I wore the plain color for a couple of days and then spiced it up with some embellishments.  I stamped a design onto the nails using Bundle Monster plate BM-422 from the CYO collection, and China Glaze Passion.  I took a dotting tool and added some tiny dots around the circles using Gelish Rendezvous and It’s a Lily.  Then  I applied a fuchsia gemstone in the center of each circle using Gelish Foundation as the glue, and added a layer of top coat over it all.

Here is Entity 1 Electric Runway before I added the design elements:

I thought it might be fun to stamp a design over the gradient, so I added this tribal-ish chevron pattern onto each nail using Messy Mansion plate MM12 and Konad Black polish.  The end result is a little dark and you can’t see as much of the cranberry color.  I almost wish I hadn’t applied the stamp because the gradient alone was so pretty.  What do you think?  Hmm… I also just noticed that this mani uses almost the same color scheme as my last one.  I guess my creative juices just aren’t flowing at the moment… hopefully I’ll feel like myself again very soon.

A Pinch of Pepper is a fun glitter topper that can be used over any color.  Obviously if you wear it over white or black, you can’t see the glitter that matches the base color.  I applied two coats of a Pinch of Pepper on each nail.  Do you like it?

I had a lot of fun creating this Fire & Ice design using plate MM27.  The designs on this particular plate are very fluid and I think would work well on any size nail.  The impressions were very high quality and the images picked up and transferred flawlessly.  For the fire nails I applied one coat of Gelish Backstage Beauty and then added a gold glitter gradient into the tacky layer using my Glam & Glits Sparkling Gold pigment powder.  I applied one coat of my Gelish TIO, cured and wiped, and then applied the fire stamp using the MM27 plate and Konad Black polish.

For the ice nails, I applied one coat of Gelish My Favorite Accessory and then created a gradient effect using two different CND pigment powders, Blue Heaven & Deep Blue.  I applied my Gelish TIO over top of the gradient, cured & wiped, and then stamped the ice pattern on using the MM27 plate and Konad white polish.  Watch my stamping video to learn more about how to stamp over gel polish.

I’m very impressed with the Messy Mansion plates that I’ve tried so far.  You can see all of the designs that I’ve done with their plates here.  I will be creating a few more designs using the other plates in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

My index finger and pinky have one coat of Gelish All Dahlia-ed Up and two coats of the Gelish Trends topper Too Tough to be Sweet.  My middle finger and thumb have two coats of Gelish Artic Freeze, the brightest white in the Gelish line.  And my ring finger has three coats of Shellac Strawberry Smoothie (which only cures in a UV lamp).  The word “love” was stamped onto my thumb using Bundle Monster holiday plate BM-H16 and Kleancolor Metallic Pink polish.  These Kleancolor metallic polishes work great for stamping!

This was a bit coincidental, but the white that I used as the base color for three of the nails was Couture Ooh La La French.  The two silvery metallic nails are painted with Couture High Maintenance.  I added a yellow gradient to my index and middle fingers using a yellow CND additive powder, and then stamped them both with a chandelier pattern from this plate using China Glaze Awaken.  I stamped my ring finger with a large floral pattern and Kleancolor Metallic Sapphire.  And I stamped my pinky and thumb with one of the fleur de lis images and Konad black polish.

I had a little difficulty stamping the striped patterns onto my nails.  My intention was to use one of the striped patterns on my middle finger, but after several attempts I couldn’t quite get the stamp to apply perfectly straight.  That’s not a reflection on the plate itself, but rather my stamping skills and my personal anal retentive qualities.  LOL

I’m really loving these Messy Mansion plates and can’t wait to try some more designs with them!

Both colors have awesome coverage and were so easy to apply and work with.  Obsession was almost opaque in just one coat and was so perfect for doing nail art with.  This design just sort of came to me as I sat down with the colors.  I did it all freehand, no stencils or tape.  The hearts were drawn on with a dotting tool and I just used the brushes to pain on the other stripes.  The heart studs are from the Born Pretty Store.

I saw this polish kit on LeChat’s Facebook page and HAD TO HAVE IT!!!  So I bought one for me, and one to share with one of you!  This kit comes with two colors, Seduction & Obsession and it comes with 2 bottles of soak-off gel polish, two full size bottles of matching Dare to Wear regular nail polish AND two mini bottles of the regular nail polish.  There will actually be two winners for this giveaway because I’m going to award a second prize of the minis since I don’t need mine.

Below are swatches of the two colors included in this set.  They are both gorgeous glittery colors and the RNP matches the gel polish so perfectly!

Here’s a picture of the MINI kit that will be given to the second place winner.  And you can see the awesome nail art that I created with this collection. 

The Prizes:

First Prize:  1 LeChat Perfect Match limited edition “Love Obsession” Gel Polish Kit (includes 2 soak-off gel polishes, 2 full size and 2 mini matching regular nail polishes)

Second Prize:  1 LeChat (Dare to Wear) “Love Obsession” MINI set (regular nail polish, not gel)

The Rules:

• The giveaway will run through February 7, 2014.
• Entries will be collected via Rafflecopter only.
• The winner will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter and announced on February 8th.
• The winner will be notified via email, and will have 48 hours to claim the prize or a new winner will be selected.
• This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY!
• Entries will be verified.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This next one is called Rough Around the Edges.  I applied two coats of it over a plain nail, Artic Freeze, Black Shadow and Seafoam.  I honestly don’t know if I can say anything nice about this polish.  I didn’t like the consistency, it’s goopy and sticky and felt like I was applying oatmeal to my nails.  And it’s definitely rough… even after applying a top coat my nails had a lumpy, bumpy texture to them.  I like some textured polishes, but this didn’t do it for me.  The iridescent flakies in this polish would be really pretty if they laid flat nicely.  I heard that Fingerpaints is coming out with some flakie toppers in February, so I may have to try one or two of those to see how they compare.  What do you think… would you wear this?  I definitely won’t be wearing it again.

Here’s another shot of what it looked like on my swatch wheel… you can really see the texture here.

This is Girls’ Night Out.  It’s also multi-colored but silver is the dominant color.  I also see some specks of blue and red throughout.  I really wish I could show you in pictures how truly sparkly it is.  Soooo gorgeous!  Again, this is three coats of the glitter topper with no base color underneath.

January 31st kicks off the Year of the Horse, and Gelish put out this collection to commemorate the Chinese New Year.  This is a limited edition set that comes with two Gelish gel polishes and two Morgan Taylor regular nail lacquers.  Gelish Kick Off the New Year is an A-MAZING holographic glitter polish!  It has holographic micro glitter, hex glitter and bar glitter.  It may be the most sparkly Gelish polish yet.  I think this will be what I end up wearing for my vacation mani.  Gelish Red-Y For the Festival is a bright red cream with awesome coverage.  And the two Morgan Taylor colors are Good Luck Charm, a gold glitter polish and Pretty Woman, a bright red that matches the Gelish red in this set.

Here are the swatches that I made.  Click the image to view it larger.

And here are some comparison pictures.  Kick Off the New Year is very different from other glitter toppers.  A girl can never have too much glitter!

Here are comparisons of Red-Y For the Festival next to some of the other Gelish bright reds.  To be honest, it’s pretty hard to tell most of them apart.  The four bright, creamy reds all look the same to me.  Red-y For The Festival did seem to have the best coverage with just two coats though.

So… I posted the 2013 Gelish Winter Reds about a month ago.  Someone pointed out to me that the official Gelish website actually had two more colors listed than what was shown in the collection photo.  Those colors were With His Red So Bright and Dancer, Prancer, Cranberry Vixen.  I looked and looked and FINALLY found them for sale last week and snatched them up quickly.  I’m not sure if these are limited edition colors or if they will become a part of their regular line, but they are listed on the list of Gelish colors on their site so they may be here to stay.

Here are what my swatches of these two colors look like… of course nothing like the color pops as usual.  With His Red So Bright is a very pretty glittery red and is unique from the other glittery reds.  But Dancer, Prancer, Cranberry Vixen looks purple to me and is way darker than the cranberry color I though it should be.

Here is a comparison of With His Red So Bright next to some of the other Gelish glittery reds.

And this is a comparison of Dancer, Prancer, Cranberry Vixen next to some other colors.  I put it against purples and shades of cranberry/burgundy so that you can see how it compares.  I think it looks identical to All About Me.  This makes me wonder… did something get mixed up, or is this actually the color?  Hmm… strange.

Hi everyone!  I’m Michelle from www.manictalons.com.  When Andrea invited me to write this post, I may have squealed just a little.  Or a lot.  Ok, it was a lot.  I spent the next few days trying to decide what I could possibly show you that Andrea hasn’t already covered.  Then it hit me.  I am a glitter fanatic.  I have over 200 different loose glitters in my stash, so it only makes sense to show you something with glitter.

I recently posted a video tutorial on my blog showing how I manipulated loose glitter to create a glitter ruffian manicure.  I used that same technique to create this Key to My Heart design.  After applying and curing my base of Couture Dance til Dawn, I removed the tacky layer and used a thin nail art brush to sketch the key with Couture Gilded and the heart with Couture Red Carpet.  Once I was happy with the sketch, I cured again to lock the design in place.

I then poured a small amount of ArtsyFartsy Crafts Ultrafine Dark Gold Holographic glitter into a paint pallet and added a few drops of top coat (image 1).  When mixed together, it should take on a thick, globby consistency (image 2).  Using a thin nail art brush, I lightly spread the glitter mixture over the design, gently tapping it into place so that it didn’t appear too thick on the nail but covered the sketch of the key (images 3 and 4).  I then took a stiff brush dipped in isoprophyl alcohol and gently pushed any stray glitter into place to straighten the lines (image 5).  Once I was happy with the glitter placement (image 6), I cured for 30 seconds in my LED lamp to lock the glitter into place.  I repeated this process with ArstyFartsy Crafts Ultrafine Red Holographic glitter for the heart.

Finally, I added a layer of top coat over each nail.

I hope you have enjoyed this design and tutorial.  Loose glitter is one of my favorite additions to my gel polish stash, simply because it is so affordable and versatile.  The possibilities using loose glitter are endless!
~Michelle

Hi everyone! I’ve been kicking off the Chinese New Year on a ski vacation in Park City, Utah. I wrote this post in advance… let’s hope that by today I didn’t break a leg or crash into a tree or something crazy. You’ll probably see periodic updates from me on FB and Instagram while I’m out. This is the mani that I settled on before I left. I wanted something relatively simple, but not too plain either.

I started with two coats of Gelish Artic Freeze on most nails with two coats of Kick Off the New Year over top. This is one of the new polishes that just came out in the Year of the Horse collection. It’s a glitter topper that’s packed with holographic hex and bar glitter. It has a bit of a gritty look to me, but has a gorgeous sparkle in the light. I really couldn’t capture the true feel of this in a photograph, so I had to also make a quick video (click here to watch the video).

The accent finger has three coats of Gelish Deep Sea and is stamped with MoYou London Festive Collection plate 06 and Konad white polish.

Update:  This is the picture that I took a couple days ago with the Utah mountains in the background. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you may have already seen this.

In my absence, below is a guest post from Kim Baker of Ten Little Canvases. You all might remember that Kim also did a guest post for me last year. She now has a blog, so be sure to follow her!

Hello everyone! Andrea has invited me back for a guest post, so with Valentine’s Day coming up I thought I’d do video tutorial on how to do hand drawn gel polish hearts simply using 3 dots as a guide. I’ve added metal studs to outline the heart for extra pizazz but you can use caviar beads, small crystals or a glitter striper. Hope y’all find the video helpful!

Hi Everyone!  I’m back from vacation and I have swatches of the new Gelish Once Upon a Dream Collection for you!  I am really excited to see some pastels in the mix.  Below are my swatches, each has three coats of color.  The formula of the polishes was great and they applied with ease.  I will report back in a couple of days with comparison photos and any fading reports.

This is My One Blue Love, a soft baby blue.  This is definitely a unique color in the Gelish line, no other blues are anything like it.  This is my personal favorite of the bunch, but you know I’m a total sucker for blues!

This is Kiss Me, I’m a Prince, a minty pastel green.  The only color that is close to this one is Seafoam, so I’ll be sure to compare them.  Kiss Me, I’m a Prince is a bit lighter/brighter than Seafoam.

All Haile the Queen is a pinkish lilac shade.  It’s more pink than I was anticipating.  It’s similar to It’s a Lily, only lighter.  I’m very afraid that this one may be a fader, so I’ll keep an eye on it for a couple of days.  The color when it’s wet is more lilac than after it cures.  You can see the color difference when applying additional coats.

Oh What a Knight! is a shimmery metallic color that I would call a pinkish bronze.  I wasn’t sure that it worked well with my skin tone when I first applied it, but it grew on me.  It’s definitely a unique color and the finish is really nice.  Be careful when applying though because it could show some brush strokes.

Fairest of Them All is a gorgeous coral color, but was a bit hard to photograph. It may be slightly lighter in person than it appears in my pictures.  It’s darker than Sweet Morning Dew, but lighter than Tiger Blossom.

And finally this is She’s My Beauty, which is a dusty rose shade.  I thought this color would have a little more pink in it.  It’s a bit dull for my taste.  It reminds me of Exhale, but is definitely lighter.  She’s My Beauty looks a lot like the Daisy gel shade that I just swatched called Butternut Squash.

So which ones are your favorites of the bunch?!  I love the pastels.

I reported that it appears that All Haile the Queen fades to a lighter shade of pink and is less lilac, and that She’s My Beauty fades to a more brown-ish color though it’s very subtle.  After two days I did another test on all of the swatches.  This time I applied a fresh coat of color in a diagonal across the tips of all of the swatches, cured and then applied a top coat and cured again.  Here is what these two colors looked like after this process… I have to say that I may need to retract my statement about She’s My Beauty because I no longer notice much of a color difference. If there is a difference, it’s VERY VERY subtle… though All Haile the Queen has definitely faded.  This is only a two-day test, so there is a possibility of further fading after wear of one to two weeks.

The other colors all held up well and I didn’t notice any color differences at all.   You can see the line where I applied the fresh coat, but as I move these swatches around in the light there is no color difference, just the texture bump where the new polish is applied.  Again, this is only a two day test, but most gel polishes that fade will show a difference within this timeframe.

So onto the next question… how do the new colors compare with existing ones?  I compared Fairest of Them All with Sweet Morning Dew & Tiger Blossom, and it’s right in the middle of the two. It’s a couple shades darker than Sweet Morning Dew and a shade or two lighter than Tiger Blossom and also a little more coral.

All Haile the Queen is seen next to It’s a Lilly, and is visibly much lighter.

And I put She’s My Beauty next to Mauvy Mauve.  These two are actually fairly close, but She’s My Beauty is a little more brown-ish.  Also Mauvy Mauve is one of the colors that’s only available in mini size.  I would have liked to also compare these with Exhale, but I no longer own that color and couldn’t find my swatch of it.

You can click on the image below to enlarge.

Here you can see that I put My One Blue Love next to Up in the Blue.  My One Blue Love is the palest blue currently available in the Gelish line.  Up in the Blue is a known fader and this swatch is old, so this is in it’s faded form.

I compared Kiss Me, I’m a Prince with Seafoam and A Mint of Spring.  It’s the lightest minty green of the bunch, but only by a couple of shades.

A Mint of Spring looks a little more green in the photo above than it actually is, so here is another quick shot of these three.

I really like how this turned out, and it’s perfect for V-Day even though the colors may be a little non-traditional.  My inspiration for this mani came from a brushstroke design that I saw recently on Madamluck’s IG page.  Go check out her awesome nail art and get inspired too!  Happy Valentine’s Day (a day early) everyone!!  ♥♥♥

And here’s what the brushstrokes looked like before the stamping.

This is All that Glitters is Gold.

And this is Am I Making You Gelish?

I’m a little late, but we’re now in The Year of the Horse according to the Chinese zodiac. The Year of the Horse started January 31, 2014 (the Lunar New Year) and runs through February 18, 2015. Last year was The Year of the Snake, and I did some nail art with the corresponding Gelish collection which you can see here.

I posted some swatches and comparisons of the new Gelish Year of the Horse collection a couple of weeks ago (click here to see those). This collection comes with two gel polishes, a red called Red-y For the Festival, and a glitter topper called Kick Off the New Year and two regular nail polishes from the Morgan Taylor line.  The red isn’t really unique since it’s very similar to other reds in the Gelish line, but it’s very opaque and has better coverage than the others.  Kick Off the New Year is an awesome glitter topper with holographic hex and bar glitter.

For this manicure I applied Kick Off the New Year over two coats of Night Shimmer on the accent nail to give it more of a silvery effect.  I found some horse water decals on LuckyStarStyle that I thought would be perfect for a mani with this collection.  Unfortunately these particular decals were very rigid and didn’t want to bend to fit the shape of my nail, so this didn’t turn out as great as I had hoped.  It doesn’t look so bad in the photo because of the angle, but the horse’s nose and tail were sticking up off of the nail.  I was going to stamp some patterns over the red nails, but I honestly was too frustrated after trying to get the decal to lay flat that I opted for the easy way out and just added a few gemstones instead.