31 Day Challenge: Galaxies

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I did a galaxy manicure about a year and a half ago. I loved it. It had a little TARDIS nail and everything. I vowed to do another one because it is so cute and not difficult at all. Well, today, thanks to the challenge, I am finally making good on that promise.

Fast Track and Turned Up Turquoise Gradient

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Hello again. I hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday and that everyone else is having a great Friday. Here's another quick behind schedule manicure. I wore this manicure near the end of summer and I loved it.

I wore two coats of China Glaze Fast Track on each nail. It is a pale tan polish with absolutely gorgeous gold glass flecks throughout. I almost did not buy this polish when the Captiol Colours Collection was out and realized that I needed it. I had to call around to several Sally Beauty Supply shops to get my bottle and I am so glad I did. I sponged over Fast Track with a blend of Fast Track and China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise on all nails except my ring finger. On my ring finger I used China Glaze I'm Not Lion and Turned Up Turquoise. I love the accent nail's unbelievable sparkliness. I'm Not Lion is fantastic and I'm not lying! . . . C'mon, I had not choice; I had to recycle that joke.

Blurry for emphasis on sparkles

This manicure makes me miss summer. Look at how well lit my pictures are; you can really see all the little fuzzy hairs stuck to my hand (sorry about that; I don't know where that all came from). Now, I never get enough sunlight to take my manicure pictures. I just built a light box to help with my winter manicure photos, but I still need to get lighting figured out . . . A light box is pretty useless without a good source of light.

See what others are wearing right now at the Nail Files. What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Keep polishing.
~Alexis

Strawberry and Cream gradient manicure

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Hi there, ladies! I have a treat for you today. Nailed It is one year old and is hosting a nail art contest to celebrate. Do a manicure using only two polishes with no stamping, decals, rhinestones, loose glitter, etc. Pretty easy, huh? The best part is that it is fun too. I LOVE nail art contests, seeing what inspires other polish enthusiasts, trying to do something pretty and creative myself. So much fun!

Anyway, that is what I am showing you today. This is the manicure that I am submitting for the Nailed it contest. I decided to use Revlon ColorStay Buttercup and Jade Seducao Rosa. I thought that the creamy opaque yellow would work wonderfully with the bold holographic pink. I did a gradient manicure to highlight how well the colors can blend, how the holographic effect is muted, somewhat glittery pink when blended with the creme polish and bursts back into radiance as the creme polish fades away.

I began this manicure by painting my thumb and index fingers with two coats of Buttercup and my ring and pinky fingers with one coat of Seducao Rosa. I then dotted my middle fingers with both polishes and blended them together with a nail art brush. I sponged over the basecoats with the two polishes, melding the colors by rocking the makeup sponge. I did three layers of sponged on colors. Lastly, I added dots of both polishes for pops of the pure color against the gradient.

On these grey days of autumn, having such a bright as sunny manicure does my spirit some good. Here is one last picture, a close up. This last picture is in daylight and shows the polish colors the best. Sorry about my dry cuticles and the little fuzzy on my nail; I forgot to moisturize before taking the picture and I always find little hairs in my pictures while editing. So annoying, but I'm getting off track here.

 So, do any of you plan to enter a manicure in the contest? I hope so. I'd love to see what you come up with!

I have a crazy list of old manicures to show you and one of my best friends gifted me a Birchbox subscription for my birthday (yes, she absolutely rocks!), so I want to show you some of the things from that. I fell in love with an eyeliner and can't wait to show you how amazing it is. But til then, enjoy the weekend.


~Alexis

TARDIS Galaxy Nails

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Hello, readers. Tell me, are there any other Doctor Who fans out there? I've watched some of the old episodes and some of them are pretty good, but I am addicted to the series that came out in 2005, helmed by Russell T. Davies and now Steven Moffat. The most recent new episode aired on Christmas and the next season isn't due until this fall!

I needed some new Doctor Who and found it through looking at the little TARDIS on my ring finger all week. Strangely, it did soothe my longing. Let me tell you a little bit about the manicure.

I painted a base two coat of Wet n Wild Black topped with INM Out the Door Northern Lights. I then sponged nebulae on all of my fingers except the left ring finger using Wet n Wild White. I sponged over each nebula using three different polishes per finger and edged each nebula with Julep Melissa and Hard Candy Beetle. I dotted white stars all over my nails. Finally, I topped the entire galaxy mani with another coat of Northern Lights. I love that holographic topcoat! It really was the icing on the cake for the manicure's starry effect. Here is a video so that you can see the flashiness of the topcoat. It was a gorgeous day and it seems that everyone in my neighborhood was mowing their lawns, so I apologize for all the motor noise.

For my TARDIS accent nail, I painted the shape in white and topped it with Revlon Royal. Using a small nail art brush, I painted the windows, sign, and lights on the police box. I used a thin line of Revlon Midnight Affair to outline the corner and roof.

Ugh, was this a chippy mess! By three days in, I had about 5 noticeable chips that just kept getting bigger. If I hadn't worked so hard on the manicure, I would have removed this after four days (five days at the most). Wet n Wild Black will go back to being a stamping or dotting only polish.

I really love galaxy nails. It is a bit time consuming to create the manicure, but I think the results are worth the time investment. If you're interested in trying out galaxy nails, you can check out the same video tutorial that I used. Emerald Sparkled's video shows just how easy it is to create these celestial bodies. Have fun!

Have you done galaxy nails? If you have, I'd love it if you provide a link to photos if they're online. Doctor Who fans, how do you deal with the long absence of the Doctor between seasons?

If you have a moment, you might want to check out the awesome giveaway on Colores de Carol. The giveaway is great, but her blog is fantastic!

I'll be showing you some very subtle stamped nail art on Illamasqua Load next week. Have a good week.

~Alexis