STAMPING- OPI Chevron for #NAILLINKUP

This is my first Nail Art Ideas Linkup design for the month of March.  I’m excited for the themes we have this month!  Especially AQUA for some reason . 😀

The theme for week 1 is STAMPING so I reached for my new Bundle Monster set!  I finally got the Create Your Own 2013 set that I’ve been lusting after.  I’m so excited to use them all!  For this easy chevron I used plate BM-423.

I’ve never done a traditional chevron using little pieces of zig zaggy tape or anything.  I’ve always felt like if I tried I would screw it up!  Me and tape don’t always get along.  So using a stamping plate instead was the perfect solution for me! I generally have good luck with stamping.

Besides my bundle monster plate, I used three different OPIs for this manicure. I like how the different colors coordinate and clash all at the same time for a cool 80’s vibe.  Here’s what I’m wearing:

♥ Did It On ‘Em ♥ Elephantastic Pink ♥ Haven’t the Foggiest 

Thinking of joining in on the March N.A.I.L. fun?  More info right here- NAILLINKUP.  And don’t forget to check out the other stamping manis >>

Stamping –

My DIY Cameo Decals

Hey! !  I’m psyched to show you this mani… it came out so cute!

I’m wearing Zoya Dove (grey), Orly Jealous, Much? (my mom’s FAVE mint color) and some cameo  decals I made using my MoYou London Pro 04 stamping plate.  If you wanna know how to make diy decals make sure to check out Chanfie’s tutorial here.

I don’t feel like typing much today.  So here’s another pic!

I hope you have a great remainder of your weekend.  <wiping a tear>  Do you get sad on sunday nights too?  😦

On the bright side, the premier of Sherlock episode 2 is on Masterpiece Theater tonight. 🙂  Oh…. and I almost forgot!  I had a productive/busy weekend and still managed to set up a nail station for myself!  I used to have all my nail stuff located in one spot (well, maybe it spread out a lil bit)… and even though it was organized, I still I had no dedicated place to paint my nails.  Sometimes I’d be at the counter, other times the couch, or the computer desk.  But now I have my own well-lit work space!  It’s tucked away in a little corner of the hub of the house… so that means I won’t feel isolated or far away.  I look forward to painting many a nail there!  

Nike nails for #NAILLINKUP

It’s week 1 of January Nail Art Ideas Linkup!  The theme is HEALTH & WELLNESS.  Check me out!

When it comes to being healthy I’m a big proponent of exercise.  If I’m trying to lose weight (and when am I NOT trying? lol) I always amp up my fitness routine.  I know it’s hard to get motivated, but you just have to do it.  I totally agree with Nike- JUST DO IT.  Grab your sneakers and get moving.  For me, group fitness classes are the way to go!  Gyms always schedule their classes, so at the start of the week I tell myself which ones I’m planning on attending… and then I feel accountable.  I said I’m going, so I hafta go!

Check out how my nails match my new nike sneakers….

I love the way my pinky and thumb came out.  I’m totally gonna have to try the dots-over-a-gradient-look again!

Here’s what I’m wearing-

♥ Sally Hansen Maximum Growth – one coat as a basecoat

♥ Liquid Leather by China Glaze – two coats for a black base color

♥ Alpine Snow by OPI – sponged onto the tips for a white gradient

♥ Dream On by Sinful Colors – for the fuchsia nail art accents

N.A.I.L. is running throughout the month of January, so jump in whenever you’d like!

6 – 12 January – Health and Wellness :

Jindie Moon Walk Swatch

Happy monday everyone! Hmmmmm I’ve never really used the words Happy and Monday in the same sentence before! Weird!

Very recently I was announced the winner of a giveaway on Cynthia’s blog Of Life And Lacquer! I won a bottle of Jindie Nails Artisan Nail Polish in Moon Walk!  The cool thing was… I only owned one single solitary bottle of indie polish…. so Cynthia just doubled my entire indie collection! Woot!

Check out how extremely pink Moon Walk is! It’s pinker than pink. It also has a variety of circle glitter, moons and stars in there. Shown here is three coats and a thick coat of Seche Vite. Thank you Cynthia! This nail polish is so ‘me’ !

I hope you have a great start to your week!  What I’m really looking forward to is later this week when we pull the raffle winners for our OMD Nail Challenge Giveaway!  Soon, my loves!

Decorate your nails with tin foil!

It’s metallic day in the nail art challenge.  When I heard the term metallic– I thought about aluminum foil!  Why not?  I’m sure I can decorate my nails with that stuff!

I used one of those paper-punches (the ones designed for decorative paper crafts).  I think I got it at Michael’s Crafts Store in the $1 bins by the registers.  I used the paper punch on the tin foil and out popped a cute flower shape!  I painted my nails pink, applied a topcoat, then placed my flowers to my tacky nails. When they dried a little bit I pushed down any foil pieces that were sticking up and applied topcoat to seal them down.  Pretty cute and easy!  Oh and the pink polish I’m wearing in these photos is called Sweet by Zoya. 🙂 I also want to let you know that I’m out of town at a work conference right now. So plz forgive me if I don’t comment back right away. I am super busy all day with sitting… then eating… sitting …then eating lol! Luckily I had this post ready before I left town. Now, tomorrow’s gradient design for day 26, now that’s a different story! Not sure when I will have the chance to do that one! But, I hope you like my tin foil… and keep the comments coming! It makes me smile in between my financial aid sessions! Ciao 🙂

Water Marble with Clear Nail Polish!

We’ve made it to the halfway mark of Short And Sweet in Texas‘ nail art challenge!  Day 15 is all about water marble..if you don’t know what it is here’s a good youtube video by DearNatural62.    If you’ve ever water marbled before then you know how fun it is to pick out a bunch of cool colors for your swirly design!  But have you ever thrown a clear polish in the mix???  That’s what I’m experimenting with today- water marbling with clear polish!

I started by painting my nails with a cool combo of 3 neon colors.  It looked awesome so I took some pics which I may share on day 22/neon day of the challenge 🙂    Then I did the water marbling technique using only 2 polishes- clear and black.  So basically I dripped drops of black, then clear, black then clear, etc into the cup… and when I swirled it around with a toothpick I got this cool black design with clear ‘spaces’ in between.  The spaces allow the bright neon to show through from underneath.  Pretty neat!  Then I made a few polka dots using my black polish and a dotting tool just to spice it up (and fill in the gaps).

And in case you are wondering how clear polish works for marbling…. other bloggers have said that topcoat or clear polishes don’t spread well in the water.  I actually experienced the opposite- I found that my Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle actually spread better than all of my other pigmented polishes!  This is great news for me since I thought I hated my Nail Shine Miracle- I never use it as a topcoat since it bubbles and takes forever to dry.  But now that I know it works for marbling- it has a new purpose in my stash!

I like how bright this design is in real life- it’s kinda crazy lookin!  I went outside during sunset and my polish was so neon it nearly jumped right off of my fingers!  Too bad I didn’t get that cool ‘signature’ swirly marble design though- I wound up with these black and clear stripes instead.  No matter what I did I just couldn’t get my polish to drag properly with the toothpick.  So no swirls for this girl…. but my black and clear stripes still look cool!   Water marbling… why you so tricky?

Polka Dots and Glow in the Dark Nail Polish Review

It’s day 9 of the 30 Day Nail Challenge for April and the theme is polka dots!

Today I’ve got Glow In The Dark Nail Polish from Claire’s Cosmetics to share with you.  I purchased this un-named pink polish last month at Claire’s Boutique in the mall.  Since the theme is polka dots I used my Konad M79 stamping plate and some black Konad polish to accent my ring finger.  It looks cute and summery but let’s get to my review…

First off, the polish comes in this awesome bottle that has a light in the top!  The whole bottle lights up when you press the button on top of the applicator brush!!  Good packaging ploy, Claire’s Boutique!  They enticed me to spend the $7.

After applying my first coat I was surprised at how sheer it was- it barely tinted my nails pink at all.  So I started investigating the bottle to see if there were special instructions.  Maybe I was supposed to put the polish over top of an opaque color?  I peeled off my price tag- to reveal no instructions at all.  I guess you are supposed to wear it by itself.  But hold on!  Wait… under the price tag sticker I found an expiration date!  The bottle says it was manufactured in Feb 2011 and it expires in August 2013…that’s only a couple months away!  Well, that would’ve been nice to know!  I wish I still had my receipt- I’m tempted to write a letter to Claire’s to suggest that they not intentionally cover the expiry info!

I applied three coats and I still have a lot of visible nail line.  But I figured I’d stop at 3.  It dries fast though, which is nice.  It has a very strange formula due to the particles of glow in the dark stuff that’s in it.  It was thin but gritty and I had to paint with as few strokes as possible.  If I painted over a section that was just painted- then the polish would lift off and it looked streaky and thin.  Application was weird but it dried quickly so the three coats weren’t a hassle.  The final result?  A sheer neon with a gritty matte texture.  Here’s a closeup.↓

I put a nice thick coat of seche vite over top to try and smooth it out.  It still feels a little bumpy though, but no biggie.  So the next question is….  HOW WELL DOES IT GLOW IN THE DARK?

It glows just fine.  Nothing that I would write home about, but I’m not disappointed either.  It works as expected.  I wonder if it would glow more with a bright base coat underneath?  Also, my bottle’s getting close to expiration so perhaps a newer bottle would glow more?  I’m surprised that it didn’t glow in pink… instead, it was more of your standard yellow glow, typical of most glow-in-the-dark stuff.  Wonder what it looks like under a blacklight?  I had a hard time photographing this… but here’s an untouched shot of it in the dark. ↓ On the computer this pic looked okay, but on my Nook Tablet it looked so dark.  Sorry, but I tried!

Overall, I do like this polish.  I really love the tone of this pink.  It almost has a peach tint to it and it makes me look tan!  It’s so summery and tropical and the sheerness of it makes it look like a sheet of neon glass over my nails. Normally I don’t like sheer polishes- but this one reminds me of summertime so I will definitely wear it again.  The glow-in-the-dark thing is fun… so why not?  I’m glad I added this polish to my stash.  The more I wear it the more I adore the color.  I feel like I need a vacation, sunglasses and a drink with an umbrella in it!

Have you ever tried glow in the dark polish?