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!

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).

Glow in the Dark Gelish

To celebrate Halloween and Dia de Muertos Gelish is releasing Glow In The Dark gel polish.

Am I the only one who’s been hoping for some glow in the dark Gelish for years?!?! FINALLY!  This would have been awesome back in the day when I did spinning classes. haha!

I haven’t found this for sale anywhere yet, but I assume Cosmoprof will have it in the next couple weeks. If you find it, please let me know where!

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?

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!

Gelish “A Very Naut-ical Girl” Collection

For summer 2016 Gelish has once again released a special, smaller collection, in conjunction with Morgan Taylor and other brands sold only at CosmoProf.  (This collection is therefore only sold to professionals and only comes in the full size bottles.) The theme this year is “Nautical Chic.” About a month ago, when we first found out about this collection, I posted the ad… and now I have all four colors in my hands! I was able to find them all in stock at my local Cosmoprof.  I have photos of the swatches from my nail wheel, since I am still wearing spring colors from the Kung Fu Panda 3 collection on my nails.

Catch My Drift, which looked like a royal blue shade in the ads actually looks more purple in real life.  It’s gorgeous!  I like it much better in person than I thought I would when I saw it in print.

Girls Love Buoys is a vivid pink/purple color; I would call it magenta.  This will probably be a hot color for summer 2016.

My Yacht, My Rules is probably the most unique of the colors in this collection. Though it reminds me of My Secret Santa, it is not a glitter but is iridescent. This is the color I’m probably most excited about. I think it will make for some really cool French manicures.

Wish Upon a Starboard is your standard red for this collection. There are so many Gelish reds now that likely it’s only a shade or two from being just like the others. However, it’s a great summer red and worth having at the salon for clients who aren’t brave enough to deviate from the safety of a standard red color.

As usual for Gelish products, the colors applied nicely in two thin coats.  I had no curing issues, as you can see, even with the darker colors.  What do you think? Will you buy any or all of this collection?

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.