Quick Manicure with Accent Nail

Hello everyone! I'm Angela from Icing On The Face where I blog about all things beauty. I share product reviews and comparisons, favorites, tips and tricks, nails, everything. I know that Nik and Desirae have had quite a busy summer and because of that I want to share my favorite quick but fun nail look. This is something I love to do when I want an eye-catching and cute nail look but don't want to spend a lot of time on nail art or applying glitter meticulously. No sitting down and taking 20 minutes to think up a design and then an hour to execute (if you've ever done nail art then you already know what a time-eater it truly is).
Sally Hansen's Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips are really quick and easy to apply and have great lasting abilities. Okay, call me a cheater when it comes to nail art; I'll take it. They're fool-proof and there's no drying time! I don't always have the time or patience, does that mean I have to forfeit the cute designs? Just let me cheat, alright?

Whenever I use any nail polish strips I always save what is left for a rainy day (they all come with extras). Just make sure you put them in a ziplock bag so that they will not dry out. When I'm in a hurry, I just add my leftover nail strips to one nail and paint the rest a pretty color. For this look, I chose Essie's First Timer which I am loving for summer and as a contrast to the black and white of the Tri-bal It On nail strip by Sally Hansen. If you want more tips for making the leftovers really work, check out my post Making Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips Go Farther.

Please share if you recreate this! Hope you enjoyed!

Black Tie Optional in Turquoise & Caicos!

I purchased both of the polishes for my current manicure this week and they've both been on my wishlist for awhile.

I took advantage of my $5.50 CVS reward bucks to buy Essie's Turquoise & Caicos. It is priced at $8.29 at CVS. I also saw it at Walmart for $7.75.

Although I have a few similar colors, they are all just different enough for T & C to be a fantastic addition to my collection. It's a beautiful creamy turquoise, just the right mix of blue and green. It applied perfectly, opaque in only two light coats. (Although looking at it in the sun, I probably could have used another coat.)

My second purchase was Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional. It was love at first sight after seeing swatches by several nail bloggers. It took forever for my neighborhood Walmart to stock the new Hard Candy collection. I was very happy to see this one restocked today, and at just $4.00, I had to take it home with me. I love it just as much on my nails as I did on the various swatches! It features small, medium, & large white and black hex, black bars, and tiny and small black & white rounds. 

BTO will look incredible over any color. I paired it with Turquoise & Caicos today and it is every bit as fantastic as I expected! One accent nail (one coat) with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails crystal clear over all. 

 

Caty Perry-Winkle - Above the Curve

This polish is a prize I won, from Above the Curve.

This and other polishes found here:
http://abovethecurve.bigcartel.com


From the website:
Caty Perry-winkle is a cream holographic periwinkle polish.

It definitely is a gorgeous periwinkle blue. I LOVE IT. It's nearly the exact shade as Essie - Lapiz of Luxury, which is my favorite Essie polish (I own four).

The holographic... I suppose. It's not as holographic as Adriel, or really any other holographic polish I have seen. I suppose that's what they used to make it, but it comes across as more a shimmer. If you look incredibly close, it does look like its comprised of multiple colors. But if you're thinking you want a typical holographic effect, it's not that.

But actually I love it this way. It's a subtle shimmer in the bright light and it's very soft and classy, in my opinion.

If anyone is looking for gift ideas for me, I need a full size bottle of this. Haha.

My manicure is two coats if ATC Caty Perry-Winkle, with a few Essie - Lapiz of Luxury dots to show you their similarity. This is nearly opaque in one coat, but definitely no issue in two!

Photos are in direct sunlight, evening light, and indoor lightbulb.

Hottie Butler, Please.

I gotta say, I love the way the names of these two polishes come together for a comical title to a blog post.

The manicure I stick with today and am really quite fond if is created using two coats of Essie - Butler Please, and... a little but of Sinful Colors - Hottie.

It's my first attempt at a glitter fade... or is it gradient... manicure. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I just dotted lightly near my cuticle and then fanned it out toward the tip a tad bit, and gave it a second dotting near the cuticle to punch up the sparkle a tad. Sealed it with a coat of Nutri Nail.

No complaints on either polish, which I have owned a little while. My first time using either. But, as always, not the biggest fan of Essie's brush. Ah well.

Enjoy my photos, if you'd like!

Easter Manicure featuring "Nice is Nice" by Essie

Essie is one of my favorite nail polish brands. Possibly my absolute favorite, actually. I decided on their beautiful, light, spring-like lavender called "Nice is Nice" for Easter. (That first "Nice" is pronounced like "niece", as in the city in France.) It goes on smoothly but you'll need 2-3 coats for good, opaque coverage. As far as I can tell online, it's a discontinued color, which is a bummer. I'll definitely need to search ebay or amazon for a spare...

On to the photos. All pre-cleanup...

Indoors, natural light.

Outdoors, sun.

Outdoors, sun.

Outdoors, sun.

Valentine's Nails

Another quick nap time manicure, in the Valentine's Day spirit.

 

OPI's "Meet & Jingle" is my go-to red, especially for the holidays. It's the perfect shade with the perfect amount of shimmer. I went with an accent nail today of Essie's "Leading Lady". I love the red glitter. So festive! Sort of reminds me of Dorothy's ruby slippers, too. :)

 

Here it is pre-cleanup. Because I'm too lazy to worry about that right now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A gorgeous Silent Night

Today, I bring you a GORGEOUS polish.

It's called "Silent Night" and is by Jindie Nails.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JindieNails

http://www.llarowe.com

http://www.ninjapolish.com

http://www.meimeisihnatures.com

I love this polish. Simple as that. When it arrived, I couldn't help but sit and gaze at it in the bottle.

Well, after my initial shock of the giant hot pink label. That's the one thing I really don't like about the polish. The label, to me, is totally tacky and kind of off-pitting

But heck, fixed that problem. I just took the big one off. I left the name label on the bottom.

I decided to use Essie "Butler Please" for undies (haha) because I hate visible nail lines and didn't want to use globs of this gorgeous blue jelly filled with holographic glitters in many shapes and sizes, so I would have more for future manicures.

It went on mostly easily. The glitters occasionally would clump but that was easy to fix just by brushing again. They lay flat or again, are easily manipulated. The big glitters come out easily too, no fishing!

I used two coats for depth.

I used the crappiest top coat I own because my toddler seems to have hidden my good stuff. So the polish isn't completely smooth in the photos. Thanks, Spencer.

Though I guess I won't complain too much because Collin pooped and I wrecked three nails changing his diaper.

Anyway, these photos are pretty representative of the real life color and what not, but of course, don't do it justice. In person, it's even better. I'd say a bit mystical feeling, dreamy... Full of depth.

Everyone probably needs this polish. Even with the obnoxious label!

Edit: Spencer, my aforementioned toddler, loves the moons and stars in this polish!

For the LOVE of chevron!

In anticipation of Spenk & Ollie Creations upcoming chevron giveaway (I only need four more facebook likes!), I decided my nails should be festive.

In my new MASH nails plates, by golly, there is a chevron stamp!

I used OPI- Didn't You'Ear About Van Gogh as the base. And then, from thumb to pinky...
Thumb: Essie - Merino Cool
Pointer: OPI - San Tanonio (I think, the label fell off...)
Middle: Zoya - Wednesday
Ring: Zoya - Amanda
Pinky: Essie - Lapiz of Luxury

I love how they turned out... Or would have had I filed my nails down just a tad shorter. The stamp didn't quite cover the longer nails. And I went a little crooked in a few parts. But, I'm still a novice, so it's okay.

Who else loves chevron?!