ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Inspired by a song

I saw Frozen a few months ago, and I couldn't get the song "Let It Go" out of my head. Here's a video of the song from YouTube:

Here are the nails I did:

I did the gradient using Sally Hansen Pacific Blue and sponged on Rimmel 60-Second Nail Polish in Mintilicious. I then topped them with a coat of China Glaze Luxe and Lush.

Check out the other girl's manicures:

Lab Muffin - Unnaked Nails - Nail & Polish - An Accent Nail - Valiantly Varnished - MASPOOASE - Makeup and Masala - Every Little Polish

ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Green

Ok, so I kind of cheated today. I've been in love with Rimmel Mintilicious, and so I really wanted to use it today, even though it's a minty-blue. It always comes out very blue in my pictures:

I sponged on Essie Stylenomics on my ring finger to make the gradient. (There's a good tutorial here on sponge gradients.) I then topped all my fingers with Revlon Stunning and NYC's matte top coat.

Unfortunately, as you can probably see, NYC's matte top coat doesn't work too well with lighter colors.

Check out what the other girls did this week:

Lab Muffin - Maria's Nail Art - Unnaked Nails - Nail & Polish - An Accent Nail - Valiantly Varnished - MASPOOASE - Makeup and Masala - Every Little Polish

Guest Post: Nail of the Day - Ombre and Stripes

I'm super excited today for two reasons: first, I'm halfway to my goal of 30 followers!!! Remember to enter my Stila Lip Glaze giveaway; I'll pick a winner once this blog reaches 30 followers on Bloglovin or GFC. Second, I have a GREAT guest post today from Steph of Fun Sized Beauty:

I know Anna is a huge fan of nail polish and nail art, so I thought I'd try my hand at something interesting! This nail look is a combination of a rainbow ombre and striping tape. 

Products Used: 

• Maybelline - Porcelain Party 
• Born Pretty Store -Striping Tape
• Quo - Makeup Sponges
• Julep - Renee
• Forever 21 - Baby Blue
• Cheeky Monkey - Tramp Stamp

How to get the look:

1. Use a 2 coats of your favourite white polish. Make sure to let it dry completely before moving on to the next step.
2. Place striping tape randomly criss-crossing over the nails.
3. Paint one stripe of each Blue, Pink, and Purple over the sponge and pat the sponge over the nail. Apply more polish as needed and do the same patting motion on the other nails. For more detailed instruction on the ombre sponging see here.
4. Quickly remove the striping tape with a pair of tweezers. Removing the striping tape will reveal crisp white lines underneath. 

Ta-da! Your striped ombre pastel nails are complete! 

Will you try out this nail look?

Aren't these great?! Thank you so much Steph for doing a guest post!! This is a great tutorial!!

My First Experience with CND Shallac Nail Art

One of my childhood friends just got her cosmetology license, and she asked if she could practice Shellac on me. A free manicure? OF COURSE I took her up on that!! And she did a good job:

She did a gradient using a light pink and a darker pink nail pigment. This is the first time I'd seen someone using nail pigments for gradients; I normally use a sponge for them, but I think I may try using pigments soon. She did a bottom coat and then did the light pink. Then, she used a brush to place the pigment on my nails; she first tapped the brush full of powder near my cuticles. Then, after rubbing off excess powder on a napkin, she dabbed the powder and pushed some of it out toward the ends of my nails to make the gradient. Then, she put on a layer of top coat to seal the powder in.

The entire thing took about an hour and a half, but I think it was worth it because this manicure has lasted soooo much longer than any of mine ever have! I have major problems with chipping because I love using my hands too much. But even after a week of opening makeup containers, washing dishes, etc, this manicure looks perfect!! I don't even have a single chip! :)

I got too bored to keep them for longer than a week, and so I pulled them off using the removal wipes my friend gave me. The pack contained 10 removal wipes, one for each nail, and an orangewood stick:

The pack of removal wipes & its contents

The wipes on my hand

I put 100% acetone on the wipes and wrapped them around my fingers. The package said to leave the wraps on for 10 minutes. I left the wipes on for about 20 minutes, and still, not all the polish came off easily. I had to use the orangewood stick to peel off a lot of polish. I did discover that the wraps worked better if they were tight around my fingers and could not wiggle around.

Overall, I'd probably do Shellac again, but probably only for a special occasion; I loved the wear time, but pulling it off was sooo difficult and 100% acetone isn't too great for your nails or skin.