Searching the perfect white

It's been some weeks that I wanted to do a sailor/marina-inspired manicure.  I attempted one in two occasions, and in both I ended up frustrated because the white I used did not cover well my nails, despite my using 2 coats of it.

The white I used is Margaret Astor Perfect Stay Gel Shine (White Snow).  Avoid it like the plague!  The worst thing is I bought it this season, so the bottle is almost full, and I do not think I will use it anymore.

Today I bought an Essie nail polish (my first Essie purchase), called Blanc.  I just returned home and my curiosity took the best of me: I tried it on my pinkie finger: one coat, no base; I just wanted to check the coverage. And it is perfect!  One stroke and my nail was perfectly white.

Hopefully the next sailor manicure attempt will be better.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Nail design of the week

This week's design is based on a beautiful French manicure that I saw in The Model Stage blog:

Picture from The Model Stage Blog

I love the grey color, and the subtlety of the fine line for the tips!  So this the result of my manicure:

It is in no way as perfect as hers; but I normally use the nail tip whitener following my own white lines, and since this time I did not have them, it was difficult for me to be precise.  I think I should buy tip guides for this kind of work (I hate using tape!).  These are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat
Margaret Astor Quick'N Go (I believe it is #360, although I am not sure)

Nail Tip Whitener by Rimmel

Seche Vite top coat
Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

While Ana used a nude color for the tips, I used my nail tip whitener.  I do not like nude colors.  I do not even own one.

Now that I have done it, I am not sure if I like the results on my own nails.  Probably I will like it more when it's Winter and I will be using darker colors to dress.  But I do not think it works during Summer.  Very classy and elegant, yes, but not suitable for a day at the beach, me thinks...

Nail design of the week

I'm afraid this week I revisited the mermaid nail tutorial created by elleandish.  It is so lovely I just can't get enough of it!

This time I followed all the instructions provided, and my nails look like this:

It looks so much better with a softer two-color combination!  I say two-color because, despite the fact that I wanted to use three, one of the blues was barely visible, so I just omitted it.  These are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat 

Fashion Studio by Margaret Astor nail polishes #242 (Aqua Leaf) and #070 (Blue Taffeta)

Mash plate #39

Konad plastic scraper

Konad small stamper

Makeup sponge

Lina Bocardi 45'' Flash Nail Polish #12 for stamping

Quick Dry Top Gloss by Margaret Astor
Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

It cannot really be seen in the pic but the design smeared again.  I need to get me a Seche Vite top coat, which I hear is fabulous for this kind of stuff.  

This design really gets people's attention.  I will probably end up using it for most of the Summer.  My inner mermaid is so happy with it!

I also painted my toe nails with Come along with me nail polish by H&.  I don't know why, I am liking very much blue colors this season.