Ornate Coral Nail Art

Hi everyone. My stamping group on facebook had a complex challenge for this half of the month, and I tried my best to achieve a result that fulfilled the challenge. We were to incorporate coral, stamping, ornate, and use some different nail art technique. That sure was a lot of prompts! But, I persevered, and came up with this.

I started off with Wet n Wild Warm Filter for my base, and them stamped the design using OPI Cha-Ching Cherry and PUEEN44. After that I used my Loki's Nail Vinyls to create the half moon shape and filled it in with Cha-Ching Cherry. The next part was the part I hated the most: placing those tiny caviar beads on my nails. It was painstakingly fine work. My hand kept cramping up! But I fought through the pain (lol) because this was important to me.

Oh my, you can tell I'm tired. Anyway, here is what Wet n Wild Warm Filter looks like on it's own. This was two coats. It was pretty opaque, but needed two coats to avoid any thin spots.

I'm off to bed, but I'll be back in a few days with my mani for this week's 52 Week Pick n Mix. Have a great evening!

52 Week Pick n Mix - Scales + Navy

Good morning and happy hump day! We are already halfway through the work-week, ladies and gents! Yay! Work has been an absolute nightmare for me lately, so nailart is a welcome escape. I'm also back on the whole low carb diet kick again as it seems to be the only thing that works, so I am in need of lots of distraction. This means that I gave myself a nice long time to work on this, and I'm super pleased with how they came out.

I decided to do some stamping decals for this mani, and was stoked that the idea I had in mind actually worked in practice. I just love it when that happens! I started off with a base of The New Black's Navy (it has no name that I can find). This navy is fabulously opaque. I only used one coat - there is a swatch at the bottom of this post. After that, I created a stamp decal using Mash-39 and Julep Harley. Then I painstakingly filled in *almost* every scale using alternating colors in a random pattern. I left some unfilled so that my navy base could show through.

I chose polishes that would all allow my navy base to show through, so I used mostly topper-type polishes (glitters, shimmers, iridescent polishes, etc.). This included Julep Brooke, Fresh Paint Dragon Lady, Butter London Petrol, China Glaze Take a Trek, Wet n Wild Stick it to the Man, and Finger Paints In the Monet.

Here is what The New Black's Navy looks like on it's own. The few bubbles are from my topcoat and not the polish. I guess no amount of Seche Restore can bring this poor baby back. I had to send it to it's polish grave. :(

Thank you so much for stopping by! Here's hoping your weekends all come quickly!

An InLinkz Link-up

Rainbow Honey June Mystery Bag

Hi friends! Today, I have a review of the mystery bag I got from Rainbow Honey for the month of June. It is another great collection of polishes and other goodies. I love the colors that came in this bag, and I also got a little vial of perfume, scented topcoat, and soap.

I have not used the soap or the perfume yet, but they both smell heavenly. I'm pretty sure my husband will be stealing the soap. ;) I swatched the three polishes pretty quickly this time, and I adored all of them this time around (no surprise there)!

First, I have Rainbow Honey Thallo Bot. It is a pale green metallic polish that went on nicely in two coats. I like how this one was not too streaky, as I have that issue with a lot of metallic polishes when I use them.

Next, I have Rainbow Honey Cuprum Veritas. This is actually a bunch of tiny copper colored glitters packed into a clear base. It took three thin coats to build this one up. It could be worn as a topper if you opt to use just one coat over another color.

Last, is Rainbow Honey Aqua Cristalina. This is a glitter topper with tiny and medium sized hex glitters and multiple sizes and shapes of holographic glitter in a clear base. I love the sparkle of this one! I wore two coats over Essie Where's My Chauffeur?.

Thank you so much for looking. I appreciate all of you! :) I'll be back in a few days for this week's 52 Week Pick n Mix mani.

52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge - Saran Wrap + Glitter Polish

Hi everyone! Happy hump day! I have a sparkly post for you today featuring saran wrap nail art over a glitter base. The glitter is Julie G Costume Ball, and I used Julep Simone over top of it.

I used saran wrap to blot on Julep Simone over the glitter. I had to apply two coats of Seche Vite to get a smooth surface to saran wrap onto, but it was worth it.

Here is Julie G Costume Ball all by itself. This is my first experience with the brand, and I am impressed. It was such a jam packed glitter, and went on so smoothly despite that. This is only two coats. I will definitely be on the lookout for more clearance polishes from them at the drugstore. :)

 Thank you so much for looking. I hope you all have a fabulous week. Here's hoping that Friday comes quickly for us all!

An InLinkz Link-up

Dolphins Pond Manicure with Mash-35 Stamping Plate

Hi everyone! I'm really waiting for the last minute over here to post this one. I am such a horrible procrastinator anymore. The funny thing is, I did this mani over a week ago, but just waited until the absolute last minute to post it! I've been spending a lot of time working around the house...and maybe playing video games instead of typing up blog posts. ;) Anyway, our prompt for the first half of the month for Stamp One, Stamp All Ten was Aqua and Teal/ Pond Mani/ Beach Vacation. That is sure a specific prompt, but they work well together and I came up with this one pretty quickly.

The hardest part was the teal jelly. I only have one and it is filled with glitter and just wouldn't work with my idea, so I found the thinnest teal polish I had and hoped for the best. This is an unnamed polish from Black Poppy (sold at Pacific Sunwear stores). It is slightly shimmery and a bit too opaque for the pond mani technique, but I made it work! I did two coats of teh Black Poppy polish, and then stamped a couple dolphins on each nail using Konad Special White. After I let it dry, I added a thin coat of the Black Poppy polish, waited for that to dry, and stamped some white dolphins on top.

Because the polish was on the opaque side, I opted not to do more than one coat, so I only have two layers, but I still consider it to be a pond mani. ;) I hope you all like my mani for this challenge. Please make sure to check back in a few days. I'll have another post for you soon.

Go Cavs! - Game 5 Nailart

Today is game 5 of the NBA Finals, and we could not be any more excited and proud of our Cavaliers this year! It's funny because I don't usually care about sports at all, but I guess all that changes when you finally have a team you can get excited about. I used to adore basketball when I was age 8-13 or so, and that was mostly because I grew up outside of Chicago at the height of the Michael Jordan magic era. :)

I did this mani using Pure Ice Vintage as my base and then I drew everything in freehand using Julep Coco and Butter London Royal Navy and a small nail art brush.

Go Cavs! Thank you so much for reading - I'll be back in a couple days with a new mani.

52 Week Pick n Pix Challenge - Lilac and Pink Rose Nail Art

Wooooooo! First of all, yay it's FRIDAY! I'm telling you what: I need this weekend sooo bad. So bad. I'm back at it today with the 52 Week Pick n Mix. This week is Roses + Pink and Lilac, so I threw a little white in there too and rocked out the dots as well! I busted out my newest lilac polish from Wet n Wild's Silver Lake Collection for my base.

I added my roses freehand using Nicole by OPI Ama-Zing! and did the detail using essie marshmallow (because it's sheer, so it turned light pink), and used Pure Ice SuperStar! for the white detail in the roses and the dots on my accent nails.

Here is what Wet n Wild Reject the Mainstream looks like all by itself. It's a really pretty dusty lavender cream. It was nice and opaque too, this is two coats.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

MoYou Suki XL 06 Nailart Inspired By Something In My Home

Oh my goodness you guys, I totally fell off the face of the earth there for a minute! I took my hubby on a trip for his birthday and then had my sister-in-law in town for a baby shower, so I was busy, busy, busy. I just couldn't be bothered to post even though I was still doing my nails! But, the itch is back as always. Must be all of the kindness I always see from all of you fabulous ladies and gents! I think I needed the break, too, because this is the most cheerful post intro I have ever written! haha

Anyway, I did this mani as part of The Stamping Plate Challenge, but since I am much too late for that, it's just random now I suppose. I used a sake bottle by dad brought home for me from Japan. He thought it was pretty and I'm inclined to agree. :) I keep it on a shelf with all of my other Japan knicknacks that he has given me over the years, and my mud men of course!

I did my best to mimic at least the colors and general ideas from this pretty bottle. I'm pretty happy with it.

Thanks so much for looking. Please make sure you stop back in a couple days to see my next mani. Oh, I have so much catching up to do!! :D