Touch of Color: Black Swan Inspired

Like I have said in a previous post that I am at the moment slightly obsesses with the film "Black Swan." The last time I saw the film I got the idea to do this with my nails. The technique is called gradient and it is surprisingly easy. The main thing that you have to remember is that you must let each coat dry before continuing on with the next.  I only used 4 colors but you can use as many as you like.

Step 1: Do your base coat, I picked white.

Step 2: Once your top coat is dry, get the cosmetic wedge and apply the next color. Once you got a good amount on the wedge, but not too much, gently start applying it to you nail. Start from the tip of your nail and then go down. You might have to do this several times to get the color that you want. Wait 2 to 3 minuets, than repeat the process with the rest of the colors you are going to use.

Step 3: Again once all of the nail polish is fully dried apply the top coat 

What you need:

3 or more different nail polish
1 Cosmetic Wedge
1 Plastic Plate

Nail Polished Used:
New York Color in Little Italy
Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement
Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Gunmetal
Nail Polish from Hot Topic in Black
Sally Hansen Top Coat

Touch of Color: Water Marble Nail Art

For some time now Water Marble Nail Art videos and tutorials have been popping up on YouTube. It always seemed like to much work for me to ever actually try it out. It was not until my friend tried it out and posted her second attempt on her blog Oh Me! Oh My!

Mind you I never thought it was going to be easy, but I get these insane ideas that I can do anything. This type of mentality maybe good for things, water marble nails not so much.

I spent a few hours trying to get it down. I did one full set of nails and they came out pretty well except for a few nails. I tried to redo them, but I lost my patience with it and gave it. The frustration was just to much that I grabbed the nail polish remover and wiped away all of it. Honestly, it was very foolish of me I spent several hours on those nails and quite a lot of nail polish and it was all for nothing.

After several minutes I decided to give it another go and the results were slightly better.

Results of Attempt 1:

You might be thinking "Those aren't so bad." Well, you didn't see the rest of the nails, they weren't lovely at all.


Results of Attempt 2:

Obviously I had yet to make it look pretty.

Now, I am no expert when it comes to water marble nails, so I highly suggest you look up some different tutorials and articles on it. But I will give you a few tips that I found out and the pros and cons of doing this technique.

Items that you will need:
1. A two or more nail polishes each different color.
2. A cup or very small bowl that you don't mind getting it dirty. A plastic or paper cut works.
3. Water
4. Several toothpicks
5. Chap Stick or one of the items that I list below.
6. Lots of napkins
7. Nail polish remover
8. Q-tips
9. Cotton pads or Cotton balls

Tips:
1. It is better to use filtered water.
2. Use luke warm water, something about cold water and the nail polish just don't mix well.
3. To make sure that nail polish doesn't get all over your fingers cover them in one of the following:

• Chap Stick
• Cuticles Oil
• Baby Oil
• Vaseline
• Regular tape (I'm too scared to use this one)

4. Have a lot of napkins on hand.
5. Do it with I friend, so if you do mess up that at least you have someone there to make a joke about it and make light of the situation. It would have been nice to have someone else saying all those offensive words instead of me.

Pro:
1. It looks amazing! Very different from the usual nail art you see around.
2. Although it was a pain to deal with all the step, it was also incredibly fun.
3. It is somewhat rewarding.

Cons.
1. It is very messy.
2. You use up a lot of nail polish, especially if it is your first time trying it.
3. It is very messy.
4. Is incredibly frustrating, you must have a lot of patience to do try this out.
5. You never seem to get the design that you want as much as you try.

Touch of Color: Crackled White

China Glaze: CRACKLE Glaze in White

Cost: $5.99 to $7.00

The mission was to find the OPI Black Shattered nail polish. Missioned FAILED! On the upside I was able to snag the last CRACKLE Glaze left in the store. Of course the first thing I did when I got home was try it out and I hated the effect. 

For those that have not heard of the crackle or shatter nail polish here is a brief description; it is a top coat  that cracks when it dries. You are suppose to put a layer over the nail polish that you want to peek through. 

However, the first time I used it there was not much of any crack effect going on.I had the intention of returning it the next day, but work got in the way of that plan. 

A few days ago I had the urger while watching  'My So Called Life' to redo my nails and since, I still had the CRACKLE Glaze I gave it a second chance. The result was ten time better than the first and there was plenty of cracks all over the place. I also did some research as to why it did not work the first time as well, apparently the crack effect does not happen as vividly if you use matte nail polish, so just put a top clear coat on the under color before applying the CRACKLE Glaze.

Sorry for the low quality picture; my camera is currently on vacation in Texas and will be returning next week.