurus and realized how easy it was! I also saw this mani while browsing through the Tumblr blog Fuck Yeah Nail Art and I loved the color scheme, so I decided to translate it into a skittle gradient mani!

First, I did two coats of OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?, a light putty color, as my base color. I did it, yes, at midnight, and let it fully dry overnight before starting the gradient. Following Nailasaurus' tutorial, I started on my thumb with Essie Tart Deco, a neon coral-pink. On my index finger I used Essie Mint Candy Apple, a bright minty aqua, and on my middle finger I used Essie Smooth Sailing, a shimmery cornflower blue. Looking at my finished mani, I wish I had a brighter, more pastel cornflower blue because I don't think Smooth Sailing really goes with the other two colors as well. I repeated the pattern for all the rest of my nails.

Sammy's tutorial is SUPER easy and FAST! I think it only took me about 15 minutes to do all of my nails. The gradient came out a lot smoother than I thought it would too. The only thing I will do different next time is use a different sponge. I decided to do this gradient on a whim so I didn't have the nice soft makeup sponges that she recommends. All I had was a really rough exfoliating sponge that, as I'm sure you can see, left me with a bunch of little fibers all stuck to my nails! I will definitely pick up some makeup sponges at Walgreens in the next couple days and you can expect to see a bunch more gradient manis in the future!



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

EOTD - Pink and Grey

I sure have been posting a lot of eye looks lately! I have been challenging myself to use shadows I haven't used in a while (or ever!) before buying any new ones. So far I'm resisting the temptation...I'm sure when I get paid next week it'll all be for naught, though. The new Sugarpill palette is calling my name...

To start this look, I used Urban Decay Primer Potion as I always do. On the inner third of the lid, I blended Urban Decay Free Love, a light shimmery pinky coral. Then, I packed MAC Free to Be, a matte pinky coral, all over the bottom of of the lid. This shadow is a little hard to work with so you really just have to keep packing it on to get it to be really opaque and bright. It's gorge though so I give it a free pass. In the outer half of the lid, I blended NYX Greyish Brown, which is a matte dark grey with a bit of bluish-looking shimmer (totally don't get why it's called Greyish Brown. there's no brown in it whatsoever). I blended NYX Dune, a dark grey shimmer with a bit of golden shimmer in it, into the crease.

On the bottom lashline, I used NYX Eye/Eyebrow Pencil in Grey and smudged it with a bit of Greyish Brown. I highlighted the browbone and inner corner with...I can't remember. I think it was either UD Bootycall or Mary Kay Moonstone. To line the upper lashline, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion. Finally, I coated my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.


I love the combination of pink and grey! What do you think of this color combo?



Thursday, May 17, 2012

EOTD - My interpretation of Mac's "Call Me Bubbles" quad

A couple months ago when Mac's "Call Me Bubbles" quad came out, I was dying to have it but by the time I had the money to spare, it was sold out. :( So I became determined to replicate it with other shadows. The quad consisted of a matte pinky coral, a shimmery light orange, a beige highlighter, and a metallic copper. Since then, I've acquired shadows that I think are as close as I'm going to get to Call Me Bubbles, and I'm pretty happy with it! Here's the look I did.

I started by prepping my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. I used Mac's Free to Be, a pretty close dupe of the matte pinky coral shade in their Call Me Bubbles quad, on the inner half of the lid. This color is gorgeous, but it's pretty dry and takes some time to get the opacity right. On the outer half of the lid, I used Mac's Rule, a matte light orange that's really soft and buttery. It's pretty close in color to the orange shade in the quad, but matte instead of shimmery. In the future I think I could mix it with Urban Decay's Half Baked to get that gold shimmer in it.

In the crease, I used NYX's Copper, with some NYX Rust to darken the outer crease. Both of these shadows are gorgeous in color, but a little sheer and powdery. I could probably use it damp next time to make it a little easier to work with. I lined my lower lash line with  NYX's Slide On Eyeliner in Golden Bronze, and smudged it with NYX Copper. On the upper lash line, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition, a dark brown. I finished by sweeping my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about my interpretation of this Mac quad, although now that I see the colors on my actual face, I don't think I love pink and orange together on my skintone. I love pink and I love orange, but together on my eye, they make me look like I've been crying! Hah. Oh well. At least I tried!






Tuesday, February 7, 2012

butter LONDON Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches: Trout Pout

Hey everyone! I know you probably have been waiting in anticipation for the next butter LONDON swatch, already, dangit! I wanted to do a wear test on one of these colors because I know people claim butter LONDON always wear better on them than other brands. I usually get bored of a color after about 3 days or so, so I've never been able to attest to these claims. I wore Trout Pout for 7 days before I got so bored I absolutely had to take it off. At the end of those 7 days, I had NO chips and minimal tip wear. Bravo, butter LONDON!

Trout Pout is a gorgeous bright coral pink. It looked softer and more pastel in the bottle than it did on the nails. On the nails it bordered on neon! It was a bit difficult to apply because it was a little thick, which is a problem I've had with a couple other pastel butter LONDON colors. I believe I needed three coats to even everything out.

Fun fact: did you know that Trout Pout means horrible, bee-stung plastic surgery on the lips? Needless to say, this polish is a million times more gorgeous than that!

Next up: Slapper!

Monday, January 23, 2012

NOTD - Coral and Gold

We had some weird weather in Chicago this weekend. On Friday, we had our first major snowfall this winter. I think it was about 8 inches by the end of the night. Then, last night, we had a rain and thunderstorm. Whaaaa? This morning, almost all the snow was melted, leaving huge gross muddy puddles, and the sky was gray and misty. Gloom and doom all the way. I needed something to remind me that we are on the other side of the winter solstice and spring WILL be here soon, darn it!

Flash - It's not really this pink
I thought that OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster, a bright coral with subtle gold shimmer, would look gorgeous layered with Essie As Gold as it Gets, a gold flaky topcoat. I was slightly disappointed the first time I ever wore Lobster because the gold shimmer didn't really translate onto the nail, but with a coat of As Gold as it Gets over the top, it becomes everything I ever wanted it to be!

I had a hard time photographing this polish! Under the flash, it came out looking pure pink, and you couldn't really see the gold flakies. In artificial light, it looks closer to its true color, although it's brighter than it looks in the photo. I'll have to try it outside tomorrow, if we have any sun. Pleeeease let there be sun tomorrow!!

On a side note, I just realized that twice in the past few days, I've layered an Essie luxe effect over an OPI polish. I guess they make a good team :)
Artificial light - This is more true to color