Monday, December 31, 2012

Rainbow Dot Nails

I've seen this style floating around the Internet lately, and seeing as how I can't let a rainbow pass me by, I decided to give it a shot.  I received a set of dotting tools for Christmas- yay!- so this was my first shot at using them!  Very cool!





Not too shabby!  There's a few things I would do differently next time, but overall I think it was fun and bright and cute for the end of 2012!

Products Used:
LA Girl Matte Black
Zoya America
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening
China Glaze Gaga for Green
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue
China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

My Christmas Day Nails- Snowflakes and Santas

Stamps and freehand!  I haven't done either in a long, long time.  I loved these for Christmas, and my family loved them too!  I got an entire set of dotting tools today, so expect some polka dot manis in the future!





Santas!


Bonus Phone Pic:


Products Used:
China Glaze Electric Beat
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep
Essie Pure Pearlfection
BM 14
SH 17
Zoya America
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Petal Pusher
China Glaze Dance Baby
Wet n Wild 449C



Monday, December 24, 2012

Green and Gold Winter Holiday Mani

Simple, subtle, lovely!  Like gold decorations on a Christmas tree.  I needed something quick that I could wear to work, and this was it!  I'm loving this deep green- I used a brand I've never used before- something cheap from Target because I was in a hurry.  And I was pleasantly surprised!  The perfect green for what I wanted.







Products Used:
Sonia Kashuk Emerald City
Essie As Gold As It Gets

Thursday, December 20, 2012

NOT a Gradient! Wow! Glitter instead


A break from gradients for me.  This one was especially difficult to capture on camera.  I used two red glitters- one micro and one chunky- and the microglitter just did not want to capture on my camera!  Trust me though, it was very lovely and I got compliments at work.  The different size/shape glitters gave it interest and depth without being too much.  Sometimes I feel juvenile in glitter manis- which is fine most of the time!  But this one seemed work appropriate, and definitely appropriate for the Holiday season!






Products Used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Red Carpet
Priti Polish in Union Jack

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Candy Stripes

The kids really loved this one!  It didn't come out exactly as I had planned (I was hoping for more, thinner stripes) because of the thickness of the brushes, but I still think it came out really well!  One of the kiddos smelled my nails (and probably would have tried licking them a second later) so I guess I will take that as a success!

P.S. Yup- Another gradient!





Products Used:
Zoya America
Wet n Wild 449C (note to self- unpack the rest of your nailpolishes, it has been 6 months since the move!)

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Long Time, No Blog- Winter Gradient

Wow ok so the last time I posted was in August.  I've been awful.  Terrible.  Working two jobs plus my etsy shop has really been kicking my butt, so much so that I hardly even have time to paint my nails at all, let alone do anything worth blogging about!  So I'm hoping to start managing my time a little better and to step my nail game up.  The holiday has really inspired me to get crackin- not to mention I am getting MARRIED in 5 months and really need to knock this nail biting habit by then.  So here's hoping I kick off and keep this thing going!  Starting off with yet another gradient--






Awww yea.  It's no secret that I love a good gradient.  They're super fast, super easy (minus the cleanup) and they look like you spent a ton of time on them.  I got a bunch of compliments today at job #1, so I would consider that a success.  Although they chipped after a day and a half- I blame that on super short stubby nails.  I really love these colors for winter- I wanted to do silver snowflakes or polka dots on top but I just loved them the way they were.  Maybe next time!

Products Used:
Revlon Top Speed Royal
China Glaze Electric Beat
Essie Borrowed and Blue

Monday, August 13, 2012

Monochromatic Ombre/Gradient

Can't get enough of the gradients!  I love black and white so I figured why not do a monochromatic one?  I think it looks pretty fantastic... so much so that I might repeat this design, and I never do that.  I think this would be great to wear with a little black dress.








Products Used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White Out
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement
Zoya Kelly
Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Black Creme

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Summer Pastel Arrow/Chevron Manicure

I got tired of doing dots, so I decided to go with the latest trend- chevron stripes!  Except that this one doesn't repeat the pattern, so does that just make it a pointy stripe?  Or an arrow?  Can a chevron stripe be singular?





Yea I freehanded this and it's pretty obvious, huh?

Products Used:
China Glaze Peachy Keen
China Glaze Sweet Hook
Revlon Minted


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Rainbow Dots!

This one was super simple but still one of my favorite looks when finished!  UNFORTUNATELY.  The color I chose to use as my base- Stone Cold from China Glaze's Capitol Colors collection- purely exists to make me SO MAD.  It is a gorgeous, gorgeous color.  It's all metallic and glimmery and gorgeous when matte and even moreso with a top coat.  But the formula is so bad!  I mentioned it briefly before. but it seriously chips within literal minutes of drying!  It doesn't seem to matter what I do- basecoat, no basecoat, top coat, no topcoat, whatever.  I look down and then realize that my nails are all chipped up and I just painted then an hour ago.  Talk about frustrating!  In order to take these photos I had to completely redo my thumb and pointer finger, got back to my computer and realized that the pinky finger was all chipped to hell also!  So I just covered up the chips and went to redo the pictures.  Bah!  China Glaze is probably my favorite brand.  But this particular color is just a pain in my side.

Anyway, wow, what a long-winded rant.  Onto the photos!



                       




Products Used:
China Glaze Stone Cold
Zoya America
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed
China Glaze Sunshine Pop
China Glaze Gaga for Green
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue
China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Monday, August 6, 2012

Watercolor/Tie-Dye (Picture Heavy)

Something a little different!  I asked the fiance what colors I should use, so credit goes to him.  I think they came off super awesome- pastel colors are more like a watercolor, and though this is the exact same effect I feel like these brights make it more like tie-dye!  Either way, I'm super obsessed with the way they look, and although I did a pretty crappy job with cleanup, I think this is one of my new favorites (along with gradients). What do you think??








Products Used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (base)
Zoya America
China Glaze Dance Baby
Revlon Royal