Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day and I have a love/hate relationship. I cannot completely hate a day that gives me an excuse to cover my nails in cute colors and hearts. Who can?

This particular manicure is a Barielle polish explosion. Seriously. All Barielle shades. Six, in fact.

Barielle Enduring (white), Smarty Pants Pink (light pink), Eli's Magic (hot pink), Vivacious (red), Grape Escape (purple), and Black Rose (blackened burgundy).

There is quite a bit going on. Hearts, dots, gradient, and stamping (using plate BM-317).

Very Belated Birthday Manicure

When I say belated, I mean belated. My birthday was back in August. Better late than never I suppose.

I started with Pure Ice Wild Thing, the closest polish I had to my birthstone. On my index and pinky, I have OPI Rainbow Connection. Not only is it colorful, its a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday. How perfect?! The glitter on my ring finger is a little less colorful with ICING Glitterati. Some cute cupcakes topped it off with the use of stamping plates BM-H19 and BM-H20.

Breast Cancer Awareness Manicure

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! I know its not quite October yet, but Ulta started their Donate with a Kiss yesterday. And I needed a manicure for the occasion. 

I used OPI Strawberry Margarita, Color Club Blushing Rose, and stamping plate BM-321. The plate makes it easy to create awareness manicures in every color.

Sunshine and Bows

I hope you are enjoying what is left of your Tuesday, most likely Wednesday by now. I know I've absent recently, but I'm back and ready to blog.

Today, I have a cute design to share with you featuring some 3D nail bows.

Very 3D nail art. I started with China Glaze Lighthouse then added a full nail design with Essence Stamp Me! Black and stamping plate BM-310. Finally with a little nail glue, I added these cute black bows from the  Born Pretty Store. How cute are these?!

The bows come in twelve different colors with a rhinestone in the middle of each. Each set comes with ten bows. The bows stay on well when applied with nail glue. The bows (Item ID: 1675) retail for $2.38 on Born Pretty Store. They have a ton of other fun nail art related items as well. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The product (bows) in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Cats Galore! Born Pretty Stamping Plate Review

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! If you love cats, I've got the stamping plate for you. I got my first kitten when I was barely three years old, so needless to say, I love cats.

I used all twelve designs to show you what each image looks like. The designs transfer easily, with nice crisp lines. I love the addition of feathers! They definitely go along nicely with cats. I got a little colorful with the cats, but kept them within natural fur colors. I used Love My Nails Angel (base), NYC Times Square Tangerine (orange), China Glaze Mahogany Magic (brown), Essence Stamp Me! Black, Konad Yellow, Ulta The Jungle Look (green), Blue Streak, Sally Hansen Raspberry Race, and Julep Alyson.

I love these designs! Particular the ones on my left middle, right ring, and thumb. Very cute kitties. And clearly defined.

This particular plate (Item ID: 4856) retails for $2.99 on Born Pretty Store, as well as all other single plates this size. They have a lot of fun designs to add some fun to your nails. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The product in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Spongebob! Born Pretty Stamping Plate Review

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! Or what is left of it. I have a very fun stamping plate to share with you today. A Spongebob Squarepants themed plate. I will admit; I am twenty-three years old and I love Spongebob. Its a part of my childhood. I was ten years old when it first aired.

I used each of the designs, except for one in the middle. Eleven designs and only ten fingers. As you can see, the designs are adorable and transfer well. The smudging you see on a couple of fingers is from the polish I used to stamp with, not the plate itself. I used Zoya Pippa as my yellow base and Sally Hansen Black Out as my black stamping polish.

If you like Spongebob, this is a definite must have. It makes a fun manicure!

This particular plate (Item ID: 4936) retails for $2.99 on Born Pretty Store, as well as all other single plates this size. They have a lot of fun designs to add some fun to your nails. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The product in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, and I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I am single on this particular Valentine's Day, and while I usually playfully do anti-Valentine designs, I decided to dive into the hearts.

My backdrop for the stamping is a watercolor marble. I have seen it everywhere, but never attempted it until now. Rebecca Likes Nails has a great tutorial. I started off with one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. My watercolors are Barielle Grape Escape, Pink Quartz, and Life of the Party. Finally I stamped on hearts and love with Essence Stamp Me! Black, stamping plate BM02, BM-317, and Essence stamping plate. All plates are listed for designs index to pinky. The Essence plate has no number or label (it was used for the last two designs).

I love the look of the watercolor. And I think the black really pops off the soft color background. What do you think? And did you do anything special for Valentine's Day? 

Zoya Marina & Stamping

I hope you are enjoying your Monday!

Zoya Marina is a strongly blue toned gray metallic. The application is good and opaque in two coats. Over Marina, I stamped on this lovely pattern with Color Club Gingerbread Man and stamping plate BM-209.

I literally forgot to add that I matted an accent finger to see how the two metallics would look matte. Every finger aside from my ring is topped with Seche Vite, while the ring is topped with Butter London Matte Finish.

Christmas Stamping

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Christmas is getting closer and closer. And the stress is getting worse and worse. But at least my nails are cute. :)

I used only three polishes for my base and stamping. Ulta The Jungle Look (green), Color Club Gingerbread Man (gold), and Love My Nails New Love (red). For my stamped images, I used BM-316 (gift with bow), BM-320 (ornament), BM-321 (tree), and BM14 (bells).

Color Club Gingerbread Man & Holly

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I recently got a new camera. I have been playing around with it and trying to see if it is what I want. Obviously, macro shots (close up photography) is a large part of my camera use. I have not perfected taking manicure shots with this camera yet, but decided I needed to start posting them. If anything, seeing them on my blog will hopefully help me figure out tricks to make the pictures better. I purchased a Fujifilm FinePix HS30EXR. The camera is amazing. I am just having trouble getting macro shots in my light box without casting a shadow with the long lens. Also, getting my skin to turn out the right color. If you have any advice, please let me know, whether by comment or email.

Enough of my camera rambling, onto the pictures!

Color Club Gingerbread Man is a light gold foil. The application is perfection and opaque in one coat. It may appear like your basic gold foil, but it does have something special about it. Its scented! It smells like a frosted gingerbread cookie. The scent is very light. Nothing overpowering.

I wanted to make this manicure into something even more Christmas like than gingerbread, so added hollies. Three berries and three leaves. I used stamping plate BM14 and Ulta The Jungle Look. I attempted to stamp red and green on my thumb, but the delicate design dried too much before I could stamp it. So I decided to do green and add the red afterward. I went back with a small dotting tool and Love My Nails New Love to make the holly berries red. I personally love this. Its simple and very easy.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Witches

I hope you are enjoying your Friday! Its a little late in the day, but I finally have my post for the This Is Halloween Challenge. Today is witches.

As soon as it all came together, I realized the black and purple look random. But I still like it. For half of my fingers, I used two coats of Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, otherwise known as Scandalous. Facets of Fuchsia was released in a limited edition collection. When they decided to make it a core color, they changed the name. So if you decide to purchase it now, look for Scandalous.

The rest of my finger got one coat of Zoya Skylar. Then I sponged on Wet n Wild Saved by the Blue to give my sky some dimension and depth. On my index finger, I drew grass with Pure Ice Wild Thing and Ulta The Jungle Look. On my ring finger, I drew a glowing moon with Sinful Colors Unicorn. Finally I stamped on a cat and witch with Sinful Colors Black on Black and plate BM13.

Halloween Stamping

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Today I have a fun Halloween design to show you.

Each nail is different and the only theme is Halloween. I spent time cleaning up, but the camera picked up green I did not see. I used Nfu-Oh NFU JS18 and Wet n Wild Night Prowl. My stamping polishes were Sinful Colors Black on Black, Pure Ice Super Star!, Wet n Wild Times Square Tangerine, Ulta The Jungle Look, and Julep Demi. I used several different stamping plates. N.Nail m80 (crow), N.Nail m39 (blood drips), BM-301 (bat in blood drip), and BM-305 (house).

Sally Hansen Spun for You with Spiders

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! If you follow my Facebook page then you know I'm currently in Baton Rouge to see friends. Among the normal things we're doing, we are also going to Gate, a huge Halloween haunted house. So I wanted a themed manicure.

I spiced up Sally Hansen Polish Strips in Spun on You with a little stamping. Using Sinful Colors Black on Black and plate BM13, I stamped spiders on my ring finger and thumb. The strips are easy to apply. This set is left over from last year. So as long as they stay sealed in original packing, they will last. Very good to know because I have another set from last year as well.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Bats

I hope you are enjoying your Friday! Another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge is here. Today is bats.

I took inspiration from a gorgeous design done by Macabre Manicures. For my gradient background, I started with Sally Hansen Diamond as a base. Then sponged Sinful Colors Midnight Blue heavily on the tips and lighter as I went almost all the way to the cuticle. I love how little bits of the holo show through the blue. Then with Sinful Colors Black on Black, plate BM13, and KKCenterHK plate m80, I stamped on two different bat images.

Little Devil

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Or what's left of it anyway. Its not even Sunday anymore here. I'm very late with this post.

Little bit of devilish fun for Halloween! I started with two coats of Julep Alyson. Then I stamped on my devils with Julep Demi and stamping plate BM-301. Demi stamps well. I love this! Not only are the devils adorable, but I'm very happy with my color choices.

Blue Milk Mushrooms

Its Stamping Sunday! I have not done this challenge in a long time. Which makes me sad. So I'm making an effort to start again. This week's theme is 'Poisonous and Toxic." It took me a long time to decide on a design. Spiders, snakes, and bats are all venomous not poisonous (if they are deadly at all). I finally found something poisonous that I had a stamp for. YAY!

Lactarius indigo, also known as the blue milk mushroom, ranges from light blue to dark blue. They can be poisonous. They are very pretty if you see pictures.

To create those lovely fungi on my accent nail, I started with two coats of Pure Ice Wild Thing. Then I sponged on Ulta The Jungle Look and Sinful Colors Black on Black. Finally I added my blue mushroom with BM-302 and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. The rest of my nails are two coats of Pacific Blue.

BM stamping plates are part of a 25 piece set (the 2012 one) that retails for $22 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Ulta Nail Lacquer retails for $6 at Ulta. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear retails for $2-3 at Walgreens, Walmart, Riteaid, Target, and Ulta.

Giraffe Print

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! Sorry again for my absence. Things have been crazy.

My little giraffe print nails. I wish they would have turned out better. They are part stamping and part freehand. I started off with two coats of Julep Alyson. Then I stamped on a giraffe print with China Glaze Mahogany Magic and BM-313. I had the ceiling fan and a stand fan going at the time, so the stamping did not transfer well. Thus the freehand. I got several compliments on them today though. One woman did not know about stamping. I have never seen someone that excited to learn about nail art.

Mahogany Magic is part of the China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection and retails for $3-6 at various stores and websites. Julep retails for $14 on their website. BM stamping plates are part of a 25 piece set (the 2012 one) that retails for $22 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store.

Sapphire

Its Stamping Sunday! I'm late on getting my post up, but its still Sunday here. This week's theme is precious stones.

Say hello to rightie! This is the only non blurry picture I could take of my right hand. My left hand would make an odd swatch photo. I hurt my middle finger, so there would be a giant bandage in the middle of the picture.

I chose sapphire as my precious stone and did a similar polish color plus stamping. For my ring finger, I did two coats of Wet n Wild Silvivor then stamped on sapphires using Sinful Colors Midnight Blue and plate BM09. For the rest of my fingers, I used two coats of Midnight Blue.

Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture.

Green and Black Scroll

I hope you're enjoying your Wednesday! I am a little obsessed with my new Bundle Monster plates, so I did another mani with them.

I used Ulta Beach Bum as my base. It is a light green matte creme. The application was okay and took three coats to be smooth and opaque. For my stamping, I used Sinful Colors Black on Black and plate BM-314.

BM stamping plates are part of a 25 piece set (the 2012 one) that retails for $22 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Beach Bum is part of a mini set Ulta put out last Summer, Toe-tally Matte.

Owls

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! Today, I have my first design using the new Bundle Monster set. You have no idea how much I have been wanting a stamping plate with owls. If I can get my hands on a cute penguin plate, my life will be complete.

How cute is this?! For my base, I used three thin coats of Essie Turquoise & Caicos. Then I stamped on my owls with China Glaze Mahogany Magic and plate BM-309. Both owl designs are on there. You can clearly see the single owl. The full nail design is two different owls and flowers. The full designs are large. Big enough to cover my thumb and more.

BM stamping plates are part of a 25 piece set (the 2012 one) that retails for $22 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Turquoise & Caicos is part of the Essie Resort Collection and retails for $8 at Walgreens, Walmart, Target, Ulta, and several other stores. Mahogany Magic is part of the China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection and retails for $5-7 at various stores and websites (including Sally's Beauty Supply, Ulta, Head2Toe Beauty, and Amazon. It is (or should be) on clearance at most stores.