Camouflage Nails... Green and Brown

I wanted to do a camouflage manicure for a while now...I have a long list of "manicures to do" list and this has been on it for a while. There are times I look at my nails and think these just look like blobs of color and there are times I look at my nails and think, yeah...this looks like camouflage. All and all, I guess that is what camo really is...random blobs of color that run more in a horizontal pattern. So here is my first attempt at a camo mani.

There are so many different color combos of camo prints out there...blue tones, pink tones, black tone, green tone, green and brown, etc. I went with the green and brown colors for this one, but  I really want to do a pink camo next. That will be my next stab at doing a camo mani.

I am on the fence about the top coat being so shiny. Though I am not so big on doing the matte top coat, I think it may be more appropriate for this manicure. The shine on the camo design just looks a little off. I think I have to go buy a matte top coat for my next attempt at this.

Any ideas of a good matte coat out there? I know nothing about them.

For this manicure I applied the following:

• Sache Clear Base Coat
• China Glaze in Kalahari Kiss...1 coat
• Loreal in Safari Chic...camo markings
• Milani in Teddy Brown...camo markings
• Sally Hansen in Black Heart...camo markings
• Out the Door...1 coat

Shooting Stars and Androgynie...Orly

I have been wanting to do a black polish manicure for a while now. So when I was at Sally's picking up a couple of the China Glaze Safari Collection polishes that I had to have, of course I had to just see what else they had. Well, as soon as I saw this polish I got all wide eyed...it was mine...it being Orly Androgynie. This polish is a black jelly base with a slight gold shimmer and added to that are some larger blue, green, gold and copper/orangey glitters. It is very pretty.

Though this polish looks amazing on, getting it on was a bit of a pain! The glitter sank to bottom so fast it was crazy, but the up side of that is that when I inverted the bottle it mixed back up quickly too. It was a lot of stopping to mix the polish thought. I also found myself digging for glitter too. It was a bit of work to get the large pieces of glitter in the brush. I think the results are worth it though, but this certainly is not a polish to use if you are in a rush to get it on quickly!

To that I just added a simple shooting star stamping just for a little something extra. This polish certainly does not need it as it a great one that makes a statement on its own. I just wanted to try adding a little something more.

For this manicure I applied the following:

• Sache Clear Base Coat
• Orly in Androgynie...3 coats
• Out the Door...1 coat
• Revlon in Golden for Stamping
• Stamping Plate m33
• Out the Door...1 coat

Revlon Scandalous MEETS... Orly Bubbly Bombshell

 Thanks to Tropical Storm Debby, I had an extra day off work. Along with ten inches of rainfall, Debby brought some of Florida a few tornadoes, trees down all over the place, flooding everywhere, and some new sinkholes! So my boss called and said she was closing and did not want us coming into work because the roads were too dangerous. What to do, what to do with the extra time…yup…manicure time!

 I decided on doing a very sparkly mani with a bit of contrast… Revlon Scandalous… meet Orly Bubbly Bombshell! Then to tie it all together I did a little stamping over the Bubbly Bombshell. I selected a smaller stamping image and kept it close to the cuticle line because I did not want to cover up to much of the AMAZING sparkle of the Bubbly Bombshell... I just wanted to tie it all together.

These are both fantastic polishes, but I have to say helloooo Bubbly Bombshell! I am in love with this polish and if you are on the fence about it or are looking for some phenomenal glitter then I highly recommend buying it! It is gorgeous! It has amazing sparkle and then when I put on the topcoat it blew my socks off! 

For this manicure I applied the following:

• Milani Smoothe Base Coat
• Orly Bubbly Bombshell (on all except the ring finger)...2 coats
• Revlon in Scandalous (on ring finger)...2 coats
• Nail Life Aromaherapy...1 drop on each nail
• Nail Plate BM10
• Konad Special Polish in Black
• Seche Vite...1 coat

Black to White Gradient... Revlon Snow Bunny... Inspiration

I really wanted to use this color, Revlon in Snow Bunny because I have been loving it since I bought it. It keeps catching my eye every time I pass my polish racks... but then again there are so many of the polishes *screaming* out my name as I pass by! I really did not want to do just a pure white nail in this color...it was just not appealing to me for this color, but I love, love this polish color. I snatched it off the shelf at Target as soon as my eyes laid upon it! 

Every time I think of this polish, Revlon Snow Bunny, my mind keeps going to my dog... her name is Bunny. So I used her as my inspiration and decided to do a black to white sparkly gradient, as she is black and white and she likes sparkles and glitters. Ok... I like sparkles and glitters on her, but she looks soooo good in them! ; )

This is Bunny...love her! She is the best little dog!

OMG...how she loves to go to Lowe's and all the workers know her too! She kept laughing at this hat when it was on the rack and would not stop carrying on over it, so I put it on me and she about went through the roof. Then I put it on her and she though it was the best thing since sliced bread. Look at that huge grin! Needless to say, I had to buy the hat! : )

Ok...back to the nails.

And so here is my first crack at a gradient...

As I am writing this post I am in a quandary regarding the proper way to go about a color gradient. I have seen many tutorials on this and several different methods used.  I think I may have used a "cheating" way to do this mani. A color gradient is really only supposed to me made of two colors, if I am reading this correctly... Wikipedia defines this as a "Linear Gradient" and reads...

"A linear color gradient is specified by two points, and a color at each point. The colors along the line through those points are calculated using linear interpolation, then extended perpendicular to that line. In digital imaging systems, colors are typically interpolated in an RGB color space, often using gamma compressed RGB color values, as opposed to linear."

Next time I do a gradient I think I will implement a different technique with this definition in mind.

Have you guys tried the gradient yet? How do you do your gradients? Do you use just 2 colors or 3 or 4 colors? :/

For this manicure I applied the following:

• Milani Smoothe Base Coat
• Pure Ice in Electric!
• Spoiled in Black Mamba
• Sally Hansen Extreme in Celeb City
• Revlon in Snow *Bunny* :D
• Out the Door...1 coat
• Sache Vite...1 coat