Show Me Your Nails 2.0

[Tamara76]

Due to some technical glitches with the original Show Me Your Nails Thread, I am starting a new thread with @vegchililover78's blessing (She says "hello," by the way!).

Please share your nail looks, nail art and manicures!

...And don't forget to check out @Beadshopgirl's Nail Stamping Thread for stamping inspiration! ❤️  

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Nailed-It/The-Nail-Stamping-Thread/m-p/3328865

[RGbrown]

@Titian06 

Thanks so much!

Exhale was definitely one of my later MT purchases, one I kept looking at and passing over, but I'm glad it eventually made its way into my cart (bogo at Sally, I think, I needed it to fill out a deal on one I wanted more, lol). It's a lovely color!

[itsfi]

Ooooh @RGbrown, Essie Tropic Low creates a beautiful effect when paired with Butter London So Major, which by the way, what a gorgeous green - lovin' it on its own too! 💚 I agree with you on the pairing with MT Exhale. The pretty purple from MT Exhale livens it up from your typical dusty rose - I actually thought it was a full on purple shade and we both know how I feel about purples. 💜

[RGbrown]

@itsfi 

Thanks so much!

Exhale may be one of those polishes I have a hard time filing away...is it pink or is it purple? (yes 😂) I think it'll be slightly closer to my pinks, but I could be wrong!

[rihannak]

 #red #gold #acrylic

[Saradestin]

So beautiful @rihannak 

[Mellmars1185]

@rihannak Beautiful set!

[CynthieLu]

This is a gorgeous mani @rihannak  ✨️ 💖 

[WinglessOne]

@rihannak  Love the gem accents to kick up a red mani! 

[Shosh85]

@rihannak  So beautiful and so classy! These look gorgeous! ❤️

[Titian06]

Gorgeous, @rihannak !  Love the red! ❤❤❤

[Cissy63]

@rihannak  Your nails are beautiful!!  The red is gorgeous!! Plus added sparkle’s -yes!!

[RGbrown]

@rihannak 

Jewels always elevate a look from simple to fancy; this is lovely! Welcome! ❣️

[itsfi]

@rihannak, that's a gorgeous red! Love the sparkle too! 😍

[RGbrown]

A quick deal at Orly! Their Futurism collection is now $35, and code CP10 will take another $10 off. Shipping is $4.99 (or free at $40, I believe, but I read this deal is limited to 50 sets, so I didn't bother wasting time to fill my cart up 😋 )

orlybeauty dot com/pages/deal-drops-2022

[Saradestin]

Thank you for always keeping us informed about all sales out there @RGbrown ! I am being very targeted now trying to reduce my purchases as much as possible. Let’s see how well I behave 😂

[RGbrown]

@Saradestin 

I hear that! I thought I had a "take it easy" plan in place for this year, I've got most of my purchases planned out, at least in a rudimentary way, but whoops, didn't even consider that Orly might pop up with something I'd want (this set was on my "will grab with a nice deal" list, but I didn't think that would happen til after xmas lol), and I'm sure there are still tons of surprise deals that will easily send me way off course 😬

[WinglessOne]

I was going to file all 10 nails short a few days ago. But then my left index nail had a run-in with The Mangler (aka a zipper on a certain purse) and escaped with a 1/3 nail-width split far below my fingertip. I stripped that nail bare, patched and ridge-filled it, and then applied a simple plain jelly polish—without touching the other 9 nails because “eh, I’ll do ‘em later,” which didn't happen til most of the old mani finally chipped and peeled away yesterday. 

Laziness has still kept me from shortening any nails. Yesterday a friend asked how long I can grow my nails out* before they tick me off enough to shorten them. Let's find out! 😄 Gotta say though, I'm almost there with these right hand claws. They’re SO in my way. I can’t even accurately tap small targets on my phone now. Your time will end soon, claws. Bleepin’ soon. 

Til then, I’ve gone full mani with the simple plain jelly theme: 

Right after doing my left hand, I realized I should've used Zoya Frida (a plain teal jelly) on one of those nails to bridge the green and blues. D'oh.

Everything’s either 2 or 3 total coats. I lost track of which nails were 2- vs. 3-coaters. 

Left - the Cirque Colors hand: 

Spoiler

Thumb & index: Cirque Colors Kelly Jelly. This index nail’s the mangled one and was painted a few days before all the others. I used a bit too much nail glue while patching the split, resulting in a weird ridge filler gap that shows through the polish near the tip. 

Middle: Cirque Colors Navy Jelly. Kinda streaky patchy, and this nail’s barely ridged. Also caught an air bubble. 

Ring: Cirque Colors Navy Jelly + Cirque Colors Morningtide. As close to cornflower blue as I could get with these 2 shades. The end result’s quite streaky. To be fair, this is one of my most vertically ridged nails and I should’ve used a ridge filler here. 

Pinky: Cirque Colors Morningtide. Got more coverage than I expected from this pale wispy blue, but there are still too many bare patches for a jelly. Pretty sure this is 3 coats. 

Right - the (mostly) Zoya hand: 

Spoiler

Thumb & index: Loud Lacquer Jelly With A Baseball Bat. An interesting matte jelly formula in a lovely fuchsia shade. (I topped it with KBShimmer’s quick dry glossy top coat.) This is the first Loud Lacquer polish I’ve ever used. It streaked out on the prominent vertical ridge along my thumb (again, shoulda used ridge filler on certain nails since these are all plain jellies). It did better on my smooth index nail. And I do like Loud’s dense paddle brush. 

Middle: Zoya Alia. A dependable red violet berry jammy jelly. 

Ring:  Zoya Alia + Zoya Molly. I wanted to see if Molly could lift Alia a bit. Eh, got me closer to a raspberry shade. 

Pinky: Zoya Molly. A bold rosy pink jelly I hadn’t used before on its own. I added a bit more coverage at the tip to prevent a bald patch and, like all my other Zoya jellies, Molly self-leveled like a champ. 

I prefer Zoya’s plain jelly formula to Cirque’s. It’s not just bias (Cirque’s is much newer to me than Zoya’s): Zoya’s jellies are much better self-levelers and rarely throw air bubbles. Cirque’s plain jelly formula dries shinier but is also more watery during application. I need more time to figure out how to get the best out of it. Meanwhile, Zoya’s jelly formula remains easy and reliable. Need more fun plain jelly shades, Zoya! Make this layering fanatic's dreams come true! 

*This isn't the longest my nails have ever been. One year, I let them grow out enough to shape into long pointy claws as part of a Halloween costume. I'll never do that again. I literally could not type via fingertips and had to use my knuckles. 😂 Didn't take long for them to break off on their own afterward. Back then, keeping them that long til 10/31 was a huge chore. 

[Mellmars1185]

@WinglessOne Pretty polishes. Sorry to hear about your run in with the zipper. 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @Mellmars1185 ! 

[CynthieLu]

Lol the way you write is the best 😂 

Lovely nails @WinglessOne I can't even tell one was patched. Your very skilled. 

I know what you mean about nail clippers damaging your nails from the stress they put on them. Mine are fine thin nails and they chip sooo easily, and clipping them usually results in more dastardly chips.

[WinglessOne]

Thank you @CynthieLu ! 🙂 Making a teabag patch invisible under a plain jelly isn't always easy, so I appreciate the compliment. 

Ugh, frequent chips are obnoxious and I'm sorry you're dealing with them. When I was in my 30s, my nails were prone to chipping (in addition to deep splits) because they were too brittle. A consistent daily regimen of nail oil followed by a moisturizer helped fix that. So did quitting nail clippers. None of this stops The Mangler from trying to steal a chunk of keratin once in a while, but at least the damage is usually a split instead of a chip.