Chrome Gradient

I stopped by the store this week and was so excited to see the Sally Hansen Color Foils! I love super-shiny polish, and decided I had to pick up a few. They have a formula similar to OPI Push and Shove, but don't require the extra special base coat. I decided to try something a little less controlled than I normally do, and I ended up with this interesting experiment!

 I started with two coats of ORLY Saturated, which is a super intense purple. It dries matte, and dries quickly, so it was a bit of a challenge to get even coverage.

 Next, I dabbed blobs of the Color Foil on a piece of scrap foil, then dipped my fan brush in to pick up the gradient. I found this nifty fan brush that has sections of bristles removed, so it ends up with widely spaced stripes on one stroke. Starting from the base of the nail, the three color foils I used were Sally Hansen Purple Alloy, Minted Metal, and Liquid Gold.

Even over the matte neon purple, they easily dried to that super-chromey shine. Photos really can't do it justice!

Colors Used:

ORLY Saturated

Sally Hansen Purple Alloy

Sally Hansen Minted Metal

Sally Hansen Liquid Gold

Enter the Animus

 I've been playing some Assassin's Creed 3 lately (yes, I'm a game behind), and I decided to try some nails to celebrate. Instead of focusing on the red-and-white theme, I decided to draw from the cooler-toned Animus sci-fi side of the game.

 I started with a base coat of China Glaze White on White on all nails. I let that dry pretty thoroughly. Next, I used a sponge to add on Sinful Colors Jolt, which is a bright blue. Toward the tip, I just used the bottle brush to add a thin coat. Immediately after that, I dragged a fan brush through the wet polish to reveal the white underneath and give the stripe effect.

 I then used a sponge and added bands of Sinful Colors Cool Grey to my remaining fingers. I placed small shards of awesome silver glass glitter along those bands. In the game, the computer simulation loading screens feature geometric mirrored shards in a grey/white expanse, so I was trying to replicate that.

Lastly, I used a small brush and China Glaze White on White/Sinful Colors Cool Gray to add the assassin logo to my index and pinky nails.

 Colors Used:

China Glaze White on White

Sinful Colors Jolt

Sinful Colors Cool Grey

Day 1: Pink

 

And thus the month begins with me using a color I rarely if ever use, PINK. Pink is my arch-nemesis of colors. However, I had tons of fun with it today! 

I decided that if I was going to base an entire manicure around the color pink, I might as well just go for it and make it as pink as possible. This is also my first experiment with a fan brush! 

I started out with a base of Wet n Wild A Blank Canvas. Once that was dry, I dipped my fan brush in a blindingly-bright pink, Sinful Colors 24/7. I then dragged that over each nail horizontally. The next polish I used was Color Club Warhol, which is an insane pink neon. The third polish I brushed on the top of all that was Color Club Blushing Rose, which is a very nice soft light pink. 

 

 I topped the crazy cotton candy striped nails with some Seche Vite and let everything dry. Once all was set, I used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Sugar Fix to create textured hearts in white. Because if you're going to go for super-girly nails, might as well go all the way, right?! Haha!

 Colors Used:

Wet n Wild A Blank Canvas

Sinful Colors 24/7

Color Club Warhol

Color Club Blushing Rose

Sally Hansen Sugar Fix