China Glaze Techno Teal + Sally Hansen Grey Area

July 30, 2011

WOW! This polish was amazing... I kept staring at its gorgeousness ALL day!!! You just HAVE to click on that top photo above to enlarge it...You can really see how awesome this polish is. This is two coats of China Glaze Techo Teal. Of course, I can't have a manicure without adding a little something extra (even though this polish didn't need it). I stamped it with a leave print or at least I think it is a leave or feather print. I am not really sure....But I used Sally Hansen Grey Area. I chose that color because I didn't want a stamp that popped. I wanted one that kind of blended in. So what do you think?

Water Nail Decals

July 28, 2011

Today I thought I would share with you my first try with water nail decals. These particular decals come in rather large squares so it was hard to size down to fit my nail. I think I should have cut them to shape before placing them in the water. I made the mistake of placing the whole decal in the water, placing it on my nail, and then trying to cut it to fit. It was too much excess material to work with, hence the rough edges around the base of my nail. Oh well, I have plenty more water nail decals to play around with. I learned a lot from my first time. These nail decals are soooo cute. I also purchased some sunflowers and butterflies. I can't wait to try those! The base coat is two coats of Sally Hansen Wet Cement. By the way, these water nail decals are featured in my current giveaway that ends Aug 9. Click here to enter. 

Inside with flash

Bad photo, but I thought it really showed of the "ladies"

My First Attempt at a Sponging Nail Designs

July 20, 2011

Hello everyone! I am a little embarrassed to show you photos of my first attempt at sponging (I even removed the ability to enlarge the photos haha). I have seen this technique all over blogger and the many blogs I stalk. I thank you for introducing this to me.

I think it turned out descent. I learned a lot in my first attempt, but I think my next attempt will be MUCH better. I am not going to lie; clean up was terrible. I had so much polish all over my fingers, so of course it semi-stained them. Polish remover just kept smearing the polish around haha... I bet I used 20 q-tips. Please tell me I am not the only one.... (So please ignore my smurf fingers!)

The polishes I used were Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mint Sprint, Old Navy Tip Toe Seal the Teal, and Erre Due 73 (which I received in a giveaway from Cel's One Year Anniversary Giveaway.. She sent me some AWESOME polishes). I  do like the polishes I choose for my first attempt. In the photos, Erre Due (the top/last layer) doesn't look even but it is. In person all the polishes fully covered the nail. I guess the light hit it in certain places so it looks uneven in the photos. Maybe I should have started with a fully painted nail instead of working on a non-polished nail.

Please share with me your first attempt at sponging... Do you have a blog post with pictures? Anyone find a really good tutorial somewhere? Okay, on to the pictures....

Inside No Flash

Inside No Flash

Inside No Flash

I bet you are wondering where the crackle in the next series of photos is coming into play... Well because I didn't like how my first attempt at sponging turned out, I figured what better way to save a manicure !!!! =)  Crackle fixes any messed up base coat... Don't be fooled by this zoomed in nail shot above, I picked the BEST one!

Inside No Flash

Inside No Flash

Outside in the sun

Outside in the Shade

Outside in the Shade

Sally Hansen Dianthus and Freehand design

Today I am showing you a swatch by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure- Dianthus. This is a beautiful reddish pink color. I did not like how it reminded me of melted plastic though when I was applying. These usually chip fast on me, but I only wore for a day before I added a design. I did have tipwear though from doing filing at work.

I got this at Ocean State Job Lot for two dollars. I wouldn't pay for the full seven dollars though, so I feel much better. I didn't mind spending the two dollars.

I actually did this design myself. I used China Glaze "Towel Boy Toy" for the blue stripe and then Art Deco strippers for the silver glitter and black stripe. Then I reused the Sally Hansen color for the pink dots.

Owl Nail Design

July 6, 2011

You can click on a picture to enlarge it!

I don't give a hoot!!!!!! 

I am extremely proud of this manicure because it was all hand painted. My first two attempts at hand painting did NOT turn out good (see peacocks gone wild and hand painted flowers), but I still shared. This is something I need to work at, so I took my time on this manicure. If you have any tips you would like to share, please do!

For this manicure, I finally bought proper nail art paint brushes instead of using regular acrylic paint brushes even though they appear to be the same thing (who knows). I knew what I wanted to do for this manicure for a long time and have tried to do this manicure many times, but I wasn't able to figure out a way to draw the owl. BUT... my friend from work (thanks Niki) gave me a quick lesson on how to draw an owl. So yesterday, I came home and did the manicure..... Tell me what you think....

I also had better luck drawing the owl with a THIN paint brush as opposed to a nail art pen. I tried first with the nail art pen, but it looked SLOPPY. So I removed it and started over. The second time I used strictly a paint brush and got this result. On the rest of my fingers, I was going with a tree branch look. I hope that is what you see haha..

This is my INSPIRATION for this manicure. I got this photo off the web.

Crappy picture with junk in the background but these are the polishes I used for this manicure.

Butterfly Nail Design

July 4, 2011

This is a manicure I did a while back ago, but I am just now getting around to posting it. The base coat is two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Flashy Fuschia. The butterfly print was stamped on with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Pink Blink.

Retro Peacock...maybe?!

July 2, 2011

I really didn't know what to call this manicure... but in my opinion, it looks like peacock feathers with a retro flare. I had no idea what to call this post. I am working on my 4th of July nails now, and I hope to post them tomorrow. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy this manicure.

Step 1: Apply base coat. I used two coats of Sinful Colors Nirvana.

Step 2: Using Bundle Monster Stamping Plate (BM-212), I stamped on the print with Milani Fresh Teal. By the way, I got a request to do a tutorial on how to use these plates. I will be posting that in the next couple of days.

Step 3: Using a dotting tool, I placed the dots with Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow.