The Lazy 15- Water Marble

Hey everyone! So today we have my mortal enemy the challenging technique of water marbling. Now this is something I'd seen on other blogs and thought was pretty cool, while also being like "Pfffft how hard can it be really? Put some polish in a cup and stick your finger in, I could TOTALLY do that. If I wanted to." Well I am here to tell you today that it is VERY hard really, and no I totally CANNOT do that.

This mani fought me every single step of the way, and I was very close to pulling a /ragequit and going to bed (I foolishly started this project at 11:45 pm.) However I didn't want to bail out of the challenge on the third day, so I steeled my nerves and fought on. The polish wouldn't spread. It dried too fast and wouldn't make a design. I missed getting the design on my whole nail and the white base was showing. I somehow smudged and dented my other nails in the process. My one cat decided he wanted attention and was walking huffily on my desk, dangerously close to my marbling cup. My kitten decided he wanted to torment my other cat and was clambering around my feet and trying to get close to the other cat. Oh yes my friends, it was no good.

I set out from the beginning to only do an accent nail of marbling, because let's be serious. Nail art + me= no bueno. I painted my other nails with Sally Hansen Green Tea because I haven't used it aside from Wednesday's dots. I like it except for that giant paddle brush. The "marble" (term used very very loosely) was done in China Glaze For Audrey because Green Tea wasn't pigmented enough, and with Essie In Stitches. In my first and most spectacular fail, I also tried using L'Oreal Walk on the Beach but it wouldn't spread enough. So I left it out on the second go. And this is what I got! I would try and explain it, but I don't even. Just.... Wow. On the bright side, when/if I ever get passable at water marbling, I can look back and laugh. Right? Right. With that said, here we are.

I just.... give up okay? I'm so sorry. I promise the rest of my posts won't subject your poor eyeballs to this level of fug. But everyone else's marbles are going to look really really good next to mine, so really, you should be thanking me! ;) ;) Haha! Anyway it is now 1 am, I am exhausted, and I am going to pass out on my keyboard unless I get by butt to bed! Can't wait to see everyone else's posts!

Unusual Combo!

But I think it works! I have these two polishes and I didn't know what to do with either of them. One is Lickety Split Lime, from the Sally Hansen Instra Dri line. This colour I got a couple years ago, probably on a whim. I tried it then but didn't really like it, and I remember it staining badly so I hadn't reached for it since. The other is Revlon Sparkling, which is a warm-toned pink glitter. I think it is a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Some Enchanted Evening. I couldn't decide what to layer Sparkling over, my pinks are mostly cool-toned so they clashed. Then I decided to try a more out-there colour combo, using my neglected Lickety Split Lime!

The formula on the Lime was good and it did indeed dry quickly. The brush in the Insta Dri line takes some getting used to though. I also liked the formula on Sparkling, it's not super thick and gooey like some glitters can be and I didn't have to work too hard to distribute the glitter. I did two coats of each polish, and doubled up on base coat to make sure I wouldn't have staining. Plus a topcoat and voila! What do you think of the combination?? One photo in sun and one in shade! 

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Exquisite Peach

So today I have a weird colour. This has been in my stash for a little over 5 years now. I bought this at some dollar-store type place shortly before my high school graduation because it almost exactly matched my dress. Oddly enough, now I don't care for this colour on me nail polish-wise, but I loved my dress. Anyway now that I have sufficiently aged myself, let's get on with it!
This colour is weird because the peach is offset with a strange greenish shimmer. The base colour itself doesn't change, so it's not a duochrome. I don't see colours with unusual shimmer often, I think I would like it a lot in a not-peach tone haha. Formula wise I don't recall having issues, it was sheer so I used three coats. The first photo is in sun, then in shade, then close up of the unusual shimmer. Hmm there appears to be some kind of bald spot on my pinkie, oops! Look away!

Sally Hansen HD Lite

Hi there! Sorry for my absence the past few days. Things are ramping up here because I have started contest prep, I am less than 17 weeks out now from my first ever bikini competition! I'm super excited but that means that now I have to be much more strict with my eating and make time for cardio first thing in the morning AND going back to the gym later to train weights. So between the extra cooking, planning, and gym time, it took me a while to get into a groove to have time to blog.
Today I have a polish that's a few years old. It's from the first range of HD colors Sally Hansen put out, and up until very recently, it was the only yellow I had! I think it's a good one. The formula is a little but runny but not too difficult to work with, and the colour builds up to opacity after 3 coats, which for a yellow is not bad at all! The color is bright and saturated, and has a slightly metallic finish. I think it's a great colour for summer, very sunshine-y and happy!
It was overcast the day I swatched this, so photos are indoors in indirect sunlight. For some reason the camera made everything look more cool whenever I tried to take a close up, the color is a bit warmer, like in the third picture.