My First Complete Glitter Placement Manicure

There is #ThrowBackThursday for nail art, right? Haha... if you're a blogger, you might feel me. I did these nails 2 weeks ago but just never got to posting them on the blog. There were reviews that needed to get done and bigger, better nail arts to post. xD But alas, I decided I will show you all my first complete glitter placement manicure because it didn't turn out that bad. :O 

JORD Wooden Watch Review + Pink Shattered Glass Nails

Hello my friends! You all know how I love nail art, right? Well, pretty jewelry to go with your nail art is always something that I love too. <3 Today, I have for you a super spiffy watch by JORD, which is a luxury wood watch company based in the United States. Of course I have nail art to match too so keep reading for more photos and information! 

Cora Watch in Purple Heart & Pearl by JORD

This wood is just so beautiful. 

Fancy watches get to have fancy nails to match. ;) Do you like these pink shattered glass nails?

Gold Glitter Gradient

Hello, hello my friends! :D I am super pleased to return with a much more festive nail art look than last time. ;) Today I have for you an easy black and gold glitter gradient which would ring in the New Year beautifully -- you know me, simple yet pretty party nails are the way to go! 

This is my first time doing a gold glitter gradient and I am LOVIN' the way it looks on black. <3

Ombre Loose Glitter Nails (+ Tutorial)

Hey everyone! I finally am updating my Loose Glitter Nails Tutorial that I originally posted 2 years ago! Wow, has it really been that long?! This is a lengthy post but it's filled with lots of helpful pictures. :) If you're interested in learning how to use the loose glitter just laying around your home to make really pretty nails, then keep reading! 

Streets of Gold by First Loved Designs

Hello everyone! I am finally back from vacationing on Orcas Island and have time to post my all time favorite gold glitter polish. ;D Say hello to Streets of Gold by First Loved Designs! Words cannot express how beautiful and sparkly this gold polish is but pictures might be able to. ;) Keep reading to view even more photos. 

Shattered Glass Nail Tutorial

Hey, hey guys! Do you remember those legit shattered glass nails I made last month? That mani is one of my favorite manicures of the year and it seemed to be very popular on Instagram too! I was asked by a ton of people to create a tutorial on how I made those shattered glass nails, so here it is. :) I wanted to make a video tutorial but I still don't have the time/equipment so you're going to have to settle for a super picture-heavy pictorial. I am warning you! Haha this tutorial has a TON of photos. It's not hard at all but I just really liked taking photos of glitter. ;) No joke. So if you're interested in making your nails look like a broken mirror, keep reading! <3

Shattered Glass Nails -- For this tutorial, I used gold! <3

Shattered Glass

I freaking love glitter. It literally makes everything better.

 

Today I have for you some shattered glass nails that were inspired by Anna over at her blog AnnaT Nails. I did these nails Tuesday and I honestly don't ever want to take these off... Keep reading to see some legit pictures of this mani but I am warning you now, when I say picture spam, I mean it! ;)

Blue Mermaid Scales

Huuuuuzzzzaaaahhh! :D I finally did it guys. I bought some large loose glitter and slapped it on my nails to create some mermaid scale nails! <3 I was I was inspired to do this glitter placement by Laura, the queen of glitter placement. ;) Her blog is Polish All The Nails and you should totally check it out. I was also asked to do this by a gal at school -- she was so cute! I had my spider nails still on for Halloween and the first she did was come up to me and just grab my hands. Then she commented that it was really cool to see my nails in person since she only sees them on Instagram. xD It was seriously the best compliment ever. :) She asked if I could do some mermaid nails so I hope these turned out to be "mermaid theme" enough for you. ;) Keep reading to figure out what products I used and for more pictures of these sparkles! ;D 

The Nails I Did NOT Wear To The Wedding

I know I'm taking a short break from the ABC Nail Challenge but don't worry, I have a ton of great ideas for the next few letters. ;) I've been talking a lot about the wedding and I'm sorry but I'm just so excited! I love this couple and their entire family -- we've been friends for a LONG time. :) They couple has been together for TEN years so it's about time for them to get hitched. ;) Yesterday I helped set up and I'll be helping today too we got to look good. xD I was trying to have my manicure match my outfit for today but it just wasn't working... I still LOVE this glitter gradient though! It just seemed too much like fall and I wanted something more summer-y for tonight's mani. I'll show you my outfit tomorrow and what I ended up having on my nails. But let's take a quick look at this reverse glitter gradient (or as some call it, a mermaid mani).

 

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I'm so sorry that my posts are short and not as well developed as I want them to be but you gotta remember that it's summer break and I'm on vacation with the family/I haven't been back home for the last week and a half. Soooo! This is my super quick 4th of July mani that I did using ONLY Fireworks & Freedom by Laquerlicious and a clear top coat just for the shine. ;) You can by Fireworks & Freedom for only $5 right now so get it before it's gone. ;) Check out THIS blog post for more pictures by the way. ;) Anyway! So here is my patriotic glitter gradient mani. :)

Glitter Gradient Tutorial

I. Am. Officially. Out. Of. School. [for the summer ;)] Yaaaaaaaay! I am so relieved! Now I just have to get done with the rest of this busy week and on Friday, I will once again be very happy ;) So what do I have for you today? Oh just a really simple nail glitter gradient tutorial using pink polish. (Don't judge. I have a ton of pink nail polishes!) So take a look at my completed glitter gradient nails to see if you want to learn how to make your own! ;)

 

Spit Fire by Pure Ice

I am not bailing on this trend of Sunday's Swatch! I actually love doing this post a LOT because sometimes I put on a color, take photos, and just ain't feeling it for nail art so I end up taking it off.. XD So I have a ton of swatches and it's just a matter of hmmm.. which one do I show this week? Well, in this case I decided to go with Spit Fire by Pure Ice! (I don't know what my whole obsession with pink has been... It's INSANE. Everything I've done has pink in it the last few manis.. Meh! Showing you all my girly side. :)) So let's take a look at some swatch spam and maybe a little diamond nail art tutorial..? ;)

 

Silver Glitter Review {From KKcenterHK}

Hey guys! I hoped you liked my Glitter Placement Tutorial from yesterday. :) I briefly showed off my fabulous new silver glitters that I received from KKcenterHK.com and I'd like to flaunt them even more. So keep reading for my review on these silver circle glitters which you can buy for yourself HERE!

Glitter Placement Tutorial

Hey there! Have you ever had chunky craft glitter just laying around the house that you rarely use??! Yeah. That's me. Right here. But do you also love cute nails? Yup. You've come to the right spot. Today I'm going to show you an awesome way to use up some of that loose glitter to add to your nails and it's totally going to spice up any look! So let's get started. ;)


 

Here is just one example of how your nails could look like when you're done! The possibilities of this technique are endless :) So keep reading if you're interested!

And maybe just a bit more magic?

Hehe hey guys! After Amanda from Fashion Footing guest posted for me with a swatch of Santa's Magic by Finger Paints, I needed to use mine again! I am obsessed with this glitter... It's so sad. So go ahead and take look at the few bottle shots and nail shots of this legit glitter nail polish!

 

Loose Glitter Nails Tutorial

*Drum roll please* Bzzzz.. Why hello ladies! :D Yes, it is time to learn how to create some beautiful glitter nails using your own loose glitter. Before you even start to try this tutorial, I beg to you read the previous post "Glitter Check" because this will ensure you that you won't end up accidentally using "bad" glitters that will ruin your entire manicure. :( And also reading the "Glue Base Method" to remove glitter nail polish would be VERY helpful. :) Don't worry, I'll make sure that the most important parts of what you need to know will be in this tutorial, but the other 2 posts would be helpful and more in depth. But enough talk, let's create some sparkly nails using your loose glitter just laying around the house! This is really nice because I don't like "wasting" my money on glitter nail polish... Com'mon, $2+ dollars on one bottle? I suppose if you use it a lot, then it's worth the money, but I rarely use glitter myself. :) Besides, in my opinion, using your own glitter is a lot more fun and makes your nails prettier than if you'd just use glitter nail polish. So take a look below and if you're interested in learning how to make these, let's get started!

Glitter Check?

First of all -- I'M BACK!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am SO SORRY girls for not posting in like... forever. I just got extremely busy and when I want to do an awesome tutorial (can anyone say LOOSE GLITTER NAILS?!), I'm not going to give up! Yes it's going to be like one of those step-by-step nail tutorials like my Newspaper Nails because I can't show you how to do it the "right" way in just a few measly picture steps! So I have literally a 15-picture "show" to present to you TOMORROW! ;) (I really should start making videos, but I just don't have a decent video taping camera at the moment. Perhaps in a few years? ;)) But anyway, I just also wanted to go over an overview of tomorrow's nails and the frequently asked questions and answers, mainly about the glitter. So if you have a question, hopefully I'll be able to answer it here.

Q: Loose glitter nails... what?
A: Yes. You heard me right. We are going to have loose glitter on our nails. What's the point? (Hey, I'm asking myself a question!) Umm, because it's really pretty and you might not have enough glitter nail polish. ;)

Q: Doesn't the glitter get EVERYWHERE?!?!
A: Very important question! If you do it the right way, no. The glitter will stay only on your nails. The process of getting it on there.. that's another story. But hopefully when you do create these beautiful nails, you have newspaper around your area so clean up will be easy! And I'm just going to start predicting your next question on HOW DO YOU GET THE GLITTER TO STAY?!! (That's what you were going to ask next, don't deny it. ;)) Well, with a little bit of white Elmer's glue and a little bit of clear nail polish, it'll stay on perfectly. I'll get into the details tomorrow!

Q: How in the heck do you take it off?!
A: Check out the easiest way to remove glitter here. This is going to be your very base before you put ANY polish on. Just trust me. Once again, I'll explain the details tomorrow. :)

Q: How long exactly will it stay on?
A: I had mine on for about 4 days but got bored with them so I peeled them off (it's so fun... ;) I love the glue method :)), but I'm sure it'll stay on longer if you really wanted them to.

Q: Where did you buy the glitter?
A: This glitter is the "Recollections" brand which I just bought at Michael's. I think I got 16 bottles (not sure exactly how many ounces, but it's A LOT of glitter) for like $14. I'm sure though most any store will have glitter and you can use virtually anything. Well... we'll get to that. ;) That's actually the MAIN point of this post is to show which glitters work and which ones don't.

So speaking of which glitters work and don't work... Let's get talking about that subject! It's hard to explain in words to find a glitter that doesn't have the dyes "bleed" by checking with clear nail polish. Making sure your glitters won't bleed is crucial for this tutorial because on the nails, you're going to have to put multiple and I mean like 8+ coats of clear nail polish on your nails. And THAT is what keeps the glitters in and makes it really shiny and pretty. So what glitters should I use?

If you already have some glitter in mind that you'd just LOVE to put on your nails, let's make sure first that it's a "good" glitter. First place just a little bit of your glitter onto a scrap piece of paper. (Make sure the paper is kinda thick or fold it in half to make it thick so just in case it's a BAD glitter, the colors won't leak everywhere). And by a good glitter, I mean one that doesn't bleed out the colors and get all messy! This will be the 2nd time I've tried out the loose glitter nails, and the first time I wanted this gorgeous purple. But let's watch at my fail... 

Now with a clear nail polish (I used just a clear by Color Club, but ANY clear polish will work), just place a drop onto your glitter. Watch for it, watch for it! 

And see as I swirl this gorgeous purple around, it bleeds this yucky magenta! Perhaps under other circumstances, I would actually enjoy this color. But remember, when I first did this, this glitter was ON my nails and the clear nail polish brush turned this color too... Yuck. That was a heart breaker. I hope you can see this color is a BAD GLITTER to use for this technique. So let's try some more glitters. And by the way, this is Muse by Recollections, so it's not only the brand, it's the also the color. 

And here I have in the middle is a pretty medium pink called Raspberry and the gorgeous dark blue is Marine, also by Recollections. I don't have glitter from other brands, so if you do try the tutorial I'm going to post tomorrow, so let me know what brand of glitter you used! And if it was chunky or fine! I really want some chunky gold glitter nails, maybe for Christmas! :D Anyway. Here are 2 other glitters we're going to try and see if they're good or bad. 

Drop of clear nail polish 

Swirl around with a pencil (toothpick, cotton swap, or whatever you have) and lookie here! Neither the pink NOR the blue bleed! Yay!! We have some winners!

 

So the whole point of testing the glitters were to make sure when you put them on your nail, it won't get really gross and messy like what the purple did. I wish I did this before when I first tried this out! Be sure to test your glitters!! :D And last question you're going to ask is..... What are we going to learn tomorrow?!?

Does this look appealing enough to you? Yeah, I have better pictures of the end project, but just look at that glitter!! This is PERFECT for one of those dances or parties you'll be chilling out at or just want to play with glitter because... Glitter makes everything better. Everything. Okay. Maybe not everything... Meh. MOSTLY everything. ;) So! Until TOMORROW, Your Polish Pal, Jenna

 

And let me know if you have anymore questions by emailing me at yaypolishparty@gmail.com, KIK @PolishPals, or Instagram @PolishPals. :) I'd be happy to add to this post! So just let me know! <3

How To Take Glitter Nail Polish Off With Ease (Tutorial)

And here is my promised tutorial on how to take glitter off with ease! No more worries about using the tin foil method or wasting A LOT of time to scrub your manicure off with a cotton ball and acetone. All you need is a little white glue. ;) Sounds weird huh? But it totally makes sense! Think about the times in kindergarten when you made a mess with all that white glue just because you didn’t have a glue stick. And then you just rubbed your hands together to peel off that glue! Well, it’s essentially the same with your nails ;) So just trust me on this and try it yourself! Let's get started! I can't really explain much else. xD

1. Start with your naked nail. ;) Don't have anything on it!
2. Add a drop of glue. Just enough to cover your nail.
3. I just used my other finger to help spread the glue across my entire nail - cover everywhere. :)
4. Wait until the glue dries completely! It'll turn clear and no longer sticky.
5. Paint your design. I just have some chunky glitter that without this method, would take FOREVER to take off. ;) So I dare you, get your hardest glitter nail polish and wear it for once without worrying about the clean up! :D
6. When you are done with your design and want to finally take it off, just scrape off your nail polish. It works. ;) I just used my thumb on my other hand and it came off.
7. Continue to scrap it all off.
8. AND YOUR GLITTER MANI JUST CAME OFF IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. WOAH.
9. Here is the excess nail polish off of my thumb! :D

Here is the glue that I used. :) Just plain old Elmer's glue :)

Before ;) 

After! :D Okay, as you can see, this method doesn't take off EVERYTHING, but it takes off most of the nail polish as you can see. ;) Just use a cotton ball with nail polish remover (acetone) or a q-tip to get rid of everything. ;)

 

I hope that you try this method ASAP because it makes life so much easier! :) Let me know if it works for you! I wouldn't suggest doing a lot of washing or using water with this underneath your nails because the the design may get washed off. :) (NOTE: This problem did NOT happen to me! I had my loose glitter nails on for FOUR days and I used this glue base method and obviously I had to shower, wash dishes, etc. Basically, my hands went through a lot. AND THE LOOSE GLITTER STILL STAYED ON. The tutorial is a different story.. but yes, loose GLITTER stayed on my nails for FOUR days until I decided to take them off. It may have been because I added a topcoat to the glue and THEN did my design or just painted my nails, but for me, even when I get my nails wet or go through wear and tear, my nail polish stayed on perfectly. I've just heard this problem with others but wanted to let you guys know that FOR ME, this glue base stays on until I decided to peel it off. And also, I learned that you have to apply a generous amount of glue, but not TOO much in order to have the entire nail polish come off in one peel! It's pretty awesome! It just takes a lot of practice, so that's why I'd suggest just doing ONE nail first to practice! I should probably create a YouTube tutorial on this.. What do you think? And P.S. My nails look A LOT cleaner than that now.. that was in the beginning when I didn't know a lot about how to take care of my nails. I'll show you all my "care" tips soon! But anyway, do try this method in order to take of that pesky glitter nail polish super fast and easy! Note added: 12/19/2012).

 

Well, this is the best way to remove glitter nail polish for me and this is defiantly what I'll be using from now on. So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)