China Glaze Electric Nights for Summer 2015 Swatch and Review

China Glaze Electric Nights for Summer 2015 Swatch and Review

china glaze glitter neon rainbow

China Glaze's new summer collection, Electric Nights, draws inspiration from the electronic dance music culture with nine neon cremes and three neon glitter toppers. It's not my scene but these polishes sure are! They're bright, they're fun, they're bumpin'. Read on to check out my swatches!

Point Me to the Party - One coat over white
A rainbow neon glitter topper with pink, magenta, orange, green, and blue neon glitters. The glitter density was good and it's just so FUN! You may have seen something like this from indie brands before, but it's pretty cool to see a major brand embracing the neon glitter.

Let the Beat Drop - One coat over white
A neon glitter topper with pink, magenta, and orange glitters.

Can I Get An Untz Untz - One coat over white
A neon glitter topper with blue, green, and purple glitters.

Daisy Know My Name? - One coat over white
I wish my camera had been able to accurately convey how neon this one is! It's a super bright neon yellow, especially when layered over white. It went on smoothly and evenly.

DJ Blue My Mind - Two coats over white
I'm pretty obsessed with this gorgeous deep sky blue creme. Of the two blues in this collection, this one is my pick.

Glow With the Flow - Two thin coats over white
This is another one where the brightness just did not translate well to my camera. This bright pink creme is super gorgeous. It's very Barbie-esque, but in the best of ways.

Home Sweet House Music - Two coats over white
A neon creamsicle orange. So citrusy, cheery, and bright!

PLUR-ple - Two coats over white
A bright purple creme. I'm obsessed with this shade of purple. So deliciously bright. It went on a little streaky but mostly evened out after the second coat.

Red-y to Rave - Two coats over white
A bright neon traffic cone red-orange. This is another standout for me, it's great!

Treble Maker - Two coats over white
A bright kelly green.

UV Meant to Be - Two coats over white
A light sky blue creme. This is the lighter counterpart to DJ Blue My Mind. A great pool blue for summer!

Violet Vibes - Three coats over white
The bright magenta huge on this one is gorgeous, but I found the formula to be a bit finicky. It was streaky for the first two coats but evened out on the third.

Overall, I found the formulas to be on the thinner side. During application, it was best to get a slightly larger bead of polish than I would normally use, and polish it on to the nail with a light touch to minimize streaks.

As you may have noticed, I decided to swatch all of these over a white base to boost the brightness. I wasn't sure which ones would need it and which ones wouldn't. As it turned out, not all of them needed it. You can check out jessface90's swatch video to see many of them swatched alone.

I wish that the neon-ness of these had come across more clearly! They're bright and happy and lovely. Overall, it's a classically China Glaze collection full of bold, fun colors and trend-setting glitters. This collection is set to release in April, so start gearing up for summer now!

Go Behind the Scenes and Tour OPI Headquarters with Me! [VIDEO]

Go Behind the Scenes and Tour OPI Headquarters with Me! [VIDEO]

behind the scenes opi video

How would you like to go behind the scenes of one of your favorite nail polish brands? I had the opportunity to live the dream when I recently visited OPI headquarters with Leslie from Work/Play/Polish. I had to take some photos and videos to share with you guys, so come with me as we pull back the curtain and peek into their world of nails!

One of the first things you may notice upon arrival is a big mural on the side of the building. Among other elements, it's got a huge OPI polish, a GelColor, and a Nicole bottle!

Leslie and I entered the building, got all signed in, and waited anxiously for our tour to start. We'd only been sitting there for thirty seconds when Miss Pop walked in! We both recognized her immediately as one of OPI's star nail artists. As it turned out, she was going to be joining us on our tour!

While Miss Pop got settled in, Leslie and I had the opportunity to meet with Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Executive Vice President and Artistic Director of OPI. You may recognize her name from polishes like "Where Did Suzi's Man-go?" and "Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees." I may have geeked out a little. It's fine. Let's pretend I played it cool.

We got to peek into their offices before our tour officially began. There were inspiration boards, stylized photos, displays from past collections, and ad campaigns decorating the interior. We got to see a few special rooms, including the manicuring room, where OPI techs apply and test products, and a marketing room, where they shoot a lot of their social content.

As we geared up for the factory portion of our tour to begin, we were given super sexy safety goggles. I immediately proceeded to take a selfie, obviously. We took a second to shoot a pic of our nails together, and our tour guide Sergio got in on the mani shot too (see above)!

Words can't properly express the experience of seeing OPI products being assembled, filled, and packed! You've just got to go watch the video at the top of the post, if you haven't already. Everything was so efficient... and seeing those polishes in mass quantities made my eyes get reallllll wiiiiide.

What do you think? Was it like you envisioned it? I know I was surprised by how non-industrialized everything seemed. OPI ships to 125+ countries internationally, and yet every single polish is manufactured in this one location. I couldn't believe that!

As Miss Pop said, the tour was the nail addict equivalent of getting the golden ticket and going on the Willy Wonka factory tour! I'm so thankful to have been able to have this opportunity, and I want to give a huge thanks to Jaq and Sergio who helped make the day amazing.

Nail School Weeks 6, 7, & 8: Ready, Steady, Acrylics!

Nail School Weeks 6, 7, & 8: Ready, Steady, Acrylics!

nail school

In weeks six through eight, we really focused on honing our acrylic skills in preparation for the full evaluation. In addition to our regular daily clients, we practiced our acrylic sculpting on classmates, our mannequin hands, and our skill sticks. My class has been progressing at different rates; for me, my full acrylic evaluation came at the beginning of week eight.

Pink and white fever
We made quite a bit of headway in our pink-and-white sculpted acrylics. We practiced choosing the right nail forms for each individual's nail beds, and then did some drills on the various stages of sculpting. We did a full set of acrylics on our mannequin hands. We continued to work on our skill sticks to get the fundamentals of sculpting down pat!

At my school, we have two acrylic evaluations before we are released to do them for clients. The first is a three-finger evaluation on one of our fellow classmates, which you can see below. No oil is to be applied, as the instructors need to be able to see the nails as they are! My three finger evaluation went okay, though I know there were (and are) areas I had to improve on.

Once you pass your three finger evaluation, you have to bring in a model to perform a full set in two hours. I brought in my dear mommy! She sat like a champ as I went over the two hour time limit by about a half an hour. You can see my completed set below. Not too shabby for my first go, eh? I passed the evaluation and immediately was assigned a client for another full set! Nerve-wracking!

I also began doing acrylic fills at this time, and was given my first demo with the electric file. We don't use it for much, but there are certain circumstances that require it.

I imagine that my updates will become much more infrequent from now on! I think going forward, it will be a lot of client work and honing previous skills, versus learning brand new ones. We'll see!

Is It Spring Yet? This Linework Nail Art Seems to Think So!

Is It Spring Yet? This Linework Nail Art Seems to Think So!

favorite freehand gradient green holographic indie polish kbshimmer linework nail art purple sponging tribal white

Spring is a lovely time, isn't it? I think it may be my favorite season. Besides the gorgeous temperatures and blooming flora, spring brings us PASTEL NAIL POLISH! Pastels are seriously my jam... I think they suit my pale skin but also bring a certain cheerfulness that nudes just can't compete with.

KBShimmer is on the same page, and is coming in strong for spring. Their newest collection includes crellies, holos, and cremes in a color palette sure to make your nails bloom.

Polishes used:
KBShimmer Ins and Sprouts
KBShimmer Thistle Be the Day
White polish

I began by painting my nails with two coats of Ins and Sprouts. I didn't put down a base coat, which proved to be a costly mistake, as it is definitely a stainer on its own.

Then, I used a triangle makeup wedge to sponge on a gradient of Thistle Be the Day. I did four or five rounds of sponging to achieve the opacity you see here. Something to note is that sponging these shades together actually diminished the holo effect; both polishes are ultra mega super holo in their natural state.

The final step was to add the white markings! I painted them freehand with a small nail art brush and sealed the look in with topcoat.

This nail art really got a lot of complements, and it was fairly quick to accomplish. The formulas on the holographic shades were easy to work with, smooth, and quick drying, though be sure you wear a base coat with Ins and Sprouts to avoid staining.

KBShimmer is available for purchase from KBShimmer.com in the US and Harlow & Co for international orders. You can also keep up with the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Plum and Honey, with a Pattern Pictorial

Plum and Honey, with a Pattern Pictorial

favorite freehand geometric grey lvx nail art purple

Japanese nail art is so inspiring to me. Lately, I've been seeing a lot of honeycomb shapes with extremely fine lines, and I wanted to give them a shot for myself. Though I know most Japanese nail artists work with gel, I thought I'd give the pattern a go with regular polish. It was definitely a challenge, but I was pretty happy with the way they turned out.

The trickiest part was figuring out how I wanted to approach the honeycomb pattern. Here's the order that I ended up using for the linework.

I used two polishes:
LVX Mineral
LVX Vamp

The pattern was painted freehand with an Edinburgh Realism 3/4 brush from Stylish Nail Art Shop. It took a while at first, but then I got into the geometric groove and it went a bit more quickly. This is one of those patterns that would also work really well as an accent nail, if you don't want to commit to a full hand of linework.

I know the lines can look a little hairy in macro mode, but they really came together in person. Thems the breaks!

P.S. If anyone is in the Los Angeles area, I will be at the Rite Aid on Sunset from 12-5pm tomorrow (Saturday the 21st) doing nail art with Work/Play/Polish and Julie G! Come by and say hello! Full details here.

Neon Glow In the Dark Nail Polish by Serum No. 5

Neon Glow In the Dark Nail Polish by Serum No. 5

glow in the dark indie polish neon rainbow serum no. 5

Here's a combination of words that's sure to get you excited... Neon. Glow in the dark. Nail polish. Serum No. 5 has you covered on all three bases with their line of neon glow shades, and while a couple of them dry a little bumpier than others, these glows are sure to find a place in everyone's heart.

I Gleam In Pink is a hot pink creme shade that glows orange in the dark. I used two coats for the coverage shown here. This is one of the more naturally textured shades in the bunch. You'll likely need at least two coats of topcoat if you want to get it nice and smooth.

Indi-Glo is my faaaaavorite. This gorgeous bright cobalt blue glows blue in the dark and covers perfectly in two coats. It also has one of the smoothest finishes, with the final look barely affected by the glow pigment.

Infrared is a bright orange-red that glows magenta/violet in the dark. I used two coats for the coverage here. I had a hard time seeing the glow of this one with my naked eye, and it was tough to capture in photos, as well. It has a pretty high texture, so you may need an extra coat of topcoat to smooth it out.

Krypton-Brite is a neon green shade that glows green in the dark. I used three coats for the coverage shown here and it was nicely smooth, with a finish that seems virtually unaffected by the glow pigment.

Orange You Sunny is a neon orange shade that glows orange-yellow in the dark. I used two coats for the coverage shown below. The texture from the glow pigment was not too noticeable in this one, and I love the color.

Solar Power is a neon yellow shade that glows yellow-green in the dark. I love yellows! I used three coats for the coverage here. The glow texture on this one was VERY low, it applied very smoothly, and it glowed brightly in the dark. A winner, if you ask me!

Ultra Violet is a purple shade with a dash of teeny blue flecks that glows indigo in the dark. You can see the little glitters in the photo below, but in person, they all but disappear. I used two coats here and the polish applied smoothly.

So, we've discussed the texture that may accompany these shades due to the nature of the glow pigment. If it's a dealbreaker for you, stick with Indi-Glo, Solar Power, and Krypton-Brite, as those were the smoothest in my experience. Ultra Violet and Orange You Sunny were slightly more textured, though still pretty smooth, while Infrared and I Gleam In Pink had the roughest finish straight out of the bottle.

Due to the nature of these shades, they may dry matte as well. I've used topcoat for all of my swatches here to give them a glossy appearance.

Serum No. 5 shades are available via www.serumno5.com. You can also catch the brand on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Disclosure: Products provided for review. All opinions are my own.

Nail School Week 5: Acrylics Ahoy!

Nail School Week 5: Acrylics Ahoy!

nail school

In week five, while we continued to work on an occasional client, we also began learning the fundamentals of acrylic sculpting. The first four weeks of school mostly covered services that I have some basic experience with, but when it comes to acrylic, it's all new to me! I definitely had some struggles at first, but things have steadily improved.

Acrylics here we come
My school puts a big emphasis on sculpting acrylic nails from scratch instead of doing plastic tips overlaid with acrylic, so we started learning the basics of sculpting on our skill sticks. The first stick we used is the one with the black nail forms pre-attached. As you can see, my early attempts were kind of a hot mess. That's ok though -- it's the first time I had ever done it!

The second skill stick comes without the forms pre-attached, so you can put your own nail forms on and then sculpt off the edge of the dowel. By the time we had graduated to the second stick, I had gotten a bit more confident in the basics of sculpting. We also learned how to file/buff our acrylics up to a high shine.

L: My first attempts at acrylic sculpting on my level 1 skill stick, R: Showing improvement on the level 2 skill stick

Jazzing it up
We also got some fun nail art demos this week! One of our instructors showed us how to work with colored acrylics and pigments to create unique sculpted nail designs, while another instructor showed us how to do ten different gel nail art techniques.

I was the model for the colored acrylic nails, so here's my right hand with three long acrylics. It was strange, to say the least. I am not used to having my nails that length!

L: My hand after serving as the model for a colored acrylics demo, R: Ten gel nail art technique demonstrations

Well that's...handy

Additionally, we continued to practice our tip blending and fiber wrap services on our mannequin hands. Though my school discourages the use of tips, it is a required service for state boards.

Here are my three ladies! I asked Instagram to help me name them, and my favorite suggestions were Chanail, Clawdia, and Felicia. My next hand will probably be named Regina Phalange. Say hello!

I'm actually getting this recap out on time this week, which means that week six starts today. We'll begin sculpting acrylics on our fellow classmates and our mannequin hands.

Thank you all for your positive feedback on this series! I'm having a blast writing it. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions; I'd be happy to answer them if I can!

Nail School Week 4: Graduating to the Client Floor

Nail School Week 4: Graduating to the Client Floor

nail school

Week four of nail school introduced us to actual clients, as well as rockstar gels, acrylic liquid and powder, and more. I even did a gel manicure for my instructor! I'm totally having a blast in school, and it's great to finally be on the floor working with real customers.

Manicuring and pedicuring evaluations
On this first day of week four, we were asked to perform a manicure and pedicure on a model to determine if we got to graduate to the client floor (where you work with real, paying customers). I asked my friend Jess to come in and she graciously obliged.

We had two hours to do a basic manicure and a basic pedicure, polishing both red and French to show that we can neatly and successfully do both. I passed the evaluation and had my first client that very afternoon!

Client work
I had some great clients for my first week! I did a few pedicures (one with a cute glitter accent toe), which went well, but the real moment of truth was when my instructor and owner of the school asked me to do her gel manicure before she went out of town that weekend. I was pretty nervous, to say the least, but it went well!

L: The acrylic exercise sheet, R: My gel manicure on my instructor

More work to be done
Just because we're working with clients now doesn't mean that we're done in the classroom! We still received a couple of new techniques to perfect...

• Rockstar gel manicures: We learned how to do everyone's favorite super blingy glitter gels and get them to a perfectly glassy smooth finish! I haven't had a chance to perform rockstars on anyone yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.
• Continuing cuticle work education: One of our instructors is very passionate about clean cuticle work! We got a few more demonstrations on how to get the nail plate super clean and prepped for services.
• Learning to work with acrylic products: This week we got a peek into what week five would have in store. We began to work with our acrylic liquid and powder systems, learning how to handle the brush and place the beads of product. We used a plastic covered worksheet to get familiar and experiment with consistency.

We also had our test on chemistry at the end of week four, which I passed with flying colors!

We All Know the Sharks In Katy Perry's Halftime Show Were the Real Super Bowl MVPs

We All Know the Sharks In Katy Perry's Halftime Show Were the Real Super Bowl MVPs

blue favorite freehand gradient jinsoon lvx nail art opi pop culture sponging yellow

Look, I enjoy football and all, but I think we can all agree that the dancing sharks in Katy Perry's halftime show were the true stars of the game. Their enthusiasm, their gaping jaws, their flailing limbs (including legs)...they just couldn't be beat. Every time the camera cut away from them, our entire family screamed at the TV to put the sharks back on. Who needs beach ball boobs?

Of course, I had to do some nail art honoring their majesty.

View image | gettyimages.com

Polishes used:
LVX Lemondrop
OPI Good Grief!
JINsoon Cool Blue
Salon Perfect Sugar Cube
Formula X Dark Matter

I began by sponging on a subtle gradient base of pale yellow to bright yellow. I wanted something bright and cheerful, like the sharks, that wouldn't distract from their perfection.

Then, I painted the sharks freehand over the base. I was giggling the whole time I was painting these, truly! They are just so full of joy!

Do you agree with me that the dancing sharks were the best part of the game? I need a good shot of them to use as my computer wallpaper!