Makeup Withdrawal

Stamped: Inspired by Something Vintage

Sunday, May 13, 2012

So if you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen this Instagram picture of a neat thing that I picked up. My city holds this annual garage sale that hundreds of households participate in every year. I happened to be browsing around with my friend Chelsea, looking for hard to find polishes (hey, Kris from My Lucid Bubble found bottles of Clarins 230, a girl can dream) when I spotted THIS.

What is this, might you ask?

A fully functioning portable hair dryer from the 1960s, that's what! Even if it hadn't worked, I'm pretty sure that I would have forked over the $2 (that's right- a mere two dollars) for this interesting piece of hair history. I'd show you the inside, but it's still dusty because I didn't clean it out yet. If you're curious, google "Oster Vintage Salon Dryer".

Today's mani is based off of that pastel mint color.

I used Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet as the base. Using plate BM 224 from my Bundle Monster set, I stamped Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and Konad Special White all over in a random fashion. For some reason, I had a rather hard time stamping with this particular design, as though it was not etched deep enough.

Have a great night, thanks for checking out this manicure.

Products featured, including that raggedy hair dryer, were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

NYX Girls Enchanted Forest over Hunter Green

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Good evening!

So the last few weeks I've been pretty heavy on the nail art, so today I thought I'd take a break and just appreciate a few of the new polishes I've purchased lately.
This is NYX Girls Enchanted Forest (a green jelly filled with small, medium and large green holographic hex glitter) over Hunter Green, which is as the name would suggest- a hunter green.

I love hunter green. This particular one is similar to OCC Tattoo, only more saturated and a tad more blue. I had wanted Enchanted Forest for the longest time, so finally last month I decided to make a NYX Girls polish order from a seller on eBay. Wouldn't you know, as soon as I ordered my polishes I found a Love & Beauty glitter from Forever 21 that was an exact dupe? Derp. It's a great polish to have, I only wish that there was more large hex glitter.

Have a great Saturday night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Taped Zigzag Gradient

Friday, May 11, 2012

Do you remember the nails that I did for my incomplete 30 day nail challenge? (If not, click here for a refresher). Today's nails are sort of the opposite of that set- I taped off the white and sponged on the color. I guess the same effect could be created with white lines drawn on top of a gradient, but I prefer stripping tape. It produces neater, crisper lines.

Also, I *love* peeling off tape. It's satisfying, even if it's lame. Guess I gotta get my kicks somewhere.

I used a white franken (mixed up from Sally Hansen Polar Bare and some Ulta white) and Sally Hansen Fairy Teal. I bought Fairy Teal the last time CVS had their mega 75% off clearance sale for a mere $1-2.

Sorry for the funny lighting. I bought a photography tent for taking pictures and some new bulbs... and have been playing around with them. The second picture is more color accurate.

Have a nice weekend!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Purple Gradient & Glitter

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

I did another gradient look today, and topped it off with one of my new NYX polishes.

For the gradient, I used Zoya Tru and American Apparel Imperial Purple. I love how the pink and gold flecks in Tru glowed, so I used a coat of gold colored NYX Gilded Glitter on top. I found it interesting that Gilded Glitter was made up of small pieces of shredded, irregular glitter- it almost looks like that Rococco Gold Leaf Lacquer but with flat, shiny foil-like particles instead. Awesome.

Thanks for checking out this manicure! Have a wonderful night.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Strings of Polish Manicure

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Hello! Today's manicure was sort of done in a rush earlier today.

I used a white polish for the base, and OCC Makeup's Grandma for the "strings" of polish.

I found this really neat pin on Pinterest, but somehow I didn't manage to pin it. That's where today's manicure was based off if. I remember that the blog that it linked to explained this technique quite well, and also had a video. If anyone knows what I'm referring to, please help me find it so that I can give credit where credit is due!
**Edit: Thanks to some very helpful comments, I tracked down the Youtube video that had the tutorial. I guess this technique is also called sugar spun nails, but this video just calls it making thin lines.**

The gist of it was to let some polish puddle and dry a little bit until it was tacky. Then using a dotting tool or some other stick thing, lift up strings of polish onto your nail. Something like that.

I topped it off with topcoat, but Grandma bled a little (what an awkward phrasing, let me try that again: the top color, Grandma, bled a little bit). Next time, I might skip the topcoat, because I sort of like the 3D textured effect the strings had.

Thanks for checking it out! Have a great night.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.