Moon Manicure Mess-up

My first two fingers came out OK...

So after reading on Refinery29 about moon manicures still being trendy this spring, I decided to try one. I bought a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in black, because I really wanted to try the black/nude combo I saw in pictures from some of the spring fashion shows.

Maybe I should have tried less contrasting colors first...

First problem: I had those French manicure sticker guides laying around (see picture), and I thought they would be helpful in the moon manicure. However, the black polish leaked underneath the sticker, ruining any semblance of a half moon that may have existed.

thumbnail with French manicure guide stickers

Second problem: After the sticker disaster, I did the half moons free-hand with the nail art pen. They came out OK, not great though, but I would have been fine with wearing them around the way they were. I put my top coat on the first two nails, fine. I went to put the top coat on the ring and pinkie finger and apparently the polish wasn't dry. The black streaked all over the nude! Boooooo!

Streaks!

So anyway, if I were to do this again, I would maybe try lighter colors first to practice. Also, I would definitely wait a LONG time before applying top coat. I had better practice this look if it's going to be so trendy this spring! Have you tried a version of the moon manicure? How'd it work out?

In case you're interested in trying the French manicure stickers, you can get them at Transdesign.

Poolside FAIL

My China Glaze Poolside polishes arrived yesterday and I was SO pumped to try them out today.

I don't think it was meant to be for today. The very first one I tried was a disaster. First of all, after four coats, the polish was so see through, it could be called a sheer. This makes me angry. I was frustrated and no longer excited about trying the rest of them.

Secondly, there were little black specks of something that looked like crushed dead bug all over the inside of the cap of the aforementioned polish. So these crushed dead bug specks ended up on 3 of the 4 nails I did. HOT.

Thirdly, after all this, the weather here is dark and overcast, so the pictures I finally took of this one polish are totally inaccurate color-wise. So, I quit today. The Poolside collection will be reviewed another day.

I did buy two other treats when I bought Poolside, so I might try to post them later after I stop seething with anger.

Up and Away Fail Festival

Dear Connecticut,

You are ruining my blog.

love always,
erin

I got the China Glaze Up and Away collection late in the day yesterday and have been dying to start swatching it ever since then. So I wake this morning and starting swatching right away first thing. I did Grape Pop first, and got semi-decent (a.k.a. still not great) pictures of that. Then, I moved on to Four Leaf Clover.
Here's where the Fail Festival began.

The weather here is super cloudy (again, thanks Connecticut), and the clouds are making the light really weird. My pictures of Four Leaf Clover were either so blurry that they looked like an ad for buzzed driving, or the color looked like a light mint green. The color is not a light mint green at all whatsoever. So, I have no pics of Four Leaf Clover to show you today.
Next, I moved on to Light as Air. I had a few comparisons planned for this one too, so I thought it would be a good one. I proceeded to paint tiny pieces of the brush onto my nails along with the color. Very attractive. Then, I waited an appropriate amount of time for my nails to be dry before taking pictures, and promptly ruined two nails because the polish was apparently not dry at all! To top it all off, the color in these pictures didn't come out right either!
So, needless to say, I quit. I can't take good pictures of Up and Away with these clouds. I do have two pictures of Grape Pop for you though!!

Grape Pop, two coats, no flash

Grape Pop is a gorgeous dark purple creme. It's dark enough that it can definitely be called grape, but it's light enough that it never looks black. I don't own anything like this, so no comparisons. I feel like the polish world has been missing this kind of purple. This is NOT blurple. It is straight up purple and I love it! The color of my pictures is pretty close. It's maybe a little darker in person, I guess the clouds washed it out a tiny bit. Application was nice and even, I did two coats. The first coat wasn't even streaky either! I'll be wearing this one a lot!

Grape Pop, two coats, no flash

LOL and now you know that I don't do my thumb nails when I swatch!
I'm going to try some of these again a little later, but it's not looking good for these today. Boooooooooo!
Grape Pop is available on 8ty8Beauty.