Victorian Holly

Yeah, I’m not sure I know what exactly that is either, but that any sort of rose pink/pewter/pale green colour combo is invariably described as being “Victorian.” I studied quite a bit of Victorian literature in university, but I don’t recall any lectures on their preference for dusky pastels, just that the poetry was quite florid, vital infrastructure was non-existent, class divides were worse than they are now and, if you were a degenerate writer at least, you died of all the sexually transmitted diseases before the age of 25 (whaddup, Byron, you sexy beast.)

I think my grandmother on my dad’s side would have adored these nails. She loved to decorate in this type of silvery rose colour, and at one point she even owned a pale pink Christmas tree. Believe me, I have tremendous envy!

For these grandmother and Victorian-approved nails, I went with a handful of complimentary Sally Hansen polishes from their Gem Crush and Color Foil lines, silvery-rose glitter Razzle Dazzler and metallic Rose Copper, respectively. I like how this design looks a bit like super posh, liquid metal holly berries. They’re T-1000 berries! Ooh, or holly berries for the Terminator’s gran! (Yes, folks, that is a prime example of the non-linear paths my brain occasionally takes. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Please exit through the gift shop.)

Foiled Again!

Here’s a bit of free-handed, nuthin-but-brush nail art using a trio of Sally Hansen’s new Color Foil polishes that was so dead easy, I can lay it out for you in a simple written tutorial, no need for elaborate photos (nice as they are, this is one of those “go where the wind takes you” kind of manis and there is no catastrophically right or wrong way to achieve this effect.)

Here I started with two coats of a tried and true black polish, Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear in Black Out. I then chose three colours from Sally Hansen’s Color Foil line, Rose Copper, a silvery-rose chromatic, Purple Alloy, a a lavender chromatic, and Leaden Lilac, a periwinkle-hued metallic. This technique works with any combination of polishes, but I love the way the liquid foil polishes blend into one another, creating a sort of metallic rainbow effect.

Starting with the polish of your choosing, uncap the bottle and brush nearly every bit of polish off the brush. What you’re looking for here is a near-dry bush (and that includes making sure there are no up-the-brush blobs just waiting to rain down and destroy your pretty manicure.) Look at it this way: A lot like salting your food, you can always add more polished brushstrokes later, but you can’t take them away should you go overboard, so dry your brush off more than you’d think reasonable.

Then, taking your dry brush and starting at the top of your nail, brush downwards towards the tip of your nail. Add a second stroke starting in maybe the middle of your finger if you’re feeling cocky. Move on to your other nails, varying up the brushstrokes with each subsequent nail as you go. After waiting for those brushstrokes to dry, lather, rinse and repeat with the remaining two colours, filling in any gaps or aggravating spots as you go. Top with a good quality top coat and bang, yer done. I’m not sure it could be simpler or more effective (and isn’t that just so aggravating?! It’s always the ones that took 20 minutes that people love and not the manicure that took you two hours and claimed a small piece of your sanity. Eh, I guess simplicity sells.)