essie- Partner In Crime

Good morning! Today I have another polish from the new essie fall 2014 Dress to Kilt collection. It's a cool-toned dark chocolate brown creme. Partner in Crime has an even better formula than Dress to Kilt- it's a one coater! The color's gorgeous, too! Perfect for fall- I love it. The photos show one coat with no topcoat.

essie- Dress to Kilt

Good evening! I'm sorry, I'm slacking. I've just been so busy lately. I hope I can make up for it with an amazing polish! Here is Dress to Kilt from essie's fall 2014 collection. It is a deep berry red creme with a phenomenal formula. It can totally be a one-coater if you do a slightly thicker coat. It's so smooth and dries super glossy. essie's polishes haven't been too great formula-wise lately, but they really hit it out of the ball-park with this one. As always, I do crazy thin coats so it took me two to hide my nail line. Otherwise, it's opaque in one coat. No topcoat.

essie- Turquoise & Caicos

Hi! Wow, I missed two weeks, I'm so sorry! Today, I have a classic essie polish- Turquoise & Caicos. As the name suggests, the polish is a turquoise color. It has a crelly formula and is easily buildable, it'll be perfect for jelly sandwiches! It takes about 4 coats to get it opaque and the color stays true to the bottle. It wasn't very streaky and applied very smoothly. The final 3 photos show 4 coats with topcoat.

1st Coat

2nd Coat

3rd Coat

Sunlight

Shade

Mani Monday!

Hello everyone! I finally got around to doing some nail art and I decided "Why not end summer with a beach mani!" I made the design by following tutorials from Chalkboard Nails and elleandish // Janelle then adding my own little twist. On my pointer, middle finger and thumb, I applied two coats of Essie's "Cocktails & Coconuts" then two more coats of Zoya's "Godiva" on top. The textured finish and silver glitter make it look just like sand! As for my ring and pinky fingers, I did a sponge gradient using Kleancolor's "Pastel Teal" and Essie's "Mint Candy Apple". Then, I used the water-spotting technique with Zoya's "Purity" to add a seafoam-like effect. Afterwards, I sponged just a little bit of white right where I wanted the shore-line to be and covered the tip of my nail with Godiva. To add the starfish on my ring finger, I used a very thin detail brush and Maybelline's "Coral Heat". Finally, I added topcoat to only the ring and pinky finger to smooth everything out! I'm really happy with the final look and hope you guys like it as well!

Tutorial- Water Marble Layering

Hello! I am so excited to tell you this! I was playing around with the idea of water marbling and realized that (1) you can use the concept to create your own color without actually having to mix polishes and (2) you can use it to apply neons or any polish that has a tricky formula! I hope this is something new to you and that you enjoy!


So, for the first idea all you need is two different colored polishes and all other materials needed to do any kind of water marble (cup, water, toothpick). There are only three steps to this. First, apply the lighter color onto your nails (and make sure its even otherwise any streaks and patches will remain visible). Then, drip just one drop (or more but you'll have to be careful of the rings that appear) of your second color into the water surface and allow it to spread enough so that when you dip it'll cover your entire nail. After it has spread evenly, dip your nail (or as many finger as you can completely cover) in as you would with any other water marble mani, clean the surface with a toothpick and remove your finger. Tadaaaa! You made a new color without having to go through the trouble of mixing polishes in a separate bottle and without having to worry that you didn't mix enough of the color to paint all your nails! I personally never have any empty nail polish bottles on hand and find it hasslesome to mix it on tin foil or a palette (the polish get thick really fast and I always seem to make too much/little of the color). I like to use this method to create pastel colors by putting darker colors over white. It works to apply metallic colors (I'm thinking OPI's "Push and Shove", but I don't have it) without getting any streaks, too! Just apply the metallic like normal then add a layer or two with the water marble method.

As for number two, it's basically the same process except you're using it for a different reason/to get a different result. I've heard people talking about how neons are hard to work with because often times you need to layer them over white to make them bright and fluorescent. However, sometimes putting them over white is hard because it might get streaky or you might not completely cover the white around the cuticles. I find that if you just water marble it on, you can get an even application! (The coats/layers dry much faster too.) You can also control how dark you want your color to be- if you want it darker, just repeat and add more layers until the color is to your liking. You can use this method to create ombre nails as well! This also works with sheer polishes or jellies should you ever want to put them over white.

The possibilities are endless! I really hope that you'll give it a try, if you do I would love to see it (my instagram is @swatchingly)! Thank you so much for stopping by!

essie- Mint Candy Apple

essie's "Mint Candy Apple" is a cult classic- and for good reason. Honestly, at first I didn't think it was as amazing a color as everyone was making it out to be. After I put it on I realized why everybody loved it. Mint Candy Apple is a beautiful pastel mint blue creme and goes really well with a tan. Application was easy and I got it opaque in 2 easy coats. I tend to do thin coats so 1 slightly thicker coat works too. The photo shows it with topcoat.

Sunlight

Shade

essie- Cocktails & Coconuts

I'm really late on this one but here I have essie's "Cocktails & Coconuts". This polish is from their 2014 Resort Collection. Cocktails & Coconuts is a beige creme with lots of glass fleck shimmer. Unfortunately, the shimmer doesn't translate well onto the nail. It doesn't completely disappear but it doesn't shine either. Formula-wise the polish wasn't too bad, only 3 coats were needed to get the polish opaque and even. The photos below are with topcoat.

Sunlight

Shade