Christmas Party Manicure

Last year I went to a Christmas party and did this manicure for it. I've discovered that I have taken many, many photos of manis over the past few years that I have never actually blogged. I've been sharing some of them earlier this year in October but thought I'd show another one today. It's really interesting going back and seeing what type of manicures and techniques I previously did and how I've improved so much. Not only in my skills for nail art, but also in taking photos of it.

This manicure is so dark in the photos and I waited a few days to take the photos of it (as evidenced by the tip wear...). I can also see the difference between this photo and how using nail oil has really helped around the cuticles. They look so dry here, but now they are so much better and healthier. (I've been using Bliss Kiss for about a year now).

I started with a base of Funky Fingers Ectoplasmic and then tried my hand at a few decals. I used Il Etait un Vernis Paint It Black, Konad Green, and Funky Fingers Gesso. I made decals for the bell and champagne glasses coloring them in with silver polish and red Sharpie markers.

Plates used are as follows:
-Dashica SdP 24 (Holly Berries)
-Dashica SdP 14 (Champagne Glasses, Bells)

(Since this is from last year I'm not sure which plate the large bell is from. One thing that I've learned is that I really need to write down what I'm using so when I post I can let everyone know. Also, I might want to recreate something or use an image again.)

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What do you think? How have you grown in your nail art over the past year?

Challenge Your Nail Art October Challenge, Day 1: Black

Today is the first day for the Challenge your nail art October challenge! I enjoyed doing the St. Patrick's Day challenge so decided to try this one too. I really enjoy doing challenges because it gets me thinking outside the box.

This is an old manicure, but it fits the challenge so I thought I'd share The base is a grey creme polish by Ulta called Concrete Evidence. I then stamped the tree image from Petla plate Feathers stamping plate. I think those trees just have a spooky air about them, perfect for Halloween!!

I used Funky Fingers Dark Night for stamping and my Konad stamper. Goes to show how old thsi one is, from 2014 :) Do you keep pictures of older manicures and share them later too?

7 Days of St Patrick's Day Nail Challenge: Day 5: Funky Fingers Throwback

Continuing with the 7 Days of St. Patrick's Day Nail art challenge I found on Facebook, I decided to do a little throwback to one of the first times I did a crackle manicure.

This photo is from September 2, 2012!! This is right when Funky Fingers came out with a plethora of metal crackle colors, including this awesome sparkly one. 

I have Funky Fingers Mint Montauk on all nails and Funky Fingers Teal Scales on top. Don't you just love the combination?!

Crackle may not be the "in" thing anymore, but I still like 
seeing manicures with it. It's a fun, easy way to create nail art without much effort when you just need to "polish and go." What's your quickie nail art look?

Better Than Jamberry: Butterfly Kisses

This week in AIS, the challenge was to do "better than Jamberry" nails. I've never tried the nail wraps they offer and don't really feel inclined to since I have so many stamping plates and the sky's the limit with stamping nail art.

I chose Butterfly Kisses to recreate.

I started with AEngland Iseult on all nails and then topped that off with Glitter Gal Fuschia holographic. Isn't that a beautiful combination??

      

 

I used BM-424 from the BM 2013 CYO (Create Your Own) collection and stamped the butterfly wing image with Funky Fingers Black Knight.

 

 

I used L.A. Colors French White to make the dots on the wings with a toothpick.

 

I LOVE this look!!! Have you every done butterfly wing nails?

 

 

Monkeying Around

 The ladies over at Nail Crazies Unite on Facebook are having weekly challenges. For the month of February, these are our challenges:

 

This week's challenge was "Fruit." Immediately I thought to try something new and different, so bananas came to mind. That also made me think that I should try creating a monkey nail art. Here's what I came up with :)

 

I started with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Yellow Kitty on all nails except my accent nail. The accent nail has Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Commander in Chic with Il etait un vernis Drop Dead Gorgeous over it.

 

I then created a stamping decal for the bananas using Cheeky Jumbo Plate 7 Home Sweet Home stamped with Funky Fingers Black Knight.

 

The Monkey thumb accent was drawn with Bic Mark It Fine Point Permanent Marker in Woodsy Brown and then I used the Sally Hansen to create the details along with white polish and the Tuxedo Black Bic marker for the eyes and nostrils.

 

 

 

Isn't that monkey cute?? I love how this turned out. Have you ever done animal inspired nail art?

 

An InLinkz Link-up

2015 Valentine's Day Challenge: Love and Kisses

Today's theme for the 2015 Valentine's Day Challenge is Love and Kisses. I went with literal this time, but some nontraditional St. Valentine's Day colors :)
 

 

 


I started with Funky Fingers Chesire on all nails and then put Glitter Gal Bruised Ego on top of that on all nails.

 



Using BM02 and BM09, I stamped the kisses and "LOVE" word on my thumb and ring finger with AEngland Excalibur (original). 

 

I finished the manicure by doing a French tip on the other nails with Funky Fingers Dark Knight.

Here's a closeup of the thumb:

What nontraditional colors have you used for St. Valentine's Day?



An InLinkz Link-up

2015 Valentine's Day Challenge: Roses

Today's theme for the 2015 Valentine's Day Challenge is Roses. I decided to do a simple, yet elegant version. I also tried my hand at stamping with more than 1 color at the same time.
 

I first put 2 coats of Funky Fingers Ectoplasmic on all my nails. 

 

Starting with the Nailways Springtime- Love is in the Air plate, I used Konad red on the flower part of the rose and Konad green on the stem part. I put both on the plate at once, then scraped and stamped. This created a red rose with green stem for the nail out of one stamp.

 

I then used Shany SH06 to stamp a bit of the lacey design with Funky Fingers Dark Knight.

 

 

I finished off the accent nail with Konad red and the full nail design of roses from the Nailways plate.

 

 

 

 

What do you think?

 



An InLinkz Link-up

2015 Valentine's Day Challenge: Red Passion

Today's theme for the 2015 Valentine's Day Challenge is Red Passion.

 

Of course I knew I wanted to use red polish, so I put China Glaze Phat Santa on all my nails and decided to do the thumb and ring finger as accents with Sinful Colors Dazzle.

 

Using Nailways Springtime Love is in the Air plate, I stamped the xoxo full nail design on the accent nails with Funky Fingers Dark Knight and the rest of the nails with Funky Fingers Pop Artist.

I topped everything with Seche Vite and there you have it :) I like how this turned out, what would you do for the theme "red passion?"

An InLinkz Link-up

2015 Valentine's Day Challenge: Glitter Hearts

Today's theme for the 2015 Valentine's Day Challenge is glitter hearts. I've seen so many manicures that look awesome with glitter as the background, so I figured I'd give that look a try.

 

I started with a base of Funky Fingers Pop Artist and topped it off with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter.

 

 

Using Sugar Bubbles plate SB011, I stamped on the heart outlines with Funky Fingers Dark Knight.

 


Have you tried stamping on glitter yet? It was so easy and looks great!

An InLinkz Link-up

Investigation Discovery anti-Valentine's Nails

 

 

The ladies over at Nail Crazies Unite on Facebook are having weekly challenges. For the month of February, these are our challenges:

 

It took me a LONG time to try to figure out what I would do for this, certainly a challenge! St. Valentine's Day is about people coming together out of love, so the opposite would be people coming apart , no longer in love. The first thing that comes to mind for me are all the television shows on Investigation Discovery. Every day there is some story about how someone kills their husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend. Such horrible stories!

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Yellow Kitty.

 

 

Using Funky Fingers Dark Knight and Konad Red, I stamped the couple and hearts images from Messy Mansion MM03 and the silhouettes and wording from Infinity 76. I then painted the ID logo and knife details with Funky Fingers Gesso and Ulta Concrete Evidence

 

 

    

Here's the finished look!  What do you think? Have you ever created an anti-Valentine's manicure?

 





M is for Multi-colored: Holographic Sunset Beach Nails

Today for the A2Z Challenge, we have M is for multi-colored. I've always wanted to do the sunset beach nails so I decided to try it and make them holographic!

 

I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow Matte and then put Glitter Gal Turbulence, a silver linear holographic, over all my nails. I just LOVE holographic polish!!

On order to create the gradient effect, I used OPI Big Hair ... Big Nails, OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear, and OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston. All three jelly polishes from the Texas Collection. I put them each down at a time and used the dry brush technique (where you get most of the polish off the brush except a little little bit and add to the nail to create the gradient).

Using Funky Fingers Black, I stamped the sun image from BM-01 and the palm tree image from B70 on my middle finger, put more palm trees on the other nails and for the accent ring finger, I used the full palm tree nail design from the Summerics Petla plate.

I really REALLY like how this one turned out! I may have to do a Youtube tutorial just so I can wear this look again! What do you think, would you like to see a tutorial?

An InLinkz Link-up

2015 Valentine's Challenge: My Heart Beats for You

Today's manicure is inspired by the daily theme from the 2015 Valentine's Challenge, Soft Pink. I used shade on shade pinks to create this look. 

 

 

 I used Sugar Bubbles SB011 for the heart beats and also the image on my thumbnail.

 

I first put on a coat of Funky Fingers Kingston, a great neon pink. I topped that off with Revlon Grapefruit Fizz, which is a scented nail polish. I actually really liked the smell of the polish once it was dry, reminded me of the smell of pink Starburst candy.

 

 

I then stamped the images on with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Sonic Boom. Love the results!

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up