Inspired by Stephanie Loesch

Today's nails are a re-creation of an amazing mani I saw on Pinterest by Stephanie Loesch -- an amazing nail artist! Be sure to check her out on Instagram @_stephsnails_

Nail It Mag - Bridal/White Theme

Happy Sunday!
I created a few nails to submit to Nail It magazine. They routinely post requests for submissions on specific themes. Here are the nails I submitted for the Bridal/White theme:

Polishes used are Nicole by OPI's "Play Fair" and Zoya's "Aspen." The gold metal circles, rhinestones and silver decal all came from the Born Pretty Store. 

I did a subtle French mani by sponging Aspen over Play Fair. I then layered two gold circle confettis to look like rings, and added the heart rhinestone. Pretty simple, yet elegant I think :)

For this look, I added small torn pieces of gold and silver nail foil, and then added the circle confetti and one square rhinestone to create the engagement ring. 

This one was probably my favorite, because of the purple gem I'm sure :)
I first placed the silver decal on the nail, and then added the large purple gem, then a small rhinestone and a silver heart spangle. 

Which is your favorite?  :)

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?

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?

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.

Cat Hair Nails

I’ve gotten pretty good at recreating other people’s work, but I want to be more than just a copycat artist.  This year I have decided to focus on trying to do more of my own original designs. I wanted to do something completely out of the box, but wasn’t exactly sure what. I follow a gazillion talented bloggers, but one that sticks out in my mind for originality is PiggieLuv – particularly her amazing manis done with flocking powder, cork, and otherout-of-the-ordinary mediums.  One day it hit me – I want to do a mani with cat hair. Yes, real cat hair.

I have cats. Plural. All rescues. They love to lay on my stuff, and get their hair everywhere. They puke up hairballs on my desk. They drive me insane sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. No cats were harmed in the making of this mani. Three of them purred profusely when I “borrowed” some of their hair. 

After I painted each nail with the background color, I began the process of hair collection. First up was Smeagle, my Sphynx. He is what breeders refer to as a “peach fuzz” Sphynx, as opposed to a “rubber bald’”  -  ie, he has a little bit of hair. All I had to do was give him a good rubdown, and my hand was covered in his fuzzies. The base skin tone color is two coats of  KleanColor “Sheer Pastel Nude” with a coat of “Sheer Pastel Pink” over it. I put a matte topcoat on the nail and pressed the hair down. Not too bad. I trimmed up the sides and beamed at my Smee nail.

I decided my next nail would be modeled after Bullet, our male black and white kitty. I used Wet Wild "Lights Out" and "Whipped Topping" to create a tip on the nail, similar to Bullet's collar.  He laid on his back and purred as he enjoyed his brush-down. 

 I wasn’t so lucky with Grenade, Bullet’s brown tabby brother, so I used some scissors to snip a little pinch of fur from under his leg. A little catnip and I was forgiven. I used LA Colors "Whipped" and NOPI "Promises in the  Dark" with some light sponging of the black polish to make the brown tabby pattern. 

The ring finger is modeled after one of my Lykoi boys, Pink.  I used the same Kleancolor polishes for the skin tone, and LA Colors "Lost Soul" for the gray pigmentation. You are probably saying “WTF is a Lykoi!?!” right now – click here J I fell in love with him and his brother at the shelter. I realize he isn’t what most people would describe as a cute cat – and I am totally ok with that. I fell in love with his personality, not his looks.  To me, he is beautiful inside and out.

Finally, my pinky nail is modeled after Picasso, the Cat Who Thinks He is a Dog. Really.

 The process of laying down the matte coat, applying the hair, and then trimming, was a little more laborious than I expected. For the first time ever I was putting hair on my mani instead of trying to pull hair off, and it just felt very strange. I debated on sealing the hair in with a topcoat, but I really like the 3D effect of the hair.

My husband said my nails are disgusting. I think the word "unsanitary" may have come up.  My son just shook his head and told me I was strange. I am anticipating comments stating the like, and I look forward to showing them to my hubby to reinforce the fact that IDGAF .