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).

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? 

Cookies and Creme

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Today I am revisiting a polish layering combination I did a little over a year ago. I was inspired by my favorite candy bar to do a Cookies & Creme mani. I simply layered black glitter over a milky white base, as seen in the post I did for it. This time I got a tad more creative.

I did alternating layers of Essie Marshmallow and Love & Beauty Black Knight for five layers total. Jelly, glitter, jelly, glitter, and jelly. I think it gives more depth and reminds me more of candy. 

Blue Dusted Marshmallow

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! Today I have a little experimentation with pigment to show you. I finally bought Essie Marshmallow about a month ago and wanted to do something fun with it. Initially I thought about a glitter sandwich, but wanted something different. By now most of you have probably seen this tutorial floating around Pinterest where you place pigment at the cuticle, blow, and have gradient nails. Epic fail for my attempt. Perhaps a different pigment. But I loved the color combination, so I sprinkled the pigment on top then blew off the excess. To me, it's delicate and wintery. 

I started off with one coat of Essie Marshmallow. I added the second coat one nail at a time then sprinkled the blue pigment (after the gradient failed). The pigment is an ancient long discontinued shimmer powder from ICING by Claire's. It was part of their Attitudes line. I've literally had the powder for a decade. I have seen many pigments that look very close, a light slightly turquoise blue.

China Glaze It's a Trap-eze

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! I'm finally beginning to feel better. So, I decided to push through and post. If you're unsure what I'm talking about, see this post. 

Its a new year. I want to post more often and interact more often on Facebook and Twitter. I also decided that it would fun to have you all vote on what polish you would like to see me post about. So each week, I will choose a few from my stash and make a poll. The first one is already up on the top right of my blog.

China Glaze It's a Trap-eze is a milky white jelly filled with multicolored and multi-size hex glitter. I see white, fuchsia  green, blue, yellow, and orange glitter. The application is great and semi opaque in two coats. You could start over white for a more opaque finish. However, I prefer the jelly finish. It gives depth and has a lighter feel to it.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! Today I have my first Christmas design of the season to share with you.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, along with all of the other reindeer! I wish I had done better on getting the shapes even. It was part my hand shaking and part the fan going making the polish too tacky. For my little reindeer I used, China Glaze Mahogany Magic (brown base), Pure Ice Super Star! (white), Sinful Colors Black on Black, Essence Once Upon a Time (red), and Julep Olivia (tan antlers). I took inspiration from Top Coat It.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Trick or Treat

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! One day closer to Halloween! I have another post for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge. Today is treat or treat.

When I think of trick or treating, candy comes to mind first. And the first Halloween candy I think of is always candy corn. So I decided on a candy corn gradient. Fun, easy, and just screams candy corn.

I started with a coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. Then I painted wide stripes of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, NYC Times Square Tangerine, and Super Star! onto a makeup sponge. Gradients are one of the easiest nail art techniques. The only hard part is the cleanup if you end up with too much polish on your skin.

I looked yesterday at some of my nail art and realized that an Asian site had stolen one of my images. They very badly tried to erase my watermark and then added their own. I've been considering adding a watermark  closer to the nail, something that cannot be cropped out and is hard to photoshop out. Let me know what you think of the new watermark.

Cat's Eyes

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday!

Cat's Eyes designs are everywhere! And I love it! For mine, I followed a tutorial by Kayla Shevonne. I used Beauty UK Black, Pure Ice Wild Thing, Wet n Wild The Gold and the Beautiful, and white acrylic paint. It is a very easy look to achieve, especially following Kayla's tutorial.

"This Is Halloween" Challenge: Ghosts

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! Sorry for the late post. Today I have another bit of nail art for the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge.

Ghosts! They honestly did not turn out how I wanted, but maybe I'm just being my own worst critic. I got compliments on them from co-workers and customers. One customer asked me if they were stick on. The design is very easy. I did two coats of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. Then with acrylic paint and a dotting tool, I made the eyes and mouths. I saw a design like this somewhere that inspired me, but I honestly cannot remember where.

Bumble Bee

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! One of my most popular posts (the most popular one until recently actually) is the one about bumble bee nails. I did the design before I started blogging. When I did the  post, I was not really cropping my photos or doing well with up close macro shots of my nails. I decided to redo the design. You can find the original post here.

In all honesty, I think my nail art skills are about the same. But I still love my little bumble bee! I started off with two coats of Zoya Pippa as my yellow base. The bumble bee and his trail were created with a dotting tool, small nail art brush, Pure Ice Super Star!, and Sinful Colors Black on Black. The original design was achieved following one of CutePolish's tutorials. She creates the cutest designs and shows how each is done.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! And your Fourth of July, if you're in the US. Today, I have a final design to share with you for the holiday.

I had a man compliment me on my patriotic nails today. That rarely happens. Almost never. On my pinky, index, and thumb, I did two coats of Wet n Wild Red Red then stripes with L.A. Colors Art Deco White. For my middle and ring fingers, I used one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! then stamped on stars with Color Club Cold Metal and plate BM20. To add a little extra something, I placed silver star glitter in the middle of each large stamped star.

Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. Cold Metal is part of the Color Club Foiled Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. L.A. Colors Art Deco stripers retail for around $1 and can be found at most Dollar stores. 

Stars and Stripes

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! Today, I have a design for Monkey See Monkey Do and Fourth of July. I found inspiration in a design by Girlie Tomboy.

I absolutely love this! I got several compliments at work today. My index and pinky are two coats of Love My Nails New Love and my ring and thumb are two coats of Color Club Cold Metal. For my middle finger, I did one coat of Pure Ice Super Star!, stamped on stripes with New Love and plate BM20, and finally stamped on a star with Cold Metal and plate BM05.

Love My Nails retail for $1 at Bari Cosmetics. Cold Metal is part of the Color Club Foiled Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. 

Patriotic Stamping and Glitter

Its Stamping Sunday! And my first design for the Fourth of July. I'll admit, its a little bit of a fail, but not too bad. The theme for this week is dots and circles.

The stamping didn't transfer perfectly and smeared a little. Plus my glitter didn't disperse well. But unless you look up close (or with these macro shots), the design looks nice, so its not all bad. I started with a base coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white backdrop. Next I stamped on Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar and Color Club Cold Metal with plate BM19. For my accent nail, I used two coats of Love My Nails Glory. Its a slightly blue tinted base with red and blue string glitter plus silver stars. I love how unique it is, but wish it was less bumpy. Two coats of tc later and still bumpy. But its perfect for the upcoming holiday.

Love My Nails retail for $1 at Bari Cosmetics. Cold Metal is part of the Color Club Foiled Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. 

Wild Kitty Cat

Once again it is Stamping Sunday! This week's theme is National Pet Week. I have always had pets. Cats, dogs, fish, turtles, rats, lizards, bunnies, guinea pigs... its been a zoo. Our house has a few cats and dogs currently. I do not own a chihuahua stamp or else my nails would be covered it cute little dog outlines. Instead, I chose a cat.

I could not part with my zebra print yet, so I did cat accent fingers. Given the wild print, the title was born. :) For my accent, I used one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my base. Then I stamped on a cat using Sinful Colors Black on Black and Born Pretty plate m71. The rest of my fingers are Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Wild Child.

Born Pretty plates retail for $3. This particular one can be gotten for free if you follow the instructions on the their website. Sally Hansen Salon Effects retail for $8.50-10 at Walmart, Target, and Ulta.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Wild Child

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I have part of my Spring VoxBox to show you today.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects are strips made of real nail polish, except no dry time. I will have a full review of these up (along with more of my VoxBox) Monday. Wild Child is a fun black and white zebra print. In person, the strips appear solid. Those white bits are only visible because my photos were taken on the macro setting.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects retail for $8.50-10 at Walmart, Target, and Ulta.

Colorful Gradient

Its Stamping Sunday! Two themes were neck and neck for winner. So, we could do either. Stamping over a gradient or using two stamps. I went with the former. I have been wanting to try a sponge gradient for awhile.

I was inspired by this blog post on Laynie Fingers. I did one thick coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. For my sponging, I used L.A. Colors Phenomena, Kleancolor Neon Green, and L.A. Colors Shock.  I love this technique! Automatic gradient. Now for the stamping. Using plate BM10 and Color Club Blue Topia, I stamped on little flowers. Since Blue Topia is a jelly, the petals are slightly faded. But I like that. Using a dotting tool and Super Star!, I dotted middles for each flower.

Cheshire Cat

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! I have what I hope is a cute design to show you today. It did not turn out exactly as I wanted.

The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. I did all of my fingers except for my middle with a water/dry marble technique. I followed this tutorial on More Nail Polish. Except instead of using a thick piece of plastic, I placed wax paper in the water. When my marble was ready, I cut a hole in the paper and pulled it out. The water drained and the marble landed on the wax paper. The marble itself came out very well, but the transferring to my fingers was a little difficult. Practice makes perfect though.

For the marble, I used L.A. Colors Nuclear Energy and Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac. I painted on a base coat of Nuclear Energy then added the marble. The Cheshire Cat smile is a base coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black then Snow Me White and Ulta Sun-sational.

L.A. Colors retail for around $1 and can be found at most Dollar stores.  Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear retails for $2-3 at Walgreens, Walmart, Riteaid, Target, and Ulta. 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. 

Butterfly Wings

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! Today I have my creation for the Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous to show you. This week's theme is Butterfly.

This was my first time attempting butterfly wings. I loosely followed along with a tutorial by CutePolish. For my base, I used Barielle End of the Rainbow. I used three thin coats for opacity. With a nail art brush and Sinful Colors Black on Black, I painted on the black outlines. Finally, I used two different size dotting tools and Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the dots. I wish my lines had been a bit more straight, but I like how this turned out. Especially considering its the first time I've attempted this design.

Barielle Shades retail for $8 on their website. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture.

Black & White

Its Stamping Sunday! This week's theme is Black and White. Any design as long as its only black and white.

I painted my ring finger with two coats of Sinful Colors Black on Black and the rest of my fingers with three thin coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Using plate BM04, I stamped the design on using both of the Sinful Colors polishes. I went back with a dotting tool and added small dots to frame out the design. Snow Me White appears a little off white over the black.

Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store.