NOTD: Essie TLC and Sally Hansen Salon K-Design Diamond

I had a different post planned for today, but unfortunately lost my camera this past Friday with some display and swatch photos on it that I hadn't yet downloaded. I've looked everywhere I can think of and checked several businesses near where I think it went missing to see if it had been turned in, but no luck. I think it's really gone. I felt really down about it that day and the next day but am sort of okay with it now. At least I only lost a little more than one day's pictures. At least I didn't lose something more difficult to replace. I can redo the swatches. I can hunt down those displays again (though they'll have fewer polishes in them). I did already retake some non-polish photos I lost with the camera. It'll be okay.

I do have photos today, though, ones I took of my nails of the day after I dug out my backup camera (which I'd gotten as a service award gift from my former employer) and bought a memory card for it. This is the first manicure I've done in ages which is more than just treatment or treatment covered in strips or fake nails. There's nothing wrong with any of those things, of course; I'm just happy to be breaking out of my rut.

This manicure did start with treatment, though, because my nails are still in bad shape from the rigors of winter. It is a new to me product, though, so that's still sort of rut-busting. I found some shades of Essie Treat Love & Color on clearance at a Walgreens, so picked up the super pale purple Laven-dearly. It's a one-step product, so I just did two coats and called it good. It's designed to be sheer, so it self levels pretty well even at two coats, though I did see some issues on the two of my nails that are naturally more ridged, as I haven't been buffing them down lately so as not to risk weakening them further. I have been buffing down my peelies when I just can't bear to lose more length, and this sheer formula didn't cover that quite as well as I'd hoped.



This does have some very fine, subtle pink shimmer in it, but I didn't manage to get it to show up in any of the photos I took.



After a couple days with just the TLC, I decided to add one of the Sally Hansen Salon K-Design nail art stickers I'd picked up from that display. I thought the silver holo of the Diamond design would go well with the pale purple.



The directions seemed straightforward:



Inside the package there are two folded strips with eight decal sections a piece (the sections are perforated):



The directions in step 2 don't explicitly say to remove the decal from the plastic backing, but you've got to in order to free the very thin decal to put it on the nail.



Because these aren't see through and the black area around the design is rather wide, I had trouble judging where to place the decal. On my first nail, one of the segments extended beyond the end of nail, so I had to lift it off with a manicure stick and move it to a better location.



After that struggle, I hit on the idea of trimming one end of the decal so it would better match the curve at the base of my nail, which made it easier to put in the right place. I found it easiest to do the trim before I peeled the decal off the plastic backing.



Peeling the background off was generally pretty easy. I had a few individual shards either get stuck in the background or have the sticky layer separate from the holo foil layer but was able to remedy by trimming my own shapes from the margin left around the black section on the strips.

I used one coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash topcoat to seal these; that seemed sufficient to smooth over the decal shapes.

I was pretty happy with the finished look, though the gaps between segments were wider than I'd like.



The rainbow colors sparking off the holo were good in indirect light as above, but were better in direct light (below).



I wore this look for what is probably my last day of skiing this past Sunday, and it was warm and sunny enough that I took my gloves off a few times to admire the colors.





After a couple days of wearing these, I was rethinking the single layer of topcoat, as some of the decal sections were lifting (sometimes entirely, sometimes just the foil, leaving the sticky layer to pick up lint—not a good look). The worst were ones that were close to the edges of my nails, so when I use the leftovers for accent nails, I'll take care to place them so they are farther away from my tips and sides if I can. Of course it doesn't help that my peelies are still a factor, and that's not the decals' fault.



I didn't realize until I was putting this post together that the Korean nail artist who popularized these looks had been discussing collaborating with Sally Hansen before these products came out but was not part of creating them nor was she compensated in any way for inspiring these products. There's more on the controversy over on Racked. Now that I do know, I probably won't buy more of these kits, but I will use up the ones I already have.

HPB Presents Autumn

Sample provided for review

Part of getting back into my blogging routine is keeping up with the Hobby Polish Bloggers group on Facebook. This month's theme for the HPB blog linkup is fall/autumn, fittingly enough for this hemisphere. To do my look, I chose two colors from Zoya Fall 2015, the red creme Janel from the Focus collection and the brown shimmer Cinnamon from Flair. I did two coats over Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator and finished with Diamond Dry topcoat. I used rub-on decals from the scrapbook section of the crafts store to further decorate my nails. The particular decals I used have been sitting in my basement for several years, which was apparently too long, as a few of the designs didn't want to cooperate when I wanted to take them off the backing sheet, so I couldn't use those, but enough were fine that I mostly was able to make the vision in my head come to life on my nails. (For more on the rub-ons, see this post from the first time I used them.)







The two nails I broke two weeks ago are growing back nicely; they're almost long enough to blend in again (I couldn't bear to cut down all my nails to match, so I've been sporting two shorties all this time.)

My right hand has one anomoly, a purple butterly that doesn't really fit the autumn theme, but it practically peeled itself off the rub-on sheet to get on my nails, so I included it.





I'm going to take a tour and see what the other bloggers did for the theme; if you'd like to join me follow the links below. Happy Fall!

The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the polishes for my own use.

An InLinkz Link-up

HPB Presents Surely There's Beach in IKEA Somewhere

I had such fun doing last month's Hobby Polish Bloggers challenge, May Flowers, I decided to do this month's beach theme, too. I thought about using Zoya Tomoko or Zoya Godiva to mimic sand on my tips, or a jelly sandwich of some sort that would be like looking down through the water to fish or seaweed or something, but in the end I found my inspiration in a shirt and some stickers and created this bright dotted and decaled Skittles mani.



It was a full mani, too; here's my reclusive right hand:



I took the color scheme and dots idea from this shirt I got at Rainbow, a store where it feels like at least 90% of the merchandise is aimed at people who are not me but I still go into because sometimes they have very fun stuff in my size, like this shirt.



I'd originally planned to just copy the dotticure outright, wear it and the shirt to meet up with some of my nail polish friends at IKEA and do my beach mani later, but then I noticed the palm trees on the shirt and remembered some nail stickers I'd gotten at Five Below, the Tropical Smoothie set.



To pick the base colors, I took the shirt over to the Helmers that have the creme polishes sorted and waiting to be put on nail wheels and just pulled bottles out until I found shades that looked close to the ones on the shirt. The final product lineup for this mani (even without the stickers) was too big to fit into my lightbox comfortably. Left to right: Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator (which I found on clearance and have been alternating with Duri Rejuvacote), my old favorite Salon Sciences Instant Artificials, Funky Fingers Alex's Lemonade (2014 version), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Rebel (it's a rebel because it's actually orange), L'Oreal Red Robin (oh how I love my old L'Oreals), Sally Hansen Triple Shine Dive In, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pink of Punch, and Diamond Dry (which has become my go to quick dry topcoat, so that's probably why Sally Hansen hasn't yet discontinued the Insta Dri one in the red bottle—they know I won't be sad like I was when they yanked the Age Correct base before I'd found something I liked better).



I was so excited to get to the arty part that I completely failed to write down any notes about how many coats of the creme base colors I used. I think it was three for the orange and red and two for the others, but I've really no idea.



And here's how much I love my sensitive-nosed husband: I painted this mani standing up on our back patio, using our electric meter as a shelf for my bottles.



The stickers went on next. I really should have waited a bit longer for the base to dry; I slicked on a layer of Diamond Dry to speed the process but even that wasn't fast enough for me. Some of the decals wrinkled ever so slightly as the layers underneath completely dried, but it wasn't too noticeable.



Some dots with Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme and another layer of topcoat and I had a mani to match my shirt.



One last check in the car before I headed in to meet up with the ladies at IKEA—looks like I need some cuticle cream:



The ladies and I (and two patient husbands and one adorable little daughter) gathered in the IKEA cafe for some sustenance before we headed out to trek through the store inspecting items for their suitability for use in our nail polish hobby. I'd brought one of my tallest bottles (Bourjois 1 seconde) and a standard size (Orly, same height as OPI and China Glaze and so many others) to try out in various drawers and such.



Along the way, we looked at Helmers (they come in orange and green now!) and Alexes in all their many configurations and carts and shelves and cabinets whose names I do not know. We looked at lamps and mats and containers and chairs. We took a wrong turn and missed a whole section and had to backtrack. We temporarily lost one of the husbands near the end of the maze before the cash registers. After all that, we posed for a group shot with the cinnamon rolls that they stragetically place by the exit to snare tired and hungry shoppers. Clockwise starting from my hand in the lower right, it's @jamylyn_nails (who has just moved to Michigan and doesn't have her stash yet, so she can't do the all the crazy great manis she usually does, which is why I've given her MS Paint star Skittles), @traceyloveslacquer, @honeybee_nails, and @paintmewithpolish.



I had such fun hanging out with these ladies, and also fun doing the HPB challenge again. Click through the links at the bottom of this post to see what the other bloggers participated did for their beach/ocean manis (links will continue to be added for the next week).

An InLinkz Link-up

Fake Nail Tattoos

Today I've got real nail tattoos from a brand named Fake, who kindly sent me some of their products for review. These tattoos come on paper backing and are protected by a clear plastic top sheet. I was so anxious to try them that I pulled off the top sheet and cut out the first design before I remembered to take a picture.



Here's the missing image from the sheet above, set down for a moment on the wet cloth (in this case a paper towel) I was planning to use to get the paper backing to come off once I had the image on my nail.



Here are the full directions:



There are some similarities between these and water decals, but enough differences that I struggled a bit working with them. With water decals, I generally soak them off the backing paper and then pick them up with a cuticle pusher and slide them into place on my nail. These tattoos are designed to stick to your nail with the paper backing still on (the exposed side of the tattoo is a bit tacky to help with the sticking) and then have it soaked off with a wet cloth. When I tried doing that with the paper backing dry, I had trouble because I couldn't see where the design was exactly. When I wet the paper slightly first, that let the design shadow through so I could see. I also wasn't patient enough at first for the paper to get wet enough to slide off without disturbing the design. I chose a variety of the birds to fly across my nails (the base color is Sally Hansen Inst Dri Whirlwind White).



I think I did best on my pinky finger, but even then there's a spot where I yanked the paper off too soon. You can see how thin these are.



Once I had the tattoos on they had dried, I added my own step 6.5 to the instructions—color in missing parts with a Sharpie. Bad idea. Top coat smears Sharpie (at least the one I tried did). That left me with this mess after topcoat—totally my fault, not the Fake Tattoos:



Fortunately, Fake sent a variety of designs, so I can try again one day and I will be sure to leave the Sharpie be. I have nail art polishes I can use to touch up if needed but now that I know more about how these tatoos work, I probably won't need to.



You can buy these on the Fake Tattoos site for $9 for a set of two sheets. They ship for free worldwide. They also have bigger sizes for use on skin; that might be fun to combine nail tattoos with one on the back of the hand.

Have you used tattoos like this on your nails (or skin)? Do you see any designs you'd like to try from Fake?

The nail tattoos shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the tattoos for my own use.

Recent NOTD: Miyo Princess Plus Water Decals

For a change of pace from all the glitter and dark colors I've been wearing lately, I decided to go sheer and pink with my nails. I use Miyo Nailed It! in Princess, one of the polishes I got in my swap with Akuma Kanji. This shimmer went on quite nicely; I used two coats and there was no streakiness like sometimes happens with light colors.









Pretty as this was, my short attention span meant I couldn't leave it alone for too long, so a few days later I added some water decals that the Born Pretty nail art store had sent me for review.



I selected a pink and purple design I thought coordinated nicely with the Miyo, then peeled back the protective plastic sheet and snipped out some stripes. (I suppose I could have cut through the plastic as well and then removed it, but that seemed like it would be more fiddly than just cutting the decal sheet.)



I got a surprise when they slid off the backing after I wet them with water; there was a lacy white border I hadn't noticed against the white backing paper. I think these decal stripes were designed to be used as fancy French tips, but I went a different way and put them vertically down the length of my nails. They slid around pretty easily when they were still wet, so I was able to get them mostly straight (though I did tug too hard a couple times and get some tiny rips in the pattern). After they were dry, I sealed them with top coat (OPI RapiDry, which played nicely with the decals). These decals are so thin that once the topcoat was on and dry, I couldn't even feel them when I ran my finger over my nail.







This set of decals is available on the Born Pretty site here, starting at $4.73 for one set with quantity discounts available. Use code KARENDK31 for 10% off.

The water decals used for this entry were provided to me for free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider, and I get to keep the products for my own use.

Recent NOTD: Revlon Mock Snob Plus Something New

Mock Snob is one of the new Top Speed colors that Revlon released recently. I've no idea what the name means or why it was given to this coral creme, but I liked this summery shade so used it for a full mani. I applied three coats (plus top coat) but probably could have stopped at two.





After a few days, I got bored with this all one color, plain creme finish, matching fingers look so decided to try something I'd never done before: using scrapbooking rub ons as nail decals. I believe I first saw this idea on Another Bottle of Polish; it lurked in the back of my brain until I was at JoAnn Fabrics recently to get supplies for a clothing repair project and happened to notice signs for 40% off scrapbook stuff. I picked up one set of rub ons to try. This particular set came with gems, which were stuck to a sheet separate from the rub ons themselves, though I didn't know they were separate until I opened the package.





Following the instructions on the package, I cut out the first motif I wanted to try, a single flower.



Continuing to follow the instructions, I used the enclosed stick to rub the decal off the backing after I put it on my nail, which didn't work so well. The backing was not flexible enough to easily bend to the shape of my nail and the decal was delicate, so I ended up ripping the decal when the backing sprung up unexpectedly.



On subsequent nails, I experimented with transferring the decal from the backing to my nail by rolling the backing across my nail similar to rolling a Konad stamper. I was able to fix the first flower this way, too. Only then did I rub with the stick, though I found the smoothest side of a buffer block worked as well if not better for that task. I did have the same centering issues I have with stamping, but that'll get better with practice. For my ring fingers, I cut apart one of the bigger motifs from the sheet and used half on each hand. Once the images were on my nails and rubbed down, I added top coat.









I had the rub ons on for three days and they stayed put, no lifting at all. I did get some wicked tipwear on the nail where the rub on went right to the edge of my nail, but that went only so far and then stopped.



I can see a few bubbles and wrinkles in these photos, but I was pleased enough with the effect that I'm planning to try this again soon.