Valentine's Day: Skittle mani

I'm not a huge fan of how this turned out, but I'll share it anyway.

I did a base of Wet N Wild French White Creme. On my thumb and pinkie, I added a coat of Wet n Wild Sparked, a pink glitter. It's pretty, but I wish it was more dense.

On the other fingers, I added two coats of Lynderella Mon Petit Chou Chou. It's soooo sheer! This is layered over white, and you can see how sheer it still looks. Not a fan.

I used Migi Nail Art Pens to do the details on my ring finger.

This mani came off the next day. It just didn't work for me.

Whimsical Ideas by Pam Just Add Milk

3 coats Whimsical Ideas by Pam Just Add Milk

Base of Wet n Wild French White Creme

Art done using Migi nail art pens

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 22, Inspired by a Song

In one of my small nail groups, we've been reminiscing lately and sharing old photos. So I starting thinking about old songs that I could use for today's mani when I finally figured out what I should do!

Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down was one of my favorite songs in high school. I still love it actually! What makes the song even better is that the first time I heard it, I was wearing my Superman t-shirt.

To save myself some time, I decided to paint the Superman logo ahead of time as a decal. It sorta worked. I made the decal a bit too big and when I put it over the blue base, the colors didn't stand out as much as I wanted.  The face and suit were inspired by these Superman nails.

The base coat on the face is Essie Brooch the Subject. The base coat on the other nails is Rimmel Chill.  I used acrylic paint for the rest of the design (other than the logo which was done using Migi nail art pens).

I like how these turned out, but I feel like I could have done a neater job.

Check out some other manis inspired by songs below.

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 3, Yellow Nails

My first thought for today was to do bumble bee nails, but I really want to save that idea for summer. With flowers and the bee, I think it'll make a perfect summer mani. So I set off to every trusty Google and came up with the idea of smiley faces!

The base coat on this is Maybelline Sunshine. I used about 3 coats for this mani. The faces were all done with my Migi nail art pens.

The pinkie face is my favorite so here's a close-up!

Check out some other yellow manis.

Monday Mani: Sun, Moon, Stars

I decided to incorporate my mini-theme of A-England with this week's Monday Mani theme at Polish-aholics Anonymous. I choose A-England Lady of the Lake as my base, although Tristam would have been a most fitting choice.

I love holographics, and A-England sure does make some nice ones. Beautiful application and color. I used 2 coats for this just because I found some spots that were lighter and I wanted to make sure everything was covered up.

It wasn't super sunny the day I took these pictures so you can't see the holo effect as well as I wish.

Then using my Migi nail part pens, I drew on some stars and a moon on my ring finger. I was in a bit of a rush so I don't think it looks as good as it could have. I will definitely revisit this idea in the future.

Monday Mani: Retro

At Polish-aholics Anonymous this week's Monday Mani theme is Retro. I haven't really done much nail art lately and that's why I got into polish in the first place, so I decided to have tons of fun with this one!

Pacman! I wanted to do Super Mario, but my husband said that wasn't retro. :P What does he know?

The base color is Sinful Color Black on Black. Everything else is done with acrylic paint or Migi nail art pens.

I made sure to paint white first, then color over it with the details so they would pop. I've heard some complain that the Migi nail art pens are watery--yes, they are when you first use them but just keep squeezing and the watery stuff will come out and they will work better.

Paper Doodle Nails

At the school where I teach, it's final exams week so I did this design as an homage.

I actually did the design on both hands! Actually, I normally do nail art on both hands, but today the designs are different so you'll get to see both.

Left hand.

The white dots on the cloud are where I didn't properly fill in. Also see that cracking on the tips of my middle and ring fingers? And around the side of my thumb nail? Yeah, Seche Vite pull.

Seche Vite and I have broken up as a result. I'm tried of the pulling even though I encase the polish with it. I'm sticking with my good ole Sally Hansen (in the red bottle) that it's stinky and is big 3 free.

Right hand

Not too shabby! Some days, this hand turns out awesome, so days only so-so. I almost always try to put nail art on this hand just so I can practice.

Stamping Sunday: Under the Sea

Over at Adventures in Stamping, we chose Under the Sea as our theme for Stamping Sunday.

I don't have plates that matched up quite right, but I had an idea.  I used lots of layering and many different polishes.

First, I started with my base coat (Essie Rock Solid) and used 1 coat of Sinful Colors Why Not for the blue background.  It didn't cover completely, but that was fine since I layered on other colors.  I sponged on OPI Fly to add some depth to the water.  I also sponged on 3 glitters in this order: Wet N Wild Blue Wants to Be a Millionaire, Pure Ice Strapless, and Sally Hansen Glass Slipper.

This combo is so great, I wanted to show you all it on it's own.  I didn't clean-up because I was going to add more.  Sorry for the bandaid. I have a pretty bad cut on my pinky from slipping on some ice, ouch!

Back to the glitter, I just love this layering combo. It added so much depth to the plain blue base, perfect for a ocean background.

Then I used Mash plate 11 and Barry M Emerald Green so stamp on some subtle plants in the background.  I also used Mash plate 18 and the green from my Migi nail art pen to stamp on much clearer plant in the foreground.  Finally, I drew on a fish and some bubbles on my ring finger also using my Migi nail art pen.

Isn't this so awesome? I'm really excited about how it turned out.

Here you can see some of the multi-dimensional background as well as the subtle green plants in the background.

I hope you all enjoyed!

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 16: Lights

I really like how this one turned out. My students at school and the lady who cut my hair all commented on it!

Tons of people have put Christmas lights on a wire in various ways. However, I saw this picture with the plug and knew I just had to do it.

The base is 1 coat of Revlon Gold Coin along with 2 coats of China Glaze Blonde Bombshell. All the details are done using my Migi nail art pens.

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails

24 Days of Christmas, Day 2: Snowflakes

I really love the way this manicure turned out!  My right hand, of course, is not as nice but still looks pretty good. My husband said I should hide that hand. Jerk.

After my base coat, I used two coats of China Glaze Sea Spray. I really like the color, but my bottle is pretty thin so it's fairly easy to flood the cuticles.

Then I used a coat of Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat to add some nice subtle shininess.

Then I used my white Migi nail art pen to draw on the snowflakes. You can put them all in the middle of your nail, but I choose to make them off center.

I added small dots of clear coat on the nail and put light blue rhinestones on there.

Finally, I topped it all off with 2 thick coats of Seche Vite.

Here's some others who are also participating:

Kristyn at Paint That Nail

Kaki at Obsessed With Glitter

Shannara at Nails and Stuff

Theodora R. at Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Kelly at Base Coat Top Coat

Krishten at KK Nails

Steffi at Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

Sabine at My Polish Stash

Monday Mani: Lace

Over at Polish-aholics Anonymous, we decided this week's Monday Mani theme is..... LACE!

I had a hard time with this challenge. I would have stamped on a pattern since a Google search showed many other doing so, but I don't have my stamping plates yet! I also would have used real lace, but I don't have that either, so freehanding it was.

I redid this whole manicure twice. It frustrated me so much. As a base, I used O.P.I. Stranger Tides. I don't know about others, but I had a hard time applying this. It was a streaky mess and wouldn't even out.

With flash

I placed several black dots in a diagonal in Sinful Colors Black on Black. I just used my brush, but you could use a dotting tool. Then I filled in the space with black up to the tips. Under the black diagonals, I sorta outlined it and added tiny black dots using a Migi nail art pen. You could use a small paintbrush or toothpick. Finally, I added dots of Stranger tides on top of the black using a bobby pin (my dotting tools haven't arrived yet) where each of the black swooshes are.

Natural Light

Even though it was a PITA, I really love this manicure and can't wait to try it in several different colors.

Pumpkin nails

I decided to paint some pumpkins on my nails. They kind of fit in for Halloween, but they work well for fall too, especially since I made them regular pumpkins and not Jack-o'-lanterns

With flash

I started with a base of Sinful Colors Nirvana (after my base coat, of course!). I used two thick coats to get full coverage. Sorry for the messy job, but I was going to add more and only wanted to do one clean up job.

With flash

Here's what I did on my nails. I didn't take pictures of the steps, but I put down white polish first. The orange is Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up. The stem is Essie Little Brown Dress. For the vine, I used a Migi nail art pen. The highlights on the pumpkin were done by mixing the orange with yellow and red/black.

Without flash, artificial lighting

Wolf half moon

I was inspired by this post by Sonoma Nail Art and decided to try my hand at it. Her's is a lot better than mine.

To start off, I painted my nails white using my Migi nail art pens (there's a brush as well as a pen there and I don't have any other whites). Then I used page reinforcement stickers to block off the moon and painted over it using Rimmel Play Fast Chill. I had to use several coats of it, and it was still splotchy! Maybe the color would have worked better if it didn't have to go over another one.

In this moon on the ring finger where I added the wolf, I used Maybelline Express Finish Sunshine to add some highlights.

Close up of the wolf

This wolf was super hard to do! I tried practicing it a bunch of times of paper and could never get it quite right. Then I decided I needed to trace it somehow. I remembered this post by Nails in Nippon showing you how to make your own nail art stickers. I ended up cutting out a piece of plastic and placing it over my netbook screen and then traced over the design with a Migi nail art pen in black. Finally I filled it in and placed on some top coat.

I really like this technique to make my own stickers. The only problem I had is that I didn't put on a thick enough top coat or let the whole thing dry enough so that made application a bit hard. I'm not the most artistic (and it's hard to do my right hand when I am right handed!) so I plan on making my own stickers in the future.

Día de los Muertos

This is my final Halloween-ish manicure. Actually, I did Día de los Muertos which starts today and ends on November 2nd.  I also thought it was fitting because I am a Spanish teacher.

With flash. The tombstone says DEP which stands for Descanse en Paz (or Rest in Peace) in Spanish.

My clean-up is getting better, but I still need to get better at it.

Natural Sunlight, but it's pretty cloudy. I love this glitter top coat I used on my index & ring fingers. It's by Sally Girl and called Way 2 Disco. It's almost got a halo effect to it. In some lights, it looks blue and in others green and every where in between the two colors.

 Here's a close up of my thumb. I messed up on the yellow a bit so you can see a smudge by his nose. The white is a bit streaky. I know whites can be like this, but I think I have a pretty crappy white. 

And here's the one that I need on my right hand hand. I don't think I did too bad even though I'm a righty.

Here's a list of all the colors I used.
Base coat for all: CND Stickey
La catrina (skeleton): white is Migi nail art pen color (I just used the brush part, but I really need to get white), Migi nail art pen for the black. Flower dots are Maybelline Express Finish Sunshine, Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up, Sally Hansen Green with Envy, and a no-name pink
Tomb: Sinful Colors Black on Black; Nina Ultra Pro Ink-ling for tomb; and grass is a combo of O.P.I. Cuckoo for this Color, Revlon Minted, and Sally Hansen Green with Envy
Tree: 2 coats of ELF Light Pink for the background and Migi nail art pen for the trees
Ring/Index finger: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Black on Black and Sally Girl Way 2 Disco
Topped everything off with 1 thick coat of Seche Vite.

Halloween

Here's two Halloween nail designs that I have done. They are inspired by the many of designs floating around on other nail blogs.

Frankenstein's monster nails

The base is Sally Hansen Green with Envy, and black is Sinful colors nail art polish in Time Out. The green glitter is real glitter! I put down a base of O.P.I. Cuckoo for This Color just to make sure no nail bed showed. Then I put down a clear coat and dumped on the glitter. I followed it up with 2 coats of Seche Vite, but it still was super bumpy.

Various Halloween creatures

Not my favorite manicure, but I really like the vampire and mummy. Used lots of colors on this one.

Mummy: Migi nail art pen for white, Pure Ice Siren (red), Sinful Colors Nirvana (sponged on brown), Sinful Colors Black on Black.

Cat: Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sally Hansen Green with Envy, Pure Ice Peony (pink nose), Wet n Wild Metallica (silver)

Vampire: Migi nail art pen for white, Pure Ice Siren, Sinful Colors Black on Black

Witch: Sinful Colors Mint Apple (skin), Sinful Colors Amethyst (hat), Sinful Colors Black on Black, Revlon Gold Coin

Ghost: Migi nail art pen for white & Sinful Colors Black on Black

Whew! I think that's it.

Older Nail Art

Here's some pictures of older nail art that I have done.

This is the first one that I did. It's not the best, but I am proud of my first try. Base coat is Sinful Colors Why Not? and the flowers were done with Migi Nail Art pens.

Rubber ducky nails! I really loved these. Base is Revlon Blue Lagoon, white bubbles are Rimmel London French White Tip Pro, and the rest is Migi Nail Art Pens again along with glitter of Sally Hansen Ice Queen.