Showing posts with label Funky French. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Funky French. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

6:00 AM

Inspired by Robin Moses - 80's Funky French


     I've got another Robin Moses inspired look to share with you on the blog today. While this isn't my best work or something that I'm particularly proud of I think it's important to share it. It's important to me because I want to inspire others to try nail art, I want people to see that even though I've been at this for a few years now I still create manicures that aren't perfect and am always learning. I might be getting really good at stamping, or watermarbling but a technique that I consistently come up a bit short on is my freehand painting. And that's what you'll see in this 80's themed funky french manicure.


     Now normally I would use a polish that looked like my natural nail color as a base but this time around I skipped that step. Thankfully it worked out alright, it seems my base coat is doing a great job of keeping my nails stain free. For the "french tip" I used Sally Hansen Black Out in a diagonal pattern. While I'm a fan of the traditional French manicure I like to put my own twist on it from time to time. 


    The Not Really Neons Collection from Polish 'M came in handy for the lines. I used Harlequin (green) Royal (blue) Tangelo (orange) and Rosé (pink) I should have used Lemonade for the yellow but I wasn't sure it would show up so I went with an acrylic paint instead. I topped everything off with a glossy top coat. 


      I do like how this turned out, I need to work on my angles and painting straight lines. Which is what I meant earlier when I said my freehand skills come up just a bit short. But that doesn't stop me from trying, in fact, it makes me want to do more so that I can get better. 

     After looking at this mani for a bit in a glossy state I decided to see what it would look like matte. 


     I used the matte top coat from Pure Ice just to see how well it worked and I have to say I'm pleased with the results. 



     While I love my indie polishes, we all have a budget and mine is a bit tighter than most plus I like to be able to run out and get a product if I'm in a crunch, so I'm always on the lookout for less expensive alternatives from brick and mortar stores to use. My favorite matte topcoat is Matterial Girl from Blush Lacquer because it gives a true matte look instead of the semi-matte looks you can get from other top coats. The Pure Ice matte top coat also gives a true matte appearance.

     Which look do you like better the glossy or matte? Do you have a technique that you struggle with a bit? Let me know in the comments and as always Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing! 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

8:07 AM

Rimmel- Apple Berry Smoothie


     Well hello, again my lacquer loving friends. Today I have for you a manicure I did using Rimmel Apple Berry Smoothie from their Cocktail Colors collection. Unfortunately, I picked this color up on clearance and the collection has been discontinued.

   Apple Berry Smoothie is an aqua blue polish with blue and purple shimmer. The application took a little getting used to. I found out that less is more for smooth even coverage. And you don't want to "play around" when applying your first coat. Just let it be thin and streaky, trust me you won't be able to tell when you're all done.

Rimmel Apple Berry Smoothie, blue shimmer

     This is 3 thin coats plus top coat. I can now see a slight bald spot on my pinkie that wasn't noticeable to the naked eye. And trust me I was looking at my nails all day today at work trying to decide what I wanted to add to this manicure. 

      
     From this angle, the light was able to bring out more character in the polish and shows traces of the purple shimmer. I really wish it would have been nice out today so I could capture this polish in the sunlight. But winter is on it's way to Minnesota and my days of photographing polish outside are limited until next spring.

      So what did I decide to do with this manicure after thinking about it for 8 hrs today? I went with a quick and easy tape manicure.



     For the white, I used Milani White on the Spot and simply laid my tape at an angle to make the triangles. Originally I was going to use another blue for this but couldn't find just the right shade. That turned out to be a good thing because I'm really digging the high contrast here. Next time I won't be so heavy handed with the white though as it ended up a little thick. Oh well live, learn, and have plenty of acetone on hand right? :)

     I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by. Happy Polishing!

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