Sun-kissed bliss!

This design meshes two lovely brights, Sun Kissed Bliss and A Tribe Called Cool, from the Just for You III (in Europe)/Secrets (in UK) collection from Harmony Gelish. After a couple years of searching I finally got my hands on some colors from this collection, which I’ve been referring to as simply the Just For You (JFY) collection because it’s only JFY collection we in the US have had. For more information about the full collection I recommend you check out Elysia’s Harmony nail blog, as she’s done a great job of swatching the full collection.  Fair warning: You may want to buy ALL the colors after reading her posts! (Note that I bought these from a US Seller online, and I don’t think they were re-directed from Europe since they have item numbers that fall in between the items numbers from the Gelish Winter 2017 and Spring 2018 collections. See my list of Gelish colors for item numbers.)

For the flower design I used Clear Jelly Stamper (CJS) layered stamping plate Cjs-14 with Born Pretty Store (BPS) stamping polish. I wanted to have white flowers but the Born Pretty stamping polishes were so uncooperative (and my latest shipment of CJS polishes hadn’t come in yet) that I just used whatever would work. I’ve had so much trouble with BPS polishes not stamping lately that I got rid of them. If you want great results with your stamping, I highly recommend the CJS polishes and plates.

This was also a good time to update my list of Gelish colors with the new fall 2018 collection plus the colors from the JFY/Secrets collection. Check out that list for info on all the Gelish US colors ever.

If you know where we in the US can purchase the rest of the JFY/Secrets collection, please let me know in the comments. There are some other great colors that I’d love to have!

My, Myself-ie and I

As we enter the final weeks of summer 2017, I felt some neon pink nails were in order. This is Gelish Me, Myself-ie and I, from the Selfie collection, with some hand-painted nail art. Some nails are topped with All That Glitters Is Gold from the original Gelish Trends collection. I used black and white acrylic paints, a striping brush and a dotting tool to paint the design. This design was done on enhancements (tips) done with Gelish Dip, and not only do they look pretty good but they’re holding up very well!

Check out how beautifully all the colors work together in this collection:

Here’s a photo of my entire Gelish Mini Selfie collection. I rarely buy the mini sizes any more, but decided to purchased them in the smaller size for this collection because neons don’t see a lot of use from my current clients.

This summer I’m loving the corals and pinks in this collection. What about you? What’s your favorite Selfie color?

Wish Upon a Starboard

This color is Wish Upon a Starboard from Gelish’s A Very Nautical Girl collection, which was released in May. I did this set then didn’t get around to taking a photo of it for about a week and a half.  But I wanted to show you how smooth and shiny it still is after over a week.  The color held up so well that I would have left it on if it weren’t for the growth at the cuticle area.  If you are in the market for a tomato red polish, I highly recommend trying to get your hands on this one!

The lines for the French-style nails were hand-drawn with Chain Reaction, from last fall’s Urban Cowgirl collection.

Give me a Break-dance

This polish is from Gelish’s summer collection, Street Beat, and it is called Give Me a Break-dance.  For some unknown reason I thought adding glitter would be a good idea, so I sprinkled a little of Paradise (by Recollections brand) on top of three coats.  In the end I was unhappy because this polish, like others from the collection, has a really pretty shimmer to it, and all I did was mask it.

The stamp is from Born Pretty Store, XL rectangular plate BP-L003, and I stamped with white Konad stamping polish. This plate works really well, especially for the price. Highly recommended it!

I’m getting some Born Pretty store brand stamping polish soon, so stay tuned for a review of that.

Gelish Street Beat Collection

I haven’t used any of these colors myself yet (still feels to early) but I’m loving the swatches of the new Gelish Street Beat collection for summer 2016!  All these colors are unique to the Gelish line.  What do you think? Will you buy any or all of these colors?

Simple nail art using a glitter topper

This is Gelish A Mint of Spring, topped in various sections of each nail with Getting Gritty with It.  Super easy nail art, but eye-catching!

Pink with Petals

On these nails:  2 coats of Look at You, Pink-achu! from the Hello Pretty! collection by Gelish  + BLE/M5 water decals from the Born Pretty Store.

The decals looked great when first applied, but did not last long at all. Within a couple hours they began to wear away from the tips of my nails, as you can see in the photo.  I had only used one coat of Top It Off, so perhaps I should have used two for better protection.  Next time I will keep the design closer to the cuticle and leave the tip open.  I had no trouble with wear issues near the cuticle.

10 new Gelish colors coming this summer!

For summer 2015 Hand and Nail Harmony has once again decided to release two collections. (If you recall, they released Colors of Paradise, which everyone seemed to love, along with the smaller Playin’ It Cool collection, which it seemed like no one even noticed.)  This year the full, main collection is called Hello Pretty!, which Hand and Nail Harmony states was “Inspired by Japanese street style…“.

The colors in this collection are appropriate for summer, and even spring. They are:

Do you Harajaku?

Look at You, Pink-achu!

Amine-zing Color!

Tokyo a Go Go

Pop-arazzi Pose

Manga-round with Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

The smaller collection is called Ooh La La! and it’s composed of feminine and flirty spring colors.

Hand and Nail Harmony advertises that the collection was “inspired by all things elegant and sophisticated...” but I think “cute” when I look at these colors:

 

Amour Color Please

Cancun We Dance?

Postcards from Paris

Escar-go to France

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All these colors are available in both Gelish and Morgan Taylor.

 

 

On another note, what do you think of Hand and Nail Harmony’s transition to using funny/clever and thematic names?  Remember when they released the original core Gelish Colors? They used simple names, like “Reserve” and “Twinkle”… I suppose for the collections, using witty thematic names is the way to go. But I do miss the simple color names… especially when I’m swatching and labeling!

Gelish Luck Lady Swatch

Here is Gelish’s latest release, called Lucky Lady, a lovely shade of red that reminds me of Coca-Cola red.  It’s for their Happy New Year 2015 Collection, year of the goat by the Chinese calendar.  In person you would see VNL; it’s a bit of a jelly polish. This is two coats.

Whoopsy Daisy!

 

This design is Gelish Doo Wop on the pointer fingernail and Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Whoopsie Daisy on the other nails.  I am loving the Salon Effects line. They’re the best of several nail decal brands I have tried (yes, including Minx!).  They fit curvy nails very well, and last a long time.