TNCC - Untrieds #4 - Orly Halo, Kiko 394 (Olive Green)

Hello everyone,

today, I want to show you my final manicure for the untried theme. Honestly, I could continue with this theme for a year and would probably still have a couple of polishes left (even when not buying any new polish). It's crazy, I know!

To be exact, this manicure killed a total of three untried polishes, but I'll only count two, because one isn't exactly visible. This mani was inspired by a manicure I saw on Pinterest (this one). I really liked the color combination and I knew I had matching colors in my untrieds.

I chose Orly Halo, which I recently found at my local TKMaxx, and Kiko 394, another Kiko from my haul from last fall. The Kiko is still available, but it seems to be one of the soon-to-retire shades. It applied well, drying time was fast, but it didn't dry very shiny. I'm wearing three coats here, but they aren't necessary. I took my pictures after a day at work and simply applied the third to cover the hints of tipwear.

The Orly, on the other hand, was not so easy to work with. It's pretty sheer and even though it looks like you could get it opaque on its own, I didn't feel like it and decided to layer it over Kiko 617, one of the Mirror Metallics. That's the third untried, but you can't tell it's there anymore. It still took three coats of Orly to have me satisfied with the look though.

The stamp was done using the white stamping polish by essence and PUEEN 11. Honestly, I don't remember just how often I tried to get this stamp right. I wanted it centered, obviously. I gave up when the top coat on top of Halo started to wear off. At least, I got the image to transfer in one piece. I'm going to practice this. >_>"

Do you have any tips on how to center a stamping image on the nail? I'm appreciating everything!

Anyway, what do you think of this mani?

Thanks for reading!

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TNCC - Untrieds #3 - Kiko 311 (Electric Pink)

Good evening everyone,

two more untried manicures to go, and here's one of them. This one was not planned, I just didn't feel like changing the base polish and started doodling on top of it, to make it 'different' from the first day.

The base is Kiko 311, a now discontinued bright pink shimmery polish. Or at least, I can't find it on the page anymore. I'm wearing two coats, but I felt that it needs three to be really opaque when worn solo. That was one reason why I added nail art... to cover up those patches. The color is pretty, but I found it was drying a bit slower than what I'm used from Kiko. So well, I don't regret buying it, but it won't be my favorite Kiko polish.

So I added some simple flowers on the second day using yellow, orange and white acrylic paint. After topcoating, I added a white half pearl to each nail while the topcoat was still wet. They wore better than expected.

Two more days of pink with flowers added, then it had to make room for untried mani #4. I really want it to be summer. xD

What do you think of the color combination pink/orange? Do you find it wearable (not necessarily limited to nails)?

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TNCC - Untrieds #2 - Kiko 384 (Gentian Blue)

Hi everyone,

as mentioned yesterday, here's another manicure I did at the beginning of March. I used yet another untried, a Kiko from a large order from last fall. My inspiration for this nail art was one of my favorite skirts: A blue skirt with white polka dots and a red waistband/ribbon.

In the bottle, Kiko 384 looks just slightly darker than my skirt, but close enough. It  dries a lot darker though. It's still a pretty color, but far from my skirt. I continued anyway - I was so proud that I managed to sit down and start some nail art!

I believe those were two generous coats of Kiko 384. Application was easy as always with Kiko polishes. I don't remember much about the drying time. I continued with some white acrylic paint as the base for the red, because if wouldn't show up as brightly otherwise. This obviously is a problem, because chalky white at the tips means quick tipwear. But who cares, when you'll probably change your polish after 1-2 days...

I don't remember what kind of red I put on top. It's pretty though. The white dots, obviously made with white acrylic paint and a dotting tool. I'm not so proud of those white border lines... they looked totally straight while painting them, but later, wow, totally crooked.

Here you can tell what I mean with color in the bottle <-> color on the nail

I wore this one longer than two days. Way longer. I just couldn't get myself to paint my nails again. so instead, I repainted the one nail with the worst damage and kept wearing it for another two days. It was bright, really bright, for some reason. And I got some weird comments. Doesn't matter. I liked those nails.

What do you think? Do you find them weird too? xD

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TNCC - Untrieds #1 - Barielle Myrza's Meadows

Hi everyone,

phew... another 6 weeks without a post.... and I'm not even going to try to defend myself. I totally lost my mojo and truthfully, I haven't found it again - yet. I'm polishing my nails, of course, but mostly plain polish. I'm just really too tired. There's too much going on that's stressing me out and I have even lost quite a bit of weight because of that.

Anyway, "Untrieds", TNCC theme for March, is a theme made for me... and I didn't even vote that time. I can easily show four manicures for this one. Every polish I have been wearing since February was an Untried. ^^; One of the bigger projects I have undergone since February was a set of gel extensions I did on myself. That's why my nails are so long in the pictures below. Just for your information, because the third set of nail art will not have those anymore.

So the first nail art I did on these extensions was originally intended for the February theme, but well... it also matches the March theme. I used Barielle Myrza's Meadows as my base, a long time untried. It's a glittery grass green polish, opaque in three coats and surprisingly smooth. I was inspired by one of my favorite summer camisoles, which has little mirror-like things surrounded by colorful thread.

I tried to show the polish as color accurate as possible. Sadly, that meant a very unnatural skin tone.

Don't ask what polishes I used for the dots. I don't remember. I bought those shiny sequins back in Japan, but I'm pretty sure you can find something similar at Born Pretty Store or the like.

I still like this mani. It's kind of fun and bright, just the total opposite of what I feel like these days. ^^;

What do you think? Do you wear greens like these?

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