Love and Glitter - A Valentine's Day Mani

Morning! Sorry for the delay in posting, but things have been a bit crazy. Between work and preparing for school (which unfortunately starts this week), I have had very little time to relax, let alone do my nails! Although for me, that's really like the same thing. So just a short post for you guys today.

I know Valentine's Day is still about two weeks away, but most stores started displaying Valentine's Day decorations/chocolates right after Christmas. Because clearly, if you buy Valentine's Day chocolate on December 28th, it will still be good by February 14th *rolls eyes". Anyway, I figured posting this a little early was okay. According to retail standards, this mani is technically a little late haha.

So this time, I diverted from my usual style, bright and flashy, and opted for something a little more delicate and cutesy. 

For this mani, I did one base coat of Petite's Peach Blush, which is a pale, but bright pink with a slight gold shimmer. Over it, I painted two coats of Gosh's Silk, which is a super sheer French manicure pink. Layering these two colors toned down the brightness of Peach Blush, but let some of the shimmer seep through. You can see the color difference if you look at my ringer finger, where I did two normal coats of Peach Blush. 

Then I added Hard Candy's Party Central, a fabulous glitter polish filled with blue, purple, gold, orange, green, and white, small and large hexagon glitters in a clear base. I usually don't layer colors like this, so I included a picture of the bottles so you could get a sense of how the layering changed the tone of the colors I used. 

*** Swatch from http://sneakerette.blogspot.com/search?q=peach+blush&x=0&y=0

Like what you see? Check out my other designs on pinterest! 

Petites - Peach Blush
Gosh - Silk
Hard Candy - Party Central
BM411 - XOXO pattern

Mix and Match Mani - Grey and Black Skittelette

So you know how they say, every day you learn something new? Well recently, I had seen the word skittelette floating around the internet. And because my brain does not always work, I could not figure out for the life of me, what skittelette meant. I couldn't find a clear definition for it, but was pretty sure it had nothing to do with skittles.

Finally after googling tons of skittelette images, it hit me. A skittelette mani is kind of a mismatched nail art style where no two nails are alike. However, each nail shares a common thread, through color, design, or theme. Now that I can define what a skittelette is, I can show you some examples in my own work.

As you can see in each mani, every nail is different. However, all of the individual nail designs seem to "go together" with the rest of the mani.

But the best part of this whole thing? As I was desperately trying to figure out what a skittelette was, this was the mani I was wearing. The irony kills me every time!

Anyway, as I mentioned one post ago, I have sort of felt like I have been in a nail funk. I have been having a hard time coming up with designs and I wasn't happy with the last couple I had done. However, I have to say I am pretty pleased with this one. It kind of looks like a Friday night out in New York City.

To achieve this look, I first painted my base, a lovely soft gray from the Maybelline Color Show collection. All of you should know by now that, that's like my favorite collection ever. But moving on. Once my base was completely dry, I used nail art tape purchased from the Born Pretty Store to create the straight black vertical lines on my pointer and pinkie. Then to add some sparkle, I did a glitter gradient on my middle finger, using China Glaze's Boo-gie Down.

I am obsessed with this color! It is a glitter polish (obviously) consisting of small and large gold and copper hexagon glitters, medium matte white glitters, small and large black hexagon glitters, and a few small black bar glitters (but not enough to be annoying) in a clear base. Basically, a party in a bottle. If anyone remembers a previous post I did about a bet I made my boyfriend, this was one of the polishes he bought me after the bet (He recently bought me the 3 for $12 Zoya deal, so when I get those in, I can show you my final haul).

And finally, to accent my ring finger, I used some clear nail polish to add a black stud rhinestone. I think it adds a little bit of edge without being too much ornamentation...And Bam! Instant skittelette! The studs were also purchased from the Born Pretty Store. I think I have mentioned this place to you guys in a few posts, but if I haven't, its where I buy a lot of my nail "extra's" as I like to call them. I have purchased nail decals, nail rhinestones, nail tape, studs, nail glitter and tons more from the Born Pretty Store. They offer good products at a good price and have good customer services. However, keep in mind that they are shipping from over seas, so orders generally take a while to reach you (anywhere from 1 - 2 months). However, they sell a lot of unique things so their products are worth the wait!

You can use my coupon code CJCX31 to receive 10% off of your order!!!! : )

*only works on non-discounted items*

On that note, I just found out that the Born Pretty Store nail art water decals (which I talk about in a previous post) are on sale for $.88! You know me, I love a good bargain so I am super excited about that. And to start off the New Year, the Born Pretty Store is doing a massive giveaway. Five lucky winners will win 24 sets of nail art water decals from the born pretty store!

In order to enter, as stated on the website...Share/Repost this giveaway news/sale to any website (using the banner below and this link). Then copy and paste where you posted the sale (the URL link) and email it to bpssample2013@gmail.com to enter. Good luck!!!!

Like this design? Check out my other's on pinterest!

Maybelline - Audacious Asphalt

Sally Hansen - Black Out

China Glaze - Boo-gie Down

Feeling Blue

Hello lovies! Hope you survived last week's polar vortex!

So, why am I feeling blue you ask? Well when I did this mani last week, the temperature had gone below 10 degrees and when I went outside and looked at my hands, they were so cold they looked blue! Hence, I did my nails to match

For this mani, inspired by the winter chill, I used a gradient technique on my middle and pinkie finger, and on my thumb. For my pointer finger, I used some nail art brushes to swirl two colors together in honor of the winter wind, which is sucking all of the moisture out of my hands by the way. I have gone through so many bottles of lotion this season, it's not even funny!

But I must confess...there is another reason I am feelng blue. I have to say when I first did this mani I felt sort of eh about it, and looking at it now, I feel the same. I think I have been running low on inspiration the past few weeks, and when I sit down to do my nails, sometimes I draw a blank.

That being said, I need your help. What do you do when you need nail art inspiration? So my muses, send me a suggestion in the comments section. What kind of nail art do you think I should do next?

Like this design? Check out my others on pinterest!



Milani - Teal
Maybelline Color Show - Shocking Seas
Julep - Kai
Love and Beauty - Light Blue

Daleks in Manhattan

So if you read my 50th anniversary Doctor Who post, you know that I am tad bit obsessed with the T.V. show. So looking at this mani, what does this have to do with Doctor Who?

Absolutely nothing! But I was watching the Daleks in Manhattan (S4 E3) episode at the time I did this mani, so I thought it was an appropriate title. If my memory serves correctly, this episode revealed that the Empire State building was actually commissioned by the Daleks. The episode took place in the 1920's so I guess you can say the gold hexagons were inspired by the bumps on the Daleks and the gold polish was inspired by the art deco style of the period. Other than that, this mani has absolutely nothing to do with Doctor Who haha

Anyway, this mani was pretty simple to do. The main blue/green color is from Julep and actually appears blue in the bottle, but in real life, appears how it does here, a dark turquoise green with tiny gold sparkles. The glitter hexagon pieces which I placed on my nail one by one, were purchased from the born pretty store. Finally, to get the straight lines on my middle finger I first painted by base coat, placed three pieces of nail tape on my nail, painted over the tape with Bold Gold, and then removed the tape. And voila!
This mani sort of has an art deco feel to it. What do you think?

Like what you see? check out my other designs on pinterest!

Julep -Valerie
OPI - When Monkeys Fly
Maybelline - Bold Gold

Friday Night at the Disco

Happy New Year! I have been on vacation the past two weeks so laziness has become my new hobby haha. However,  I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. And since this is a new year, I thought I would start the blog off with something fresh and a little funky!

I did this manicure quite a while ago, while my nails were still pretty long. I have filed them down a bit, so they are much shorter now. Its seems like every time I try to grow them out, one snaps off!

Anyway, I love how exciting this manicure is!  It wasn't really inspired by anything in particular, though after I finished it, it sort of reminded me of flashing lights you might see in a 70's disco club or on Broadway. I know, totally random.

To achieve the look of this manicure (the super straight lines), I used nail tape. I find the best technique to use when using nail tape is to lay the tape down, paint over it, and then remove it quickly in one smooth stroke as soon as your finished your coat. If you let it sit and dry too long, when you remove the tape, it will pick up some of the base coat underneath the tape.

The tiny hexagon sparkles were purchased at the born pretty store and were pretty easy to place, though it did take some patience. All you need is a bit of clear polish, a wooden cuticle stick (to ensure accurate placement) and some free time!

 

Like what you see? Check out my other designs on pinterest!

Essie - Butler Please
Sally Hansen - Black Out