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.

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.

Layering Sally Hansen Glass Slipper

I was inspired by this post at Chalkboard Nails.  I really love what she created through layering. I have everything except Revlon Royal so I thought I would pick it up. However, it's $6.50 at my Walgreens, and I know Revlons go on sale plenty of time.

When I got home and I was digging through my stash trying to figure out what to put on my naked nails, I was inspired and this was born!!

While my photography isn't as good as Chalkboard nails and I didn't have Revlon Royal, this looks pretty darn similar!

I followed most of the same steps: 1 coat Wet N Wild Black Creme, 2 very heavy coats Sally Hansen Glass Slipper, and 1 very thin coat of the secret polish: Savvy Deja Blue! You can find this brand at Sally's and in fact, the whole Savvy brand is on clearance now.

I think this looks really great. The look was flashy yet subtle at the same time. My students loved it too, lol.

Monday Mani: Ombre/Gradient

At Polish-aholics Anonymous this week's Monday Mani theme is Ombre/Gradient.
I was going to do an Ombre manicure but decided to try a gradient one again.

Meh, not my super favorite. I think I'm much better at glitter gradient mani's than ones with plain colors.

Just in case your curious, the base color is Zoya Dove then I added on Rimmel Grey Matter and Wet n Wild Black Creme. I topped everything off with INM Northern Lights Holographic Top Coat Silver.

Stamping Sunday: Stars

Over at Adventures in Stamping, we chose Stars as our theme for Stamping Sunday.

For the base I choose to use a new polish and an untried (for me at least!) I used China Glaze For Audrey.

 I debated getting this color for a while, but I'm so glad I did! It's gorgeous blue-ish color. I think it looks really great with my skin tone too.

I had a hard time stamping today. I think it's my stamper because the large end wasn't picking images up very well, but the smaller side was doing a wonderful job.

I used Bundle Monster BM14 and Sally Hansen nail polish pen thingy in Silver.

50 Followers!

Woot! I officially have 50 followers. I am so excited. I would love to have a giveaway right now, but I simply cannot afford it :(

So I again just say

Thank you!!!!!!

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!

Zoya Yara design

Even though Yara was so beautiful, I couldn't leave well enough alone! I have a hard time doing that. I thought about adding some Essie Shine of the Times but decided I didn't want to completely cover up Yara.  Instead, I decided to create a simple design.

First, I painted a stripe down the middle of OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window.  Next I added some dots of Essie Brooch The Subject.  Finally, I border the stripe using Sinful Colors black striper.

What do you think? I prefer Yara on its own, but this design works.

Zoya Yara

Did I mention how much I am in love with Zoya polishes? Well, I am!  Today I am pictures of a color I'm sure plenty of you have seen swatched before, but it's just so pretty that I couldn't help myself.

Zoya Yara

It's a gorgeous dark green. It would say it's a shade darker than military green.

But the real beauty of this color is the gold flecks that come out in the sunlight.

Just beautiful.  My polish was pretty thin, but with the smaller size Zoya brush I had no problems putting on the color.  I needed very little clean-up  There is some shrinkage the cuticle from Seche Vite. Seche is becoming a pain for me. After I finish what I have (1 1/2 bottles), I'm not sure I'll be getting more.

Tomorrow,  I want to add something to do to play. Not sure what I'll do yet. Any ideas? Stamping, design, nail art?

Monday Mani: Half Moon

I'm back to doing Monday Manis again after taking a break for the 24 Days of Christmas Challenge.  At PAA, we voted on doing half moon manis.

I'm not a super big fan of these, but I did vote for this one because I wanted to try it again since I wasn't a big fan of my last one. I'm still not a big fan of the half moon (on myself at least!), but I like this one a lot!

For this mani, I did a base of Rimmel Wild Orchid. I love the Rimmel Pros. They have great brushes. They are big like OPI brushes but rounded so I can put them on nicely.

The glitter is Milani One Coat Glitter Purple Gleam. It really needs 1 thick coat or 2 thin ones, but it still dries very nicely.

Look at this glitter!

Finally, I used Essie Matte About You over the whole thing. I couldn't decided if I like it matte or shiny better (I should have take comparison photos), but ended up just sticking with matte.

Leopard and Zebra Print nails

I'm going to the zoo today so of course I needed to paint my nails to match! Yes, I am going to the zoo in January in Wisconsin. It's actually a warm winter day today. 37F right now.

Anyways onto the nails! I had a hard time deciding what to do, and finally chose this.

The grey base is Zoya Dove. I love this color. It went on in 2-3 coats and was smooth. This is one of my first Zoyas, and I'm in love. I have small nails, and larger brushes are harder to use (I'm talking about you, OPI!). But this Zoya brush was smaller and had just the right amount of stiffness and flexibility. I used almost no cleanup on the Zoya.

The blue is OPI Fly from the new Nicki Minaj collection. The blue looks brighter in the bottle, but on me and with black over top it becomes a bit toned down. Here it looks fairly teal, and that's my camera picking up some of the very subtle green tones in it. The application on Fly is great, but it does come with that huge OPI brush.

After painting the base, I stamped in leopard and zebra print using Sinful Colors Black on Black. I went over some of the stamped areas with black polish and a tiny brush because they were a little thin. I really do think I need some stamping polish, just black and white.  Finally I used a tiny brush and filled in the leopard spots with Fly to bring it all together.

I really love this look and can't wait to try it with different colors. I originally was going to do this with a purple, but wanted to try Sky so I did that instead. Next time, I'm going to use that purple.

What do you all think?

Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam and stamping

I really loved Khloe and decided I didn't want to take it off quite yet so I added some stamping onto it.

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White for the stamping. It does a good job, but I can still see some of the base coat through the stamp. I think I'm going to eventually invest in some Konad stamping polishes since they are more opaque.

I did a peacock theme since the color reminds me of them. I used BM-212 for the pointer and pinkie fingers, BM-210 for the middle finger, and Mash-15 for the ring finger.

Nicole by OPI Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam

I love this color. It has such a unique quality to it. Plus I love greens and dusky colors.

It's a beautiful dark teal that leans more on the side of teal, but it also has some dusky-ness to it that tones down the color.

This picture is probably the most color accurate. Here you can see the green coming through more, but again you've got it blended with teal and just a hint of smokey grey.

I used 2 thin coats to apply it. Coverage is wonderful. Even though the brush is somewhat large and I have small nails, I had very little cleanup to do.  I can see me using this color a lot!

Stayed tuned for tomorrow. I'm going to add some stamping on top.