Guest Post: Half Moon Mani

Thanks to Erin at The Sugar Cube for this super cute and easy to do post! ~Megan

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Before I start this post, I'd like to thank Megan for giving me the opportunity to guest blog for her. I racked my brain trying to think of a suitable topic to blog about here, and hopefully at least one of you will be able to take something from this simple tutorial that I made. If nothing else, I at least hope that I could do this blog justice! 

That said, on with the tutorial!

I've seen a lot of girls wondering how to do half moon manis, and the technique is surprisingly simple. If you're at all familiar with using tape to create nail art designs, you'll be able to churn this look out with no problem at all.

Materials you'll need:
- Nail polish in 2 different contrasting colors. Ideally one would be much lighter than the other.
- Reinforcement labels. If you have no idea what those are, you're not alone. They're the little round stickers with a hole in the center that are used to patch loose notebook paper when the holes rip. I bought mine at CVS in the aisle where they sell pens for roughly $2.00. 

- Top coat. 

Step 1: Paint your nails with your base color. It's obviously a good idea to use the lighter color as the base, since you'll need the other color to cover a good portion of the nail. I used OPI What's With The Cattitude. Let your base color completely dry. I usually wait about 45 minutes before moving onto step 2.

Step 2: Whip out your reinforcement labels. In case you're still confused about what these are, here is a picture of what mine look like.

Step 3: Apply one of your reinforcement labels to one of your nails, right where your cuticles are. The majority of the label should be above your nail, and only a small half moon shape should be on the nail itself. Once you have the label in place, press on it until it's completely stuck to all contours.

Step 4: Paint the entire nail with your darker colored nail polish. I did not include a picture of this step because it's very important that you remove the label when the polish is still wet and I didn't want to run the risk of it drying while I snapped photos :P

Step 5: While your darker colored polish is still wet, carefully remove the reinforcement label. Apply top coat once it's dry.

Step 6: Repeat steps 1-5 on each nail and then marvel at your half moon mani!

Guest Post: Multi-Chrome Goodness

This is Purple Beach by Nubar.  I have tried several of the Duochromes from Nubar and I have loved them all. This one was no different.  I am surprised though that they have not come out with just a set of Duochromes, they have sets of everything else it feels like.   

Well this was two coats of Purple Beach on top of Seche Vites Retain.  I have noticed that with alot of duochromes they tend to be on the opaque side and need at minimum 2 coats of polish, 3 probably working best.  Not that I usually use less than 2 but just the way they tend to apply seems to always be sheer.  The dry time on this was slightly slow but I am impatient.  I then topped it with Seche Vites fast drying top coat.  I love the way that top coat makes everything just a little more shiney :).  

This one is in sunlight. 

So to describe this color is trickier than most.  I can not really decide if it is a purple with brown duochrome and gold shimmer, or a brown with purple duochrome and gold shimmer.  You decide from the pictures.

Guest Post: Cult Nails

Hey dolls, it's Lakeisha from Refined and Polished. Today I have for you one of the beauties from Cult Nails…My Kind of Cool Aid. This is a light greyed-out purple that has a subtle silver shimmer included. Maria calls it gravender, which describes this color perfectly. The formula on this shade was awesome as I have come to expect from Cult Nails. It applied easily and was almost opaque in 1 coat. The second coat just increased the depth of the color. The dry time was relatively quick, which is always a plus.

I love this shade. It’s really unique in my collection and I love how it varies from grey to lavender in the light. This is definitely a shade that can be worn year round. I attempted my first scotch tape mani using My Kind of Cool Aid as the base. OPI’s Your Royal Shine-ness was used for the diagonal tips and Aldo Hit the Pavement for the dots.

I really like the way this turned out for my first attempt. While the color combo doesn’t scream summer, it makes me happy because they are my high school’s colors. I’ll be attempting more scotch tape manis in the future now that I know how relatively easy they are. I just have to be sure there are no air pockets in the tape to get a smooth line. Please feel free to leave any tips on ensuring clean lines when using tape. Hope you all enjoyed the guest post. You can see more of my nails here. Happy polishing dolls!

Guest Post: Mmm Cupcakes!

Hello lovelies of Painting Rainbows, I'm Danielle from With A Sparkle . As Megan is away I thought I would bring you some cupcake nail art! I started with Sally Hansen 

Maximum Growth in Real Royal. In the bottle this polish reminded me of 

chocolate which then made me think of cupcakes!

Real Royal is a dark polish with a brown/orange shimmer. You can see it 
better in the sunlight.

I stamped the cupcakes using Bundle Monster plate BM014 from the 

original series. My favorite polish to stamp with is the LA Colors Art 
Decos that can be found at Dollar Tree. They come in lots of 
different colors and are only a dollar. They have a thin brush and are 
good for nail art too. For the cupcake I decided on vanilla (using the 
white polish) with strawberry frosting (using the baby pink polish).

 

I'm still rather new to stamping, so please excuse the smudged one. I 
also always do my stamping so the design is facing myself. If you'd like 
to check out my nail art, please stop by my blog! I hope you try out 
some cupcakes on your nails, they are making me rather hungry!

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I really want cupcakes now lol ~Megan 

Guest Post: SpaRitual

Hi everyone!

First of all, a big thank you to Megan for asking me to guest blog for her, I am not a professional blogger, just a lifelong polish fan!

Today, I would like to share with you my latest acquisition, the SpaRitual Wilde Fall 2011 Collection.

SpaRitual is a 4-Free company, vegan, and certified by PETA. Their formula is one of the best on the market, at any price point, in my opinion.

I placed my order with www.AveYou.com, here’s what I received, only two days after placing it online:

The green tote was free with purchase, and the cute little bag came with the four polishes in front of it. My entire purchase, with shipping, was only $35. I actually ordered the minis for all six in the collection; AveYou.com gave me a free upgrade to the full size bottle on Howl.

Sacred Ground:

Running with Wolves:

Howl:

Rhythm of Life:

Spirit Child; please pardon my slightly messy cuticles:

And finally, Instinct:

So, that’s it. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this fabulous fall collection, it is one of my favorites so far this season. SpaRitual products can be found in major salons nationwide, and can be purchased from a few online retailers, such as Soap.com, AveYou.com, and Drugstore.com. Full size bottles are $10, the cute little minis are $5. Thanks for reading!

Guest Post: Catherine Arley Holo

This post is from my friend Tamala who is an awesome member of our polish and chat Facebook group!!! ~Megan

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This polish is Catherine Arley 805.

I got this from a swap with another nail polish lover I connected with on Makeup Alley.  She is from Austria and I got this one and #800 from her.

You cannot really see the holographic effect with no light or sun, but it looks great otherwise.  I applied well but it seems to get thick around the neck of the bottle.  I used 2 coats with a base and topcoat.  The top coat did not affect the holographic effect.  I would say this lasted well for the 3 days I had it on.  It may have lasted longer but I was ready for another color.  Overall, I am very happy about it being in my collection. 

Guest Post: Glitter Gal

Thank the lovely Claire from Shatter Me Claire!! ~Megan

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G'day readers *waves* Hello from Australia. I thought I'd review an
Aussie brand for you today [since that's what I'm most used too] while
I'm filling in, and one that is available internationally! If you are
into holographic polishes then you'll wanna add this to your wish
list!!

Glitter Gal - 3D Holographic Red

Purchased from GlitterGal
Cosmetics - $11.95 AUD

[overseas purchase from this
eBay shop for $14.95 USD ]

[** Disclaimer ** This pretty bottle is from Glitter Gals "Bling"
range - it's the exact same polish as what you'll get in the regular
range and the exact same bottle and brush - it's just a different top
which you have to pay an extra $3 for the luxury of having]

Glitter Gal is an Australian company that was started by 2 girls in the
beauty industry. They are the big 3 free and pride themselves on only
using  "Glitter Gal prides itself in understanding the current
and future trends and has created a makeup range using a kaleidoscope of
bright sparkly colours, packaged in high fashion animal prints and
bling"

I've seen numerous people be disappointed with the size of these
polishes so I really want to mention it first. They only come in
9ml/0.3fl oz bottles and the size difference is obvious compared to
China Glaze and OPI bottles.

Also there is the fact that these polishes are a bit expensive ... well
expensive depending on where you are in the world. In Australia, nail
polishes are generally a lot higher in price than places like the USA.
OPI retails here for $20 AUD and I saw some Essie in the shops the other
week for $23 :( Even "drugstore" brands like Revlon retail for close to
$15 AUD so really the Glitter Gal price isn't too bad.

I've swatched today as 1 single coat over a nude base - yes you heard me
... 1 coat! They also look fantastic worn over black! If you don't put a
base coat you are looking at 2-3 coats to be fully opaque. Apologies in
advance for some of my photos as it's been cold and wet and little to no
sun :(

This is as "unholo" as I could get it just so you can see - took me ages to get this! It's just impossible to get as there is still sections of brightness coming through.

See the rainbow coming through

Sparkle sparkle

** Final Verdict **

If you are a holo junkie then you'll want to put this on your wishlist.

The full range of colours is on the Glitter Gal website which I'd
suggest you'd check out before ordering as some colours come both in the
"3D" and the "sparkle" and I'd hate anyone to order the wrong one!
 They also have new colours such as a holo white coming out soon!
*drools*