Polish Art Addiction

Shimmery Bows

2012-02-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

I was wearing a blue shirt that has girly ruffles going down the front. So I wanted my nails to reflect the same girly-ness without being too matchy matchy. So this is what I ended up with.

I started with Essie Coat Azure - 2 coats. This is one of my top favorite blues ever. :)

Then I stamped the bow images from Konad m59 and m56 on my accent nails.

I used Konad Special White polish.

I decided that they weren't quite shimmery enough, so I added one coat of Essie Luxeffects Pure Pearlfection. Lastly I topcoated with Seche Vite.

Sinful Colors - Cinderella

2012-02-22T06:00:00.002-06:00

You might have heard of this polish as it has quickly become a hot commodity. It is a very beautiful light blue polish with pink glass flecks. I found this bottle all by itself at my Walgreens. There is a slot for Cinderella in their regular display, but it was empty with this tucked in the wrong spot.

This swatch is 3 thin coats.

It was difficult to capture the pink flecks with my camera, but don't worry! They are very visible in real life. No hidden shimmer here!

If you time it right, you could even snag this during a Sinful Colors 99 cent sale! Check your local ads.

31 Day Challenge - Day 4 - Green

2012-02-21T06:00:00.029-06:00

I loved the Rugrats when I was growing up and I've already done a nail art tutorial of them HERE. But I decided to feature Reptar for my green challenge. Reptar was a godzilla creature featured a lot through the Rugrats series as a popular movie character/toy. Despite his fierce look, he was often depicted as a hero. :)

I started with SPAritual - Eye of the Beholder and OPI Alpine Snow

Then acrylic paints for all of Reptar's face.

Here I taped off the tips and used more OPI Alpine Snow for skinny french tips.

Then I stamped BM 224 using China Glaze For Audrey (it didn't stamp very opaque, so I had to go over it with a small brush & more polish)

Add a layer of top coat. I use Seche Vite.

Up close of Reptar, he is kinda cute after all!

Are you enjoying the challenge so far?

Disney's Cinderella Inspired French Tips

2012-02-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Cinderella took me a while to figure out just what I wanted to do. She was suggested by 2 anonymous followers. How does this fit with my other Disney Princess themed nail art?

I started with China Glaze Innocence because it's a great sheer pink that helps disguise any staining. ;)

Then I applied 1 coat of NYC Love Letters for some extra pink shimmer.

Then I stamped the image from Konad M71 using white special Konad polish. (This image was really hard to line up straight! Some of them are a little crooked.)

Then I freehanded Essie Coat Azure along an existing line on the stamp.

Then added a small blue rhinestone into a wet layer of topcoat!

I wanted them to represent the bottom hem of her ballgown that has the white ruffle underneath. I hope you like them!

Jamberry Nail Shields Product Review

2012-02-19T06:00:00.004-06:00

The lovely respresentatives of Jamberry Nails contacted me about reviewing their product. I have to mention that it was such a pleasant exchange of information! Their product is made in the US and they only have US reps, so that means they spoke/wrote proper English that didn't require decifering. (Unlike some other nail art companies that are based out of other countries that send broken English e-mails that just confuse me...)

What is their product?

It is a vinyl-based film covering that is both heat and pressure activated. They are NOT stickers or decals. Nor are they made of nail polish like the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Strips. They have so many different designs to choose from on their website! Many patterns would be easy enough to recreate by using Konad stamps, but others are much more intricate.

I picked out the Blue Damask pattern.

They come as a sheet of 18 individual strips. The range of sizes available really impressed me! I have large nail beds and often times have trouble finding the right sizes. This was great! The left side is large enough for your big toe! Down to the far right is for a narrow pinky nail, or perhaps a little toenail. :) Each strip was long enough for me to get 2 uses out of it if I cut it in half lengthwise.

How do you apply them?

Use acetone to remove any oils from your nails, lightly buff them if they are really slick...
Once you select what size will fit you best (I found it easiest to cut the strips in half while still applied to the backing sheet), peel it off of the backing with tweezers. This is important because you don't want the oils on your fingers to have contact with the adhesive. (It won't stick to your nail as well.)
Once you are holding just the strip with tweezers, hold it under the warm heat of a blow dryer for 15-20 seconds. The heat activates the adhesive and you can see it start to look more "wet" and the strip almost starts to curl as it gets more flexible.
Then you align it to the cuticle and smooth it onto your nail bed.
Once you get to the free edge, just cut away the excess and lightly file in a downwards motion to match the edge of your nail.
Then press the strip down firmly all over, to ensure good contact.
You can hold your nail under the blow dryer for a few more seconds to heat it again, and apply more pressure.

Here is a link to their YouTube instructional video if my directions were confusing.

I didn't have much trouble with these at all! They were pretty easy to apply. The only complication I had was some wrinkles along the free edge. I couldn't get the sticker to lie flat where my nail started to curve downwards.

But that's it! They are dry immediately and you don't have to wait for fear of them messing up. You do not apply a topcoat because they are already shiny.

18 nail shields is more than enough for one manicure! In fact, I applied these as an entire manicure and an entire pedicure..... and I ended up with 7 whole strips left! For short toenails I was able to get 3-4 uses out of each strip. Because of this I feel like the price ($15 per pack) is very reasonable.

How long do they last?

They are said to last up to 2 weeks like other similar products boast. My nails only lasted until the next night before I got bored and started to pick them off from where they wrinkled. I mentioned that I also put them on my toes and they are still there! I applied them on 2/12 and it's now 2/18 as I type this and they still look good as new! I don't have any lifting or tipwear on my toes. I will update this post on the day I end up taking them off to let you know.

Are they difficult to remove?

Not at all! You just find a loose corner and peel it off. It comes off easily and in one whole sheet. It doesn't chip or tear. It also doesn't leave any residue on the nail bed. There is no adhesive left behind, and it does not appear to damage the nail bed. You can hold your nails under the blow dryer again to loosen them if needed.

My end opinion? I think they're pretty cool. For this type of product that boasts a long wear time, this is the only one other than Sally Hansen Salon Effects that I've found to live up to the claim. (But again, they are made differently. One is nail polish, one is vinyl.) So go check out the many designs on their website and buy some to try out yourself. :) They have a special offer of buy 3 get 1 free. You can get yours HERE and at checkout make sure to choose Leslie under "party." ;)

Nail-Venturous Floam & A Dash of Princess

2012-02-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Amy of I'm Feeling Nail-Ventuous has recently created some amazing frankens. I was lucky enough to be able to buy two from her. She is not currently selling them, but keep an eye on her blog and you'll stay updated if that changes. ;)

Floam is fantastic because it contains contains specks of ultra fine neon blue and neon yellow glitter in a clear base. It completely covers in just 2 coats! It's a dense glitter for sure! And yes, it's named after this Floam.

It is so interesting and changes colors depending on how far away you are. Up close the colors are very distinct. From a distance? It looks like a bright green or teal. It's really mind blowing.

I got lots of comments on it at work. All positive! It's a hit!

Next is A Dash of Princess. I love this combination of glitters! There are large hexes in white, opal, metallic pink, and an almost see through hot pink. There are medium hexes in white, and metallic hot pink. Then there are fine micro hot pink glitter pieces. It's all in a clear base, so the layering options are endless!

I wanted to stay with the pink theme and I layered 2 coats over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Bubblegum Pink. The picture looks like there are medium black hexes, but those are the metallic pink ones that just catch the light funny.

On a swatch stick so you can see how it looks by itself. I saw a really interesting combo when Amy layered this over a medium blue. The almost see through pink pieces turned purple! So I'll try that out soon!

And she packaged them so cute! The came in a bubble mailer wrapped in this metallic tissue paper with a piece of ribbon and a cute felt owl sticker. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to purchase these beauties and I can't wait to see what else you have up your sleeve! ;)

31 Day Challenge - Day 3 - Yellow

2012-02-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Did I really have a choice? Spongebob Squarepants Nail Art. I have done Spongebob before, and that was when I was just getting into the use of cartoons and I wasn't watermarking my photos... So my Spongebob prior to watermark has been seen all around the internet without credit coming back to me. :( Oh well, lesson learned and I'm on to bigger and better things.

I started with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lightening.

Then I added 2 coats of China Glaze Snow Globe to the non Spongebob nails. I thought it was perfect to add the effect of bubbles and the colors are great.

Then the rest of these details are all done with various colors of acrylic paint.

Use 2 coats of Seche Vite topcoat once everything is entirely dry. That will smooth out any bumps and unevenness. :)

I hope you're enjoying this challenge!

Peculiar Polish Series - Fafi Girls

2012-02-16T06:00:00.022-06:00

It's another Thursday and time for more Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art is helping me out by designing looks that are from different cartoons that may be a bit less traditional/popular. If you have a suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

This one took me a while to figure out, but I sure am glad I did! An anonymous person suggested the "Fafi Girls," since I wasn't sure who or what they were, I did some research (have I mentioned how awesome the internet is?!). It turns out the Fafi Girls, or Fafinettes are the creation of the artist FAFI, who began as a street artist and now has collaborations with companies like M.A.C, Adidas, Chanel and more. She is infamous for creating Fafinettes who represent strong, powerful, sexy women. I was surprised at how sexy some of these ladies got and I think there has been some controversy about FAFI's representation of the powerful woman using her sex appeal to get ahead. I decided to keep it PG (really, G) and only paint the faces of the lovely Fafinettes. One distinct feature these ladies have the heart shaped blush on their cheeks. Do you have any opinions about the connection between sex appeal and power?
These are great Nev! My personal favorite is the one with green hair. So cute! I don't know how I feel about using sex appeal to get ahead... I think I'm against it just because of how clueless men can be that fall for it each and every day. Lol.

Nautical Stripes

2012-02-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is a look I wore to work, and it definitely got lots of attention. It's very eye catching.

I started by painting all of my nails with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. I applied Seche Vite and let it dry for an hour or so while I watched TV. Then I cut a gazillion tiny strips of tape to mask off the stripes. I then painted Barielle Berry Blue and removed the tape strips.

My lines didn't come out exactly perfect in some spots, but it was so time consuming I didn't even care at the end.

Then I stamped the Bundle Monster BM 206 nautical star in the top corners with Color Club Gingerbread Man.

Sally Hansen HD - Byte

2012-02-14T06:00:00.007-06:00

This is the other HD polish I picked up for 75% off at Rite Aid.

It's also quite sheer but it looks great over black. It shows a pink/purple duochrome glitter.

This is 2 coats over Sinful Colors Black.

I also did a swatch stick for this one to see how it compares by itself and then over black. It builds a little better than DVD did.

Stash Swatch Sticks

2012-02-13T11:47:00.000-06:00

You might have noticed that I've started including swatches on a false nail stick in some of my posts. I recently heard about these Swatch sticks and I love the idea of having everything so organized. Plus if anyone comes over for a mani, they can fan through those to find what they like. And that frees me up to reorganize my stash by brand vs by color or whatever! So I ordered 8 sets of 50 nail sticks from this eBay listing. Then I accidentally ordered an additional 8 sets because I thought my first order didn't go through. :( I'm a goober like that sometimes. Lol. So I have more than enough to swatch my entire collection! It will be nice to use them and try different combinations of polishes, so I will still use them.

You can write with a Sharpie permanent marker on the stick part and to brand and color name. :)

So far I have them grouped by color family. This is my glitter/magnetic/crackle ground. I layered the flakies over black and white to see how the colors pop.

So that's my whole stash!

I have a group for:

Glitter/Crackle/Magnetic

Blue

Brown/Black/White

Purple

Pink/Coral/Orange/Red

Teal/Green/Yellow

Now if I can ever find someone willing to custom make me a polish rack/bookcase to my specifications.... I plan on organizing my stash by brand!

Sweet Bows

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is a simple concept. Just a pale pink manicure with one medium pink konad stamp. I used China Glaze Something Sweet (2 coats) and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Presto Pink for the bow image on Konad m59.

My left hand ended up having the bow kind of crooked and along the top corner.

My right hand ended up being straighter and more centered.

And here is a swatch of Something Sweet before I stamped.

Sally Hansen HD - DVD

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

I bought this because it was on clearance at my local Rite Aid. 75% off? I can't resist! I had seen great swatches of it layered over black and it didn't disappoint!

It's a blue/purple duochrome.

This is 2 coats over Sinful Colors Black

I a made a swatch stick of it layered over black and by itself. It's sheer enough, it definitely benefits from layering.

I also bought Byte, so that's coming up next!

Essie - Shine of the Times

2012-02-11T06:00:00.010-06:00

I recently acquired the entire Essie Luxeffects collection by winning heartNAT's 300 follower giveaway! I am so happy because this is my first ever giveaway to win! Before I've only ever won if it was a contest or something. So this was awesome and random! So far I've only worn Shine of the Time. As you might have heard, this is a dupe for Nubar 2010 and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. I layered 2 coats of Shine of the Times over Sinful Colors Snow Me White. It really made my nails look like opals!

Thanks again Natalie!

31 Day Challenge - Day 2 - Orange

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

I remember the animated show "Marsupilami" from my childhood. I always liked watching it on the Disney Channel. I didn't realize it had such an international history though! Apparently it started in 1952 in a Belgian comic magazine. Then translated into Dutch, German, Spanish, & Portugese.

According to Wikipedia - "The marsupilami is a black-spotted yellow monkey-like creature.Male marsupilamis have an incredibly long, strong, flexible and prehensile tail which can be used for almost anything. Female marsupilamis have a much shorter tail, but still long compared to real animals. Unlike the males, the females also walk on the tips of their toes. When the animal rebounds, he makes a funny noise: "Boing". Males also have eyes that are not completely separate while females have two separate eyes. Female marsupilamis also have a totally different voice than the males. Males say "houba" most of the time, while females say "houbii", which means the same thing as houba, but sounds more feminine. According to the L'Encyclopédie du Marsupilami, they are monotremes like the platypus and echidna, which explains why they lay eggs while having mammalian features."

I chose to feature Marsupilami himself and his long tail across 2 nails. On my pinky and thumb I just did an all over pattern from his fur. It's a lot like cheetah or leopard, but more sparse.

I started with a pale orange Essence Cute as Hell - Bad Girl and topped it with Sinful Colors Let's Meet. It's a sheer yellow glitter polish that gave it just the right tone of orange.

Here I used black acrylic paint.

A mix of acrylic paint.

A generous helping of Seche Vite topcoat.

Do you remember this cartoon? Any of you international ladies ever seen this guy?

Amandlandish Guest Post

2012-02-09T15:00:00.002-06:00

I recently did a guest post for my friend Amanda! You can check it out here.
"Hi Amandalandish inhabitants! I'd like to share with you a tutorial for an accent nail that looks more complicated than it really is. If you really wanted to blow people's minds you could do each nail with this pattern! I'll break it down so you can see each step. The only secret is to use polishes that are opaque in one coat, and fairly fast drying."

I started with Barielle Grape Escape. I used 2 coats.

Pick an accent nail. Make sure it's dry.

Then I used a black striper polish to do a line down each side and fill out to the edge.

Then I used 1 coat of Barielle A Bouquet for Ava to divide the middle purple section in half. Use a small paintbrush, or if the previous steps are completely dry you can mask off the area with scotch tape.

Then I used the same black striper polish to do the following lines across the middle section.

Same thing for these lines.

Then I used a medium sized dotting tool to add these dots of Barielle Sweet Addiction. Just go down the middle dividing line between the teal and purple sections.

Then I made triangles along the black sections. This wasn't that hard. I just used my smallest dotting tool and basically did 3 dots close together. They don't have to be perfect triangles just yet.

These light teal dots are made using Barielle Sweet Addiction.

Repeat the same 3 dots close together to make some light purple triangles. I used Barielle Expressive.

Same thing for yellow triangles. I used China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

At this point my triangles did not have sharp corners, so I took my black striper polish to straighten the sides of each triangle. That perfected them.

Wait until your nail art is dry (give it 10 minutes to be safe) and apply a layer of topcoat. This will help to smooth it out and last longer! If you apply the topcoat too soon, you risk smudging the art. That would not be good after all the time it took.

Here are all of the polishes I used: Barielle Grape Escape, A Bouquet for Ava, Expressive, Sweet Addiction, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, & Kiss Nail Art striper in black.

So there you have it! It's a lot of little steps, but once you break it down.... each step is not too difficult. With patience you can recreate it! The benefit of using fast drying/one coater nail polishes, is that the layers will not be too thick and difficult. If each step were done with a thick gloopy coat of nail polish, it would NEVER dry! So the secret is to be thin.

"Thanks for inviting me Amanda! And thank you to all of you followers that read this! Come and see me sometime. ;)"

Peculiar Polish Series - Death Note

2012-02-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Death Note nails have got to be the most requested "peculiar" nails that Leslie has ever gotten! The original request came from Sam, who I need to apologize and make a promise to. Sam asked for a Death Note mani that featured L, Misa, and Ryuk and she asked for a tutorial to go along with it. Well silly me I forgot to read the entire request, so I painted these nails before realizing she wanted a tutorial. I feel awful so, Sam, I promise you that within the next week I will be posting a tutorial for L, Misa, Ryuk and many some other special stuff over at my blog. Others who requested these nails included MISSXMASGIRL who requested them in one of Leslie's comments. Most recently Jeshi asked for Death Note nails and explained that it was a love of her and her friends.

I hope you all enjoy these nails! They really helped me hone my shading skills.

Left to right: L, Light Yagami, Ryuk, logo

Revisiting the Candy Hearts

2012-02-08T09:09:00.000-06:00

I've received multiple questions about my Candy Heart manicure. I thought I'd re-post the picture and link back to the original post because so many people love these for Valentine's Day.

They were made using the Nail Art Diva "From the Heart 1" stamping image plate. It can be bought online here for $9.99.

In my original post I mention the polishes I used to stamp the hearts with... I didn't give all the boring details, but the heart image transfers very sheer. So I stamped the heart shape, but ended up going back over it with a small paintbrush and more polish to give it the best color. In case you were wondering why your's was acting up. Well, mine did too!

Magnetix Polish - Blue & Green

2012-02-07T06:00:00.029-06:00

These Magnetix polishes can be found at Rite Aid. I went in looking for something else and couldn't resist buying these two. They were $7.99 each. Each polish comes in it's own little plastic box with 2 different magnets in the box. A black one that creates curvy lines and a red one that creates diagonal lines.

I couldn't find a name on the box or the bottle's label, so I'll just call them blue and green. Aren't they just awesome?! The blue is a nice medium blue that reacts to the magnet to show a navy/blurple color. The green was pleasantly surprising because it reacted to the magnet by showing a deeper emerald color than that in the bottle. Truly lovely. :)

The magnets are easy to use. The magnet is a thin strip enclosed by a flexibile silicone material. The silicone has a notch cut out to fit the curve of your finger. I found it easiest to rest that notch directly on my finger just beyond my nail bed. You hold it steady for 10-15 seconds and the reaction happens.

A close up of each color and the different magnet patterns.

What do you think of these? Have you found them in your local area? I really like the concept of magnetic polishes and the quick nail art that they provide. And I certainly can't wait to get my hands on the starburst magnet in the China Glaze magnetic collection!

31 Day Challenge - Day 1 - Red

2012-02-06T06:00:00.001-06:00

I've gotten pressured into doing this challenge finally. I honestly didn't really want to because I couldn't think of a way to put my own spin on it. And I usually don't like the level of stress I put myself under to complete a challenge. But Hadley keep suggesting it, so here's what I plan on doing.

Thanks to Michelle over at Sonoma Nail Art, (she did an awesome 31 Day Challenge during the month of October of Halloween themed nail art!) Michelle suggested I do cartoon themed nail art according to the challenge. Duh! Why didn't I think of that? I don't want to feel stuck into 31 days exactly, so I will do it a bit more like Emerald Sparkled and just complete 31 manicures even though it will take me much longer than 31 days.

What cartoon did I pick for "red?" Alvin and the Chipmunks! Alvin's shirt was red with a big yellow "a" on it.

Left is Simon, Middle is Alvin, Right is Theodore.

I'll even share a tutorial!
Base of Sally Hansen Rapid Red and Milani One Coat Glitter Red

Acrylic paint for the faces:

A generous helping of Seche Vite topcoat:

And these boys are ready to make some music!

Be on the look-out for Day 2 - Orange Nails!

Zoya - Neeka

2012-02-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is the other polish from the Zoya Smoke and Mirrors collection that "my mom" recently got with a Zoya promo. ;)

Neeka is a beautiful dusty purple with gold shimmer.

This swatch is also 2 easy coats.

Zoya - Yara

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm a little late to get my hands on this Zoya. It's from the Fall 2011 Smoke and Mirrors collection. "My mom" recently bought it during a Zoya promo. ;)

It's a gorgeous olive green with gold shimmer. I even have this on my toes right now.

This swatch was 2 coats. Perfectly easy formula like most Zoyas are.

Zoya - Kristen

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

I got this with a recent Zoya promotional coupon deal. I didn't want it when it was initially released, but after seeing so many repeat swatches... I suddenly felt like I needed it! And I'm very happy that I got it.

On some people's swatches it was very blue, while others looked very gray, or purple even. I feel like it pulls out a dusty lavendar/periwinkle combination when on my skin tone. It's a really interesting color in my opinion.

3 coats, although I could have gotten away with 2 careful coats. Great Zoya formula. No problems whatsoever.

Here is is next to China Glaze Sea Spray which is quickly getting depleted. It's not a dupe, but part of the same family.

OPI - Excuse Moi!

2012-02-02T15:00:00.003-06:00

Here is a random NOTD that I didn't post earlier. 2 coats of OPI Excuse Moi! from the Muppets collection. I love this glitter happiness!

My nails have already grown a bit since this picture. It makes me want to scale down to shorties again!

Peculiar Polish Series- Candy Candy

2012-02-02T06:00:00.002-06:00

It's another Thursday and time for more Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art is helping me out by designing looks that are from different cartoons that may be a bit less traditional. If you have a suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Ängeles Díaz sent Leslie a really nice note about the cartoon Candy Candy, which she loved while she was growing up. She is from Spain and said that Candy Candy was very popular there. I, not being from Spain, hadn't ever heard of Candy Candy before so I did a little bit of research. I found out that Candy Candy is a Japanese cartoon that features an American girl who was orphaned. The story follows her trials and tribulations and seems surprisingly optimistic. Candy Candy has been a novel, an anime series, and manga over the years, which is relatively typical for Japanese cartoon, what surprised me though was that her first appearance was in 1975! That means Candy Candy has been around for almost 40 years! I think that's awesome! For my nails I did Candy Candy on my index finger, the distinctive bows that she always wears in her hair, and her pet raccoon Klint. Have you seen Candy Candy before? I watched the opening sequence and it looks like it was a great show!

Klint, bows, and Candy Candy

Close up of Candy Candy

Great job Nev! These are so sweet and girly! You keep proving to be the perfect choice for helping me out with this series. :) -Leslie

Nail Polish Jewelry

2012-02-01T06:00:00.040-06:00

I've seen this all over the place. I just never understood how to do it myself. Until now! Thanks to Sarah over at Chalkboard Nails! She wrote up this post about some Nail Polish Earrings that she made and she outlined not only how she did it, but where you bought her supplies from. I went and bought from the same supplier and did exactly as she said. And I'm soooo happy with how they turned out!

I bought enough to make 10 sets of earrings and then 10 silver necklace pendants and 10 brass necklace pendants.

Take a look at what I've made so far!

Revlon Whimsical & ChG Sea Spray

Sally Hansen Glass Slipper and dots of light pink, dark pink, coral, and lime green.

Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Impala SPFW na mira 3d (I got this in a swap with Francini in Brazil)

Speciallita HITS Mari Moon - Artsy

(Such duochrome awesomeness! It reflects all of these colors!)

Then I went flakie crazy and put a layer of pretty much every one I own. Finished it off with black polish as the very last layer. This is Finger Paints Twisted, Asylum, and Big Universo - Espectral (also from the swap with Francini) You can see I was impatient with this one and glued the cabochon into the blank before the polish was completely dry. That's why there is some smudging of the polish along the bottom. :( That's ok because I'll still wear it proudly!

Now onto the earrings...

Wet n Wild Pure Ice - Cost Is No Issue

China Glaze White Crackle and For Audrey

Jessie's Girl Confetti (this flashes from blue to purple, but my picture does it no justice)

Finally I tried some stamping, because supposedly you can do that! It's much harder than I thought. I had a hard time getting the image to stamp clearly because the back of the cabochon is slightly concave. But I still like them!

I bought my supplies from CandyTiles.

Megan Miller Review - Pink Lily & Foxy

2012-01-31T06:00:00.003-06:00

I contacted the people behind Megan Miller polishes and the sent me these 2 lovelies to review. I cannot help but gush over how adorable their bottles are! I have yet to see any polish bottle that is as cute! The Nfu-Oh bottles are cute too, but these Megan Millers take the cake in my opinion. :)

I love the cork handle and the feather accent.

The cork handle surrounds a small plastic handle with the brush attached. No worries about the cork just sliding off, it's secured very well. The cork also proves really nice to work with! It's slightly squish-able, so you can get a good grip on the handle to then apply it to your nails. We all love Orly's rubberized handles, but this cork handle was even more of a pleasure to work with! Very easy to control.

First up is Pink Lily. This is a perfect pale pink for those that like that sort of thing. This was 2 easy opaque coats that went on smoothly. The formula is just right, not too thick and not too thin. It went where I put it and I did not experience any cuticle flooding.

Then we have Foxy. Pretty much the same thing can be said for this. 3 easy coats. The first coat went on thin, so I was a little worried... but it builds nicely. Self levels, no problems with bubbling.

This is the mysterious "greige/taupe" color that is hard to define. I thought it would be a dupe for any number of things in my stash. You can see that it's actually quite different! I guess it most closely resembles OPI You Don't Know Jacques, but it's a much lighter version. Also pictured is China Glaze Below Deck and Recycle.

Foxy has just enough of a red/purple undertone to not be a true grey.

So what are you waiting for? Get your hands on some Megan Millers! These will always be front and center of my stash displayed on the wall. Everyone must see these pretties!

They can be bought from the Megan Miller website. $12 each.

Lady and the Tramp Nail Art

2012-01-30T06:00:00.025-06:00

I have some more Disney nail art for your enjoyment! Lady and the Tramp has been highly requested and it's taken me a while to get inspired enough to actually do it. I couldn't make up my mind on how to do the other nails and background color, but I'm really happy with how they turned out.

These were requested by Angelica, and 2 anonymous followers.

Of course I had to feature the iconic spaghetti kiss scene. ;)

Tutorial:

I started with Essie Very Structured on all of my nails. 2 coats. I immediately got a big ding on my thumbnail, but I just kept going.

I applied one coat of China Glaze In Awe of Amber to all of my nails.

Then I started in on the details of the characters using acrylic paints. I build them up from the bottom layer to the top.

Here I was done with the characters, but I didn't like the other nails. So I removed them and layered another 2 coats of Essie Very Structured.

I changed them by then just applying ChG In Awe of Amber as french tips. I did this same thing on my right hand and wore this as a manicure for 2 whole days! Normally I don't do that with my cartoon manis because it doesn't really jive with living a normal life. Lol. But these were actually quite discreet because they were neutral colors and from a distance you couldn't really notice. :)

Zoya - Dea

2012-01-29T07:33:00.000-06:00

I bought this recently just because someone else had it listed on their favorites. I don't have a lot of browns in my stash so I thought it would serve a purpose even if it ended up not being my favorite. It's actually quite nice! It's a perfect milk chocolate color. :)

Super easy 2 coats here.

Side by side with Barielle Coco Bar (a true medium brown), you can see it's definitely not a dupe!

I can't say that I know of many milk chocolate colored polishes. Can you think of any off the top of your head?

Drippy Cupcake Nail Art

2012-01-28T06:00:00.002-06:00

So I did the nails of my coworker the other day. She's the one I helped design the cupcake nursery for. I told her she had to have pretty nail art for her baby shower, so she came over a few days ahead. Here's what we came up with.

I don't remember what exact polishes I used. But you can learn how to make the cupcake accent nail by following my tutorial HERE.

She ended up loving them and they lasted for something like 4 days before chipping. I'm hesitant to do nail art on my acquaintances because I'm afraid they'll by unhappy if it chips soon! So I was pleased that it lasted that long. :)

Zoya True Collection

2012-01-27T06:00:00.002-06:00

I got 4 of the six shades. So if you were looking for Cho or Tru, sorry but those are the 2 I didn't get.

Here we go!

Farah

This is 2 coats. It's the typical Zoya perfection that is an opaque cream finish. I wanted this because it resembled OPI Skull and Glossbones (fyi they are not exact dupes). I missed out on getting S&G and I kept seeing it pop up on bloggers favorites from 2011 lists. So this satisfies that need.

Bevin

This was also a perfect 2 coats. It's beautiful! A dusty green turquoise color. It did make my skin look more red though. :(

Lotus

This one was a bit tricky. It took 3 coats because I found it more difficult to get an even coat. Still a beautiful color. Dusty purple with pink shimmer. :)

Skylar

I was most excited about this one, but it was a bit tricky like Lotus. It required 3 coats and took some persuasion to apply evenly. Beautiful color!

Peculiar Polish Series - She-Ra

2012-01-26T06:00:00.003-06:00

It's another Thursday and time for more Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art is helping me out by designing looks that are from different cartoons that I've not been able to get to. If you have a suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Jo from the UK (and Sara) requested these She-Ra nails and I was so excited to do them! I painted these nails about two weeks ago because I couldn't wait to get to them! To my surprise, when I was perusing other nail blogs I happened to notice that Michelle from Sonoma Nail Art posted some She-Ra nails this week! What a crazy coincidence! Hers are amazing and you can see them here. While Michelle went with a pretty straight forward (and beautiful) approach to She-Ra nails, I decided to go a little more complicated.

I can't think of She-Ra without thinking of He-Man so I decided to make this mani a bit of She-Ra and a bit of He-Man. I did portraits of their faces on my index and ring fingers. For my middle and pinky finger I did the print on He-Man's tiger Cringer. On my thumb I decided to do She-Ra's Sword of Protection which gives her the ability to change from Princess Adora into She-Ra.

I finished off the manicure with a matte top coat because whenever I think of cartoons, I think of a more matte appearance. Hope you enjoy and see you next Thursday!

Great job once again Nev! Thanks so much!

I Need a Refresh-Mint Comparison

2012-01-24T06:00:00.015-06:00

Sorry it's taken me a while, but here it is. A comparison of Wet N Wild's Megalast I Need a Refresh-Mint to the other light teals I have in my stash.

Maybe you can tell already that it's very close to China Glaze For Audrey.

Left to Right:

Catrice - I Sea You

Orly - Ancient Jade

Wet N Wild's Megalast - I Need a Refresh-Mint

China Glaze - For Audrey

I Sea You is far too dark and green.

Ancient Jade is more green.

For Audrey is just a smidge darker than WnW INARM. It's not enough than an outside person would notice. Only other polish addicts can identify any difference. ;)

S-he made a grape escape

2012-01-23T15:00:00.002-06:00

So I extended the life of my Barielle - Grape Escape manicure by adding polka dots using S-he #436. (I got this polish is a swap with Ivana Thinks Pink. I don't know where you would buy it in the states.) 436 is a great purple foil polish.

Gotta run! (I've gotten some exciting Zoya's in the mail recently, so look to see swatches soon!)

Baby Bentley is HERE!

2012-01-23T06:00:00.007-06:00

What no post went up yesterday? What's up with that?! Well, I was kinda busy! My sister had her baby!!!

So this is complete baby spam-age, so move on if this isn't your thing. ;)

(I smudged out my visitors badge, I don't want to give anything away to the baby snatchers)

He's got perfect little cuticles!

(I'm wearing OPI Excuse Moi!)

The facts

Born: 1/21/12 @ 11:07am

Weight: 6lbs 5.5oz

19 inches long

Name: Bentley!

I now know that the expression "love at first sight" is real. <3

I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that my sister "made" this little person. How can the human body do something so miraculous? It's amazing, and if you believe in evolution and deny the existence of a Grand Creator... I'm sorry to tell you this, but you're wrong. The human body can only be explained by the existence of an Almighty God who designed and made the universe and all the basic kinds of life upon the earth.

(Isaiah 42:5) This is what the [true] God, Jehovah, has said, the Creator of the heavens and the Grand One stretching them out; the One laying out the earth and its produce, the One giving breath to the people on it, and spirit to those walking in it.

Barielle - Grape Escape (on shorties!)

2012-01-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

I recently wore Grape Escape again, but after I shortened my nails a good bit. I prefer the look of my nails when they are short. But I get hung up in just changing polish and I don't think to file them unless something is uneven. So sometimes it gets away from me and I have crazy long nails that I didn't even realize and don't like!

It's a 1 coater, but I used 2 thin coats here. Topped with Seche Vite.

If you want to see the same polish swatched on longer nails.... check it out here. :)

WnW - I Need a Refresh-Mint

2012-01-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

So Wet N Wild, now we're name stealers? What happened to originality? (China Glaze has a Refresh Mint). I found this display of new WnW Megalasts that have a new bottle shape and a new brush. So I picked up the color that is most "me." It's a light teal color similar to ChG For Audrey, Orly Jaded, etc. I'll do up some comparison shots.

It applied very easily and was opaque in 2 coats. Good formula.

These polishes have a new "ManiCurve Pro Brush" that is a bit different from other WnW.

It's a lot like the paddle brushes from SH that some love and others hate. It's a little more squared off which makes it difficult to apply a clean curve, but it's not terrible. It's also a bit more scraggily than it should be.

Left is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure brush

Middle is Wet N Wild Megalast ManiCurve brush

Right is Sally Hansen Insta Dri brush

It's very similar but more squared.

New Girl in Town!

2012-01-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

Did you notice the adorable little chicka hanging out of the right hand sidebar? Here, allow me to show you! :)

It's perfect for me! She's got blonde hair... green eyes... dressed in cute scrubs for her job as a nurse... ready with a bottle of nail polish in hand... and a cute little kitty that looks like Wally! And don't the colors match my blog beautifully?

I'm amazed at how well this turned out. It was designed by Katy from Nailed It. She used the website www.designhergals.com and tweaked it a bit. She's genius! I love it so much. I'm even sending her a polish present as a demonstration of my gratitude!

Now I plan on making up business cards that have my blog URL on it. With this as the image!

Live Long & Prosper!

2012-01-20T06:00:00.004-06:00

That's right! Star Trek Nail Art featuring Spock!

I'm not a trekkie by any means, but my dad has always liked the series. I liked the most recent movie simply because of the eye candy....

Here, I couldn't resist doing the Vulcan hand salute. ;)

I used Hard Candy Wicked for the black nails. Then Sinful Colors Snow Me White on the accent nails. Black acrylic paint for the emblem and face of Spock.

My research tells me that this symbol was their badge on the uniform. It identified them as members of the Enterprise in the 23rd century (the symbol changed slightly throughout the series). The star burst signifies a command position.

Then Spock's face! I'm so proud of this because it's the first time I've successfully been able to paint a face that's not a cartoon! And you can recognize it! I patted myself on the back for this one. :) I hope you like it too!

Peculiar Polish Series - X-Men

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

Here's Nev's Nails!

Giedre requested the X-Men cartoon nails and I have to say, these are some of the hardest nails I've ever done. I don't know what it is with the style of the X-Men, but I can not for the life of my paint them! I tried sooo many times and failed every single time. At the very bottom of this post is a photograph of the failed attempt at the faces of Cyclops (who is the lead of the X-Men and has to wear a visor over his eyes because he has uncontrollable laser vision), Rogue (the southern belle type who absorbs mutant powers by touch and can also kill with her touch. Pretty cool power if you ask me), and Wolverine (who has a metal skeleton and claws. He and Cyclops are like opposites, Wolverine is the bad boy and Cyclops is the goody goody). I painted the X-Men's logo on my thumb and pinky. The X stands for extra, as in their extra abilities. It's also a reference to their mentor, Professor X.

When I couldn't make these nails look cool I decided to do the classic logo, which turned out WAY better. I ended up doing "X-Men" with a slight orange to yellow gradient, blue shadows, and on my thumb I did the Marvel logo (Marvel is the publishing company that made X-Men, Spiderman, Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk). I love how this look turned out! I hope Giedre isn't too disappointed that I kind of failed at these nails, I figure that two sets of nails should make up for my failure!

Thanks for contributing Nev! You did such a great job and I completely understand that about some cartoon styles being nearly impossible to mimic. :)

Holographic Nudity

2012-01-18T15:00:00.017-06:00

I heard rumor that the dress code at work has changed and that they no longer allow employees to wear nail polish! I'm in shock and horror! This is surely directed at me personally! So until I know for sure.... I wore this to my first night back at work. I went for subtlety to hopefully fly under the radar. If the rumor is true, I will simply comply and actually let my nails breathe while I'm at work. That might actually help my staining to improve.... *update! The rumor was FALSE! The policy still only states that "artificial nails are prohibited." So yay! I can still wear my many polishes! :)

This is 2 coats of Revlon Elegant & 1 coat of Speciallita HITS Hefesto.

A naked nail with some holographic goodness in the sun. :)

I'll report back with what I find out!

Barielle Haul - Part 4 (Falling Star)

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Last but not least is Falling Star. This is the color I was most excited about and it did not disappoint.

It's a cobalt blue creme polish with copper/orange SQUARE glitter. That's right square. On previous swatches I've seen it just looked like regular hex glitter, but oh no.... it's not.

The formula was a bit thick. It applied with the same "glue-iness" as Sweet Addiction. It could use a bit of thinner to lighten it up. Pictured is 2 coats.

Look at the square glitter!

Ah-mazing!

That is all of my most recent Barielle haul. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Again, I bought these polishes through the online deal site Hautelook. $4 each.

Barielle Haul - Part 3

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

More Barielles! These just might be my favorites of the whole bunch. :)

Bottom Row Left - Grape Escape

Um, why have I not bought this polish sooner? It's gorgeous! I love a good purple and this is no exception. 1 COAT! I looooove one coaters. Stellar formula that nearly applies itself. Dries fast and to a shiny finish.

Nothing bad to say, it's just gorgeous.

Bottom Row Middle is - Expressive

This reminds me of Orly's Lollipop (they are not exact dupes) but the formula on this is sooo much better. My Lollipop is streaky and doesn't self level. This was fantastic. 2 thin coats, very pretty color.

Bottom Row Right is - Sweet Addiction

This is a beautiful light/medium teal. The formula was strange. It was a bit sticky, like brushing white glue on my nails. And my bottle had leaked slightly in shipping, so the neck was coated and thick. I added some thinner, and that definitely helped. Pictured is 2 coats.

I love these colors! Stay tuned for the last but not least of my haul!

Nailed It's Vintage Flowers

2012-01-16T15:00:00.017-06:00

When I saw this design on Nailed It, I knew I had to recreate it myself. I just fell in love with the color combination. And the dotting is so simple! I didn't use any of the same exact polishes, but the same idea is there.

Enjoy!

I started with a base coat, and then 2 coats of China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

Then large dots using a dotting tool and Barielle Sweet Addiction.

Then small dots using Barielle Coco Bar,

Then medium sized dots using Eyeko Coral Polish,

Then small dots using Sinful Colors Lets Meet

Wait until it's dry and apply topcoat!

(You don't want to smudge your dots by applying it too early.)

And this is just to show off a cute new ring I got that I love! ;)

Barielle Haul - Part 2

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

More Barielle polishes for you today. Be sure to check out Part 1.

Middle Row Left is - Jess' Champagne Toast

I like the idea of this polish more than the actuality of it. It's a light purple metallic with small light pink glitter. The finished polish just looks kind of funny. And I really don't care for the shade of light purple metallic. It's just too washed out in my opinion. The formula was slightly thick. It applied a little chunky and required 3 coats before it evened out. On the plus side, each coat dries quickly.

Middle Row Middle is - Berry Blue

Thick formula. Fixed easily enough with some thinner adder. It's an almost one coater! Swatch is 2 coats. Rich navy blue that can lean black in low light.

Middle Row Right is - A Bouquet for Ava

OMG! This is the most beautiful, vibrant teal you will ever lay eyes on. But alas, impossible to photograph accurately. :( All of the google images search results are off too. Apparently no one has been able to photograph it. I swear to you that this is an ELECTRIC teal. It comes alive and is so bright and beautiful. In my pictures it comes across looking like ChG Shower Together, but in real life the color is sooooo rich. Trust me, you need this, go buy it!

My swatch is 2 easy breezy coats of a good formula that dries quickly. It dries to a semi-matte finish... my pictures are after top coat. Also, it stains like you have no idea! Geez, use a few coats of base coat with this one. But it's so worth it!

Barielle Haul - Part 1

2012-01-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

Hi guys! I recently acquired lots of Barielle polishes. I got them through the online deal site Hautelook for $4 each. They just came in the mail and I can't wait to show them to you. I will split this up into 4 parts so as to not overwhelm you with pictures all at once. :) I'll show you each row in a single post and save the 10th polish wonder for it's own special post at the end.

Top Left is - Out Grey-geous

I was disappointed in this polish. :( The bottle is gorgeous. A silver metallic with fine gold shimmer/glitter. But it looks so dull on the nail.

It was very thin formula and this was 3 coats. Honestly, it might have helped to have a 4th coat because I still noticed some visible nail line at certain angles.

You may be able to see the gold shimmer on the middle nail is this picture. I was hoping it would be more present, but it was hidden the entire time.

Top Middle is - Wrap Me in Ribbon

The formula of this was also very thin. It required 3 coats for opacity. The color is a deep pink metallic.

It's a nice color that I actually didn't have already. So I'm happy to add this shade to my stash. I just wish it were opaque enough to stamp with.

Top Right is - Polished Princess

A metallic medium grass green. Same story with this one, 3 thin coats until opacity. Not opaque enough to stamp with. :(

It's quite a vibrant and eye catching shade. It fits well within my collection.

Come back tomorrow for more Barielle!

Matte flakie love...

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

I never understood the appeal of matte anything. I like my polish shiny! But I've been determined to expand my horizons and try it out more. (Like in mimicking Erika's matte black with shiny tips). After try mattifying flakie glitter, I totally understand! It made it even more amazing to look at!

This is 1 coats of Speciallita HITS Can Can over 2 coats of China Glaze Spontaneous. Finished off with Essie Matte About You.

The flakies stand out so much more! It's crazy!

The mattified version photographs just as beautiful as it looks in real life. The shiny version was more difficult. My photos in no way compare to how flashy and noticeable the flakes are in real life.

This is before I added Essie Matte About You, of course.

China Glaze - Ahoy

2012-01-13T15:00:00.006-06:00

I just recently got this despite the fact that it's been out for almost a year. It kept calling me from the shelf at Sally Beauty. Here it is! 2 coats.

Beautiful! That's all I have to say!

Pretty & Polished Review

2012-01-13T06:00:00.005-06:00

Today I have some awesome polishes to show you. These are the creations of Chelsea from Pretty and Polished. She sells her polishes through an Etsy shop found here. I will provide further links and pricing as it applies. Please note she recently had to pull some of the mini bottles from the site, just because her bottles didn't arrive in time. So it's only temporary!
You can also use the coupon code PRETTY5 to get 5% off your purchase!

To start off, look at this awesome green holographic!

Martian Salad

Can be found for sale here. $8.50 for a full size (15mL) and $4.50 for a mini size (5mL).

Description from Chelsea: Medium Green Holographic Polish.This polish comes in a 15 mL square shaped bottle. It also comes with 2 stainless steel beads for good mixing. This is also available in mini 5 mL size. All Polishes are made without any animal products and are 100% cruelty free! I do use a number of products to mix my polishes including other lacquers, suspension bases, glitters, and powders. But I do not purchase products tested on animals or made with animal products.

My opinion: This was amazing! My swatch pictures 2 coats. The formula was fantastic. Not too thick, not too thin. I did not experience any patchy-ness or dragging that is common to some holographic polishes. (Ex. GOSH Holo, ChG OMGs.) Each coat went on evenly and dried quickly. And this shade of green just happens to be my favorite color. So this is all around amazing. If you are disappointed by not being able to get your hands on the ChG OMGs... Go to Chelsea's shop and buy this because it's got an easier formula and more affordable than those others on eBay. :)

Party on my Yacht

Can be found for sale here. $8.00 for a full size (15mL) and $4.00 for a mini size (5mL).

Description from Chelsea: Named "Party on my Yacht" because of the gorgeous champagne colored sparkles and brightly colored "summer shore" colors. This gorgeous polish goes on a bit sheer with one coat but with two you have full coverage! Easy to apply, easy to tame, and always gorgeous! Also comes in mini bottles, available in our store. This polish comes in a square glass bottle that holds 15 mL of product. It also comes with 2 stainless steel balls to help keep your polish perfectly mixed! I mix all of my polishes by hand. I never use ingredients tested on animals or that contain animal products. We love our animal friends <3 This polish IS 3 free!

It contains purple, green, dark pink, and yellow gold hex glitters, with a few blue bar glitters dispersed throughout the milky white base.

My opinion: This polish is really unique! I've never seen anything quite like it. I love the way the glitter looks hidden in a cloud with some of it only slightly visible. My swatch was opaque in just 2 coats, which we all know is a rare thing among white nail polishes. The mix of glitters reminded me of Mardi Gras because of the combination of green, gold, and purple. :) I hope the far away shot makes you think of speckled egg candy. That's what came to my mind! This polish also had a great formula and was not streaky or too thick/too thin. It was just right and applied very easily. The layers dried fast and I didn't notice any glitter dragging when I applied the second coat. I also really like how the glitter applied so evenly. I didn't have clumps of glitter and other sparse portions of the nail. Everything was beautiful. So if unique glitters is your thing? Go check out this as well as all of the others that Chelsea has for sale.

Thanks to Chelsea for providing these polishes for review. This is no way influenced my opinion or comments. A great polish speaks for itself.

Finger Paints - Twisted

2012-01-12T15:00:00.008-06:00

I recently got my hands on Twisted and Asylum. They were the only two of the Special Effects that I wanted. Here I layered 2 coats of Twisted over 2 coats of China Glaze Urban Night.

It's very drool-worthy. Go out and get some!

Then a swatch of 1 coat each over black. For your enjoyment.

Finger Paints - Asylum

2012-01-12T15:00:00.007-06:00

This is how I wore Asylum. I layered 2 coats over 2 coats of China Glaze Life Preserver.

It's not as blingy as Twisted, but it's still awesome! The purple/blue flakes stood out much more in real life.

Peculiar Polish Series - Ed, Edd, n Eddy

2012-01-12T06:00:00.001-06:00

It's another Thursday and time for more Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art is helping me out by designing looks that are from more obscure cartoons. If you have a suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Here's Nev's Nails!

Danielle Carbone requested some Ed, Edd n Eddy nails and a tutorial to go along with them! I loved doing these nails. I didn't want to take them off. I just started nail school and I wore these on my first day; everyone was blown away! I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

I painted Ed on my index finger, Edd on my middle finger, Eddy on my ring finger, and Plank on my pinky. My friend asked me to do Plank for this manicure, because she claims he is the best character. Plank is the imaginary friend of a neighborhood kid who's friends with The Ed's.

Tutorial:

Sorry for the bad pic. In the first step, I just painted my nails a light sky blue.

I used Color Club's Blue Light.

Paint a silhouette of each character and the show's logo on your thumb.

Add some colors. Ed is slightly yellow. Edd is beige. Eddy is slightly purple. Plank is two tones of brown/yellow. Notice that Ed's top hairline is yellow, not black.

Add on some black details. For Plank use red and blue.

Add in whites and touch up Planks eyes.

Finish off the detailing by adding eyes and teeth.

She did such a stellar job on these! She completely captured their quirky personalities. Thanks Nev!

Disney Princess French - Ariel Inspired

2012-01-11T06:00:00.002-06:00

I did these a while back for The Little Mermaid, and they are still some of my favorites on my exhibit project. :)

I'm working my way through all of the Disney Princesses, as suggested by You're Late For Tea, 2 anonymous followers, and Jessica @ Ruby's Nails.

They are primarily inspired by her waist where the tail meets her navel. (I guess I could have added a belly button) The accent nail is of course her purple shell bra.

Tutorial:

Started with China Glaze Innocence, 2 coats.

Then I did the rest of the details with acrylic paints, but really these shades are so similar to ChG For Audrey and Spontaneous. You could just use those if you have them.

Add a topcoat!

The only princess I have left is Tiana from Princess and the Frog, then I'll do one post with links to all.

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears

2012-01-10T06:00:00.002-06:00

Allison suggested these, but I actually already had them in mind too because I loved this show growing up!

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears aired from the mid-80s into the early 90s. Yes, it was loosely inspired by the gummi bear candies. They live in secret around a medieval kingdom, constantly on the run from bad ogres, and they have magic spell capabilities.

Thumb is Zummi Gummi.

Index is Sunni Gummi.

Middle is Tummi Gummi.

Ring is Grammi Gummi. (resembles a Care Bear though!)

Pinky is Cubbi Gummi.

Tutorial if you're interested:
I started with Sally Hansen Celeb City

I realized I wanted to change Grammi to Essence Cute As Hell Bad Girl.
All future details are acrylic paints.

Also a quick comparison of shiny topcoat vs matte topcoat. Which is your preference?
Shiny

Matte

Matte Black

2012-01-09T15:00:00.023-06:00

These are inspired by Erika @ Chloe's Nails. This post specifically. All of my local friends that are on Pinterest have all been entranced by the simplicity of Erika's design. I have been asked by several to paint their's like this. So I thought I'd share my own picture of it. Erika used OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Matte and Seche Vite for the tips. I don't have that polish so I just used Sinful Colors Black on Black topped with Essie Matte about You, then Seche Vite tips. Same effect.

Thanks for inspiring us Erika, and I hope you're back to the blogging world soon because we all miss you!

Pink Glitter Franken

2012-01-09T05:09:00.000-06:00

This is a franken I made up recently. I was inspired to make something similar to Lippmann's Glitter in the Air & Candy Shop. The way the sheer polish melds with glitter. I love the pink polish of Essie Luxeffects A Cut Above, and I recently found a Forever 21 dupe. So for $2.80 a franken was born. Lol. I also had a large silver glitter polish from LA Colors that I've lost the name of (why don't they just pick a sticker on the bottle like the rest of the world?) I mixed 1/4 of each of these glitters and added Orly Pink Slip, which is a sheer pink french manicure polish.

This is 3 coats. I would like the larger glitters to show up more. I have enough room left in the bottle, so I'll tweak it a bit by adding more glitter.

What do you think? I really like it!

A sheer pink with large pink and silver glitters and a scattering of fine silver and pink glitter.

Now it just needs a name. Any suggestions?

Pink/Coral/Tan

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

Inspired by a skirt I wanted to wear and coordinate my manicure.(It's in the background)

I keep finding myself in a funky french design. I don't know if it's a rut or just a fluctuation in the grand scheme of things.

I used:

NYC Love Letters

Revlon Elegant

Barielle Coco Bar

Catrice I Scream Peach

& my own pink franken.

Blue's Clues

2012-01-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

Blue's Clues aired from 1996-2006 and served as a cutesy preschool educational program. It was formatted in a way to tell one story, beginning to end, camera moving left-to-right like reading a storybook. And they concentrated on having it involve the viewer, rather than just be a one-way conversation. With long enough pauses for the young minds to think and process what was going on. It is/was a really sweet show. I remember watching it some as a kid (even though I was a little older than it's target audience).

Blue's Clues was suggested by Linda from Copy That, Copy Cat & Brenda. Thanks ladies!

Thumb is Steve's shirt

Index is Pail

Middle is Mailbox (I still remember this song)

Ring is Blue (actually a girl dog, not a boy)

Pinky is Mr. Salt

Tutorial:

Base polish is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City and the green is a franken of mine.

All of the rest of the steps are using acrylic paints unless specified otherwise.

(I used Sally Hansen Green With Envy as the other shirt stripe color)

(Here I used China Glaze CG In The City for Mr. Salt's shaker. It was the perfect color and glitter is always better than a gazillion tiny polka dots)

Adorable! Share them with your friends. Oh and check this out, Simply Rins has already done a pretty awesome set of Blue's Clues nails here.

Nutra Nail Gel Polish Remover "No Mess Express" - Review

2012-01-06T15:00:00.001-06:00

Nutra Nail was kind enough to also send me their "No-Mess Express" Gel Perfect Remover packs. This box has 5 individual packets.

The packet looks like this and you just tear across the top.

It's got a thick pad inside soaked with the acetone and moisturizers. It's psychedelic neon yellow. :)

The instructions state to stick your fingers inside facing the pad and make sure there is good contact.

I grasped the outside of the packet with my other hand so that it made contact with each nail. You sit like this for 2 minutes (although I noticed that it already worked well after just 1 minute), then you gently massage the nails against the pad to remove the polish. I rubbed each nail a bit from the outside of the packet and then slowly wiggled each finger out. For the most part it removed ALL of the polish. I just had a little bit here and there on the sides of my nails left. That came off with just a gentle swipe of the pad.

I then took my other hand and placed my nails against the opposite side of the pad and it was saturated enough to take the polish off them as well. 1 packet works to remove the polish off all 10 nails.

I was a little worried about the cyanoacrylate in the Gel Perfect Polish Activator damaging my natural nail... Do you remember the cracks I mentioned in the gel polish after a few days of wear? These cracks were still visible on my nails after all of the gel polish had been removed. It's not like it's a crack through the entire thickness of my fingernail, but I'm afraid it looks like it did affect the topmost layer of my nail.

No Mess Express Gel Polish Remover

(Priced at $7.99 for a box of 5 packets)

Pros:

"No Mess" is correct, the packet allows you to keep the gunky removed polish contained within.
Works on multiple nails at once. The packet states 5 nails at once, but I was only able to fit 4 nails in at once. I couldn't figure out a position to put in all 5 of one hand.
One packet works on all 10 nails.
Contains aloe and lanolin to condition as it works. My nails and skin were not dried out when I was finished.
Makes for a great alternative to the "foil method" of removal of glitter polishes!

Cons:

Some people might feel like $7.99 is too pricey, but I'm fairly neutral about that. $1.60 per packet isn't too terrible...
The harsh smell might be too strong for some people. However, it's no stronger than the smell of acetone.

So there you have it! Thanks again to Nutra Nail for supplying me with these products to review. I do not seeing myself buying Gel Perfect polish, but I really do like the No Mess Express remover! What do you think? Have you tried these products? What was your experience like?

Nutra Nail Gel Perfect - Review & Wear Test

2012-01-06T06:00:00.003-06:00

Nutra Nail kindly offered to send me their Gel Perfect Kit for me to review. Thanks!

This is their promotional info on the product:

"Color & Gel: The Best of Both Worlds … What if a company figured out how to provide nail color that can literally be applied and completely dried in 5 minutes? What if the color actually protected nails with a hard and shiny surface and would last as long as a regular manicure and pedicure? What if upon completion of application, the color was so rock solid you could literally dig in your purse or step into your shoes and your mani/pedi would remain gorgeous, shiny, and smudge free? And what if unlike traditional gels, said color could be removed in less than 2 minutes so that you could enjoy the luxury of switching shades as often as you like, turning your nails into a major fashion accessory?

Impossible? Too good to be true? Think again.

Nutra Nail is proud to introduce Nutra Nal Gel Perfect UV Free Gel-Color, which literally combines the best of color and the best of gel in 12 gorgeous shades for at-home nail perfection. Also new is No-Mess Express Gel Perfect Remover – a safe and easy way to remove gel color in 2 minutes to enjoy the luxury of switching shades as often as you like for $3 per mani/pedi.

The application process is a bit different than that of a traditional mani/pedi – but very simple! The following “How To” videos provide a great visual for application and for removal.

Gel Perfect Application How To Video:

No Mess Express Removal How To Video"

Notice too that the promise is not to last 2 weeks like salon gel polish. It's simply stating that it will be rock hard in 5 minutes, similar to how salon gel polish is dry after being cured under UV light.

"Sheer Pink" is the color I was sent. As you can see, it is indeed a sheer pink like you would use for a french manicure. It leaves a nice healthy glow to the nails, extremely work appropriate, and is much more discreet than some crazy colors I wear.

The kit comes with 3 tiny bottles of what you need.

"Activator" = Cyanoacrylate... that's just super glue or nail glue. Beware of the harsh fumes! I definitely had a headache after I had finished. (Yes, I was in a well-ventilated area too!)

"Gel Color" consistency is similar to other nail polish.

"Cleaner" you have to switch the brushes out between the polish and cleaner for each hand. The gel polish really gunks up the brush if not cleaned every few nails.

(I was slightly concerned by the number of irritant warnings on the bottles...)

Application process is as follows: (or just watch the video I linked above)

You apply the activator like your base coat to just one hand. Be careful to not touch your cuticles because you will then have super glued yourself... While still on that first hand, then apply a THIN coat of the gel polish to each nail. Again, trying to get close to the cuticle without touching. The gel polish seems to flow wherever the activator is, so it spreads easily. Once you are done with the first coat on one hand, switch the brush from the gel polish into the cleaner and the brush from the cleaner now into the gel polish. Repeat these steps on the other hand.

For the second coat, you have to start again with a layer of the activator, then the gel polish. So you are sandwiching the activator - gel polish - activator - gel polish, etc until you have reaching a desirable level of coverage. For my nails I ended up using 3 coats because it is in fact a "Sheer Pink."

(Sorry, but I couldn't take pictures at each step because you have to move fairly quick.)

The entire process took me a good bit longer than a regular manicure. It took me approximately 20-30 minutes. That's considering that there is a learning curve to figuring it out seeing as it's a different process than normal and I was being super careful and precise. I'm sure it'd move faster next time I use it.

It ended up looking nice and healthy. It had a good solid shine to it and it did in fact dry within 5 minutes. And not like we think of polish drying with Seche Vite in 5 minutes.... I deliberately poked my nails and tried to dent the polish after 5 minutes, and nothing happened. It was rock solid. So that is indeed a perk!

How did it wear?

On the night of Day 1 I noticed hairline cracks on 2 corners.

Day 2 is pictured below, the hairline cracks are not even noticeable.

Day 3 is pictured below, the cracks are more noticeable on my middle finger nail. I also had new hairline cracks on the corners of all of my nails.

Closeup of the cracks I'm talking about. Notice it's CRACKS, not CHIPS. The gel polish is not very flexible I guess is why. The polish cracks when your nail bends, but the cracked portion stays put. It doesn't chip off. It is after all, super glued to your natural nail...

Now is the time that I share the lesson I learned! My right hand faired much, much worse! Lol. I wanted to see if a thicker coat of gel polish would give me better coverage. I did the first coat very thin like recommended on the instructions, but rebelliously did 2 moderately-thick coats for the others. And here is obviously why they instruct you to do THIN coats! It gunked up at the tip of my nails and didn't dry properly. It was still rock hard in 5 minutes, but after the first day it started to lift and chip horribly. This was of course worsened by my need to pick at it constantly.... :( So learn from me, do thin coats as instructed!

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Does in fact fully dry within 5 minutes.
Lasts several days without any chips or tipwear.
The color provided an even coverage and was streak-free.

Cons

Activator step has a harsh chemical smell that some would not be able to handle.
Price. $12? That's more than I'm willing to pay.
5mL bottle of color. Will not allow for much usage.
Requires extreme precision and patience to follow the proper application technique.
Limited color selection available at some local retailers. (My Walgreens only had 4 colors)
Clean-up can be difficult if you don't have the "No Mess Express" remover pad they sell.

In the next post I'll review what the removal process was like!

Disney's Tangled

2012-01-05T15:00:00.001-06:00

This is my favorite recent Disney movie. It is so sweet and adorable. You must watch it if you haven't seen it yet.

Maddie H & Brenda both suggested Tangled nail art designs, so here we have it!

In hindsight I probably should have added more of a reference to her hair. It's not terribly recognizable. :(

Flynn's mouth turned out funny looking, and I wish the cute crook in his nose was more apparent. I also had a bit of trouble with Rapunzel's chin. That's why it's a heavier black outline, my lines started out way too out of shape. I had to scale it back some. ;) In the end they are pretty cute though!

I started with China Glaze Traffic Jam and stamped BM 201 with China Glaze Emotion. This is cute by itself! I think I'll go back and wear this combination even without the characters.

All the rest of the steps are acrylic paint.

Maddie H specifically asked for a Tangled design similar to The Little Mermaid look I did.

She wanted their profiles.

See ya soon!

Peculiar Polish Series - Zoombinis

2012-01-05T06:00:00.008-06:00

It's another Dark Thursday and time for an episode of Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art is helping me out by designing looks that might be on the darker side of the cartoon/comic spectrum. If you have a dark suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Here's Nev's Nails!

An anonymous subscriber requested these Zoombinis nails and I had no idea what that the Zoombinis were! But I'm so happy that I got to do this request because it turns out that The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis is a computer game that teaches kids math! Math nerds pay attention, everyone else zone out: Not only does this game teach kids math, but more specifically it teaches them basic set theory and logic! Set theory is like my favorite part of math ever.

Anyways, the Zoombinis are these cute little blue guys who get enslaved by the evil Bloats (who promise the Zoombinis a better life, but instead take advantage of them). I am totally ordering a copy of this game and then after I play it, I'm definitely going to force my future children to play!

For my nails, I painted the Zoombinis' adorable faces on my left hand and on my right hand I painted different feet. As you can see, when I put my nails together you get the entire picture!

Such a cute idea, and Nev did a great job once again! Thanks!

Finding a use for a fan brush...

2012-01-04T15:00:00.013-06:00

Why is that fanned out paintbrush included in nail art paintbrush sets? I don't know what it's official use is. If you do, please leave a comment explaining it to me. I tried it out and made this. Maybe that's it's intended use. I started with a white polish and used turquoise acrylic paint and the fanned out paintbrush to go in at different angles.

This is left to a matte finish:

Then I added a coat of Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor which has a pretty awesome blue/green glitter. It's hard to photograph.

This is just a quick swatch of Pearl Harbor over white and black respectively.

Enjoy!

HITS - Cutie Pie

2012-01-04T06:00:00.020-06:00

I wore this to work and got tons of compliments on how unique it is. I made it my mission to try and capture all of the different color shifts on camera. I still didn't manage to get them all, but these pics are better than my initial ones. The color shifts primarily emerald green-teal-purple, with a bit of rust orange when it's an extreme angle. It's amazing. I can't believe it. It did not wear well though. :( I had chips within 12 hours of wear time. I will happily put up with that for such a gorgeous color.

And just because I've had fun playing with making gif's.....

I swear it's only just one magical polish!

1 Year Anniversary - Greatest Hits!

2012-01-03T06:00:00.004-06:00

Today makes exactly one year since my first opening post into the nail art blog world. I have loved every minute of it! I also really appreciate all of you that have taken the time to comment, follow, suggest ideas, add me to your blogroll, etc. You girls are what makes the work worth doing. I love being able to interact with you and get to know other polish lovers. Thank you and I hope to keep going for a very long time. :)
Love you guys!
(Yes, that's me blowing you a kiss!)

Make a gif

I thought it might be a nice way to recognize the anniversary by recalling some of my favorite manicures from the past year. The designs that I am most proud of having done. What I consider my top 10 "Greatest Hits" in my mind over the past year. ;)

#10- Glitter in the Air

This look was so simple, but it combines my greatest loves... a pale blue polish and glitter.

#9- Cutest Cupcake Ever!

Again, a light blue polish, but I just loved the color combination, and who doesn't love cupcakes?

#8- Is This Lipstick a Good Shade For Me?

I like the twist on the traditional french, and such a sweet little lipstick! Adorable!

#7- Summer Lemons

I don't traditionally love red nail polish, but when combined with cute lemons... I'm a sucker.

#6- Spongebob Nail Art

This was when I first got started painting cartoons in nail art and I still love how it ended up looking. :)

#5- Nautical Nails

These were just last month, but I love them! They were fun, and fairly simple. I liked the different, yet cohesive look on the other hand.

#4- Scooby Doo Take Two

My first Scooby Doo nail art wasn't that great. I just didn't love it. I was determined to do it right, so this was the second time around and it was perfect!

#3- M&M

These nails were the intro to the "Good Enough to Eat" nail art contest that I held. I've always loved M&M's, I even collected the little candy dispensers when I was little. So these were a big favorite of mine.

#2- Candy Hearts

These were part of the Pink Week Blogger Challenge in October. Super cute, and nothing but a stamping plate! Check the link and get one for yourself!

#1- "Childhood is at Your Fingertips"

My Exhibit Project that I worked on for months! I am so proud of this thing. I freehanded all sorts of memorable cartoons from our childhood onto individual false nails and then framed them in a shadowbox. I have already filled out the entry form for the art show I've put it in, but the show itself isn't until March. I'll be sure to keep you posted. ;)

So that's it, the nail art I'm most proud of over the past year. I hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane! Thanks again to all of you!

Nail Party @ My Place

2012-01-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

I recently had a group of friends over to play in my nail polish. A friend of mine has 4 daughters ranging from 13 years old to 8 years old. Needless to say, they had a blast. I also included a couple others to round it out. We had fun. Everyone picked out colors and konad/bundle monster images to stamp. Then I did the manicures to show them how stamping works.

They all have pretty good taste. Several reached for my HTFs! I'm not stingy, I let them use them.

Deb picked China Glaze TTYL to stamp with GOSH Holographic. She wanted something "not too flashy..." Which fit well for that combination when in normal indoor lighting. Then I took her to the balcony and told her it would come alive! They were all amazed, and I was so proud. :)

Do you share your stash with others and have nail parties?

Wallace & Gromit

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

These guys are so enjoyable to watch. Wallace is quite absent-minded, while Gromit seems to have enough intelligence for the both of them. I'd hate to see how Wallace would fare if Gromit weren't around to help him out of a bind. I had to make the background resemble cheese because Wallace is such a cheese lover!

I started with China Glaze Lemon Fizz on the entire nail and then did dots of varying sizes using Hard Candy Splendid.

Then dots of Essie Sand Tropez in the Splendid dots to make them look hollow "holes" in the cheese.

Then all the rest of the steps were done using acrylic paint.

What do you think? Are you a big Wallace & Gromit fan?

I was into polymer clay sculpting while in high school and college. (I made FIMO canes before they were used in nail art...) I liked to make little figurines the most, and a friend of mine loves Wallace & Gromit and the clay animation. So I made him a 3d figurine of Wallace & Gromit (about 6 inches tall). It was really cute, too bad I didn't take a picture of it.... :(

Shrek Fail

2012-01-01T22:42:00.002-06:00

I was really close to not posting this look at all. I am not proud of how they turned out. I know I can do better. :( Sonoma Nail Art challenged me by encouraging me to try more shading/portrait work. So I decided to try it on Shrek since he's a cartoon with a lot of dimension.

Shrek was suggested by Liliana and an anonymous follower by way of my suggestion box.

I only like Donkey. And Shrek himself is just ok.... Puss in Boots is straight up ridiculous. It doesn't even look like him. And Fiona needs to go on a diet!

I'm not showing close ups of the others, it's just not necessary. Lol

The base polish is China Glaze Recycle topped with Brazil's version of Unicorn Puke. Big Universo - Espectral.

It just goes to show that I'm not perfect. My art doesn't always turn out like I intended. It's ok to fail!

The Fox & the Hound

2012-01-01T06:00:00.081-06:00

For all you dog lovers out there! (Becky!)

Two creatures struggling to maintain a friendship despite social pressures dictating them to be enemies. Such a sad but inspirational childhood movie. My sister and I fell in love with basset hounds after this movie. Copper was actually a coon hound dog in the movie, but we liked basset hounds for their short stature. We had 3 growing up a male and 2 females. Luther, Louise, and Lilly.

Sadly, Luther is the only one still living. He's 13 years old and still lives out at our parent's house. They have such fun personalities, and he still manages to get around just fine and enjoy life. :)

This is Luther as a puppy. So sweet! He was primarily Kimberly's dog.

Then once he was fully grown. Now he's lost all of the color on his face to gray, but he still has those sweet sad eyes! (And can you see the face silhouette in the spot on his back? Lol)

This is Louise. She was primarily mine! All 3 dogs were AKC registered basset hounds, but Louise (we called her Wheezie) had the least pronounced basset features. Her ears and muzzle were short compared to the others. She died while I was in college and still living at home. She had the funniest personality. She liked squeaky toys and would sit in one spot and squeak it steadily for hours on end! Once, a little boy was over and tried to play with her and her toys... She didn't like it so she took it out of his hand and walked over to her dog house and put it away and out of his reach. Lol. She would even pout when I was away for a trip. When I came back, she would ignore me and try to guilt trip me for leaving. :)

A quick blurry pic from when she was a puppy. We put her ears in foam hair rollers! I wanted to show this pic because that's my hands and my nails were painted a crazy bright blue! (I also like that gigantic plastic watch on my wrist! Lol)

Then lastly is Lilly, she was primarily my mom's dog. She was hilarious! I think she was seriously crazy. She thought she was human and belonged in the house with us rather than the other dogs outside. And she would be outside and suddenly start "talking" to the air around her. She would snap the air like mosquitoes were buzzing around her face. (and they weren't...) She would also respond when you talked to her and she would grunt, grumble, and whine to make conversation! She died a year or so after Louise.

They lived full lives, and they are greatly missed. Many of my best childhood memories are with out pets. Luther is still going strong, but we are realistic in knowing that he won't live much longer. It's just a matter of time.

So back to the nail art:

Here is the tutorial for Fox and the Hound.

I started with OPI Jade is the New Black.

Then I did some "grass" with shades of green acrylic paint on 3 nails.

Then acrylic paints for all the following details of Tod and Copper.

(Tod was the fox, Copper was the coon hound.)

I think they turned out really cute, and they brought back some great memories. :)

Pocahontas

2011-12-31T05:40:00.001-06:00

Focusing on another Disney Princess... Here is Pocahontas. Mainly her necklace and Flit the hummingbird.

Suggested by You're Late For Tea, and 2 anonymous followers.

I started by painting all of my nails with a nude franken I made.

Tutorial of how I painted the necklace.
These steps were all acrylic paint.

Then Flit:
Again, all acrylic paint.

Well? What do you think?

Sleeping Beauty - Aurora Inspired

2011-12-30T06:00:00.004-06:00

Here is another Disney Princess inspired design. I got several requests after the Princess Jasmine Inspired french tips I did. And don't forget the Snow White Inspired look just the other day.

Suggested by You're Late For Tea, and 2 anonymous followers.

I started by painting most all of the nails with Sally Hansen Presto Pink, the accent nail is China Glaze Innocence.

Then I used white acrylic paint the freehand some french tips with swirls of different sizes.

(I used white first because the yellow paint is sheer. You can use polish if you like)
Then I applied the yellow acrylic paint along the tips. I tried to vary the shades so that it looked more like her blonde hair.

I stamped the bundle monster crown image, but it wouldn't stamp well... So I kind of freehanded over it. (used gold nail polish)

What do you think? I don't like it as much as the others. Princess Jasmine is still my favorite of these looks.

Snow White Inspired

2011-12-29T15:00:00.001-06:00

I got several requests for more designs like the Princess Jasmine Inspired french tips I did.

Suggested by You're Late For Tea, and 2 anonymous followers.

This is a simple look loosely inspired by Snow White. I did an entire Snow White and the 7 Dwarves here.

French tips inspired by the colors of her sleeves, and the accent nail inspired by her hair and red headband.

Accent nail:

Start with 1 coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme

I have a red stamping polish, but it wouldn't show up over the black. So I stamped my bow image from Konad m56 using white polish.

Then pretended it was a pattern and painted the white areas with red acrylic paint and a tiny paintbrush.

Finally added a red rhinestone.

For the other nails, start with a pink french base.

2 coats of China Glaze Innocence.

French tips using Essie Coat Azure. (Freehand them, or use guides. Whatever suits your fancy)

Add 3 red rhinestones along the french tip.

What do you think?

Peculiar Polish Series - Avatar Tutorial

2011-12-29T06:00:00.004-06:00

Here's Nev!

My favorite thing about the Peculiar Polish series is that I'm learning about so many new cartoons that I didn't know much about! Gabby requested Avatar: The Last Airbender nails and a tutorial to go along with it. Avatar was an Asian inspired Nickelodeon series that follows Aang (a bender, who is one who can manipulate the elements) and his friends. On my nails I painted Aang on my middle finger, Katara (a waterbender) on my index finger, Sokka (Katara's brother) on my ring finger, and Momo (the adorable lemur that assists Aang). This is my first ever picture tutorial so I hope it turned okay! It turns out that picture tutorials are hard work! I think everyone needs to applaud Leslie for doing them so often!

First I painted solid base colors. Momo is solid white. Aang is slightly darker than Momo. And Katara is the most tan. I painted the thumb black to add the logo.

Here I added in the hair lines. Aang has a blue arrow tattoo on his forehead. Use Leslie's technique of first making the hair outlines in black, and we'll fill them in with color later.

Add color to the hair, leaving a thin black line for an outline. Also add in lines for eyes and eyebrows. It is okay if they're sloppy, because you'll be adding white to the inside in the next step. Momo needs a cute mouth and nose too.

Fill the eyes in with white. This will leave a thin black line for the outsides of the eyes. Also shade Katara and Sokka's eyebrows.

Add colored dots to the middle of the eyes.

In this step I first put a black dot in the middle of the eye, then off center I added a white dot to give the eyes dimension.

Finally add the logo to the thumb and you're done!

I hope you like these nails and I'll see you all next week for a really awesome set of computer game inspired nails!

Swap with Polish Me Pink!

2011-12-28T06:00:00.002-06:00

I recently swapped with Francini of Polish Me Pink! for some Brazilian beauties. She helped me get my hands on lots of flakies, some glitter, and tons of multichromes!

It's going to be a massive post, so get ready!

It all started when I asked someone to swap for these 4. I wanted these flakies from Speciallita. They look like dupes for Nfu-Oh flakies that I still have yet to get.

Left to Right:

Jazz, Can Can, Twist, Samba

In the same order.

Jazz is swatched over black and white on the index nail, all the others are by themselves.

Jazz- 1 coat.

Just look at those green flakes! It showed up best over black, the white side looked very opal-y but it was difficult to capture in pictures.

Can Can- 3 coats.

This one looks like Nfu-Oh 50 to me. Light purple base with teal/blue flakes.

Since it took 3 coats, I'll likely just layer it over a medium tone purple when I use it as a full manicure.

Twist- 2 coats.

This one looks like Nfu-Oh 52 to me. Medium blue base with teal/green flakes.

Same thing here, for future use I will probably layer it over a royal blue to save my precious polish...
The flakes look to be concentrated where the flash hit, but they are perfect & evenly dispersed! Don't let the camera fool you.

Samba - 2 coats

OMG green. Green on green flakes. I love green. This is gorgeous. End of story.

It looks like Nfu-Oh 56, in my opinion. Again, I'll layer it for future use.

Francini called this one Brazil's version of Unicorn Puke. Instead of a purple base, it's a clear base.
Big Universo - Espectral
I'm so happy this is a full 15mL! I know I will be using it a lot!

It has flakes of all different colors. Here is 2 coats over black.

Same combo, different angle.

2 coats layered over OPI Dating a Royal, Zoya Mira, Wet n Wild Black, Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

Same combo, different angle.

She found the last polish of the Hits no Olimpo collection that I wanted.
Dionisio. The dark purple holo.

Dionisio- 2 thin beautiful coats.

She also got me Hits #612 Glitter Forte.
This is a dupe for OPI Absolutely Alice!

It was quite thick and this was 2 gloopy coats. I didn't have any spare room in the bottle to add thinner, so now that I've swatched it maybe I can. :) I might even transfer it to larger polish bottle. I don't know yet...

This she included as a surprise.
Impala SPFW na mira 3d.
It is an awesome holographic glitter polish.

So intensely packed! Left is 2 coats over black, right is 3 coats by itself to show that the base is slightly tinted. It flashes through the whole rainbow, but it has a strong purple flash in the center. I hope you can see that in the pictures. It's beautiful!

She also included a Brazilian quick dry top coat. Extra Brilho.

I haven't given it a full test run yet, but what's up with this brush?! It's horrid! It's round and fluffy, yet limp and scraggly! Ugh! So frustrating. I dumped it into an empty bottle of Seche Vite so that I could use it with a normal brush!

I saw this polish on Francini's blog and asked if she could find it for me. It's a gorgeous multichrome.
Check out her pictures because she did a much better job at capturing the color shifts. HERE.
Ludurana Reluz
Seeing as how I don't exactly know how to read Portugese... It took me a day of wearing this as a full mani and saying "what's that smell?" before I realized it must be scented! Perfumado, yeah it's scented. Lol
It reminds me of a strong cotton/fresh linen type smell mixed with a light generic perfume smell. It's quite potent at first but not unpleasant, and it faded a good bit after the first day.

It shifts blue, teal, purple, magenta, to rust orange.

My swatch is 3 thin coats. It's a thin formula that is slow-drying. And it was quite pesky in that it moved around after I finished each nail. Weird, right? I painted very neatly, and yet when I moved on and looked back, the polish had moved and flooded my cuticle! It was really crazy. But I will totally put up with strangeness for beauty. :)

In our discussion prior to the swap she told me about this new collection out by Speciallita Hits.
All multichromes! Drool. I wanted them all! And she came through. :)

Again, Francini was able to capture the color transitions better, so check out her post here.

Left to Right:
Daring,
Chameleon,
Artsy,
Unconventional.
These were all on the thin side. Each took 3 coats.

Then the other half of the collection.
Left to Right:
Cutie Pie - 3 coats
Trendy- 2 coats
Cool- 2 coats
Dreamer- 3 coats

And the last little goodies she included.
A perfectly compact container of cuticle balm. It's more of a wax than a cream, and it doesn't have a strong scent which is nice. :)
Then a matchbook style packet of 12 mini emery boards. So feminine and cute!

Thanks a million to you, Francini. You should get your package any day now, and I hope you love it as much as I do mine!

A New Kind of Hair Bow

2011-12-27T15:00:00.000-06:00

I thought it was so sweet when I saw this on Pinterest. We all know Lady Gaga wore it first, but these pictures made it look so simple and wearable for the average person. I had to try it myself. So this is how it turned out.

Mine came out to be a bit messier, and not quite a full as the girl with the tutorial... but I'm chalking it up to my hair being shorter than hers and layered more. I thought it was fun and cute! I really liked it, so I left the house and went to Walmart to get some groceries.

And I felt like everybody was staring at me! I live in a small city, so things take a few years to trickle down and be fashionable. I'm not normally that self-conscious, but I don't think I had enough self-confidence that day! Lol. And maybe they weren't staring at my silly hair... but it sure made me feel out of place! I'm going to try it again though, I'm not giving up! And if I see anyone wearing a "hair bow" on any future trips to Walmart I'll know it was a hit after all!

Here is the link to the pinterest pin I used for the how-to. It's from Abby at My Yellow Sandbox.

Try it yourself and I want to know if you get strange looks!

Audrey's Bow

2011-12-27T06:00:00.018-06:00

I'm so glad to now have these plates in my stash! Konad m59 and m79. I had trouble with the netting image to stamp completely. :( I had to fill in the larger dots with a dotting tool because the stamp came out with uneven hollow dots. But it was well worth it!

China Glaze For Audrey and Konad Special White Polish

I added tiny silver bullion beads into the polka dots on the bow. I placed them in the not-quite dry topcoat and sealed it in with another layer of topcoat.

So dainty and pretty! I love it!