Posts Tagged ‘Nails’
How To: Remove Shellac
Shellac may just be one of the best beauty inventions. There is something about looking down at my nails and seeing them shine back at me, beaming for all the world to see. But I have found just two problems: 1) a girl who lives for polished nails cannot bear to wear the same colour for 2-3 weeks, 2) having to go to the salon to have the shellac removed seems like a waster of time and money. Since I do not Shellac often — I’m much to indecisive to settle on one lacquer colour a week — visiting the salon to have the polish removed just doesn’t seem viable. Here’s an at home solution to removing your Shellac DIY-style:
What You’ll Need:
- nail polish remover
- cotton pad, cut into six
- tin foil
- manicure stick/skewer
Simply cut the cotton pad into pieces large enough to cover your nail. Drench the cotton pad in nail polish remover, place on top of nail, and wrap end of finger in tin foil. Leave for 10+ minutes until removing tin foil and cotton. At this point the polish should be completely separated, you’ll even see that the top coat has separated from the colour. If the polish is not flaking off, leave cotton and tin foil on for a few minutes longer. Use the manicure stick to rub off any remnants of Shellac polish.
The Goods: Seche Vite Top Coat
Here’s something your mama forgot to tell you — it’s all about the top coat. After three coats (base coat, polish, polish), you think manicure dunzo, that is until you forget for one second too long the beauty-school-dropout task you’ve just completed and touch anything, thus ruining your masterpiece, and pouting about it as you layer on more and more lacquer. Don’t worry, it happened to the best of us.
Enter Seche Vite (translation dry fast). As someone who paints their nails approximately 1.436 times a week, trust me on this one, or ask my coworkers, I’ve already converted them all. Seche Vite is a gel-like top coat, that gives your nails the highest shine I have ever witnessed in a top coat. After painting one thick layer over your colour, the lacquer dries within three minutes, and will elongate your manicure on average up to five days.
No one likes chipped nails, so please save your tips the humiliation, and me the second hand embarrassment, and try out Seche Vite. This product can be found at your local beauty supply store.
Manicure Monday: GoldenEye
My fingertips are having a love affair with OPI in GoldenEye. Who can blame them really, this time of year everyone wants to be wrapped up in gold with a little extra frosting for the holidays. GoldenEye is part of the brand’s Skyfall Collection, and while I still have no plans of ever viewing the film, I will gladly wear this lacquer far into the New Year, even after the celebrations have come to a close.
This polish is the perfect gold, and with two quick coats GoldenEye dries opaque with the perfect glimmer. This sparkle acts more like a gloss that a thick sparkle, lasting about five days.
Manicure Monday: Down by the Bay
There’s no better way to celebrate summer than with a big ol’ slice of melon. I could eat watermelon all day until the seeds I’ve ingested begin to sprout and take over my body and this blog. But really, the best thing about summer is to make use of your brights. Don’t be afraid to mix and match summer hues, and update the classic French manicure.
To create a watermelon design, choose a medium pink for the base, like Essie Secret Story. Once the base colour is completely dry, place on French manicure strips and paint your tip colour on. For best results, with the most straight edges, I find it best to remove the strips immediately after applying the polish. I alternated using Zoya Arizona and Wednesday (used for watermelon rind).
Create the watermelon seeds using a toothpick dipped in black polish — alternate the size of the dots by blotting the toothpick on a piece of paper.
Manicure Monday: Marble
It’s important to me to keep my manicures simple. Since I paint my nails around twice a week the simpler and quicker the nail art design, the better. Efficiency is key in my life — why waste hours on your nails if you’ll just be disappointed when they start to chip 5 to 7 days later (only with Sèche Vite top coat of course!).
The marble mani will take you 10 to 15 minutes, and it’s a great design choice to fix up your week old manicure that has started to chip. This week I’ve been wearing Essie Splash of Grenadine — I have been searching for the perfect purple, and this one looks great and even better with the tan I acquired last weekend. Keep your favourite polish alive for a few days longer with this design.
You’ll need: two complementing lacquers & plastic wrap. Cut the plastic wrap into ten small squares and scrunch them up a little bit. If your nails are not already painted, choose a base colour and let it dry completely. Next, paint your second polish on top (I chose OPI Fly) and quickly blot your nail with plastic wrap a few times to remove the top colour, revealing the original base. You don’t want the top polish to dry so work one finger at a time.
If you think you have removed too much of the top colour, simply paint on your second polish where needed and blot again.
Manicure Monday: Pretty in Pinks
Pink nail polish is something that I can never have enough of. Unfortunately my love for shades of pink has meant my collection is seeing doubles, as I’ll often buy an amazing new rosy hue that perfectly resembles last year’s favourite.This week I decided to put all my pinks to use, mostly so none of them felt left out, and try an ombré manicure from pale to barbie to neon.
Today’s lineup: OPI in Pink Friday, OPI in Chapel of Love, NYC in Pink Pomegranate, Essie in Secret Story, Crush (from Boathouse) in Pink.
February 14th
I’m not really sure how I feel about Valentine’s Day, to be honest. While I obviously love receiving flowers and treating myself to sweets sometimes the activities surrounding the day are a little over the top. I think the best way of thinking about Valentine’s Day is by remembering to acknowledge all the amazing people in your life.
Since the person who most suites this Hallmark holiday is away on a work trip I have mostly penciled in plans of seeing The Vow with a friend and baking some treats for the drive home for the upcoming long weekend (yes Family Day!). But in the meantime I spent last night attempting to paint hearts on my nails with a bobby pin. As evidenced below, art was never my strong suit, but they also never had a nail painting class in middle school.
Initially I used OPI Suzi Takes the Wheel with a matte dark pink from Boat House (left picture, right hand). On second attempt I used Sally Hansen 6409-02 Nasturtium with the same matte pink, applying with a bobby pin. Yes, I am wearing two different polish colours, but it’s ok, it’s Valentine’s Day!
Have a great day lovelies.
Manicure Monday: A Modern Classic
This week I put a modern twist on the classic red nail. The grown-out mani is quick and easy. I used Revlon Red and base/top coat of choice — Seche Vite for me. This classic red from Revlon is my favourite, I also love the consistency of Revlon’s polishes and the feel of the brush, which is pretty important for polish-aholics. I’ve been on the search for Revlon’s new ColorStay in Mandarin and Bonsai, but it has unfortunately been stocked far and few around select pharmacies.
To create this design I used the regular polish brush and blotted a large dollop in the middle or my nail, curving the paint up from to each corner tip of my nail.
I originally saw this design on Refinery29, and since I love red thought this was the perfect alternative. Other classic hues would also look great, try black, pink and nude.
Refinery29
