NOTD: Coral Sun

It's almost the end of summer *weeping*. I can't believe the kids go back to school in less than 2 weeks. We had plans for things but they wound up doing extra-special stuff with relatives so that took up quite a bit of our vacation.

We're down to the wire--it's time to break out the reinforcements.

No. really. I'm talking about paper reinforcements. Like these:

 (image from Amazon.com)

I have wanted to try out the "half moon" manicure for awhile and having shaky hands, I knew I would need a little help. Cutting each one in half makes the job that much easier.

But since I was using Nubar's Coral collection, and Deborah Lippmann's Nefertiti for the "half moon" I decided it looked more like a sun to me ;)

So.....a few of my semi-circles weren't......circular. Practice makes perfect! Here's how I did this mani....I think it made the process quicker.

1. Apply base coat (I used Deborah Lippmann's Fast Girls quick-dry basecoat)
2. Using DL's Nefertiti, paint just the upper third of your nail, except for accent nail. I did 2 coats.
3. Apply clear coat (can't remember if I used regular or quick-dry. I think regular).
4. Cut paper reinforcers in half. To keep them from pulling your polish, gently stick them to the back of your hand first (I read that tip and loved it). It takes some of the sticky off.
5. If you're a perfectionist (I am, even if I don't achieve it) fold the reinforcer in half, non-sticky sides together of course ;) That will help you line up so your moon/sun will be centered.
6. Carefully apply reinforcer to nail--you can usually reposition it if needed. I do one nail at a time. Make sure it's stuck on the edge so polish won't leak under.
7. Apply color polish--most nails needed 2, a few needed 3. I do this quickly, not quite letting the polish dry fully so the reinforcer won't be glued down.
8. Using tweezers, pull off the reinfordcer.
9. Touch up (yeah some of my nails needed that, moons that ran too far, or not far enough.
10. Apply a regular top coat, followed by a quick-dry--I found this helps keep your design from bleeding or smearing (even though it still happened to one of my pinkies).
11. Tada!

Deborah Lippman's Nefertiti is *gorgeous* and is perfect. The warm gold matched the "Corals" perfectly.

I have purchased many of Nubar's collections in the past--it's a great way to get a range of colors, and the polish formula is great. They were all creams, and only one felt a bit sheer and needed an extra coat or two. However, Nubar did get a little "off" on the Corals theme...as you can see from the photos:

(L-R) Nubar Corals: Red Sea, Belize, Cozumel, Caymen

Cozumel was the sheerest of the 8. Now that I'm thinking, *maybe* they were aiming for jelly? They missed thismuch.

(L-R) Nubar Corals: Caribbean, Amazon, Palau, Costa Rica

I can appreciate the idea of this set, but as you can see from Caribbean, that is so far and GONE from coral, it's a bit of an oddball in the set. I would have liked to have seen some shimmer or glitter. I love Nubar, I really do, but this is the first set that underwhelms me (and I have the Risque Reds and Chocolates so I'm used to their polishes in a single color scheme). And so many of them are SO close in color, they are almost dupes.

I do love how the manicure came out and it was very summery and for me, a very "neutral" skittles mani. I don't usually turn to creme polishes but they do make a great base for nail art.

Tip: For keeping track of skittles polishes if you're going to photograph/blog them, I use a colored sharpie to write on the bottle (or in this case the caps). L (for Left or if you just want to use R for right) and then dots or numbers. I play piano so I use the fingering to keep them straight. Start with your thumbs, those are 1, next 2, middle 3, ring 4, pinkie 5.

I did a skittle mani once and didn't label the polishes and then couldn't remember which order I used--I wound up re-doing it and numbering the polishes so I could post the right info ;)

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Have you tried the half moon/sun mani before? If you own this collection, I'd love to hear your thoughts (or even if you don't).