as seen on... All Lacquered Up

Good morning all! I hope you've enjoyed my scheduled vacation posts, today is the last one!
I've saved a very very pretty mani to show off as my last "as seen on" post and I think you'll all like it.

I'm sure the majority of you are familliar with the blog All Lacquered Up.
She's one of the veteran polish bloggers, and although her posting is sporadic nowadays, her blog is still an amazing resource.
In September, she showed a really cool technique with CND Effects called the "Mood Ring Manicure."
You may remember that I picked up a ton of CND Effects for $1 a few weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to find all the ones you need for this manicure! So of course I tried it out.

Layering a few of the Effects together creates this amazing blend of colors and the shimmer is just insane.

I was worried it might be a nightmare to photograph but luckily, I think I got some great shots!

Here's what it looks like before it's done.
You start with a dark base - I used Wet N Wild Black Creme.
You paint a stripe of one effect down the middle of the nail - CND Ice Blue Shimmer.
Then you add two more effects on either side - CND Emerald Shimmer & CND Violet Shimmer.
It helps to overlap the colors a little to blend them more and create more colors!
To finish it off, you add a coat of CND Copper Shimmer.
I thought adding the copper might ruin the look (because it looked really cool before it) but really the copper layer made the look so much better, and gave it more depth.

I bet there are a million combos you could do with all these effects. I'd love to own all the effects but they're too expensive when they aren't on clearance! Hahaha.

At some point, I think I will wear Ice Blue Shimmer and Violet shimmer both layered over black because the part of the nail that they overlapped on was just beautiful.

I love that last photo! Look at all the colors!
Thank you ALU for your many years of manis! Hahaha.

As I said already, I hope you guys enjoyed this series as much as I enjoyed making it! And so long as I make it home on time, I will see you tomorrow! (Probably with a haul post!)

as seen on... Chloe's Nails

Good morning all! I hope you're having a lovely day today to go along with the lovely nails I'm about to show you!

Chloe's Nails is one of the most popular blogs of the last year or so, and while she doesn't post too often anymore, I always look forward to her posts.
A few months ago, she posted a crackle mani that I think definitely boosted sales of these two polishes! Hahaha. Check them out.

This is China Glaze Flying Dragon with a coat of Funky Fingers Teal Scales.
It's actually hard to believe how gorgeous this is! The combo of the deep teal and the purple is great, plus the glitter in Flying Dragon and the shimmer in Teal Scales... Ah! Chloe is a genius for putting these two together.

I've said it before and I will say it again - Color Club/Funky Fingers/Forsythe Cosmetics makes the best crackle polishes, hands down. They work effortlessly, and always look good.

You can get Teal Scales from Color Club too but I forget the name.

I had my friend Lori send me this FF after seeing Chloe's post, and I know a lot of other people who did, too! It's pretty easy to see why.

I can't get enough of this. I will be wearing it again. Just look at it!
Both of these babies dry matte so you definitely want to add some topcoat to really bring it all to life.

It's just perfect. Love love love.
Purple and teal, guys. Purple and teal.

as seen on... I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous!

I've said it before but I'll say it again - Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous is a total sweetheart.
You may know her from her blog or from her amazing franken polishes. Either way, she's great. (And so are her polishes! I've previously shown you guys Floam and I am so delighted to say that there are two more on their way to me!)

Aside from being sweet as pie and making kick-ass polishes, she does all kinds of amazingly unique nail art. She's always up to something I would never come up with on my own. Such interesting combos. Of course I had to include her in my "as seen on" series!

Back in October, Amy did this really unique and cool looking combo. I knew then that I had to try it as soon as I got my hands on Gotta Love Brains!

Look, I tried to pose like Amy. Hahaha!

If you can't already tell, this mani involves putting crackle polish on a bare nail and then adding milky glitter over it!
Crackle on a bare nail is a pretty cool look! The trick is that you must wear a base coat or clear coat underneath because crackle polishes do not work without a layer of polish underneath.

I used all three of the same polishes Amy did:
Color Club - Clean Break (a white crackle that works!)
China Glaze - Crushed Candy (still a favorite crackle of mine but not working as well as it used to)
Lynnderella - Gotta Love Brains (pretty polish, but, nowadays they are not worth the drama!)

 
Amy's crackle patterns were much smaller than mine (and the stupid blue one needed some "help" cracking... I had to make some breaks myself with a dotting tool) but I think it looks pretty cool both ways!

Look at that massive glitter piece on my index finger! I kinda wanted to get it off because it looks awkward but it didn't wanna move once it sat there.

I can't wait to get my next two Nail-Venturous polishes, they might even be waiting for me when I return from vacation! Of course I will show them to you guys as soon as I can!
Now go check out Amy's blog and stalk her Etsy store for the next opening.

as seen on... Nailed It.

Today's mani is a great one. It is so "me," it's a shock I didn't come up with it myself.

This mani comes to you by way of Katy from Nailed It.
I don't know Katy personally but what I do know, is that she does some ballin' nail art.

As soon as I saw these nails on her blog, I knew I would have to do them myself!
I mean seriously. I should have come up with this.

I didn't use the same colors as Katy but I think our manis are equally satisfying.

The pink is NOX Twilight - Crush which is a freaking amazing hot pink, borderline neon. I'll be showing swatches of this color soon (I've already done it but haven't posted it yet.) I got this from my friend Anissa and it is just fantastic. The formula is dreamy, 2 coats that apply like butter.

The purple is Color Club - Pucci-licious which has always been and probably always will be one of my favorite polishes. I painted first with Crush and then freehanded Pucci-licious onto the top half of my nails.

The stamp is from Bundle Monster BM-11 and I used Wet N Wild - Black Creme.

Sadly I only wore this for about 10 minutes (I did most of this series in one night!) and I need to wear it sometime for several days. I adore it.

Katy, thank you for doing super cute manis. I look forward to the next time you read my polish-mind and come up with another very "Rebeca" mani!

tons of tape manis

[This post worries me a little - I won't have access to a computer on the day that this one is scheduled to post so if anything is wonky, I won't be able to fix it! I'm sorry in advance if there are any issues... Haha!]

Do you recall last week when me and all my best buds did water marble manis on the same day? Well this week, we decided to do tape manis!

I'm super proud of mine so I've got a ton of pictures of it for your viewing pleasure.

Tada! This mani took a lot of patience but I think the result is totally worth it!

To create these tiny, perfect stripes, I used striping tape!

You can get like 12 rolls of striping tape on eBay for less than 2 dollars.

There are two ways to use striping tape - you can actually use the tape itself in the mani, creating lines.

Or you can use the tape for relief patterns like this one, where you lay down the tape, paint over it, and remove it to reveal the pattern.

This is how my nails looked before I did the striping. I loved it like this too!
To create this look, I used the new plastic-wrap-sponging I'm seeing around but I used a tissue instead of saran wrap (because I was too lazy to go find some!)
Basically, what you do is paint your nails in one color and let it dry completely. I used Color Club Twiggie.
Then, you paint over it with your second color and quickly dab some of it off with plastic wrap or a tissue that you've rolled into a ball or just scrunched up in your hand. I used Color Club Warhol.
It will remove random sections of the top polish, revealing the base color! You dab around a few times until you're happy with the result.

Here's the various stages of this mani. Do you like how my striping tape matches the OPI cosmetic bag in the background of this photo? Haha!

Placing all the striping tape was time consuming but I just love the small stripes!

(The one larger stripe on my index finger totally hurts my OCD though. Heh.)

I used Color Club Where's The Soiree for the black layer.

I'm so stinkin' happy with how this turned out, and I can't wait to try more striping tape manis!

as seen on... Candy Coated Tips

Hey guys! My scheduled posts keep on truckin' along, wowing you with my recreation skills I'm sure. ;)

Today I'm showing you a crazy skittles mani from my friend Jacquese at Candy Coated Tips.
In February she did a crazy mani with a bunch of colors she had just received. I had all the same colors, and adored the combo, so I went for it too!

This is such a fun type of mani to wear and all the colors go so well together!
I added some dots to the thumb because I was impatient while waiting for the other nails to dry before I could add the shatter.

Here's all the colors used to create this look:
OPI - Fly (base of index and small dots)
OPI - Dit It On 'Em (base of thumb and ring)
OPI - Absolutely Alice (middle)
OPI - Turquoise Shatter (ring)
China Glaze - For Audrey (pinky and large dots)
China Glaze - Crushed Candy (index)

Crushed Candy didn't crackle very well. I think it needs some polish thinner.

I adored Turquoise Shatter over Did It On 'Em! I'll be wearing that as a full mani soon.

I should do skittles more often. I think I'll be doing a similar mani in pink and purple!
Thanks for the great combo idea, Jacquese!

as seen on... Chalkboard Nails

Bonjour! Today's scheduled post is probably my favorite out of all the ones I've got planned this week, because I love the nails and I love the girl behind them.

I'm sure you all know Sarah from Chalkboard Nails. If you don't, you must be living under a nail-art-rock because she is insanely popular nowadays!
I'm pretty lucky because Sarah is my homegirl.
Even though our timezones are 5.5 hours apart, we still find time to chat every day and we're pretty much in love, I think. We also like to make fun of each other. It's a pretty good relationship.

Of course I had to recreate one of Sarah's manis, or else she'd probably think she's too good for me. And we can't have that.

Not only did I recreate her nails but I've stolen her hand poses and her watermark. Take that!

I get a kick out of these photos. Plus the nails are totally badass!

A little while ago, Sarah did these nails for a collaboration with the blog What I Wore. I love them a whooooole lot. Enough to spend an hour doing the four striped nails. (I did both hands!)

This is the mani I chose to wear on my vacation so I'm still wearing this as we speak! Hopefully it will last me through most of my trip. (Don't worry, I packed my Nail Envy and Seche Vite for a mid-vacation mani change with some new polish I will surely buy!)

The base color of the leopard nails is Sephora by OPI - XOX Betsey.

The center of the leopard dots is Color Club - Love 'Em Leave 'Em.

For the white, I used Sally Hansen - Whirlwind White and the black is Essence - Black is Back.

I did the leopard print with a dotting tool.

I've found lately that the Essence polish works nicely for nail art because it doesn't dry as quickly when you're using it for dots and stuff and it isn't so much of a nightmare to clean up!

I used striping tape for the stripes, painting white first, and then adding the tape and painting over it before removing the tape. The thumbs came out perfectly but sadly I had some issues with the ring fingers.

Nobody bats 1000, right?

Tada! I'm in love with this mani and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a ton of compliments on it.

Thank you Sarah for the great idea and thanks for bein' my bestie. 

B-face.

as seen on... Dressed Up Digits

Hello and welcome to my first post in this year's "as seen on" series - AKA I'm on vacation and I want to schedule some fun posts!
I've got 7 days of re-created manis for you this week as well as one day of original art.
I hope you guys enjoy this series, while I am enjoying my vacation!

My first feature for this series is Laurie at Dressed Up Digits.
Back in the day, all the way back to the first Bundle Monster contest (just over year ago), I met a lady named Laurie on Facebook. She was a fan of my blog. We started talking. And I've been stuck with her ever since!
Just kidding, I love Laurie and I even refer to her as my "internet mom!" Hardly a day goes by where she and I aren't chatting and I feel lucky to know her (even though she busts my balls sometimes. Just like my real mom.)

Laurie loves mermaid manis. Loves them. So I did one just for her!

And it turned out pretty "ding dang" nice! (That's a Laurie saying.)

I did this mani using three colors from the Color Club Take Wing collection that I showed you yesterday.
I started with a base of Metamorphosis and then using a sponge, I added random areas of Fly With Me and Sky High.
I also added some glittery sections with Color Club Object Of Envy.

The stamping was done with Bundle Monster BM-209 using Sally Hansen Silver Sweep.

Originally I had plans to do a mermaids tail shape on the thumb but I ruined it by trying to add too much detail (of course) so I did a nice and simple drag marble on that nail with the Take Wing colors.
To drag marble, you blob on colors and swirl them together with a toothpick, or small dotting tool, etc. I find it easier to do this with shimmery polishes because they blend together easier than cremes.

Don't these colors look nice together?

Here's a closeup of my marbled nail. I made it mostly green because I wanted it to be a little different from the other nails. Accent thumb!

I really enjoyed doing this manicure. Laurie is right, mermaid manis are awesome!
Check out Laurie's mermaids here and here and here. Tell her I sent you!

I wonder what Toronto has in store for me this week. I'm sure I'll tell you all about it when I get back on May 1st!
Stay tuned all week to see what other manis I've recreated!

Color Club - Take Wing Collection - swatches and review

Hey everyone! Wow, I've had a busy day preparing things for my vacation tomorrow!
I'm almost done packing and I've almost got all my posts scheduled, and my nails are almost finished. That's a lot of "almost" - I've gotta start finishing things! Haha.
Before I finish my busy day, it's time for me to show you guys this pretty collection.

Here is the Take Wing Collection in all its glory. Aren't those colors just lovely? This is a great summer collection and I think everyone could use them in their polish stash.

In advance I'll tell you that they all take three thin coats to give the best color payoff, and they are some of the most sparkly glass-flecked shimmers ever!
Beware - when removing, the shimmer can get stuck all over your skin if you're not careful... The dreaded "shimmer herpes."
I can live with shimmer herpes for these amazing colors. I even like the yellow and orange. Did you read that correctly? I, Rebecca, like a yellow and even an orange.

Color Club - Wing Fling
Again, like my handmade labels? Haha!
Wing Fling is an amazing sparkling pink glassfleck polish. It's just yummy.
I would like to say "this is one of my favorites" but really they are all my favorites!

Color Club - Sparkle and Soar
Shut the front door - an orange I can get along with. Maybe it's because its so damn sparkly, but I actually enjoy this color and I think it would be especially great on toes!

Color Club - Daisy Does It
This yellow is so pretty, it's not even funny. Again, it sparkles like crazy and just gives off a sunny feeling. I love it. 

Color Club - Fly With Me
At first I didn't love this one, but it's grown on me! Again... Hard to resist the sparkles.

Color Club - Metamorphosis
Ah, a teal. Sparkly, pretty teal. Love it!
This one also shows off some duochrome!

It's slight, but it's there. This is gorgeous! But it does stain a little bit. I wore this for a few days and ended up a bit stained, and I had to use whitening toothpaste to get it off. But it did come off with the toothpaste. So it wasn't so bad.

Color Club - Sky High
This blue is a stunner.  The duochrome is stronger in this one than the last one, but I couldn't capture it on camera. I wore this one as an accent nail and I kept staring at it! One side would look purple, one side would look dark blue, and the middle would look bright blue. It was lovely!
The downside... it stains really badly. My poor thumbs are blue from wearing this for 3 days. And it wouldn't come off with the toothpaste. So sad. If I wear this again, I'd probably put a nude underneath to try to stop the staining.

Overall verdict: You need this collection.
They are all so beautiful and sparkly and fun to wear. 

I picked these up from Winners in sets of 2 for $7.99. Despite the price being higher than I'm used to, I'm stoked about these polishes.

So, starting tomorrow, you'll be getting scheduled posts from me and if I say so myself, I've scheduled some great ones! Tomorrow, I'll be showing you some art with three of the Take Wing colors. Check it out!

And I will see you guys when I get back from vacation. :)
(I'll still be reachable by email but I probably won't be answering comments until I return.)
Have a lovely week!