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

[CookieGirl1]

@Saradestin bring on the sparkle!

[Saradestin]

Totally @CookieGirl1 ! This polish is so sparkly! ✨✨✨

[heartsmyface]

@Saradestin  Oh gosh those nails are glorious!! I love that shade! 

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @heartsmyface ! It is such a beautiful polish! 

[Shosh85]

@Saradestin  Oh, so beautiful! I've had this one in and out of my cart for awhile, but I'll definitely have to go for it at the next sale! 💜

[Saradestin]

You will love it @Shosh85 , specially at a sale price which will make it completely irresistible!

[itsfi]

@Saradestin, simple and sensational! The purple jelly base is beautiful; the sparkles are gorgeous. This is such a fun and fabulous polish! 💜

[Saradestin]

It really is @itsfi ! I love it! 💜💜💜

[RGbrown]

@Saradestin 

Oh yay, nice to see it on someone else! 😍 Such a gorgeous polish!  💜✨

[Saradestin]

Thank you for enabling @RGbrown ! I love it! 

[Cissy63]

@Saradestin  This is absolutely stunning 💜💜

[Saradestin]

It really is @Cissy63 !!! I am amazed! 

[Titian06]

Wow, really beautiful, @Saradestin ! 💜💜💜

[Saradestin]

Thank you @Titian06 ! It is so pretty! ❤️

[RGbrown]

It's been a while since I've done any "art" (using that term loosely 😂), so I decided to have a little fun with some more of these valentine's creams I pulled last month 💖

First up, the swatch hand!

Full sun, and I think the colors are surprisingly pretty accurate in this one...oranges can throw my camera way off for some reason, but these are close, perhaps just a touch brighter IRL.

Every single one of these was a three coater, argh, some nicer about it than others.

Zoya Skipper: neon purple. A little streaky, but not terribly so, the third coat was easy enough to just cover a couple of sheer spots. Zoya's neons are on the sheer side from what I've read (this is my first one), so I wasn't surprised by needing three.

Butter Trout Pout: bright orangey coral, a bit fussy, I had to work the third coat fairly carefully to get it mostly even. I partly blame the mini bottle and smaller brush that goes along with it...a full size bottle may have been easier to work with.

Zoya Dacey: super bright hot pink, and I was surprised by needing three coats on this one. Part of that was my massive speed bump of a ridge on this one, it's by far my worst nail, but overall this polish was thinner and more sheer than I normally expect from Zoya.

Ulta x Steffi Lynn The Dream: by far the fussiest of the lot, this one was a bit thick and started drying quickly, making it hard to get even and smooth coverage. Thinner probably would have helped, but it didn't dawn on me until afterwards 🙄

Morgan Taylor Color Me Bold: bright orangey salmon. This was another that surprised me by being thin and somewhat sheer, I didn't expect that from an MT. The third coat wasn't fussy, just necessary for full coverage. 

And the fun hand 💕

Full sun, with a couple nails slightly blurry to pop some of the holo ✨

Indirect light to show the stripes a little better

I started with a base of Londontown Illuminating Nail Concealer (three coats), added some random stripes across the tips, then topped it all off with a coat of Smith & Cult Take Fountain (pale pink and holo glitter in various sizes). I'm mostly happy with how it came out, though the SC is a little denser and flashier than I envisioned originally, and I feel it kinda detracts from the stripes. I may do a similar design in the near future with a little tweaking, to see if can refine this a bit closer to what I originally wanted ✨

And I have some thoughts on Londontown Illuminating Nail Concealer vs Butter Mellow The Yellow, if anyone is interested in the differences between them!

Spoiler

In the bottle, the two look nearly identical; both are a sheer white with a hint of blue shimmer to help correct yellow/orange staining

But once swatched out, the difference is extremely noticeable

(One coat each) Londontown definitely shows a much bluer tone than Butter, and also has better coverage (while still remaining sheer). When I use Butter, normally I do two coats to help color correct, and it does do a nice job of that, but it's so sheer that I still need something else with some coverage over it...I've used it in the past as a base for other sheers like Revlon Sheer Petal but it becomes 4-5 coats just get a base down before I even get to whatever art is going on top.

Using Londontown last night, I was surprised at how much better coverage I got, and I didn't need to add anything else on top for my "sheer" look. I did wind up doing three coats of it because I have some super dark blue/green staining I was trying to mute a little more, but once that's gone, I think I'll be able to get by with two coats of this by itself as a base, even with my dark yellow staining. 

All in all, I'm glad now that I picked up the Londontown one...I was kicking myself for a while thinking I'd grabbed something I didn't need since I thought it would be nearly identical to the Butter one, but it turns out they are different enough that this comparison was warranted!

If all you want is super sheer color correcting with a hint of shine, Butter is good, but honestly, I think you'd get similar (but brighter) results from just one coat of Londontown that you would from two coats of Butter, so I'm struggling to see a use case where I wouldn't just say "Londontown is better for that" 😬

[Samtian]

@RGbrown Ooh I love them both! Of course my two favorite shades would be the most troublesome. 

[RGbrown]

@Samtian @Shosh85 @heartsmyface @CookieGirl1 

Thanks so much y'all!  💖

[CookieGirl1]

@RGbrown I love the name AND the color of Butter Trout Pout 🐟.

[heartsmyface]

@RGbrown  Ouuuuhhhh!  I love the dripping pastels!  Very pastel lot lots.  You just need a bunny crossbones bandage 😉 

 

[Shosh85]

@RGbrown  All of these colors are great, and the nail art you created with them is just gorgeous! The glitter definitely adds a nice touch! 🤩

[Cissy63]

@RGbrown  Such colorful pinks, coral and purple!  And wow, the stripes and sparkles are gorgeous 😀