Nail-job craving: With my knees still healing from my fall, I’ve been in a pretty deep funk so I was in the mood for something cheerful to lift my spirits.
How I satisfied that craving: I started with two coats of Essie Instant Hot — it’s a slightly sparkly pearl shade; this is so I’d have an opaque base to make the neon colour I was putting on top, Essie Lights, pop some more.
How this nail colour make me feel: Indifferent? It initially didn’t really sway me much in any way.
Love it or hate it: Like. Lights ended up being more bubblegummy than I expected, and I wasn’t too keen on it for the first day or two, but then I put on my neon orange bracelet and it grew on me a whole lot more, so “don’t turn out the lights, now” (Get the reference? No?!? It’s that NKOTBSB song! 
August 1, 2012
Take this:
plus this…
And you’ve got Sometimes Fancy‘s mani that she got with me at Tips Nail Bar (although her’s took “only” two hours). Check it out!
May 26, 2012
Nail-job craving: After having my marathon manicure (the incredible chevron-dot nails) for two full weeks, I was thinking I’d return to something less out there — simple, maybe two tones (maybe even just one shade). For day to day, I tend to prefer something less busy. But then I went into Tips Nail Bar and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Leeanne Colley more excited. “I’ve got something in mind!” she announced. And, as I’ve learned, when Leeanne has something she’s cooked up, you just go with it.
How I satisfied that craving: Leeanne showed me a tester nail she’d done the design on — a swirly pattern of neons, and black polish overtop in a graphic pattern — WHOA. It reminded me of “black magic” (remember doing that as a kid? Colouring on paper in colours and then putting black crayon overtop and then using something pointy to “draw” by scraping the black crayon, revealing the rainbow underneath??).
Yowzers. I wanted. My only request was that we do a different colour on top. So this is what Leeanne used:
Artistic Color Gloss in Spotlight on the base nail.
Swoops of neon gel polishes overtop: Amazon Flirt, Shake It til you Samba and Coco Cabana Banana, all Gelish, and Hype from Artistic Color Gloss.
Then Leeanne applied China Glaze Custom Kicks (a regular nail polish) over the entire nail, and using a brush dipped in acetone, swept away the nail colour in a graphic striped pattern — it’s almost like a reverse version of the colourblock manicure she did for me last year for a half-marathon race, only now the stripes reveal the nail art underneath.
On one pinky, we tested out China Glaze Bahamian Escape, and decided to keep it as an accent nail.
And three hours (yes, three hours!) later, voila!
How this nail colour make me feel: Energetic (which is good as I’ve slept very little this week!). The name — OP Magic — well, Magic from black magic craft-y thing, and OP because the blue pinky especially made us think of that clothing brand Ocean Pacific that was hot in the 80s (or was it early 90s?).
Love it or hate it: Love.
May 25, 2012
