ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Crystals

This week's theme was crystals. I did a saran wrap manicure using Wet n Wild Tickled Pink and BK Neon Luminous Glow in #13. I did a coat of the BK polish, and then did a coat of the Wet n Wild polish. While the Wet n Wild one was wet, I dabbed saran wrap in it. After this dried, I added the crystals.

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: Disney-Inspired Nail Art

I was running a bit short on time this week, and so I couldn't spend as much time on my nails as I would've liked to. I didn't really have a good reason for doing 101 Dalmatians-themed nails; I just saw Sally Hansen Diamonds and Rubies in my nail polish stash and thought that it was the perfect "101-Dalmatians red."

I used Diamonds and Rubies as my base and then covered it with one strip of striping tape to make the red stripes on my nails. I used Wet n Wild French White Creme as the white and a Sharpie for the black spots. I covered my nails in PVA peelable base coat to prevent the sharpie from smudging [thanks for the tip Michele], and then used top coat. I'm not happy with my NYC top coat right now because there have been bubbles on my nails the last couple of times I used it. I'll need to find a new top coat. Any suggestions of good drugstore top coats? Should I just go with Seche Vite?

Check out the other girl's Disney-inspired manicures:

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

TUTORIAL: How to do Splatter Nails WITHOUT Blowing Through a Straw!

I really wanted to rock a splatter mani, but every time I try the blowing through a straw method my nails just look like a hot mess. I tested two methods to see if there was another way to do splatter nails.

Here's my best result:

I used Revlon Minted as the base and black and white acrylic paint for the splatter. I did this using an old toothbrush:

First, I put Vaseline all over my hands so the splatter wouldn't make a mess all over my fingers. Then, I dipped an old toothbrush in some paint (I used black first) and ran my thumb over the bristles to produce "splatter." I would def recommend wearing gloves when you do this, even though I didn't in this picture:

(Here, I was running my thumb from the right to the left on the toothbrush, and I produced the black splatter shown on the paper below.)

After letting the black splatter dry, I repeated the process with the white acrylic paint. After that dried, I sealed everything with top coat and wiped the Vaseline off my fingers. I tried doing this method with black and white nail polish instead of acrylic paint, but I couldn't get a good splatter.

I also tried to make splatter by dabbing a mascara wand into some polish and tapping the wand on my nails:

This doesn't look like splatter, but I still think it ended up interesting.

Have you had success with splatter? If you have any tips, please share! 

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!!

ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Three colors

Today's theme was three colors:

I used Rimmel 60 Second Nail Polish in Mintilicious as the base, and Kiss Brush-on Nail Art Polish in White and Wet 'n Wild Tickled Pink on top. After letting my base coat dry, I dipped a wand in some white polish, and then brushed the wand against my nail from my finger tips back to the middle of my nail. Then, after the white dried, I did the same thing with Tickled Pink. For my ring finger, I just dipped the mascara wand in white polish and then randomly brushed it against my nail. I think it ended up looking interesting; I want to try it with light colors on a dark background and see if the design will pop more.

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

SWATCH & REVIEW: BB CREAMS: Smashbox, Too Faced, and Missha

I've been trying to clean my samples out, and so I finally got around to trying out Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream in Dark and Too Faced's Tinted Beauty Balm in Beach Glow. I have an Asian one that one of my roommates gave me, Missha, to compare the American BB Creams to:

Missha B.B. Cream (Sorry, the bottle is messy.)

L-R: Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm in Beach Glow, Missha B.B Cream in No. 31, and Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream in Dark

Blended

I was interested in trying Smashbox and Too Faced's BB Creams because they offer the most coverage out of the American BB Creams. As you can tell by the blended swatch, they still do not offer near as much coverage as the Asian B.B. Cream, Missha, does. I actually use the Missha B.B. Cream as a concealer under my eyes; it doesn't crease and stays put for hours. It is also does not make my skin oily like traditional concealers do.

On to individual reviews of the American B.B. Creams:

Too Faced's Tinted Beauty Balm is probably my favorite American BB Cream! I am an NW35 in MAC, and Beach Glow was almost a perfect match! (It was a tiny bit light, but I would wear it anyway.) There was a bit of shimmer in it, and Too Faced's BB cream has a slightly dewy finish. The cream felt very light on my face, but it still evened out my skintone and did lighten up my dark circles a bit. This cream does offer enough coverage for me to wear if I was running errands, but probably not enough for me to wear it alone to class. The only con was that this cream did make my face feel a bit goopy after I ran errands for a few hours in the Texas heat. But I don't think it's realistic to expect a product to hold up well under 100-degree temperatures.

Smashbox's Camera Ready BB Cream was a bit disappointing. Dark was waaay too dark for me, and Medium was too light (if I remember right, it was too pink). This had less coverage than Too Faced's cream, but using two coats of this cream certainly improved the coverage. This BB cream did even out my skintone, and it fared much better in the heat--it did not become goopy at all! This BB Cream last me a good 5 hours. The biggest turn-offs were that this cream oxidized a bit, and it transfers easily. My face accidentally brushed up against a towel in my bathroom, and there was a dark spot of BB cream on the towel. So don't lay your cheek on your boyfriend's shoulder while wearing this!

Are there any BB Creams you would recommend trying? I am still interested in trying Sleek Makeup's Be Beautiful Blemish Balm if I can get a hold of it!