Challenge Your Nail Art October Challenge, Day 3: Gradient

For today's challenge, I used an older manicure. It's interesting going back and looking at manicures from a few years ago. My nails are so different. The nail shape for one, but it also seems the part by the cuticle is a bit different as well. And of course my cuticles are in much better shape. I used to have so many hang-nails but now that I use cuticle oil regularly that has improved so much.

Today's theme is gradient. This is one of the first gradient manis I did and also an attempt at creating a scene using some of the smaller images from plates. I used a bunch of different designs from the Cheeky round plates to create this look.

I did a gradient with some color that I thought would look good as a sunset background. This was my first attempt and I think I did all right, but think I need to add in some darker colors next time. I then stamped using my Konad stamper and Funky Fingers Black Knight.

What do you think? Have you created one of these gradient manicures before?

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 7: Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today is the 7th Day of the 7 days of St. Patrick's Day Nail art Challenge!! Happy St. Patrick's Day :)

For today's nail art, I decided to go traditional St. Patrick's Day and do a rainbow, pot of gold, shamrock, gold, green, and fun.

I started off with OPI Fly as the base. This is a very easy to work with cream and I really love the tone of teal it is.

I then used lots of techniques, from stamping to glitter placement to decals to drawing with sharpies to create this look. So much to mention!

I used Messy Mansion MM04 for all the themed images. I used glitter placement from Kleancolor Tiara Gold. I used Sharpies to color in the green on the shamrock on the thumb and write the verse on the other thumb. Various Kleancolor polishes were used to create the rainbow.

The black stamping was done with Il Etait un Vernis Paint it Black and colored in with Il Etait un Vernis White Canvas.

Have you tried Sharpies in your nail art yet?

7 Days of St Patrick's Day Nail Challenge: Day 6: AEngland Dragon

Continuing with the 7 Days of St. Patrick's Day Nail art challenge I found on Facebook, I decided to do a swatch of one of my favorite greens.

AEngland Dragon is such a beautiful color. It is a grass green with olive green flashes and holographic particles! This is one of the first international polishes that I owned and what really got me started looking at international brands and indie nail polish polish. 

What was that first polish that got you checking out international brands?

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?

7 Days of St Patrick's Day Nail Challenge: Day 4: Gold Stamping with Hit the Bottle

Continuing with the 7 Days of St. Patrick's Day Nail art challenge I found on Facebook, I decided to go for some gold stamping :)

I started with a base of Arcane Lacquer Reflective Property, which is a Beautometry.com store exclusive, and as an accent nail used A England Briarwood. The 2 colors go very well together.

I then stamped with el Corazon red stamping polish one of the crosses on the Messy Mansion plate MM54.

Messy Mansion MM54 Stamping Plate

Last, I stamped with various Hit the Bottle golds the full nail pattern. I think it turned out really cool and is like a gradient of golds with the stamping being a different one on each nail. How many different gold stamping polishes do you have?

Closeup to see how good the stamping turned out, look at those details!

7 Days of St Patrick's Day Nail Challenge: Day 3: Optical Illusion with Zig Zag Nail Art Guides

For day 3, I decided to try an optical illusion look. I've not tried this before on nails, but thought it might look interesting.

I started off with Kleancolor Pearl Jungle as a base.

Kleancolor Pearl Jungle

Then, I put the zig zag French guides at an angle on the nails and paint over them with Glitter Gal Soft Green. It is a polish meant to change the appearance of the color underneath, the soft shades are very sheer. But this allowed me to be able to see the pattern for tracing afterwards.

Next, I used a black Sharpie pen and drew lines across the nails but distorted the lines over the area where you can see the zig zag pattern. I did this over all the nails. Have you tried optical illusions on your nails? What do you think?

7 Days of St Patrick's Day Nail Challenge: Day 2: Double Stamping with Shamrocks

I'm doing this St. Patick's Day Nail Challenge for 7 days that I saw on Facebook.

For day 2, I decided to go with some double-stamping. I used Apipila P38 and Apipila 04B for this look. The base color is Kleancolor Jazz Olive and I stamped the black with Il Etait Un Vernis Paint it Black and the white with Il Etait Un Vernis White Canvas using my original Creative Shop Stamper. All can be found on Beautometry.com.

I think this turned out nice, I'll have to try double-stamping again in the future Have you tried it yet?

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Q is for Quirky: Cupcake Watermarble

Today for the A2Z Challenge, we have Q is for Quirky. I had a quick inspiration for this and just went with it.

 

I started with a base of Wet n Wild Fast Dry Silvivor and created a water marble decal with that and Glitter Gal 10 to Midnight. These are holographic!!!

I then created a stamping decal with Cheeky Jumbo Plate 7 Home Sweet Home for the cupcake using Funky Finger Blacks Night then colored it in with OPI Pink Friday and L.A. Colors French White.

 

 

I really enjoyed this quirky look!! What do you think?

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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?

 

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P is for Pale: Flourishes

Today for the A2Z Challenge, we have P is for Pale. I took it to mean a pale color base and something not as bright or busy as well.

I started with Kleancolor Frapuccino as a base on all nails and then used my Creative Shop Stamper set to stamp the flourish design from Cheeky Jumbo Plate 7 Home Sweet Home onto my nails with Kleancolor Metallic Mango.

This was a nice palate cleanser for me since my nails have been so bright and filled with designs lately. I also had a chance to use the Creative Shop stamper set again. I REALLY love how large this is. My nails are growing out and it will be such a pleasure to be able to get them in one stamp instead of trying to match up a double stamped design.

Do you have the new Creative Shop stamper +scraper set? What do you think of it?

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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?



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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?

 



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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?"

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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!

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