Graffiti with Nail Art Transfer Foils

July 8, 2013, 5:00 am

≪ Previous: Gelish Mint Icing & a Testament to Gel Polish!

I’ve been wanting to try transfer foils for a while, and I saw some cool nail art recently that inspired me to try this. I used the foils with gel polish, so I didn’t follow the typical instructions (no foil glue). I started with a coat of Gelish Foundation, two coats of Gelish Deep Sea, and then I used the foundation gel as the “glue” since it’s nice and sticky after it cures. I applied a thin coat of the foundation on top of the color coats, cured it and then stuck the foils right onto it. I was going for a graffiti look, so I just randomly applied three different colored holographic nail art foils (pink, blue and silver). Once I was happy with the foil placement, I topped each nail off with a coat of Gelish Top It Off. It worked a lot better than I anticipated and they turned out pretty cool!

Here’s what Deep Sea looked like before I applied the foils. It’s a deep, dark blue with some purple shimmer. The photo at the bottom shows off the shimmer a little better.

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Gelish Ali Baba Sim Sala Bim

July 14, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Go Girl Swatch – Fade Alert

≪ Previous: Graffiti with Nail Art Transfer Foils

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This is Gelish Ali Baba Sim Sala Bim from the Aurora FX Collection. This was one of the first Gelish polishes that I purchased. I ended up selling it and then buying it a second time because I missed it! When I first tried this color it seemed to have a brownish tinge when worn on its own. You can see my original photo of it here (bad lighting and all). I’m not sure if they changed the formula since then or if my memory and old photo are misleading, but I didn’t notice any hints of brown this time around. This polish has a stunning iridescent purple shimmer effect. The swatches below show three coats of Ali Baba with no undies, and it’s a bit on the sheer side. This polish looks awesome when layered over other colors, especially dark purples and blues. If you don’t have this color in your collection, I highly recommend it!

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Gelish Go Girl Swatch – Fade Alert

July 16, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Little Princess Swatch

≪ Previous: Gelish Ali Baba Sim Sala Bim

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I’m working through my Gelish collection and trying to swatch every color – even the unfortunate few that fade. This is Gelish Go Girl which is a bubble gum pink when it’s first applied. After a day or two though it fades to more of a peachy color, which you can see in the last photo below. I still like the faded color, but if you really want a bubble gum pink this probably isn’t the best one to go with. Some of the other pinks are also faders… You’re So Sweet You’re Giving Me a Toothache and Take Action. What’s up with the pinks?? The only one in this color range that I know that doesn’t fade is Pink Smoothie, but it’s a few shades lighter.

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Gelish Little Princess Swatch

July 18, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish All About Me Swatch

≪ Previous: Gelish Go Girl Swatch – Fade Alert

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Gelish Little Princess is sort of a milky white color. The swatches below show three coats of Little Princess with no undies. You could apply one or two coats of this under (or over) a French tip. I kind of like it on its own too and I think it would look pretty with a layer of shimmer or glitter over top.

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Gelish All About Me Swatch

July 20, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Reserve Swatch

≪ Previous: Gelish Little Princess Swatch

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Gelish All About Me is a dark creamy purple. It has some reddish undertones which gives it a bit of a vampy look. I really like this and can see wearing it more in the fall and winter months. I think it would look awesome with a layer of Good Gossip over top to pick up the red tones. It would also work well with a shimmery topper like Ali Baba or Izzy Wizzy since those would pick up on the purple tones.

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Gelish Reserve Swatch

July 24, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Aurora FX Collection

≪ Previous: Gelish All About Me Swatch

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This is Gelish Reserve, a frosty neutral color. One of my besties says this is her favorite Gelish color. I, however, am not a huge fan of tans and neutrals. They don’t work well with my skin tone and I just prefer brighter, bolder colors. Reserve has a nice shimmer to it so if you like neutrals maybe this one is for you. Unfortunately, it’s just not for me.

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Gelish Aurora FX Collection

August 4, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Reds

≪ Previous: Gelish Reserve Swatch

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The Gelish Aurora FX Collection has been out for quite a while, but I just recently picked up the last two colors that I was missing from the set. I thought it would make sense to put all of the colors from the collection in one post. I apologize in advance that the photos are not as consistent as my usual posts since they were taken at different points in time.

This collection is full of gorgeous, glittery colors with magical effects (FX). Most are thin and wear better as a topper over other base colors rather than on their own. For swatching purposes I applied three coats of each as a stand-alone polish rather than over another color. I hope to eventually start showing you some of the cool layering combinations that you can do with these and other Gelish polishes. The possible combinations are endless.

Close Your Fingers and Cross Your Eyes:

The Great Googly Moogly:

Ali Baba Sim Sala Bim:

Wiggle Fingers, Wriggle Thumbs, That’s the Way the Magic Comes: This one has a lovely purple shimmer that my photos didn’t capture.

Oocha Coocha Bing Bang Bam Alakazy Alakazam:

Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Busy:

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Gelish Reds

August 20, 2013, 8:06 am

≫ Next: Gelish Under Her Spell Collection Swatches & Review – Fall 2013

≪ Previous: Gelish Aurora FX Collection

affiliate links purchased by me

I dropped my daughter off at Ohio State on Saturday… it’s very bitter sweet. I’ve gone through a range of emotions the last couple of days. It’s strange to know that she’s not coming home for a while which makes me sad, but I’m excited for her and so proud. It sounds like she’s doing well with the adjustment so far and is making new friends already.

I will have swatches of the new Gelish Fall colors for you very soon! In the meantime, I thought I would post some recent swatches that I did of some Gelish reds. When I inserted the photos below, I thought I had made a mistake because I can’t really tell the difference between Hot Rod Red and Red Roses, except that one of them is a full size bottle and one is a mini. I pulled out my bottles and swatch sticks to check and the colors really are so close it’s hard to tell them apart. Red Roses is just slightly darker than Hot Rod. Queen of Hearts is darker than both and has a shimmery finish. I don’t feel that my photos really do that color justice – it’s one of my favorite reds and a must-have for a collection.

Gelish Hot Rod Red:

Gelish Red Roses:

Gelish Queen of Hearts:

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Gelish Under Her Spell Collection Swatches & Review – Fall 2013

August 28, 2013, 7:54 am

≫ Next: Gelish Magneto Swatches

≪ Previous: Gelish Reds

affiliate links press samples

Can you believe that fall is just around the corner? I’ve had a lot of fun playing with bright, bold colors this summer, but I’m ready to start the transition to darker fall colors. Gelish just released their new fall collection called Under Her Spell. It hit the Sally Beauty Supply stores at the beginning of August. The collection includes six new custom-blended colors.

The formula of these polishes is similar to the most recent All About the Glow collection, and they all applied with ease. They have smooth, creamy finishes. I applied three coats of each color to achieve the desired opacity for these swatches.

The color that I think everyone is most interested in is My Nightly Craving, which is a unique greyish-pink-lavender shade. This is my favorite of the group… I wore it for several days and loved it! Someone else that I know also wore this color and she had to repair a nail after a few days and she noticed that the newly painted nail was brighter than the others. I checked my swatch stick and the color did indeed fade to a slightly browner tone. I didn’t notice this as I was wearing it, but just a heads up that the color changes a little over time.

This is Love Me Like a Vamp, which is accurately described as a black-violet shade. It’s a very dark, vampy shade of purple. While I like the color, I’m finding it difficult to tell all of the Gelish dark purples apart. I would love to see them release some more unique shades.

Here is a quick shot of my collection of Gelish purples. You can see that the dark ones look fairly similar. I would like to see a true purple with some shimmer or a nice shade of lilac (pretty please).

I’m No Stranger to Love is a very dark teal/green. This is another shade that’s so dark it’s almost black. I think it’s unique and one that I would definitely wear in the cooler months, although I was hoping this one would be a few shades lighter – less black, a little more teal.

A Touch of Sass is a creamy, dark burgundy red. In looking a my swatch pics it’s apparent that I must have applied thicker coats on my middle finger because it’s a bit darker than the others. That just goes to show that you can control the opacity and shade with the number of coats and the thickness. (Thin coats are recommended for better curing.)

Here is a picture of my Gelish reds, so that you can see how this shade compares to some of the others. All of the swatch sticks have 3 coats of color. I’ve seen some swatches of Black Cherry Berry that look similar to my Touch of Sass swatch, but my Cherry Berry is much darker.

Lust at First Sight is a creamy greyish mauve. This is a really great fall color. It’s dark and sultry, but not too dark.

Want to Cuddle? is described as a smokey, dark taupe. This is a unique shade of brown that I find very rich and warm. I never really considered myself a fan of browns, but I love this and will definitely wear it this fall.

So what do you think of the new fall collection? Which colors are your favorite?

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Gelish Magneto Swatches

September 9, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish It’s a Lilly and Light Elegant

≪ Previous: Gelish Under Her Spell Collection Swatches & Review – Fall 2013

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The Magneto collection from Gelish came out in 2012. In my quest to swatch all of the Gelish colors available, this collection couldn’t be left out! I never jumped on the magnetic polish bandwagon, but after finally trying them, they are pretty cool. These colors are applied just like any other gel polish, except you hold a magnet over your nail after applying the second coat of color (before curing). The effect that shows depends on the type of magnet used. I purchased a set of three Gelish magnets on Ebay (pic below). I like the wavy line effect the most, then the straight lines… the starburst doesn’t do much for me.

A nice thing about these polishes is that they also make a regular nail polish version of each shade, so you can match your toes to your nails if you don’t like using gel polish on your toes. I really like most of the colors in this collection. They are very easy to apply and use, and they also look nice even without the magnetic effects.

Inseparable Forces:

Polar Attraction:

Iron Princess:

Electric Metal Lover:

Drawn Together:

Don’t Be So Particular:

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Gelish It’s a Lilly and Light Elegant

October 9, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Trends Line

≪ Previous: Gelish Magneto Swatches

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I have a couple of Gelish swatches from my archive to share with you today. The first color is It’s a Lilly, which is a very pretty shade of pink/purple. The manufacturer swatches for this one look much more purple than it actually is. It has purple undertones, but it’s much lighter and rosier than I expected. If you watched my recent stamping video, this is the color that I was wearing. Note that It’s a Lilly also fades over time to an even lighter shade.

Gelish Light Elegant is a soft pink with a shimmer finish. It’s a bit on the sheer side and will show some visible nail line. The swatch below is three coats of color.

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Gelish Trends Line

October 11, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Tan Swatches – Skinny Vanilla Latte, Taupe Model & Need a Tan

≪ Previous: Gelish It’s a Lilly and Light Elegant

affiliate links purchased by me

Gelish released a new line of polish that they are calling “Trends” on October 1st. There are 16 new polishes that are inspired by the latest fashion trends. I’ve seen very little information published about the Trends line, but the Gelish MINI Facebook page has some swatches. The MINI versions are available at Sally Beauty Supply. I went to my local Sally’s today and picked up three of them, two glitter toppers and the new Matte Top It Off.

I created this look by applying two coats of Gelish Artic Freeze on each nail, and then two coats of one of the new Trends glitter toppers called Lots of Dots. Lots of Dots reminds me of the little sprinkles that you use to decorate cookies or cupcakes. It’s loaded with tiny dots of different colors. So fun! I stamped a chevron pattern onto the accent finger and my thumb using Jumbo Plate #5 from the new Cheeky collection and a green stamping polish. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to use your Top It Off over the glitter toppers, but I did anyway for good measure.

Here is a quick picture of the three Trends that I picked up today. The far left swatch is three coats of Gelish Black Shadow with the new Matte Top It Off over it. I applied a few dots of the regular Top It Off to demonstrate the difference. When I first applied and cured the Matte TIO I thought it still looked shiny, but once I wiped off the tacky layer and let it dry the matte finish was really noticeable. I’m looking forward to playing with this some more. The middle swatch is Lots of Dots (two coats), also seen above. And the right one is Candy Shop (two coats), a glitter topper filled with blue and green glitter of different sizes. This one has a lot more of the micro glitter than I was hoping, and not as many of the larger hexes.

I would love to see more swatches of the Trends, so if you’ve picked any of them up, please share!

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Gelish Tan Swatches – Skinny Vanilla Latte, Taupe Model & Need a Tan

October 23, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Trends “Candy Shop” Glitter Topper

≪ Previous: Gelish Trends Line

affiliate links purchased by me

I have a few tan/neutral Gelish swatches to share with you today. The first one is Skinny Vanilla Latte, a shimmery neutral shade. It’s very warm with some mauve undertones. I really love this shade and think it works well with my skin tone. This color is only available in the MINI size, and seems to possibly be a dupe of Eur-So Chic from the Just For You collection (only available in the UK).

Update: This color fades to a darker brown/tan shade. It basically loses all of the mauve tones over time… such a shame!

This is Taupe Model, a shimmery tan shade. This color was released with the House of Gelish collection, but some of the promo materials for that collection show this color and some don’t (the same goes for Strut Your Stuff). This shade has some cool, brown undertones and I personally don’t think it looks good with my skin tone.

This is Need A Tan, a light tan shade with a creamy finish. I think this is a great everyday neutral shade and I like that it provides full coverage. Most of the other light neutrals that I’ve tried were more sheer and showed some visible nail line.

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Gelish Trends “Candy Shop” Glitter Topper

November 1, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish MINI Never Too Grey & Dear Johnny Green

≪ Previous: Gelish Tan Swatches – Skinny Vanilla Latte, Taupe Model & Need a Tan

affiliate links purchased by me

I have just a quick mani today using Candy Shop, one of the new Gelish Trends glitter toppers. The green on my index finger is Ink Wasabi, and my pinky finger has 2 coats of Gelish Garden Teal Party and one coat of Oocha Coocha. The middle fingers have two coats of Gelish Artic Freeze and two coats of Candy Shop. The gems are Swarovski crystals from artbeads.com.

Candy Shop is a fun blue and green glitter topper. I felt that I had to fish a little for the larger glitters, but the little ones were easy to pick up on the brush. It applied with ease, and I think the new Trends are great for adding some pizzazz to any manicure.

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Gelish MINI Never Too Grey & Dear Johnny Green

November 5, 2013, 6:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Double Shot Espresso & Strut Your Stuff

≪ Previous: Gelish Trends “Candy Shop” Glitter Topper

affiliate links purchased by me

I have several Gelish swatches coming up this week. I’m working my way through the last colors on my list to be swatched… only 8 more to go after I post my recent pics! But then of course there’s a new winter collection coming out and all of those Trends… the fun never ends! (Hey, that rhymed). Today I have a couple of nice fall colors.

These two colors are both only available in MINI sizes. I applied three coats of each color and they both had good formulas and applied with ease. The first color is Never Too Grey, a slate grey with a very subtle shimmer. I believe this is very similar, if not a dupe for the European Just For You collection color called Fashionably Slate.

Gelish Never Too Grey Swatch

This is Dear Johnny Green. It reminds me of a dark Army green and has a creamy finish. I believe this color is very similar or a dupe for the European Just For You collection color called Commander in Chic. I didn’t think I would like this color, but I’ve been wearing it today and it’s really growing on me.

Be sure to check out my other Gelish swatches here!

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Gelish Double Shot Espresso & Strut Your Stuff

November 6, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Glitter Toppers – Water Field & Grand Jewels

≪ Previous: Gelish MINI Never Too Grey & Dear Johnny Green

affiliate links purchased by me

Today I have two creamy dark brown Gelish swatches for you. Brown is a great, warm color for fall. The first one is Double Shot Espresso, which reminds me of coffee or dark chocolate. It applies a little like a jelly and is the lighter of the two. Double Shot Espresso is only available in MINI size and I believe it to be similar to or a dupe for the European Just For You collection color called Meet Me In Milano.

Strut Your Stuff is a really rich, dark brown… so dark, it almost looks black. The formula of this polish was a little creamier and I liked how it applied better. This color was released with the House of Gelish collection, but was not included in my original swatches of that collection since most of the promotional material for that collection only showed 6 colors, not including Strut Your Stuff or Taupe Model.

Be sure to check out my other Gelish swatches here, and compare these two browns with the others.

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Gelish Glitter Toppers – Water Field & Grand Jewels

November 8, 2013, 7:39 am

≫ Next: Gelish Tasty Eggplant & Mauvy Mauve

≪ Previous: Gelish Double Shot Espresso & Strut Your Stuff

affiliate links purchased by me

These are my last two swatches of glitter toppers in the regular Gelish line. You can see how these two toppers compare with the others in my Gelish gallery (scroll toward the bottom of the page). The first one is Water Field, it’s loaded with small specs of silver glitter and a few larger holographic glitters. The glitter in my bottle was pretty dense, so I didn’t have to fish for the glitter and it applied nice and evenly. In the pictures below I have applied two coats of Water Field over my natural nails. These glitter toppers can be worn on their own like this, and they also look amazing when applied over other colors. You can use these to add some glitz to any manicure.

These pictures show three coats of Grand Jewels over my natural nails. Grand Jewels has small silver and gold glitter specs and some holographic hexes. You can see that the glitter in this polish is more sparse and I did have to do a little fishing for the larger hex glitters. The difference between these two toppers is subtle, but if you’re a collector like me, you might want to own both. If you’re only looking to have one good glitter topper, I would recommend Water Field (then again, I always prefer silver over gold).

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Gelish Tasty Eggplant & Mauvy Mauve

November 11, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Midnight Cover & A Little Cream Please

≪ Previous: Gelish Glitter Toppers – Water Field & Grand Jewels

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I have a couple more good fall colors to share with you today. Gelish Tasty Eggplant is a unique shade of purple with a creamy finish. This color is only available in the MINI size and seems to be similar or a dupe for the color It Girl from the European Just For You collection.

Gelish Mauvy-Mauve is brighter and more pink than the manufacturer swatches that I’ve seen online. I really love this shade and wore it for several days. I was afraid that it would be a fader since many of the pink/mauve shades seem to change with exposure to the sunlight, but I didn’t notice any fading. This color is also only available in the MINI size and seems to be similar or a dupe for the color Simply Mauv-elous Dahling from the European Just For You collection.

Be sure to check out the rest of my Gelish swatches here!

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Gelish Midnight Cover & A Little Cream Please

November 13, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish Trends Movember Nails

≪ Previous: Gelish Tasty Eggplant & Mauvy Mauve

affiliate links purchased by me

Gelish Midnight Cover is a gorgeous dark blue with a very subtle shimmer. I’m in love with this color for fall & winter. This color is only available in the MINI size and I believe is very similar to or a dupe for My Favorite Blue-tique from the European Just For You Collection.

This is A Little Cream Please, a medium brown with a creamy finish. I’m personally not a fan of this color. The color looks muddy to me and it’s very sheer leaving a visible nail line even after applying three coats. This color is also only available in the MINI size and I believe is very similar to or a dupe for After Party Espresso from the European Just For You Collection.

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Gelish Trends Movember Nails

November 15, 2013, 5:00 am

≫ Next: Gelish 2013 “Winter Reds” Swatches

≪ Previous: Gelish Midnight Cover & A Little Cream Please

affiliate links purchased by me

It’s Movember… the month of mustaches to raise awareness for men’s health issues, so I’m sporting a mustache on my mani! The mustache is a water decal from LuckyStarStyle… they have several different mustache styles available and the decals are super affordable and easy to use.

I picked up a few more Gelish Trends this week and two of them were used in this mani, Am I Making You Gelish and Too Tough to Be Sweet. Am I Making You Gelish is a dense silver & holo glitter mix. I applied two coats of this over a silvery base using Showstopping. Too Tough to Be Sweet is a cranberry-ish colored glitter mix in a sheer cranberry base. I applied two coats of this over Rendezvous.

These are some swatches that I prepped to see what the two Trends look like over black and white. After making these swatches I decided to pair them both with base colors that are similar to the color of the glitter instead. The first is Am I Making You Gelish.

And this is Too Tough to Be Sweet.

What do you think of the Trends that you’ve seen so far? You can see the others that I’ve swatched here. The Trends line can be purchased at your local Sally Beauty Supply. I haven’t seen them available for sale online yet.

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