Autumn nails!

PICTURE HEAVY POST!

I know it's a few weeks away yet but I thought I'd show my frankenfall polish simply called Autumn :D

Close up of bottle

The large slice glitter in this is a holographic brown which flashes all colours.
Getting photographs of this that showed all the colours, that didn't glare or blur was quite difficult!
On one hand, I layered the whole nail with Autumn.

Layered on top of brown

On it's own

This was made by mixing alot of orange glitter in a clear base with a very small amount (2/3 drops) of the brown i wore underneath this. I also bought some gorgeous loose glitter from ebay and mixed loads in. I'm not sure why it looks so dark in the bottle because you can see that it's super sheer on the nail wheel sample above!

The gorgeous brown and glitter used

On the other hand I placed loose glitter on top of wet top coat to make them stick, then covered in another topcoat. This was also difficult to photograph.

The bottom few pics showed the colour flashes best but irl this is stunning. If you look at the bottom couple of pics you can see that the glitter is different colours in each shot with greens and oranges and reds and blues. This is the kind of polish/glitter mani that needs a video! maybe next time :) If anyone is interested, I will post the link to the glitter on ebay.

til next time
Pixie~Nails x

It's a sad day for crackles, shatters and spotteds....

(In my house anyway!)

(Of course I'm not going to stop buying them... I'll eventually give in to their ways!)

But for now, I've discovered something that may just interest you if you are a lover of said polishes...

Behold, the wonder that is....

HOMEMADE SHATTERS AND SPOTTEDS!!!

Yes, you read correctly, homemade, simple and most importantly, FREE!!

Versatile effects!

So simple to do!

Crackle effect homestyle!

So, if you like what you see and want to know how to do it, read on...

First, choose what colour you want as an effect colour...

I chose basic black (I'm hoping brand shouldn't matter, I used LaFemme)

I put a few drops of this on an old plastic lid with a few drops of water and a few drops of baby oil.

Mix this together with an orange stick or similar.

Water, oil and polish mix

Working quickly (as I didn't know how long this would 'keep') I painted it on a ready painted, and dried, nail, just as you would ordinary crackle (I just used the previous rainbow manicure). The difference being, as it has baby oil in, it will 'crackle/shatter/split' straight away so no waiting. You see the effect so can manipulate the look with the brush. Also, as its got oil in it, it won't dry super fast like Barry Ms nail effects.

This one looks like butterfly wings... Idea for future post!!

When I first painted it on, I couldn't believe my eyes! But I also thought it wouldn't work with having oil and water in. I thought it wouldn't dry.

So... gutted but amazed, I got on with messing about with other effects...

Some look like crackle, some like shatter... some like a mess!

I then tried something else. I painted my nail black and while it was still wet, swabbed over it with a cotton bud.

This is the result...

Just after I swabbed with bud

With top coat

This made me actually say the word 'meh'

Ok, so try something else....

I then remembered something that happened when I *whisper whisper* <~ (secret for another post!!)

So I tried something like it for this....

I painted plain, ordinary black polish (no oil) on top of 2 shades of pink (brand names and colour names don't matter to me in this post, just the amazing effects) and placed plastic, like sweet wrapper plastic on top, much like you would with foils. I forgot to take a picture of this step... whoops!

Then I poked the top with an orange stick to make little 'indents'. I left it over sized so I could get it off as I found out when I *whisper whisper* (heh heh, bet you hate me, but you will find out soon!) it stuck good!

After about 20 minutes I slowly peeled off the plastic and discovered FAKIE, HOMEMADE SPOTTY NAILS!! This excited me greatly as I had recently spotted, well Black Spotted by OPI and oh how I craved it! This wasn't totally dry so I waited another 5 mins to do a top coat.

Strange shaped nail! lol!

Trust me, this looks SOOOOOOO much better in person, blame the camera!
I wish I had discovered this first but will do a full mani soon in it.
So, there you have it, homemade spotty/crackly/shattery nails...
It may not be OPI or Barry M standard but it works (kinda) and I like it.
Oh!! And it dried properly and quickly, just like regular polish even with the oil and water in! The two just dried up as the nail polish dried and the effects were unharmed! I don't think this could be a bottled franken as the mixture would, over time, go funny, so I am just going to make a mini mixture as and when I want it.

Best of all... you can use ANY colour, ANY finish and did I mention... it's FREE!!!

P.S. please excuse any dry, tired and/or ugly cuticles. I wasn't expecting this to be a real post!

Hope you like it as much as I do.
Have a go at home and link me with results.

Pixie~nails x

Rainbow gradient.... SIDEWAYS

With all the rainbow gradients about, I thought I'd try something different.

Side gradient

I just painted my nails white and when dried, Sponged on LaFemme - Deep Purple Pearl

The type of sponge I use

With one coat. I used two.

As you can see in the picture above, I sponged just over half of the nail.

Before top coat

I then took Vollare Colorado - 409 and sponged the other half, overlapping the purple. For those who have tried this technique you will know how awkward it is to get perfect, so if you are only trying this for the first time, expect too-ing and fro-ing with the 2 colours.

I then sponged half my index finger with the blue and overlapped with Sally Hansen - Emerald City.
Then again, half with Emerald City on the middle finger and finished with NYC - Lemon Cream.
On the ring finger continuing with the Lemon Cream, I finished with Vollare Colorado - 239.
Lastly, on the pinkie, with half painted in 239, I finished with Miss Sporty - 150.
It looks bubbly in the pictures above but it wasn't.
I waited for this to dry and topped it with La Girls - Diamond Top Coat.
...Then it got bubbly... :/

Now, you WILL get messy with this mani but just dip a bud in remover and clean up the edges.

This is my first full grad mani so be kind :)

Pixie~nails x