Friday 'Fessional. How To. I Stole a Mani from The Beauty Department. #TBD.

Friday 'Fessional.

I am not a huge fan of nail art. Yes, I love doing my nails. True, in the 7th grade (c. 1997), when I had 0 social life aside from soccer, I dabbled in many-a-nail-art. (So, naturally, I attribute our current nail art trend to my 12 year old self.) But. I am a huge fan of this nail art. So, I unequivocally stole it from Lauren Conrad's The Beauty Department and created my own How To.

Left: The Beauty Department: Nailed It! Layer Loving
Right: BarbaraEllen: Friday 'Fessional. How To.

How To.

Base Coat: CND Sticky.
Varnish: Essie Turquoise & Caicos.
Top Coat: Seche Clear. (see about my mix-up below!)

1. Read up on how to do your nails & choose the proper products for a lasting finish, at the right price.

 I love this color so much I even
posed w a Trader Joe's treat.

2. Find a shade close to Tiffany Blue, Robbin's Egg Blue, or Baby Blue. I already own & absolutely love--it is one of my all time favorites--Essie's Turquoise & Caicos. Because of how smoothly it glides on, quickly it dries, and strongly it stays, Essie has earned tops on my list of favorites. 

FREE Tote I bought with any 2 Revlon Products at Wegmans. 

3. Read TBD's Obsessions Nailed It Tutorial. Glean ideas on how to translate the TBD manicure to your own. Two visuals from the TBD Tutorial helped me to recreate this. Seeing what the sparkles--such as last season's favorites, which is the inspiration for this TBD Nail It mani--look like in the bottle helped me to choose my own. The second was deciding what tool to use and how to apply. Brush or no brush? TBD posts an entire How to Get a Good Glitter Fade Tutorial on their New Years Nails post. While I didn't watch this, I noticed from pictures that it was key to use a tool, other than a brush, to accomplish the fade. 

3 Revlon sparkles (on-sale!).
Combine when you can't find.

4. When mixing your own shades, find a flat surface, such as a recyclable plastic lid, and enlist the service of an orange stick. This will help you combine varnishes as well as apply them with greater precision and attention to detail.

Orange stick allows you to apply & to drag
& is much more forgiving than a brush.

Revlon varnishes combined to
create 1 look!

5. Combine varnishes bit-by-bit. As in cooking, you can always add, but you can never take away. Also be aware that varnishes, even of the same brand & line, often have different textures. In this case, the blue & the pink were less viscous while the white, thicker. In order to properly bind the 3, I needed more white than previously thought.

First coat of sparkles!

6. Apply along the nail's flat edge first. Use the falt side of the orange stick. Drag sparkles upward to create a fade, using the pointier edge of the stick. Occassionally use the stick's corners to strategically place specific glitters. Most of all: be free! Don't become too caught up in the mani's exact design. Instead be more aware of generalities such as thickness & length. Here: thicker at the nail's edge, and about 3/4 the nail in length. 

Can you spot the mistake I made??

7. Always use a top coat. Seche Vite, for it's quickness in drying & luminous finish it leaves, is my unequivocal go to. Unfortunately, I picked up Seche Clear--an incredible base coat--in lieu of its foible. The result? A slower drying nail with more of a matte finish. (Because, obviously, a base is meant to help varnish stick, as opposed to helping it dry.) In the end ... the look still works.

I added extra sparkles after realizing I needed
to add more length to complete the look.

I'm not sure what I love more. My classic Turquoise & Caicos or the Lana Del Rey, as I refer to this cheeky sparkles inspired mani. Either way, it is fun knowing that I can do the glitter fade. And even better remembering that I bought 3 sparkle varnishes for $9, total!, & received a free pink tote!! Go Revlon. Go The Beauty Department. Go Lana Del Rey.

xo.