1 year down, a BILLION to go!

Tomorrow is my 1 year wedding anniversary with the best husband a girl could ask for. We are going to get sushi to celebrate and so of course I need celebration nails! I am currently obsessed with Finger Paint Pretty as a Portrait and OPI Fairy Dust so I HAD to do a mani using both.

I started out with Pretty as a Portrait as my base color then applied one coat of Fairy Dust on top for a little sparkle. I then stamped a very pretty floral pattern using Bundle Monster BM11 image plate.

I used Sally Hansen Silver Sweep for the image. I liked the idea of having the sparkle behind the flowers instead of over them. It creates some depth.

What do you think? I like it pretty well. I started the night intending to do Art Deco Chevron nails but... my scotch tape was being rude. lol

This picture definitely doesn't do these polishes justice. :-( I'm working on making my pictures better!

Here's a look at my work station after I was finished... Notice my husband playing FIFA on the XBOX in the background. Haha. He's the best.

Black Friday is LONG GONE!

Hows it going? I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Work is still intense so I can only do my nails about once every 6 days. :-(

Just a quick post.

I recently acquired some fabulous polishes by Finger Paints. They are beautiful!!! I did know much about the brand when I bought them but they seem to be of very good quality. I did a quick scotch tape look with 2 of the 3 I purchased:

I need some practice on taking pictures of my nails. I'm not very good at it. 

Base color: Pretty as a Portrait 

Top Glitter color: Hue Left a Message?

I've put A LOT of nail art stuff on my Christmas list! Cross your fingers I get some!

I'm trying hard not to resist the joy!

That song has been stuck in my head for three days straight!

So I didn't forget or give up on nail art. I have been working NON STOP. Seriously, I don't even know what day it is. Unfortunately work has also taken a toll on my nails. They are not as long or as healthy anymore, but I am determined to get them back!

Tomorrow my husband and I are going to see his high school best friend perform in SHREK! the Musical. Afterwards we are going out for drinks with some old friends. Naturally I decided that I needed to do some awesome nail art to show off my mad skills. So here's what I came up with....

I used the floral vine patter from bundle monster image plate BM16:

My base color is SinfulColors Cream Pink , for the stamp I used SinfulColors Black on Black and for the dots I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep. My top coat is always Seche Vite, its WONDERFUL. 

The final GLORIOUS product:

Every new look I make is always my favorite. Including this one!!

I hope you like it!!!

Halloween nails!!!

Just a quick post tonight... I decided to do Halloween nails but I was tired of seeing all the orange and black so I used fuchsia and silver instead. I used the spider and spiderweb stamping image, I really am getting good at it!! So here ya go. Sorry the pictures are not great.

Oh and I went to Sally's Beauty Supply and picked up the Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat...I AM IN LOVE. This stuff is amazing, totally worth the $7.

More stamping...I'm getting good!

Ya I know, my last mani only lasted two days. I went to game 3 of the world series last night and the Rangers lost 15-7. The only thing I could do to keep from biting my nails was to peel the polish off...haha. So sad considering I had gotten TONS of compliments on them.

Anyway...I did a very simple konad look this week. I used a very pale shimmer pink for the base and a basic black for the stamp.

Enjoy.

Super cute!

This one shows the flower better. 

Burnin' up the room with cheap cologne....

....Or nail polish remover. :-)

I have a few new looks to share with you all. The first is a simple sliver glitter gradient using SinfulColors Queen Beauty over a SinfulColors Boogie Nights, a coral orange. I like this mani because it was super easy and still very cute.

Again, glitter does not photograph well. 

For the next one, you'll be proud to see that I FINALLY did a Konad look on myself. The first hand I did was so simple, and looks great. The other hand.... not so much, I had to redo it like 3 times. The stamping plate I have isnt an actual Konad, its a knock off that I got from bundle monster. I found that the "full nail" stamps are smaller than the Konad therefore I had a hard time getting them to look right. Anyway, tell me what you think. 

***Note: I don't usually use my right hand for pictures because the nail on my ring finger was in a tragic accident when I was 5, (It involved an evil brother and bicycle chain) but this hand turned out 1000x better then my left.***

The base color is OPI French quarter for you thoughts and the dots are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep. I hope you guys like them!!!

Lightening bolt!!!!!!!!!!

So when I first told my best friend Charlie that I was getting into nail art he thought it was awesome. He then proceeded to give me ideas on what I should do. His first suggestion was lightening bolt. I had played around with a few ideas and always had a clear idea in my head of how I wanted it to look, but could never execute. THEN I found this tutorial. Scotch tape is a really great asset.

Patchwork nails!

Hello everybody....and by everybody I mean the 3 of my family members that read this.. haha

Before I go into the patchwork nails I want to give you all an update on my progress with the  Konad stamping kit.. as I said in the last post I've grown increasingly frustrated with how difficult this is. Now I must mention that there is a "special stamping polish" that is intended to use with these plates. I think its a bunch of bull, plus through my research I have found that many nail art enthusiasts say that they use regular ol' nail polish and it works just fine.  I mean, I really dont need to spend an extra $9 on a specific nail polish just to make a stamp. dumb. 

I think Ive figured it out though, the key is to be REALLY quick. In order for it work you need to put the polish on the stamp, scrape it, stamp the plate, and stamp the nail all in a matter of  15 seconds. Sounds crazy but... it works. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to youtube and search "konad nail art" there are plenty of how to videos that will explain.)

Here's what I've come up with so far... (photographing nail art is really difficult, these pics definitely dont do them justice.)

Its probably hard to tell but I used a fuchsia base with light pink, dark pink, and lime green lip prints. 

This one is a yellow base with orange, orange slices. 

This one turned out the best. Blue base with white snow flakes. 

I still need a lot of practice with these but, I feel like I have the potential to come up with some really awesome designs.

Moving on to the patchwork nails...

This is an idea I got from www.chloenails.blogspot.com. I really dont understand how she gets them so perfect! Maybe after practice?? Anyway here's how they came out:

I LOVE THEM!

Colors used: SinfulColors Dream On, SinfulColors I Love You, & SinfulColors Black on Black. 

The colors of this picture are all WRONG but the nails themselves look good. 

Isn't it amazing how healthy my nails look compared to when I started? I'm really trying hard. I take biotin everyday, I use cuticle oil AND cuticle cream everyday as well. I have a nail file on me at all times and apply a nail growth a builder polish one a week. Couldn't be happier!

Just a little sparkle. *UPDATED*

I felt like my simple sparkle nails needed a little pick me up. So I added colored sparkle tips. I used SinfulColors  I Miss You. Sparkle nails dont photograph well.. here is the best I could do. They look so much better in person.
You like?

I am absolutely in love with this look.

Just a little sparkle.

I finally got my Konad stamp plates, and let me tell you, they are FRUSTRATING! Haha. Why on earth would I assume they would be easy to use?? Needless to say, I need more practice before I post a picture.

Anyway.........

I went very simplistic today. I spent all day at the Texas State Fair and I am currently exhausted, and in a food coma so I didnt have it in me to go all out. So here it is: Simple Silver Sparkle!!

It's soooo pretty and still fun. The polish is SinfulColors Queen of Beauty. You'll see that the majority of the polish that I use is SinfulColors. I definitly recommend it to any and all of you. They have great colors, its great quality and the best part, you get 2 for $3!!! So I suggest you get your butt off the couch and go to Walgreens and stock up! Haha.

No work = Full day of nail art!!!

I've been doing nail art, literally all day. I'm lucky to have a supportive husband that doesn't mind coming home for the day to a house smelling like nail polish and acetone. Haha.

Anywhooo.. My konad plates have not arrived yet, hopefully this weekend. I did however get my Essie's Matte About You and it was everything I hoped for. This is a top coat that turns any polish into a matte color! Here I used Sinful Colors Boogie Nights with the matte top coat.

The only issue I've found so far is getting the matte coat even otherwise it looks bumpy.

Here's what I've been working on today:

Random dots. It looks really cool and I've gotten the hang of using my dotting tool. Even with my non-dominant hand. I think the colors look great too.

Here is another design I did today...it was really difficult and I'm too scared to try it on myself. lol.

The best designs are always the most difficult.

I like the idea of this next design but I feel like it needs better execution...again I am no where close to being a professional. Haha.

Well ta ta for now! 

Konad stamping kit!

I just ordered my Konad stamping kit. I've been thinking about all the awesome designs I can do once I get them!

And so it begins...

So here's the deal, I've always had a problem with biting my nails. Its a terribly disgusting habit and I am determined to over come it. I realized that the only way to do so is to keep my nails painted. Well... as I often do, I decided to go above and beyond and pick up the hobby of nail art!


Take a gander at my tool kit:

I must credit Pintrest.com for sparking my interest in this, I found a picture of technique called water marbling on there and I had to try it...

Now remember, this was towards the beginning so my nails and cuticles look a bit iffy.. lol. Anyway, I tried this a couple times and I found it to be very difficult and time consuming. Even though it makes really awesome designs, when done right, I think I'll steer clear of this technique for awhile.


While researching nail art I came across a blogger that utilizes scotch tape to make her designs. www.chloenails.blogspot.com is a great asset for ideas and tutorials... Here is one that I tried:

Pretty easy, but again my nails weren't in very good shape. This technique is called "Funky French". I will definitely be trying all of chloenails' techniques. 

Last website I want to give a shout out to is www.fuckyeahnailart.tumblr.com this site is dedicated to nothing but nail art and readers are able to submit their work. I go to this site for inspiration. Here's what I came up with: 

Of course this is my favorite so far! I used a dotting pen to make the polka dots. I've gotten TONS of compliments on these. I do have to say though, my right hand looks significantly better then my left, considering I'm left handed. Although, if I kep this up, I'll be ambidextrous in no time!