April Showers...Snow Showers, That Is.

I wore this manicure a few months back, in February, but never got around to posting it anywhere.  Apparently, I must have been subconsciously saving these pictures for April, because Winter just made a comeback in the Northeast, people!  It's supposed to be Spring, but for the last week it's been high 20's, low 30's, and snow flurries.  Who knew that when the temp hit mid 70's on April 1st, it was just Mother Nature saying, "April Fool's, suckers."  So let's hope posting this mani is kind of like exercising the demons, it'll appease Mother Nature and we'll chase away the cold weather until at least October.

This ended up being an all Rica Polish look.  I first did a look similar to this in early 2015 with Orly Mirrorball as my base.  I never took any pictures of it though, so I was originally planning to just recreate that exact look this year.  But I had also just received two new polishes that I had purchased from Rica's Etsy shop, and I ended up reaching for those instead of using Mirrorball again.

I started with two coats of Rica Arctic Circle, which was part of Rica's 2015 Advent Calendar Collection.  I topped that with one coat of a microglitter called Decorate! Decorate! Decorate! from Rica's Doctor Who Christmas Collection.  Over that combo, I stamped some random snowflakes from MoYou London Festive Collection plate 02, using Rica Whiteout.  And then I used a dotting tool and Rica Whiteout to place a few dots on my nails, just to fill in some of the empty space around the snowflakes.

Maybe next Winter, I'll try this out with Orly Mirrorball again, because I honestly can't decide which version I ended up liking more.  Now, bring on the warmer weather, please!

Valentine Blues

Somehow I ended up with blue hearts on my nails last week.  I was already wearing 2 coats of KBShimmer Blue Topaz and had every intention of using the top image from Pueen plate 16.  But then I spotted the hearts images on the right side of the same plate and the next thing I know, blue hearts all over my nails.  I ended up spending Valentine's Day itself sporting naked nails, so this turned out to be the closest thing to a Valentine manicure I did this month.

I really like this mixed hearts design from Pueen.  I'm not usually a fan of heart-themed items, except when it comes to my nails it seems.  I've ordered many a stamping plate solely because of a cool hearts design that I saw and decided I had to have.

To stamp the hearts pattern, I used Robin's Egg Blue from Rica on Etsy.  I had pulled out both Robin's Egg Blue and the blue pastel Konad Special Polish as possible stamping colors.  Robin's Egg Blue was just a touch more pale than the Konad and I thought it paired with the KBShimmer polish better.

I do love a good monochrome manicure.  I don't know if I just prefer the way they look, or if it's because I kinda suck as mix-n-matching colors when stamping!  Maybe a little of both.

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year!  I kept it pretty simple again for New Year's.  Just a quick stamping mani using images all from MoYou London Festive Plate 05.

The base color is KBShimmer Black Pearl, from their new Birthstone Collection, available today.  Black Pearl was provided for review, regular swatches coming soon.  All the birthstone polishes are a combination of flakies and holo.  This is 2 coats of Black Pearl, which went on very smoothly.  It wasn't thick or lumpy, and dried to a fairly smooth finish that needed very little top coat to be perfectly smooth.  The flakies in Black Pearl give off a gold look, so I thought it would pair perfectly with Essie Good As Gold for the stamping.

Starting at the index nail, I used a fireworks design, then a clock striking midnight on my middle finger, champagne flutes on my ring finger nail, and a streamers/confetti design for my pinkie nail.

I also used a different design for my thumbs, which I just now realized I don't have any pictures of.  The design I used though is sort of a fireworks burst/shooting stars type look.  On Festive Plate 05, it's the design to the immediate left of the clock design.  I kind of slapped it on my thumbs, not sure of which design to put on them, and I was really surprised with how much I liked it.  I want to do a full nail look now with just that one image.  I think it would work well as an abstract, everyday look.

*Some polishes were provided for honest review.  Review contains only my personal opinions.*

Christmas 2015 - Ugly Sweater Nails

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I can't believe it's over already.  I only did one Christmas themed look this year.  And actually, I ended up doing it twice.  The week of Christmas got a little hectic.  I needed to redo my nails, I had already been wearing the design for a week, so they were starting to look a little beat up.  But I just didn't have the time, or energy, to play around with a new look.  I still had all the same supplies out, and since I liked how they came out so much the first time, I just decided to redo the same design.  

The base was sort of a recycled look for me.  I had used this same tape mani combo several years ago during the holidays, but for a snowflake look instead.  I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Poinsettia, then one coat of China Glaze Ring In The Red.  I top coated with Seche Vite and made sure it was completely dry before taping off my nails on the diagonal with just regular scotch tape.  Then I applied a thicker coat of China Glaze Glittering Garland, top coated and let dry before stamping.  The sweater stamp is from MoYou London Festive Collection 06, and I stamped the design with white Konad Special Polish.

I also gave my nails a little trim this month because of a few broken corners.  I wasn't thrilled with the idea of making my nails shorter, but in hindsight, it really worked out to be good timing; I don't think this stamp would have fit as well on my nails at the length they were before I filed them back.  

I was really happy with how this look turned out.  I only had to redo a couple nails each time I wore this, because I thought I stamped the design a little crooked a time or two.  I always top coat my polish before I stamp, that way I have a little barrier of protection over my base polish in case I need to re-stamp a nail.  I can carefully wipe off the stamping polish with polish remover and a q-tip, without completely messing up the polish below.  And I was happy to pull out Ring In The Red from my melmer for the first time in a while.  That is still probably one of my favorite China Glaze glitters.

Happy Halloween 2015!

Happy Halloween!  Just one mani for me this Halloween.  The orange polish is Zoya Arizona, and the gradient is Pansy-Monium and My Life's Porpoise, both from KBShimmer.  Everything was stamped using Rica Blackout stamping polish.  The skulls is a design from MoYou London Biker Collection plate 08, while everything else is from Bundle Monster.  The bats design is off of plate BM-H08, both the text design on my ring finger nail and the spider web on my pinky nail are from plate BM-H07.

Going into it, I was originally planning to have all my nails be different base colors.  It wasn't until after I finished the two middle nails that I decided to scrap that idea and throw down a few coats of orange on my index and pinky nails too.  Otherwise, I would have most likely put the gradient on my ring finger nail as an accent, instead of my middle finger.  But really, there's no rules when it comes to accent nails, and I really like the overall look with the accent nail just where it is.  The gradient with bats stamp also went on my camera shy thumb nails.  I really love the look of the purple to grey gradient, I think I may need to use it for a full mani someday.

Have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Shangri-La Abstract Stamping

For the past month or so, I've been in a nail art slump.  I just haven't felt motivated to do anything other than switch out the polish on my nails.  Seeing this look though, that I wore pre-slump, is reminding me why I got into nail art in the first place, and also that a manicure doesn't have to be super complicated to have it turn out to be one of your favorites.

This mani was actually from back in July, I just never got around to using it in a post until now.  It had been a little while since I'd done any matte nails, and I was loving a look that Oooh, Shinies! had posted at the time.  It made me think about the China Glaze Romantique collection, which I had purchased online ages ago solely to use the polishes for stamping.  I also had just recently ordered the Shangri-La Master Set from Bundle Monster and was itching to try out one of the new plates in the collection.

For my base, I started with a polish probably almost as old as the Romantique Collection, OPI Steady As She Rose.  Then I stamped part of the design from plate BM-S105 with China Glaze Joy.  I finished the look off with one coat of OPI's matte top coat.

I need to remember to pull out some shades from the China Glaze Romantique collection more often.  They are great for stamping, and they look amazing matte as well.

Zoya Loredana and Silver Swirls

My nails have been kind of a mess so far in 2015.  I'm not sure if it was the seesaw weather affecting them...one day it's snowing, the next day it's 60...or what the issues were, but I feel like I've had more breaks and cracks so far this year than ever before.  They seem to finally be making a comeback though.  I'm hoping that with the weather starting to level off, and a little extra TLC, they'll be back to normal shortly.  Luckily, I came across a handful of looks from late last year that I had stored away on my desktop, but for some reason just never got around to posting.  This first manicure started off with 2 coats of Zoya Loredana.  On top of that, I stamped a design from Pueen plate PUEEN13 using China Glaze I'd Melt For You.

I didn't really buy many Christmas themed polishes this past winter, but I wanted to get my hands on I'd Melt For You, from the China Glaze Twinkle Collection 2014, specifically to use it for stamping.  Swatches I'd seen of it online reminded me a bit of China Glaze Millennium.  And Millennium, as well as most of China Glaze's chrome-like polishes, always stamps really well.

I'd Melt For You did not disappoint either.  I'm not sure, if worn as a full coverage mani, that I'd Melt For You would have the same mirror like look as Millennium does, but it worked great for stamping.  I need to do a side by side comparison of I'd Melt For You and Millennium to see if I like one more than the other.  Zoya Loredana is a matte finish polish, but I did top this look off with one coat of top coat to protect the stamping.  I think Loredana looks just as great top coated as it does when left as a matte finish.

St. Patrick's Day 2015

Happy St Paddy's Day!!!  St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays, and I'm really not sure why.  I'm not even Irish.  But I do love green and, thanks to the influence of my older sister, I've always had a love of Ireland while growing up.  For St. Patrick's Day this year, I finally busted out my bottle of the Extra Fine version of Lacquistry Amazeballz, and combined it with a little stamping on my other nails.

I love the extra fine version of Amazeballz even more than the original.  The formula is incredibly smooth, and you could almost get away with a single coat.  I did apply a second coat just to even up the coverage though.  For my other nails, I applied 2 coats of KBShimmer Eyes White Open and topped that with 1 coat of Sephora by OPI It's Real 18K Gold top coat.  Over that I stamped a shamrock and clover pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-723 using Konad Special Polish in green.  I topped everything with one coat of Seche Vite.

I only wish that I had applied 2 coats of the It's Real 18K Gold top coat on my index and pinky nails, instead of just 1 coat.  With a close-up view like in the blog pics, it's pretty easy to see it on the nails.  But in real life, it's hard to spot that the gold flakes are even there.  I think a second coat would have made them much more noticeable, but I still love how it turned out.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Christmas Ornaments - Christmas 2014

I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday.  Just wanted to quickly post my Christmas nails from this year.  I had these on since Saturday and was originally thinking I'd change them up either Tuesday or Wednesday night.  But the cleaning, wrapping, and just general last minute preparations for Christmas kind of derailed that plan!

For my base, I started with two coats of Orly Au Champagne then topped that with one coat of Sonnetarium Snowfall.  I used this same combination a few years ago as a base for a Christmas lights design, and had been wanting to use it again ever since.  On my ring finger, I used a design from MoYou London Festive Collection plate 17, stamped with Konad Special Polish in red.  I felt like it needed a little something else, so I used black Konad Special Polish and stamped a small music notes design from the same plate at my cuticle.

The ornaments all came from MoYou London Festive Collection plate 18.  I used Konad Special Polishes in red, green, and blue for the ornaments, and also for dotting to fill up some of the blank space around the ornaments.  Once the dots were completely dry, I topped everything with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

Even though I ended up only doing one Christmas themed design this year, I didn't mind much because I really liked how this one turned out.  I received quite a lot of compliments at work on this one, and I was glad to finally use Snowfall over Au Champagne once again.   I really like those two polishes together.

Zoya India and Pueen Stamping

Winter has not been kind to my nails.  I think I've had more cracks and breaks in the past few months than I've had all year long.  One of the looks I've worn recently though, in between battling the effects of the cold, was this design from Pueen plate PUEEN26, stamped with China Glaze Passion over 2 coats of Zoya India.

Zoya India has a great formula and is a great vampy shade for this time of the year.  I liked it a lot on its own, but stamping over it with Passion really complemented the shimmer in this polish.

I really enjoyed this combination.  It's a nice look just for the Winter time in general, but I could also see myself wearing this if I wanted something a little more elegant for a fancy holiday party.

Fall Foliage

Here's a quick Fall themed mani I did a few weeks back for a contest in one of the Facebook groups I belong to.  I started with 3 thin coats of DIFFERENT dimension It Rubs the Lotion On Its Skin.  On top of that I stamped the leaves pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-H11.

For the leaves, I used Konad Special Polishes in yellow, orange and red.  I dotted a little bit of each Konad polish in a column along the side of the design, then scraped across to create a gradient.  After stamping each nail, I finished the look off with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

The stamping ended up being a bit more subtle than I had anticipated.  The red is especially harder to see compared to the orange and yellow.  The red Konad stamping polish works really well, but it does have more of a jelly finish to it rather than being an opaque cream, so that made it harder to see over such a dark base color.  But I was still very happy with the end result, and I thought the colors worked really well together, perfect for Fall.

OPI Muppets World Tour and the Unintentional Wedding Nails

This is a look I did way back in June, and the pictures have been stowed away on my computer ever since.  There were no plans for any particular design when I started, I just wanted to finally use OPI Muppets World Tour and just kind of winged the rest.  I never intended to make any type of "wedding nails" design, but when I was finished and gave my nails a look over, they definitely gave off that type of vibe to me.

The base of this manicure was 2 coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff.  I then layered 1 coat of Muppets World Tour over it.  Here's a few shots of how that looked.

Very pretty, kind of beachy/sandy but it just felt like something was missing to me.  That was when I decided to stamp over it.  After a quick flip through my stamping plates, I decided on a design from Bundle Monster plate BM-406.  To stamp, I used China Glaze 2030.

I really loved the way this turned out.  It almost felt a little too elegant for me, ha ha, but I wore it for the entire week.  The blue and pink glitters in Muppets World Tour were the perfect little pops of color against the neutral base and gold stamping.