Rainbow Tie Dye

I've had the concept for this mani in my head for a bit and decided to go ahead and do it finally!

So I used the Saran Wrap water color technique for this where you put a few blobs on color on your base and then smoosh it with a piece of plastic wrap or plastic storage bag. I've seen this technique around a lot, and I'm not sure who is the original creator of it.

My idea was to create rainbow tie dye effect with this technique. And it worked!

I started with my white gel base coat from the other day. Then I did blobs of all the rainbows colors and smooshed! The heart and peace sign were added in with acrylic paint. I wish I hadn't added Pure Ice Black Crackle on top because I laid it on a bit too heavy and the tie dye doesn't show through quite as well.

I topped the whole thing off with China Glaze Fairy Dust.

The watercolor technique was really easy and I can't wait to try it again.

Happy New Year!

I don't have anything special going on this year for New Year's Eve. We're not really party people (like going out), and with a one year old it's not so easy to have people over that late or to go to someone else's house. My husband is working until 9pm today as well. I think when he gets home, I'll make a ginormous batch of stove top popcorn and we'll watch some Doctor Who (I'm all caught up; he's on Series 5 still).

Anyway! I still did some simple New Year's Eve nails just for fun :)

Colors used: Barry M Gold Foil and Pure Ice Black Crackle

Raindrops Frogs

I decided to add some nail art to Illamasqua Raindrops. I went with this frog design, but I didn't follow the video and just freehanded base upon the picture.

My nails aren't quite long enough to do both the frog and the lily pads on the same nail so I split them up.  This could be a super cute design to add cover up tip wear by simply making sure the lily pads are on the tips only instead of by the cuticles like I did.

I used a ton of different colors for this design:

Light green: Sally Hansen Green with Envy
Green: Essie Mojito Madness
Light pink: Ulta Encore Pink
Pink: Pure Ice Peony
Wet N Wild Black Creme
Wet N Wild French White Creme

I used a small nail art brush for the whole design and it was super easy. I was a bit worried about the lily pads, but I just sorta did light pink blobs, outlined them in dark pink, and added some dark pink accents. They turned out great, but I love the one on my middle finger best. I do sorta like that the one on my pinkie kinda looks like a heart though <3

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 30, Inspired by a Tutorial

For today's challenge, I decided to follow the Nailside's famous cloud design tutorial. It's such an easy design, and I've never done it before so I thought today was the perfect opportunity.

Once again, I went with a Valentine's Day theme. My base coat is two coats of Zoya Loretta. Then I used Pure Ice Peony and NYC MoMa to create the clouds.

This mani was sooooo easy to do. I need to do this in every color. But the pink? Way too girly for my taste!

Check out other manis inspired by tutorials below.

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 29, Inspired by the Supernatural

For today's mani, I was originally just going to go with an alien and a spaceship. But since I did a few manis this week with a Valentine's Day theme, I decided to go with alien love for today's mani

I love how super cute this turned out!

I used two coats of Sinful Colors Neptune for the base. The shimmery blue was a perfect not-too-dark space background. The spaceship was done with Barry M Emerald Green. The first alien was created using Sinful Colors Dream On, and I used Sinful Colors Rise and Shine for the other alien. The hearts are Pure Ice Peony. I added in the black and and white details using Rimmel Black Satin and Rimmel French White Nail Tip Liner.

Check out some other far out manis inspired by the supernatural below.

Minimalist Christmas Trees

I've been seeking a lot of inspiration for my manis lately rather than coming up with my own designs. Though I am giving credit where credit is due and changing things up a little bit so I don't feel so bad.

Today's mani is inspired by this mani over at Taupe is the New Black.

I decided to use bright colors, though I'm not sure if I really like my choices.  My base coat is Pure Ice Peony. I needed 2-3 coats for what you see here. I free handed the trees using Cult Nails Feelin' Froggy. There a bit sloppy, and I should have used tape instead. Feelin' Froggy is not a one coater so that meant I had to go over the trees a few times too. I should have picked a more opaque polish to do my art with.

Next I added on yellow/gold rhinestones on the top as stars and different colored rhinestones on each nail for ornaments (from pinkie to index: light blue, bright blue, silver, and purple).

Pure Ice Vinyl Remix

It's been a bit since I posted, but I took a much needed mini-break from blogging. I'm going to start blogging again, but still stick to my schedule before the 31 Day Challenge so expect to see posts from me every 2-3 days.

For today's mani, I was finally able to play with the Pure Ice Vinyl Remix crackle colors. I have Rock Star and Vintage Remix (or the purple and teal ones). For these, first you need to paint your nails using the white base coat. I used 2 for mine and stopped there even though it was still patchy.  You don't need to worry about mixing up your white base coats because the magic is in the crackle coats.

Next, use whatever crackle polishes to make a design. 2 things to remember: the pattern follows your brush strokes, and the color appears underneath the black crackle.

Here's what I came up with.

Stamped French manicure

This is a mani that was a fail at first and later turned out pretty cool. The lighting looks a bit different here because I was trying to take these pictures inside at night. I don't think I'll take them like this again.

I started off with a base coat of Zoya Loretta. It's a super sheer pink that is perfect for a French manicure. I only have it on my middle and ring fingers in this picture, and I can see a very subtle difference.  Loretta seems to have smoothed out my nails more than just the plain base coat which is on my index and pinkie fingers.

Next, I freehanded some French tips using Pure Ice Twinkle. I added a coat of Loretta on top to smooth out Twinkle and tone it down a bit.  I wasn't a super big fan of this so I decided to add some stamping.

I added the stamping using Sinful Colors Black on Black and BM 318. This looks so much better to me! I couldn't stop staring on my nails the whole time I had this on. Simple yet elegant and can be done with any colors.

Aubrie's Nails

Tons of you are probably wondering, who is Aubrie? She's one of the little girls I babysit. She 3 1/2 and loves to have her mom paint her nails. Well, I decided that I would do it one day since I have tons of colors and ideas for her to pick from. To make it easier for Aubrie to choose, I only brought over a few colors.


Here's what she decided for her nails.

The base color is Pure Ice Peony, and Aubrie choose several stickers for me to add on. You can't see them, but she has butterflies on her thumbs. I got a bunch of stickers on eBay for about $1.

I also did Aubrie's toes.

For her toes, I did Zoya Sookie with Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty on top for the glitter. We added some heart stickers to her toes.

Zoya Phoebe . . . with stamping!

I decided to play a bit with Phoebe. First I added some sparkle using Pure Ice Strapless. It's a very pretty blue microglitter that is perfect for layering.

I decided that I wanted to stamp too so I browsed through my plates and decided on Mash-11 and Mash-08. My stamping is a bit off on placement with Mash-08 on my ring finger though :(

I really like how this turned out though even if my stamping is a bit wonky. I think this would have been perfect for Memorial Day or even in the future for 4th of July.

Easter Egg Nails

Happy Easter! For my final Easter design and another continuation of my Food Nail Art series, I have Easter Egg nails for you today.  On each nail, I painted a base coat and then used the other 4 colors to add a different design to each nail.

Here are the colors that I used:
Pinkie: Ulta Encore Pink
Ring: Pure Ice Twinkle
Middle: O.P.I. Stranger Tides
Index: China Glaze For Audrey
Thumb: China Glaze Light As Air

Peeps

For day 3 of my Food/Easter series, I have that iconic Easter treat: Peeps. Now, I'm not a big fan of Peeps. In fact, I think they are rather gross tasting, but I do think they are cute!

Here are the colors that I used:
Base coat: one thick coat of Sally Hansen Green with Envy.

Blue peep: Sinful Colors Why Not

Purple peep: Rimmel Wild Orchid

Yellow peep: Maybelline Sunshine

Pink peep: Pure Ice Peony

Peeps logo: Sinful Colors Why Not and Maybelline Sunshine

Monday Mani: Love me, love me not

At Polish-aholics Anonymous this week's Monday Mani theme is Love me, love me not.

I used 2 coats of Savvy Ruby Slippers for the base coat.  The Xs and Os were Rimmel White Nail Tip Liner and the hearts were Pure Ice Peony.

Stamping Sunday: Plate ending in 7

Just a quick post since I'm battling a sinus infection.

I had a rough time with this challenge since none of my full images wanted to work for me. I actually blame my stamper, and I've got an eye on a Konad starting kit on Amazon.  I ended up using this image from Mash 17.

The base coat is Barry M Lavender Blue. I stamped using Wet n Wild Black Cream.  It looked kinda boring to me so I added some glitter with Pure Ice Strapless.

I apologize for the shape of my middle and index fingers. I've had some breakage just at the corners. I notice that those are usually week so I'm working on a much more rounded square shape (like my ring and pinkie fingers).

To end on a positive note, here's a gorgeous close up.

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.

Monday Mani: Crackle

At Polish-aholics Anonymous this week's Monday Mani is Crackle. A lot of the girls over there wanted to bring it back since they have so many crackles. Personally, I wasn't really into polish big time until after the trend so I'm not over it yet!

I've seen this idea several places and really wanted to try it so I thought now would be the perfect time!

This look is fairly easy and actually took less time that I thought! I simply painted rainbow stripes using my polish choices and a small paintbrush, let it dry, put on my crackle,. and tada! I choose to do the whole rainbow from my cuticle and use horizontal stripes, but you could pick just a few colors or do vertical stripes. What's even better is that you don't have to be perfect with the lines. The crackle covers it up!

You could use any colors you want, but in case you are wondering here are the ones I used:

Pure Ice Siren (red), Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up (orange), Maybelline Sunshine (yellow), OPI Don't Mess with OPI (green), Sinful Colors Why Not (blue), and Rimmel Wild Orchid (purple).The crackle is Pure Ice Black Crackle, and I added some glitter on top using INM Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat Silver.

What about you all? Are you tired of the crackle trend yet, or do you still love it?

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 19: Santa Hats

I got the inspiration for this mani from Posh for Polish.

After my base coat, I added a thick-ish layer of Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat.

Next, I mixed together some Savvy Ruby Pumps and Pure Ice Siren to get the red I wanted.  I painted on a rough triangle.  Finally, I dotted on Finger Paints Paper Mache.

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 Challenge, Day 18: Stockings

I chose to do this design on only 2 nails.

I painted the base O.P.I. Cuckoo For This Color. I told you I used it a lot for this challenge!

Then I painted on each stocking with Finger Paints Paper Mache.  I filled in the red using Pure Ice Siren and added mine and my husband's names. I thought about doing 2 more on the other fingers with my dog and cat's names, but didn't want you'll to think I was crazy.  o_0

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 Challenge, Day 15: Presents

I really like how this one came out! I choose non-traditional Christmas colors to have some fun!

I used a different base coat for each but forgot to take a picture of my thumb. I used Pure Ice Siren (red), Sinful Colors Why Not (blue and it stained!!!), Sally Hansen Green with Envy, and Pure Ice Peony.  The white is using Rimmel French White Nail Tip Liner -- I went a bit thick on the red one : ( 

Then I added rhinestones to each present. I really like how this one turned out.

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