FALLing for the Mani

Good morning! 

Today I'll be sharing how I did this fall colors inspired mani. 

I started off by using the Bridge the Ridge base coat I talked about in my last post. This is actually last week's mani, so I had only tried the one coat. The sunlight glare kinda shows how bad my ridges are--especially there on my pinky. Normally, however, the ridges don't show too horribly once my top coat is on. 

I then put down one coat of L.A. Colors "Hottie". This is a bright orange...

Let me interrupt myself here to say that I normally don't wear oranges or yellows. But hey, it's fall, right? It's a great excuse to break out of my norm. May as well throw both of my least used colors on there. 

Anyhow, as I was saying... "Hottie" is a bright pumpkin orange. And you can find L.A. Colors at most dollar stores (Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, etc.) for... yep, you guessed it! A dollar. 

I then used "Hottie" and Pure Ice "Show Stopper" (a banana yellow) on a makeup sponge to create a gradient. I did four coats, but I honestly could have gotten away with three. As far as I'm aware, the only brick-and-mortars that carry Pure Ice polishes are Walmart and Big Lots. I typically get mine at Walmart, and they cost $1.97.  

Now, I'll be honest here: gradients are not my specialty. No matter how many of Cristine's videos I watch, I just cannot get the dab dab dab correct. BUT! I sucked at watermarbles and stamping when I first started those, too. I just need more practice with gradients.

(My son is practicing his raspberries here next to me... it's totally cute and totally distracting, so if I'm bouncing around a lot, I apologize!)

After the gradient, I applied a fast drying top coat. I then used BundleMonster's XL07 plate and "Visionary" to stamp on the trees. I'll go into more detail about the plates and polish in my next post. I know, I know... the trees have blossoms on them, which screams "SPRING!" instead of fall, but it was the best image I had available. I'm SORRY, okay?? I'm sorry! 

Remember when I said that I use products under five dollars with a few exceptions?  Yeah, I'm about to lay an exception on ya. The same fast drying top coat I used between the gradient and the stamping is the top coat I use to finish all of my manicures (except of course the matte manis). I use Seche Vite. This stuff isn't cheap. With my Beauty Club Card I can get it at Sally's for $7.99. That's not chump change when you're on a budget. Is it worth it? Hellz yes it is. Seche Vite dries soooo shiny! It does a fairly good job of hiding my ridges, except when a glare hits them. It also doesn't smear your polish as other, cheaper top coats are wont to do. It is amazingly smooth and easy to apply. And the best thing of all? Seche Vite circumvents "The Phenomenon". You know what "The Phenomenon" is. We've all been there. "The Phenomenon" is that occurrence--I often wonder if it's an ingredient in all polishes that causes this to happen--when you've just finished your mani and you suddenly and inexplicably have to pee, right now! Don't fret! Throw some Seche Vite on your nails, wait five minutes (do the potty dance if you have to, but those five minutes will pass, I promise), and then you can safely--yet carefully--undo the button on your jeans.


...Or untie the ties on your jammies if you're still in them, as I often am. 

The point is... Seche Vite dries super fast. This stuff has literally saved my mani countless times. So yes, I do feel that it's worth going beyond budget. Can you survive without it? Sure, if you have a lot of time on your hands. As a working mom, I don't. So this is a must have for me.



Stay tuned for the BundleMonster booty!