Beauty Marks the Spot!

This design was done with two coats of Gelish Beauty Marks the Spot, from the Royal Temptations Spring 2018 collection, with some stamped nail art using Clear Jelly Stamper polishes and plate CjS-04.

This polish was wonderful! It went on very evenly in just two coats, as you can see. And, though Gelish pinks and corals have had fading issues in the past, this one shows no signs of such issues after almost one week of wear. And I’m just loving the color! I’m not even tired of it yet!  Here I’ve applied it over a layer of Gelish Dip, and have had no adhesion issues after a quick buff with a 100 grit buffer prior to applying the gel polish.

The more I use Clear Jelly Stamper plates and polishes, the more impressed I am with them.  The plates are perfect for the salon because they allow you to quickly layer images to create designs as unique as each client. And they’re easy to use with just a little practice. I recommend using the plates and the polishes together – they’re worth the investment!

B-Girl Style

This is Gelish B-Girl Style, which is a beautiful pink that reminds me of bubble gum.  On the two middle fingers I used Born Pretty Store Mirror Powder in silver.  It was supposed to have a mirror-like finish, but it didn’t really work for me.  As you can see, it looks like packed glitter rather than chrome, and it left pigment in my Top It Off brush which then transferred to other nails.

This photo was taken a few days after application and you can see it’s already beginning to chip.  I was ready for a new manicure by this point.

With all that said, I do plan to give it another try. I only paid $2 for the powder, so it is worth it even if it only lasts for a couple days.  I also need to practice getting the chrome finish and cleaning off the leftover pigment before top-coating.

On a side note – are you like me, wondering what “B-Girl” even means?  I guess I’m old, but I had to look it up. In this case the B stands for “break”, as in break dancing.  I kinda assumed that’s what it meant, but needed confirmation from the ultimate authority (the internet).

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.

Fuchsia stained glass flowers

For this design I used Kung Fu-chsia from the Gelish Kung Fu Panda 3 collection. I hand painted the dots using Chain Reaction from the Urban Cowgirl collection. I made decals for the middle fingers using the Born Pretty Store plate BP-07 and clear stampers.  I simply stamped the image, and allowed it to dry on the stamper head (I have several stamper heads on hand so that I can keep working while each one dries), before coloring it in with regular polish. Then, once it had thoroughly dried, I peeled it off the stamp head and placed it on the nail. Then I top coated with Gelish Top It Off. The design has lasted beautifully for more than a week now!

Rhythm and Blues

This is 2 coats of Gelish Rhythm and Blues from the After Hours collection. On four nails I stamped 3/4 of the width of the nail with Born Pretty plate BP-07 and Konad white stamping polish, then added a line of dots in Gelish Arctic Freeze.

Firecracker!

This is Gelish Firecracker, from the Red Matters Collection.  I used Cashmere Kind of Gal and Fashion Week Chic from the House of Gelish Collection and Chain Reaction from the Urban Cowgirl Collection to hand paint the swirls and dots.

So hot!

This is Gelish I’m So Hot from the Red Matters Collection, stamped with Born Pretty Plate BP-L002.  I double stamped this design – first with black paint, then matched up the lines as much as possible to stamp in silver.

Silver carve

For this design I painted all my nails, except the middle fingers, with Gelish Tinsel My Fancy from the holiday 2015 Red Matters collection.  I painted the middle fingers with two coats of Gelish Black Shadow and cured each coat thoroughly.  Then, I painted the middle of these nail with a thick coat of Tinsel My Fancy and carved the design into it using a small dotting tool.  When I was happy with the design, I cured it.

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!