Camo Nails for Shayna

My good friend Shayna is visiting her sister this week as she finishes up Basic Training. 

To celebrate, I did some camouflage nails for her and a fake set for her sister. We chose a tan theme, instead of army green. 

I used 4 OPI colors for this. The base is Did You Ear About Van Gogh?  The brown spots are A-Taupe the Space Needle and they're outlined with Get in the Expresso Lane. The lightest spots are My Vampire is Buff. 

These were super fun to do and I love them!

Journey to a Nail Tech...It Begins

Two years of blogging and talking about nails and polish and nail art and cuticles and all that jazz that accompanies it has finally driven me to start toward a license as a nail technician.

I'm excited, a little nervous, and ready to start learning. There's so much I don't know, and so much I want to learn. It's all the beginning to what I dream to one day have...my own nail business.

I've decided to try and make this journey a learning experience for others as well, and I hope to have weekly updates on the experience. It's a long experience though (6-8 months for the program I decided on), so we'll see where the road travels.

I'll be taking night classes, so I can continue to work full time and raise the funds necessary to attend. It's a pricey school, but everything sounds worth it. The total cost of tuition is $7235. That'll sound outrageous to some of you, as I've heard of schools costing a mere $500. Long's Peak Academy seems like the best fit for me right now though, and I've worked out my finances to ensure I can attend without going under.

There are some sacrifices to make (Saturdays begin with 8.5 hours of school now and skiing may be out of the question this season), both for me and my loved ones, but I've gotten nothing but support so far.

Read up on my experiences as they go with my new tag, #nailtechnailedit on Twitter and Instagram. All the posts here at Nailed It will be tagged the same.

I welcome any questions, advice, or support you have to offer! Maybe I'll set up a fund raiser event to really kick it off properly too.

Thank you all for your support and love, and for making this whole thing happen!

Azature Polish Review and Swatches

Azature, the creators of the most expensive nail polish in the world, have created a more affordable taste of luxury with polishes that each contain a real diamond in every bottle.

Sorry...WHAT?! A diamond...in a polish...for $25?!

I don't really know what else to say about it. To be honest, I thought the whole idea of polish with a diamond in it was a huge waste of money. The cost of the polishes is still outrageous in terms of polish. No one I know would pay $25 for a single bottle of polish. Who cares...they sparkle...can't you get that sparkle in less expensive, diamondless polishes? 

I'm not so sure you can. Even the thin yellow polish that took 5 coats to reach a decent opacity still sparkled higher than most other polish I own or have seen. So I suppose diamonds really do make the difference in sparklability. 

EDIT: I tweeted Azature to clear up my confusion below, and they confirmed: "There is a floating, fully-cut, and faceted black diamond". 

Now let me clear something up...I think. When I first saw these, I assumed that there were crushed up diamonds in the polish, but now that I think about it more, I think there's just a diamond floating around in the polish. This makes more sense, so I apologize for my stupidity. I'm right in my second assumption, right?


I was lucky enough to be sent not one, but two Azature polishes: Azature Canary and Azature Blue.

Azature Canary is a very yellow yellow. It's not masked by anything, and is truly just a bright yellow. Because of this, it's thin, and requires a lot of build up (5 coats here). I didn't really love that about the yellow, especially knowing it's $25 a pop for the bottle and you need to use a lot of it right off the bat. After it's all built up though it's wonderful, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Azature Blue is more wonderful to me. It's royal blue and absolutely beautiful. Each speck of sparkle (whether it's chunks of diamond or just glitter) brings out the blue that much more, and I can't stop adjusting my hands to catch the light and the sparkle. I only needed 2 coats for this polish.

Both polishes look better with a layer of top coat on them since they are slightly textured from the pieces of glitter...or diamond. I'm still not sure. I used Seche Vite, and no visible texture remained. 

For the nail art, I used Azature Blue, essie's Mesmerized and OPI's Don't Pretzel My Buttons to make a fun rope outlining my half moon. Looking at these swatches again though, I'm not sure it needed nail art, because it really does sparkle.

If you have the spare change, or are looking for a gift idea to give to your boyfriends, then consider this. Again, it's an outrageous amount to spend on polish, diamonds or not, but it is unique and may be worth the price.

You can purchase Azature from their online store. 


These products were sent to me by Azature. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Global Gradient pt. 2

Last year around this time, I posted a gradient of the nails I did for the Global Dance festival. This raver's fantasy is all about EDM and lights and good times. The ensembles are always bright and colorful, so my nails had to match.

I chose to do a gradient, which is super subtle in the shot I got, of Lollipop! Goes the Princess (Sation) and Purity (Zoya). The white is near the cuticle, and the pastel lavender is near the tip. Like I said, really really subtle! I think outlined with a triangle cutout of Sun of a Peach (China Glaze). The rhinestone accent is from my Born Pretty Store rhinestone wheel (reviewed here).

It matched my shirt, and as you can see in this blurry pic I snapped, glowed amazingly in black light!

On Beauty High: Plaid Tutorial

 
Perfectly pretty plaid is everywhere this summer, and my version of plaid nails are available at Beauty High with a tutorial!

What I especially love about plaid is that you can reuse it in the winter, with your darker shades instead of these bright summers.

Here I used two of the new China Glaze jellies from the Sunsational collection (Keepin' It Teal and Shell-O). But for the winter, you could try darker jellies, like those from the Zoya Gloss collection (Fall 2012).

For the full tutorial, head over to Beauty High for my guest post. I think you'll really love this one!

Couture de Minnie courtesy of Beyond Polish

I'm always on the lookout for cheap online retailers to use when buying some expensive polish brands. I covet OPI and regularly find myself yearning after their new collections, but making my way out to the nail supply store can be a nightmare sometimes, and paying full price at a retail store isn't something I want to do.

I was approached by a new online store that offers awesome deals on expensive, brand name polishes for a major discounts. This new store is called Beyond Polish. In addition to offering the pricey OPI polishes for $6.95, they also carry a ton of gel polish lines and other polishes like China Glaze for $3.50 and Essie for $5.95.

The shipping is speedy and everything arrives packaged well, so you know you're investing in your polish and it will all arrive intact.

Beyond Polish sent me the girly Couture de Minnie OPI collection to try out as an introduction to their store. I loved this pink collection, so I made it into florals (using another OPI polish as the base, My Vampire Is Buff).

I used two of the collection's colors for the flowers, A Definite Moust-Have and Chic from Ears to Tail. I think it's a lovely representation of the delicate pinks, don't you?

Here's the rest of the collection.

The first color is Magazine Cover Mouse. It looks gritty because it is. It's textured and sandy and wonderful. This only needed two coats to look like this. It's a fire engine red with gold glit in it.

This sultry and slightly metallic red is called Innie Minnie Mightie Bow. I believe this was three coats to coverage. Very shiny and very grown up. Maybe Minnie wears this on her date night with Mickey. ;)

I love this hot pink, A Definite Moust-Have! It's not neon in the bottle, and not quite as neon as it appears in this swatch, but it does stand out as a wonderful pink creme. This was three coats.

One layer of Minnie's glitter, Minnie Style is shown here over A Definite Moust-Have. Matte white glitter is making its way deeper and deeper into the big name polish scene, and I love it. It's mixed in with metallic magenta pieces. If you want to see it utilized beautifully, I recommend checking out The Illustrated Nail's unique looks! They're to kill for!

This last color, Chic from Ears to Tail, is my favorite. What else can I say about it? It's 3 coats, and it's the perfect Barbie pink. Girls are born into loving this color!

Thank you again to Beyond Polish for sending along these samples to try! I recommend you all peruse the site for any coveted polishes you want for an even more coveted price. They ship domestic as well as internationally, and any orders over $100 are free to ship.

These products were sent to me by Beyond Polish. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Precision Lacquer Dreamy Collection Review

Creamy and dreamy, I'm swatching the Dreamy collection from a new-to-me polish line, Precision Lacquer.

This lines looks great, and after testing it out, I can confirm that it is. The formulas are self-leveling and awesome. They are opaque, but not stark, so though some require 4 coats, they look wonderful (and are actually my favorites in this collection).

I'm thrilled to have been able to try Precision Lacquer, and I can't wait to try more of them! They're perfectly put together and make amazing nail art polishes!

I used four colors from this collection and a white to get this look. Perfectly paired right?

I love the cremes in this collection, so let's not procrastinate the beauty any longer.

My favorite in the collection is On Cloud 9. It's so soft, and requires 4 coats. It's a pale, solid, creme powder blue. No shimmer or effect of any kind, it's beyond wonderful.

Walking On Air is a powder lilac that perfectly corresponds to On Cloud 9. A little grey, like a fine evening mist hanging in the air. This one was also 4 coats.

Enlightenment is a lemon pastel, not a buttery yellow pastel. I used 4 coats here again. I love the color against my skin tone and see it working well on others'.

Have you ever watching Grey's Anatomy? I used to, and remember, quite fondly, Dr. McDreamy. This soft kelly green in named for this hunk, called McDreamy. It feels slightly teal, but clearly isn't. Another wonderful addition to the Dreamy collection. This was 3 coats.

On the other side of the air and clouds is the big blue ocean, so Blissful Abyss acts as the beautiful yin to the air colors' yang. It's darker than any of the previous shades, so it only called for 2 coats.

The last polish in Dreamy is Grape-Divine. To me, it looks exactly how grape candy tastes. A little tangy, but still very sweet! This was 3 coats.

Have you ever tried Precision Lacquer? They're fun and flirty and a nice change from bigger brands. I can see myself buying some of these after trying the collection out.

You can purchase the bottles from the Precision Lacquer website for $5.95 each. Nice price, nice polishes! They don't ship internationally if you order online, but you can contact them directly if you're interested.

These products were sent to me by Precision Lacquer. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

On Beauty High: Crosshatched Tutorial

Stop by Beauty High today to see another neato tutorial for some sweet geometric nails in my guest post, Awesome Nail Art Idea: The Crosshatched Manicure!

The colors I used are both subtle, so the gradient itself is subtle, but you can punch it up to any mix you prefer. Don't limit yourself to just two colors either if you don't mind the cleanup. I decided to use Blu (Zoya) and Something Sweet (China Glaze).

Painting the straight black lines was really simple too. I recreated it on my right hand, no problem.

The full tutorial is available on Beauty High here, and I'll be teamed up one more time for Manicure Month this July with Beauty High, so keep an eye out for more! 

Winstonia July Grab Bag

There's another Winstonia grab bag available, and I love this one! It's available for $10 (free shipping) until July 31. If you like what you're about to see (and I bet you will), then you can pick it up here at the Winstonia Store.

This month's bag includes:

• 2 nail art stud wheels (Design 2) (Design 3)
• 1 nail art polymer slice wheel (details)
• A package of wooden cuticle pushers in 3 different sizes (details)
• A multi-purpose eye brush (details)

Overall, it's a $24 value that you're getting for $10.

I loved the nail art studs the most, so I created a look using several different kinds of studs from the two kits.

So fun right?!

Here's a closer look at what's available in each of the wheels:

I love the variety, and I definitely feel like I'm getting a value.

And though the brush is advertised as a makeup brush, I'll likely be using the angled end as a cleanup tool for my cuticles!

This is an excellent 3D grab bag, which reminds me...time to announce the winner of my 3D nail art contest!

Though it was difficult to choose and I feel bad not letting more than one person win, I decided on a winner:

Ria Marii from Brush me Blush!

Nail art and photo by Ria Marii from Brush Me Blush

She was very creative and neat with her 3D work, and I'm so happy I now know about her blog. Well done Ria!

Edit: It's my own fault that I did not ask people to prove it was their natural nail as the rules stated was a requirement, so though there has been controversy about whether or not these are her natural nails, I unfortunately have to go by the honor code in this instance. Ria assured me they were her natural nails, and I'm sorry if some of you disagree. I myself am not 100% confident either, but I put myself between a rock and hard place by not asking for proof. It is what it is now. I will be removing comments calling out these facts, simply because it's not worth generating additional controversy. Again, I apologize to everyone.

If you've got the 3D itch and want the July Winstonia grab bag, then you can grab yours in the Winstonia store until July 31st for $10 with free shipping and no subscription required.

These products were sent to me by Winstonia. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Color Society - Ruby Wing Groupie and Summer Love

Click the icon to visit the Color Society page.

Ready for more magic sunlight color changing polish from Ruby Wing? It remains a mystery how the transition happens, and how it's possible to get it while still getting such a good polish, but the fairies and unicorns over at Ruby Wing nailed it again with new polishes, Summer Love and Groupie, paired together here with some rhinestones.

Indoor

Outdoor

Indoor

Indoor

Summer Love starts neon orange. And it's a great neon. No underwear needed here! And it's only three coats. I love the neon orange part of this, but it transitions into something I'm not a huge fan of. 

Outdoor

Outdoor

It goes brown! It's a nice shade of brown, but what I don't like about it is how different it is than its neon counterpart. The nail art I created with the two polishes worked pretty well, but picture a design that used the neon orange with a neon purple. That'd be pretty right? Now picture that same look, but with brown and neon purple. Just not as good. 

Indoor

Indoor

Groupie is a great polish though! It starts neon pink...

Outdoor

Outdoor

...and ends a little less neon, and a little more red, but still very bright and noticeably different nonetheless. I only needed three coats for this polish as well.

This solar witchcraft is so strange, but it's awesome and unique, and the collection just keeps growing! Thanks again to Color Society for letting me be a part of the network.

Are you interested in applying to be part of the Color Society? Fill out the application here to apply!

These products were sent to me by Color Society. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.