HANDS, NAILS, ETC.

Impulse bought some of them Sally Hanson nail stickers. I kind of like them! It's a fancy manicure that is pretty hard to fuck up.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7118/7550453572_6fa1cbd840.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7550456772_3c15653d2f.jpg

That's the red lacy design. I was torn between that and the red stripe. This design is maybe too intricate and it gets lost in the shininess of the top coat (you don't have to do a top coat but I figured it couldn't hurt) so I'll try the stripe next.

whoa fancy!

i finally bought a base coat (essie, of course) and did my nails on monday and they still look like new. so i guess base coat does make a difference!

there should be a word for the irrepressible need to do stuff while your nails are drying and inevitably fucking up your nails
because maybe this word, like, as mantra, would stop me

I, too, suffer from this irrepressible need. A quick dry topcoat helps, but not enough :(

I like to lay my cigarettes out in a row and keep a candle burning, so I just need to pick them up and lean forward.

Have you gals not had GEL or SHELLAC nails done yet?? It's amazing. I can't go back, now. NO MORE CHIPPING.

I've thought about it but I hear removal is kind of hell on your nails. I figured I'd save it for a special occasion.

I've heard shellac is amazing but you have to pay to get it off? I'm not down with that. :(

Rocking a gradient for the upcoming week due to my polish collection getting out of control: http://instagr.am/p/NllZTujbLg/

xp ;)

I would like more first-hand info, homoII! Is it something you have to get done in a salon, or are there home kits? How long can you go between gel jobs? Is there a difference between gel and shellac???

I've had it done maybe 4 or 5 times over the past two years. I like it a lot in terms of durability and how they look. What sort of bugs me is that it means I can't change the color for 2 weeks. That said, I think they're great for special occasion. I had one done earlier this month before I went away and it lasted 16 days before showing any wear at all but I probably could have left it on for another week if I really wanted to.

I acutally had one done this Wednesday too because the other one had treated me so well. I was going to get a very pale neutral color (because one of the bonus points of the shellac is that you can do nail are on top and remove that without removing the base) but my girl asked if she could do a fun color she liked and I wound up with this:

oh wait - pic in a sec

You don't have to pay to get it off. You can just soak in acetone for about 10 mins at home and then scrape it off. I've not had a problem with it being harsh on my nails. They sell at home kits too but they're $$ and I haven't tried any.

Quice - Shellac is the brand name of the CND gel polish line. OPI also has one and another common on you see in salons is called Gelish.

Thank you! I think I will give this a try!

http://i47.tinypic.com/6eksvs.jpg

ooooooooh I like that! What's it called?

idk! It was one of the Gelish ones. They have them numbered and pained on nail wheels which is also neat since you can hold it up to your hands and see the colors.

The color is a little off in that pic because of the office lighting but it's actually a really awesome perfect turqoise color. Not something I'd normally wear but I'm glad she convinced be because I like it.

Very pretty! Glad they are not quite as hard to remove as I heard. Maybe I'll give it a shot next time I going to vacation.

That's what I was thinking - a good pre-vacation option. Gel manicure, leg wax, lash tint and then you can go somewhere warm and get wasted for a week and still look good in your pictures.

FFM, that's a great gradient manicure! Impressive.

Yeah, it's perfect for that.

Is lash tinting legal? My friend is a make-up artist/professional pimple popper and does extensions but it's SO EXPENSIVE. I really want to try it out but it's ridiculous.

It's legal to do at salons but I think there's something about buying an at home kit that is more difficult. Didn't Laurel order a lash tint kit and try it at home once?

I think it's $20 where I go (fancy schmancy hair salon). I've done it a couple of times. I didn't like it the first time, but a different person did it the second time and it was much better. Lasts a couple of months and it's really nice in the summer when all my mascara would just run down my face in the hateful humid Chicago heat.

Just checked - illegal in MA. :( It's a shame too cause I'd definitely do it. My bottom lashes are so blonde they're not visible unless I use mascara which one them which I've been doing all week and loving but it would sure be nice not to have to.

Gelish is harder to remove than shellac. They are actually good for your nails because the top coats and what not keep them from peeling/breaking.

Erica I have a tutorial from Tumblr on how to do your own lash extensions... hold on let me find it.

http://saramlyons.tumblr.com/post/25877662870/diy-eyelash-extensions

Dang, putting on mascara every morning seems easier than putting on all those lashes every three days. That looks fun for special occasions, though.

She's got super rad eyebrows, though.

She does. Argh, stop smirking though!

Got the nail art bug bad, going to Ricky's after work for a matte topcoat and some new colors: flat red, flat white, flat blue-green. If it's going to rain all weekend (and it's supposed to) I am going to spend it doing ridiculous things to my nails.

I want you to do French manicures with the flat/shiny parts like the black mani on the makeup thread. And take pictures!

I'm going to look for the essie Matte About You topcoat for that exact reason!

Be sure to get the french manicure tip guides too! They're little stickers.

Ricky's, the best beauty supply chain in New York, had only one version of matte topcoat and it was $16 so I didn't buy it. I got a white crackle finish, though, which is...trippy. I put it on alternating nails. You definitely have to apply the same weight of coat to each nail or they craze differently. And don't do it in front of a fan, either, because it makes it go so fast you can't even get it on the nail. Not sure this is my favorite technique, but it definitely is low-stress because the smoothness of the finish doesn't matter, you can just slap it on there.

I miss Ricky's! I used to go to the one on Broadway near where Antique Boutique and the old Tower Records used to be all the time. I think that's where it was at least. Sad about the matte topcoat. Maybe order online?

It doesn't look like there's one there anymore but I'm sure there was at one point. Union Square too iirc.

All right, here's the first experiment. Wanted to play with the crackle coat more and see if I liked it better over other colors (other than the bright orange I had on last night).

I don't have a camera that will focus this closely so sorry about the quality & lack of detail:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Hand.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Nails.jpg

That's base coat + 2 coats of A England "Princess Sabra" + 1 Seche Vite to seal it + cheap shit crackle coat Mattese Elite in White + 2 more coats of SV to smooth it out.

I've been tempted by that crackle stuff. Maybe I'll try it.

Princess Sabra is a gold-green glitter polish in proper light.

http://passionforpolish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/a-england-Princess-Sabra.jpg

Whoops!

http://passionforpolish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/a-england-Princess-Sabra.jpg

I think the crackle coats are kind of one-note? But interesting, and super fun to watch!

That's the nicest colour combo I've seen! My work sells one crackle but it's a sort of auburn shade, meant to go over yellow and look giraffe like. :P I have the yellow but didn't bother with the auburn!

If you put a thick gloss coat on top of the base color before you add the crackle, you get a nice depth effect with some separation between the layers. Subtle, but I like it.

i have a bottle of white crackle coat that i found in a bag i bought from a thrift store - haven't tried it yet, though

I normally really don't like the crackle stuff at all but I think that looks pretty neat and I LOVE the color underneath.

Okay, now the right hand. I want to do a three-color job like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zibuiozm95c/T4hf03QB4VI/AAAAAAAAE2U/rQ4PnOwE-Ds/s1600/color+block+mani+with+holland+collection.jpg

(From lucysstash.com, a great polish and nail art blog.)

The first base color I tried is a cheap mini yellow I bought yesterday. It might be good for art elements, but as a basecoat the coverage sucks. Tried up to 3 coats then took it all off because it was still streaky and uneven.

Second attempt: Used Princess Sabra as the basecoat. Tried to freehand the first swipe, using Essie "Blanc." Remind me never to play Operation. A mess. Took it off again.

Third attempt: Princess Sabra as the base, going to dry thoroughly and then use Scotch tape to form the swipes, instead. Updates as events warrant.

Mind you, in order to touch acetone with my LEFT hand, which is all done already, I have to wear a latex cleaning glove, so I'm stumping around my apt in old Crocs and one yellow glove, swearing at these cheap brushes and the pint of coffee I drank after breakfast.

Well, tape works great but the underlayer has to be REALLY REALLY DRY. Mine was not.

Crackle-coating the right hand is looking pretty appealing right about now....

The blurriness of this photo is obscuring the fact that I did a truly terrible job on this one. Also my colors aren't quite...right. Obviously I need more shades of nail polish to choose from.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Colorblock.jpg

I think that turned out really cool though!! I'm jealous. I like the translucency of the red.