•rachel•

Hello everyone! Today I have a special review of four different clear coats. You may think that clear coats are all the same, but you’d be wrong. They all have their good and bad qualities. I’ll be reviewing Sally Hansen’s “Clearly Quick” (#110), Diamond Strength Base & Top Coat, and No Chip Top Coat, and Revlon’s Base + Top Coat (#965). First up is Insta-Dri “Clearly Quick”. This was the first clear coat I ever owned because I loved the Insta-Dri line so much. I didn’t bother to experiment with other ones because I figured they would all be the same. This one is ok: it dries quickly, it goes on smoothly, and it gives your nails a nice shine. However, there is one major flaw with this polish that is a deal breaker for me. This clear coat drags the other polish with it. Even when I have waited 3 hours for a design to dry it still dragged it. That means if you want it to not drag you have to use a ton to make sure it doesn’t and that isn’t worth it to me. Next up we have S...

Hello everybody! Prom season has officially arrived! My prom was yesterday and to match my beautiful red dress I decided to do a red French tip with silver for my nails. I really like how they turned out (even though my nails are still stained, but that’s ok); they are much better than last year's. I even shaped my nails a bit differently to suit the look. Here’s how I did it. The colors I used for this design were Sally Hansen’s “Red My Lips” (#470), Sally Hansen Diamond Strength “Ballet Bar” (#3227) from the French manicure kit, and Revlon’s Base + Top Coat (#965). I also used silver glitter from SHANY's Nail Art Decoration Kit and a skinny nail art brush. You may also want a fan brush to brush off glitter, but that's completely optional. Like I said before, I reshaped my nail for this design. I made them a bit more square-like instead of them being rounded. This makes it even easier to do the tips of your nail because you aren't pressured to make it match ...

Hello everybody! Today, I have decided to review a product that I have recently purchased from Walmart for around $4. If you couldn’t tell from the title this product is 1 st Acetone Power Gel by Nail-Aid. I bought the one specifically made for glitter and nail art in hopes that it would make removing my glitter nails easier. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. The product says that you don’t need any cotton balls and you don’t have to scrub your nails, all you need to do is dip them into the gel, let it sit for four minutes, and sweep it off with a paper towel. That sounds amazing, right! I was so excited to use this, so when my friend came over I tried it out. The first thing I noticed is this gel literally took all the heat from my finger. Gel is cold, I know, but this gel made my finger so so SO cold and my finger cramped up; it was a horrible feeling. I don’t think that my skin is extremely sensitive to temperature, but if yours is and you want to try this product, avoid contact ...

Hello everyone! This is my final St. Patrick’s Day design and it is the most complex out of all of them. I wouldn’t say it is hard (because it’s not), but there’s a lot more to do.   I tried to replicate this look from a picture I saw on Pinterest; hopefully I did it justice. Here’s what I used. The colors I used where Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri shades in “Jet Set Jade” (#180), “Black to Black” (#360), “Rapid Red” (#280), “Man-go Team!” (#30), “Lightening” (#250), “Lickety-Split Lime” (#450), “Brisk Blue” (#430), “Vigorous Violet” (#365), and Essie’s “Good as Gold” (#941). I also used gold balls from SHANY's Nail Art Decoration Kit, a skinny nail art brush, and a nail dotter. I started with my dark green as the base color for all my nails. Then, on my ring finger nail I painted a pot (that a leprechaun would put gold in) in black. Using a small nail art brush I then painted a rainbow going across three of my nails (index, middle, and ring fingers). I dotted on gold coming ...

Hello everyone! So, I decided instead of getting rid of my beautiful manicure from last week that I would just give it an upgrade. I turned my simple green and gold nail design into a clover manicure! Here’s how it’s done. The polishes I used were Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri shade “In Record Lime” (#50), Essie shades “Good As Gold” (#941) and “Rock At The Top” (#962) , and the Base + Top Coat by Revlon (#965). I also kept the gold glitter from SHANY's Nail Art Decoration Kit that I used last week. For this mani I only changed one nail’s base color. I removed the green off my index fingers and painted on two coats of Essie’s “Good As Gold”. On my middle finger I used the same gold color to paint the clover’s stem and I used a nail dotter to make three clover petals. The trick for the petals is to just make them in a heart shape by connecting two dots. I made another clover on my index finger using the green polish. For the remaining green nails I added the gold glitter from ...

Hello everyone! I wanted to do one more simple St. Patrick’s day nail design before I did the complex stuff. This is super easy and will last a while. Here’s what you’ll need. The polishes I used were Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri shade “In Record Lime” (#50), Essie’s “Good As Gold” (#941), and my new Base + Top Coat by Revlon (#965). I also used gold glitter from SHANY's Nail Art Decoration Kit. First, I used one layer of the Revlon’s Base + Top coat to protect my nail. I am hoping that this will prevent any more staining that way my nails can grow out and be stain free before prom. Anyway, I painted all my nails, except the ring finger, with my green polish and sealed that off with a top coat. For my ring finger nail I painted two coats of my gold polish and let that dry (this is here just in case the glitter doesn’t reach all areas of the nail). Next, I painted on a layer of clear coat and quickly dipped my whole nail in the gold glitter . Brush off the excess glitter an...

Hello everyone! St. Patrick’s Day is on March 17 th which means I’m going to be doing 4 nail designs leading up to that day! Isn’t that amazing!?! Can you hear the excitement in my voice!?! All these exclamation marks!! Anyway… this is the first design lol. The polishes I used were Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri polishes in the shades “Jade Jump” (#450), “Lickety-Split Lime” (#29), and “In Record Lime” (#50), and Sally Hansen’s Big Matte Top Coat. You will also need a medium/large nail dotter.  I started with “Jade Jump”, which is the pastel green color, for the base. Then using a nail dotter I dotted two vertical lines of light green, splitting my nail into thirds (if you want to look at it that way) and then three vertical lines of dark green (filling in the spaces). Lastly, after everything was fully dry, I added a matte top coat. It’s that easy! Not much of a tutorial if you ask me (but I still call it that). I hope you all like this design! I always get good feedback...

Hello everyone! I have a special design for you guys today that I have been wanting to do for a very long time. I’d say these galaxy nails turned out pretty well :). Keep reading if you want to know how easy they can actually be. The polishes I used were Revlon’s “Black Star” (#880), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear shades in “White On” (#300) and “Blue Me Away!” (#04), Insta-Dri shades in “Pronto Purple” (#360) and “Silver Sweep” (#230), and Blackheart Beauty “Daydream Scream”. You’ll also need a makeup sponge, a small nail dotter, and some optional star glitter. To start off your design you will need a black base coat. The black I chose has a bit of shine to it, but you can use a solid black as well. Next, take a makeup sponge (I used the triangle ones) and on one corner paint a bit of white polish. Now listen up because this next part is really, really, really important; DAB OFF THE EXCESS POLISH . If you don’t dab off the excess polish you will not get the desired galaxy ef...