It's a Spring Thing

I found an artist on Instagram and Facebook called Muses Gel, out of Taiwan. Her style inspired today's Easter/Spring/Pastel mani.

 I used a crap-ton of different products to achieve this look (see the pic below!). Polishes are Zoya "Piaf" (yellow), Zoya "Rebel" (blue), Essie "Full Steam Ahead" (lilac), and Essie "Blanc" (white). I added a layer of Essie Luxe Effects "Pure Pearfection" to give the lilac color a little more of a shimmer - similar to the Zoyas.  Zoya "Cosmo" outlines the heart on the ring finger. I added some water decals from the Born Pretty Store, some gold heart nail spangles, goldtone metal confetti triangles from Bundle Monster, rhinestones and caviar beads. I used the same tutorial that I used for my Tweed Nails on the ring finger and thumb.

I just got a new light box, and while I still have a lot to learn about it, I really like it! I think it will take a little bit of playing around to find the perfect angle.

Kitty Nails for the Pet Expo

Hola! Today's nails were inspired by an impending trip to the  National Pet Expo in Harrisburg, PA. This was my first time to a show like this, and I was very excited. I decided to use some of my cat decals from Bundle Monster. You get 3 large sheets of decals for $1.99 - you can't beat that!

I used Orly's "Peaceful Opposition" for my base - this is a slightly translucent white, with silver and white glitters. The water decals were very easy to use - they didn't fold over on (and ruin) itself, and I didn't have a single one rip - very cool :)

The Pet Expo was pretty cool, although I was told that it was pretty slow compared to others. Whatever! I got to experience a cat show for the first time, saw some interesting snakes as well as dogs galore, watched an amazing man speak about parrots, and had a crapload of people stop us to pet the Bearded Dragon that my son brought with us. It is definitely something I recommend any animal lover try to catch; you won't be disappointed.

No Tricks, Just Treats

I am still raving about the Indigo Bananas polishes that I won. They are amazing!!! For this mani I used "Great Scott!" and added a little bit of Funky Fingers "Mirror Mirror" with a sponge around the tops of the nails, for a subtle gradient. For the tip of each nail, I used Red Angel stamp #RA105 to add a grassy look. I ended up filling in some of the spaces with a liner brush and black polish. In retrospect, I could have easily just painted on the grass, but I like using my stamps :) You can see in the pic below that I only used half of the image for the grass.

I wanted the houses to appear to have lights on, so I used the decal method. The house on the ring finger is from BM224, and the middle finger is from BM305. For the moon behind the house on the ring finger, I made another decal. I used the Christmas bulb from BM225, using only the circular shape of the bulb. I used a yellow from The New Black's Runway collection, and then added Funky Fingers "Lil Miss Sunshine" to give the moon some depth. I really like how the moon turned out :)

The bats are from Bundle Monster stamps #BM13. I used a portion of a stamp from #BM224 on my pinky and thumb that looks like branches. I used #BM13 again to create the spider and web on my thumb.

Finally, I was pleasantly surprised when I went to bed last night - my nails were glowing!!! I am going to try to get a pic :)

Born Pretty Water Decals - review

I received some floral water decals from the Born Pretty Store to review.  The decals are squares, as opposed to being nail-shaped. This allows you to use them to cover the entire nail, or cut out specific portions to use. I painted my nails with Kleancolor’s “Pastel Teal” to start.

On my first attempt, I decided to cut the entire square and place it on the nail. I painted my topcoat over it, and once it dried, I trimmed the edges. This method worked ok, but the edges looked a little ragged to me. 

For my second attempt, I decided to cut the square into a nail shape. I then applied the water decal, filed off the edge, and topcoated the nail. This method seemed to be less cumbersome, but I also suck at cutting anything straight/even. 

I threw on some rhinestones for the few nails that I didn’t apply the decals, and decided to edge the decals with some glitter (to cover up my rugged edges!). 

I LOVE the design. I love the colors. The water decal itself was a little more difficult for me than I thought it would be initially, but it got easier as I went along. You can get these decals at the Born Pretty Store here, but be sure to use code TTHEX31 to get a 10% discount! 

Upcycled nails

Do you ever do your nails, and in a couple of hours you hate them? Ok, hate is a strong word - how about greatly dislike. I started with my nails like this. I repainted my ring fingers, and stamped all my nails with MoYou Pro 12. I used MoYou Suki 02 to make the flower decals. And now I am back to loving my nails :)

Born Pretty Store nail decals

I have to say, I LOVE the new decals I got from the Born Pretty Store. I started with two coats of Zoya’s "Daul", and then laid on the stickers, sealing them in with two coats of Poshe topcoat. In hindsight, I wish I would have used a darker color, to show off the decals better. They are easy to remove from the paper, easy to apply, and gorgeous! More than that, you get TONS! Typically, with most decals/stickers/nail decor in general, you only get enough for a mani or two. In this set, you get 56 decals ~ that’s enough for 4 full manis, plus more! AWESOME!! You also get the fringed/scalloped decor as well. In case you hadn’t guessed, I am SUPER happy with these! You can find the decals here, and the awesome midi ring (also from Born Pretty) here. Both the decals and ring also come in goldtone. 

But wait, there’s more! Use discount code TTHEX31 and get 10% off their already amazing prices!

Be sure to check out the Born Pretty Store today!!!!