The Force Awakens

Today is the day!!!! I am beyond excited about this movie. Star Wars was a staple in our household growing up. We watched the movies, and ran around outside playing pretend with sticks as "blasters."
 Naturally, I had to rep my love on my digits.

I used a decal method utilizing magazine pages - in this case, I used a Toys R Us catalog. This article from NailPro has a great tutorial video. It is a somewhat time consuming technique, but I feel the payoff is well worth it :) What do you think? Have you tried this method?

Holiday Blues

The awesome snowflake design is yet another new Bundle Monster plate, #BMS213, and the tree design is from Born Pretty plate #BP01. I used The New Black (navy) and Zoya "Aspen" (white).  I added a little glitter inside the snowflakes and on the tree. The middle finger has a Funky Fingers glitter topper over the polish called "Elsa."

More Stamping with Bundle Monster

I have been having a blast with the new Bundle Monster seasonal plates!

Have you tried them yet?!?

Bundle Monster Does It Again

I was a bad girl on Black Friday, and ordered nothing but stuff for me - specifically, stamping plates. Bundle Monster's new seasonal plates were #1 on my list, and they don't fail to amaze! 

It only took me 5 hours, but I put my first full set of acrylic sculpted nails on myself.  I don't think they turned out too bad for the first time :) 

Zoya "Arianna" is on my tips, and then I stamped with #BMS216, #BMS217 and #BMS218. These plates are unbelievable in the variety of designs! 

Welcome Christmas!

The greatest thing about holiday season? All the great holiday nail art of course!

I've been busy at school with lots of holiday manis, and I am loving every minute of it. It makes the day go by fast, and there is nothing more rewarding than the smile I get when I'm done doing someone's nails :)

Here's some of the work I have been doing this week:

So many possibilities, and only 20 days left! What are you wearing on your nails?!?

October - more than just Halloween!

Most people associate October with Breast Cancer Awareness and Halloween. October is also National Infant Loss and Preemie month. This has touched me personally, as my nephew was born 3 months early -- weighing only 1.10 lb. Moreover, I have a dear friend whose son was called home before his 2nd birthday.

 The base is Zoya's "Dot," and on all but the ring fingers, I used a sponge to add some blue (Dermalect "Above It"). The clouds were stamped with Bundle Monster stamp #BM312, and the ribbon is double-stamped with #BM321.

Hehe stamping plates

I won some new stamps on Listia, and here's my first mani from them:

The stamp is #Hehe006. These are my first Hehe stamps, and I really like them! My base is Indigo Bananas "Taffeta, Darling?" After I stamped the images, I colored them in with OPI Color Paints.

Halloween Contest Nails

We had a Halloween nail art contest at my school, and I won first place :)

I was so thrilled that the idea in my head transformed into nails! With the exception of the werewolf, all the nails were painted with a blue gradient, and then stamped with a variety of stamps for the trees, housing, etc. I free-handed the moon, adding a few different shades of yellow and some white to create dimension. Lastly, I used Bundle Monster acrylic molds to create the 3D bats. 

Lastly, the werewolf.....yes, it's real hair. Cat hair. Complements of Pink - who purred away while I gently trimmed some of his hair.

I glued the hair on, and then applied the eyes, nose and teeth that I created from acrylic. 

I really like how these turned out. What do you think?

Graveyard Nails

When a friend of mine tagged me in this gorgeous nail art on Facebook (by So Nailicious), my first thought was "challenge accepted!"

I used The New Black purples for my gradient, and then hand-painted on the graveyard scene. The bats and the skeleton were stamped with plates #BM13 and #BM413.

Warning: Toes Ahead!

I don't normally show my pedis because I think that feet are gross in general, but I really like this one :)

My inspiration came from this pin that has been on my "Toes To Do" for some time.

I purposely didn't take a close-up, so it's kinda hard to see the great detailed glitteriness of the red polish. I used OPI Liquid Sand in "The Impossible" on all the little toes, plus on the bow. For the big toe, I used Funky Fingers in "Guesso" and stamped the cute little Hello Kitty face from plate #QA24.

Sadly, flip flop season is coming to a close here, but there  are still so many cute designs that I want to do. Usually I give my toenails a brake with the paint until spring. What do you think -- Do you paint your toes in the winter?

My Nails Mag Debut!

I'm ridiculously excited to report that one of my nail art pics was in the October Nails Magazine (pg 36):

You may remember this as the promo pic I did for Nails for Tails. I had no idea they were using it, so it was definitely quite the pleasant surprise!

I am currently wearing a gorgeous deep blue polish from Whet called "Facetious." I had never heard of this polish before I received this bottle in one of my Ipsy bags. It took a good three coats to get the level of opacity I wanted, but it was well worth it for this rich cobalt blue.

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't show how stunning this blue truly is. I stamped on some feathers with Bundle Monster plate #BM419 and Fresh Paint in "Firefly." I used a detail brush to add some microglitter to the feathers.

Have you ever used Whet polish? Did you like it?

Myst-iqual Nails

Hello people! I have been a major slackass with the blog, but for good reason! I have officially earned my license as an Esthetician. :)  Now, I am working on my Nail Tech license. It feels great getting to do what I love all day.
Getting back on the mani track, today's mani is very simplistic, but I love it. It is inspired by this pin from Hokuri. To recreate this delicate look, I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in "Myst-ique Pink"  - this bottle of polish is so old, I have no clue if it's even made any more. I had to brush a layer of dust off it before using it.
Next, I used OPI's "Push and Shove," which is the chrome from the Gwen Stefani collection, for the stars and dots.

You may be asking yourself, what on Earth is she holding in that pic? Why, I am glad you asked. It's a loofah - yes that thing in your shower. Turns out it's first a veggie, like a squash or zucchini, but then you dry it out. The dryed out inside is your favorite exfoliating tool. This is my first year growing loofah, so we will see what happens when I dry this bad boy out. Have you ever grown loofah? If so, how did it turn out?

Born Pretty Stamping Plate #BP17

Hello peeps! Life has been crazy for me -- my kids went back to school, I graduated from my Esthetics program and have started the Nail Tech program, my husband started a new job -- it's been a whirlwind! I am quite excited to have started the Nail Tech program. I am two weeks in, and I am having a blast! It's great to do what I love all day long :) Did you know that in the early 20th century, people would keep their broken nail tips and donate them to a nail bank for nail techs to use as needed?!? Crazy.
Anyway, I have to keep my nails short for my Esthetics state board exam in a little over a week, so I'm rocking the nubs. Today's mani base is Floss Gloss "Dinge." I used Funky Fingers "Dark Knight" to stamp the image from Born Pretty plate #BP17 on my nails (and my toes too, but I will spare you the feet!)

Simple yet elegant - I like it! Have you used the Born Pretty plates yet?

Kitties and Doggies for My Little Princess

After much consideration, I have made a conscious decision to choose happiness above everything in life. I have promised myself to do something fun, or something that makes me happy, every day. I could give you the life is short speech, but really, I don't want to grow old and become the cranky one in the Golden Girls.
Today's Project Happiness Daily Fun Shit was Gwen asking me for a mani/pedi, and even sitting still for it!

She wanted pink and purple kitties and doggies, naturally. The problem is, this kid's nails are almost polish-resistant. I can use Orly Bonder (an a$$kicking base coat), Seche Vite on top, plenty of drying time, and the next day she is peeling the polish off like and old sunburn.
This time, I decided to do a gel mani on her. ****Please - no need to lecture me on risks, etc: I have read the info. Thanks for caring though :)*****
I dusted off my SensatioNAIL gel starter kit, and followed the super-easy directions. I added some stamping with MoYou London's Princess Collection plate #03 over the single layer of pink chiffon.
Even though we only got 75% of the project done (she agreed we could do the last hand tomorrow after school), we had fun together doing the mother-daughter bonding thing :)  So far, Project Happiness is having positive results for me. Why didn't I learn this earlier in life?

Do you set aside special time for yourself each day?

 Is there anything special you like to do? 

Grayscale Geode, Inspired by the Lovely Lady Alayna

     I started my Nail Technician classes this week, and I am very excited to be able to focus on my love. I saw this mani on Pinterest by Lady Alayna, and it was an instant "do me now" project.

     Although I have admired the geode nail art for some time, this was my first time attempting it. I used a fine art brush and various polishes to create the geode design. In hindsight, I will either 1) use acetone to soften the lines or 2) use watered down acrylic paint instead. I added a slight pinch of loose gold microglitter to the golden centers of the geodes.
     The remaining nails are done with a variety of techniques, including stamping, spray water marbling (shout out to Liquid Palisade for making water marbling and stamping infinitely easier to do) and glitter placement, along with a few goldtone accessories and a rhinestone.
     This was tremendously fun yet challenging - there will definitely be more geode nail art in my future. What do you think - have you tried this type of nail art before? What did you think -- any tips? I'd love to hear from you :)

Gelibility + Crushed Shell Nail Art

Today I did my first and last crushed shell nail art mani!

I have had a package of little bottles, containing plastic crushed shell/iridescent looking stuff - I am really not technically certain what this material is called - sitting, untouched, unloved. No time like the present! - only thing is, I am not really 100% certain what I am supposed to do with this stuff. It's experiment time! Here's my tools:

I started out by using Gelibility to turn my China Glaze "Travel in Color" into a sheer base coat. I elected to use the Gelibility in hopes that the added thickness of the gel will sandwich in the little glittery pieces. After two coats of polish, I used my dotting tool to place the shell/glitter/whatever this substance is onto my nails. It took two more layers of Gelibility to really seal in the shards, and even with that I can still feel some of the material when I brush my fingers against my nails. I added a little gold shell and a pearl as an accent, and that was it!

I felt like this mani was more time consuming than it was worth. I still don 't even know if I used this stuff correctly (or should I say for the reason it was intended). Have you ever used this stuff? I would love to hear other people's experiences with this --- what is this stuff called?!? (for the record, the packaging said nothing.)

Do you FiMo?

For some strange reason, I am addicted to fimo nail art, but I don't really like wearing it on myself. Go figure. I do, however, list auctions for fimo on Listia, where the buyer can choose the pieces he/she wants, instead of having to get some random crap that they didn't really want. I started doing fimo auctions this way because I was tired of bidding on a packet of nail art, when I only wanted 1 or 2 things in it.
So now.... I have an Etsy store!

This is my "trial" run to see if I have as much success on Etsy as I have with Listia. I have NO plans to leave Listia, I just want to see what happens :)


Are you an Etsy chick? Who is your favorite seller?

Sneak Peak...

No details ('cause really, does it matter?), but I have something cool coming up in the near future. I wanted to share a sneak peak...

PAWS! Big, doofy Roki the Great Dane paws :) For a 130+ lb puppy, he was pretty well behaved.
More to come about this project later :)

Shark Week -- Inspired by Chalkboard Nails!

When I came across this post from Chalkboard Nails, I instantly wanted to reproduce it. 

My base is Floss Gloss Wet, with a little Floss Gloss Glowstar sponged on the tips for a gradient effect. For the shark I used Zoya Ling, Essie Blanc, and WetNWild Black Creme to freehand the look.

I realized after I topcoated my design that I forgot to paint on the teeth, but I think he still looks cute. 

<3<3<3 on a side note, I would like to say that I am loving the Floss Gloss I won on Listia, and am definitely going to be looking for more. The formula (in my opinion) has staying power, it's not sheer -- ie, 2 coat max application for everything I have used so far, and the colors are great. I will definitely be investing in more Floss Gloss in the future. And - well, on a very subjective note, the bottles are just so damn cute. 

Shark Week

It's Shark Week! No, I'm not going to watch it (too busy doing my nails), but it's still fun.

For this Sharktacular mani I used Dermelect "Phenom" as my base, and then did a circular gradient with Zoya "Ling" and Fresh Paint "Firefly."  I paired up my Morgan Taylor "Little Black Dress" with Winstonia stamping plate #W01 and Bundle Monster plate #BM503 to make the cute little sharks. Can sharks be cute? A matte topcoat was my finishing touch, and this is what I got. I like it. :)

Happy 4th

Does anyone else find it ironic that we blow things up to celebrate the anniversary of war?

With 4th of July coming up, I was inspired by a recent email I received from Formula X to do this mani:

This is a super easy mani to do! I used striping tape and Essie "Guesso" to paint the white part of my nails. Then I added the awesome red-white-and-blue glitter topper from Funky Fingers called "Fireworks."  That's it -- simple yet festive!

Mermaid's Dream

Have you ever felt that amazing "high" when you score a bottle of nail polish that you really could never rationalize paying that much for, but get it for dirt cheap/free? No? Just my addiction? Maybe so. But whatever, this polish is gorgeous.......

This is Mermaid's Dream by Deborah Lippmann. I have been coveting this polish for a while - I'd eye it up at Sephora, and occasionally stroke the bottle yearningly.  When I won a DL 4-pack of polish on Listia, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was indeed one of those four.

I felt like it was pretty mandatory to stamp something aquatic/mermaid themed on these nails, so I went with some Bundle Monster plates and Dernelect polish in "Phenom." (This was yet another adventure in stamping made easier and more enjoyable by Kiesque.)

Truly, this is a polish that I could wear all by itself -- which does not happen often. What do you think? Have you tried this polish yet? I also discovered that DL polish is 5-free as well as cruelty free (meaning they don't test on helpless animals), so I am really starting to like this line more and more.

What's Cool?

This is!

I won some free ad space over at My So-Called Chaos: an amazing blog that covers a variety of topics, including nail art, and more! It is definitely worth taking your time to check out -- I feel like her topics are of interest to a variety of personalities.

I played around with creating a few banners, and chose to use this one:

Making banners is a lot of fun (at least for a nerd like me), and as I found out, there are plenty of sites online that you can make free banners. I used Bannersnack and was pretty pleased with the results, although I felt like I didn't have as many options with the Text editing as I would have liked. But since it was free -- I really have no room to complain!

I would love to hear any constructive criticizm, or commentary on making banners, especially since I am pretty new at this.  :)

UPDATE: my ad is scheduled to run July 9th. Be sure to check it out over at My So-Called Chaos!

Geo-chic

Can I start off by saying that Liquid Palisade is amazing? In my opinion, it's the second best invention next to stamping for the nail art lover. I am doing much more in the line of stamping and gradients thanks to LP. I could kiss whomever birthed this wonderful idea.

But, let's get back on track, shall we?

I am doing more and more facials in my Esthetics class, so it's becoming more of a necessity to keep my nails on the shorter side. That will not, however, stop me from rockin' some funky designs now and then.

For this mani, I used Indigo Bananas "Taffeta, Darling?" as my base. This is a gorgeous purple glass fleck holo chrome that I was blessed to receive in a giveaway. Then, with my new go-to black, Morgan Taylor's "Little Black Dress," I stamped on the plus-looking design from Born Pretty Store plate #BP25.  My finishing touches were the large pyramid shaped aurora borealis gem and some smaller rhinestones.

I used to not wear anything 3D because it drove me nuts when my gems, etc, would get caught in my hair and clothes. Over time, I have learned how to seal them in more efficiently and have become accustomed to wearing the adornments. My question is this: do you like to wear 3D nail art? If not, why? I'd love to hear your answer in the comments! 

Margarita nails

One of my favorite summer activities is enjoying a nice, refreshing margarita on a hot summer day.

Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. So I put margaritas on my nails instead. :)

My base is "Mint" by LA Colors. On my tips I used OPI's "Lights of Emerald City" to give the look of salt on the rim.  "Lights of Emerald City" is a nice glitter topper from OPI - it has white square glitter as well as small iridescent glitter as well. I think it worked quite nice for this theme. Finally, I added some lemon and lime fimo, in a variety of shapes, and top-coated the h3!! out of them.

Now if I only had some tequila.

Beach Bum (in my dreams...)

If I had a left nut, I would give it to anyone who would take me to the beach right now. To say I need a vacation is an understatement. Until then, I'll just paint waves on my fingers.

This was actually a super easy mani to do, especially with my best friend Liquid Palisade.
I used Floss Gloss in "Tanlines," Salon Perfect "Baby Blues" and Zoya "Ling" to create my gradient. Then I stamped on the waves with Bundle Monster plate #BM509, using Funky Fingers "Gesso" as my stamping polish. Finally I added some nail confetti from Bundle Monster - a cute little anchor - to finish the design.  This mani was cute and easy, and allowed me to drift away for a little bit, if only in my mind :)

Happy Daydreaming!

Game of Thrones: House Stark

If you haven't seen Game of Thrones yet -- what is wrong with you?!? No, seriously?
I really, really love this show. I am not sure why I am so obsessed, but I am.
Today's mani is based on one of the main families in the series - the Starks. Their sigil is a wolf (direwolf actually, but let's not get to deep) and they are typically getting the crappy end of the stick in life on GoT.

For this mani I used Indigo Bananas "Great Scott!" as my base. This polish is a gorgeous blue glass fleck shimmer that glows in the dark.  Holy Feces I love this polish. I did a circular gradient of sorts, using white to make a fading circle in the middle, and then put another light layer of "Great Scott!" over the white to soften it up.

Stamping: let me start with the pinky. Bundle Monster plate #BM315 was used to create a flying raven. Technically I believe the stamp is supposed to be a parrot, but I wasn't going to let that minor detail stop me - I took off part of the tail and added feet as well as a longer beak, so hopefully it looks a little like a raven. I didn't have any other bird stamps that looked like a raven dammit.

Anyway, next up: the ring finger. I used My Online Shop plate #JRZ for the House Stark sigil. Love this.

You may have looked at the middle finger and thought, WTF is this?! If you don't watch the show, you will have no clue. However, for us nerds, it represents the weirwood trees from GoT - they are white trees with red leaves, and a face carved into the front of the tree. (Click here to see what I am talking about.) To recreate this, I used  Bundle Monster stamp #BM409 for the tree and a dotting tool for the leaves.

The pointer finger is stamped with Born Pretty plate #BP16, and lastly the thumb is stamped with fauxnad plates m17 &m18.

As much as I am enjoying this mani, I am looking forward to doing more designs with the other houses from Game of Thrones. Personally, I am a big fan of the Starks and Targaryens. How about you?

Panda Bear Nails

Today's mani was inspired by my impending trip to one of my most favorite places, the National Zoo in DC.
My base is Fresh Paint "Firefly" : I like this polish because it is a light, light blue - almost white, but blue enough to allow the white to really pop. Next I did a double-stamping with Born Pretty's plate #BP18. I used two greens for the bamboo, but you can't really see it that well. The bamboo was done with more Fresh Paint, this time "Pistachio" and "#Winning."
I made decals with Bundle Monster plate #BM424 for the pandas. The paw prints are also from that plate.
I am so excited to go to the zoo -- what is your favorite animal?!

Purple Gradient with Foil

Hello Peeps! I have to keep my nails pretty short for Esthetics class, but that doesn't mean that they can't be cute! Today's mani utilizes some of my faves from the purple The New Black ombre set. I went for a lighter purple gradient, added a few loose flecks of bronze foil, and finally applied a matte topcoat. I really like the matte look with this. What do you think?

Flip Flop Weather is Here

It's pretty darn hot already, and it's definitely time to bust out the shorts and sandals. Today's mani is one I did for a friend.

The base is Zoya "Godiva," which is an awesome sandy-looking Pixie Dust. I used Bundle Monster stamp #BM309 and made decals with a variety of polishes. I love the beachy feel of this mani!

Celebrating Spring

Even though it feels like we jumped straight into summer, spring is in full swing here -- the lilacs and wisteria are blooming, the birds are mobbing the bird feeder, and my kid screams when I try to get her to go back inside. In honor of the season, I wanted to do something "flowery." I found the cutest houndstooth/floral design on Pinterest by Fall In NaiLove  (-you can see my inspiration here).

I used NOPI "Always a Silver Lining" as my base, and stamped on Funky Fingers "Gesso" with Bundle Monster plate #BM322. I used two pinks from The New Black pink ombre collection along with "Gesso" to paint the flowers, and then used acrylic paint in black and green for the leaves and to give the design definition. Acrylic is definitely easier to work with on more intricate lines.

I definitely feel inspired most by spring. What is your favorite season?

More Nails Mag Recreations

Even though you can get almost any publication online, there is something that excites me about opening the mailbox and finding Nails Magazine. Here are recreations of some of my favorites from the May 2015 issue:

Working left to right: nails 1, 2, and 4 were pictured in the Hawaii Collection by OPI advertisement. #2 actually have a step-by-step tutorial in the OPI insert within the mag. #3 is another step-by-step demo from Biosculpture gel (I used regular polish) on page 56. My last nail is a Neon Tribal Nail Art tutorial that was contributed by Mia Rubie (@superflynails). I love this design because it looks a bit complicated, but it's actually a lot easier than you might think.

Again, I am not going to clutter up this post with a listing of all the polishes I used, but if you are curious, please ask and I will be happy to answer! :)

Happy Star Wars Day!

Today is May the fourth, which is an international nerd holiday for those of us who love Star Wars. My tribute to this holy day is thus:

I garnered my inspiration from other fellow nerdesses over the great Web, including the Nailasaurus and Cosmetic Proof. I am not going to list all the polishes I used; if you want to know, just ask! I will mention that I used a very sheer coat of Indigo Bananas' "Great Scott!" over the light saber so that it would glow. :D I did actually use acrylic paints for the Death Star, and it seemed to work quite well. I definitely feel like I have more precision with acrylic, which is cool.
I am still using SensatioNail gel growth formula. I decided to go ahead and cut all my nails off short and get a fresh, new start on length, and I am not going to apologize for it! I see so many bloggers apologizing because her nails are short -- does that mean that short nails can't be as cute as long nails? I think not! It's Short Nails, No Wails for me all the way! Till they grow out of course :)

SensatioNAIL Gel Growth Formula

As I was cruising through Walmart, I came across SensatioNAIL gel growth formula in the clearance section. The box states that this formulation is specifically for "dull, short nails," and right now, that describes mine to a T. My normally long nails have been breaking and splitting terribly, so when I saw this I thought I would give it a go.

You receive one .25 fluid ounce bottle of growth formula and an orangewood stick. Application is very simple: wipe your nails down with alcohol to prep, paint on a coat, and stick your nails under an LED for 60 seconds. This formula seems to be a little less thick than other gels (although I am pretty new to the gel world), which I like.

Have you used this product before? I would love to hear other people's experience with it.

More Nails Magazine Inspiration!

What's going on peeps! It is FINALLY Spring and I couldn't be happier! I received my May issue of Nails Magazine, and I am engulfed in inspiration. Today's mani is inspired by the Technique Demo on page 56.

I used Dermelect "Above It" as my base -- it's much more periwinkle in color than the picture shows, unfortunately. I used a small, dry brush to add my accent colors - Dermelect "Lust Struck" (pink), Floss Gloss "Wet" (green), and Floss Gloss "Con Limon" (neon yellow). The white flowers are all from Born Pretty plate #BP24. This is the second time I have used this stamp, and I had a lot more difficulty with it this time. Not sure why.

Hello Venique

As a beauty school student, I am now officially allowed to shop at cool places like Cosmo Prof.  On Saturday, I took my little student license and got my "card" from the Cosmo Prof store in Hagerstown, MD. The cashier was super friendly and nice. Once I got my paperwork out of the way, I felt like she had released me into a candy store of sorts -- I didn't know where to start! Everything at Cosmo Prof is basically wholesale-priced for cosmetology professionals, meaning everything is SO MUCH CHEAPER than your typical retail venue. I didn't go too crazy this time (as I was supposed to be Easter shopping), but I did come across a brand of polish that was new to me -- Venique. Have you heard of it? I decided to give it a try, and got a cute little bottle with no name on it of course.

I used 3 coats to achieve full coverage, but this could easily be used as a topper. I can only describe this as a rose-gold colored glitter, with larger pieces of glitters that are multi-colored. I love the look of glitter but hate the process of getting it off my nails, so I don't typically gravitate toward these type of polishes, but this one kept catching my eye. I actually liked this enough to wear it on its own for a few days, but I feel the urge to stamp coming on.
Have you tried Venique? What was your opinion? So far I think I will definitely be trying more of this brand -- another excuse to go back to Cosmo Prof :)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Peeps!
I was dying eggs with my 5-yr old daughter last night, and she wanted ladybugs (her favorite) on one of her eggs. I got the bright idea to use nail stamps and BAM! it hit me - this is awesome! I'm going to do all the eggs with stamps! Thankfully we only did 12 eggs in total.

Our fabulous egg-venture started with a pink egg, some Wet N Wild black polish, and Moyou's Princess Collection #3 stamping plate.