Hot Half Moon: Color Club I Always Get My Man-darin

Hello ladies,

The city of Philadelphia is decorated with brightly hued tulips. I found the urge to mirror their cheerful tones in today's manicure.

With a tiny brush, I created the half moons freehand style. An easy method is to paint a vertical line from the cuticle area upward and form an arch on either side. Because Ultra-Astral is a glitter polish, I first defined the half moons using Raspberry Rush. I couldn't resist adding a coordinating orange rhinestone.

While I love the look of the glitter French tips, I found Ultra-Astral difficult to sweep across the nail in a perfect curve. I would recommend layering the Starry Temptress Colors over a thinner neon of the same hue. This method worked flawlessly for the half Moon. I will try it for the tips in the future.

I Always Get My Man-Darin is a yellow-orange polish with diaphanous green shimmer. This shade appears more yellow in bright light and soft orange in medium to low light. I wore this polish without embellishment for a day before adding the funky french and the half moons. I painted two coats over a whitening base, which left a hint of visible nail line. This manicure shows two additional coats for opacity.

I hope my hot half moon manicure brought a glow to your day.

The polishes featured in this post were sent to me for review. I Always Get My Mandarin and Raspberry Rush are from the Wicked Sweet Collection. Ultra-Astral is part of the

Starry Temptress Collection.

For a chance to win the seven piece set of neon glitter polishes, stop by the

Starry Temptress Giveaway! to enter.

Happy painting, ladies!

Halloween half moon

Hello ladies,

Today I made my first effort at a half Moon manicure and added on a funky french with China Glaze Fortune Teller. I did both techniques freehand. I also used a Migi nail art pen in black to create an opaque base for the moons. The last photo shows the half Moon look most accurately. Positioning fingers around a bottle can alter the perspective on the cuticle area, making the moons appear more oval. Sephora by OPI in Hi Def is the neon base. I was so taken by the gold leaves of the tree at the park, I had to share it as a background. 

 

China Glaze Fortune Teller

Sephora by OPI Hi Def

Migi nail art pen in black

I have been wanting to try a half Moon manicure ever since I first saw Dita Von Teese wearing the retro style on her nails. I hesitated attempting the look since my nails are long and square shaped. Adding a curved smile line with the french created symmetry. While I have seen other half Moon manicures done with templates, my small hands didn't cooperate with various circle stickers from office supply stores. I decided to paint the Moons freehand with the help of a nail art pen and a paint brush. I definitely will try this again, but I am pleased with the initial experiment.

I applied three coats of Sephora by OPI Hi Def. This color is a true orange, but rather sedate for a neon. Had I not been aware of the formula or tried to photograph it, I would have thought Hi Def was simply a bright creme. I would recommend the color for those who love orange and are temperate with neon. 

I painted China Glaze Fortune Teller as the funky french.  Fortune Teller has coppery orange glitter pieces and hexagons in a black jelly base. The polish flowed smoothly to form the smile line, but I had to be careful to avoid thin spots where the glitter was sparse. It would be best to work in a brightly lit space to ensure opacity. 

To create the half Moon, I used a Migi nail art pen. I eyed the center of the nail at the cuticle line, then drew a straight line upwards. From the end of the line I drew two arch shapes towards the cuticle. Then I colored in the spaces. Initially, I was going to leave the half Moon black, but it looked stark. I used a sable brush in a size zero from the craft store. I rubbed the bristles against the stem of the polish brush in the Fortune Teller bottle and went over the area I had shaded using the nail art pen. The jelly formula wouldn't be able to form a clean half Moon on it's own.

Migi Nail Art sent me pens to review. While I don't have much experience with nail art pens, I can share my thoughts on the process. Each color comes with a standard polish brush and a pen. It was unusual to see a brush and pen combination that didn't feature a striper style brush. I can appreciate how it would be useful to have a standard brush to create french manicures, as many polish companies are opting to expand their brush width. The size of the brush would be perfect for a beginner to paint a smile line. The application from the pens was different than I had anticipated. For the polish to be released through the metal tip, it's necessary to gently squeeze the bottle. The plastic bottles are pliable, but still sturdy. Squeezing too hard could yield a bumpy line. It's also necessary to draw fluidly so the polish will glide evenly on the nail. I feel comfortable with the Migi nail art pens and will certainly show more looks using them. The black pen was very helpful with the half Moon manicure. I am interested in trying the white for the same purpose.

Happy painting, ladies.