Pink and Silver with Glitter Gradient

Welcome back!

My mani for today was very simple, but I love it. I used Essie Pink Happy and Set in Stones. Two nails we'd solid pink, and two nails were solid glitter.

For the glitter nails, I have found that I am tired of painting literally 5+ coats on at times, and still having sparse areas. I have seen several people who sponge it on, and I love that method now. I don't think I'll ever go back. It is so much quicker, easier, and it leaves your nail thin, instead of it getting gunked up and thick from having that many coats on it. Plus, I find that it has a faster dry time because of this.

On the accent nail with the glitter gradient, I started by painting a base of Pink Happy. Once that was dry, I started about 1/3 of the way down my nail from my cuticle, and made some strokes with the glitter. This kept it thin and didn't leave a lot of glitter behind, but left some of the smaller piece. Then, I painted some of the glitter on the tip of a makeup sponge, and dabbed it on the very bottom of the nail.

Thanks for reading<3

Valentine's Day: French Manicure with Accent

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This manicure is the actual manicure that I wore on Friday and on Valentine's Day!!

I wanted to highlight the glitter that I used on my ring finger, so I paired it with a simple French manicure. My nails are pretty stained, so I knew I needed more than a sheer cost of a barely there nude. To help my nails look better colored, I first put down a layer of Nicole by OPI nail strengthener. The next layer was a brightener by Nicole by OPI.

After these two, I finally out down a coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Barely There. Once it was dry, I used HK Girl quick dry topcoat, and waited about 10 minutes before I put down the French manicure Nail Vinyls, and painted the white with Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt.

The accent nail was done using Sinful Colors Love Sprinkles. I sponged it on to make it thicker and more opaque without doing a million coats.

Thanks for reading! <3

The Nail Art Guild: February 14

Welcome back!

Time for another bi-weekly Nail Art Guild prompt today! The prompt was "out of this world."

I was trying to think of a good, creative idea, but all I could think of was galaxy nails. I'd set my heart on that, but decided I would try different colors and maybe different effects than the last time or two I'd done them. Then it hit me: Valentine galaxies. It was simple, really. All I had to do was trade out all of the usual designs and colors for pinks and hearts! You can find my classic galaxy nails here.

Black: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Fright
White: Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt
Pink: L'Oreal Acid Watermelon
Purple: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Ultra Violet
Fine Glitter: Finger Paints He-Art Auction
Chunky Glitter: Essie Pinking About You

I did this just like any other galaxy nails, starting by painting my nails black, then topping with a quick dry top coat. After that, I took pieces of sponge and sponged on white, then pink, and finally a little bit of purple. The next common step would be to take fine glitter and paint it to look like little stars, so I did this, just with fine pink glitter! I also used chunky glitter to look like big stars, and of course it was somewhat pink. The final step would be to draw larger stars with white polish, but I drew hearts!

I'm so happy with the outcome of these nails! When I thought of it, I immediately tried it out on a nail wheel, and could not wait to do it again on my actual nails!

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day: Kisses and Lipstick

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Today I did some lips with lipstick to go with it! I've seen both of these done by many people, so I'm not sure of the original creator, or who to credit as my inspiration even.

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Red: Salon Perfect striper Laser Beam

Silver: Salon Perfect striper Silver Pleated

Black: Salon Perfect striper Black Ink

Thanks for reading! <3

Valentine's Day: Love Letters

Welcome back!

Today I did some cute love letters for Valentine's Day!

I was inspired to do the large letters by Nailstorming and The Nail Trail. They both did cute manicures like them, and it reminded me of something I did last year, but bigger! The smaller letters were based off a nail I did last year, which I do not remember seeing anyone else do just like that. Finally, my mailbox was based off of a clip art image I found on Google. I thought it would be fun to bring in a mailbox for this, because where else would we put all those letters?!

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Pink: Essie I Pink I Can

The details were all Salon Perfect stripers in White Out, Black Ink, Silver Pleated and Red Laser.

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day: No Tools Dotticure

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The other day when I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw the Chalkboard Nails had posted a new quick video tutorial. It was kind of like a dotticure, but she didn't use any tools! All this takes is the polish brush! I thought it looked awesome, so I decided to try it with Valentine's Day colors.

She taped off half of the nail for all of her fingers, but in only did it on some, just to make it more fun. Plus, if your tape accidentally peels up some of the polish, (like it did on my thumb and index finger) you can just cover the mistake or smudge by adding dots to the other half of the nail!

Base: Essie Tuck It In My Tux

Light Pink: Essie Back in the Limo

Dark Pink: Essie Bump Up the Pump

If you want to see a tutorial, check out Chalkboard Nails on Instagram!

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day: Mini Matte Multi-Colored Hearts

Welcome back!

Today's mani was brought to you by the letter "m!" These actually originally started out as going to be conversation hearts, which is why I chose the colors that I did, and had them multi-colored. Once I got into them, though, I realized that they were way to small to have to go in and write letters on.

I really liked the end result, though, especially once I added the matte top coat on top. Mattifying it did give more of a conversation heart feel, but it still was not exactly what I wanted for that effect. These were super simple though, and did not take as long as I feared they would. I worked fairly quickly, though, because I put all polish colors on my palette at once, and I wanted to be able to layer them. That meant working with some speed, or else the polishes would goop up on the palette.

My colors were:

White: Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt

Orange/Peach: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Bleached in Peach

Green: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Lime Accent

Blue: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Day Glow Teal

Purple: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Ultra Violet

Pink: L'Oreal Acid Watermelon

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day Nail Ideas

Hey loves! I know it's super late, but I wanted to post this anyway, since I clearly didn't get around to posting it prior to the holiday.

I think that Valentine's Day nails are so much fun. It's an excuse to HAVE to wear pink nail polish! These are my 4 ideas on what to do for the holiday.

1. Two Color Pattern.
     This one is the simplest "design" that you can do. It is barely even a design at all! No nail tools are required, and you don't need any "talent" to do these. All you do, is pick two colors of polish. Then, pick two nails to paint color #1, and paint the other three with color #2! And THAT'S IT!!

Here, I used Nicole By OPI in I Do De-Claire and Back in my Gloria Days, both from the Modern Family collection.

2. Mix & Match.

     These nails will be so different from person to person. I went through and chose a red and a pink, silver or gold, a textured pink, a white, and then strippers in colors corresponding with my previous choices. You can see what I did in the picture, but I really liked the idea of using the textured polish on only one nail, and different designs on three, and making the one nail just a simple, solid color. Below, I have two hands, with the same design, I just swapped the colors a little.

Below are the polishes used for this hand.

And for the other hand...

Again, the polishes used for this hand are pictured below.

3. Pictures/Icons.

     These are the nails that everyone loves when I do. I pick popular icons and symbols for the holiday or occasion, and paint those on the nails! For this look, I used a kiss print, a rose, a candy heart, a love letter and a heart with an arrow going through it.

4. The Spring-y Valentine.

     Finally, for those who are in warmer climates, some of them think of Valentine's Day as when the weather gets warmer. This design was inspired by Nicole from http://youngwildandpolished.blogspot.com. She is always doing things similar, and they look so nice! I love the flowers, and how it looks a little like spring, but also feels "love-y," if that makes sense.

And that's it! These can use so many different colors, and could be used for different holidays, like Christmas, just by swapping out the pink for green! They are pretty easy, and they look so cute.

So, which one was your favorite design?

Thanks for reading <3