Sweetheart Squadron Swatches

Here are the swatches of the Fall 2016 Gelish collection, Sweetheart Squadron.  Introduced in my post last month, these beautiful colors were released around August 1st and I finally got mine ordered.  When they arrived I was stunned by how pretty the peach and coral polishes are in real life.  I don’t know if you can tell in the photo, but Put a Wing on It has some subtle shimmer to it.

They’re all perfect fall shades, but I feel like Perfect Landing and Put a Wing on it will make great polishes for that transition time between summer and fall… where you’re not really ready to give up your summer polishes but fall is already in the air…

What do you think? Will you buy the entire 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!

Jamberry Review – Part One

I thought it might be a nice idea to do a Jamberry review from a nail tech’s perspective. I’ve been able to find plenty of reviews from at-home users and Jamberry consultants, but none from a professional nail tech.

Background: I received the small Jamberry samples in two different patterns – one floral and one blue snakeskin.  They were given to me by a co-worker, who got them from someone else who knows a Jamberry consultant.  So this is an honest review, as I don’t even know the person the samples originally came from, and I did not pay for anything.

Here’s the nail art I did with the floral sample.

On the other 8 nails I used Gelish Po-riwinkle from the Kung Fu Panda 3 Collection.

To apply the Jamberry wraps I first trimmed them to fit my pinky nails, then rested them next to a hot bulb for about 30 seconds to make them pliable.  After completing my normal nail surface prep,  I peeled the wraps from the clear base and applied them to the nail.  They applied very easily, adhered well, and had only a couple of wrinkles at the sides of the nails. I put one coat of Gelish Top It Off over the wraps.

Stay tuned for part two of this review, which will be an update on how the wraps are holding up after 1 week. I’m taking the 7-day challenge!

New Gelish Collection for Summer 2016: Street Beat

I can hardly believe we’re talking about summer already, considering that I am typing this on the first day of spring.  But I always do enjoy having something to look forward to, and this collection is definitely one of those things!  Gelish recently announced that their summer collection will be called Street Beat, and made a cool video of their team tagging a wall to advertise the collection.

You can also see more about these vividly colored polishes in the April 2016 issue of Nails Magazine.

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.

Gelish List Updated

A bit of housekeeping news here:  My list of Gelish colors and SKU#s is updated with the Spring 2016 Botanical Awakenings Collection.

You’ll see that it also has information for the Winter 2015 UK-Only After Hours Collection, since I bought this collection online and needed to update the list for my use.   

Check back in over the next few months for designs in both these collections PLUS the Kung Fu Panda Collection!

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.

Winter Watercolor

The chill in the air inspired me to do some winter-themed nail art this week.

 This is Gelish Medieval Madness topped with 2 coats of My Secret Santa, from the Gifted With Style holiday trends collection. I created watercolor decals using FingerPaints Artistic Azure, It’s Azure Thing!, and Fall-ing for You, and stamped with Bundle Monster Plates BM-14 and BM-319 and Konad plate k20.

 

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!