Ruby Wing Moonstone

This is my first Ruby Wing polish!  This one is called Moonstone and it changes color under the sun’s UV rays.

Shown here is one base coat, two coats of Moonstone and one topcoat of seche.  I had a few bald spots, I could’ve maybe went with three coats of this polish.  But it was really late at night and I didn’t really feel like it at the time.  I painted them and then went to bed… then I woke up with some serious shrinkage on the tips of my nails.  It looked like big time tip wear.  I guess this stuff really shrinks with seche vite?  But how well does it change color?  That’s the real question.  I couldn’t wait to run out into the morning sun to check them out.  It was overcast that day but Moonstone still performed well!  My nails turned from a pale bright blue to a deep dusky purple.  The next day I demonstrated this polish to my mom and she immediately had to borrow it.  So, Moonstone is no longer in my possession!  I’ll have to pick up another one of these.  And here’s the kicker–  the Ruby Wing sales display is only a minute from my office.

china glaze border mani

Here’s my last mani for the January N.A.I.L. linkup!  The week 4 theme is BORDER MANI.

I’m wearing a couple polishes from the China Glaze Happy Holiglaze 2013 collection.  It’s actually a three-pack from that collection called Dash of Dazzle.  I chose the two metallics of the bunch because OMG I love metallics lately!  But also, because the other one called Bells Will Be Blinging has bar glitter, and well, I’m not a huge fan.  Maybe some other time!

First I applied one coat of So Blue Without You.  It’s so bright and vibrant!  Then I applied the gold polish called Mingle With Kringle.  So much gold foil goodness!  When I applied the gold I made sure never to touch the base or sides of my nail.  But I did pull the gold polish all the way to the tips of my nails (which makes the border look like a horseshoe), which isn’t a biggie… because then I just hand paint little strips of blue onto my tips to make the blue border reach all the way around my nails.  It’s actually done in no time at all- with no special tools required.  Just the bottle brushes. 

This manicure is a little crazy-looking, huh?  It didn’t come out quite as expected.  I think the metallic finish blurs it so my border isn’t very crisp.  But it was super quick and it’s very eye-catching, so I can’t complain!

Since January is almost over that means the February Linkup themes will be coming out soon!  Keep your eyes peeled this weekend for the announcement!

In the meantime, here are the galleries of January nails…

6 – 12 January – Health and Wellness :

13 – 19 January – Inspired by Pinterest :

20 – 26 January – Opposite Day :

27 January – 2nd February – Border Manis :

Porcelain-Look Nails

Hi y’all!  Did anyone watch the finale of The Office last night?  It made me laugh and cry- what a great finish to an awesome series!  I can’t believe it’s over!  Now I might have to track down some prior seasons of the British series to make sure I get my Office fix!

I painted my nails while watching the finale and I used one of my new favorite polishes from AVON- Forget-Me-Not Blue.  This shade is amazing!  It’s a one-coater and dries pretty fast.  From far away it looks like navy blue, but up close you see some teal shimmer.  The formula is thick and opaque and it’s also perfect for nail art.  In fact, I’ve been very impressed with all my recent avon nail polishes lately.  I’ll be putting an order in with my avon lady soon for some of their new holographic polishes from a line called ‘cosmic’ .  Can’t wait for those babies to arrive!

Some of my other recent purchases include a 26- plate set of Cheeky Stamping Plates.  Cheeky is rumored to have some of the largest designs on the market which is ideal for ladies with long or wide nails.  I love my cheeky set but deciding on a design is so much harder now that I have a good selection of plates to choose from lol!  I decided to go with this floral design using CH44.  I used Konad special polish in white and I like how it looks like porcelain when paired with the blue.  Stamping- I love you!  What did us nail fanatics do before stamps came out???

French Flowers

It’s the last day of the Nail Art Challenge.  Boohooie!  Before I joined the challenge I was thinking oh no.. will I be able to commit to 30 straight days of nail art!?  It sounded like so much work.  But now that the 30 days are up… I can’t believe how fast it went!  I was able to really immerse myself in nail art and I tried so many cool techniques that I’ve been wanting to try for so long! Julie picked some really cool themes and it was a blast.  One of my own favorite designs is probably my AriZona Iced Tea Nails.  AriZona recently posted it on their facebook page and my blog stats have blown up today!  Pretty cool I think. 🙂

Moving on to my very last mani from the challenge!  Day 30’s theme is RECREATE YOUR FAVORITE MANICURE.  I chose Brijit’s manicure to recreate:  Isn’t hers cute?  Brijit’s mani was in turn inspired by PSHIIIT.  Pshiiit made the cutest little GIF to show you how easy it is to paint these flowers: nail art fleuri.  I named my copycat of their manis FRENCH FLOWERS because both Brijit and Pshiiit are French bloggers!

My base color is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away!  My petals are a light blue by NYC called Skyline Blue.  The silver accents were made with NYC Tribeca Silver.  I like the way it looks in real life- but so hard to photograph!

A final thank you for following me on this challenge!  I loved all the likes and comments- it really kept me going throughout the 30 days!  See you next time when poor Craftynail will have to come up with ideas on her own! lol

L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue Swatch

Today is day 5 of the 30 Day Nail Challenge and the theme is BLUE.  I’m wearing L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue and it’s about as blue as you can get!  This polish amazes me.  I want it in every color!  The scattered holo effect is very intense and my boyfriend said it’s like ‘looking at the cosmos’.  I dunno, maybe he said it just to humor me.  Hahaha.   Shown in the pics is two coats without a topcoat.  One thing I love about this polish is that it looks like a glitter, but it’s oh so smooth upon application.  It’s easy to remove too. 

I love this blue and there’s nothing more to say about it.  The pictures speak for themselves!   I’m thinking of ordering some more online since my local Rite Aid hasn’t restocked their L.A. Girl 3D Effects display.  Their website has free shipping in the US if your order is over $25 and most of their polishes are $5 right now.  (I can’t find any international shipping info on their site though :(.)  They carry metallics, textured, neons, glitters, scented polish and a whole line of french manicure colors too.  Check ’em out here: L.A. Girl/Nails.

Konad Cloudy Sky Nails

Hi everyone!  Here’s the cute lazy-day Sunday mani that I came up with today.  It’s been very cold here lately, but today feel more springy and the birds are all chirping outside- so I think this happy cloud design seems fitting.  My base color is Sephora by OPI Natural Environ-mint.  It’s totally blue so I don’t know why they call it ‘mint’!!  Then I stamped some clouds on using my Konad M79 plate and some white Konad Special Nail Polish.

I added some matte topcoat by MASH to finish off the look.  This MASH matte polish is so great!  I bought it because it was cheaper than most other matte toppers.  Turns out that it dries super-fast and I’m really happy with the smooth formula.  I guess my cheapness paid off with this purchase!

Hope you all have a happy end to your weekend!  I’m going to go back to watching Breaking Dawn Pt1 now.  I recorded it a month ago and I’m having a hard time deleting it because I love it so much.  So I’m watching it again to get my twilight fix.  Maybe that will make it easier for me to delete it from my DVR box later!?

Nail Savvy brand?

Today I’m wearing a brand of lacquer that I really don’t know much about.  This unnamed shimmery baby blue polish by Nail Savvy has silver micro-glitter and it claims to be long-wearing.  I’ve had it on for 3 days… no chips so far, but a little bit of tip wear.  I like this polish…the tiny silver flecks are subtle but really pretty. I bet it would look great with some snowflakes or winter nail art.

I’m not sure where I got this bottle of polish and I can’t find this brand on the web.  It seems like it’s high quality- or maybe I’m just falling for their packaging ploys! LOL.  Their bottle brags of a special formula: Patented ceramic microsphere formula enriched with minerals.  Helps to strengthen, protect and xtend polish wear.  Now I’m curious – does anyone else own any bottles of Nail Savvy?  It says distributed in New York, NY & Wokingham, Berkshire RG…