Essie Cashmere Matte - Coat Couture

Sometimes, you see a polish on someone and feel that you must have it, immediately.

That's what happened with today's color. Ashley, from Emerald and Ash posted this color on her blog's facebook page, and I knew I needed to have it. You can click [here] to see her lovely nails.

I definitely wasn't expecting this brand new color by Essie to be in a Walgreens I happened to be in yesterday.  It was a right place, right time situation. 

Here's "Coat Couture" and it's part of the Cashmere Matte collection by Essie.

"Coat Couture is a purple leaning grey that has a lovely aqua shimmer throughout.  It's not super matte. I'd call it more of a satin finish. A major bonus for me is that it dried super fast! I put on two coats over a base coat, bumped one on accident and was pleasantly surprised to see that it hadn't been smudged!

Isn't it lovely? I don't normally go for matte polish, but this one and the others in this collection looked unique to me. I'm glad I was able to find it.

Happy Monday, have a great week!

Happy Valentines Mani

Ahhhhh love. The day of adoration, love, hearts and kisses is almost upon us. My nails are all ready for Valentine's day, although I must admit I'll probably change them before friday! I felt like doing a little water marbling, and a little stamping too. Apparently I felt like challenging (torturing) myself today...

Yep, there's a whole lot goin on in this mani! I used a white base under my water marble, and also under my stamped finger. Here's a list of my colors...

Thumbs: Sally Hansen Insta Dri - Sonic Bloom

(I also stamped with Sonic Bloom)

Water Marbling - Essie Mod Square and Sation - Of Corset I'll Call you

Glitter: OPI liquid Sand - Pussy Galore and Model City - Pink Diamonds

Here's the thing about water marbling...it's kind of a pain in the ass. The end result is worth it, but just barely! I'm joking...I love the trial and error of water marbling. I made a mini tutorial a while back, you can check it out HERE. It seems there are so many variables when it comes to marbling, so what I will tell you is to try and try again. The same goes for stamping...I probably stamped 8 different times before I kept what you see in the pictures. Even after all of that, I don't LOVE LOVE it. It's cute...but it could look better. 

Here's another tip for water marbling/masking your fingers for nail art...

Use elmers glue!

Rocked my world! You can just peel it right off!!! The thing I hate the MOST about water marbling, gradients and stamping is how stained your hands are afterwards. My hands are SUPER dry so if I don't protect my skin, I end up looking like Lorde at the Grammy's...

Hehe...speaking of gradients, stay tuned for a gradient sometime this week!

Here's a "love"-ly gradient for you!

Oh man, I love me some sponge gradients. I hate the cleanup afterwards (because I'm too lazy to mask my cuticles) but who cares? I love them! I wanted to do a gradient mani with a stamped accent nail, but alas, my stamping skills are still way sub-par. I decided to stick to what I'm good at.

It's like Valentine's day on my nails! (Check out that nice boo-boo on my thumb!) 

I used a really fun array of colors for this one. First up, Ice Ice Baby, by SpaRitual.

Second, Boom Boom Room, by Essie.

That beautiful raspberry color is Sonic Bloom by Sally Hansen. 

Last, but certainly not least, we have Fairy Dust by China Glaze. 

I love this glitter because it gives any mani a subtle sparkle. 

For a tutorial on how to create a sponge gradient, check out this tutorial.

What do you think? Are you as in LOVE with this mani as I am??

Mini how to: Water Marble!

Here's a mini water marbling tutorial for ya. I'd like to make a video, and I will. I just need to find some time! I've been able to do a successful water marble like, 3 times out of 50 attempts. There is a lot more to it than you'd think! It seems to me that there is one major factor that decides the fate of your water marble...it's the polish. Duh. Some polishes work, some don't, and there's no way to know whether one will work or not until you try it! In my experience, the brands I have the most success with are Essie, OPI (if it's newer and not goopy), Sally Hansen Xtreme wear and some of the Sally Hansen Complete salon manicure.

First, start with a white base. It can be a creme or a shimmer. Also, prep the skin around the nail. Some like to use tape to mask the cuticles and skin, I used chapstik. It's easy to apply and makes cleanup super snappy. It's good for your cuticles too! Bonus!

Next, get your stuff together! Room temp, bottled water will do the trick. I've tried tap water, and for some reason it doesn't work like bottled water does. Have your polishes open and ready for dropping onto the water's surface. I use a dotting tool for my marbling, but you can use a needle or a safety pin or something of the like.

 

As you drop your polish it should spread out evenly like in this picture. You should be able to tell right away if a polish is going to work or not. If it doesn't rapidly and evenly spread out, I'd advise you to move on to the next color to try. I am telling you, I have tried almost ALL of my polishes to see if they work and there is a very small amount that do. I feel like the aforementioned brands are the best in my limited experience. The more polish you drop onto the surface the higher concentration of color you will have. You can see in this picture I dropped more pink and less teal. 

 

Next, take your dotting tool and drag into the center from the outside. You don't have to do it in a "flower" pattern like this, it's just my habit to do it this way. I've seen some where you drag across to make sort of a Zebra stripe effect.

Then, just dunk! Nail first submerge your nail into the marbled polish, parallel to the water. Before you take your finger out of the water, scoop the polish off the surface with a q-tip. Shake off any water droplets and wait for the polish to dry a bit before you put on a top coat!

Seems simple...really, it just takes a LOT of practice. 

 Stay tuned for a video tutorial!