Manicures with Friends Part 2: Tot's Dots

The most recent hand model for Rouge Required is my friend Tatiana. We call her Tot or Tater Tot as nicknames, thus Tot's Dot's. She wanted something that she wouldn't do for herself, and we were having trouble deciding which polishes to use, so we used several of the top choices for this 'dotticure'. 
*Products shown below were either purchased by me or received in a trade with one of the other members on makeuptalk.com. I am not affiliated with nor compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

 

I first painted Tot's nails with a base coat of Orly Bonder, then two coats of Essie Play Date. I applied Poshe quick-dry top coat before creating the dots.

The dots were created with my Martha Stewart dotting tools that I bought at Michael's. These photos are before I applied a final coat of Poshe over the dots, indoors under artificial light. If you choose to do a similar manicure, I recommend waiting longer than you think you need to before applying the last top coat. The dots are thicker than a normal coat of polish, so they tend to smear if you top coat them too soon.

The polishes used for the dots:

Blue--Essie In the Cab-ana

Green--Essie First Timer

Lavender--Julep Renee

Purple glitter--Zoya Aurora

*Products shown above were either purchased by me or received in a trade with one of the other members on makeuptalk.com. I am not affiliated with nor compensated by any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

Review and Possible Dupes--China Glaze 'Traffic Jam' vs. OPI 'Casino Royale'

China Glaze 'Traffic Jam' was a little beauty I bought at T.J. Maxx for a couple bucks. Recently, I bought OPI 'Casino Royale' from an individual on polishsale.livejournal.com. They didn't seem similar online, but when I saw the bottles next to each other I was afraid that I had gotten a duplicate shade.

China Glaze 'Traffic Jam' (left), OPI 'Casino Royale' (right)

As you can see, in the bottle, they look quite similar. The China Glaze looks perhaps a little brighter.

China Glaze 'Traffic Jam'

OPI 'Casino Royale'

On the nail, totally different polishes. 'Traffic Jam' is a delicious-looking raspberry shade, while 'Casino Royale' is a deep, red-toned purple.

Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat

I used one coat of Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat and two coats of each of the polishes. China Glaze 'Traffic Jam' had an excellent formula, went on very easily. OPI 'Casino Royale' was pretty smooth as well, but the first coat was streaky. I had a little bit of trouble with both wanting to flood my cuticles, but it was slight.

Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat

I tried a new (to me) top coat this time, borrowed from my closest friend: Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat. It does not help your polish dry, but the top coat itself dries quickly. It's pretty rock hard in five minutes. You are supposed to apply it after your polish is dry. It smooths everything out and feels really strong, kind of like gel but not as glossy. I was happy with it.

China Glaze 'Traffic Jam' (sad acetone spots)

'Traffic Jam' and 'Casino Royale' were both very difficult for me to remove. I am guessing that they are both full of pigment, because my hands looked like I had been picking berries. Even when I went to clean up my cuticles, there was color left behind. (I accidentally got a drop of acetone on my middle finger and my pinkie above.)

OPI 'Casino Royale' (melted pinkie polish)

My pinkie finger above is an example of what not to do. I didn't wait long enough for my polish to dry before applying the Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat, and it seems to have melted my polish. Blah!

China Glaze polish retails for around $7.00, but varies a lot by location. I find that Sally Beauty usually has a good selection. 'Traffic Jam' was part of a limited edition Metro collection, I believe, so you might not see it in stores. It is available online for $3.25 at head2toebeauty.com.

'Casino Royale' is part of OPI's Skyfall collection and is still widely available. OPI polish retails for about $9.00 and is sold in many stores and salons. I find that ULTA usually has a good selection.

Anyhow, both beautiful shades and I am happy to have them both. What do you think? 

*I purchased these products with my own money and I am not affiliated with any of the brands or web sites mentioned above.*

Blue/green tape mani

Scotch tape is very useful. Through the wonders of the Internet, I found out that it is even useful for nail art. Some of the ladies online do tape manis that would blow your mind, like Erika from the seemingly-on-hiatus blog Chloe's Nails. I have started with a simple design, while I get used to the details like when to take off the tape, how hard to press down the tape, blah blah blah.

 

 

The lovely bright green creme is Courteney, by Julep, which is I used as my base color. (Julep nail colors retail for $14.00, but are $11.20 if you are part of their Maven program. My referral link to their subscription service: http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/25580/). I believe it was two coats. While Courteney is vibrant, there is a softness to the shade as well, so it is not neon.

 

After the base color dried, I put diagonal strips of tape over about half of each nail, and then painted on the blue shade. I removed each strip of tape after painting each nail.

 

The pop of blue for contrast is Mesmerized by Essie. (Essie nail polish typically retails for $8.00 and can be purchased on http://www.essie.com/shop/, or at retailers like CVS, Target, and I believe WalMart.) If you like blue, you kind of need this shade.

 

I adore both of these polishes. Yep, I used them again for a slightly different mani, shown below. This one was far less precise, since I didn't use any tape, just a blue brush stroke down the middle of my green polished nail.

 

 

 

I apologize for the older, grainy photos, but I enjoyed this color combination so much that I had to share it anyway.

 

What do you think? Have you ever tried a Scotch tape mani?

Yoshi Eggs Manicure

I was in the mood for some cartoon-ish nail art, simple but fun. The end result reminds me of the eggs associated with Yoshi in the Super Mario Bros. world.

 

 



I used a Seche base coat. The dark green is a shade called Hoch, from Julep's Trina Turk 2012 Fall Collection. (Julep is a company that offers a monthly nail polish subscription service: http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/25580/) I used my large dotting tool and White on the Spot by Milani for the dots. Next time, I would use a different white polish. White on the Spot is a quick-dry polish, so it tended to leave behind strings as I pulled away from making dots.

 

This is a cheerful manicure for me. I did like Hoch by itself, a gorgeous green creme, but I wanted something more fun today. Beware, though, that greens and blues are notorious for staining. Usually a good base coat prevents the staining from becoming a problem for me. 

I've been sick for a week and have had bare fingernails. BARE NAILS, NO POLISH! Oh, wait, that probably isn't worth all of those capital letters to most people. However, I am an obsessive compulsive person. As much as I love the look of nail polish, it also serves a practical purpose for me. When my nails are not painted, I have a terrible compulsion to pick at them. If I keep them painted, I let them grow out healthy and undisturbed. You will find that many current nail polish addicts used to be nailbiters, and nail polish helped them to break the habit or helps them to resist it. I don't have a nailbiting problem, but the principle is similar. So...it feels great to have polished nails again!

Also, Hoch was a shade of nail polish that was in my large section of "Untrieds". If you are an addict of any kind of beauty product, it can be quite helpful to separate the products that you have not tried yet from the others. This way you get a nice visual reminder to help you to buy a little less of whatever your addiction feeds upon.