Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf

Red Dog Designs released a huge Doctor Who collection celebrating the show's 50th anniversary, and although there's quite a few I want, I grabbed this one to start. Frankly, I know nothing about Doctor Who; I just love the polish!

Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf

According to Red Dog Designs,  Bad Wolf contains "various sized hex, square, and circle glitters, in shades of pink, magenta, and purple, sprinkled with micro holo glitter, in a clear base with 21 Different Glitters." HOLY COW. 

I love everything about this polish and I have grown to love these large circle glitters. I'm also more partial to sparkly glitter over matte, so this was perfect for me. Glitter came out great and I had no issues getting out the larger circles. Like with all my glitters, I turn the bottle upside down ten minutes prior to use so the heavier glitter go to the top of the bottle.

I have layered 1 coat of Bad Wolf over 2 coats of Dior Graphic Berry 671 on my index, middle, and pinky. I'm wearing Dior Creoles 678 on my thumb and ring. Both have flawless application. Creoles has the tiniest bit of hidden shimmer, but it's very hidden. 

 

Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf

Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf

Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf

Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf

Red Dog Designs Bad Wolf, with flash

You can purchase this polish for $10 at Red Dog Designs web site HERE. I still have quite a few Doctor Who polishes that I want from her collection. These also come with a special silver cap and anniversary sticker, so it's a nice collector's piece.

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Laissez les bons temps rouler! Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Hi all! Hope you enjoy the last night of Mardi Gras. I so yearn those of you in the south. It's 20 degrees but feels like 8 up here. Ouch. Not much for celebrating, but I love the colors, music, and atmosphere of the event---so if you're down south, enjoy! Here's both my Mardi Gras manis together, first! You will want to enlarge all of these!

Red Dog Designs came out with a limited edition polish for Mardi Gras called Harlequin Ball, which is only available for March. I love this polish so much! The diamonds, both large and small, the circle glitters, and micro glitter make the most awesome glitter topper with tons of holographic sparkle. I see myself using this all the time! I used 1.5 coats (I'm anal about glitter placement) over two coats of Accessorize Dragonfly, which I bought in London.
 
On my other nails, I did harlequin outfit nails. I followed the tutorial from Nail Nerd but mine are not nearly as good! I free handed them all but I'm sure tape or stamping is easier.

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

The green is two coats of Illamasqua Omen. The purple is two coats of Illamasqua Poke. And the gold is two coats of OPI L.A.M.B. with one coat of OPI Goldeneye.
  
I then got fancy and took out my Mardi Gras beads from when I went a few years ago! Hope you enjoy my "artistic" pictures.

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

Mardi Gras Harlequin Nails

You can purchase Red Dog Designs Hareliquin Ball and her other Mardi Gras LE King Cake, HERE for $10.  

One more time:  Laissez les bons temps rouler!

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Mardi Gras Skittle Manicure

I have a minor obsession with New Orleans and somewhere in a past life, I must have lived there. Growing up around one of the largest cities in the US and the world, I fell in love with the "small city" feel when I visited Louisiana and New Orleans. 

Anywho, Mardi Gras has actually been going on for weeks; most of us know of it as Fat Tuesday, which is actually the culmination of Mardi Gras! I was so stuck on doing pink/girly manicures for February, Mardi Gras just slipped through the cracks. But here is my first manicure. I will post the other one tomorrow, on Fat Tuesday! 

This has a lot of polishes, so I will list them on the bottom of this post. Rather than art, I went with a color scheme and then did a pair of beads...they are broken because I cannot tell you how many broken necklaces I caught at parades! Enlarge the photos to see the color combinations better.

Mardi Gras Skittle Manicure

Mardi Gras Skittle Manicure

 

Mardi Gras Skittle Manicure, with flash to show sparkle

Index and Pinky: China Glaze LOL (purple), China Glaze GR8 (gold), Cirque Polish Lonesome George (green) gradient, topped with Red Dog Designs Here Comes the Parade

Middle: Base is Illamasqua Baptiste. Beads are Illamasqua Seance (purple) and Omen (green) and Zoya Ziv (gold)

Index: Base is Julie G Gift of Gold. Saran Wrap technique using Kiko 643 Spring Green, Zoya Solange, Zoya Carter, Julie G Sugar Plum Fairies, Julie G Mistletoe

Thumb: Base is Kiko 643 Spring Green. Saran Wrap technique using JulieG Gift of Gold, Zoya Solange, Zoya Carter, Julie G Sugar Plum Fairies, Julie G Mistletoe

For a bonus picture, I used a black light since the two Illamasqua polishes I used as beads are supposed to be UV sensitive. Cool, right? Sorry it's so grainy!

Mardi Gras Skittle Manicure under Black Light

 
Phew! So that's everything! See you tomorrow for my harlequin nails!

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Texture Saran Wrap Tutorial

I got such a great response to my post on Friday, that I whipped up this tutorial quickly. This is an awesome EASY technique to do Mardi Gras nails. I just used these colors as an accent to my first Mardi Gras manicure (which I will post tomorrow) and trust me, it is gorgeous. I hope you show me how you do these nails--no matter the color scheme.

Texture Saran Wrap Tutorial

First, you will need to pick your texture colors. You can use only 2, but 3 gives the look extra depth. Below I have Zoya Carter, JulieG Gift of Gold, and Kiko 643 (Spring Green) Sugar Mat. Actually, I used these three on my nails with Gift of Gold as the base and IT'S AWESOME. Also, feel free to use more colors! I used 6 on my Mardi Gras mani and it's gorgeous. After you pick your colors, rip off a piece of saran wrap (or cling wrap) and roll it into a ball. See photos below.

Texture Saran Wrap Tutorial

Texture Saran Wrap Tutorial

First, paint your base with 1-2 coats depending on opacity. Even if it's a sheerer texture, don't do three coats. You will be covering up the imperfections. Let this dry for 10-15 minutes.

Step 1: Paint base color

After your polish has dried, uncap all your polishes as it makes it easier to grab the colors. You need to work fast and texture polishes dry quickly. Once all polishes are uncapped, add random dots with the polish brush. Don't worry how close or far away you put them or how big or small, the saran wrap will do the work.

Sorry for the blurry photo but you need to work fast!

Step 2: Add dots of polish with polish brush

After you add the dots of polish , take your ball of saran wrap and dab onto the polish like below. This will get messy, but the look is worth it!

Step 3: Grab that saran wrap!

Step 3: Pull the saran wrap ball against the polish and pull up!

This is what the saran wrap will look like after. It will pick up the excess polish to create this stained glass/gorgeous look.

This is what the saran wrap looks like

Here's the final look! Don't top coat your nails to keep the awesome texture look. Even with the saran wrap art, the textured polish isn't extra texture-y if you follow. It feels like a normal texture polish and won't get caught. I have to warn you though, this is messy and will require clean up. The tighter you make your saran wrap ball, the less polish gets on your skin.

Step 4: The final result!

 Actually, I just found out my friend Benedicte did a saran wrap mani last year with two colors! Check out her post HERE to see how it looks with two colors---I NEED to copy her combination as it is so stunning!!

I have a feeling I will be doing this all the time! I love any new technique to use with textures since they are one of my favorite finishes. 

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Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Happy Friday! Not sure what to call this except for what it is, three  are a texture saran wrap mani and two nails a glitter gradient. I call it...pretty.

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

First I decided that I wanted to use Model's Own Boogie Nights as a gradient. I didn't feel like having glitter on all my nails, and missed using textures so I scanned the glitter. I decided to pull out the purple, blue, and gold in the glitter to create the saran wrap mani.
For the glitter gradient nails, I started with three thin coats of Milani Totally Cool. This is an older polish and was very thin, so three coats wasn't a big deal. Because I wasn't sure how dense the glitter was, I dabbed OPI Goldeneye on the tips but you can't really see it. Lastly I dabbed on Boogie Nights.

For my other three nails, I started with two coats of Zoya Carter, a gorgeous purple texture. Allow that to dry for about ten minutes. Then using Kiko Royal Blue and JulieG Gift of Gold, I added small drops of polish randomly to my nail. I scrunched up cling wrap and simply blotted off the excess. It creates a great look. Maybe I should do a quick tutorial?

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Texture Saran Wrap and Glitter Gradient Manicure

Looks of people grabbed my nails and loved the look of the saran wrap. It's really simple, so I will show you the steps in a future post.  I feel like it looks a lot more complicated than it is. It's so fun and easy.

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