*All products purchased by me. All opinions are my own, I am not being paid for this post.
Hi :3
This is a day for which I have waited... my first nail post!
A brief history: I've been a nervous, compulsive nail-biter my entire life. There were a few times that I was able to temporarily stop biting, but it never lasted more than a few weeks. My nails were raggedy, sickeningly short, and a source of embarrassment to me, especially after I got into the beauty scene; no matter how carefully I did my makeup, I couldn't make up for those sad little nails... :(
This past October I was somehow able to stop for good; my methods included keeping my nails polished and shaped, and also wearing lipstick while hanging out at home when I would ordinarily be most prone to do damage.
Since my nails have gotten longer I've been having a blast doing manicures with pretty colors and sparkles, so I hope to post a few here from time to time. Okay, now on to the pictures!
This is the mani I'm wearing now; the purple is Maybelline "Iced Queen", a medium lavender cream. I purchased it last week because I didn't own any purple creams and it was only $2.99 at Harmon. I wasn't sure how it would perform but I tried it and was pleased, thank goodness.
I used Color Club's matte base/top coat as a base, then 2 coats of Iced Queen. The first coat had a few bald spots but the second evened everything out to a perfectly smooth finish.
On my nails, the color is a touch lighter and more dusty in person. It actually does remind me of a field of lavender; a slightly muted dusty purple.
I then used one coat of Fresh Paint "Sugar Crush", an awesomely amazing iridescent flaky. I got this at Five Below back when my nails were first growing out, and I have to say I've worn it on probably 70% of my manis since then. It's super gorgeous over anything and looks great with a matte or glossy topcoat. This time I opted for glossy; Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Clearly Quick.
To illustrate how awesome Sugar Crush is, here's a couple manis I've done:
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| Sinful Colors "Cinderella" (two coats) and one coat of Sugar Crush. |
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| Please excuse my ugly nails/cuticles/paint job... This was one of the very first manis I did after my nails had grown out enough to paint them; I think it's Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Brilliant Blush, with Sugar Crush over top. |
I've done a bunch more manis with Sugar Crush but didn't take pictures since I'm not too good at it yet, lol. Of course the pictures don't do justice, but trust me when I say it's truly brilliant and well worth grabbing a bottle or two if you can get to a Five Below store.
I love my purple flaky mani♥
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| Thanks for reading! |
*All products purchased by me. All opinions are my own, I am not being paid for this post.
**Some or all images were lightly
edited using Aperture and/or Photoshop; for details, please read the
photo editing disclosure widget at the bottom of my right-side bar.