Freehand Funky French on the Diagonal

So if you can't tell by my boring title names, I'm not really a creative person.  It may appear (at first glance) that I am and I truly wish I were but for the most part all I am able to do is take someone else's idea and try my hand at it.  I've had my creative moments but I'm just not yet brave enough to show those because most are fails.  Maybe some day. ;)

One of the many cool things I've come to find out about nail art is that the love for it is universal.  While the taste may vary from culture to culture or even person to person, you don't necessarily have to know the language of the individual to "get the picture".  A lot of blogs and youtuber's I subscribe to are in other languages & I don't speak a darned one of them - I only speak English. :(  The reason I say all that is because today I have for you my take on a funky french that I saw here, which is not in English, but here is the pic of my nails:

For the base coat I used Gelous that I purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply.  I then freehanded the black which was LA Colors nail art w/the striping brush in black.  Once that dried I used Sally Hansen White Out and a toothpick (I didn't have any dotting tools yet) for the white dots.  Then I alternated smaller dots on top of the white in blue (cannot remember the polish I used - sorry!) & a purple-pink neon China Glaze Purple Panic.  I then topped it off with Seche Vite.  I believe this is the 1st freehand nail art mani that I've ever done & it's still one of my favorites! 

Another cool thing about this mani is that it was super cheap to do so if you're looking for a neat way to spice up your nails without having to pay salon prices or buy special tools then this should be right up your alley!  The LA Colors nail art polish I got at one of my local dollar stores for $0.99, a toothpick and 2-3 other colors is all you really need to accomplish this look.

Hope you like!  Have a great day fellow nail polish lovers!

Across the Universe - Deborah Lippmann

A few days ago I posted about my precious hubby surprising me on Valentine's Day with one of my most coveted after nail polishes - Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe.  From what I've read on her website, Deborah Lippmann loves music (she even has a few cd's out) & she names some (if not all) of her polishes after songs.  This one is named after The Beatle's song Across the Universe. 

I tested this polish with 3 different base coats:  Zoya Anchor, OPI regular base coat & some generic kind I got at Sally's Beauty Supply.  I got the least amount of shrinkage with the OPI so I went with that. 

This polish is a navy jelly with aqua micro glitter and the bigger hex glitter of green and blue.  It makes me think of a mermaid or the deep ocean or maybe even the universe. ;)  For the top coat, I didn't go with my old faithful Seche Vite because I had read on another blog somewhere that the 2 didn't play nice with each other.  I used Orly Polishield on my left hand & Zoya Armor (no drying drops) on my right so I could see which one held better.  I had just the slightest bit more tip-wear with the Zoya but I am right-handed so I think they were both an even match.

As thin as this polish is I was surprised that it was opaque in 3 but it was and most definitely worth it!  I'm going to wear this for as long as I can because it is so awesome.  *Edit:  It wound up lasting 3 days which is a long time for me.

Photo taken outdoors at sunset.

See how sheer it was @ 1 coat?

Sorry for the crappy lighting - not sure what was going on...

Deborah Lippmann's nail polish is on the expensive side ($18/bottle) & is available at Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus...you get the picture.  While I do love love LOVE my nail polish, that is quite expensive IMO & I would never buy that for myself & that is why it is so special to me.  Do you own any of her nail polishes?  What are your thoughts?

Polka Dots!

Hello everyone!  Today for you I have polka dots. I went through a phase where I hated polka dots but I don't anymore!  For this mani I used one of those tiny Sally Girl polishes in no-name lavendar as the base color (which was opaque in 1 coat!) & for the stamping I used the Bundlemonster "fauxnad" plate bm21 and the stamp color was also a Sally Girl no-name polish in a dark(er) purple.

Water Marble using Color Club: Pure Energy & Factory Girl

Hello Readers!  This is a water marble I did (the only one so far, actually) using 2 different shades of blue from Color Club.  One is Pure Energy which is an aqua blue with some green shimmer & the other is Factory Girl which is a light blue creme.  I was trying to recreate what the awesome Nihrida did here.  If you haven't checked out her blog yet, do so.  She is awesome. 

Here is my rendition:

OPI - Do You Lilac It?

Today for you I have OPI's Do You Lilac IT? with Nubar 2010 on top, Konad m51 using Konad special polish in purple for the design & the little flower on my ring finger came in a packet I bought at Sally Beauty.  I must be in a purple mood lately because it seems as if all the mani's I've done as of recent are purple.  DYLI was opaque in 1 coat - yippee!  When I first saw Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure I knew it was a must-have, then I saw it was LE & going for $20 on ebay, I about died.  Sally Hansen for that much?  You have GOT to be kidding me!  Anyways, I found out that Nubar 2010 is an almost exact dupe so I got it for much cheaper.  This is the 1st time I've actually worn 2010 on a mani because it is so very special to me that I wanted to save it for that special color & to me this combo is perfect so here it is in all its glory!

Then I mattefied it using Essie Matte About You (sorry for the crappy pic):

And here is a pic of the Nubar 2010 - just look at that rainbow of beautiful flaky goodness!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Well, today is Valentine's Day & I just couldn't pass up doing a romantic mani!  I used Konad plate M19 to do the french tips with Konad special polish in white.  I don't have this technique perfected yet so I had to go back over it freehand with Wet 'N Wild in French White Creme.  Once that dried, I used one of those Sally Girl nail polishes that are really tiny that you get at Sally Beauty Supply for like $0.99.  The only thing I don't like about them is that they don't have names!  It was light pink in color & had a creme finish.  Once it dried, I added the kiss design from bm02 with an old Sinful Colors nail polish in Crazy Red.

And this is one of the presents I received from my hubby for Valentine's Day!  He is so thoughtful - I have the best husband!!!  He is so supportive of me with my whole nail polish/nail art obsession!  This is my first Deborah Lippman polish.  If I hadn't spent so much time & effort on the kiss manicure, I would have put this on straight away!  I cannot wait to wear this - it is absolutely breathtaking IRL.  It makes me think of a mermaid's tail. 

The other gift he got me was the full-size Zoya Color Lock System.  During their 3-free I purchased the mini version & fell in love - especially with their nail polish remover.  I'll get more into that later!  Oh & I received some products over the weekend to review so stay tuned!  Lots of fun things coming soon!!!

Happy Valentine's Day for those of you with someone & Happy Single's Awareness Day to those of you without!  May you all be happy & blessed on this beautiful day!

Tie-Dyed Freehand Mani

My most favorite music era is the 60's & 70's, with my most favorite band of all time being Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (and don't forget Taylor & Reeves). 

All of that hippie, tie-dyed stuff is my fave so I have to share with you today my tie-dyed nail art.  My inspiration comes from a Nail Art youtube video by Dollface22772 which can be found here:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Dollface22772#p/search/3/NN08dNoUuGg
And here are my results:

This was a lot easier than I expected it to be. 
I just picked out polishes with a creme finish: 
     Red - unknown
     Orange - Wet n Wild in Sunny Side UP
     Yellow - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow
     Green - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Green with Envy
     Blue - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away
     Purple - Finger Paints Amethyst Atelier

I painted each nail one-by-one & did the colors in rows like they would be in a rainbow.  While they were wet, I ran a toothpick through it starting with the red going out through to the purple.  I topped it off with Seche Vite and there you have it!

Skin, Cuticles & Zoya Kelly

I have horrible cuticles & dry skin.  I also don't drink enough water & that's probably the problem but I just can't drink it - ugh!  I bleed Dr. Pepper.  I've recently discovered 2 new things that are working on my skin and cuticle.
First, this wonderful lotion here:

I love Carmex lip balm so you know that I freaked out when I found out about this!  It says that it's non-greasy & it's actually true!  A little goes a long way & that lotion-y feeling is gone as soon as you rub in the lotion.  I now swear by this stuff!

Next is a tip I found on the laquerista's blog where you take an emery board and file the skin on the sides of your nails.  I tried it & found that it made a difference instantaneously!

Just so that this post isn't without nails, here is Zoya Kelly which is an awesome dark grey creme with a purple tone to it.  I absolutely love this color!  It is opaque in 1 coat & I've seen on Zoya's facebook that fans have used it to stamp with.  I can't wait to try that - maybe this weekend!  I only did an accent nail, using the leopard print from Konad plate m57 with Rimmel 60 Seconds in Grey Matter, which is awesome for stamping!

Until next time, have a grey(t) day!  :)

Matte-fied Monday with Avon Mirror Shine

Hello all & Happy Monday to you!  I know everyone hates Mondays & I do too so I try to think of Monday as a person, you know the underdog that is very nice but no one likes & it's for a reason that is out of the underdog's control?  So I try to give Mondays a break.  Sorry for going so off-topic - back to the nails!

Today for you I have Avon Mirror Shine in dark purple (cannot remember the name but will update w/it later) & I stamped using Avon Mirror Shine in silver (will also update this later w/the name) & I used Konad image plate m78.  There's two awesome things about these Avon chrome polishes:  they are 1-coaters & they stamp.  I've learned that usually if it's a 1-coater then it will stamp, I haven't found one yet that won't!

So here it is in it's shiny chromaticness (and I think I just made up a word!):

And here it is mattefied:

It's kind of hard to tell but both of these pictures were taken in the same amount of sunlight - indirect through my kitchen windows.

Which way do you like better?

Funky French Friday

I apologize - I know a lot of nail bloggers out there do a Funky French Friday but I just can't help myself!  So I was thinking I could do something different though - I thought about doing a theme called "Matte Monday".  What do you think?

Anyways, today I have for you the Petites Raspberry Ice for the french tips using Konad plate M19.  For the base coat I used Artificial Nails that I purchased at Sally Beauty Supply.  Enjoy, have a great weekend & see you soon!

A few different mani's...

This post is going to be a little pic heavy with a few mani's I've done for my mom. 

For the 1st one here, I can't recall what the base color was but it is a gorgeous vampy red.  I used Konad plate m64 and the white special stamping polish for the design.

For this mani, she wanted to try tone-on-tone so we decided to go with a sheer white nail polish by Wet 'n Wild that I borrowed from my husband's niece - it didn't have a name & for the design I used a fauxnad plate made by Bundlemonster, bm19.

And the final one for now, I used an old nail polish I have in my stash, Almay 'One Coat' & the color name is Cashmere.  This polish smells awful but on the plus side, it is a 1-coater (& it also works great for stamping!).  For the design I used Konad plate m78 & special stamping polish in black.

Enjoy & have a great day!

OPI What's with the Cattitude?

Some of you may not know this but my favorite color is blue, pretty much in any shade, but my most favorite blue is so hard to describe.  It's like a neon baby blue.  So when I saw this color, I just knew it was "my color".  Well, let me tell you how disappointed I was in this polish.  It took 6-8 layers to become opaque which angered me for 3 reasons (but are kind of the same?):  (1) the less coats it takes, the less time it takes, the happier I am; (2) I hate seeing VNL (visible nail line) & (3) OPI polish is too expensive to have to use that much polish; I mean, for $9/bottle I expect more than I do from the cheapo drugstore polishes.  It seems to me that creme polishes are the worst for this.  Anyways, this is OPI's What's with the Cattitude? from the Shrek collection.  The design is from Konad plate m73 & Konad black stamping polish.

After doing this mani, I found that using a white under these problem polishes not only makes it easier for these to become opaque but it also makes the color "pop".  If I ever again have 8 hrs to spend on a mani, I might try it.  We'll see...

Heart French Mani

Hello all!  Since we're now in February, I thought I would share a heart french mani with you as Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  For the base coat I used Artificial Nails that I purchased at Sally's, which gives your nails that "artificial nail look".  I also used Konad plate m80 and the special stamping polish in white.

Do you have any special plans for Valentine's Day?  I'd love to hear them!