Rainbottles - 31 Day Challenge - Day 9

Nothing to Disclose

Roy G. Biv.... that guy sure is colorful! Today's design for the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge definitely didn't turn out how I expected it, but strangely enough, they rarely do. Some turn out for the better, some for the worse. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and then you have...my nails? Hit the jump for more pictures and what I used, including a tweak I made after the above picture was taken.

Heart to Heart - Valentine's Day Nail Art

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample

It's here again. The day that is highly anticipated by some but extremely dreaded by most... The day that roses double in price... the day of hearts 'n shit. You guessed it, it's V-day. This will be my first year without the chalky deliciousness of conversation hearts increasing my dentist bills, and I must admit, I'm a little sad about it! But, I have two of the best Valentine's Day dates a gal could hope for...one has 4 legs and wears a nice fur coat, and the other just has two furry legs. No big plans for the day, mostly working, and relaxing a bit afterward.

I decided to try the Cut It Out Lovely Magic nail vinyls from Serum No 5 for this design. First, I used a rainbow of colors to create the brushed gradient up the center of the nail. Once that dried, I used the  stacked hearts vinyl over the gradient, then brushed on a coat of white polish. Before the white polish dried, I removed the nail vinyl, which left a clean heart outline! I totally love how these turned out, I'm such a sucker for a rainbow gradient!

I used:

Red: American Apparel Downtown L.A.
Orange: Zoya Paz
Yellow: American Apparel Sunshine State
Green: CND Green Scene
Blue: American Apparel Mount Royal
Purple: China Glaze Everglaze Don't Grape About It
White: Zoya Purity

Serum No 5 Cut It Out Lovely Magic nail vinyls

Topcoat: KB Shimmer Clearly on Top quick dry topcoat

Disclosure: Some products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. (Serum No 5 & KB Shimmer) See the legal page disclosure for more information.

Luck of the Not So Irish?

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample

Happy belated St Patrick's Day! I posted this manicure on my Instagram (Are you following me yet?! :-P) yesterday and, as promised, I'm posting them here on the blog! I know that I've been horrid about posting lately, but I'm working very hard to get stuff posted and collections swatched for you!! :-D

So about the nails, I usually hate stuff affixed to my nails, but I knew that the gold studs from the Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art stud set would be perfect for gold coins left by a mischievous little leprechaun on my nail! I actually like the ring finger nail a lot, and since the studs are so close together, I won't pick them off like I usually do. I used a bunch of polishes for this manicure, so see below for the details!

You can sort of see the beautiful shift of Ninja Polish Shillelagh best in the second photo; from one angle it is a beautiful emerald, and from another it's a golden green, and sometimes I feel like I can even see a rusty orange. I love it!

Side note: These pictures were unfortunately taken after a shift at work, so there is some slight tip wear...oops!

I used:

Thumb: 

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Green/Gold Shimmer: Ninja Polish Shillelagh

Index:

White: Milani White on the Spot

Red: Zoya Tamsen

Orange: Butter LONDON Silly Billy

Yellow: Wet 'n' Wild Get Lucky

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Blue: Essie Butler Please

Purple: Seche Nails Clever & Confident 

Middle: 

China Glaze Mingle With Kringle

Ring Finger:

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Studs: Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art Studs set

Pinky: 

Green/Gold Shimmer: Ninja Polish Shillelagh

Basecoat: Sephora Formula X base coat

Topcoat: Seche Vite top coat


What did you do for your St Patrick's Day Manicure? Tell me in the comments below! 

Disclosure: Some products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. However, many of them were purchased by me. See the legal page disclosure for more information. 

shamROCK OUT!

Get your pinching fingers ready, it's that time of year again–St. Patrick's Day! Time to put your drinkin' shoes on, and don your best green attire, because it's time to do it up right! I'm not Irish, but with the pale skin, red hair, and freckles, I definitely look the part. Here's hoping that this St. Paddy's Day, my 'Irish' looks bring me a few extra tips at work tonight! :D

I totally HAD to use my Zoya Gilty for this manicure, I mean, how much more appropriate can you get than St. Patrick's Day? :D  Michigan winters and being a server have not been kind to my nails/cuticles, my nails break every 2 minutes it seems like (hence the super nubs), and I'm pretty sure I could wear gloves made of Lemony Flutter and my cuticles would still be unhappy.

Anyway, Happy St. Paddy's Day! :)

I used:

White: Cult Nails Tempest
Red: American Apparel Downtown L.A.
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Green: CND Green Scene
Turquoise: Zoya Robyn
Blue: Pure Ice French Kiss
Purple: Funky Fingers Riot
Gold Flake: Zoya Gilty
Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat: Cult Nails Wicked Fast

Have I Crossed the Line? Tutorial!

You asked for it!

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of you that wanted a tutorial for this design (in the best way!), and knew I had to let it jump queue to the top of the list!

With no further ado...

So how do you plan to cross the line?

A Dash to the Finish Line

So I know I've been posting a lot of tutorials lately, and not as much nail art, so I decided to post something other than a flag today!! :-D  (Speaking of, are there any that you want to see? I have a few requests already, but I'll get to them!  :) )

It always amazes me how designs change even while I'm painting them. This design originated as dashes of all the same length in white over black, with an occasional red accent dash. It eventually evolved to different lengths of white dashes on back creating a wave-ish pattern with no red. Finally, I added color to each nail, making a sort of rolling gradient across the dashes. In retrospect, I wish I would've stuck to one color family for the entire manicure, instead of a different one on each nail. The orange and blue nails were my favorites...maybe I could've done an orange palette with a blue accent nail? (or vice versa?) Maybe next time?

I used:

Black: American Apparel Hassid
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Dark Orange: CND Electric Orange
Medium Orange: Zoya Arizona
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Dark Green: American Apparel Hunter
Medium Green: CND Green Scene
Light Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper
Dark Teal: American Apparel Peacock
Medium Teal: Zoya Robyn
Light Blue: American Apparel American Denim
Dark Purple: Zoya Pinta
Medium Purple: American Apparel Imperial Purple
Light Purple: American Apparel L Esprit
Dark Red: CND Bloodline
Bright Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Pink: Zoya Shelby
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Sweet Talkin'

Who doesn't like candy? I'll admit, while I'm a mostly salty/savory kinda gal, I love to indulge in my fair share of sweets. In fact, I have an entire desk drawer at work devoted to sweets, and I have at each job I've held for 7 or 8 years. :) What can I say, I like variety, one kind of sugar won't do the job– I need SEVERAL. So tonight, when I was sitting at my nail desk stumped after 3 failed nail designs for the evening, I finally resorted to...the list. The list is a list (really?!) of nail designs that I want to do at some point, and I tend to avoid using it unless I'm totally uninspired or stumped for a design idea. Otherwise, I tend to do whatever pops into my head when I sit down (Hence the 3 earlier failed designs). Sometimes this method works fantastically; other times, not so much. So in any event, I knew that I had been neglecting the blog for too long after the contest and that I wanted to get a new design posted today. Speaking of the contest, I forgot to mention the winner on the blog (not to worry, they've been contacted and got their prize already), so I'll mention that AND the answer in another (quickie) post, not that you guys needed the answer- almost everyone got it right!

On with the show (all that candy reference actually had a point), I decided to do nails inspired by the rainbow-colored sweetness that we all know and love, the rainbow lollipop. You know– the coiled rope of twisted, colored goodness that sits atop a stick. It's funny, I never intended to leave the white at the tips, but I ended up liking it as I was doing it, so I kept it. :) The amusing thing is, I never noticed that I inadvertently made a funky french manicure of sorts until I looked at the photos and the white blasted me in my rods and cones. :)

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On as a base, with:

Red: Zoya Carmen

Orange: Zoya Arizona

Yellow: CND Bicycle Yellow

Green: CND Green Scene

Blue: China Glaze Flyin' High

Black: American Apparel Hassid (duh) :-P

Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Do you guys like how I listed the polishes used better this way or my normal way? I want to make it easier for you to see what I used!

This manicure makes me want to go see a dentist.

Disclaimer: Zoya links in this post are Share the Love links, and all points accrued from these links will apply to giveaways, and are never for my personal use. By signing up and purchasing through these links, it means that I'm able to do more giveaways!