Holo Mermaid Gradient! (Pic Heavy)

Hii evrybodah (Said as Dr. Nick). I'm coming to you live from HoP headquarters!

Today we are celebrating my 50th post! Not a lot, but it's a nice round number. So how are we celebrating you ask? With some pretty epic pic spam. That may be a hyperbole but it's way more pictures than I've ever featured here (I think, I haven't checked). My point is, this will be long.

I did this the night before going on the boat trip, when I wanted something mermaid-y to reflect all the swimming I would be doing (Fun Fact: I sing Ariel's Part of your World in my head when I'm underwater). The polishes I used were Illamasqua Nomad, FingerPaints Winter Sky, Essie Go Overboard, Spoiled Use Protection (yes, again) and Hits Hefesto.

Like I said, there's a ton of pics, so you'll see this pretty little collage first and then you have to follow me after the jump to see the rest. There's candy for you after the jump...

Luxurious Stamping with Essie Little Brown Dress

Hey all! Sorry there wasn't a post during this weekend but I didn't have time to schedule anything before my little boating trip. If it makes you feel better I'm completely roasted from my idiotic sunburn so I'll probably peel soon :(. DAMN YOU past me that did not reapply sunblock!

Enough complaining, back to the nails... A couple of weeks ago they were showing The Other Boleyn Girl and there was a scene where the king was wearing this gorgeous ... thing (it wasn't a shirt, or vest or any other piece of clothing I can name). Point is, it was brown with icy blue embroidery, very rich looking. Of course, the first thing I thought was "Hey! I can do that on my nails!".

For this I started with two coats of Essie Little Brown Dress, a good dark chocolate shade, and stamped with RA-112 and Sally Hansen ColorQuick Pen in chrome blue.

I didn't really wear them as a full mani because I was in the mood for something brighter when I tried this, but you can bet I'll be doing this again and wearing it for a while. Also, my stamping hasn't really been great as of late and I feel reinvigorated with this one :)

Next up I have the really awesome mani I did for the boat trip so keep an eye out for that! I sincerely hope no one is in pain like me and you can enjoy your day!

A Window Into My Soul

Wee Friday!

I'm excited for this weekend, if everything goes right and the weather isn't a total bitch, I'm going on a boat this Sunday! I love boating, I practically grew up on the beach around water and boats and I used to work on jet skis so, needless to say, I miss the water sometimes.

I totally forgot what I was going to write because I saw a commercial for some (probably crappy) restaurant with some awesome shots of a delicious guacamole and tacos and now I'm hungry. Oh :(

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this mani y'all! I've been seeing thess around for a while, Hema did a beautiful interpretation on her blog, Rainbow Nails , the master Sarah at Chalkboard Nails also did a kicking neon one recently, but it was Cee from Absolutely Cee who encouraged me and mentioned that it was actually easier than I thought so I gave them a try. Whaddaya know, they're within my (limited) range of abilities! I present to you my window nails. They're also called frame nails, border nails and other stuff I think, but this is my blog and I like 'window nails'.

They're definitely not perfect by any means and I managed to smudge the pinky during the picture taking process but I really like them! I used Bettina Green Apple for the base and L'Oreal Check Me Out for the middle part. I had read that to do these the easiest is to paint your base first, then tape your tips and paint your center, obviously not taking it all the way to the cuticle. I'm too impatient though so I just did the center then went over the tips again with the green. If your polish is too dense you might want to consider taping lest you make your tips look fat.

In summary, I liked this color combo a lot more than I thought I would. For some reason the pink looked darker or more burnt (if that makes sense) and the green looked almost neon in some shots. So yay for late night experiments that work out!

Thank you for looking and have a great start-of-the weekend !

A Royal Sandwich

Hear ye, hear ye! All in attendance shall take a bow at this mighty polish.

Just kidding, I'm sure you're sitting anyway. The weirdest thing happened the other day: I sat down to do my nails and I didn't want to do anything. I was just so scattered with different ideas bouncing around but in no mood to experiment so I went for a safe choice that wouldn't disappoint me: Revlon Royal. I know I've featured this polish on here before but a) those pics were horrible and b) my nails were so short! This time around though, I knew I wanted to try sandwiching it.

Revlon Royal, in case you're not familiar, is a deep blue jelly and absolutely breathtaking if you're a blue lover (which I totally am). Beware if you're going to buy a new bottle though, apparently there was a bad batch where the pigments would settle on the bottom and not mix so they would mess up the polish.

I used one coat of Royal, one coat of Revlon Stunning then Royal again. Please excuse the awkward hands, they don't know how to pose outside their normal setting. I snapped these outside in the sunshine to better show squishyness.

And since I was outside, you get a palm tree.

 And an artsy shot on a bush

 And before the final coat of Royal

I used a thicker coat of an already-thick Seche Vite to see if that would protect my nails since I was gonna supervise my boyfriend washing cars. Spoiler alert: I didn't really do much so my nails stayed intact! Yaay.

Have a good day!

PS: This would have been up sooner but Blogger was being a pain in my butt last night so I couldn't schedule it.

Monday's a Day for Fails!

Good morning!

I debated whether or not to post these pictures because I just don't love them. I usually don't mind showing pictures of less than perfect work because we're all human and, from afar, they don't really look bad, so I figure it's worth showing. This particular set however, just blagh. In the end I realized I was just taking it too seriously and, really, who doesn't like to laugh at a little fail? So I might make this like a little series, something to make us laugh on a Monday and show all my sad little manis that were never posted.

The other day it was my nephew's graduation mass and I had this cute dress from my high school graduation ceremony so I knew it was appropriate for church. While at dinner I got the idea to do my nails like the print on the dress as a fun little experiment. Note to self: Don't start 'fun little experiments' at 12am.

Aside from the dots getting a little stringy, there's nothing technically wrong with them. They just didn't really turn out like I had thought in my head and I just plain don't like them. Oh well, can't win 'em all. But you definitely gotta catch 'em all! Hehe...I made myself giggle.

Have a good day and let us always remember, why so serious? It's just a hobby after all :D (Side note: I really want to see Dark Knight Rises)

Sally Hansen UpTempo Plum

Hi guys! And by guys, I mean girls. I have no illusions about a man ever seeing this blog. Except my boyfriend, and even he doesn't really stay long.

Today I just have a quick swatch and stamping because I'm not really feeling well lately so I haven't been polishing as much as I should ;). Today's polish is Sally Hansen UpTempo Plum. I found this a couple weeks ago on clearance for $2, and it looked so pretty in the bottle! A blackened duochromey shimmer with pinkish to bronze shimmer. Crazy right?! Unfortunately, that does not translate to the nail at all. See for yourself.

It just looks black! How frustrating. I'm so glad I didn't pay full price for this polish. For reference, here's a bottle shot.

See all the prettiness that's lost on the nail? Oh well. To cover up the sadness I stamped with BM-201 (I think) and Sally Hansen chrome pen in purple.

Thank you for looking and I'll see you during the week with your regularly scheduled polish! Enjoy what's left of the weekend :D

Revlon Mint Gelato - Review and Swatches

Good morning!

Today I have a quick post reviewing Revlon's Mint Gelato, which is part of their new Limited Edition Scented Treats collection that's out now at drugstores. When I first spotted this pretty at Walgreens, le boyfriend convinced me I didn't need it (for shame!), so I left it behind. Finally, yesterday I went to buy something else (on my own) and realized why I was so drawn to it...it's a jelly!! I'm totally on a jelly trip right now. So much so that I'm going to buy more glitters so I can do sandwiches. Mmm jelly sandwiches.

Mint Gelato is, to my eyes, a greener turquoise, similar to For Audrey and the likes but dustier and less blue. I don't know, I'm really no good at describing polish colors, just look at the pictures!

Ignore the little scratch, my fault :(

Formula was pretty good! You're seeing three coats without top coat so it was very shiny and pretty much opaque unless you hold your fingers to the sun, but really, who does that? Then I did some stamping with the zebra pattern from my Bundle Monster plates. I kind of can't believe it's my first time using this image when it's one of the more popular ones. I stamped with Sally Hansen Whirlwind White and I also added a coat of Essie As Gold as It Gets as an accent on my ring finger.

Another note about the formula, it dried quicker than I expected. Usually jellies with 3 coats take forever but I had good results with this. I was still uber careful for a while just in case it wasn't thoroughly dry but I had not dents or the like. The only thing I don't love about the polish is that it's scented. The scent itself is not displeasing (big word huh? :P), but it is distracting while polishing. I also used the phone a lot today so I was sick of the smell after a while, but it does fade away so just make sure to do the scratch and sniff at the store in case you hate it.

So that's pretty much it... Happy hump day! ;)

I like sparkly stuff.

Recently I've come to the realization that I really like sparkly things. How did  I notice this you ask? By way of my boyfriend of course. Lately he's into telling me what I like and don't like. Most of the time he's right though, so I just huff and walk away, never admitting he's right.

It happened as we looked at shoes, I fell in love with these flats from Steve Madden and, aside from them being totally my style, he said "Obvio que te gustan si son brillosas". Which means "of course you like them, they're shiny". After looking at my bank account and deciding against getting them I stumbled on a two for one deal at a store and they're finally mine! I love looking at them while I walk, the little rhinestones are iridescent or holographic or something because when they catch the sun it's like whoa.

Why the babbling? Because the sparkle in this mani reminded me of the shoes. Now, I know I've said this before, but this time I really took a small crapload of pictures so it's collage time! I have to give a shout out to Jen at ThePolishaholic, I totally stole the collage making software from her.

I'm not even telling you the polishes I used unless you follow me after the jump!

Blogger Awards

Hey all!

Today I'll be sharing with you some blogger awards I got by way of Hillary at Chipped Nail Blog and Kelly (?) from Nailpocalypse (I totally keep writing Nailpocalybse, maybe I'm an upside-down dyslexic?)

This is going to be a bit of a wall 'o text so it's going to be under a jump cut!

Revlon Graceful + Leopard for Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!


My mom is almost everything in my life. She's one of those supermoms who does anything and everything for her kids, including pulling double duty as mom & dad. She's incredibly strong and determined and pushy, in a incredibly good way. She's also funny.

So in honor of my mom I finally used the leopard print on my BM plates because she absolutely loves anything animal print. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my mom, which is why it's kind of sad how this mani turned out. On to a visual representation of words:

I started with two coats of Revlon Graceful. A taupe-y creamy neutral color. I really like this actually. It's not quite mannequin hands for me but clean. Then I stamped with BM-221 in Essie Little Brown Dress and dotted with....something gold. And that's when everything went wrong.

I'm so sorry. I had to redo my pinky and ring finger, and on the second try my pinky came out all weird then I forgot to clean the stamper before I did my ring finger so that's what happened with that. I really need to do shorter sentences. Maybe I shouldn't have had coffee...three weeks ago... Just kidding (Points if you know where that's from).


Hope you enjoyed this disaster if only to learn from my mistakes :)

Multiple Looks with Essie Navigate Her

Weeee friday! I wish I could say I'll be sleeping in but tomorrow is my niece's first communion at 9am then brunch with the fam, and of course Sunday is Mother's Day so we'll see how that goes. This is the first year I've had to visit two families for holidays and it's odd since my previous boyfriend wasn't really close to his family, every year we would just spend time with my family. So ... yeah.

About the "Multiple Looks" thing, it's only two different ones. I exaggerated MWA HAHA. Seriously though, two is multiple. A low multiple, but a multiple nonetheless.I do have a decent amount of pictures to show, so I'll show you this pretty and mysterious collage and invite you to keep reading after the jump for all the pictures.

Essence High Spirits and DRK-A Stamping

Hello all! This post is coming to you a little later in the day due to the fact that my computer's wireless decided to die, so it's been a little tough to edit all the pics on my computer then find a way to export them to the other computers (I don't trust the USB's I have, I feel they all have viruses).

Anyway, onto the nails! For today I have my very first Essence Colour & Go polish! I randomly found an Ulta during my trip to Miami,but it was in Miami Beach so it was pretty stripped clean. I could only grab this one and another blue which I have yet to show you.

High Spirits is a great sage-y green creme with lovely silver (?) shimmer. I really need more of these Essence polishes! The formula was great, almost opaque in one coat but it looks better at two.

Then I stamped with my new DRK-A plate and Wet 'N Wild black creme.

Eep! I love this to bits. I'll confess, I mostly bought the DRK-A plate for the spiral images. I <3 me some spirals so I was thrilled this stamped so neatly. I've been in a polish funk lately, not really knowing what to wear or do because everything I tried to do was coming out sloppy :(. But now I've rediscovered why I loved stamping in the first place so I'll probably do some more combos, I still have a lot of designs I haven't tried.

There is something weird though, for some reason my NYC topcoat has had a weird effect on the tips of my nails, making them look matte.

I'm not sure if you'll be able to see what I mean, but it's weird. And annoying.

Ok, this has been long enough.... Hope you enjoyed it! (The pictures, not my rambling)

One More (Vertical) Gradient!

Good morning! Sorry, I know, it's Monday.

For today I'm going to show you a bright, spring mani that I did using the same sponging technique as my last gradient except I sponged them up the nail instead of across like we've been seeing. I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow and sponged using Mellow Yellow and Sally Hansen Sun Kissed.

I really can't stress enough how easy this technique is. You just brush both your colors directly onto the sponge and, when you sponge, make sure you move it around a little, that way you get a better blend of the colors. For reference, this is the tutorial I used from The Beauty Department. There's also this one by Sammy at The Nailasaurus that I'm itching to try.

Thank you guys for looking! Do you have any color combinations you've done or want to do? Any that you'd like to see? Let me know in the comments! I really do enjoy hearing reading anything you have to say.

May your memories of the weekend hold you over until Monday is gone!

Revlon Coastal Surf Gradient (Or how I'm unoriginal)

Happy friday everyone! I'm so excited for this weekend, does anyone have any plans? Today we're making sushi at my house and tomorrow is the Cotto vs. Mayweather fight which I'm so pumped about! Of course, I want my guy (Cotto) to win, but above all I want a good fight. I don't want them to pussy out halfway through.

Back to the nails, today I have a quick review of Revlon ColorStay Coastal Surf and a gradient I did on top. I've really been enjoying all the gradient mania lately and so many new tutorials have popped up that I decided to give one a try. For this I started with one coat of Coastal Surf and sponged a Bettina on top (I can't remember 100% if it was Premium Wash or Over-Dyed, I know it was from the Jeans collection so one of the two).

To be worn as a mani, Coastal Surf could have benefited from the second coat to even everything out but it has a really good formula. It's thick so it goes where you want it to, I barely had to do any clean up on this. I had been eyeing this pretty for a while but convinced myself I didn't need another blue but after I saw some swatches on other blogs I was done, I needed it!

For the gradient I just brushed both polishes onto the sponge and, you know, sponged. It's still not as smooth as I would like it but in real life (not macro mode) the effect is very subtle and pretty.

I definitely need to experiment with different color combinations and stamping on top. Now that I think about it, my nails will get beat up in the sushi process so I'll probably stamp something :D.

Now for some exciting news, if you noticed something different in my water mark it might be because I bought the domain for my blog! I'm now officially on hookedonpolish.com! I hadn't considered buying it because it's not like this blog is huge, but I thought about it and didn't want anyone else taking it from me either, so here we are.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this look. I'm also debating on whether or not I want to commit to posting every day of the week or keep my 'every other day' schedule so we'll see what happens.

Happy weekend!

OPI My Pointe Exactly sandwiched!

Hello!

Today I have for you guys a quick look I did with OPI My Pointe Exactly, which is part of the new OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades collection. It's the only one I have (so far, I really want to get the glitter) because my mom saw some swatches and decided she needed this one, so I obliged (duh).

My Pointe Exactly is a sheer grey jelly so of course the first thing I thought of was a jelly sandwich! Just in case you're not aware, a jelly sandwich is when you apply a sheer polish, layer glitter on top and another coat of the sheer polish and it looks like glitter is swimming in the polish. Now, I have to be honest, I didn't love this combo. I did it late at night and there were so many layers I knew I was going to ruin it if I went to sleep so I just took a couple pictures and took it off. I had done all 10 nails too :( . For this I layered two coats of My Pointe Exactly, one coat of Nubar Black Polka Dots and one of a random Forever 21 glitter that reminds me of NYX Enchanted Forest.

You can see where I dented the middle finger :(

 So there you have it, thank you for looking!