Girly Glittery Nails: Sally Hansen Big Money and Essie Nice is Nice

So you know those awesome Sally Hansen Gem Crush shades that were recently released? I've been having quite a bit of fun with these ever since I bought them in the USA - they're great not just alone, but also lots of fun when layered. Just check out my latest mani as a case in point!



I was going for a pretty pastel look, so I layered Sally Hansen Big Money over Essie Nice is Nice. Essie Nice is Nice was from last year's Spring collection, but it's a very timeless pastel purple creme.



Sally Hansen Big Money consists of small gold glitter and larger (but not too large) light purple glitter in a clear base. This would probably be fully opaque in 3 coats if worn alone, but I was going for a gradient effect, so I just sponged it onto my tips. I just used a kitchen sponge, no fancy equipment. And yes, I still can't get my gradient right. It makes me sad.



Best part? I got em both on sale! I got the Sally Hansen Gem Crush shades when they were buy-one-get-one-50%-off, and I got Essie Nice is Nice from Marshalls for US$3.50! Score! It really made the cheapskate in me happy, it did.



Anyway, I like the overall look - it's a very pretty and office-appropriate way of wearing the glitters that are a mainstay of Spring and Summer collections. Now, if only I could nail the gradient technique properly...

Easter Nail Art: Pastel and White Stripes!

Look at my Easter nail art for this year! It's all pastel-ly and stripe-y and totally inspired by the shades and designs of easter eggs! Although it's pretty simple, I really like how it looks. I know it isn't the most original nail art out there (if I'm not wrong, there are TONS of people doing Easter stripes nail art too), but I feel like for once, I actually did freehand nail art without screwing it up (too much), so this look is special to me!

For the base I used RBL Lulu for the pink, Illamasqua Jo'mina for the purple, Nails Inc Spring Mews for the green, and Maybelline Banana Puddin' for the yellow. I don't have that many pastels, so this was about it I think. Still, I was glad that they worked together without clashing or anything. For the stripes, I just used this LA Colors white striper that I got from another nail blogger sometime ago (I believe it was Scandalously Polished, but her blog is no longer up. *sobs*). I was worried that the striper would be too sheer, but it turned out alright.



Being pastels, some of these shades had difficult application - that's the thing about pastels, for some reason, they're always trickier to apply than un-pastel colours. Nails Inc Spring Mews and Illamasqua Jo'mina were good, and fully opaque in two coats. (I've actually featured Nails Inc Spring Mews before, not just once, but twice, for my Valentine's Day nails, and I've also blogged about Illamasqua Jo'mina too.) RBL was sort of a two-and-a-half-coater, meaning that it was opaque in two coats, but still streaky, so I had to use three to even everything out. Maybelline Banana Puddin' was just a pain in the behind to polish - it needed a full four coats before it was opaque and not streaky. (I've actually complained about Maybelline Banana Puddin' before, but in the end I just put up with the application for the colour...it's hard to find a yellow that looks great on my skintone.)



Anyway, despite the painful application on some of the colours, I really love my Easter manicure. It's not particularly original, or perfect, but I'm really loving it. I know Easter isn't really all about eggs and bunnies and things like that (it really has a much deeper meaning to it that's so powerful), but I figure that anyway I can celebrate Easter on my fingers can't be bad.