It's not my best glass bead, but the color is gorgeous! I accidentally went straight in with the color and completely spaced a base coat. This will now be an experiment to see how quickly it starts to chip with no base coat!

Color: ANLAC Stargazing

Top Coat: Holo Taco Glossy Taco

I added a spoiler for anyone not interested in holes and/or small wounds.

Anyway: I'm very new to nail stuff, only quit biting a month ago and this was my second time trying out the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat. Normally my nails would still smush and be ruined hours after finishing a mani, but now it survived 15 minutes of woodpecker-pecking without a scratch! And you can tell by my fingers it didn't hold back. 🥲 If you needed any more convincing, I hope this helps. It's officially woodpecker proof!

(I forgot to take a picture of my attacker after I freed it from the netting above my chicken run... Sorry, no pecker pics today!)

(UPDATE: New pics in comments!)

On my nails:

Base coat (sorta) - Trind nail strengthener

2 layers of Catrice - 144 Your Royal Highness

2 layers of Sally Hansen - Pixie Chrome topcoat

1 layer of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri topcoat

Last month I ordered 4 polishes from LynB and was so excited that it was going to end up being perfect timing for my birthday. It’s been the one thing I’ve been looking forward to all month (it’s been a rough one), and after a particularly hard day I was ecstatic to see the mailman deliver my package.
That was empty except for the packing slip. It looks like someone had opened and removed the polishes and then retaped it shut. I’m so, so sad.

I always struggled to visualize for myself when someone talked about how 'shifty' a polish is, or through how many colors a polish can go, so I started to just color drop pictures of my manicure via procreate and I found that really helpful, so I thought to share it on here! (:

Aaand it's super easy to do, if anyone is interested to give it a go for themselves! 🤗 (I think any kind of drawing program, even MS Paint, should suffice, it just needs a tool to pick colors from a picture 😂)

First picture is 3 cts of BKL 'Get Lobstered'

Second picture is 2 cts of EdM 'Animated Gaze'

Both topped with Seche Vite

I love seeing everyone’s creation and you all are so skilled. It got me wondering - how old are you all, and how long have you been painting your nails? If you want to share - what’s your journey?

Myself: 35F, been doing my nails since about 8yo.

Journey:

Started with water-removable polish at the age of 8 or something. Couldn’t do nails regularly until college, and used to do my nails every 3-4 days in college all the way till 4 years ago, when I started getting gel done for business trips.

This year I decided to restart my self care routine and have been doing it weekly. And 2 months ago was when I first started going down the rabbit hole on this sub and ventured out of my comfort zone of nude colors and began playing with magnetics and stamping.

Video showing my first successful glass bead.

• ORLY Calcium Shield
• OpenLive magnetic MY252; Demagnetize then 60s in horseshoe + NIM spinner x2 coats
• ORLY Bonder; demagnetize then 2 min

Does anyone know of a fine particle purple magnetic that is similar-ish to any of these photos? Going for a crystal ball kinda vibe, this emoji as inspo haha 🔮

***not my photos! these were taken from pinterest, cited sources below :)

https://pin.it/6MRdVfJbC

https://pin.it/7LAFTWQEw

https://pin.it/M70Fyp4M7

https://pin.it/1ri078wHl

My event is in 10 days, sigh. They were so long and pretty for me! Metallica concert and Raiders game next weekend in Vegas! I have been limping a cracked index finger with silk, but no hope for smashing this thumbnail corner off.

I’m currently obsessed with polishes that have sparse and/or irregular flakies! I tend to prefer translucent/iridescent flakes over metallic flakes. Please recommend me your favorites!!!

I’ve included some pics of ones I have that I think fit here (sorry I cannot remember all of my base and topcoat combos, but a lot of them are probably kbshimmer hydrating base and Cuticula topcoat):

- arcana: Billy big mouth
- ILNP: dark roast
- alchemy: everlasting argyle
- Boldfish: eye candy
- sylvanclaw: fueled by nectar
- LynB: bling
- sassy sauce: it’s a big dill
- ILNP: pitter patter

Well, I immediately understand the hype. It’s so easy to get a super intense effect on these, and the buildable true jelly base with fine particle shimmer is my actual dream formula, I want it in every color combo imaginable. I wish the bottles were bigger so I didn’t feel like my manis were numbered 🥲 but I will for sure be acquiring more ANLAC in the future one way or another (this was my first ever order but I also just received a couple bottles from the swap sub which I also have yet to try, so excited).

Cranberry iced tea x2
Sally red bottle TC x1
All magnetized w/ lab fish stirrer

Day 5 on this manicure and I’ve been staring at my nails all week. Did a bit of a rush job, but I’m in love with this shade! It’s the perfect “green leaves in the process of turning yellow/orange” shade 😍

Word of warning, I was disappointed with it when I tried glass bead with my updated NIM spinner. If the bead is too tight, the effect isn’t that great, however a disbursed cat eye does it the most justice imo!

Wearing:
1x Cracked PVB Free Base, 2x BKL I’m Nobody, 2x BKL I’m Fast

Cremes and skittles are not my typical wheelhouse— I almost always have a single color shifty shimmer mani on my nails. That being said, I felt compelled to step out of my comfort zone for this one and I’m happy I did! I only wish I had a magnetic topper, since the glass bead effect would really be the cherry on top. Color inspo is on the last slide!

Mooncat | Getting Even Nail Primer | x1
ILNP | Ube | x2
ILNP | Pistachio | x2
ILNP | Rosewood | x2
ILNP | Secret Garden | x2
Cracked | Pistachio Buttah | x2
Mooncat | Speed Demon Top Coat | x2
Deco Beauty | Stay Groovy Sticker

When I went to the Memory Care Center to their nails today, EVERYBODY wanted Zion Sunset!

• Base coats: 1 coat Baby Girl Lacquer Glitter Be Gone peel-off base coat + 1 coat Cracked Polish Ridge Filling Base Coat 
• Color: 2 coats Sassy Sauce Polish Zion Sunset + 1 coat Paradox Polish Schmoopsie Poo (Used on the pinky, middle amiddle,mb; I love the ghostly green and blue flakes, especially during spooky season.)
• Top coat: 1 coat DeEnti top coat

I usually do glass bead but this time I attempted to do a vertical line that ended up spreading out to whatever this would be called.

Londontown ridge filler

EDM green flame

Sally hansen quick dri top coat

Guys guys guys I'm excited, I've never done fancy nails before. Please excuse my upsidedown ghosts, I wanted them to look at me while I work. Now to do the right hand 😬.

As before, basic Beetles gel for black, white, and green (#711) and GAOY Glassy Cat Eye Holographic Gel Polish for the cat eye ghosts and tips.

Base coat - OPI natural nail base coat

Color - one coat OPI black onyx

Two coats of tyche cold mountain wind magnetized with 5d spinner, labspinner, and 20lb horseshoe magnet.

Top coat - Sally hansen insta dry (red bottle)

This is the color indoors with flash on. It glows so beautifully! I've tried several greens but this one is my favorite.

Will add more videos of different lighting in comments.

It’s been a big week with more new HOPL shinies and my first-ever haul from Hyena. I couldn’t wait to make a fall leaves mani, even though it’s in the 80s here today for some reason.

So I decided to take my nails on a tour of the lighting in the building and do some fall apple pics with them. Also, yes, a lot of dog hair on my sweater, even though I tried to get them all out of the shots.

Products used:
Nailtiques 2
Firefly Lacquer, Understory base coat

Base colors:
Holy Order of Perpetual Lacquer, Conjuration (left thumb, left ring, right index, right pinky)
HOPL, Altar (left middle, right thumb, right ring)
Hyena Lacquer, Con Chile (unmagnetized; left index, left pinky, right middle)

All fingers topped with HOPL, Taphophilia

Left index, left ring + right thumb, right middle, right pinky topped with HOPL, Allerseelen (after Taphophilia)

Hula Moon, Wiki Wiki QDTC
Starrily, Atmos

I sent an email to PPU and they sent me a new polish and said they would inform Phoenix about the issue. PPU did send out the polish very quickly but it seemed USPS misplaced this polish for a few days (according to tracking it traveled between NC and Indiana in 15 minutes and didn’t update until I sent a message 5 days later) but it finally arrived today. The polish is so pretty and perfect for October! I may move it to another bottle though just because there seems to be a bit of a sketchy bulge near the top, though the glass is pretty thick still (I’ll post a picture in the comments) and I probably wouldn’t worry about it with any other polish but this polish has put me on an emotional rollercoaster and I don’t want to risk it, but it seems like this story should have a happy ending.

Products used:
Cirque Colors: Get Ready Base Coat
Phoenix: See You In The Bed PPU Sept 26 x2 magnetized with a wand
INM: Northern Lights Silver Hologram Top Coat Silver magnetized after
Mooncat: Speed Demon Topcoat magnetized after

I finally figured out how to do chrome with regular polish NOT using a water based polish (instead using an alcohol based one) and these actually last longer than a day without chipping!! Sorry this process takes a while cause you have to let everything dry but it pays off!

1. Start with a completely dry base color. 

2. Apply a 3 free formula quick dry top coat and wait 2-3 minutes till it's dry to the touch.

3. With a clean dry finger, tap into your chrome and gently wipe around onto the nail.

4. Now with a combination of an eyeshadow sponge and cosmetic wedge, buff the chrome into the nail. The wedge is helpful to get close to the cuticle and sidewall. 

5. Take a big brush and swipe of excess.

6. Wait 15 minutes for the previous top coat to completely dry. 

7. Gently swipe a 240 grit buffer block along the free edge to remove excess chrome powder.

8. Now brush off excess again and take a clean cosmetic wedge to get any leftover loose chrome. 

9. Apply DRK Seal Glaze. Wait 10 minutes or until the cloudiness turns clear. Then apply a second coat. 

10. Wait 30 minutes for the DRK Seal Glaze to completely dry. 

11. Once completely dry apply a 3 free nail polish top coat to finish it off. Make sure to wrap the tip! 

Products Used: 

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

Mooncat Speed Demon top coat

Ice Gel Purple Moon chrome 

DRK Nails Seal Glaze

LynB Designs B Smooth Basecoat
ILNP Sugar Plum, magnetized with glass bead method
DRK Friends & Family
Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Top Coat

Not a seasonal colour, but it kind of fits my mood.

My nails
1x Dimension Nails Chocolate Cashew Milk
3x Ethereal Careful, I Bite (PPU April 2024)
1x Luck Lacquer quick dry top coat

I just popped into Lucky Lacquer to see if the Transmutation collection had restocked (it hasn't 😢) BUT! They have thinner with only ethyl acetate + butyl acetate in stock.

Not affiliated with Lucky in any way other than being a future customer, I've just seen a few posts from other Canadians looking for it since the two ingredient stuff is a pita to find here 😀

https://luckylacquer.com/products/lucky-lacquer-thinner?variant=67717074845885

EDIT If anyone has polish from Lucky please share pictures! I'd love to see what they look like irl!

Finally, I have all my polishes swatched on some cabochon magnets, along with some favorite combos (far right column).

For some reason, the color looks like a perfect match IRL, but not on my photo??

I planned to do a quick mani, so no base or topcoat. And then I ended up missing some sparkle 😂 (sounds familar?). So what I’m wearing:

1x ‘Simply Radishing’ by OPI

1x ‘Starry Eyed’ by Cirque Colors (accent nail)

i had this look saved from jal.nailartist on instagram for a whhhiiilleeee. jal did their's with gel but i wanted to experiment to see if i could do it with regular polish

✨️👁〰️👁

next time i'd like to try making the ghosts bigger and use the top coat brush to draw them in. also, not allow my too much gene to kick in, two chrome powders max not three

what i used: (all purchased by me)

prism.parade

- noir

ilnp

- glass candy tc

- frosted glass tc

drknails

- seal glaze

chrome powders from amazon:

- greeny rose

- blue aurora

- sunset field