Nail of the Day: Emerald Island

I'm kicking off a series of "birthstones and jewel tones" to celebrate the birthday of a close friend.


For this look I layered L.A. Colors Color Craze Treasure Island over Sally Hansen Lime Lights. 

Nail of the Week: Rainbow Marbled

I'm a fan of the cooking site tablespoon.com, and a recent photo of rainbow cupcakes inspired me this week (see my Facebook page for the picture & link).

I'm still on my water marbling kick, and this rainy weekend (we're in the path of Hurricane Irene) was the perfect opportunity to create this colorful but time-consuming manicure. The shades I used are too numerous to mention, but most of them were opaque shades of Sinful Colors and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.

Nail of the Week: Jelly Sandwich

Jelly sandwiches, aka glitter sandwiches, are manicures with jelly finish polishes layered over glossy, glittery shades. This pink concoction is pure summer fun. Here's what I used:

Layer 1: Sinful Colors Purple Diamond

Layer 2: Revlon Just Tinted Desire

Layer 3: Sinful Colors Purple Diamond

Layer 4: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball

Nail Art: En Fuego

For this fiery design I used 3 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear shades: Flirt, Caribbean Coral and Sun Kissed. The yellow shade is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening. I used Revlon Gold Coin as a base.

Nail of the Week: Moonglow

We've had a full moon all week and I was inspired to create this design. And yes, I admit it—I'm addicted to water marbling!! As you can see my technique is not yet perfected but I'm still practicing. I used the following shades here:

Blues

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue, Deep Blue Sea and Blue Me Away

Sinful Colors Midnight Blue

Essie sweet talker

Yellow

Sinful Colors Unicorn

Water Marbled Nails: Cool Blue Floral

For this pattern I used the following shades:

• Blue: Color Club Take Me to Your Chateau
• Purple: Sinful Colors Verbena
• Silver: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City

Lovely Lilac

For this floral pattern I used the following Sally Hansen shades:

• Insta-Dri Lovely Lilac
• Xtreme Wear Gunmetal
• Hard as Nails White Tip

More Water Marbling

Yesterday I continued to experiment with water marbling by attempting some floral designs. I say “experiment” because I'm still perfecting my technique. I tried a number of different brands and had the best luck with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear and Sinful Colors. Opaque and metallic shades worked best. Here is the first of three looks I created—I call this one Hawaiian Floral. I used the following shades of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear: Sun Kissed, Mint Sorbet, Twisted Pink and Bubblegum Pink. As always, comments and feedback welcome!!

Last chance for Revlon's Summer 2011 Jelly Nail Polishes

My favorite limited edition nail collection this summer was Revlon's Just Tinted, a selection of 4 jelly finish shades. It's not too late to pick up a few—I'm still spotting them at drugstores here and there including Walgreens, which is offering buy one/get one ½ off Revlon this week.

My 2 favorites are the pink coral shade Victorian (pictured), and Mystical, a soft plum which is perfect for late summer into early fall. The other shades are Dawn (peach) and Desire (hot pink).

From Left: Victorian, Desire, Mystical and Dawn