Weekend Nails

I spent some time with family this weekend and of course fit in some nail time.  My boyfriend’s mother pulled out some pretty Sephora by OPI colors and I fell in love with a pink called Set The Mood.  So I applied two coats and then stamped a swirly design using my old bottle of AVON Spellbound and Cheeky Plate 52 (CH52).  Then I used some nail guide stickers and painted my tips with NYC Black Lace.  The black studs from Claire’s Boutique made a nice final touch!

I also painted my boyfriend’s mom’s nails!  She gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted so I came up with this cute ruffian with rhinestones.  I wish I was able to capture a good photo at their house because this mani was so WOW in real life!  I think it was the OPI Malaga Wine that did it!  It’s such a deep, glossy and luxurious red.  It’s shine factor is through the roof and I just love it!

Hope you all had a great weekend!  Did you do your nails too?

L.A. Girl Fishnet French Manicure

In March I bought an L.A. Girl polish in rite aid and loved it!  Since then I placed an order online and bought a bunch of other cool stuff from them!  Well, I’m so happy to finally try out this L.A. Girl French Manicure nail polish!   This shade is called Pink Nude and I just love the big clinky bottle and the Eiffel Tower!

I used nail guide stickers and painted my tips with wet n wild French White Crème.  I removed the stickers and then applied just one coat of my LA Girl Pink Nude.  I probably could’ve done two but I was feeling lazy.  It came out really nice- nuthin like a classy french manicure.

But then I woke up the next morning…and I just HAD to spice up my frenchie.  I guess I can’t leave well enough alone!  So I stamped a fishnet design using my Konad M79 plate and a matte satin polish from Sally Hansen called Bronzed Matte.  The stamp came out kinda translucent which looks cool I think.  Now that’s more like it!

I think french manicures look  beautiful…but always leave me itching to pull out the nail polish remover and do something with more pizazz! It’s this weird ‘I LOVE YOU BUT I WANNA REMOVE YOU’ kinda relationship!  LOL!  What do you think of them?

Ruffian Manicure

Day 13 of the Nail Challenge is Ruffian !  I freakin love Ruffian manis!    I also love that it makes me wanna speak with a Jamaican accent.  Not sure why… maybe because it reminds me of the word Ragamuffin which makes me think of Reggae music and stuff IDK?  RRRUFFIAN MON! 

This mani was pretty simple- here’s what I did:  I started with a black base of Ebony Hates Chris by wet n wild.  Then I taped my nails off with some french manicure nail guide stickers and applied my contrasting 2nd polish called Sweet Pea Dream by AVON.  I peeled the nail guide stickers off slowly to reveal the ruffian.  A topcoat smoothed it all out and bam-  a sexy ruffian!

Even though the technique is pretty simple- I actually did this mani over the course of two days.  See, I’ll admit that I’m very impatient when it comes to waiting for nails to dry.  When I start painting, I wanna paint all the way through to the end without stopping.  And since I planned to do my ruffian with tape, that means that my black base needs to be completely dry before I apply the nail guide stickers.  The thought of waiting for my black to dry and hoping I don’t mess up my tape job due to still-tacky paint causes me undue stress.  So to avoid all the anxiety and sitting around waiting….I painted my nails black, slapped some quick-drying seche vite on top and called it a day.  I rocked the black nail polish by itself for a day and got some compliments on it so that’s cool!  The next day I applied my nail guide stickers and then painted my 2nd color to finish my ruffian.  This process worked well for me since it eliminated the risk of screwing up my tape job and it allowed me to wear two different manis over the course of two days.  Win, win!

This look is so fresh- it’s like a rebellious french mani!  Classy and wild all at the same time.  I’m in love.

french manicure using nail guide stickers

You can easily do a french manicure at home using inexpensive nail guide stickers! I purchased a pack on ebay for $2.99.  You basically apply the guide sticker to the end of your bare nail … and then paint the tip whatever color you choose.  When you remove the disposable sticker you are left with a painted tip with a nice clean line.  I did get get a little impatient when I was applying them (my OCD came out when I was trying to position the stickers just right!)… but overall, they were pretty easy to use.

Since I like to jazz things up…and the traditional french manicure is a lil boring for me…I tested out my new stickers using bright colors and sparkle topcoats!!  For my blue mani I used the traditional curve-shaped stickers with ‘Revlon– Blue Slate’.  For my my purple mani I used the chevron-shaped stickers with ‘Sephora by OPI– Eve-y on the Eyes’.  I must say, I’m LOVING the chevron-shaped stickers!  The angles in the design made my nails look long and strong!

BTW, french manicure guide stickers are great for ladies with short nails because you can purposely position the sticker further back on your nail bed to create the appearance of a longer tip 🙂

French manicure using Revlon Blue Slate for tips and NYC Starry Silver Glitter as topcoat

Chevron-shaped French manicure using Sephora by OPI Eve-y on the Eyes for tips and Cover Girl Crystal Mist as topcoat