Art You Blue? & Gold

Just a quick post for you today. Sorry about the pictures being in my husband's car! We had a few cloudy days so I snapped this in car when it was sunny in case I wasn't able to get other pictures, and I was right!

The base for this mani is Finger Paints Art You Blue? I used 2 coats here. It's a beautiful dark denim blue with some shimmer to it. On top, I added Jessica Gold Leaf 18K. My friend managed to pick this up for me at a supply shop she visits, and it was only $15! That's a steal compared to it's usual price or even compared to the price of other gold leaf top coats. It did take some placing and maneuvering to get it to look this good, but I still love it!

Guest Post: Hailey

Today's guest post is from my friend Hailey. She's not a blogger so just enjoy her post!

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Hello Everyone!
My lovely friend Jessica just gave birth to the most adorable little gentleman and was looking for some people to do posts for her. I personally don't have a blog, but I thought I'd try to lend a hand and post some pics and talk a bit about it! So a very big thank you to Jessica for trusting me to do my first ever blog post here on her awesome blog! I must say I am totally honoured, and I'll admit, a bit nervous! Be kind dear readers! <3

The art I chose to try my hand at (uhm...no pun intended) was inspired from Nailside. I've been in love with it since the first time I saw it and have kept putting off trying it myself. I figured this was the perfect reason to do it. And for anyone interested...yes I am holding a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser. 

If you know Nailside, you know her lines are perfect. And since she's the one coming up with this stuff she knows how to do them properly. Mine isn't quite so perfect, but for my first try I'm pretty happy with it! 
I figure I'll tell you what I did and why it wasn't the right way, or the easiest way to do it. Hopefully you'll be inspired to give it a try yourself and can learn from my mistakes.

First I did a base coat of Gelous. Personally I like it because I find it dries in a reasonable amount of time and it seems to do a decent job of protecting from staining. The second and third steps were thin coats of China Glaze Sexy in the City. It's not the exact colour used in the original, but I don't have it and my Sephora doesn't either. So make do with what you've got! Side note: I think this would be really pretty with purple and silver, or possibly lime green and hot pink. Don't limit yourself!

From here I cut a triangle out from a piece of tape with it angled wide enough to go to the edges of my nails. I didn't get each side even, but unless someone is getting all up in your bubble they won't be able to tell. Promise! I discarded the cut out portion and put the tape on my nail.

The next step is the gold...I used Claire's Gold Fleck. I got it about a hundred years ago, I believe around Christmas. Any gold will do. A one coater is preferable. One mistake I made was waiting for the gold to dry completely before stamping. But I learned pretty quick after the first couple nails. As soon as the gold was dry to the touch, but still wet underneath I stamped with Konad black using the Konad plate M57. Now to peel off the tape! Also, this is where I realized what an awful mistake I'd made. Peeling the tape should really be done when the polish is still wet or the polish will peel off with the tape. Which is what happened to me and why, as you can see, my edges aren't perfectly straight. Since I decided to go this way, I had to do one nail at a time to try and avoid as much peeling as possible. Tedious.

Once I peeled away the tape, and rearranged my peeling triangles I used a coat of Seche Vite to seal it in.
Now for my advice: Paint your nails gold, stamp, cover the triangle at the tips of your nails to protect them and paint the blue last. This way you can peel the tape off right away when the polish is still wet and get smooth, straight lines.
So lesson learned! 

Have any of you tried a tape mani? Did you learn the hard way too? Any thoughts on other fun colour combos to try?Thank you so much Jessica for having me here! Congrats on the little bundle of joy!

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What an awesome post Hailey!!! I think you should try blogging!

Guest Post: Constantly Redone

Today's guest post is from Constantly Redone

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Jessica worked so hard growing a beautiful baby boy, how could I resist doing a guest post for her?  I'm from Constantly Redone (http://constantlyredone.blogspot.com/) and today I'm happy to share with you some ornate nail art.

Strangely enough, my right hand came out much better than my left.  I must need more practice!  But on to the nails...the base color for this is China Glaze "Deviantly Daring" from the recent Bohemian collection.  The freehand nail art features three chromy-metallic colors in the gold family;
the true bronze is China Glaze "Poetic" which is part of their permanent line.  Deborah Lippman's "Sugar Daddy" is a rose gold/gold duochrome polish.  Finally, we have one of my precious favorites, the coveted Sally Hansen "Amber Ruby" nail prism.  It's got a serious burgundy/gold shift.

The pattern is inspired by paisley prints and wallpapers I wish I had.   I love the combo of blue and gold, especially a deep teal blue like this one.  I hope this inspires you!  Thanks, Jessica, for letting me celebrate with you!

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Looks great!!! Thanks!

Guest post: Kayleigh from Taupe is the New Black

Today's guest post is from Kayleigh.

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Hi everyone! I'm Kayleigh and I run my blog Taupe is the New Black as well as my Tumblr Nail Art by Kayleigh. Jessica very graciously asked me to do a guest post for her, and I was pretty excited as it's the first time I've ever done a guest post!

We're officially into December now, primetime for some cute wintery and holiday themed nail art! Sometimes when you're feeling a little strapped for inspiration, even the simplest thing can hit you like a thunderbolt and make you think, "Duh, why didn't I think of that?". Such was the case with this mani!

This one is inspired by a very simple but eyecatching wrapping paper that I saw! The colours are classic Christmas and best of all, it's a really easy design that anyone can try!

The background colour is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Green With Envy, and the dots are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On and Wet n' Wild Wild Shine in Red Red.

Thanks again to Jessica, and congratulations to her on her new baby! :)

-Kayleigh

Guest Post: Griselda from Oh Me! Oh My!

Today's guest post is from Griselda

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Hey everyone, it's Griselda from Oh Me! Oh My!

I want to start of by congratulating Jessica on her new little bundle of joy and to say thank you for considering me to be a guest blogger! This is actually the first time I've ever been ask to be a guest blogger and I felt so honored to be ask. I had such a hard time deciding on what to do on my nails for this guest post but then I finally settled on this design so I hope you all like it!

What I used:

- Seche Clear

- Orly Miss Conduct 

- Color Club Gingerbread

- So Easy Stripe Rite in Black

- Seche Vite

I figured I couldn't go wrong with something glittery, pink and leopard print! 

I really liked the way this turned out and it has a festive feel to it so it makes a good holiday mani.

Once again thank you Jessica for allowing me to be a guest blogger on Ruby's Nails!

xoxo

Guest Post: Patricia from Polished and Glittered

Today's guest post is from Patricia.

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Hello there!! I’m Patricia from Polished and Glittered. I’m fairly new to the nail polish community, so it was a huge surprise when Jessica asked me to guest post on her blog And I think it’s so cool that her name is Jessica because that is my daughter’s name!!

Never having done a guest post before, I wanted to do something really awesome.. and what better way than to show off this beautiful glitter polish from Cagedbird Nail Lacquer!

This is two coats of Sinful Colors In the Mist, which is a gorgeous gray-green. This very well could be a one-coater, but I used two for good measure. Then I layered Electric Angel by Cagedbird Nail Lacquer over In the Mist. There are large black hex glitter, medium silver and teal hex glitters, and small black and teal glitters. It took me a while to figure out what to wear this over. I knew I didn’t want to be matchy-matchy, lol. Then I remembered the new Sinfuls I just got! And ta-da!!

I hope you enjoy this and a huge congratulations to Jessica on the birth of her beautiful baby boy!! I’ve been there twice and they grow up so fast, so enjoy it while you can 

Patricia @ Polished and Glittered

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Love the glitter! Thanks, Patricia

Guest Post: Elanor's Nails

Today's guest post is from Elanor of Elanor's Nails.

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Hello! I'm very excited and very honoured to be doing a guest post for Ruby's Nails. Even more so because of the very exciting reasons behind it - huge congratulations to Jessica and her husband on their gorgeous new arrival, Tristan James! As a UK nail blogger, the polish brand that seems to get the most attention from non-UK nail polish fans is Barry M. This is one of the UK's most popular cosmetics brands - it's cheap, it's widely available, and there is a huge range. Barry M Nail Paints usually sell for either £2.99 (or £3.99 for some of the special ones) and are available in Boots and Superdrug, as well as online here.   They bring out all sorts of new collections on a regular basis. What I've got for you today though, is an old favourite. This is Barry M's Vivid Purple. This is two coats, without topcoat. Vivid Purple is one of my favourite Barry Ms. It's a lovely metallic purple, with a sheen that reminds me of beetles, or car paint. I love how easy it is to apply, and how perfectly it dries. What more do you want from a purple? I didn't want to stop there though! Another UK brand that gets a lot of attention from non-UK bloggers is Models Own. Their new Mirrorball collection is just stunning - I mean, look! There are five of these, and they are available for £5 in larger Boots stores, or online here.  Today I'm wearing Boogie Nights (the purple one) over Vivid Purple. 

Boogie Nights is a clear base, with five different glitters. There is tiny and medium pink hex glitter, medium bright fuschia glitter, medium hex glitter in a bright blue, and larger, irregular shards of silver holo glitter. This is so ridiculously shiny and sparkly that it's almost impossible to photograph. It definitely catches the light though!

This can't really be called a 'coat' of Boogie Nights, as the polish is a bit thick and gloopy. Because there is so much glitter, you do need to dab this on and manipulate the glitter around, rather than painting it on as you would with a creme, or with a finer glitter. The smell is quite strong and unpleasant too, and the finish is very lumpy - you most definitely need a topcoat with this! But I think these are minor irritations when the end result is as good as this!

I hope you enjoyed my post - if you're interested in seeing more Barry M, and the rest of the Models Own Mirrorball collection, hop on over to my blog!  Thank you so much to Jessica for letting me do a guest post here, and congratulations again! 

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Thanks, Elanor! Gotta love those UK polishes!

Guest Post: Kirsten from Geeky Owl

Today's guest post is from Kirsten. I thought it was particularly suitable for today because here in Wisconsin it's cold today! Our town is having a traditional German Christmas market so we're going to try to check it out today. Santa will be there as well so Tristan will have his first picture with Santa taken as well.

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Hello Ruby's Nails readers! My name is Kirsten and I have a blog over at Geeky Owl. I was asked to do a guest post today to reciprocate a guest post that Ruby's Nails did on my blog this summer, because our lovely blog hostess had a beautiful baby! And of course I jumped at the request! 

So today I bring you my first wintery mani of the season!

Here is a wintry snowy mani! 

I began with my base color of Essence You Belong to Me, two coats. (Sorry that I don't have a photo of it just on it's own) I love this polish. It applies like a dream and is super cheap! Also, it's a perfect icy blue. Win! :)

Next I applied Catrice Godfather of Pearl from the Million Styles Collection. Thank you for polish friends in Europe! I used this polish to add even more icy-ness to the mani. I wanted to create that glistening snow effect. And I think this is perfect for it!

I then stamped using Konad White and two different Bundle Monster plates. For my ring finger I used BM323, which is a full nail snowflake image. For my other nails I used BM319, which is two different snowflakes stamped multiple times.

I really liked how this mani turned out! It reminds me of those snowflakes on the Saks Fifth Avenue building in New York! (click link to be sent to an awesome video of the snowflakes!)

I hope you enjoyed my mani today, I had a lot of fun creating it!

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Thanks so much Kirsten! This mani kinda makes me want it so snow so I can cuddle with my new little man and watch the snow fall.

Guest Post: Raquel from 9ml Universe

Today's guest post is from Raquel.

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Hey everyone! Raquel from 9ml Universe here! ^^

First of all, I'd to thank Jessica for inviting me to do this, it's not something people ask often, and to me, it's always an honour when they do. So, when Jessica contacted me, she told me she was having a baby and I immediately knew I wanted to do something related to that, but had no idea of what it could be...until I came up with something, but it was in a shade of blue...but what if she was having a girl? :S I asked and got lucky, she was having a boy and I could proceed with the manicure I had in mind. 

What I end up doing doesn't scream baby, I just wanted something pretty and soft in some relatable colours. I went through my stash (really smal at the moment, as most of my nail polish is at my parent's house) and came up with the perfect colour for what I had in mind, Eyeko Rain - a beautiful, soft, grayish blue. I used 2 coats of it and then, using Essence Stampy in silver I made a french manicure and stamped over it with my DRK-B plate. To give it that soft look, I finished it with my favourite matte top coat, Kiko 3 in 1 Mat.

I was really pleased with how this turned out, and I find the colours really suitable for a newborn baby boy. What do you all think?

Once again, congratulations on the new baby, Jessica! Hope everything is going well with both of you.

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Wow, this is beautiful! Thanks, Raquel.

Guest Post: Rebecca from Polish Etc.

Today's guest post is from Rebecca.

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First of all, congratulations to Jessica for her beautiful baby boy! My name is Rebecca from the blog Polish Etc and I was ecstatic to be asked to guest post while she is on maternity leave. I spent several days trying to decide what to show y'all. I have a fairly large stash of nail polishes (somewhere in the hundreds, I refuse to count because then I have to acknowledge how much money I've spent on polish) and could easily show you any color of the rainbow, but I wanted to do something special. I ended up re-creating one of my favorite techniques: the stained glass manicure.

Stained Glass Manicure

The polishes I used were mostly China Glaze (108 Degrees, Red-Curl-Girl, Riveting, Sun-Kissed, Frostbite,  and Blue Sparrow) with one piCture pOlish (Warning) since my collection seems to be lacking a good purple China Glaze (must remedy that...).

Stained Glass Manicure

This technique is really simple to do and easy if you have a steady hand. You simply make dots of color in all different sizes across your nails. Once the dots are dry you use a tiny paintbrush and a dense black polish to outline all of the dots. The effect looks amazingly like a beautiful work of art. 

Stained Glass Manicure

Isn't it gorgeous?

Thanks Jessica for the opportunity to guest post here on Ruby's Nails! I hope you are enjoying this wonderfully special time with Tristan.

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OMG!!! This is amazing!!! I must try this when I find some time in the future. Thanks so much Rebecca.