Showing posts with label Essie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Essie. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011

Nail Art Tutorial - Hello Kitty

    Hey guys!

    The most recent sidebar poll was the closest yet with 3 of the options being super close. However, in the end, my Hello Kitty design won out with 30% of the votes.

    The other two options that were very close in the running were my Palm Tree Sunset design with 24% of the votes, and my Ice Cream Sundaes design with 22% of the votes. I'll put both of those designs in the next poll since it seems that you guys definitely want to see tutorials for them.

    To refresh, here's the design I'll be doing a tutorial for today:



    Keep reading for the tutorial!


    What you'll need:
    The exact brands/names of the polishes I've used are in brackets but you can use whatever brands/shades you have in your stash.

    Cream finish polishes in light pink (OPI Mod About You), hot pink (Essie Bachelorette Bash), yellow (Orly Spark), black (OPI Black Onyx), and white (Orly White Tips).

    Your favourite base (China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat) and top coat (Seche Vite Top Coat).

    Fimo bows (mine are from eBay but if you don't have these yourself, you can draw the bow freehand). If you're looking to buy some of these from eBay (they're really inexpensive), simply typing in "nail art bow" in the search bar will yield a number of results.

    A detail brush (mine is a paintbrush from Michael's and the brand name is Simply Simmons).

    2 dotting tools: one small and one medium sized (you could also use toothpicks or the ends of bobby pins if you don't have dotting tools like these).

    Step 1:
    Apply your base coat. (I didn't think it was necessary to take a photo of this step.)

    Step 2:
    Apply two coats (or until it's opaque) of your hot pink polish to all of your nails. This will serve as your base colour.


    Step 3:
    This is the easy part - the polka dots.
    For all of your nails besides your thumbs, you'll be using your medium sized dotting tool to create the polka dots with your light pink cream polish. The trick to making polka dots looks their best is to order them in a staggered arrangement. In other words, instead of placing them directly side-by-side, you'll want to do one row first and then for your next row, you'll place the dots in between the dots of your first row. It's a hard technique to explain in words but hopefully the pictures will help to make sense out of it.
    As well, you'll want to do your first row of dots in the center of the nail and work outwards.






    Step 4:
    This is where the more difficult and precise freehand work comes in. I won't lie, the rest of the design, i.e. Hello Kitty, will take some patience and precision. If you're not comfortable working with your non-dominant hand, I'd suggest just doing the polka dots on the thumb of your dominant hand so that you don't have to go through the frustration of doing precision work with your non-dominant hand. However, practice makes perfect so if you're up for the challenge, I encourage you to go for it!
    You'll start off by making a simple french tip with your white polish. You want to make sure that the edges of the french tip are curved instead of straight across - this will look more like the shape of Hello Kitty.


    Step 5:
    Using your small dotting tool (or toothpick) and your black polish, make the eyes. You'll want to make them pretty far apart leaving only enough room on either side for some short whiskers.


    Step 6:
    After cleaning the black polish off, use the same small dotting tool and your yellow polish to make the nose. You'll want to make it in between the eyes but a little closer to the tip of the nail.


    Step 7:
    Using your small detail brush and your black polish, you'll want to freehand 3 wispy black lines on each side of the face.


    Step 8:
    In order to get the fimo bow to stick, you'll want to add a small blob of top coat to the area where you're going to place the bow. You'll want to place the bow on a slight diagonal above Hello Kitty's right eye.


    Step 9:
    After allowing your design to dry completely, add a layer of your favorite top coat. This will make your new mani last longer, it will smooth out any bumps and ridges that have been created during the process and will also give your nails a nice shine.
    Unfortunately I was a little impatient waiting for the design to dry so the top coat dragged the black of the whiskers. However this won't be a problem for you as long as you wait for your design to dry completely before adding top coat.



    As always, I hope this tutorial was helpful and I hope some of you will try this design out for yourselves. And I'd really like to see pictures of this if you try it. :)

Post Title

Nail Art Tutorial - Hello Kitty


Post URL

https://emogirlhairstyles2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/nail-art-tutorial-hello-kitty.html


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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

My Current Project - "Untrieds" Drawer

    Hey!

    I thought that tonight I would show you guys my current project as well as give you a sneak peak into my nail polish collection (and I promise you there is a full collection post coming asap).

    This is my "Untrieds" drawer where I hold all of my recent nail polish purchases until I swatch them for you and on my own nail wheels. Usually I swatch polishes for you within the first couple of days of getting them but for my own wheels, I typically have a swatching marathon once every couple of weeks, but this varies depending on how many I've acquired, really.
    However, I've neglected my own wheels lately and it's left me with quite a large drawer of untrieds, or unswatched if you prefer.



    Keep reading for more photos and a full list of the polishes you see above.




    So what do you see here?

    At the back of the drawer are my newly acquired Nfu-Oh Holographic polishes (I mentioned these in this haul post and #61 and #65 arrived today).

    In front of those we have the Orly Happy Go Lucky Collection as well as 4 colours from last year's Orly Sweet Collection which Sally's recently started carrying as open stock.

    Continuing down the left side we have a slew of OPI polishes including the Katy Perry Collection, the Texas Collection, the Blue-Hued Shatters, the OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam! England duos, OPI Red and White Shatter from the Glam Slam France duos, and a few OPI DS Series polishes including Original, Classic and Reflection.

    Moving over the right side of the drawer, we have a number of China Glaze polishes in the front including the Crackle Metals Collection, the original Crackle Collection and 5 shades from the Tronica Collection (as mentioned in this haul post).

    Behind the China Glaze polishes we have 2 Revlon colours - Royal and Perplex.

    And last but not least, at the back of the drawer on the right hand side, we have a number of Essie polishes including the Resort 2011 Collection, the Braziliant Collection as well as a few open stock colours that I've accumulated.


    So that's it for my untrieds drawer! I think a swatching marathon is way overdue.
    Did you guys keep an "untrieds" drawer? Has it gotten as out of hand as mine has?

Post Title

My Current Project - "Untrieds" Drawer


Post URL

https://emogirlhairstyles2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-current-project-drawer.html


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Monday, July 11, 2011

Nails of the Day - Gradient Cheetah

    Hey guys!

    I've spoken before about the Monday nail art challenge that occurs weekly in the Facebook group Polish-aholics Anonymous. Well, this week's theme was sponging and I had a whole design planned but it ending up changing dramatically during the actual process.

    I had planned to do a sunset using deep purple, pink and orange but once I sponged the pink on top of the purple, I loved the result so much that I couldn't bear to add any other colours. So, this gradient with a cheetah print on top was born.

    I could seriously wear animal print nail art every single day so I am of course in love with this. Hope you all like it as well!



    Products:
    CND Stickey Base Coat
    China Glaze - Grape Pop (base)
    Essie - Super Bossa Nova (sponged over base)
    OPI - Black Onyx (cheetah spots)
    Seche Vite Top Coat

Post Title

Nails of the Day - Gradient Cheetah


Post URL

https://emogirlhairstyles2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/nails-of-day-gradient-cheetah.html


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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Swatch Comparison - Light Teal Creams (featuring Orly Frisky)

    Hey guys!

    I'm so glad to see that so many of you liked my business cards! I started giving them out today to some friends and co-workers and I received a lot of positive feedback from them as well. I'm so happy that I got them!
    And a number of you asked about the pricing and it's something I probably should have included in the original post but I'll mention it here instead.
    I got 400 cards printed which cost $68.99 and the card holder cost $4.99.

    Yesterday, aside from my post about my business cards, I also did a review and showed you swatches of the new Orly Happy Go Lucky Collection. Since most of the shades seemed dupe-able, I asked you to tell me what shades you would like to see me compare them with and I got a number of good suggestions.

    Today I'll be comparing Frisky, a light teal cream colour, with other shades from the same colour/finish family. Luckily I have all of the shades that you guys asked to see it compared to so I was able to satisfy all of your requests.



    Keep reading for the comparison!



    Orly Ancient Jade, China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Frisky, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Orly Gumdrop


    Orly Ancient Jade (from the Spring 2011 Precious Collection)


    China Glaze For Audrey (permanent)


    Orly Frisky (from the Happy Go Lucky Collection)


    Essie Turquoise & Caicos (from the Resort 2010 Collection)


    Orly Gumdrop (from the Spring 2010 Sweet Collection)


    Orly Ancient Jade, China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Frisky, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Orly Gumdrop


    Orly Ancient Jade, China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Frisky


    Orly Frisky, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Orly Gumdrop


    Orly Gumdrop, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Orly Frisky, China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Ancient Jade


    Orly Gumdrop, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Orly Frisky


    Orly Frisky, China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Ancient Jade


    As you can see, none of these are true dupes for Orly Frisky and this comparison really helped to solidify what I said about this shade in my original review - that it's a really blue-based teal. This is especially noticeable here because most of these other shades are less blue-based and have more of a green tint to them.

    I think the closest to being a dupe here would be China Glaze For Audrey but Frisky is clearly brighter. As well, the formula of Frisky is far superior to that of For Audrey, which is a little too thick for my taste.

    This comparison did help to find another similar pairing though - Orly Gumdrop and China Glaze For Audrey are actually pretty close to one another in terms of colour. Again, they're not total dupes but they're pretty close, even closer than the comparison between Frisky and For Audrey.

    I'll keep working on comparisons for the rest of the Happy Go Lucky Collection for you guys.

    What do you guys think? Are any of these shades close enough to Orly Frisky to deter you from picking it up?

Post Title

Swatch Comparison - Light Teal Creams (featuring Orly Frisky)


Post URL

https://emogirlhairstyles2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/swatch-comparison-light-teal-creams.html


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Monday, June 20, 2011

Nails of the Day - Dots and Stripes (Inspired by my Notebook)

    Hey guys!

    A bunch of us girls from Polish-aholics Anonymous are going to be doing nail art challenges to post on Mondays, and this week's theme is polka dots.

    I may not be able to participate in every weekly challenge but with final exams today and tomorrow, I needed a simple design to do last night, and polka dots was perfect. And as I was writing up some study notes over the weekend, I found the inspiration for my polka dot mani - my notebook! Now it also has coordinating stripes on it and I wanted to add those in as well so I just did an accent nail with stripes.





    (My inspiration)


    Products:
    China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
    OPI - Suzi Loves Cowboys (base)
    China Glaze - Flyin' High (teal dots/stripes)
    Color Club - Soft as Cashmere (taupe dots/strips)
    Orly - Green Apple (light green dots)
    OPI - Who the Shrek Are You? (acid green dots/stripes)
    Essie - Lapis of Luxury (powder blue dots/stripes)
    Seche Vite Top Coat

    Can't wait to see all of the other girls polka dot designs!

Post Title

Nails of the Day - Dots and Stripes (Inspired by my Notebook)


Post URL

https://emogirlhairstyles2011.blogspot.com/2011/06/nails-of-day-dots-and-stripes-inspired.html


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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Review & Swatches - Essie Braziliant Collection

    Hey everyone!

    As promised, today I have swatches of the Essie Braziliant Collection. This is Essie's summer collection and it consists of 6 shades, most of which are bright and perfect for the summer months.
    For some reason, I absolutely love the name of this collection! It's just such a perfect, summery word for this collection.





    Anyways, onto the review/swatches!



    Smooth Sailing, Meet Me at Sunset, Absolutely Shore


    Super Bossa Nova, Braziliant, Too Too Hot


    Smooth Sailing (azure blue with fuchsia and silver micro-glitter)
    I know you're supposed to save the best for last but this one just couldn't wait! This is an absolutely beautiful colour and I have nothing like it in my collection. It's the sparkly micro-glitter that makes this one so unique and the great formula also adds to the excellency of this polish; it applied beautifully and was opaque in just 2 coats.


    Meet Me at Sunset (bright red-based orange jelly-creme)
    I called this one a jelly-creme because it feels kind of in between those 2 formulas - it's opaque in 2 coats which is more likely with a cream formula, but it's got a squishy look to it, much like a jelly formula. It also applied very nicely.


    Absolutely Shore (off white cream with a hint of green)
    This shade feels really out of place in this collection to me and it feels like it would have been better suited in the Resort Collection. That's not to say that I don't like the colour because I actually do, it's unlike anything else I have, but it just doesn't fit well with the rest of the shades, in my opinion. The formula of this one was more difficult than the others - it didn't glide on as well and required a little more work. This one also required 3 coats for full opacity.


    Super Bossa Nova (bright pink with fuchsia shimmer)
    This shade reminds me a lot of China Glaze 108 Degrees from the Island Escape Collection and I guess that's ok because they're both great shades for summer. The difference is that Super Bossa Nova is less sheer, requiring only 2 coats, and it's more pink while 108 Degrees has a deeper red base. The formula on this one was also great and it glided over the nail really nicely.


    Braziliant (bright - but not neon - orange with white shimmer)
    The namesake of this collection and unfortunately, my photos don't do it justice. The white shimmer is more noticeable than it looks in my swatches but my camera just didn't want to pick up on that. This was another winner in the formula department and was opaque in 2 coats.


    Too Too Hot (deep red-coral jelly-cream)
    The formula of this one felt the same as Meet Me at Sunset - squishy like a jelly yet opaque like a cream. This was 2 coats and I almost could have gotten away with 1. Again, the formula was excellent.


    Smooth Sailing, Meet Me at Sunset, Absolutely Shore, Super Bossa Nova, Braziliant, Too Too Hot


    Smooth Sailing, Meet Me at Sunset, Absolutely Shore


    Super Bossa Nova, Braziliant, Too Too Hot


    Too Too Hot, Braziliant, Super Bossa Nova, Absolutely Shore, Meet Me at Sunset, Smooth Sailing


    Too Too Hot, Braziliant, Super Bossa Nova


    Absolutely Shore, Meet Me at Sunset, Smooth Sailing


    Overall, this is a nice, appropriate collection for summer. Absolutely Shore doesn't really seem to fit with the rest of the ultra summery shades but I still like the colour. Smooth Sailing is definitely the star of the collection and is a must-have in my books. The formula was excellent for most of these, with the exception of the outlier shade - Absolutely Shore.

    What do you guys think about the Brazilliant Collection? Any favourite shades?

    Edit: I just realized that I completely forgot to watermark these photos, haha. Ooops!

Post Title

Review & Swatches - Essie Braziliant Collection


Post URL

https://emogirlhairstyles2011.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-swatches-essie-braziliant.html


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