Hello all. No challenges today, just a fabulous polish. This was my first true autumn manicure of the season.
Showing posts with label nail art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nail art. Show all posts
Friday, November 8, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
31 Day Challenge: Inspired by Artwork
Pin It
I have to be really quick. My Grandma Janice loved Monet and I loved her dearly, so any time that I can do, or see something that reminds me of her it is a treasure.
I have to be really quick. My Grandma Janice loved Monet and I loved her dearly, so any time that I can do, or see something that reminds me of her it is a treasure.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Song
Pin It
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arrive.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arrive.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Love Manicure with Cult Nails Enigmatic
Pin It
Good evening. Today I share with you a lovely polish that I couldn't resist from Cult Nails. This is Cult Nails Enigmatic. I love it!
Monday, July 2, 2012
4th of July Nail styles
Pin It
These were a couple of very quick Independence Day manicures I tried out over the past week. Forgive them for being kind of sloppy. They were done very quickly to see what I liked the best.
Quick Fireworks Nails: I painted all my nails with the darkest blue I own, Revlon Midnight Affair and topped it with a quick-drying topcoat. Once it was completely dry, I used a dotting tool (a toothpick would work too) a gold polish and silver polish, Revlon Gold Coin and Silver Dollar and created spots reminescent of fireworks sparks flying. I then dotted some of the silver with a red glitter polish, China Glaze Ruby Pumps. The whole manicure was topped with a fast-drying topcoat.
Red, White, & Blue Star Cut-out Nails: For this manicure, I painted each of my nails a different color, Revlon Silver Dollar, Sinful Colors Ruby, Ruby, Revlon Royal, and I did a water marble using all those colors on my ring finger. I then topped all the nails except the water marbled nail with Julep America. I topped my nails with a quick-drying topcoat. Once it was completely dry, I added foil stars to my nails and painted 2 coats of Revlon Midnight Affair over the top. I had to use a toothpick to make sure the star stickers were completely stuck on all the corners before painting each coat. Unfortunately I was impatient and peeled off the star stickers early, but you can see what I was going for. I topped the whole manicure with another coat of fast-drying topcoat.
Stamped American Flag manicure: I painted all my nails except my pinky with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Ruby, Ruby and then added a coat of China Glaze Ruby Pumps to my ring finger. I painted my pinky with 2 coats of Revlon Midnight Affair. Once that was dry, I used a stamping plate with stripes and and polka dots to create my stars and stripes using Revlon Silver Dollar. This manicure was inspired by a couple of the pretty manicures on the Nouveau Cheap Independence Day manicure roundup.
Old Glory Tie Dye Nails: You can see instructions to create this kind of manicure here.
So, what will you sport on your nails for Independence Day? Do you have great plans for the holiday?
Take care.
~Alexis
Quick Fireworks Nails: I painted all my nails with the darkest blue I own, Revlon Midnight Affair and topped it with a quick-drying topcoat. Once it was completely dry, I used a dotting tool (a toothpick would work too) a gold polish and silver polish, Revlon Gold Coin and Silver Dollar and created spots reminescent of fireworks sparks flying. I then dotted some of the silver with a red glitter polish, China Glaze Ruby Pumps. The whole manicure was topped with a fast-drying topcoat.
Red, White, & Blue Star Cut-out Nails: For this manicure, I painted each of my nails a different color, Revlon Silver Dollar, Sinful Colors Ruby, Ruby, Revlon Royal, and I did a water marble using all those colors on my ring finger. I then topped all the nails except the water marbled nail with Julep America. I topped my nails with a quick-drying topcoat. Once it was completely dry, I added foil stars to my nails and painted 2 coats of Revlon Midnight Affair over the top. I had to use a toothpick to make sure the star stickers were completely stuck on all the corners before painting each coat. Unfortunately I was impatient and peeled off the star stickers early, but you can see what I was going for. I topped the whole manicure with another coat of fast-drying topcoat.
Stamped American Flag manicure: I painted all my nails except my pinky with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Ruby, Ruby and then added a coat of China Glaze Ruby Pumps to my ring finger. I painted my pinky with 2 coats of Revlon Midnight Affair. Once that was dry, I used a stamping plate with stripes and and polka dots to create my stars and stripes using Revlon Silver Dollar. This manicure was inspired by a couple of the pretty manicures on the Nouveau Cheap Independence Day manicure roundup.
So, what will you sport on your nails for Independence Day? Do you have great plans for the holiday?
Take care.
~Alexis
Friday, June 22, 2012
Floral Water Decals
Pin It
3. Sea Monster: I gave my husband this knitted dice bag as a Father's Day present. He had been asking me to make it for a long time, but I knit it in secret. He loves it and tells me that it fits the perfect amount of dice.
Hello again! I have a new favorite to share with you today . . . it seems like I say that a lot, but look at this. If you can apply a temporary tattoo, you can apply water decals to your nails. The water decals I have came in packs of 12, so you can make a big mistake on one or two nails and still be able to do the manicure. I bought these from lightinthebox.com and unfortunately the instructions on the website were wrong. I had to do some experimenting to figure out how to use the water decals.
You need a bowl of lukewarm water. You cut each nail decal out and I found that I could place the second decal in the water as I began applying the decal for the first nail. The decals are on a paper backing and will not come off the backing unless they are really wet. I peeled them off with my fingernails and tweezers. I then lightly dried the decal, centered it on my nail and smoothed it on. Once removed from the paper backing, the decals can handle a little bit of abuse, so if it didn't place perfectly, I could move it around a bit. I use a rubberized basecoat and that helped the decals to adhere to my nails. I cut most of the excess decal from the tip of each fingernail. Right after application, the decals didn't look completely smooth.
After all the decals were in place, I coated each nail with a layer of Gelous and wrapped around the tip, tucking the excess decal under the nail's free edge with the brush (I didn't use my fast drying topcoat for fear that it would bubble the decals like it did the stickers last week). The Gelous topcoat kind of melted the decals a little bit into the nail. This was a good thing. It made the decals look more like they were painted on than stuck on. It smoothed out the decals completely. Since the Gelous painted parts were a bit melty, it made removal of excess decal from the sides near the cuticles a little easier and it just peeled off with gentle scraping of a cuticle stick. After the Gelous had dried for a couple of minutes, I added the fast drying topcoat and there was no bubbling, just pretty flowers. I had to shoo little hoverflies away from my fingers all week because they thought my nails were really covered in flowers . . . silly little bugs.
Look at that! Six days and only tip wear. That never happens for me. I am usually a chippy mess by day six. This made me so happy and this mani was so much fun, that I decided to revitalize it with french tips in Revlon Orchid. It gave me three more days with the manicure. Nine days for a manicure. Not bad. I will definitely be purchasing more of these water decals in the future. If you like these, take a look at my giveaway and perhaps you could win a set of these wonderful water decals.
1. Ladybugs: Ladybugs are spectacular killers of aphids and they are adorable. My daughter and I have been watching the development of ladybugs on our Japanese meadowood bush over the past couple of weeks. She saw and would talk to the larvae that look very little like lady bugs and I took a picture of one of the larvae that was changing into a ladybug. The other day, during a lunch picnic, a ladybug decided that it just wanted to hang out and take a little rest on my girl's hand. She was thrilled!
2. Finally finishing a project: I had only the tiniest amount of sewing to do on my dress and I procrastinated, but it is finally finished. I really love it!
3. Sea Monster: I gave my husband this knitted dice bag as a Father's Day present. He had been asking me to make it for a long time, but I knit it in secret. He loves it and tells me that it fits the perfect amount of dice.
4. Strawberry Shortcake: I need it just once a year and it is perfection, just that taste of strawberry with lightly sweetened whipped cream on a tender biscuit . . . It is a good think that I really only crave it about once a year or I would not fit out my front door. My daughter insisted that we eat strawberry shortcake while watching Strawberry Shortcake . . . Goofball.
5. Shabby Apple: I just received the dress I ordered using the gift certificate that I won a few weeks back. It fits me perfectly and looks just wonderful. I love it!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Earth Day polish swatching and nail art tip
Pin It
We polish lovers would be heartbroken to give up our colorful nails. However most nail polish removers contain at least some petroleum based products, so if we can find ways to cut down on the use of nail polish remover a little bit, it would benefit the earth.
One of my favorite nail art tools is a reused cottage cheese or 32oz yogurt container lid. The lids are not accepted by my town's recycling program, so they would end up in a landfill if not reused. They are #2 recyclable, so if I need to use a bit of nail polish remover, the plastic remains intact. I very seldom need to use nail polish remover on the plastic though because it is quite easy to peel dry polish off the plastic.
Reusing these lids is earth friendly in a couple of ways. First, as I mentioned, the lids end up in a landfill if not reused. Secondly, I don't need to paint single use nail art wheels for every swatch I do (I only use the nail art wheel for swatches shared on this blog). I also can easily test out color combinations for nail art without creating a full manicure that might have the wrong shade of base color. I also use a lid under my stamping plates and it dramatically cuts down on post-manicure cleanup.
You can see on my very messy swatching lid that I compared polishes (OPI Designer de Better vs. Sonia Kashuk Golden Ticket) that really don't look much alike, checked polishes for possible layering (Nfu Oh 51 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire over several polishes), and scraped excess nail polish off a stamping plate. You can also see how I created a dry "water" marble on a cottage cheese lid in this post.
In other Earth Day news, I ran in the Envirun 5k race yesterday. It was a cold, rainy morning on Goat Island in Niagara Falls, NY. Even on such a dreary day, I couldn't help but being struck by how amazing it is there. I ran by the rushing white waters of the Niagara River and caught glimpses of the Horseshoe Falls near the end of the race. Living so close to one of the wonders of the world for so much of my life, I sometimes take the beauty of Niagara Falls for granted. I think it is important to remind myself of what I'm trying to preserve on all those days that I don't allow myself the convenience of single serving foods, or I air dry my hair, or sit in my house during the winter while wrapped up in two sweaters, a blanket, and wearing wool socks on my feet.
Do you have any Earth Day tips to share? Do you find this tip useful? Runners, do you have any tips for me as I begin training for a 10k race this summer?
Have a good day.
~Alexis
One of my favorite nail art tools is a reused cottage cheese or 32oz yogurt container lid. The lids are not accepted by my town's recycling program, so they would end up in a landfill if not reused. They are #2 recyclable, so if I need to use a bit of nail polish remover, the plastic remains intact. I very seldom need to use nail polish remover on the plastic though because it is quite easy to peel dry polish off the plastic.
Reusing these lids is earth friendly in a couple of ways. First, as I mentioned, the lids end up in a landfill if not reused. Secondly, I don't need to paint single use nail art wheels for every swatch I do (I only use the nail art wheel for swatches shared on this blog). I also can easily test out color combinations for nail art without creating a full manicure that might have the wrong shade of base color. I also use a lid under my stamping plates and it dramatically cuts down on post-manicure cleanup.
You can see on my very messy swatching lid that I compared polishes (OPI Designer de Better vs. Sonia Kashuk Golden Ticket) that really don't look much alike, checked polishes for possible layering (Nfu Oh 51 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire over several polishes), and scraped excess nail polish off a stamping plate. You can also see how I created a dry "water" marble on a cottage cheese lid in this post.
In other Earth Day news, I ran in the Envirun 5k race yesterday. It was a cold, rainy morning on Goat Island in Niagara Falls, NY. Even on such a dreary day, I couldn't help but being struck by how amazing it is there. I ran by the rushing white waters of the Niagara River and caught glimpses of the Horseshoe Falls near the end of the race. Living so close to one of the wonders of the world for so much of my life, I sometimes take the beauty of Niagara Falls for granted. I think it is important to remind myself of what I'm trying to preserve on all those days that I don't allow myself the convenience of single serving foods, or I air dry my hair, or sit in my house during the winter while wrapped up in two sweaters, a blanket, and wearing wool socks on my feet.
Do you have any Earth Day tips to share? Do you find this tip useful? Runners, do you have any tips for me as I begin training for a 10k race this summer?
Have a good day.
~Alexis
Monday, March 19, 2012
Spring Nail Art Contest Entry
Pin It
I just learned about Enamel Girl's nail art contest and figured, eh, I'll give it a try. I haven't been stamping for very long, less than a year. Normally, spring is pretty dreary and damp around here until the season has nearly ended, so I wanted to show the progression of spring over my nails. My index finger is full of clouds and has a couple of budding flowers. The flowers bloom and multiply over each nail and the clouds disappear. I love peonies. They remind me of my grandmother, but the flowers are so fleeting, here for a month and no more, so I wanted to showcase them on my index and middle fingers.
What I did:
Base: Two coats Sinful Colors Cinderella, mixed Sinful Colors Unicorn and Sinful Colors Easy Going and sponged them onto the base of the nail, Sally Hansen Emerald City sponged onto the nail tips.
Stamping: Using BornPrettyStore plates m79, M66, m66 (yes, they are two different plates; confusing huh?), and m77, I stamped clouds using Orly Softest White, grasses, and blossoms were stamped in Sally Hansen Emerald City, Nina Ultra Pro Hawaiian Flower, and Revlon Lilac.
Accents: Mixing Sinful Colors Easy Going and Ruby Ruby, I painted the peonies with a thin nail art brush. I dotted the daisies with Sinful Colors Midnight Blue and I accented the grass and leaves with a blend of Sally Hansen Emerald City and Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl.
I hope you like it and I hope that you'll forgive me for not wearing my St. Patrick's Day nails for a whole week. By Sunday, I felt horribly out of style still wearing green polish. Later this week, I will post a couple more pictures of that green mani and discuss its limited wear. Take care.
~Alexis
I just learned about Enamel Girl's nail art contest and figured, eh, I'll give it a try. I haven't been stamping for very long, less than a year. Normally, spring is pretty dreary and damp around here until the season has nearly ended, so I wanted to show the progression of spring over my nails. My index finger is full of clouds and has a couple of budding flowers. The flowers bloom and multiply over each nail and the clouds disappear. I love peonies. They remind me of my grandmother, but the flowers are so fleeting, here for a month and no more, so I wanted to showcase them on my index and middle fingers.
What I did:
Base: Two coats Sinful Colors Cinderella, mixed Sinful Colors Unicorn and Sinful Colors Easy Going and sponged them onto the base of the nail, Sally Hansen Emerald City sponged onto the nail tips.
Stamping: Using BornPrettyStore plates m79, M66, m66 (yes, they are two different plates; confusing huh?), and m77, I stamped clouds using Orly Softest White, grasses, and blossoms were stamped in Sally Hansen Emerald City, Nina Ultra Pro Hawaiian Flower, and Revlon Lilac.
Accents: Mixing Sinful Colors Easy Going and Ruby Ruby, I painted the peonies with a thin nail art brush. I dotted the daisies with Sinful Colors Midnight Blue and I accented the grass and leaves with a blend of Sally Hansen Emerald City and Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl.
I hope you like it and I hope that you'll forgive me for not wearing my St. Patrick's Day nails for a whole week. By Sunday, I felt horribly out of style still wearing green polish. Later this week, I will post a couple more pictures of that green mani and discuss its limited wear. Take care.
~Alexis
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Leprechaun Sized Nail Art
Pin It
Happy St. Patrick's Day! My little girl is four years old and always asking for manicures. This week she requested rainbow nails and I had to oblige. Since she is so young, she could only be trusted to sit still for two rainbows. I just used varying colors of nail polish and my thinnest, stiffest nail art brush. She loves the little pots of gold and I'm just proud that the rainbows didn't turn out like brown blobs. I'm also impressed that she sat still long enough that she didn't smudge her nails. That said, the rainbow on her thumb peeled off less than 24 hours after the manicure. Little girl fingers are like Teflon; polish just won't stay stuck on her nails.
My manicure, on the other hand was a smudgy mess. The base color took forever to dry and didn't cover evenly, then I tried to stamp some clovers and could not get them to look good. I got rid of the clovers and topped with China Glaze Luxe and Lush, which, in my opinion, is the manicure's saving grace. It flashes like gold chips indoors. I kind of want to wear it all the time.
We are heading out to a parade this afternoon and having some Irish-American food this evening. I'll be sporting this pin to the parade. After completing a genealogy assignment in elementary school, my mom made it for me. I love it; it's a silly thing that makes me smile. What are the silly things that just make you smile?
~Alexis
Happy St. Patrick's Day! My little girl is four years old and always asking for manicures. This week she requested rainbow nails and I had to oblige. Since she is so young, she could only be trusted to sit still for two rainbows. I just used varying colors of nail polish and my thinnest, stiffest nail art brush. She loves the little pots of gold and I'm just proud that the rainbows didn't turn out like brown blobs. I'm also impressed that she sat still long enough that she didn't smudge her nails. That said, the rainbow on her thumb peeled off less than 24 hours after the manicure. Little girl fingers are like Teflon; polish just won't stay stuck on her nails.
My manicure, on the other hand was a smudgy mess. The base color took forever to dry and didn't cover evenly, then I tried to stamp some clovers and could not get them to look good. I got rid of the clovers and topped with China Glaze Luxe and Lush, which, in my opinion, is the manicure's saving grace. It flashes like gold chips indoors. I kind of want to wear it all the time.
~Alexis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)