Showing posts with label nail art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nail art. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

So I've been gone quite a while...

Hi there!  So, I've fallen out of the polish world because of some hefty life demands: 2 young boys in soccer, recent promo to HR Mgr, and enrollment into a Master's degree program.  I'm quite a busy girl, and something has to give, so my nail polish, along with my other crafty pursuits, have taken a back seat.

But I finally took the time to do my nails.  I mean, to really DO my nails.  Of course I've slapped some paint on them, but nothing really blog-worthy.  So yesterday, when I was supposed to be doing homework, I sat down and did this:
So lovely!  Although my striping could definitely use some improvement, it's not too shabby.  I love my mani, and I hope to be able to keep my nails nice and long for a while...I've been paying more attention to them and have been slathering on the nail cream and cuticle oil lately, and I think that's why they've stopped breaking so often.  

I'm so happy with my cute nails!  I'm going to have to keep carving out some time for them...

Friday, May 24, 2013

Memorial Day Nails

I got a 4-day weekend, and Memorial Day is on Monday.  I so appreciate the sacrifices of the men and the women in the military, and those who died in serving our country are heroes in my book.  So when I went to paint my nails, I wanted a tribute to our fallen soldiers:




My striping definitely needs more practice, but I think it came out rather nice, and definitely patriotic.
  
As you enjoy your holiday weekend, please take a moment to remember those who have made our freedom possible!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Coming Up Roses!

I love Pinterest!  I have a board where I pin all of the fantastic mani's I admire called "Must-Do Mani's", and I hoard tons of ideas there...sometimes I even do a mani based on one.  Like last night!

I really have a hard time doing my nails for work.  I have to be professional, but I can't stand just plain nails.  Thus my dilemma.  So, THIS MANI by Pshiiit! seemed to be just the answer.  Plain pink, but with a cute and artsy rose accent nail.  Loved it!

Here's my version:
I used Zoya "Lara" for the main pink, and "Sweet" and "Purity" for accents on the rose over a background of "Raven".  The leaves were NOPI "Lime Light" and Sinful Colors "Innocent".  All topped with Seche Vite.

I need to invest in some nail art brushes.  I currently use some cheapo ones I got at Walmart, and it's really hard to control where the polish goes.  Plus, the bristles get hard and don't brush the polish on nicely.  But I think this came out pretty cute anyway!!! :-)

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Playing with Polishes

I have finally made it a priority to get my polish hoard collection set up in my upstairs bedroom, so now it's so much easier to play with them.  This should mean y'all will be seeing a lot more pretty nails around here.  

While I was at it, I figured I should re-sort them, since I was overflowing in some drawers:
The ones in the plastic are my Indies!  Mostly my first love Lacquistry (over 50!), but KB Shimmer and Pretty & Polished also have a pretty strong showing.  I sort by colors, and I re-distributed my polishes to fill up that empty drawer a little more, so I'm content for now.

I'm a sucker for unique polishes, and the China Glaze Tranzitions lines appeal to my love for "magic" effects. These polishes change colors when you apply top coat, which isn't really practical since you can't top coat the entire mani.  But it sounds so fun, I caved and bought 3 of the colors: Modify Me, Split Perso-nail-ity, and Duplicity.  I found this You-Tube video, and was inspired:

This is 1 coat each of Modify Me (blue) & Split Perso-nail-ity (pink) applied diagonally on the nail.  I used NYC "Grand Central Station" as the top coat, which made the dark areas.  It was really fun to watch it change, but it seemed a little streaky to me when all was said and done.  I do love the colors, though!  

On an un-related note, my step daughter has been asking me to do her nails, and we finally had some down time to figure something out.  The poor thing bites her cuticles & nails, and she had acrylics taken off last month, so it took some prep to get the nails looking decent.  But she had the cutest idea, and we picked out the polish to make this:
How cute is this?  I likey, I likey!  This was the first time I did nail art on someone other than myself and it was definitely a different experience.  Not too bad, but I felt like I was applying everything backwards.  She was very happy, and that's all that matters ;-)


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Day 5 - 12 Days of Christmas: Holly/Wreaths

My Day 5 post is only 1 day behind!  Here's Iced Lacquer's 12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge:
 

I decided to do holly nails inspired by THIS CUTE POLISH VIDEO.  You'll see I changed it a bit, and did red gems instead of dots for berries.  



Who knew holly leaves were such a biotch to paint?!?  I had to re-do these leaves 3 times!  I was trying to use a small paintbrush, but I ended up using a good ol' toothpick to finally get the job done ;-)

I used China Glaze "Merry Berry" and Sinful Colors "Last Chance" & "Snow Me White".  I like  how this manicure came out, and I think it's pretty festive! :-)

Check out the other challenge peeps and our hostess Iced Lacquer!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Day 4: 12 Days of Christmas: Candy Canes!

OK, this challenge is kicking my rear!! I just found out our escrow will close sooner than I had thought, so now we'll be moving next month, which means that packing & planning is in over-drive around here!  I'm going to have to nub the nails pretty soon to protect them from becoming victims of some painful misfortune with all of the manual labor ahead :-/

But in the meantime, here are Day 4's nails:
Candy canes made with stripers.  I'm not so impressed with my green striper because the polish was pretty thin, but the red was awesome!  I still need practice with my striping, but I always think I'm getting better :-)

OK, gotta go and get Day 5 done! :-)

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Color Changing Garnet Really Changes Color!!

I don't care that Thanksgiving is over, and people are now in Winter mode, it's still Autumn to me!  I don't like seeing the Christmas decorations in November, and I'm holding out until December.  

So I wanted a mani that screams "Autumn" with all the colors of the changing leaves.  Enter the awesomeness that is "Color Changing Garnet" from Ninja Polish:


Isn't it absolutely breath-taking?  I used a base of China Glaze "Call of the Wild", then 2 coats of "CCG", then "COTW" for some quick tips.  For the accent nail, I used a leaf-shaped hole punch in painter's tape, then put the tape on the nail to make the leaf shape.  Because my nails are so curved, it wouldn't sit quite right, so it looks a little off-kilter, but still leaf-like! :-)

But look how the colors change!

Green:

Bronze-y Gold:

Garnet:
The color changes between the last 2 are much more apparent in real life.  It's so cool, like magic, and I just keep tilting my nails all day long to see the colors shift.  Very, very fantabulous, and all the colors of fall!!

Unfortunately, "Color Changing Garnet" is out of stock as of the date of this post, but you can get notified when it's back by signing up for an email.  I've ordered from Ninja Polish several times, and they are absolutely fantastic!  

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving Watermarble Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I was happy with my previous mani, but I had to do something for Turkey Day!  I wanted to do a turkey, but I knew my skills still need some refining.  So I got the bright idea to use a watermarble for the tail feathers.

After 5 tries to get the marbling just right, my right hand actually came out better than my left: 

 Here's my left hand.  This turkey is a little plump, and his feathers are wonky!

Here's the right again:

And again:

I love this little guy!  I used Sinful Colors "Big Daddy" (orange) & "Pull Over" (yellow) and China Glaze "Red Satin" and "Call of the Wild".  I made the turkey with dotting tools.  

I'm so thankful for my family and friends, especially my husband and my 2 wonderful little boys.  I hope you take a moment today to think about what you're thankful for! 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Blingy, Aqua, Leopard-y French Mani

Today I was browsing through my Must-Do-Mani Pinterest board for inspiration, and THIS ONE by "Pretty Nails by Mal" caught my eye.  I've been in the mood for some holographic bling, and I haven't tried my China Glaze "I'm Not Lion" yet, so this seemed like the perfect time.

So here's "INL", in the sun: 
It's actually much more bling-y in life.  Love it!

 So I was inspired by the aqua & cheetah print, and I came up with this:

If this looks somewhat familiar, that's because I did a similar mani HERE, but I really liked it, so here it is again ;-).  This is Island Girl "Aloha Girl" on the tips, and China Glaze "Mahogany Magic" and "Liquid Leather" for the cheetah spots.   I think it's cute like this! 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Metallic Fall French & Marble

Lately I have really been struggling with the decision about what to do on my nails.  I have so many awesome un-trieds, and there are so many beautiful and creative designs out there, that I am sometimes overwhelmed. It's really not a big deal, except that between my 10-hour-per-day job and spending time with my 9 & 7 yo boys, my mani time is limited, so I want to get the most bang for my buck, so to speak.

So anyway, last night I prepped my nails, so they were based-coated and ready to go.  But I still couldn't make up my mind.  Finally, this morning I just picked some pretty autumn metallic colors, and did this:


I ended up using Sinful Colors "Mercury Rising", OPI DS Glow, OPI Take the Stage, and Klean Color "Metallic Yellow".  Water-marbling these glittery polishes is tricky, but I think it still came out pretty.  

Anyway, I'm kind of meh with this.  But it's shiny, it's autumn-ish, and I can wear it to work tomorrow, so it's all good! I think I need to just chill, and not get all worked up about coming up with some amazing design...after all, it's only nail polish!  :-)

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Coffee Cup Paisley

I bought a new, autumn-y coffee cup for the office, since my current one has flowers, berries & birds on it, and it just didn't seem right for the cooler weather.  

It's so cute, I did my manicure based on it:


Fun, right?  I think it's a pretty cool match! ;-)  These are Sinful Colors "Ruby Ruby", "Clementine" and "Pull Over" dotted with Ulta "Chocoholic".  

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Kate Spade "Belltown" Manicure

So I have a friend who has awesome taste in purses, and I blame her for my subsequent fascination with cute and unique handbags which cost way too much money ;-)

Well, I met her for lunch last week, and immediately lusted after noticed her new Kate Spade, the "Belltown" tote.  Here's a pic I found on the internet in an eBay auction:
Click HERE to see the original listing & more pics of this gorgeous purse (not affiliated, but these are the only decent pics I could find).

So, I did what any lacquer-head would do...I translated this handbag into a manicure:


I love this, and I think it looks just like the Kate!  This is Inst-Dri "Beige Blast" and the red is Zoya's "Diana", all topped with Sech Vite, the hands-down best top coat for not smudging your nail art!

Funny thing about my stash, when I was searching for an appropriate red polish, I found these:
All different brands of super-similar red cremes.  It might be time to stop buying.

Or not ;-)

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

"Go Pink Wednesday #4"

It's time for another "Go Pink Wednesday" manicure for Breast Cancer Awareness, so I sat down in front of my polish hoard collection to deliberate my next design.  While contemplating my choices, I noticed I was actually wearing pink sweatpants & a grey thermal top at the time, and inspiration hit!  I also rummaged through my nail art box, and found some cool stuff to jazz up the idea I had in my head.

Behold this week's creation:


This is Pure Ice "Love" and "Silver Mercedes".  This brand is $1.99 at Walmart, and I cannot say enough good things about it!  "Silver Mercedes" is amazing for stamping too!  This is 2 coats of each color.
For a change, I used some light pink half-beads for the ribbon this week.

Check out the other lovely BCA manicures created by my fellow participants:


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day 6: "Frankenstein"

I've been wanting to do THESE patchwork nails by Kayla Shevonne for a looong time.  And the stitches totally reminded me of Frankenstein, so this was the perfect opportunity to finally try this out!

I started with 3 Halloween-y colors:  
Finger Paints "Beach Bound" (which makes NO sense to me), Sinful Colors "Big Daddy" (again with the nonsense), and NOPI "One Time Lime".  See that sticker announcing the "Perfect Stroke Brush"?  That's a horrible lie.  The brush is super-thick and is cut at a weird rounded angle.  No bueno, and one of the main reasons I shy away from any OPI-type polish.

OK, so I copied Kayla's patchwork template, and alternated it with its mirror image on each nail:


The perfectionist in me wants to pick this apart, but overall, I think it's a pretty cool effect.  I can certainly say that I am NEVER going to do a full patchwork mani like this again!  This was so time-consuming and nerve-wracking!  However, I will definitely do patchwork on accent nails, and I think practice will definitely make it better!  I am in awe of Kayla's mad skills, because her patchwork nails look fantastic!!  

Go see more Nail-aween Challenge maincures:


Saturday, October 20, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day 5: Ghosts & Goblins

I found a beauty shop 5 minutes from my house that carries OPI, Essie & some China Glaze!  She didn't have any great deals, but she had a huge selection!  My little boys were not as excited as I was ;-)  

Now, I have to admit to not being an OPI fan.  The brush in the few that I've gotten is hard for me to use, and I have trouble getting polish on the edges of my nails.  And OPI is expensive, and rarely on sale.  Lastly, most of the polish names are annoying :-P  

But here in the face of all this OPI goodness, I succumbed and bought a gorgeous dark blue w/purple shimmer called "Russian Navy".  I put it on when I got home, and 2 coats later, it was lovely...although I did have issues getting my nail side edges covered w/out getting my skin covered too :-/.  

I decided to put on my hand-made holo top coat, and the sun peeked out just long enough for a pic:

So my Nail-Aween Challenge is "Ghosts & Goblins".  I don't know how to make goblins, so I figured goblin-colored ghosts would work:
I just dabbed on Sinful Colors "Innocent", and dotted on black polish for eyes & mouths.  Now that this one is done, I'm looking forward to Day 6: Frankenstein! :-)

Check out the other awesome Nail-Aween manicures:

Monday, October 15, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day 4: Mummy Nails (Quick & Dirty Style)

I realized that today is October 15, and I've only completed 3 days of my 10-day challenge.  I was feeling the pressure, so I figured I'd do my mummy nails today.  Problem is that I can't wear them tomorrow for work, so I knew they were only for today.  This may have affected my desire to pay close attention to detail...

I saw THIS YouTube tutorial by Simple Little Pleasures for a mummy water marble, so it was right up my alley.  So I started with a base of China Glaze "Kalahari Kiss":
This is 2 lovely coats.

Then I did the water marble using Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" and "Nirvana" along with the CG "Kalahari Kiss".  Then added a black mask with my striper, and dotted on eyes (my son told me mummies have red eyes):

Meh.  There were lots of air bubbles, and my thumb really had issues!  I like the middle finger & thumb the best, though.  I think if I would have spent more time on the marble design, this could have been really cool so I'll have to try it again.  I just don't have the motivation for a do-over today, since I still have to do my nails again before work tomorrow :-/

Check out the other participants in this challenge:

Friday, October 12, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day #3: "Bloody Nails"

I wanted to do something a little different for my bloody nails in the "NailAween Nail Art Challenge".  Basically, I debated between blood drip nails, and blood splatter nails, but tried to think of a unique twist.  I love how gruesomely real the splatter can look, and it reminds me of the real-life crime shows.  Then the light bulb switched on, and I knew exactly what to do.

First I started with a matte grey manicure:
This is Rimmel 60 Seconds "Grey Matter" and Zoya "Kelly" topped with NYC "Matte Me Crazy".  The Rimmel's formula was fine, but the super-thick brush was kind of a pain to use.  The Zoya almost painted itself on, as usual!  I used 2 coats of each.  This is a quick cell phone pic, and it looks a little more blue here than it is in real life.  I love this manicure all on its own!  

But I had a challenge to do:


I free-handed the chalk-body-outline, and splattered Orly's "Grave Mistake" for the blood.  The guy kinda looks like he's dancing, but I think the idea was a good one ;-)

Check out the other peeps taking this challenge with me: