Half Moon Mani Monday!

Yesterday, my friend Abi came over and I painted her nails. I used Spoiled polishes for the base on both ours, and I haven't taken my own pictures of the bottles yet. Her base was 1 coat of Two Weeks Sober, a dark lavender cream polish, and 1 coat of Checkin' Into Rehab,  a dark purple jelly base with pink/gold micro flecks. Then I taped off the half moon and used Orly Luxe to fill it in. Luxe is a heavy metallic gold that covered opaquely in one thin coat.

And a top coat of Seche Vite, of course. I absolutely love how this turned out! 

Taken indoors with direct lighting

Taken outdoors with indirect lighting

Closeup so you can really see the pink flecks 

I loved this look so much that I wanted to do something similar for me! I thought a hot pink and silver would look really cool. For my base, I used 1 coat of Spoiled Pretty in Punk, a creme bright pink polish with a touch of red tones, and then a coat of Sinful Colors Oasis, a creamy shimmer with the slightest hint of metallic hot pink.

Then I pulled out the only metallic silver I have at the moment, Sally Hansen Celeb City. It also covered opaquely, but wasn't as easy to work with and I had some tiny issues with smearing as I pulled the tape off.

Then I covered everything with Seche Vite. Again, please ignore the mess around my cuticles. I am trying not to dry them out too much by using acetone on them.

Taken inside with direct lighting

Taken outside with indirect lighting

I didn't love this look as much as I thought I would. After about half an hour the uneven lines of the half moon were driving me a little crazy, so I grabbed my dotting tool and "fixed" the issue by outlining the half moon with black polka dots. 

Taken indoors with direct lighting

I think this is exactly what this mani needed! It's not my favorite, but I'll keep it for now! Really, I think Abi's nails turned out much better. It was a fun day of painting nails and being silly. I need more nails to paint!

Starry Night Mani

This mani was created because I had a water marbling disaster and got fed up, so I decided to try my hand at a starry look with a little bit of a gradient. I started with a base of Sinful Colors What's Your Name, a black creme polish with teal micro glitter.

Next, I used a sponge to add Essie Aruba Blue about 3/4 of the way down all the way to the tip.

Then, I covered the entire nail with a thin coat of Confetti's Ice Ice Baby, a clear jelly base with fine blue and teal glitter.

Next, I sponged a bit of China Glaze Optical Illusion onto the tips. 

And finally, a thin layer of Essie Set In Stones to add some large "stars." Set In Stones is a clear base with various shapes and sizes of silver glitter, including both round and hexagon.

Of course, when I was done I topped everything off with a healthy layer of Seche Vite. Please pardon the mess around my cuticles, I'm working on it! 

I took these pictures after 3 days of wear. The only chips are near my cuticles where I picked at the imperfections in the polish (bad, I know!) and there was some minor tip wear. Otherwise, it held up great! So much glitter and shine in this one.

And some closeups too!

This is a fun look that I threw together pretty quickly. It wasn't exactly what I visualized when I started, but I'm happy with the final look! Tell me what you think, and feel free to post links to your own starry manicures!

Introductory Post!

Hi everyone! My name is Tori Forte, and this is my new nail blog. I will be making new posts soon, but in the meantime here's a little bit about me. I am 25 years old and live in the desert. I very recently became interested in nail polish after I discovered some very cool nail art on Pinterest. I've built up a decent collection of polishes over the years, and have been experimenting with designs and techniques for a couple of months. I used to bite my nails and chew/pick at my cuticles and my nails always looked horrible. Painting my nails has been a fun and creative way to keep myself from biting. The air is dry and hot out here in Arizona, and my hands tend to be pretty dry naturally, so I am currently working on getting my cuticles up to scratch. My polish isn't perfect yet, but I'm excited to improve as I practice and make fun posts for you guys! I am also interested in Frankenpolish, though I don't own any yet. This is something I want to start experimenting with soon! I am hoping to get a mani post up maybe tonight, so stay tuned and thanks for visiting!

<3