Yellow to Blue Gradient Topped with a Grid Design!

Hey everyone! Today I have a grid-topped gradient to share!

I meant to get this post up yesterday but I guess it's nice to have a bit of a break between my posts like usual! It sounds like there are going to be some volunteer opportunities open to me in a lab at my school which I'm really excited about! In the meantime I've been painting my family's and my nails and playing lots of Mario Party 10! If you follow me on Instagram you'll know I ordered the whole Hoop! There It Is collection from Girly Bits Cosmetics recently. I am beyond excited and it should be here any day now so get ready for either a huge swatch post featuring all eleven polishes or a few posts to break it up a bit!

Anyways, onto the nails!

I started off with two coats of OPI You're So Vain-illa and a coat of top coat. The formula was okay and it wasn't completely opaque at two coats, but it was good enough for the base of a gradient!

Next, I went in with a damp makeup sponge and American Apparel Sunshine State (yellow), American Apparel Cresent Heights (chartreuse) and China Glaze Wait N Sea (blue)! I sponged on two to three layers to get the opacity I wanted.

I like to apply a coat of top coat right after I've finished a gradient to try and blend the colours even further, so that's what I did next.

After that had dried, I went in with American Apparel Hassid and a striping brush from Winstonia Store to do all of the lines. Check out my Instagram if you'd like to see a sped up version of this whole process!

One thick and careful coat of top coat and I was finished! I realized later that these were probably subconsciously inspired by the awesome and hilarious Cynthia of Of Life and Lacquer's chain link fence gradient nails! 

I wore this look for about three days and I really loved doing so! I did these when I should have been studying and they took a decent amount of time so I'm glad I got some wear out of them!

Here is my right hand! I should probably try and find a pose that it is actually good at doing one day :P.

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I have a negative space rose look to get up next so stay tuned! Happy Monday y'all! =)

Gold Ore Nail Art for Week One of Nail Crazy in March!

Hey everyone! Today I have some gold ore nail art to share for this week's prompt of the Nail Crazies Unite challenge; gold!

I kind of think that I've finally figured out my lighting and white balance!! My skin looks the right colour to me for basically the first time ever and I could almost cry about it! I got some new 5000K lightbulbs and I think my camera can custom white balance with them a lot better because it hardly has to change anything.

Anyways, onto the nails!

I started off with two coats of OPI You Don't Know Jacques over a coat of Orly Bonder. After that had dried, I went in with a ball of saran wrap and American Apparel T-shirt, OPI I Sing in Color, OPI Chocolate Moose and then YDKJ in that order.

I decided to add a coat of a sheer white polish (Essie Waltz) to calm down/blend the colours and design a bit. After that, I painted on some gold veins with Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer in 3D and my Winstonia Kolinsky Sable Brush in #0000.

Because I don't have a lot of golds, the only warm one I had was holographic. So I decided to dull that effect (because real gold is not holographic) with a coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy Mattifying Top Coat. After a lot of clean up, I was done!

You can see that whole process very sped up below in my Instagram video tutorial!

What do you guys think of these nails or my new lighting/white balance? Be sure to check out all of the other lovely ladies' blog posts for this week down below!

Here is a quick video tutorial for the look! The song is You Know My Name by The Beatles! Let me know if you have any questions! Goodnight loves! 😙 #nailcrazyinmarch #goldnailart #orenails #orenailart #mattenails #nailsvideos #nailsartvideos #hairandfashionaddict #looknaildecor #fabulouslytrendy #nail #ahlamalnajdi_nailsart #nailsartcentral #nailsartclips #nailsarttut #simplynotlogical #nails #nailart #craftyfingers #weloveyournailart #sgnailartpromote #nailitdaily #ilnpfeature #nailartvideo #thebeatles #beatles

A video posted by Bailey (@partialtopolish) on Mar 2, 2015 at 10:15pm PST

Thanks so much for having a look everyone! I hope you guys are having a good week so far! I have a bunch of midterms and stuff coming up but I'll still probably be posting on schedule! Happy Thursday! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Purple Floral Nail Art Featuring Pretty & Polished Wax On Top Coat!

Hey everybody! Today I have some floral nail art topped with a wax effect top coat to share!

I'm realizing that I have a bunch of midterms and lab write-ups to do in the next little while and it's stressing me out! I love those weeks of just lectures and labs; they actually feel manageable haha. The only thing that will make me feel better is studying and working on my labs so I'll try to do that at a time that isn't last minute for once :P.

Anyways! Onto the nails!

For this look I started off with two coats of OPI Do You Have This Colour In Stock-holm? over a coat of Orly Bonder. After that had dried, I went in with my Winstonia Kolinsky Sable Brush in #0000 and Essie Truth or Flare for the flower petals. Next, I went in with the same brush and OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana for the flower centres.

After a few minutes I sprayed my nails with a coat of hairspray and allowed it to dry. I do this because it's a way to put a layer of clear material over your nail design without the use of a brush (ie. without the potential to smudge your design). I then applied one coat of my regular top coat (Essie Good to Go) followed by a coat of Pretty & Polished Wax On Top Coat!

I have been wanting a wax-effect top coat for a long time so I'm so happy to finally have one! I can't wait to try it over a watercolour design because I think that would look awesome!

What do you guys think of this design, base colour or wax-effect top coats? I'd love to know!

I actually ended up filming myself while doing these nails so I have a little tutorial to share from my Instagram! Would you guys like to see more short video tutorials embedded in my posts like this? I think I'll start filming tutorials every time I paint my nails so I could easily do so!

Here it is, my first proper nail art tutorial! The base is @opi_products Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm, the blue flowers are @essiecanada Truth or Flare and the yellow flower centres are @opi_products I Just Can't Cope-acabana! 😄 The song is Flying by The Beatles and I basically followed the lovely and hillarious @simplynailogical's tutorial for making awesome nail art tutorials! Leave me a comment if you have anymore questions! 💅🎥 Goodnight loves! ✌ #nailsvideos #nailsartvideos #hairandfashionaddict #looknaildecor #fabulouslytrendy #nail #ahlamalnajdi_nailsart #nailsartcentral #nailsartclips #nailsarttut #simplynotlogical #nails #nailart #craftyfingers #weloveyournailart #sgnailartpromote #nailitdaily #ilnpfeature #beatles #thebeatles #notd #nailvideo #nailartvideo

A video posted by Bailey (@partialtopolish) on Feb 28, 2015 at 11:09pm PST

Thanks so much for reading guys! I'll be back with some gold nails since I'll be participating in the Nail Crazies Unite weekly challenges this month, and that's the theme for this week! I hope you're all having a good start to your week! Happy Monday! =)

Snowy Nail Art Featuring Born Pretty Store Snowflake Decorations!

Hey everyone! Today I have some wintery nails featuring some Born Pretty Store snowflake charms to share!

Look at this, I'm posting for the second week in a row and keeping up with my proposed schedule! Say what? I'm even thinking of trying to get two posts in on weeks where I'm not so busy and eventually maybe two posts a week regardless. I think getting back into blogging has helped me motivation-wise already. Taking a break from here and not doing my nails wasn't taking a break, it was not doing the things I enjoy and doing things I don't enjoy like procrastinating at school and stressing myself out. Anyways! Onto the nails!

I started off with one coat of the base coat I've been using recently (Orly Bonder) and then to most of my nails I applied two coats of a lovely texture polish, OPI Solitaire. For my snow-capped nails I just used a small detailing brush (Winstonia Kolinsky Sable Brush in #000) for the white part (done with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls) and Black Sheep Lacquer Blink straight from the bottle for the duochrome topper. For my remaining nails I applied two coats of MBSW and while the second one was still wet I applied the snowflake charms (number 8 of these, though I seemed to have a 9 thrown in as you can see in these pictures).

I ended up tripling up on top coat for the snowflake nails (as well as pushing the edges down while they dried into the white base) and the corners still came up and got caught on everything. If that doesn't bother you then these charms would work for you, but in my opinion they're only really good for pictures and not practical to wear. They are super pretty though!

I'm getting a proper soft box/light box in the mail soon and I'm really excited about it! Lighting and white balance is something I'm constantly trying to improve on and I think it will really help!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! What do you guys think of this look or these charms? Does it snow around this time of year where you live? Let me know in the comments!

If you guys decide to pick up some nail art stuff from BPS be sure to use my coupon, SKBQ10, for 10% off!

I hope you guys are having a good week so far! I'll be back with some dark green glittery nails featuring some Hex Nail Jewelry charms soon! Happy Monday!

Simple Leaf Nail Art Inspired by Jaunty Juli & Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat Review!

Hello my lovelies! Today I have some simple leaf nail art to share as well as a top coat review!

I'm sorry I've been posting so sporadically guys, I'm really going to try and get into some routine with my blog even if it means just one post a week! I am very overwhelmed and unmotivated at school lately and I think that lack of motivation has carried over into my nail life. I haven't even put away and reorganized my nail polish all semester and that's something I do often and love to do! Would you guys be interested in seeing an updated collection post when I finally get organized? I'd love to know!

So about three weeks ago in this post I mentioned that I ran out of my absolute favourite top coat (Essie Good to Go) and so did London Drugs, and instead I picked up a bottle of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat. I went from loving it, to thinking it was okay to hating it in the last three weeks. As you can see from these pictures, my nails are bubble and bumpy city! The bumpiness is the first thing I noticed about this top coat; it doesn't even smooth out a layer of polish as thin as a stamped image! That is why I thought this polish was alright for a little while. Now I've discovered it either doesn't play well with certain polishes or needs the polish under it to be completely dry (which is exactly not the idea for fast-drying top coats) for it to not bubble up like crazy. Either way, my Essie Good to Go has none of those problems so I've already picked up a new bottle! I do like that this top coat smells kind of like vinegar (yum!) and dries quite shiny and pretty quickly though! However, I am also finding that I get tip wear quite a bit faster with this top coat. Usually in one day or less in as opposed to four or more days in with my Essie one.

Now, onto the nail art! These were inspired by these nails by the lovely JauntyJuli! I started off with a base of two thin coats of Revlon Espresso and a coat of top coat. I wore that alone for a day (complete with a ton of bubbles from the top coat). The next day I went in with American Apparel Mac Arthur Park (green), OPI Did Somebody Say Party? (orange) and Essie San Tropez (nude) on either my Winstonia Kolinsky #0000 or #000 Brush (I used both for different leaves).

I allowed my nails a lot of time to dry, and then I decided I wanted to add some gold leaf top coat to the empty spaces. I used Jessica 18K Gold Leaf Top Coat for this, but it doesn't have a lot of flakes per volume of top coat so it was a struggle. I then waited a while longer and applied a coat of top coat. The lack of gold flakes per clear base also caused those areas to stick out very badly because as I said above, this top coat does not level anything out at all.

Here is my camera-shy right hand! This is seriously the only pose it can do so I'm just going with it haha.

I think I would have liked these nails a lot better if they didn't look so bad in macro pictures! What do you guys think of these nails or this top coat? Do you use it and love it and is it just me having problems?

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I've ordered a bunch of Hex Nail Jewelry charms so I'll probably have a post up on some pretty soon! Happy Tuesday! =)