Black Shatter vs. Barry M review

So my Saturday ritual has turned into making a big breakfast, then sitting around and attempting a fancy Water Marble or Konad Manicure. eventually I get tired and bored of repeatedly cleaning up and changing polish due to my extreme perfectionist demeanor. That being said, today I tried and tried to work a water marble and I did fairly well on my left thumb and index finger. Then I lost the magic. I REALLY need tips in doing this because I would do it every day if I could. I love water marbling so much. ugh. I also want to buy the proper Konad plates and polish so I can do a proper Konad design manicure. But alas I am broke.

So I decided that I would do a review comparing OPI's "black shatter" and Barry M's "Nail effects".Both have the same idea, black chunky crackle nail polish that allow for your base color to really come through. I put Barry M on my left hand and OPI's black shatter on my right. I used China glaze's electric blue called "Sexy in the City", and Finger paints electric blue glitter "Laugh my art off" as a layered base color. It looks AWESOME.

The result? well they are not the same polish by any means! Barry M's Nail effects give a chunky, almost fat square like chunks of the crackle, while OPI's black shatter gives longer squares, making your nails look longer because its like vertical stripes. The chunks in OPI aren't as fat, they are thinner and run up the nail.

Anway, enjoy!

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Vegan version of my Favorite color- Violet creme

When I was younger I would spend fifty dollars a week to get my tips filled and painted a creme violet color. A few weeks ago, I found the same color for $5 at a beauty store by me in Queens. My boss a few weeks before that day bought a few Spa Ritual nail colors, nail polish that is completely vegan, with no animal gelatin or anything like that. My boss keeps nail polish in her guest bedroom and this is one of the colors, its called Thunder Road. Its similar to my favorite Essie polish color - name to be updated- but its a slightly darker shade. Still a great creme that can be worn all day during the office, and can be spiced up w a shimmer or glitter on top, or even a crackle nail polish. Enjoy!

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Matesse Lapis- one of my fav Blues

I love Matesse. I love Rickys. And I love this color. This color really stands out on my nails and makes me feel pretty in one of the girliest ways I can think of. I like its color, tone and especially how it mutes shine slightly, which makes it a great, unique creme.

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Leprachaun & Watermelon nails

Today at work I loathed the mani I had on. I'm not going to say what brand it is, but its a reputable brand and last night in my exhaustion I failed my nails and didn't give a proper manicure, leaving my nails all smudged and polish everywhere. So I cleaned them up and realized I had some of those Love and Beauty stickers in my bag in GREEN. I will definitely rock this on st. Patricks day, but I had an hour to kill at work, so I went ahead and put them on. I know that they are three dollars, but they peel so easily and move around on the nail. Later on tonight I literally peeled them off and gave myself a watermelon manicure.

Watermelon mani- I saw this on some website somewhere but cannot find it for the life of me- but you can find different watermelon demos all over the internet so don't worry. Here are my simple instructions.

1. clean your nails, then put two coats of base coat. Then take a pink color ( I used OPI's too hot pink to hold em, because well its perfect). Paint this pink color on half, or on the tips of your nails if your blessed with long ones. Let dry completely

2. Take a nail art pen in white and draw a line underneath the pink you applied. Let dry

3. Take a nail art pen in green and draw a line underneath the white line you applied. Let dry

4. Take a nail art pen in black and draw a bunch of dots on the pink part to make them look like seeds. let dry

5. Take an acrylic or strong top coat and paint 2-3 coats, letting each coat dry completely. and your done~ Enjoy

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Konad Failure, Nail Tips

So the other day I tried, and tried, and tried to create a cool design using my ghetto konad image plates and stamp. I never seem to be able to get the polish quite right, so I'm seriously considering purchasing some things from their site, but I don't want to break the bank. I must have done my nails at least five times each, but I wasn't focused and by the end of it I was so tired I didn't know where my nails ended or began. Anyway, I googled some easy designs after that and decided to create a two color design, one side glitter and one side my favorite violet Essie shade. I painted my nails the whole color, then drew a diagonal line and painted from that upwards, diagonally dividing the nail into two colors, then I put glitter on the top color, and it actually didn't look that bad based on the fact that it took me five minutes.

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Konad nail design & more

Okay guys, I really want Konad nail polish & nail plates. They are up-the-wazoo expensive, but I think I may buy some polishes and plates anyway. Every time I try to use my nail polish on the design plates I own, it doesn't work because the polish wont stay on. So I realized I should try some of my 99 cent nail art pens/polishes and well, it wasn't half bad! The base coat here is 3 coats of OPI's Too hot pink to hold 'em. I used a baby blue nail design pen that I bought at a 99 cent store, but I know that tons of beauty supply stores sell these in any color, so I'm sure you can find them.

You can buy konad nail plates and knockoff ones on amazon.com. I don't have any actual konad plates because my ass is broke I haven't had the time, nor am I sure of which plates I want. The thing is, this manicure alone took me so long, and you really need a lot of materials, cotton balls, polish remover, q-tips, napkins, including whatever colors you want, your image plate(s) and the stamp and scraper. After each finger is done you must clean all your tools and do it again. Its fun- but by the end your finished, especially if you have made a mistake and need to start all over again. I had the OPI manicure on all day before and I didn't feel like changing polish, so I went ahead and put the design on top, which saved time, but with drying time and all that- your looking at one long manicure. That being sad, I love design nails, and thats why I love nail design stickers... so fast & easy.

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