Easter Egg Nails for #NAILLINKUP

It’s almost Eastertime!  I feel like the holiday really snuck up on me this year.  Last year by this time I did a bunch of easter posts, including an embellished nail polish egg (see the prop in my pic below), a tutorial on how to decorate eggs with polish, and also some cutesy chick nails. I was really on a roll.

But so far, this is all I’ve come up with for 2014.  It’s a french manicure with tiny colored eggs painted over top.  Fingers crossed that you can tell that they’re eggs!

easter egg nails

I started with a classic french mani that I free-handed.  Then I stamped a green basket weave print over top using AVON Garden Green and my MASH-39 stamping plate.  Then I made some bright easter eggs in pink, blue, purple and yellow using a dotting tool and a small brush.  I did a sparkly coat of Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope on top and then some seche vite.  I think my eggs would’ve looked more pronounced over a solid white background.  This was kind of a waste of a nice french mani since you can’t even really see it!  On the bright side, this got me in the easter mood!  And it’s just in time for our week 3 theme for the April Nail Art Ideas Linkup.

Are you planning on doing some Easter nail art?  If so, you should it add it to our inlinkz for the April Linkup >>

14th – 20th April : Easter

Glitter for #NAILLINKUP

Just in the nick of time!  Here’s my GLITTER themed manicure for the February N.A.I.L. Linkup.

I re-sized my pics in a different program and they look a little blurry.  Buuuut I’m happy to say that I was able to take these photos outside in natural light this time!  Some of our snow has melted and I’m venturing outside again.  I emphasize the word SOME when speaking about the snow melting.  There’s still a lot on the ground! Oh, and we’re supposed to get another snowstorm on sunday nite.  Sweeeeet.  Cuz it hasn’t snowed in like what?  At least 5 days now ?

blue and brown glitter french mani

  • I’m wearing one coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails as my basecoat.
  • I used one coat of Seche Chic as my nude transparent base color.
  • I applied blue painters tape to section off my tips.
  • Painted my tips a dark brown shimmery color from the Kardashian Cabana Collection called Sunrise.
  • Then I applied three coats of my sparse glitter topper from wet n wild called Stick it to the Man.
  • One coat of seche vite topcoat to smooth it all out.
  • Then I realized it needed something to pull it all together so I added blue dots of Nicole by Opi Pros & Confidence.  Much better!

glitter french

The last time I wore this brown Kardashian color I was disappointed.  The brush was all weird and defective and application was difficult.  I wrote to the Kardashians and Kim promptly mailed me a new one!  Ok, I didn’t write to THE Kardashians… I wrote to their company.  And the ACTUAL Kim didn’t mail me a new product, instead some girl in their customer care department named Kim did.  But still… it was pretty cool, and I appreciate their good customer service.  Here’s the other time I wore this brown: Feathers for Oct NAILLINKUP

February N.A.I.L. is almost over but tomorrow we’ll announce the March themes.  Can’t wait!  And here are all the awesome nail art entries from February.  Talk soon…

February NAILLINKUP

Red :

Valentines Day :

Gradient :

Glitter :

Hidden Hearts Underside Mani

Hey y’all!  My nails are pretty long at the moment so I thought why not do another one of my ‘underside’ manis!  I’m shocked at how long they got considering about a month ago I did a review of Duri Rejuvacote and it broke a bunch of my nails.  I had to file them down and I lost some length.  But then I started using my old bottle of nail hardener by Sally Hansen and that has helped a lot.  Plus, my nails have been protected by my Incoco nail strips for a while so they’ve been pretty healthy.  Fingers crossed!  Pssst- Don’t miss my Incoco giveaway that runs til March 1st 2014– you can tweet everyday for extra chances to win!

red heart underside mani by Craftynail

For this underside mani I’m wearing Incoco french tips in Giftwrapped Tips, and then I painted the underside with a mini bottle of red Sample Sale by sephora by opi.  Then I made the underside shiny with some seche vite topcoat and I stuck some heart-shaped rhinestones under there.  I like that they’re ‘hidden hearts’ that don’t really show since they’re tucked under my nails.  It’s kinda like a sexy secret!

red underside mani

My other underside manis can be seen on my Gallery page.  Have a great day!

Incoco French Manicure Review

*These products were provided to me for review

I’m so excited to show you some Incoco nail strips today.  Did you know that Incocos are made with real nail polish?  A lot of the pics I see online are of their full nail strips.  Incoco carries an extensive array of full nail designs that look so enticing (chevrons, stars, hearts, marble, etc).  But DO NOT discount their french manicure strips!  I have to admit, my first thought was to pick some funky FULL nail strips that reflect my personality- afterall, I am a huge nail art fan (in case you haven’t noticed).  But after researching their product line I realized that their basic french manicure strips are really unique!  So today I will be showing you two different french manicure styles from Incoco.  They make two kinds of french mani products: standard french and french with designs or colors. I cannot hide it, and I will not make you wait to hear what I think…….I LOVE THEM BOTH!

First let’s look at Champagne.  Champagne is one of their standard french designs described as a ‘classic french set with white tip strips and light beige sheer strips with a frosty finish’….

incoco champagne day 6

WHAT’S IN THE PACKAGE?

-One sheet that includes 16 white tips.

-Two sheets of the sheer beige full nail strips.  There were 8 strips on each sheet for a total of 16.

-A small nail file and cuticle stick are also included.

They have a video on their website that shows you how the strips work, which I watched several times.  Their video doesn’t show that there are two white tips on each strip.  I accidentally tossed a few used wrappers aside before I realized that I was supposed to peel off 2 tips from each.  Oopsy.  I guess the ones I received in the mail look a little different than the video.  So I put this graphic together so you can see what comes in the package (see below).

psd incoco french set copy

APPLICATION?

1-Peel the plastic covering off, then tug on the grey tab to peel the tip off the sheet.  Apply the tip to your clean nail.  If you are nice and warm then the tip will be more pliable in case you need to stretch it at all.  Use a nail file  in a downward motion to file off any excess.

2- Apply the full nail strip to your entire nail and file off any excess.

WEAR-TIME?

Incoco claims that they last up to 14 days.   I really wanted to wear them for as long as I could to do a concise review.  But I didn’t expect them to last as long as they did!  Although I loved, loved, loved my frenchie, I removed the manicure after a week. Keep in mind that 7 days for me is like an eternity when you consider that I have a nail blog to run here and I’m in the habit of changing my nails almost every day.  I had some tip wear, but no chips.  I did notice that the sheer beige surface had some minute cracks in it.  But they weren’t very noticeable.  I must say, Incoco’s wear time is impressive.  Here’s a shot of DAY 7!  Still lookin’ good!

incoco champagne day 7

Now let’s look at the second set of strips!  They’re called Giftwrapped Tips.  They are a bold and stylish red plaid design which comes with clear full strips to lay over top.  Most (but not ALL) of the standard french sets come with tinted full strips, while the fancy french designs like this one come with clear.

Giftwrapped tips

incoco french giftwrapped tips

WHAT DO I LOVE ABOUT INCOCO?

♥ They somehow ‘settle’ onto your nail and look better as time goes by.

♥ Did you use a strip that was too big for your nail?  Just use some nail polish remover around your cuticles and the excess strip melts away- it’s made from real nail polish!

♥ They’re made in the USA.

♥ They really stay put!  They don’t feel like they’re gonna detach and peel off like other decal-type nail strips.

♥ Easy to apply.  I didn’t mess them up.  The first time it took an hour.  But the second time it took 37 minutes.  I anticipate the full nail designs taking about half that since you only have ten strips to apply instead of 20.

GOT COUPONS?

Yes ma’am!  You can used code CRAFTY15 to save 15% off your cart until March 11th 2014 at incoco.com

Champagne and the other standard french sets can be found online here: French Manicures.  Giftwrapped Tips and the other funky french sets can be found here: French Designs & Colors.  I am still wearing my Giftwrapped Tips (I’m on day 3) and I’m already planning what to get next.  I think the black french tips called LICORICE would look hotttt!

GOT GIVEAWAYS?

Oh, yes I do!  Incoco is graciously giving away a set of their nail strips to one of my lucky readers! Giveaway runs until March 1st 2014.  Only USA and Canada residents can enter.

Enter for free now >> an INCOCO giveaway <<

The winner will be selected on March 2nd 2014.   The prize is any in-stock pack of nail strips from incoco.com – your choice of any one style & free shipping!  Prize will be mailed to you directly from Incoco.   I will verify all entries.  If you cheat, I delete!  Remember, USA and Canada only please.  Good luck to everyone!

My Stripes for Golden Oldies Thursdays

This is my first entry in one of The Crumpet‘s nail challenges! This one’s called Golden Oldies Thursdays and the theme for this week is STRIPES. For my manicure I used some very old polishes to stick true to the rules. In fact, I really went for the gusto and used one verrrrry old polish!pink striped french mani

My white tips were painted with Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff polish called French White Tips.  I don’t know how old it is, but I would guess about 20 yrs old? Wow, right? My magenta stripes were made with a Stripe Rite striper that I bought at Sally’s when I first started dabbling in nail art.  So I’d say that it’s probably 4 yrs old. Funny thing…. I never use my stripers anymore! Why, I have no idea! Then I outlined the stripes with a black nail art pen and stamped a little floral konad design on my accent nails.  This M4 KONAD plate was the verrrry first stamping plate that I bought a few yrs ago, so it’s perfect to use for this Golden Oldies challenge! 🙂

I’m not excited about my nail art pen lines looking so sloppy though!  I think the pen sticks and drags on the surface of my polish and it always looks funny- like a kindergartener did them.  Oh well!  It is what it is.  The sloppiness gives it some panache, right?

striped french tips

If you’re wondering why my nailbeds look so pink, so am I!  I started using Duri Rejuvacote and I am halfway through my ten day trial!  Not sure why my nails are turning pink with it!  I will post all the results when my ten days is up.  I love before and after pics!!!

view the other girls’ GOT Stripes here:

my long-lasting frenchie

So my last post was my festive french mani that I wore on Christmas day.  But I snapped a few shots of that mani before I applied my DIY holly decals (just to see what a plain ol’ frenchie looks like on me)…

french manicure

It’s been so long since I wore a frenchie, it was a nice break.  I did this french manicure on monday and today is saturday.  That’s 6 days with no chips!  Like, seriously?? How does that even happen?  I give credit to my basecoat- I used Orly Bonder.  But also…. to my nail shape.  My nail polish just does not seem to chip on my pointy nails!  It’s great.  I hope to write up a pointy nail post soon.  Kinda like an A-Z/everything you want to know about pointy nails sorta post! 🙂

Even though today is the 6th day and I’m curious how much longer this one will last, I will be removing this frenchie later today.  I am itching to try out my new christmas gift nail polishes!!  See you soon!