Double Stamp All the Nails!

Hi everyone! Today Paint All the Nails is doing double stamping! I love double stamping and I'm often inspired by the double stamping looks that Deborah from Love Varnish is famous for doing because they are always so elegant! Today, I decided not to go for a traditional elegant double stamping look, but instead went for a Halloween spin.

For my mani, I started out with a base of China Glaze Lady and the Vamp (which has such a weird name because I'm imagining a vampy red) and then I put Sally Hansen Jack-O-Lantern over it for a little old school glittery goodness. Then I used the MoYou-London Festive plate 16 and Pretty Serious Presence to stamp on the spider webs. Next I stamped on some spiders from the same plate using Konad Black to stamp. It was a very cliche Halloween mani, but I really enjoyed it. I love the depth that double stamping adds to a manicure...you can almost make something that looks like a decal using the technique.

CYNA 12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Snowflakes

*Nothing to Disclose*

Hi everyone! Today is the first day of Challenge Your Nail Art's 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. I don't know if I will be able to participate the whole time, but I'm going to try to do as many as I can because I love Christmas-inspired manis! The first prompt was snowflakes, and I took the obvious route for me: stamping. I knew what colors I wanted to use for a base and a stamp, but I had to pick a snowflake design. I was looking through my Bundle Monster plates and I actually have 2 snowflake plates that I have used before, but I found a 3rd one that is sort of snowflake-esque, but it also might be flowers. I thought that one might be the most appropriate for me since in south Alabama we never see real snowflakes, so a snowflake-esque flower is usually as close as I will get to snow.

For this mani, I started off with a base of Smitten Polish Nimbus, a super pale grey linear holo (the closest thing to a white holo I have). Next I used Bundle Monster plate BM-321 and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Brisk Blue. Definitely a bit of a rush job with the stamping, but it isn't my worst either. :) Earlier, I discovered that Traci over at Newsie Nail Novice and I almost have twinsie nails today, so that shows you what a perfect polish Nimbus is to get you in a snowy mood!

If you want to join in, the prompts are for every other day all the way up until Dec 23!

Be sure to check out what everyone else did for today's prompt! Thanks for looking everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

2 Independence Day Manis!

Hi everyone! Despite having a yucky cold, I have managed to do two USA themed manis this week for Independence Day, I just haven't felt like posting them. And because I haven't felt well, here are two of the easiest festive manis I could come up with!

First up is a very simple nail art look utilizing the dry brush/distressed technique (as always, I will refer you to this tutorial by Chalkboard Nails). I started out with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (white) and then used OPI Coca-Cola Red (red) and American Apparel Lazuli (blue) for the brushstrokes. I finished it off by placing a piece of white star-shaped glitter at the base of each nail. Easy peasy. I say this all the time but it remains true...dry brushing is the simplest nail art out there and takes no time to do.

For an even simpler festive mani, try doing some accent nails. For this mani, I started off with Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, the good older version (because everyone is doing it! #savepacificblue). Then I used the perfect patriotic glitter topper, Shimmer Polish Nichole, over Pacific Blue for accent nails. Simple yet festive. You can't beat that!

Shimmer Polish is available from creator Cindy's Etsy Shop and you can find a tons of swatches on her blog of all of the Shimmer Polishes. Thanks for looking everyone! 

If you guys haven't gotten a bottle of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (the good creme version, not the new shimmer version) comb your drugstores for a bottle before it disappears forever! 

So there you have it! Two very simple patriotic manis that require not special tools or skills! I hope all of my USA readers have amazing Independence Day celebrations (have fun for me because I will be stuck at work all weekend). Thanks for looking everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Falling for Nail Art: Sweet Treats

Hello everyone! Today's mani for the Falling for Nail Art Challenge is inspired by the theme "Sweet Treats". I was going to go full on Halloween themed for this one, but I really wanted to use Smitten Polish Confection as the base. So after Confection was dry, I used the Cheeky XL Home Sweet Home Plate and stamped on wrapped candies and lollipops (using American Apparel African Violet and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Brisk Blue). I thought it turned out cute, but I covered up Confection more than I wanted to because it is such a cute polish!

 

Thanks for looking everyone!

Neon Dotticure

Hi everyone! So I have been wanting to do something crazy with neons ever since it started heating up for summer, so I decided going off for a friend's bachelorette was a great time to do it. For this dotticure, I started out with a white base (Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White) and then dotted with China Glaze Surfin' for Boys (Orange/Coral), I'm With the Lifeguard (Green), Sun-Kissed (Yellow), Splish Splash (Blue), and Orly Oh Cabana Boy (Pink). I was so mad that I used some topcoat that needed thinning and had bubbles galore on my finished mani, but it still looks cool so I kept it.

Are you loving neons for summer? I haven't been much on them in the past, but this year I'm obsessed! Thanks for looking everyone!

Sally Hansen Garnet Lapis

So I have done some non-green manis this month, believe it or not. Here is one that I did using Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Garnet Lapis. This one is of course ancient and d/c, but there are dupes of it available Hits Mari Moon Artsy is one...and there is possibly a Ludurana as well. Ozotic 506 is one, but it is d/c as well. I layered 2 coats of Garnet Lapis over Savvy Sangria for this mani. I received this as a lovely surprise gift a few months ago. Look at all the pretty colors!!

Here is Savvy Sangria on its own. It is a lovely wine shimmer that I got as a gift from the lovely Kristy from The Polish Haven. It is so pretty in its own right without the layering. 

I have a few more non-green manis to post. I will throw them in throughout the month to give you a break from the green craziness! Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Ruby Emerald

I was lucky enough to receive Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Ruby Emerald as a gift this past year and it is a glorious polish. It has a subtle shifting shimmer in the base that gives it a wonderful glowy finish. I layered 2 coats over black for my mani to really make the shimmer pop. This polish is very similar to OPI La Boheme, but the base is slightly more purple. The shift is from a warm purpley red to red to amber.

I do enjoy polishes with glowy shimmer so much! They are among my favorites. This isn't one of the dramatic duochrome Nail Prisms, but it is certainly a very special one. Thanks for looking!

Advent Calendar Challenge Day 13: Snow

So today's mani had a few steps, but I love the end result! This is my favorite so far in the challenge.

First I started off with a base of Illamasqua Cameo, a gorgeous periwinkle blue creme. It wants to photograph more "blue" than "periwinkle"...but I promise it is periwinkle! It has a lovely formula as well.

 Then I layered on a coat of Girly Bits January Morning. This is SO pretty. It has tiny blue, green, and purple sparkles in it that are so difficult to photograph, but the are magical! I love this polish!

Then to finish off the mani, I stamped with Bundle Monster plate 323 using Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. I then used my dotting tool and dotted OPI DS Shimmer in the centers of the snowflakes for a little extra pizzazz. I am in LOVE with the final mani.

January Morning really pops under this more than the pictures show. I'm very pleased with this mani. I just wish it would actually snow here! Nothing but a bunch of rain. Thanks for looking everyone!

Advent Calendar Challenge Day 12: Family

image from: http://cupcake4today.wordpress.com/page/5/

So who all had one of these growing up? Oh yes...the infamous gumdrop tree. My grandmother always had one of these at her house. When the grandchildren in the family got a little older, she bought a few of these plastic trees and tied one dollar bills all over them and gave them as gifts...MONEY TREES! So yes...money can grow on trees...gumdrop trees!! At least it did in my family. My grandmother always did fun stuff like this  so I have many fond memories of the gumdrop tree. 

So for my mani, I made my nails into gumdrops! The colors I used are as follows:

Red: Cult Nails Evil Queen

Yellow: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow

Purple: American Apparel African Violet

Green: Essie Pretty Edgy

Orange: Essence Get Up!

I think topped them all with Revlon Colorstay Calla Lily and a franken I made with the silver TKB Mermaid pigments and suspension base. It would have looked perfect with Sally Hansen Glass Slipper on top, but I used up all of my bottle making frankens so I had to franken a topcoat!

It's really a very simple form of "candy nails" but it means something to me. Thanks for looking!

Happy Halloween!! A Few Halloween Manis...

I decided to share a few Halloweenish manis that I did this year with you. I'm dissappointed with myself because I didn't get into the Halloween spirit as much as I wanted to this year, but I had a ton going on this month unfortunately. But nevertheless...here are some Halloween themed manis as well as some Halloween indies.

The first one is a franken I made called Swamp Music. I layered it over Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Limestone. I thought it looked really swampy and monstery for Halloween.

 

 

 

Next I did a jelly sandwich with Nina Ultra Pro Cobalt and OPI Crown Me Already. To give it a little pizzazz, I used of my my older Halloween Lynnderellas, Bride of Franken.

 

 

 

And if any of you don't own Nina Ultra Pro Cobalt...you should. It is a gorgeous Cobalt Blue jelly. It is everything I wanted Revlon Royal to be. This is 2 coats.

 







 

Up next, I was craving some multichrome goodness so I decided to go with one that flashed orange and purple for Halloween. I used Ozotic 521 (2 coats over black) and stamped on some Halloween images from my Bundle Monster Plates with Finger Paints Black Expressionism. It was definantly not my best work, but it was pretty cute. 



 

 

 

Here is 521 by itself. It was a lovely gift from my pal Kristy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally I have Hit Polish Jack Loves Sally. This polish was one of my favorite Halloween indies from this year (there were SO many amazing ones!). It is a fun and different mix of matte glitters. This is 1 coat over Sally Hansen Fairy Teal.

 

 

 



 

So I guess that wraps up Halloween manis for me! I do still have a few Halloween indies that I *just* got so I will wear them soon for after Halloween fun! Thanks for looking everyone and Happy Halloween!

Orange and Blue Stamping

I have been on a quest for some nice cremes to add to my collection. I have a lot of cremes, but I have found with my recent nail art ventures that I really needed to expand my creme color palette. One creme that I desperately needed was a navy blue creme. I am constantly using OPI Road House Blues for dark blue creme manis, but it is really more of a blurple. It was suggested to me to invest in some American Apparel cremes because they have a nice color range and formulas, and there was the perfect navy blue creme I was looking for: American Apparel Passport Blue.

I used 2 coats of Passport Blue for the base of this mani (although I could have stopped at one coat, it was more out of habit that I did two). The formula was indeed lovely, so I am definantly going to be picking up some more of these polishes. I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Brisk Blue for the stamping (using Bundle Monster plate 213) and Zoya Heidi for the dots.

 

 

 

 

So what are your favorite creme polishes in your stash? Especially yellows, oranges, and greens. I really need more of those for my nail art adventures. Thanks for looking!