Skittlespiration

Okay so Skittlespirations isn't a word but my blog my rules right? While blog surfing I came across a fun contest that I (after much deliberation) decided to enter. Kelsie from Kelsie's Nail Files asked contestants to create a design from an image on her Pinterest Board.  Here's what I came up with and the image it was based on. 

Pointer- China Glaze Liquid Leather

Middle- Cult Nails Cruisin' Nude, Chine Glaze Liquid Leather, Born Pretty "Glequins," Essie Good as Gold

Ring- China Glaze Liquid Leather, Cult Nails Cruisin' Nude

Pinky- Cult Nails Tempest, Konad Red Stamping Polish, BM-313

So what do you guys think? I thought it turned out pretty good. Wish me luck!

P.S. I forgot to mention that the cascading glitters came from and idea I saw on The Illustrated Nail's tumbler. Her work is seriously breath taking. 

Typography

Morning ladies. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday (Christmas or otherwise) and New Years. I loved hanging out with the family and getting a nice long break from school, I also love the polish I found under the tree! The only colors I've been able to dabble with thus far are from Cult Nails and The New Black. While I try to heavily guide my wonderful boyfriend in the selection he makes for my Christmas presents he always surprises me with what we like to call "wild card" gifts. This year mine was the Typography set which you can find at Sephora. More after the break.

These print nails maybe old hat to some of you guys but I've never got a chance to try it before and boy to I love it! The technique is super simple and the end results are stunning. Props to who ever was in charge of selecting the shade of nude that was used in this set because it it truly beautiful. Now this was the fist time I've worked with this brand before and while the end result is great actually painting with this polish is not so great. The polish is a tad thick and need a very steady hand to apply evenly. Top coat helps of course but I was worried. I happened to come across this post from Piece of Pie and immediately fell in love with what she had done and decided to give it a try with some old decals I had. I can't lie I wish I would have gone without the decals because I think it just takes away from the rustic old-timeyness of the print. Anyways, The New Black has a YouTube channel where they show you how to use their sets and tutorials on various nail art. Here's the typography video.  

Also a friend of mine was attending a wedding and asked if I could do her nails and these where some of the ideas I cam up with based a picture of the dress she sent me. For some reason the only picture I can find of these was the one I posted on Instagram, but at least it give you a side by side of the nails and the dress. I personally loved the way my ring finger cam out but she really like the second gradient.

Thumb- Love & Beauty Taupe and BM-323

Pointer and Middle- Love & Beauty Taupe, China Glaze Liquid Leather  BM-314 

Ring and Pinky- Cult Nails Cruisin' Nude and BM-314.  

Is this Love?

Quick post tonight guys so I'll just get right to the goods. I'm a little upset with China Glaze Sunset Sail which I used as my base because the day after doing this manicure I noticed some really terrible tip wear which you'll notice below. I love the soft sherbety (< not a word) color and it's a nice contrast to the accent colors I used but that much wear after one day is no bueano. Here's a look a fell in love with from Dressed Up Nails that I watered down a bit.

The colors used are;

Thumb- American Apparel Lopez Canyon

Pointer- Love & Beauty Mint

Middle- OPI Jade is the New Black

Ring- Anise Is this Love?

Pinky- NYC Sidewalkers 

Oh and I accidently uploaded a picture of my dog so I left it, mostly because I love her :)

31 Day Challenge-Day 10: Gradient

Don't get me wrong I love a good gradient just as much as the next girl but I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by any color combo so I did something different. I decided to re-do a glitter gradient I'd tried a while back. What do you think?

This glittery gradient consisted of four different glitters: Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope, OPI Crown me Already, China Glaze Fairy Dust, and Orly Shinning Star. For the base I used one very thin coat of OPI Bubble Bath, and finally to help build up the continuity Essie Good as Gold for the tips. All in all I do think it's a very pretty combination, but maybe it's a tad too much for little old me.

Here's the sched: 

31 Day Challenge- Day 7: Black & White

Super quick post today guys. This is what I came up with for day 7.

I finally broke my unused cycle and went with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

See you tomorrow:

Paint Drips

While working at the new house today I remember a really fun post I saw a while back by Very Emily that would be so perfect for the remodeling we're doing right now. Miss Emily is a very talented girl from Belgium   who does lots of reviews, swatches and of course really spectacular nail art. Anyways the post I referring to tonight can be found here.

The colors I used are OPI My Very First Knockwurst, China Glaze First Mate and Essie Loophole. For some reason Loophole doesn't really translate well in these pictures, but it really makes the blobs pop off the base coat. 

Magnetix

Hey everyone, I've got some good and bad news. The good news is I just bought a house which is crazy and exciting and stressful all at the same time. The bad new is my move will be done over the course of several weeks starting now til mid September so my post may be a bit sporadic til I get my nail station set up. In the mean time I decided to brake out my magnetic nail polish and get to work.  To create the initial gold wavy pattern I used painters tape and some craft scissors.  I then filled in the tips using the actual brush from the China Glaze bottle.    

The following pictures are from my right hand (gasp!). Yes it exists. I couldn't decide if I like the black tips enough to repeat the process on this hand so I ended up leaving it alone. I think the gold pattern turned out much crisper on this hand anyways.  

For these nails I used Zoya Kendal, China Glaze Liquid Leather and Claire's Magnetix Gold.

New Meets Old Striping

I did a little shopping this past week and manged to get a few of OPI new Germany collection as well as a few clearance polishes from China Glaze, ULTA, Essie, Zoya and OPI. I'd like to think I'm pretty good about pacing myself when it come to buying new colors but when quality brands go on sale that mindset just goes out the window. To justify these purchases I decided to pick a color combo that would use colors from the clearance and new picks. 

For the base I used Essie's Loophole which to me is a dead ringer for No Place Like Chrome, with a price difference of about six bucks thanks to ULTA's sale. Next I used OPI's Schnapps Out of It! on top of striping tape to make the strip pattern. I really like this color duo because Schnapps Out of It! has a silver shimmer that is only noticeable in certain lights, it's also dark enough to really set off the silver. The other colors I manged to snag where Zoya Kendal, ULTA Heirhead, OPI Stranger Tides and China Glaze Westside Warrior.  

French Flair

I've been meaning to get some good use out of my striping tape and after coming across this card I had all the inspiration I needed. I purchased my striping tape from Ebay for a ridiculously low price and free shipping so if you have yet to invest please do it's so versatile.  

   

For tonight's nails I used my trusty Liquid Leather by China Glaze a Love & Beauty polish simply named White and L.A. Colors Black nail stripier.  

Purple Swirl

So aside from a lovely manicure I've got some fun news. Not only did I finally finish with yet another summer class, I found out I was one of the lucky winner of Anise's Pinterest competition! I was trying to think of the last time I've ever won anything and not one thing came to mind so there you go, I guess I was long over due.  The prize is  Anise's entire collection for the year as they are released. So far this year they have released their summer collection which you can check out here, and they will soon be releasing their fall collection which can be found here. You guys can pick up these guys at your local DSW. Alright, alright, alright let us get down to business. 

  

I love this really sheer pink by OPI called Bubble Bath even though it needed way too many coats in my opinion. It is a sheer polish though so I guess I should have known better. I topped the pink off with Konad Purple and a thin coat of China Glaze's Fairy Dust. Now I'm off to bed people. Good Night. 

Stamping Baby

BUNDLE MONSTER has arrived baby!  So you guys may have notice that Bundle Monster has finally released their new summer plates and they are awesome. The guys behind these designs really did their homework. These plates are not only beautiful, but they are crisp and detailed. Every time I looked at a new plate I was like "wow" and "oooo." Also the plates are a really good size,  no longer do you have to have tiny sized baby nails to get full coverage. So I'm from Texas and right now we're dealing with over 100 degree weather so I wanted my design to be as hot as the weather. What do you think? 

I used China Glaze Make Some Noise which is a very hot pink even though the pictures make it look more orange. The black is Konad stamping polish which I must admit is getting a tad low so if you have any ideas on a black I could replace it with I would greatly appreciate some input. Finally I used BM-323 for the rose print, so there you go ladies have fun!

Fresh French

Alright short post tonight ladies I have a big BIG Bio test tomorrow so I wanted to do a quick revamp with my previous mani. I really love this color so it's a good thing I wore it on such a hectic week. I used China Glaze Liquid Leather on top of my purple polish to make a nice french. To break up the dark colors I used Milian's Art of Gold nail stripper. 

So what do you think, they're like having a bit of Halloween in Summer right? Side note did anyone order the new Bundle Monster plates?! 

Mash Up

Alright here we go again. Today I have a kind of mash up of some really cool work from the Nailasaurus! I have to be honest I love this woman. She makes everything look fantastic and easy and we all know that's not always the case. She's known for sick gradients, bitchin (lol) stud work, and general awesomeness. So I took a bit of this and a bit of that and made these.

This bad boy consists of a three color gradient, striping tape, and studs. The colors I used for the gradient are  Essie Eternal Optimist, School of Hard Rocks, and Bobbing for Baubles. Then I used China Glaze Liquid Leather to make the laser lights look. Boy trying to pose your hand for polish pictures is tricky business let me tell you! Oh well I'll just assume this a skill that will get better with time. Until next time polish fiends : )

Fresh New Start

Hi everyone, I'm pretty excited to be writing my very first post on something that I absolutely adore...NAIL POLISH! I've been following several different bloggers for a while now, for both inspiration and just to reveal in their general greatness. Now thanks to some summer down time and a gentle push from my boyfriend here I am. For my first couple of post I think I'll show my renditions of the some other very talented girls nail art. So let's get down to business. First on the list is missgoob who you can find on Instagram @missgoob and at her etsy shop. 

Ignore my packs of glitter in the background :)  

I fell in love with the design, and it didn't hurt that this mani was pretty easy to do. I used Orly Sterling Silver Rose, Chine Glaze Liquid Leather, an unknown silver I ordered off of delias, and Seche Vite to top it all off.