my matte floss pik nails for All You magazine

I was recently featured in the March issue of All You magazine where they  showcased simple nail art made with household items.  In true Craftynail style I designed a dotticure using regular old bobby pins. If you view the slideshow here I am slide #8.  The web article is cool, but the print version of the March issue is what I will cherish.  Craftynail got published!  Here’s a screen shot of the web-version of their Mani Mania article…

Also, when I was reading the print issue I noticed that they have a nail art contest!  They want you to take your own spin on one of the designs from the issue and submit it to their fb.  You can’t find too much about it online other than their fb app, but the magazine says you should copy one of three manis from their march article.    I copied the ombre dental floss nail art design created by NYC nail artist Jin Soon Choi.  She came up with a gorgeous design using a blue cream base, matte over top, then gold polish dabbed on with floss string.  I did my own version but I used a flosspik instead of string.. so I got a slightly different effect.  Here it is!

I’m wearing Sally Hansen Maximum Growth as my basecoat.  Then I applied 2 coats of OPI’s AmazON…AmazOFF.  Then I mattified the teal with Butter London Matte Finish Topcoat.  Wow this butter london works great and dries so fast!  Then I dabbed on some blue/silver AVON polish called Platinum from their Brushed Metals collection.  I dabbed it on using a flosspik.  So basically I brushed some Platinum onto the short piece of floss that’s attached to the pick.  Then I placed the floss strand on my nails and rolled it back and forth so some of the AVON polish would transfer.  No topcoat needed for this design.

I really love how this came out.. the matte effect gives it a little something extra.  I hope you like it too!  It was fun doing a nail art inspired by a famous manicurist.  Have you seen Jin Soon Choi’s website?  She has a load of lovely tutorials that will blow you away.  I love that the majority of them are simple… but the results are stunning.  Here’s her nail art tutorial page: JIN SOON CHOI

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 :

Zoya Frida Swatches

Frida is a sheer teal jelly from the Fall 2012 Gloss collection.  Yes, it’s from last fall, but I don’t care since I’m loving fall right now!  The crisp air, the cool mornings… it makes me so happy and also kinda reminiscent.  I can’t quite explain why, but fall makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about the past.  So today I’m more than happy to wear an old fall release.   Here’s how Zoya describes Frida: A sheer, dark, warm-toned teal blue with a buildable jelly gloss finish. The jelly gloss formula can be worn alone or layered to create an endless variety of custom colors and effects.

I’ve been longing for this polish (or any part of this collection!) since they came out last year.  Well lucky me!  Julie, aka Short & Sweet in Texas, just sent me this polish in a swap.  Yeah!!!

As you can see it’s very sheer.  I could’ve done more coats, but I thought I’d bask in it’s teal translucence!  Still, I was a little curious to see how the jelly would build up, so I did a couple nails with 3 thin coats, and a couple with 2 thick coats.  Surprisingly, you can’t tell which are which!  So I vote for two thicker coats!

This last photo below was taken in the bright sun.  You can really see how transparent it is here!  And extremely glossy too!  I’m not even wearing topcoat with Frida and look at how shiny it is!

So what do you think of this kind of polish?  Would you flaunt Frida or would it annoy you to have visible nail line?

Day 27 of OMD Challenge- Bead Inspired Nails

Day 27 is all about Jewelry!  There are a lot of fun and creative options for this theme!  It’s hard to narrow it down.  But after sifting through my jewelry-making goodies I found these gorgeous marbled beads.  I haven’t made them into a necklace yet… so why not at least ‘wear’ them on my fingernails?!

I wish my teal base color was a little brighter.. but oh well, I work with what I’ve got!  Here’s what I’m wearing:

Teal ♥ NYC Tudor City Teal

Beige ♥ Zoya Pandora

Orange ♥ wet n wild Club Havana

Purple ♥ wet n wild On a Trip

I can’t wait to see the other jewelry-inspired designs for today!  Lotsa bling, I’m sure!
27. Jewellery :

Heat Activated Mood Struck Polish

Today I have a fun polish to share with you – it changes with your mood!  It’s called Mood Struck Color Changing Nail Polish and it’s heat activated to change from teal to turquoise.  I’m a sucker for cheesey products like this- mood changing, glow-in-the-dark, I love them all!  I found this bottle on ebay and also picked up two shades that change in the sunlight!

This Mood Struck polish dried to a semi-matte finish.  And it just may be one of THE fastest drying polishes in the world!!!  It started drying instantly- so you better brush it on quickly, and with as few strokes as possible!  Otherwise, it gets goopy and streaky.  I used three coats here since I needed to even out the surface- and I didn’t bother with a topcoat because I really like the satin finish.

I wanted to photograph this polish in natural light so you could see what it really looks like in it’s natural state. But it’s so darn cold here- my nail color just won’t budge when I’m outside!  It’s pretty chilly in my house too, so I didn’t get much variation in color indoors either.  But I did notice that the tips of my nails were a bit cooler and were a dark teal color.  Whereas the base of my nail is warmer from my body temperature so the polish there was more of lighter turquoise.  It almost has a slight gradient effect !

Both pictures in this post show my nails after I dipped the tips in a small bowl of hot water.  I love the cool effect!  I can’t wait to try the polish during warmer months so I can see more of  this!