Metallic Nails for the #31DC2018Weekly

Hey hey!

Press SamplePurchased by Me

I am a week behind (I am sorry) with the challenge but I plan on catching up this week!  I had a little bit of a nail fail this week.  But instead of putting it off even longer, I figured I would share anyways.  You guys like to see nail fails everyone once and a while, right?  Don't get me wrong.  In real life, this mani looks fly.  But up close, it is a bit of a mess.  And the process was a hassle (I don't love gel polish).  But here it is!

Metallic Nails for the #31DC2017Weekly

Hi there!

Press Sample

I finally got chrome powders to work well for me!  They are the perfect nail art item to use for the metallic prompt of the challenge.  I tried using the chrome powders before but I didn't have the right top coat for the job.  You can see my fails here.   This time, I used some gold chrome powder and gel top coat from Born Pretty Store.  The key to my success this time around was using the powder over a gel layer and then topping it off with a no-rub gel layer.  It turned out great.

Whats Up Nails - Dragon Powder

Hey there!

Press Sample

I am sure you have seen all the buzz about these new chrome powders for nails.  The have taken over Instagram and YouTube and nail blogs for the past few months.  I can understand why because they look amazing.  So reflective!  I have been reluctant to try them because you need to use a gel top coat to make it last and I don't use gel polish.  Actually...I am pretty darn terrible at gel polish.  I have only tried it once before and it was a complete fail.  I very much wanted to try out these chrome powders, so I figured I would give it another shot.  Be prepared to see some fails in this post.  Not because of the chrome powder...because of the top coats that I tried.  The chrome powder I tried was called Dragon Powder from Whats Up Nails.  It is a chrome finish with a green to gold to red multichrome effect.  It is part of the Magic Shifting Powders line.  The effect is stunning!

no top coat

Lacquer Legion: Reinvention Challenge

Hello Lovelies!

There is new monthly nail art challenge hitting the streets today.  It is called "The Lacquer Legion" and hosted by four extremely talented nail bloggers: Sarah, Sammy, Rebecca and Leslie.  If you are not following these ladies...remedy that, now!  Each month there will be a new prompt to get your creative nail art juices flowing.  For the first challenge, the theme is Reinvention.  You can reinvent a favorite mani with new colors, reinvent a classic with a new twist or just do something completely new.  All participating nail artist will post their reinventions on January 27th using #LLReinvention on numerous social media platforms.  I think this is a great idea to spark some creativity, especially if you are in a nail art funk!

So for this months prompt, I decided to revisit the mani of mine that has been copied and redone the most by my followers on Instagram.  I was inspired by one of Sammy's tutorials for negative space stripes but did some funky French tips with the idea.  I actually hated this mani at first and wasn't even going to post it.  So glad I did!  For the challenge, I changed it up with some mirrors instead of negative space!



Top: Negative space striped done in July 2013
Bottom: Mirror striped nails done in January 2014

For both of these looks, I used striping tape to make the clean lines.  The chrome color is "Push and Shove" from OPI's newest Gwen Stefani collection.  This polish is very delicate and requires a special base coat (supplied with the polish) to help give is a smooth mirror finish.  I did give my nails a light buffing to help make ridges less noticeable.  I wasn't going to pick up this polish, but I saw too many cool swatches of it on IG and I am a sucker for good swatches.   Here's some more pics :)

 

Do you plan on picking up Push and Shove?  It is a pretty special polish.  Also, make sure to check out the other #LLReinvention posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  I can't wait to see what other people come up with!

 

-Amy McG aka McPolish