OPI Hong Kong Collection

OPI's 2008 Hong Kong Collection 

(parts of it)

 I have to say I really like the colours in the Hong Kong Collection it seems since i keep stumbling onto them

Suzi Says Feng Shui. This was from my friend for my birthday. This is a perfect blue. I don't see any greens or purples in it. I rarely find streaks with the OPI colours. They go on smoothly. I just wished they dried quicker :)

OPI says "A serene cobalt blue to balance your yin yang."

Meet Me At The Star Ferry. This is such a neat purple. It looks like a mix of OPI's Significant Other Color and their Romeo and Joliet. I love the light sparkle in it. The reason it looks so much better than my usual quick rush paint job is because it was an actual manicure (I never get them since I'm a swimmer so the water always ruins them so fast and I work in a deli which is also very rough on nails). So I got a manicure form my Aunt for Christmas and it took ONLY 7 months to use since I was waiting for a week or so that I wouldn't be at work to ruin my nails. The price that my Aunt paid for the manicure had gone down so I had enough left over to buy the polish as well. BONUS!! haha :)

OPI says "A Kowloon-lit, moonlit violet"

Jade is the New Black. Its a beautiful jade green, it looks fabulous on nails and toes and works well with nail art.

OPI says "This vibrant green is the new fashion vibe"

Striping Tape Design

I recently bought some coloured tapes and I wanted to try them out.

I had a set of 10 different colours and I already had green nails so unless I wanted my nails to look Christmasy, white was the best option for me to try. 

It's pretty easy to see what I did but here it goes

-2 verticle strips along one side then, 

-2 horizontal strip across the tip of the nail.

This was my first time using tape so I am still learning. I have learnt that I need smaller thinner scissors than just kitchen scissors. I couldn't always get very close. I gave up trying to use scissors on the tiny ends and used nail clippers but I ran the risk of cutting part of my nail.

I also used a top coat to help the tape stick on.

Of course if you didn't feel like making sure the tape fit correctly you can always paint a white coat on the bottom than once dry place your tape on pressing to the edges. Then paint a green on top taking off the tape in the reverse order you put them on.

As you can see I redid the design on a nail wheel. I kept reading how the nails are too close on the wheels so I taped the sides beside the one I was doing.

Pink Floyd

I grew up listening to Pink Floyd, being that they are my Dad's favorite band. So I made this one just for him.

I was unhappy with the colours I chose. I thought that they would be good but when I did it the rainbow didn't work with itself :( If I did it again I would have to go colour shopping and play with the colours before I did my nails. Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out. It also got great reception :) I am (sadly) not ambidextrous so I didn't dare try doing it on my right hand instead I wrote Dark Side of the Moon on my nails using a nail art pen :)

Now I need to do Another Brick in the Wall nails

Essie Polishes

My Essie Polishes (they have the most beautiful pastels)

 This is one of Essie's Magnetic polishes. It's called Crocadilly. I really like this colour and I was really interested in trying a magnetic polish. As my first try I found that since the magnet is flat and a nail is rounded I had to do it as 2 or 3 parts. It works by (and the directions on the label say) that to paint one thin coat on all the nails. Then to paint a think coat on a nail and right away holding the magnet over it as close as possible. So what I found was the top part of my nail would change but then I would go to do the sides and it would be too dry so I would have to add more paint. It was a pain in the butt but I made it work and it looks really cool when done :) The green had a shine and it didn't streak.

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker. This is a beautiful green but it needs quite a few layers and it turns out matte. I don't like matte because I enjoy the look of shiny nails. But Mattes do have uses in nail art.

Essie Meet Me At Sunset. A dark orange/red. It has good coverage (not sheer), it doesn't streak and has a shine.

Sally Hansen Polishes

Sally Hansen Polishes

I do and I don't like Sally Hansen. They have some really nice colours and a few of the collections are nice but I am usually more likely to buy another brand.

Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure Collection Hi Ho Silver. It would look fabulous with a gown for a fancy evening :)

Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Collection. Perfect Pear-ing. This one caught my eyes on the shelf. It's so vibrant. And I have to say I like this Sally Hansen collection, it's cheap and durable.

Super Bowl

So I'm not a football person...But my dad is a little bit so just for him I made some Seahawks nails :)

For the eagle thing I made it using some refillable nail art pens.

The thumb is Suzi Says Feng Shui.

The pointer and pinky fingers are Queen Victoria Street

The ring finger is Cotton Candy with Quo by Orly Baby Yellow Instant artist

The middle finger is Suzi Loves Cowboys with Chic Chic Horray 

So this one got a really good reception :)

I love the simplicity of it. I don't usually do mix-matched art I usually prefer the look of one solid pattern, but this one worked really well. I tried to get my family to draw the eagle on my right thumb but they all laughed at me :( So I did it myself probably better than they could have done. 

Christmas Tree Nail Art

So I decided to do some simple but pretty christmas trees. 

To start use a gold or nude like base colour

(I used Revlon's Gold Coin)

To make the trees I used tape to make triangles but you could also use a paint brush. 

Make sure to apply the tape when the base is completely dry.

Then paint the triangles green. 

(I used Icing's Electric Emerald)

 Remove the tape when the green is still wet.

Now time to add some lights to your tree. Grab a glitter or sparkly polish and paint it on the tree.

Now time for the star on the tree. If you have a small decal or gem you can use that or you can just use a small paint dot at the top of the triangle.

Now you're done don't forget to finish with a top coat to protect your design.

Have fun :)

Wet N' Wild Polishes

Wet N' Wild Polishes

Wet N' Wild, The Nail Zone Collection, Eden. This is a wonderful mint green polish. It goes on smooth the consistency is thin, it's opaque. One of my friends liked it so much she went out to buy one, but couldn't find it. All the ones we looked at were a brighter one and more blue than green.

Hard Candy Polishes

This blue has no name. I really like this one it had an almost holographic look with it's sparkles.

This green looked a lot nicer in the bottle. The gold and silver glitters mixed with the green just don't appeal to me (so I only wear it on my toes). Sorry it looks like crap in this picture I was trying something new. If you want easy polish removal you coat your nails in white glue and let it dry then paint on top of that. So I was trying that plus the polish has gotten quite thick.

Such a beautiful purple. It might be one of my favorites in my collection. It had such a fine sparkle in it that it created an almost holographic look to it.

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.

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