Heroes vs Villians #6: Sleeping Beauty

Keeping with the gradient theme, I tried to to another one. This time, it didn't turn out quite so well. I got kind of a cool effect, but I was sort of pissed off when I was working on it and I might have taken it out on the nail polish.

I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Fuchsia Power for the base, and Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Blue By for the gradient.

Note to self: Don't take out your frustrations on your manicure.
I have the same complaint about Fuchsia Power that I do about the entire Xtreme Wear line: It's quite sheer and takes forever to dry. There are at least two coats in these photos. I think on some of my nails (mainly on the right hand, though) I did a third coat just before doing the gradient because it was too streaky and I could still see nail through it.


It also didn't mix very well with the blue for some reason, which made the application very difficult. In the end I did a layer of blended color, followed by one where I just sponged on blue by itself. To top it off, I had tip wear and chips within 24 hours, even with a top coat. Grr.

I think I'm just going to swatch for the rest of this week.

Heroes vs Villains #3: Slade

I decided to go with another cartoon variant this week, rather than a blockbuster.

Teen Titans was my favorite cartoon to watch in high school and college even trumping a good deal of the anime that got me through mountains of school work, and Slade lends himself perfectly to doing nail art.

Polishes used:
Pure Ice in Siren and Touch Me Here as a base
Wet n' Wild Wild Shine in Metallica for the diagonal stripe
POP Beauty Split Silver crackle coat
teeny tiny dots of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear #300 White On for the eyes (outlined in Touch Me Here with a nail brush)
Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Instant Nail Hardener as a top coat

This is the manicure that almost didn't happen. I started working on it Saturday night, and didn't finish it until the wee hours of Monday morning.

The first time I attempted, I was tired and distracted and kept screwing up the pattern--nails that should have had a black base ended up red, my edges were extremely sloppy, even for me, and even after two hours it wouldn't dry because it's been so hot and humid around here. Even when I thought it was finally dry and went to bed, I woke up the next morning to find imprints from the sheets stuck in the polish. So I took it all off and started again.

This time I waited a minimum of 30 minutes between coats, after discovering that my quick dry top coat would not work in this situation (more on that later this week). I held my nails in front of a fan, and by then the AC had been on for 24 hours which helped with the humidity. I did the alternating red and black nails, then left them overnight.

I forgot, however, to apply a top coat of any kind, and by the time I got back from work I had some tip wear and nicks. I applied an extra thin coat of polish where it was needed, wrapped all my tips, and then started on the decorative bits (at last!). I used scotch tape as a mask on all of the two-tone nails and the diagonal stripe, and finished it all off with a top coat (I used two coats on the crackle, just because of the uneven texture. I'll be writing about that later this week, too).

After all of that, it just makes me more pleased with the final result. I love the two-tone effects (the two-tone crackle was a spur of the moment thing), and I love the color scheme. I'm really hoping this one lasts a while--it'll be a shame to take it off for HvV #4!

Heroes vs Villains #1: Mystique

So I'm sure that by now everyone has heard of the Heroes vs Villains challenge Nailasaurus posted about yesterday. As soon as I saw that post, I had to take part.

Week 1 is Marvel themed. When I was a kid, one of my favorite cartoons was X-Men, so for this one I picked two of my favorite characters from that world.

I started with my usual prep work* ( Natural Nail Growth Activator and Diamond Strength Instant Nail hardener), with one addition. My cuticles have been driving me nuts for the last few weeks, so I broke down and got something to help treat them. Target didn't have a lot of options, though, so I went with the Maximum Growth Cuticle Pen. I've only used it once so far, but I'll let you know how I like it once I've had it a little longer.

For the base of the nails, I did my pinky, middle, and thumb with Insta-Dri in Blue By! (1 coat), and my ring and index fingers in Hard as Nails Xtreme wear #300 White On (2 coats). On my ring fingers, I used a watermarble technique to illustrate her transformative power. It was my first time trying it, and while it didn't come out the way I wanted I still think it's pretty cool. Clean up is a bitch, though.



The eyes are the tiniest dabs of Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, Mystique's hair is a coat of Pure Ice "Siren" over a coat of White On, since I forgot to mask that bit off at the start. I just used Scotch tape cut to size for the masking. For the details on her dress, I used a Claire's Nail Design Pen (black). I finished everything off with a coat of my Diamond Strength clear coat (two, on the index fingers. The nail pens don't have a lot of staying power, even with a top coat).

I really loved the Insta-Dri polish. This was my first time using it and I really like the way it came out. It was a great, fast drying, single coat polish, and it was exactly the right shade for what I wanted to do.

Overall, I'm pleased with this manicure, but I wish I'd been able to come up with two more designs to replace the stripes with. I might still change out the pinkies once my brain isn't fried from being at work all day.

*All of the products I used for this manicure are by Sally Hansen, except for the Pure Ice "Siren."