Thursday, June 06, 2013

Quo by Orly Polishes

Quo by Orly polishes


Quo by Orly Bubble Bath
Quo by Orly, Bubble Bath. This one was a little nicer than just plain sparkle polish because it had the faintest pink in the base so softens it from just seeing your nail itself. (the purple tint is from the polish I was wearing before :P)

Cover Girl Polishes

My polishes by Cover Girl
Cover Girl Always Nude
This is Cover Girl  Always Naked. From their Outlast Stay Brilliant collection. I bought this because I figured it's nice to have a nude one, the problem is, it isn't quiet the colour I had in mind but it was on sale so I didn't have the choice of being picky. I really like the square bottle, it's different and easier to store then a whole bunch of circular bottles.

Cover Girl Starry Blue
 This is Cover Girl Starry Blue (#240) from their NailSlicks collection. This one is a different colour, its more of an indigo then a pure purple or blue. It's very thin though

Revlon Street Wear Collection

So this is one of their old collections. I'm pretty sure you can't buy these in stores anymore but I'm sure you could find some on ebay or something.
Revlon Gun Metal Chrome
 This is Revlon from the Street Wear Collection. The colour is Gun Metal Chrome. I really like this colour and I wear it often, it's a shiny grey, almost silver. The polish is thin and easy to apply. The brush is thin and the long which means you lose a bit of the control. When applied the polish streaks a little but it's barely noticeable.
Revlon Elf Lutin
This is Revlon from the Street Wear Collection. The colour is Elf Lutin. This is a very deep green with a nice shine from it. The consistency and brush is similar to the Gun Metal Chrome.

Revlon Chroma Chameleon

Revlon Tanzanite

This is from Revlon's Chrome Collection. Tanzanite. Its a beautiful purple that shifts between green blue and purple. I love chromes and this one is a definite favorite! This picture only shows the purple so I will have to put it on again and get some different angled shots. 

Water Marbling

So like everywhere on youtube there is water marbling I just had to try it. I tried 2 different times.

This is my second try

 So what you are supposed to do is start with a base coat.
 What I have seen is the colours turn out better if you use a white first


 Next is to wrap the finger in tape to lessen the mess
 



 These are the colours I used



The trick is to do it as fast as possible and if that isn't working as well then make sure you get some slow drying polishes to help. 
 So use as many drops as you want in each ring of colour as well as use as many colours as you want. 
 taking a toothpick, orange stick, sharp pencil or anything else with a point. Drag it through the polish without touching the very outer edge. Create whatever design you want, strips, flowers, anything.
 When you have the desired pattern dip the taped nail into the part you want.

 While leaving the finger in. Let the polish dry a bit (like 30 seconds) and clean it up with a toothpick, q-tip etc. If you try to take out the finger before cleaning up the polish then they stuff on the water could ruin your design.

 Take off the tape
 Repeat on each nail

This is my first try


 So the first nail I did worked out not too bad except there was a bubble on it... :P

 My second nail not too bad either but it went all smudgy.



 I tried 3 nails at once, but I let it dry too long on the water and I put it in with my fingers too close so the polish was all tacky and stuck in clumps to the tape and my fingers :P

Good luck

Storage and Organization

So everyone is curious about how others store their polishes. I love the ideas of turning CD racks into stands and the wall stands for easy display and access. But I don't have the space in my room for that :( So I started by storing them in increasingly larger shoe boxes but eventually moved them all into a large drawer

I then thought that I should get some nail wheels so I always know what I have. But searching the interweb demonstrated to me that the best was to make swatchicles because they as easier storage (take less room), can hold more information and since they are all separate it is easier to see how colours look with each other. So I went and made swatchicles and found out I had more polish then I thought haha (up to 80 polishes now, with a few put aside for birthday gifts...oops :) )

So swatchicles (if you haven't looked anywhere else) are very easy to make. The hardest part is making the nail stick to the popsicle stick. So I tried hot glue, it worked a bit as long as no pressure was applied to the nails. I then tried wood glue which worked a little better. What I finally did was pop the nail off leave the glob of wood glue on and then use nail glue to adhere the nail to the wood glue. This worked best I found.

So what you need is
-Glue (your choice, wood glue, nail glue and/or hot glue)
-popsicle sticks
-fake nails
-black pen
 So what others say is to only use the largest size of nails, but when I buy a box of 200 nails I don't want to waste then so I use the smallest nails for testers when I make polish colours.

So first is to glue the nail to the stick. If you want when using the smaller nails it works best to cut the stick into a thinner point at the top.

When all is dry paint the nails. Do as many coats as you like. So I read that you should use a top coat to avoid fading. I can't confirm this since I didn't try without top coats.

 So let them dry overnight before moving them to avoid scratches and dents.

 Put as much information on the stick as you want. I put
-Polish Brand
-Colour Name
-Polish Collection
-Colour Number
I have seen others also put on
-Number of coats
and much more information
I found that a Sharpie bled where more like gel pen like doesn't bleed and is smaller so more information fits
 Once all done i stored them in a group in a paper cup but then for my birthday my brother got me a hand cream set in this cute cardboard carry case. So I added some dividers and it holds them perfectly.
I have them divided into 8
-Pinks
-Browns and Reds
-Yellows and Oranges
-Greens
-Blues
-Purples
-Glitters
-Blacks, Whites, Greys

1st Post

Hello.

I LOVE doing my nails and I love having long nails, but sadly I work at a Safeway Deli which involves cleaning with chemicals as well as doing dishes and using my hands, so polish doesn't last long, nor do my nails stay as long as I would like :( . But all that means is I get to redo my nails more often :)

So within the past year and a half I have slowly amassed quite a few nail polishes.

Slowly I have been painting my nails with each of these, as well as doing many designs.

So because of my job as well as I swim often so polish doesn't last long so I cannot comment on how long the polish stays without chipping.

So my tips for the longest lasting manicure are...
  • Use rubbing alcohol to clean your nail of any grease so that the base coat will stick to the nail better
  • Use a base coat. The base coat is for nail protection (avoids discoloration) as well as it is to help adhere the polish to the nail.
  • The thicker the coat of polish the more likely it will chip since it makes the nail all that much thicker
  • Use a top coat and reapply it as needed
So I read up and it turn out that base coats and top coats are different. Base coats protect the natural nail and adhere the polish to the nail the best. Top coats are for protection, they provide a thicker coat than base. What I don't know is how the 2-in-1 base and top coats work. I use them but I don't know how well they are compared to the individuals.