Summer Purples and Holo Success!

Using Gelish One Piece or Two? (from the new Make a Splash collection) and Tahiti Hottie (from the summer 2014 Colors of Paradise collection), this is my take on trendy mis-match nails. The beautiful holo nail is OPI Chrome Effects in Mixed Metals. Here’s a macro shot of the holo nail:

As you can see, the Chrome Effects powder worked really well. I had no trouble using it with Gelish Top It Off (rather than the suggested OPI top coat). In sunlight or interior light, these nails look great!

I was so happy to find the Chrome Effects line because the other products I’d tried have not performed very well for me – either I had application issues or they didn’t wear well. And, unfortunately, Gelish does not make a product like this.  Have you tried Chrome Effects? What did you think of it?

Tips for applying Gelish to short nails

This is Gelish Flirt In A Skating Skirt on the fingers and Lace ‘Em Up on the toes, from the Gelish Winter collection called The Great Ice-Scape. I thought the two colors went really well together!

Applying Gelish, and getting it to stay, on short nails can be a challenge sometimes.  So here are my tips for a successful Gelish manicure on short nails – inspired by my own nails, which are currently the shortest they have been in a long while.

• As usual, prep work is key. Be sure you’re giving the product a clean and well-prepped surface to adhere to.
• If at all possible, cap the edge of the nail with base, color, and top coat.
  • This will likely require you to pull back the skin; don’t be afraid to firmly pull the skin away from the nail each time you do this step.
• You probably will get a little product on the skin, so use a bit of cotton wrapped around the end of an orangewood stick to pick up some acetone, alcohol, or gel polish remover to carefully wipe it away before curing.
  • On small and short nails, painting from sidewall to sidewall is also an option. This will allow you to seal the free edge without a lot of cleanup.
• For extremely short nails with no free edge, you can flip the brush around so it pushes product toward you, ensuring that you’re getting product on the free edge.

These are the strategies that have worked for me.  Do you have any? Leave them in the comments below!

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!

I’m Plum Tuckered Out!

This design is done with Gelish From Rodeo to Rodeo Drive topped in an ombre style with Plum Tuckered Out. Both of these colors are from the Urban Cowgirl Collection.

I stamped using plate BPL003 from the Born Pretty Store, first with silver stamping polish, then black.

Pink to Purple Gelish Ombre

For this design I used Gelish. I embeded the pink fimo leaf in Structure gel.  After filing and prepping I applied Foundation, as usual. The base color all over the nail is Ali Baba’s Sim Sala Bam.  Then I used  the following to make the ombre from base to tip:

• It’s a Lily
• Plum and Done
• Tasty Eggplant
• Cocktail Party Drama

At the tip, just before applying Top It Off, I added a dab more of Ali Baba’s Sim Sala Bam to give the tip some sparkle. I thought it looked great; I just wish it had been more opaque. What do you think?