NotD Angusti Clavi

Or should that be Lati Clavi? But let’s not get into discussions about the relative or absolute width of purple stripes, let’s just look at pretty nail polish (now, as most of you wished, without jump).

Today I used these polishes for my manicure:

• OPI Nail Envy
• Diamond Cosmetics 312 Monarch Masquerade (I got this from Sara’s giveaway)
• Seche Vite
• essence color&go 12 Very Diva
• No7 Stay Perfect Milan 70 (another one from Sara)
• Sally Hansen Diamond Shine

First I applied my usual two coats of Nail Envy, three of Monarch Masquerade and one of Seche Vite.

Monarch Masquerade really surprised me, it’s an amazing shimmery  reddish purple (if you’re a frequent nail blog reader you already know that cameras tend to swallow part of the red). I could easily have gotten away with two coats, as it’s very pigmented.
The application was great, too. Even the first coat was free of streaks. The brush is a standard round one and works well enough.

This is Monarch Masquerade in two coats without top coat:

And here is Monarch Masquerade in three coats with a coat of Seche Vite:

 

After the base colour was fully dry it occurred to me that two of the polishes I had right next to my elbow might work nicely with that purple. I cut up some masking tape, stuck it onto my nails and painted over it with Very Diva.

Then I spontaneously decided to repeat the process to add another set of lines in Milan. If I had planned this properly I would have taken the time to alternate and overlap the lines. I finished this manicure up by sealing it with Diamond Shine.

I really like this manicure. It’s very basic, no expensive stencils needed: masking tape works very well, it didn’t destroy the base or leave a sticky residue. I doubt that I’ll buy french tip guides anytime soon. ;-)

Another aspect I like a lot is that the single-coat stripes of Very Diva retain the reddishness of this polish (I’m on my second bottle after using the first one for frankening). And I need to get relatively subtle manicures out of my system before I get my box’o’neons, I seem to have ordered from TransDesign just in time.

Do you buy french tip guides or do you just improvise?

NotD – Skater’s Dress

I have no idea why today’s manicure reminds me of a figure skater’s dress, it just does.

NotD – Malcolm (or: The Gryffindor Chainsaw Massacre)

This is another manicure that I hate, despise and detest with a passion mildly dislike. Therefore I declare it to be an Epic Fail.

I had been planning to attempt a gradated manicure using sponges for some time and though I didn’t expect my first try to be perfect I certainly didn’t expect it to be that horrific. I happened to chat with my bestie while I finished this manicure and she’s partially to blame for the title, as she was the one to bring Gryffindor into this.

KotD – Floridly Verdant

Apparently it’s Earth Day. I rarely observe that kind of pseudo-holiday, except for a half-assed Arrrr on Talk Like A Pirate Day (I can’t properly roll my ‘r’ anyway) or carrying around a towel for a few minutes on Towel Day. So it’s completely coincidental that my nails are green (or should they be blue? who knows?) today.

NotD - Greystar

I planned to post this last night, but after the epic fail of my first attempt I had to postpone until today. And then I had a patching-emergency. Needless to say, I’m way behind.

But now I’m finished at last with the example manicure I showed you in my last post.

Planning Nail Art

Before I start painting my nails I wanted to ask y’all: How do you plan your nail art? Do you just start painting randomly? Do you sketch it first?

I’m a planner by nature and choice. Until today I did quick sketches on scraps of paper, my notes from Uni, whatever… But last night I finally sat my ass down and started sketching and then digitalising a simple nail art chart – based on my nails - and I’m quite pleased with the result. Thus I thought I’d share it with you.

(click on the image to get it if you want it)

And here’s an example of a finished design:

Basically I use a mechanical pencil to draw a preliminary design, tweak it until I’m happy and finalise it with a felt tip pen. Then I colour it and try to find polishes that work.

So what’s your modus operandi?

NotD - A Very Claire-y Darkness

By Spock, I love black nail polish! Glossy or matte, black is love. So despite my dislike for claire’s ‘special brush’ I couldn’t resist their black super speed polish… and a bunch of random glitter polishes. Should I be ashamed?

Nah. (But I should be ashamed of my bad clean-up.)

Swatches in Pink and Red

Hello, sweet readers! Today I have a couple of swatches and a question for you: I usually put my photo-heavy NotD posts beneath a cut/jump. How do you feel about that? I added a poll to my right sidebar and would appreciate it if you shared your opinion with me.

Now let’s take a look at today’s polishes. I got both from Sara’s giveaway and was especially thrilled to try the Boots polishes. So I’ll start with one of those.

No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour Twinkle 25

This polish intrigued me as soon as I saw it. It’s a cute pink, warm and not too pale, with multicoloured glitter. Twinkle is sheer and you will see on the photos that the free tip looks a bit peachy. I think this colour would look best on very short nails or over a nude base.
The application was very nice and even. The brush is flat and supple, but not too wide. Overall this is a lovely basic colour, very wearable and the glitter adds some interest.

This is Twinkle in two coats without top coat:

And this is Twinkle in three coats with a coat of Seche Vite:

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OPI My Chihuahua Bites!

This red creme is hot. I don’t wear a lot of reds, but this is pinkish, bright and cheerful enough for me to love it. Two coats are almost opaque, three are just perfect.
My Chihuahua Bites! is one of those creme polishes that are incredibly smooth and buttery. And the application is perfect. I really need to get more OPI polishes. I probably won’t wear this colour on its own, but I can see this as a Konadicure base or with a funky french tip.

Here is My Chihuahua Bites! in two coats, without top coat:

And this is My Chihuahua Bites! in three coats with Seche Vite:

 

I hope you liked these swatches and please help me decide whether to keep or stop using jumps!

NotD – Jewelled Jade

Some days I have trouble choosing a polish colour. I those cases I tend to revert to old favourites like green, teal or black. Thus, I reached for wet n wild craze 234 Jade (another from the same swap I got my two Zoya polishes from).

 

NotD - Linear Crossover

Sadly, my Easter manicure chipped last night, so I had to repaint. I chose one of the lovelies I got from Sara’s giveaway at Daily Polish as base and added some crossing lines.

NotD – My Easter Eggs Look Totally Different

Really, I never decorate Easter eggs in brightly coloured dots (I’ll do an Easter Egg post on my personal blog later- edit: here it is).
This manicure was so easy, it did take a bit of time though. And it’s really effective, even my sister noticed it and that’s no mean feat.

Swatch - Barry M Grey

My fingers are currently stained blue (red cabbage makes an amazing purple/blue egg dye) so I'll post a quick swatch now and a NotD as soon as I get around to repainting and manage to get rid of the dye stains.

Barry M 293 Grey is a basic mid-grey creme polish. It's very opaque, a two-coater actually and very nice to apply, smooth and even.

Here's 293 Grey in two coats without top coat (excuse the lack of clean-up, I totally forgot that night):

And this is Grey in three coats with Seche Vite:

NotD – Muppety-Puppety Love

This manicure has been preying upon my mind for some time now. But as you probably know by now I tend to wibble and procrastinate a lot before finally attempting freehand nail art.

So what’s this Muppety-Puppety Love? I am not ashamed to admit that I adore the Potter Puppet Pals  (Check out The Mysterious Ticking Noise!) and this is the theme of today’s manicure.