Spring Flower Mani

I wanted to share an older manicure I did about a month ago. Please forgive the poor photography – I’m still improving! 

 

I was inspired by the beautiful flowers that Paulina’s Passions is famous for. She did a gorgeous mani called her Nautical Rose Mani, where she had horizontal navy blue and white stripes and pink roses as accents. I had to try it!

The CLAW! (Does anyone else think about Toy Story whenever they do the claw pose? I know I do 🙂 )

I decided to do vertical stripes instead because my nails were a bit shorter and I didn’t want them to look wide and stubby. I think the vertical stripes elongate them a bit.

 

Here’s how I did it:

• Base color of L’Oreal Jet Set to Paris, a much older polish of mine that is a really pretty darker blue creme
• Stripes with Zoya Purity
• Then I blobbed on slightly irregular dots of Essie Boom Boom Room (the light Barbie pink)
• Then I used a small striper to draw little swirly lines of a darker pink, L’Oreal Check Me Out (a more fuschia pink)
• Then I drew on small leaves with a small dotting tool using Revlon Posh (a crayola true green)

 

I really loved this manicure! Wish my pics were better, but hey I’m working on that! What do you think of my first attempt at roses over stripes?

Pastel Leadlighting Skittlette: May NCC #4

Leadlighting: if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a great technique to make beautiful multicolored nail designs with stamping as an alternative to the time-intensive stamping decal. As far as I know, the ladies at Messy Mansion were the first to do this (or name it leadlighting). You stamp over a light polish base, then use jelly polish to color in the negative space.

I actually only have one jelly polish, so I made my own! The lovely Jacqui at CraftyNail suggested this to me after I envied her leadlighting mani using OPI Sheer Tints. I basically mixed my existing creme polishes with a little bit of top coat to make the pastel jelly. I think I probably should’ve added more of the top coat since mine is still fairly opaque, but I think it came out alright!

Grey and yellow skittlette: May NCC #3

Whaaaat? Posting daily for 3 days in a row?! This is a total record for me – here’s hoping the more frequent posting sticks around.

Here comes another skittlette for the Nail Challenge Collaborative. Another favorite color combo of mine is white, grey, and yellow. I’ve seen it used in other nail artists’ manicures, baby room color palettes, clothes, etc. and I think the yellow is such a great accent color that stands out.

So here it is!

My stamping could have been better – the top part of the design didn’t come out… soooo I just dotted all over it. The stamp is from the Pueen 2014 Buffet Stamping set – the set that has full plate images (a la MoYou London). I actually haven’t had much luck with getting good image stamping quality from this set – none of the ones I’ve tried have picked up very well. Maybe it’s just my set because I haven’t seen any bad reviews of it at all. So I’ll keep trying 🙂

Index: China Glaze Elephant Walk… a beautiful dark cement grey with slight shimmer, with a dot of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Middle Finger: CG Elephant Walk, stamp – Pueen 51, Stamping color – Konad white, dots with SH Mellow Yellow

Ring and Thumb: SH Mellow Yellow

Pinky: Color Club Harp On It

Here’s a gorgeous macro of Harp On It:

Ugh, I love that silver holo. Color Club has such amazing holos!

So that’s my 3rd skittlette mani! Check out some others:

 

Neon Gradient Skittlette: May NCC #2

Told you I’d be posting more! And this one is much prettier than the last. So feast your eyes on one of my other favorite color combos – neon red-pink and purple:

Much better right? I just love this manicure! It surprised me, too – I always thought I disliked textured polishes. I don’t like how it catches on clothes, picks up dog hair, etc. So I’ve always been hesitant about textureds. But this subtle Julep is divine! Not too gritty, very small glitter, and a very easy application.

Index & Middle: Gradient with Essie Play Date & China Glaze Pool Party… I just looove CG Pool Party – in certain lights, it’s a neon coral pink and in others, it’s a neon red. SO pretty!

Ring (and thumb, not pictured): Julep Cameron, a beautiful lavender textured glitter with both micro and slightly larger glitter (2 coats, no top coat)

Pinky: China Glaze Pool Party

I’m actually reconsidering my anti-textured polish stance. Maybe I’ll choose another “Stardust Finish” for my next Julep box…

Enjoy some other skittle/skittlettes from the talented NCC:

 

Skittlette #1 for May Nail Challenge Collaborative

I’m sorry for my recent lapse in posts! I was lacking in inspiration and feeling blah about any manicures I tried. And then I went on a lovely vacation, but now I’m back! I sat down last night and had a little nail party while binge watching all the shows I recorded on vacation.

First up is to catch up on May’s NCC, which is Skittles. This one is probably my least favorite, but no worries – I will spam your feed with a few more that I like a whole lot better!

And to show off the glitter better:

Index finger: Illamasqua Purity, dotted with China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

Middle & Ring: China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint dotted with Illamasqua Purity

Pinky (and thumb, but not pictured): OPI DS Classic. I bought this a long time ago but never wore it. I thought it would really wash me out, but it’s actually a stunning nude scattered holo!

And here’s a gorgeous macro of my pinky:

Again, not my favorite mani. I think it washed me out a little bit. The Re-Fresh Mint looks a lot nicer in person at least!

Anyways, get prepared for more posts from me! Oh, and check out the other skittle/skittlette manis:

I Gave Paul McCartney Elephantitis: Last April NCC

I would like to give a formal apology to The Beatles. I truly am a big fan, and I know this manicure probably makes you think the opposite. But despite how this trainwreck looks, The Beatles are really my favorite boy band (and the original boy band) of all time.

In a massive purchase from MoYou London, I got one of their Time Traveler image plates that had 2 beautiful images from The Beatles’ famous Abbey Road shot. When the Nail Challenge Collaborative included Music as a part of the April challenge, I knew I had to use it! So I decided to try (operative word being “try”) to recreate the Abbey Road image.

… And now you understand the title of this post. Look at that stupid thick leg on Paul McCartney (aka one of the stick figures on my middle finger). I swear, I used my MoYou London Time Traveler plate (the I Love the 70s plate). I tried stamping using both black and white, but I had to paint in the legs freehand and that’s where this poor excuse for a manicure went astray.

Overall, I wanted the feel of the road and then trees on my pinky and index finger. I sponged on green polish for the trees and then sponged on some white polish for some clouds.

OK I’m just sick of even talking about this crappy manicure. I apologize again to my Beatles. I promise I’ll be back soon – I actually have a few manicures coming up and I’m super proud of how they look!

Here are some manicures that are a kajillion times better than this one: