Mediterranean Gradient for #NAILLINKUP

What I’m wearing:

♥ I used OPI’s My Vampire is Buff as my basecoat

♥ Then I did a gradient using a makeup wedge and a creamy teal called On The Go by Caronia

♥ I stamped over my gradient with Butter London Royal Navy and 4 different full-nail designs from my Bundle Monster BM-404 plate

♥ Lastly I applied quick-dry Seche Vite topcoat over all my nails.  The navy Butter London didn’t smudge at all. 🙂

The idea for this color combo has been swirling around in my head for days… and I see why.   I love how the colors look here!  The cream, teal and navy look perfectly Mediterranean together I think.  I hope you like it too!

Don’t forget to check out all the other entries for N.A.I.L.‘S  gradient theme!  And feel free to join in since the inlinkz are open for the whole month of February!

Gradient :

Thermal Valentines nails for #NAILLINKUP

I’ve done a bunch of valentines nails so far this year, but I had to squeeze in another for our February Nail Art Ideas Linkup (more info on N.A.I.L. right here)! To make it sexy for the holiday I wanted to incorporate some red, a thermal heat-activated polish, and some hearts!  The two main polishes I used here are Nicole by OPI Challenge Red-y and Black Sheep Lacquer Enter Sandman.  I also did a white accent nail with a red heart outlined with black dots.  The black dots make it look like a digital 8-bit heart!  I really like it!

The thermal polish that I used over all the red nails, even over the white ones, is a translucent light grey color called Enter Sandman.  It’s a thermal topper by Black Sheep Lacquer which is supposed to transform your base color and give it a black thermal effect.  I didn’t get too much thermal effect in my pics though, sorry.  It’s been so cold here in NY (huge snow storm in effect as I write this)!  However, I did notice more thermal action during my kickboxing class yesterday when I was nice n warm (that’s a nice way of saying ‘dripping with sweat’)!  I love the vampiness of this color combo.  The red Nicole by OPI polish with the indie thermal on top looks really hot!  Even the thermal over the white looks kinda cool!  It has a grey faded newspaper look.

If you wanna see the other valentines manis for the N.A.I.L. Linkup then here are the links.  They’re open for the whole month of feb if you’d like to enter your nails too…

FEBRUARY 2014

Red :

Valentines Day :

Gradient :

Glitter :

Red nail polish from Brijits Digits for #NAILLINKUP

Week one of the February N.A.I.L. Linkup is all about RED.  Well, I have a gorgeous red indie from Brijits Digits Boutique!  This one is called Yowl and it’s a semi-matte.  You may have seen it before when I wore it with topcoat to make it high gloss (here on my facebook page), but this time I’m wearing Yowl in all it’s glorious semi-matteness….

Shown here is three coats of Yowl without topcoat.  It has a semi-matte finish so you can see how silky it is.  I love how the light just skims over the surface of the polish and gives it a softened glow.  It dries fast too!

Yowl would be described as brick or burnt red but it also has a secret shimmer which is so pretty up close….

Now on to the nail art segment of this post 😉 !!  I went for something super simple since I haven’t been groovin’ on complicated nail art lately.  I wanna keep it quick and easy today.  So for this next design I used a black skinny striper polish from L.A. Colors to make little hearts.  I also did some tiny dots on my accent nail which look so 3D & textured against the smooth finish of the polish.

Yowl is such a great polish…. it’s actually part of Brijit’s semi-matte collection.  She has 4 in total listed here-

Yowl

Catcall cool pink with slight blue shimmer

Stone Circle dark blue-ish grey cream

Soft Grey pale grey cream

I’m loving red nails for February!  Are you?

I hope I see more red for the NAIL LINKUP.  Here are the inlinkz…

Red :

February N.A.I.L. Challenge Announcement #NAILLINKUP

Hey N.A.I.L. Challengers!! It’s officially February so Brijits Digits, Craftynail, and Eeeek! Nail Polish! have some new themes for you as part of the Nail Art Ideas Linkup.  You guessed it- there’s a Valentine’s theme thrown in there.  But we promise we won’t get all ‘saccharine sweet’ on you!  More on that after the jump!  Let’s see the February prompts, shall we?

RED (week 1)- Let’s get back to basics.  Red nails!  They’re classy and sexy.  Show us some nail art using the color red or maybe share your favorite red nail polish with us.  This theme is also inspired by Wear Red Day (February 7th) to help raise awareness for heart disease in women.

VALENTINES DAY (week 2)- A Valentines Day theme is basically ‘a given’ for February, but you can get as romantic or as dark as you want!  If you love flowers or hearts it’s your time to shine.  But if the sight of Cupid makes you want to choke someone… well, then let’s see those gloom and doom designs too!

GRADIENT (week 3)- Gradients are a nice basic nail art technique with so much room for interpretation.  You can use different tools, different colors, the possibilities are endless.  Show us what you’ve got!

GLITTER (week 4)-  The life of a nail polish addict would not be the same without it, yet our glitter polishes sit there unused far too often.  Pick through your stash and find your most gorgeous bottle.  Flip it upside down now so the glitter mixes up and settles on top.  Then you’ll be all prepped for glitter week!

Here are the rules for Nail Art Ideas Linkup (N.A.I.L.)……

• Do one of the weekly themes, or do them all.  It’s flexible!
• The dates for each week are only suggestions- you can post your nails whenever you want in February.
• The nail art ideas/themes are open to interpretation so you can create whatever kind of design you want! Stamps, stickers, acrylics- anything goes!
• We encourage all nail enthusiasts to join in no matter what platform you use; blog, FB, IG, Tumblr, etc…
• Feel free to post our widget on your site and you can use hashtag #NAILLINKUP on your social media.
• Lastly but most importantly, don’t forget to share your nail pics via the inlinkz below.

Red :

Valentines Day :

Gradient :

Glitter :

Any questions about NAIL ART IDEAS LINKUP?  Contact us or read more about N.A.I.L. on our blog links below.  We look forward to seeing your nails this February!

signed,

Brijit from Brijits Digits

Jacqui from Craftynail

Jemma from Eeeek! Nail Polish!