Raindrops Keep Falling on My Nails! - Nail Art Contest Entry

This mani is based on an idea I've had in my mani-spiration book for a while now.  The motivation for finally getting around to doing it is Chalkboard Nails' nail art contest found here.  This is my first time entering a contest.  While I don't expect to win (way too much talent out there!), I'm just proud of myself for getting up the courage to enter!  The rules were that you could only use the polish brush and a dotting tool (or something dotting tool-ish).  I don't have an actual dotting tool, so I used this stylus I have from when I used to do ceramics.

And on to the mani! My idea was to have it look as though rain was "filling" my nails with water.  I used SH Double Duty as a base followed by two coats of OPI's Alpine Snow.  The raindrops and last nail are PP It's All About Blue and it's all topped with SV.  My improvised dotting tool's ends are two different sizes, but both are actually quite small. For smaller raindrops, I used the dotting tool alone.  For the fatter raindrops, I ended up having to use the polish brush to drop a dot of polish and then use my tool to pull a tail.  Since I wanted the nails to look as though water was filling up and sloshing around, I just free-handed uneven tips.  What do you think?

May the Best Brush Win!

As promised, it's the Battle of the Brushes!  Since I have done a decent amount of complaining about different brush sizes, I thought I would upload pics of some of the brushes I have mentioned so you have a better idea of what I'm talking about as well as one I have not complained about yet.  :o)  I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about what your prefer and what you have encountered.

First, I mentioned the flat, thick brush from SH's Complete Salon Manicure line (color shown is Green Tea).  It is also a little rounded at the end.  I think the rounded edge was a good idea and it is smoothly rounded.  But the flatness and thickness were a bit much for me.

SH CSM Side view

SH CSM Front view, same brush

The next brush was from Icing (the color was Butta).  This one was incredibly thick and I had a really hard time with it.  It was like trying to paint my nails with a mop.  However, it may have been a fluke that I got such a thick brush, as you will read about below.  For comparison, the first picture is Icing's Butta, with the bad brush.  The next picture is Icing's Hazelnut.  The brush on the Hazelnut was better, but still very thick.  I think the frayed and flared brush on Butta was just a case of the occasional bad brush, which Icing pollies seem to have a problem with.

Icing Butta: VERY thick brush

Icing Hazelnut: Better, but still thick

Unfortunately for Icing, their bad brush flukes seem to permeate all of their pollies.  I recently bought a bunch of their Magnetix pollies - both for me and for a swap.  While none of these brushes were flared like my Butta was (that just doesn't sound quite right, does it?), I did come across a couple with warped brushes.  I don't know how else to explain it.  They are bent.  This one shown is their gold Magnetix color (no name).  Sadly, both of the golds I bought were like this.  :o(

Icing Mag: Front view

Icing Mag: Side view, same brush

My best advice (which I will be following from now on) is to check the brushes in store anytime you purchase an Icing polish.

The next brush is from SH's Hard as Nails line.  The color shown is Hypnotic Pink.  This time, I thought the brush was much too thin.  It took several strokes to cover my nail.

SH HaN

This next brush shown is one that I felt was "just right."  It is from Piggy Polish.  This color is called Blue-mmm.

PP

Finally, the last brush I will show you for now is from Spoiled.  I haven't swatched these yet for you, but these brushes are, by far, the worst I've come across (with the exception of the occasional funky Icing brush).  They are similar to the SH Complete Salon Manicure brushes, but thicker and jagged.  I tried to get some good closeups of the brush tip for you so you can see how jagged it is compared to the SH's smooth and rounded brush, but you know my camera.  Very poor quality (both my camera and the Spoiled brush).  It was like trying to paint your nails with a oar.

Here is Spoiled's brush.  The color shown is called Good Karma.

Spoiled

Next is Spoiled's brush (left) and SH's Complete Salon Manicure (right).  My camera just couldn't handle focusing on both, so the SH brush is a little soft.  Sorry about that.  But the main goal was so you could get an idea of the thickness of the brushes side by side.

Left: Spoiled. Right: SH CSM

Last but not least, a closeup of the Spoiled's brush bristles...just terrible!

Spoiled

It dawned on me after I took all of these pictures that I should have slated all of the brushes next to a ruler.  That darned hindsight is always showing me up!  Hopefully, this was helpful to some of you!  And again, I'd love to hear about your opinions and experiences, too!

I'm Swatchin' You - Piggy Polish Something Blue

Blue Monday calls for Blue polish!  Here is my last PP color.  This one is called Something Blue.  It goes on sheer, so this was two coats.  A third coat would be needed for solid coverage, but I'm always fighting a losing battle against that darned clock!  For some reason, this color makes me think Superman.  I'll have to play with that.  Any ideas or thoughts on what you would do with it?

Just have to take a moment to say MY TEAM, THE NY GIANTS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!  Will have my Superbowl mani up sometime soon, so stay tuned!  *Cue Superman theme*

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri as base and top.

Tiger Stripe Mani

I'm sorry...for anyone actually reading my blog, this was supposed to go up yesterday.  I spent my whole Friday racing (and losing) the clock.  Laundry, check.  Pick up the child, check. Homework...kind of a half check - which I guess is actually just a line.  But I digress...

Hubberoo and I actually got to go out sans offspring!  This doesn't happen very often, so of course, I wanted a killer mani.  I'm not gonna lie...I did experience an epic failure of mani.  EPIC.  I told you this little journey would not always be smooth.  It started off great.  Mattified black polish was involved and it was gorgeous.  Then I decided I could do one better...and I cocked it up.  Big. Time.  First time stamping and the failure was, say it with me, EPIC.  But did I let that stop me?  Well, yes, at first.  And then...

I went back to one of my new fav pollies...PP The Right to Bare Feet.  Suddenly, tiger stripes were dancing through my mind.  So, I dusted myself off and got to work.

First I started with a base coat of SH Double Duty, then two coats of PP The Right to Bare Feet, followed by one coat of SV.

Then I grabbed my tape and taped off a sort of triangle.  I wanted it to look like one large tiger stripe, as though you were looking at one in macro.  Painted in the area with Sinful's Black on Black and topped everything with one coat of SV.  And voila!  (And ignore the nice little slice on my pinky...got into an argument with a pair of scissors).  At least I kind of redeemed myself from my earlier failure.

I'm Swatchin' You - Piggy Polish The Right to Bare Feet

Here is another color from Piggy Polish.  This one is called The Right to Bare Feet (how cute!).  I must say, I think this color is crazy cool!  It looks slightly different in different lighting.  Sometimes the rusty color comes out, other times you can see a rosy hue coming through or a gold shimmer.  It's quite beautiful.  I did two coats here, but I did get great coverage in just one.  And have I mentioned that I love their brush?  Well, I do.

I also must say that I was actually sad about removing this polish.  I absolutely fell in love with it!  This just may become a "go-to" color for when I want a simple mani that I plan to keep on for awhile.  Unfortunately, my PhD camera doesn't fully do this color the justice it deserves.  It's delicious!!!

SH Double Duty for the base and SH Insta-Dri for the top coat.

I'm Swatchin' You - Piggy Polish It's All About Blue

Up next is another Piggy Polish from my daughter.  This one is called It's All About Blue.  Really good coverage with a great brush.  This is just one coat.  Excuse the hack job.  I didn't have time for cleaning up.  IMO, this color is a little too strong to stand alone, but it will make a great accent color.  I think it will be great with some Oz-y ideas I'm working on.  Stay tuned!

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Piggy Polish Blue-mmm

For Christmas, my sweet daughter bought me some nail polish.  She made her father take her shopping.  I would have loved to see the look on his face when my 7-year-old dragged him into Ulta!  I'm pretty sure she picked out these polishes because she liked the name - Piggy Polish.  They are quite adorable.  Each color comes with a toe ring, as they are meant for pedis.  However, I pay very good money to have someone do my pedis for me.  One - because it's a little moment of pampering that I look forward to every few weeks.  And two - I can't stand doing my toes.  But of course, I'm not about to let any polish go to waste!

So here is the first color I tried.  It went on much more sheer than I expected.  This is definitely a 2+ coater.  I used two coats here.  The color is called Blue-mmm.  And most importantly, I love their brush!  Not too short, not too long, not too fat, but just right.  (Why do I suddenly feel like Goldilocks?)  What do you think of the color?  Has anyone else used this brand? 

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for base and top coats.