Day 1: red

I'm starting this today!

I did unfortunately rip off my nails this weekend though. Ughhh. I hadn't done that in so long, like 9 months! I don't know what I was thinking. I hate having them this short. They do grow quickly though. I know a lot of people have trouble growing their nails so maybe I can help some of you out. I'll be post tips for nail care/growth during this challenge and you'll be able to see my nails grow. 

First up, red nails!  I went with Barielle "Elle's Spell", a very popular polish! I got it on sale from the Barielle website a while back. I have been saving this polish for a while and was happy to use it! I thought maybe I'd be disappointed but nope. How could I be when it's flakies?! It's a red jelly with flakies that shine mostly gold but you see the green a bit too. Gorgeous. I did three coats. If you have longer nails and want to avoid VNL you may want to do a different base coat and then 1-2 coats of "Elle's Spell".

I edited these with picnik but they are still true to colour. I thought it'd be fun to edit the pictures a bit more for this challenge.

fallingstar

 After my last crazy mani I wanted something basic. I decided to wear Barielle "Falling Star" which is a blue creme with copper glitter in it. It's very unique (which is why I bought it).  Application was interesting.  It was almost opaque enough for one coat but it was a bit patchy because the polish wanted to drag. I found it easiest to apply it quite thick but very quickly. It was easy to control though because once you put the polish down, it stuck. I did not wrap my tips and have had NO tip wear with this.  :)

Here it is with Essie "Matte About You" on top. It really makes the glitter glow.

And with a glossy top coat. It looks a bit gritty but it feels smooth.

I think it's prettier in person than in pictures. The matte pictures were taken on day 3 of this... it doesn't really look any different!  I even went swimming in a chlorine pool today and have no chips or tip wear.  Amazing!  I also have "Elle's Spell" but now I want more Barielle!