A "Whimsical" Mani!

Greetings, friends!  It's mid-week and I'm just truckin' along with my mani's:)

Around a week ago I posted about my first trip to an Ulta store (which was amazing!).  While I was there I stumbled upon Whimsical by Revlon.  I've seen this polish on a lot of nail blogs and I was so excited to find it for myself but I had no idea how I was going to incorporate it into a mani... until now...

Colors Used: Essie - Borrowed & Blue, Revlon - Whimsical, Jesse's Girl - Spring Break

I LOVE the way these turned out!  I put Essie on my tips before I applied the Revlon (because it's very sheer and I wanted the colors to pop!) and then I used a striping brush to apply the purple.  I brushed on a layer of top coat (Seche Vite) and then applied the fimo bows with glue.   I have some minor staining on my index finger that I plan on buffing out later (I think it came from the SH - Golden-I; I messed up that nail and had to start over and I think I forgot to redo the base coat).  Overall, I'm really happy with this mani :)

I've said that I want to do more than just nail art with this blog.  I want to share tricks and tips that I learn with you, so I'll start with a trick I learned on how to remove glitter polishes (they're such a pain!).  Click "Read More" to view the tutorial :)

I start by cutting 5 cotton rounds in half (I hear it works with regular cotton balls as well).  Then I soak them in Acetone (the acetone I use is scented and has vitamin E added to it hence the pink coloring haha). 

Place the cotton pad over your nail...

and then wrap it in a foil square.  I use a store-brand foil from the grocery store and cut it into squares with some scissors.

Doing one hand at a time I let them set for 3-4 mins and then remove the foil.

If you apply a little pressure while pulling away the cotton pad, the glitter comes right off!

A couple of  helpful hints:

• Be sure to wash and moisturize your hands when you're done.
• I only use 5 foil squares when doing this.  Once I'm done with one hand, I reuse the foil for the other hand ;)
• I also use this method when I want to change my mani in a hurry.  It doesn't just have to be for glitter mani's.
•  I'm going to repeat myself and say... moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!  Your cuticles will thank you later lol.

I'm planning on doing a "Products I Use" post in the near future for those of you who are curious...

I hope that today's post was enjoyable and informative :D

Until next time!

Stef <3