Mani Monday - Water Marble edition!

Surely you've seen water marble nail art by now! I, too, had many failed attempts when the water marble craze seemed to be at its height early last year, but eventually I got the hang of it! I felt like it had been sooooo long since the last time I did this, so I went for it again! For this manicure, I used "Gilded Angel", Zoya "Blaze", and Essie "Butler Please". 

I started with 1 thin coat of Gilded Angel, this would be the 'backdrop' of the marble where most people use white. (Note: I did try to use both GA and Annual Emotion in the water, but they dry too quickly!) 

Next, you're going to use some tape to cover around your fingers and nail beds, this will make cleanup easier! I've seen people use everything from glue to watercolor frisket, so feel free to be creative here! 

Next, set yourself up with the polishes you'll be using, a small cup or bowl with room temperature water, and some napkins or paper towels. You'll also want something with a pointy edge to do your swirling!

You're going to alternate drops of polish slowly into the water, I only did about 3-4 drops each time, as I wanted the gold to show through in the end.

Next, take your pointy tool of choice and swirl! Be as creative as you'd like, but moderation is key!

You are essentially creating a film on the surface of the water, much like what forms on your nails after the solvents evaporate! So, one at a time, dip your nails onto the film with some care as to the placement of the swirls. Sink it into the water and then slowly pull your finger out without touching more of the polish on the surface of the water. It should look like this!

And here is the whole set:

Looks pretty messy, right? Go on ahead and get that tape off, it'll look slightly better.

This might be perfectly ok for some (and admittedly, the excess polish will probably rub off as you do dishes or wash your hair) but for the perfectionist, you'll want to grab your favorite polish remover and a bristled brush:

A nice and quick clean around the edges of the nail bed and you're all set!

Almost done! Just top it off with a swipe of top coat and now you have easy nail art that looks like a work of art!

Have you tried water marbling yet? What did you think of it? How did it come out? Feel free to share some links or pictures below!

A Valentine's Day Gift from Rainbow Honey

Starting January 25th and running as long as supplies last, shop on our website and you can receive a free bottle of our special limited edition Valentine's Day Gift Lacquers! Final details will be available on our website.

For these gifts, I chose two very special pieces of music that I absolutely love. "Dearly Beloved" is an instrumental piece from the Kingdom Hearts series of video games:

"Dearly Beloved" is meant for layering and includes various shades and sizes of gold shimmer, gold microglitter, and red hearts and squares. It's really a very special combination! Shown below is 1 coat over black and over Be Mine on accent. 

The second gift polish is a bit more playful! I'm a huge fan of The Bird and The Bee and "My Love" is easily one of my favorite songs of theirs:

I absolutely adore how Inara and co. are straight up dancing in confetti and glitter at the end! "My Love" also serves well for layering and is made up of gold glitter and flakes, white and pink hearts, and a multitude of iridescent glitters accented by a strong iridescent pink shimmer. Shown below, as modeled by my lovely little sister, is one coat over Be Mine and over black on accent. 

L-R: "Dearly Beloved" over black, white; "My Love" over black, white;

You'll also note that each bottle is numbered! Each bottle coming straight from Rainbow Honey will be marked #XX - we've also sent bottles to our Retail Partners so look for them to announce this special gift too!

And to make this even sweeter, while we prepare for the web launch of The Sweet Talk Collection on January 25th we are giving away 3 sets of "Dearly Beloved" and "My Love"!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We really hope you enjoy these special gifts! The giveaway will run until the shop update this Friday, January 25th, and then we will be offering these gifts with select purchases. 

Mani Monday: "The Worst Possible Thing"

I saw "The Worst Possible Thing" from our Equestria Collection land on several Top of 2012 lists! How exciting is that! I thought that would be a good polish to start off our Mani Mondays, where I'll show you fun and exciting ways to use Rainbow Honey polishes.

Products used: Rainbow Honey "TWPT" over A England "Order of the Garter"

How to achieve it: Start with a base coat and then 2-3 coats of Order of the Garter. For the pictured coverage, two thin coats of TWPT is what you want. Using thin coats let's you build up the glittery goodness without giving it a chunky texture. 

And a macro for depth!

Products used: Rainbow Honey "TWPT" over OPI "Congeniality Is My Middle Name"

How to achieve it: Start with a base coat; 2 coats of Congeniality was plenty opaque and one thin coat of TWPT, with one thick coat of "XOXO" on the ring finger. TWPT really brought out the purple tones in Congeniality while XOXO gives it a nice gold shimmer finish.

Products used: Rainbow Honey "TWPT" over Illamasqua "Muse"

How to achieve it: Start with a base coat; 1 thick coat of Muse is opaque on its own, but can be a bit runny. I used two coats here and 1 coat of TWPT with on coat of "Sakura Matsuri" on my ring finger. 

Sakura Matsuri definitely makes Muse a bit more spring-y...

Products used: Rainbow Honey "TWPT" over Rainbow Honey "Be Mine"

How to achieve it: Start with a base coat; I used 2 coats of Be Mine (from our upcoming Sweet Talk Collection!) and a thin coat of TWPT. Be Mine can be a little salmon-y on some skin tones, topping it with TWPT was a great way to add more of a blue hue. 

Products used: Rainbow Honey "TWPT" over China Glaze "White on White"

How to achieve it: Start with a base coat; white cremes can be a bit streaky, so 2-3 coats should cover your bases. I used one thin coat of TWPT and some hand placed diamond glitter on my ring finger. Do you think Rarity would be proud? 

So there you have it! The Worst Possible Thing works in many combinations, I particularly love it over blue and I've seen it look amazing over dark purples too! (Think along the lines of Illamasqua Baptiste!)

I'm already at work on the next series of swatches, but I'll be putting up a poll on Facebook to let you voice which polishes you would like to see used next! Feel free to make suggestions in the comments here as well! 

Happy New Year!

To all our fans, customers, supporters, and team members - the best wishes for 2013 from all of us at Rainbow Honey. There is so much in store for this year and it wouldn't be possible without all of you!

With that, I have three fireworks-inspired nail ideas for you!

Products used: Rainbow Honey "Frozen Flame"and OPI "Pirouette My Whistle"

How to achieve it: I started with 2 coats of PMW and layered 1 coat each (i.e., FF/PMW/FF) for the top swatch. In the bottom one, I've topped it off with one more coat of PMW. Has quite a nice candy-like look!

Products used: Rainbow Honey "Frozen Flame" over "Oni"

How to achieve it: This one looks more traditionally like fireworks! Start with 2-3 coats of Oni (depending on how dark you like it!) and when dry top off with a coat of Frozen Flame. So sparkly!

Products used: Rainbow Honey "Lunairetic"and striping tape

How to achieve it: This was my NYE look! I started with one coat of Lunairetic (it is SO blingy in the sun, so I had fun wearing it on its own for a while first) and then cut pieces of striping tape in 1-2" lengths. Starting with placing one piece along the center of the nail, and then layer the other pieces like you're slicing a pie, with all the pieces crossing each other at the base of the nail. When everything is in place, paint one coat of your favorite black polish, wait 5-10 seconds, and then peel off the tape. Easy peasy! And so cute! 

What did you wear for NYE? Any nail-resolutions for the new year?