Seven Deadly Sins Nail Art Challenge: Greed - Snake Pit ~

My latest nail art design is part of the ongoing Seven Deadly Sins Nail Art Challenge. This time it is the deadly sin of Greed. The theme for Greed is "Remember, more is more, don’t hold yourself back." I decided to portray that with a Snake pit, very fitting right?

If one polish is good enough for a manicure, why not as much polish as possible? LOL, I used 15 different polishes for this manicure!

Colors from thumb to pinkie: OPI Did It On Em, FingerPaints Chrysanthe-Mum's The Word, OPI Green-Wich Village, Revlon Emerald, and OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window.

On the thumb I added Kleancolor Pastel Yellow with a Q-Tip and then stamped the snakeprint design from BM-215 with Konad White and then re-stamped with Kleancolor yellow in certain places.

BM-215

                                    

The Pointer Finger has Sally Hansen XTreme Wear Green with Envy added with a QTip and the Konad White with BM-215 stamped and then re-stamped with Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Green with Envy. I then topped it off with OPI Call My Cell-Ery.

The Middle Finger is stamped first with BM-209 and A-Taupe the Space Needle followed by BM-208 stamped with Funky Fingers Ectoplasmic and then finally stamped again with BM-209 and L.A. Girl Color Addict Obsess.

BM-209

BM-208

 On the Ring Finger I first put a stripe on each side with Sinful Colors Striper in Be My Valentine and then stamped BM-209 with OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle.

The pinkie has BM-208 stamped with OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys and then BM-215 stamped with Funky Fingers Back Knight.


Wow, so much polish to accomplish this look! Five different snake designs :)
What do you think?

My First Guest Post: Inspired by The Jungle Book!

Go on over to Nail Polish Creations to check out my very first guest post!

Here's a little preview of the manicure I did:

What do you think?

Swatch: OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys

OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys is a great chocolate brown color. I like using it in many nail art designs and it also works for stamping!

OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys

Seven Deadly Sins Nail Art Challenge: Gluttony - Cocktail Hour!!

My nails today represent a cocktail hour during springtime. I really love the end result, it looks so Florida to me and my husband thinks it also looks sort of like some sort of ceramic piece/pattern.

This is the second part of the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge: Gluttony.
I am only doing one day for each of the weekly challenges. I chose to do "Skip your diet and paint something that makes your stomach growl." I love drinking slushy drinks (usually non-alcoholic) and enjoy a glass of wine every once in a while.

I thought this would be a cute spring manicure to do for the challenge.








I started with a base of Funky Fingers Daiquiri on Deck (very fitting for a  cocktail theme, right?) and then did different stamping on each nail.

Starting with the pinky, I put a coat of Funky Fingers Neon Green Crackle first and then used BM-05 to stamp the grape design with China Glaze Virtual Violet. I did the same thing for all nails on both hands.

BM-05

The ring finger has Glitter Gal 24 Carat stamped with RA-107 and the sort of water-marbled look design. Then, I stamped the same design again with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Emerald City followed by another stamp with Glitter Gal 24 Carat. I offset each one to give a holographic design effect to the nail.

RA-107

The middle finger has the flourish in the lower left corner of BM-224 stamped with OPI Did It On Em (I thought this image looked sort of like a citrus rind). Then, I stamped  BM-208 first with OPI Green-Wich Village and then Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Emerald City to give a shadowy effect (I thought this could be mint leaves).

BM-208

BM-224

The index finger is first stamped with the citrus image from BM-209 and Funky Fingers Ectoplasmic. Then, I stamped the leafy image from BM-05 with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Emerald City.

BM-209

The thumb has a wine theme going on (might have to do this as a full manicure someday, my husband really liked it). I started with the grapevine and leaf image from RA-115 stamped with OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window. I really like that color for the grape-leaves and it stamped really well too. I then used the grape image again from BM-05 with China Glaze Virtual Violet.

RA-115

 

 

I fished it all off with Seche Vite topcoat and really enjoy the end result. What do you think?



Swatch: Revlon Emerald

Revlon Emerald is a great bright green color that looks great in nature manicures, Christmas and St. Patrick's Day manicures. Love it!

Revlon Emerald

Southwestern Inspired Nails with BM-204

Today I have a Southwestern-inspired manicure to show!

I started with AEngland Guinevere as a base color and then used BM-204 and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Sonic Boom to stamp.

BM-204

This was my first stamping experience with the Insta-Dry line and it took a few attempts to get the hang of it. These polishes really do dry fast! I also really like the opaqueness which reminds me of the Konad stamping polishes.

Battle of Chancellorsville 150th Anniversary Manicure: Stonewall Jackson

I decided to do this manicure as part of the Polish Days "The Number 5" Challenge.

This weekend marked the 150th anniversary of what many consider the greatest Confederate victory in the Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville. My husband and I went to the re-enactment (our first time at one) and I must say that it really puts the whole thing in perspective to see so many people acting it out. What a way to remember what happened, "that the future may learn from the past."

The reason I chose this for the challenge is because on May 5, 1863 the Union army retreated back across the Rappahannock river, thus giving Robert E. Lee his greatest victory in the Civil War. Unfortunately, it also gave him huge casualties. Among the casualties are the famed Stonewall Jackson. That is who the photo on my thumb is. The public domain photo was taken just 7 days before he died. At the battle, he was shot in the arm which later had to be amputated. He died shortly thereafter on May 10, 1863.

Many scholars state that this victory made Lee more confident in his forces than he should have been. It gave him a huge ego? Because of this, many say he ended up with such a great defeat at Gettysburg; which is the definite turning point in the Civil War. Here is a battle summary if you want to learn more about this particular battle.


Here's the manicure:

I started with a base of Revlon Emerald. I then stamped an image from BM-224 that looked like the stone walls that gave Jackson fame. I used Funky Fingers Black Knight to do the stamping.

I then created two paper decals with the words and the photograph. I used top coat to adhere them to my nails. I used white polish to put behind the words so they showed up better. I left the photo as it is to give it that old dusty look. This was my first attempt at adding a "decal" to my nails.

Here's a closeup of the thumb:

What do you think for my first attempt at printing something out and putting it on my nails?

Since this is a group challenge, there are many others participating. Check out their manicures too:

Blast From the Past - The Orange Cat

This is what I call a Blast from the Past. This is one of my oldest nail polishes that I own. It still works wonderfully and recently added thinner to it because it had thickened a bit. This is a great orange polish in a really pretty cat bottle. I have no clue what it is called or who made it though because that information is absent :(

Enjoy!

Seven Deadly Sins Nail Art Challenge: Lust

I've started to get involved in more nail art challenges lately. It has really made me think outside the box and try to do nail art that I may never have come up with on my own.

This challenge is called the Seven Deadly Sins Nail Art Challenge. Each of the seven sins has 2 different days to choose from (or you could do all 14, but I choose to stick with 1 for each sin). It has already challenged me to be more creative in my manicures.

The Challenge was presented by Alice of One Nail To Rule Them All, and Helena of Nail Wish.

Here's the infographic they created to show the order and ideas:

The first Deadly Sin is lust and the one I chose out of the two options is: "Be a bad girl and make something that you have wanted to do so badly." The first thing that immediately came to my mind was a gradient manicure. I've never done one, but have REALLY wanted to try one out.

I decided to try a flame-inspired gradient mani and this is what I came up with:

Base of AEngland Perceval and to create the "gradient effect" I used Kleancolor Mettalic Sapphire with a full-nail stamp that looked similar to flames ( i had to make due with what I got) from BM16.

BM16

 

 

 

 

RA-118

Taking Kleancolor Mettalic Mango, I used the lower tri-flower image on RA-118 to create more of the "gradient" look. It had a gradient effect going, even though it's not a normal sponged gradient (I don't have sponges available yet).

SH-09

Then, I took the female with a pitchfork image from SH-09 and AEngland Camelot to stamp in the middle of each nail to create the fiery look!

Here's a close-up of the thumb to see the effect more:

What do you think? Are you participating in the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge too?

Ruby Slippers Inspired Wizard of Oz Manicure

This week's challenge was to create a stamping manicure inspired a favorite pair of shoes. The first thing that came to mind was Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz. I have always loved how sparkly those shoes are and comfortable looking. I have actually seen the shoes at the Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC as well. (if I can find my photo, I will update this post with it)



I started with a base of Wet n Wild the Wonder Yellows. I then took BM-208 and Funky Fingers Black Knight to stamp the shattered lines onto the lower part of my nails.

Then, I used Kleancolor Red Alert to do a funky french design and topped it off with L.A. Girls Glitter Addict in Animate to create the "ruby slipper" appearance.

I love how this manicure turned out! Have you ever done a manicure inspired by shoes?

150 Facebook Likes Giveaway Winners Announcement!

Thanks to everyone who entered and has supporting me in this business endeavor so far! Without out I would not be able to grow and be able to offer such great deals on international brands of nail polish.

There were 3 winners chosen, they have been contacted by email and have 3 days to get back to me otherwise I will have to choose a new winner.

Congratulations to the 3 winners!! You can choose any in-stock polish on the site as your prize:

1. Lena Payne
2. Alex Simpson
3. Pamela Greenlee

 

Glitter Gal Holographic 10 to Midnight

Gettin' Lacy with AEngland Holy Grail and Big Plate A

I decided to not only do a comparison of AEngland Holy Grail old vs new version, but to dress it up a bit with a beautiful lacy French tip stamp. What do you think of it?

Comparison old and new Holy Grail

The above picture shows the comparison of the old and new AEngland Holy Grail. The top and bottom is the old version which is called Limited Edition (when it's gone, it's gone) and the middle is the New Edition.
I think they are both pretty, but am partial to the new version myself. It is a very true gold foil color, whereas the limited edition version is a more yellow-leaning true goldenrod type color.

In artificial lighting

I then took the New edition and created French tips on all the fingers with the Limited Edition, leaving the accent finger as the New edition by itself. Then, with Funky Fingers Black Knight (my favorite black stamping polish) I stamped the lacy French tip design from the Fauxnad Big Plate A (the image can also be found on Konad m71) on the tips of all except the accent nail.

In natural light

What do you think?

Swatch: Kleancolor Pastel Yellow

Kleancolor Pastel Yellow is a great spring manicure color!

It is one of the hardest polishes for me to work with from this brand, but in the end it looked fine. The problem is that it started out really streaky and needed 3 coats to reach opacity.

In sunlight

Here it is indoors to see the yellow color better:

With Flash indoors