April Nail Favorites

Welcome back!

I want to start something new here on my blog, and that is doing monthly favorites! I want to post links to my favorite manicures, as well as anything else that I was big on in general, or anything nail related that I loved that month!

My favorite manicures were a little hard to narrow down this month, because I loved so many! I did narrow is down to five.

1. Pastel: This was the first prompt for the Nail Art April challenge, and I really loved the chevron and polka dots mixed together, but simple with just two colors.

2. Flowers: These were something I do not usually do on my nails, and I sort of did a reverse accent, which was fun and different!

3. Dotticure: This was the prompt for another day, and I just really liked the colors, and how I did a different dot style on each nail, but it still all went together really well.

4. Pop of Color: I loved this! It was sort of a mix with the flowers and dotticure, because I did a solid accent nail, and different dots on all of the other hands. It was also fun because it was all black and white with just a little bit of red--the pop!

5. Accent: The most recent manicure I did, and one that I love! I used two nail vinyls that I had never used before, so it was different than anything I've done before in a way.


Other

• I was really into OPI polishes, and using only OPI polishes for a whole manicure. I liked being able to just have it be all one brand. I usually did this in terms of having a color, then using the black and white for whatever else I did.
• Dotticures. These were something I could not get enough of this month. Even though I was unable to do them all of the time, I did practice these a lot on a nail wheel, and I kept trying new things on them.
• The China Glaze Road Trip blues were something I kept messing with every time I could. I did three manicures in a row using at least one of the blues. I just kept grabbing for them, but I'm not even sure why!

Check back next month to see what I'm loving for our last month of spring!

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 30

Welcome back!

Today's prompt: accent!

I wanted to do two accent nails for this, because the past two manicures I did only had one accent nail, and I was ready for a change.

Marroon/Purple: OPI Sleigh Parking Only
White: OPI Alpine Snow

I started by paint all nails in Sleigh Parking Only, then applying a quick dry top coat. Once the top coat had dried, I used Nail Vinyls and the white to make the accent nails.

Thanks for reading <3

Baseball Nails 2015 #2: OPI Love Athletes in Cleats

Welcome back!

It's more baseball nails for me today as I head to a game! My first one of the season!

The polish that I used for the red was OPI Love Athletes in Cleats, from their MLB collection that came out last summer. I didn't ever use this as a polish, I just did nail art with it, so I had no idea what the formula would be like.

Thankfully, it was amazing! I love this polish. It applied so smooth and even, and is gorgeous. There is some shimmer/sheen to it that is truly not like any that I myself own. I love finding polishes like this. No one really ever talked about these last year, but with the couple I have tried so far, I am impressed.

The white is OPI Alpine Snow and the red stitches were done with the Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Pen in Red.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 28

Welcome back!

Today's theme: pop of color!

I decided to do a dottier in black and white, and then add in some red to it as my pop of color! I used all OPI polishes for this manicure.

Black: Black Onyx
White: Alpine Snow
Red: In A Holidaze

This was super simple to do. I just used 3 different sized dotting tools for it. On the black nails, I did the entire thing in white dots, and then went back in with the red where I wanted it, otherwise it probably would not have shown up, or at least not very well. It was pretty sheer at first, and dark, just like the black. I knew that if I started with the white, it would turn out perfect.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 25

Welcome back!

Today's theme: minimalist!

I took this to be just a simple glitter accent nail!

Charcoal: China Glaze Out Like A Light

Glitter: China Glaze De-Light

Thanks for reading! <3

#NailArtApr: Day 22

Welcome back!

Today is a late post, but its my nails for Earth Day! In honor of Earth Day, in recycled the white from my last manicure!

White: Zoya Purity

Blue: OPI Sheer Tint I Can Teal You Like Me

Green: Zoya PixieDust Chita

Blue Striper: Salon Perfect Nail Art Striper Blue Skies

Green Striper: Salon Perfect Nail Art Striper Spring

I used the white painted on all nails and added the sheer tint on top of three of them. Then, I drew the continents on using the PixieDust. I really liked using these together to create the Earth look, because I thought it made it more interesting!

For the "accent nail", I used the stripers to draw a tiny Earth!

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 20

Welcome back!

The prompt for the challenge was "little critter." I took that to mean a little animal, so I did a super simple bunny manicure!

White: Zoya Purity

Black: Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Pen Black

Pink: Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Pen Neon Pink

After I painted my nails white, I just top coated them, and then drew on the bunny face, adding another layer of top coat to that nail once I was done. That's it!

Thanks for reading <3

April Showers

Welcome back!

It is supposed to be pretty rainy and stormy for the next few days in my area, so I created some stormy nails! I did something like this last year, and I liked them, but I really wanted to recreate them. I have seen several people do things like this, but I'm not sure who the original creator was!

Dark Blue: China Glaze License & Registration Pls
Gray: Essie Petal Pushers
Light Blue: China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer
Yellow: Color Club Almost Famous
Fast Dry Top Coat: Glisten & Glow HK Girl
Matte Top Coat: Sally Hansen Big Matte Top Coat
Shiny Top Coat: Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat

These nails were super easy to do! I started by painting the base, then I used a dotting tool for the clouds, lightning bolt, and raindrops. Once that was dry, I added a quick dry top coat, and later a matte one. To finish it off, I went in with the shiny top coat over the raindrops to make it look more like water. I sort of wish I would not have made the raindrops in color, but maybe I'll try that another time!

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 17

Welcome back!

The theme for this day is springtime!

Blue: China Glaze Boho Blues

Green: Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Striper Green

Pink: China Glaze Pack Lightly

This nail art was really easy! All that you have to do is start by painting your nails blue. When that dried, I took the green Striper and brushed lightly on the tips of my nails to make it look like grass. Then I just extended a couple of lines on each nail up for the flower stems. To add the flower, I used a small dotting tool with the pink, adding five dots for the petals.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 14

Welcome back!

Today's prompt: blue skies!

Blue: China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer

White: China Glaze White On White

This was very easy to accomplish and was inspired by Nailstorming! Her tutorial can be found here. All you need is a dotting tool!

Thanks for reading! <3

#NailArtApr: Day 11

Welcome back!

Today's prompt: dotticure!

For this manicure, I used all Wet n Wild Megalast polishes, all from the new Silver Lake collection!

Tan: A Latte Love

Blue: Wear Skinny Jeans

Green: Tree Hugger

All I used for this manicure is a dotting tool! It's so easy to do dotticures, so I really love them! You don't have to have worked on nails for very long to do a successful and beautiful dotticure! That's the best part about them!

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 08

Welcome back!

I'm sort of late in doing this, considering there is a new prompt for tomorrow, but I got busy this week and I unfortunately did not have much time for nail art.

The prompt for this day was "Fav flower" which is difficult for me! I would probably have to say rose, but I can't do those on the nail very well, AND I'm not sure I have a favorite flower! So, I did my favorite flower...to paint on my nails.

These were done using all Salon Perfect polishes, because I wanted to use some of my new pastel colors from them!

White: Sugar Cube
Pink: Put A Ring On It
Purple: Lilacking Control
Blue: Cold As Ice
Green: Mint Julep
Yellow: Mellow Yellow
Peach: Georgia Peach

This manicure was super easy to do! I just used dotting tools to create all of the flowers on top of a white base! Simple!

Thanks for reading <3

Baseball Nails 2015: #1 OPI 7th Inning Strrretch

Welcome back!

Today I have some extremely simple baseball nails that I did since baseball has officially begun! I will probably be doing a lot baseball nails, as I always do them for games that I attend, and I also have some of the OPI MLB polishes from last summer that I have been wanting to use during baseball season!

Blue: OPI 7th Inning Strrretch

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Red: Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Pen Red

These were super simple. My biggest tip and trick that I have learned is to make sure you put down top coat after putting the white on, but before drawing on the red. Then be sure to top cost again when you are done. The top coat between gives a smooth surface to write on that will not pull polish off when dragging it on the nail. The coat on top is absolutely necessary, because otherwise the design will wash off with water.

The blue polish was pretty good! I used 2 coats, and it has a great formula. You can see the lines, and it is not a cream. It is sort of metallic looking, so you just have to be careful with your brushstrokes in order to avoid them being visible. I really like it, but it chipped really quickly and wore on the tips, even with my usual top coat that I do not ever have these problems with.

Thanks for reading <3

Essie: Fall 2014

Welcome back!

Again, here I am with the late review. I still like to post them though, because then I can reference for myself and see how I felt about each polish that I tried!

Partner in Crime
Coats: 2
Formula: Cream
Color Family: Brown
This was a beautiful brown polish. It is very dark, so with a shiny top coat, it can be sort of hard to see the brown to it. I mattified it, and loved it that way. I use this polish all the time now when I need a brown for nail art. It is perfect to make anything that needs to be a pure brown. I think it is a little darker than Essie's Little Brown Dress which was what I used to always use for my brown details.

Fall in Line
Coats: 2
Formula: Cream
Color Family: Gray
This was sort of an odd color! I kind of like that in a polish though, because then you know you aren't getting one that you already have one almost identical to. I would probably call it a gray, but it had a lot of green to it. I mattified this one, too, and it was incredible. The formula was great, also, which just makes things better and better.

Take It Outside
Coats: 2
Formula: Cream
Color Family: Beige
The formula on this polish is beautiful. It goes on easily and looks great, too. It is very opaque, which is good. I call this a beige, but there are definitely gray tones to it. I thought this was almost a darker version of Essie's Urban Jungle.

The Perfect Cover Up
Coats: 1
Formula: Cream
Color Family: Blue
Another odd color, really. It was sort of a bluish-greenish gray. Again, I like that though, because then I know I don't have many, if any, close dupes for it! The formula on this was amazing, just like the others have been.

Style Cartel
Coats: 2
Formula: Cream
Color Family: Blue
What I really wanted to put under formula was "amazing." I loved how it was very opaque in one coat, but the second coat just made it darker, like it shows in the bottle. I love polishes like that, because then it is almost like getting two for one! Unfortunately, China Glaze's One Track Mind from their Fall 2014 collection was almost an exact dupe for this. It is a beautiful polish, but China Glaze is cheaper, so I could have skipped out on this one.

Dress to Kilt
Coats: 2
Formula: Cream
Color Family: Red
As the title polish for this collection, it was the perfect deep, fall red. Again, just like all of the others in this collection, the formula was incredible. It goes on amazingly, and it absolutely beautiful. I loved how this was also sort of the pop of color for the collection. All of the other polishes were beautiful, but they were very toned down and cool. This was bright, warm and vibrant.

Overall, these polishes were amazing. This whole collection was a must, and I'm really happy that I purchased all of them. I know that there are plenty of reds and blues, so maybe Style Cartel  and Dress to Kilt could be skipped by some, but they were still great formulas. Other than those two, though, there were very few polishes close to the others. They are unique, and I think it was a perfect collection for fall.

Here are some pictures of the polishes mattified and included in nail art!

Partner in Crime + matte top coat

Fall in Line + matte top coat

Take It Outside under the glitter and on the ring finger

Style Cartel on middle and pinky nails

Dress to Kilt on pinky and pointer & dots on middle

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 05

Welcome back!

Today's theme is Easter, since it is Easter after all!

In honor of the holiday and its true meaning, I did some crosses over a sunset.

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Yellow: Color Club Almost Famous

Orange: Studio M Orange Hot

Red: OPI Coca-Cola Red

Black: Salon Perfect Nail Art Striper Black Ink

I decided to write a tutorial for what I did to create there's nails!

1. Paint a base of one coat of white polish. Once dry, top with a quick drying top coat.

2. Tape off the skin around all of the nail. On a latex free makeup sponge, paint half of the area that will cover the nail in yellow. Next paint most of the rest orange, and then just a thin red line at the bottom.

3. Once the top coat is dry, sponge the color onto the nail, dabbing up and down the nail to blend it in. Repeat this one or two more times in order to make it more opaque.

4. With the black striper, paint a small half circle at the bottom of each nail, and then extend a straight vertical line up, and then a short horizontal line through the vertical line to make the cross. I thickened these up to make it look more like the cross. I only drew crosses on three of the nails.

Thanks for reading <3

Easter: Galaxies

Welcome back!

Today I created some galaxy nails (again), but this time they were Easter themed!

Black: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Fright

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Pink: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Pink Punch

Purple: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Ultra Violet

Blue: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Day Glow Teal

Green: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Lime Accent

Peach: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Bleached in Peach

Fine Glitter: Claire's White Hot

Chunky Glitter: Zoya Monet

White Striper: Salon Perfect Nail Art Striper White Out

I did these nails just like I've done any other galaxies. For these, I'll write it out step by step, because I haven't done that before!

1. Start by painting nails with a black polish for a base.

2. Using a piece of a makeup sponge and tweezers, I spotted on white polish in the shape that I want the galaxy to be on each nail.

3. Using the pink, purple, blue, green, and peach polish, I sponged them on the same way as the white. I did any touch ups as I went, too.

4. Next, I painted on the fine glitter to look like small stars in the distant.

5. I placed some of the chunky glitter on a palette and picked out a few large glitters and placed them on some of the black spaces on my nails.

6. Using the white striper, I painted a couple of eggs on my nails in place of heat would normally larger stars drawn on in a normal galaxy.

Thanks for reading <3

Easter: Baby Chicks

Welcome back!

The other day I decided to do some baby chick nail art! I know I have seen the baby chick hatching before, but I don't know who originally did them!

Yellow: OPI Good Grief!

Yellow Texture: Nicole by OPI Roughless Sand in My Shoe

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Black: OPI Black Onyx

Other Supplies:

B.M.C. Flocking Powder

Icing Nail Wheel

Dotting Tool

Chevron Nail Vinyls

For these nails, I started by painting my thumb, middle and ring fingers with Good Grief!, and then quickly put a layer of the flocking powder on the thumb and ring finger. For the eyes, I used a couple of black round studs. To make the beak, I used a gold diamond stud and cut it in half so I would have a beak for both chicks. I attached them using OPI Top Coat.

On the middle nail, once it and a top coat were dried on there, I used the chevron nail vinyls to create the cracked looking egg. I used a dotting tool to create the eyes.

Thanks for reading <3

#NailArtApr: Day 02

Welcome back!

Today was the first day of Nail Art April hosed by @californails on Instagram! The prompt for this was Pastel.

Purple: Wet n Wild Megalast Reject the Mainstream

Tan: Wet n Wild Megalast A Latte Love

Both of these polishes are from the new Wet n Wild Megalast Silver Lake collection. I used nail vinyls to make the chevrons, and a dotting tool to make the dotted nail! These were super easy, but I loved them!

Thanks for reading <3