Tag: nail stamping

Sneaky Halloween Post!

Mouha-ha-ha!! Ha!ha! I’m sneaking in a Halloween post because I can! I know I promised to show you the rest of my hand painted nails but, I am totally digging Halloween nails right now and wanted to show you guys what I’ve been wearing for the last week or so.
I also wanted to point out that I had decided a few weeks ago to do a UV gel overlay on my nails seeing as how so many of them were cracked or broken and u did not want to gut them down. It has been a learning curve for sure but I think I’m staring to get the hang of these gel sculptured nails thingy! I have done them about three times now (once as a full set and two more times as a fill) and I have only applied a thin coat of gel over my natural nails, I have not used tips to lengthen my nails in any way. I also used the tea bag method to repair any broken or cracked nails. Works like a charm! The difficulty with the at home gel is building up the gel and getting it to stay where you need it to. I also have a small Seche Vite UV light and I don’t think the uv rays of the light actually reach parts of the nail leaving un-cured gel that gets wiped off when you clean up. Always make certain to get the whole surface of the nail is exposed to the light to avoid this problem.
Any how I also wanted to mention that my nail polish seems to last a great deal longer with the gel overlay! I just used a good thick coat of Seche Vite Top Coat on top to seal everything in. I have read that you can also add a layer of builder UV gel on top of your polish nice it is completely dry to really seal it in (I have not done this yet because I like to change my polish a few times a week!)
So here are my Halloween nails:

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I used a bunch of stamping plates for the designs on my Cinderella hand and painted the other hand using acrylic paints. I had a really hard time with the brain and as a result it has a phallic look to it. Oh well I guess it will just have to do for the next few days, it is a long weekend this weekend here in Canada and I get to go to my turkey on at my best friend’s house woohoo!

For this look I used:
Essence do you speak love?, grey-t to be here, L.O.L, iced strawberry cream
Revlon spirit
Maybelline Color Show lustrous lime
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear disco ball
Karaja anti shock system N.10
Seche Vite Top Coat
I used acrylic paint for the Frankensteins, Count Dracula and the brain.

Stamping plates used for this look:
Mash 29, 48, 37
Shany SH217, 206
Bundle Monster BM13,
Winstonia W116

I would love to see your Halloween nail art, feel free to share them here!

Next up I will be posting the rest of my hand painted designs! Stay tuned!

Glittery Mermaid Manicure

Hi all!! My summer vacation on the East Coast has come to an end and I’m back at home, hopefully my blogging will be more regular. So as I alluded to in my last post I will be showing you my mermaid inspired manicure.
I started with a glitter gradient that reminded me of mermaid tails and I used a textured polish that reminded me of aquarium sand. I then added some rhinestones and some pearls from my cheeky beauty stash. Big mistake! I really need to learn restraint when applying these things! I wanted them to look like bubbles but it just ended up looking like a dildo again! Oh well! They were pretty anyways.

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I added some gold stamping to mimic seaweed from my jumbo cheeky plate but it was very faint. I would go for something darker next time. The gold stamping of the scales came from the same set of plates. It turned out really well.
For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Maybelline Color Show sea-quins
Hard Candy pee-wee purple, crush on raisin
Pure Ice twisted, shell pink
Revlon girly, whimsical
Julie rock candy
Seche Vite Top Coat
Pearls and rhinestones from Cheeky Beauty

The stamping was done using a Cheeky Beauty jumbo stamping plate.

What do you guys think? Have you tried doing a mermaid mani lately?

Next up I plan on showing you my hand painted version of Robin MosesTiki God nail art. This woman is an amazing artist and everyone should have a look at her creations and tutorials on YouTube.

Magical Unicorns

As promised in my last post here come the unicorns! I’m not usually a unicorn type of girl but lately I’ve been digging pastels and for some reason it also makes me think of a unicorn colour pallet. I started with some pastel base colours and a metallic accent, on the pastel blue index fingers I finally got around to using an O.P.I. glitter from the Wizard of Oz collection. I then stamped on some designs from my Winstonia and Pueen nail plate sets. I wanted the thumb and pinkie to look like my unicorn was running then leaping into the air, so I changed the orientation of my stamp before applying it to the nail. Added some bling and a top coat and Bam! Chapter!

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I love the way this turned out, this may be a little too girly for some but I really liked wearing it out and I received a few compliments on them. Whoot! Whoot!

For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Revlon cloud, sunshine sparkle, vixen
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear bubble gum pink, celeb city
Hard Candy crush on raisin
O.P.I. Lights of Emerald City
O.P.I. Rapid Dry Top Coat

Nail plates used:
Winstonia W111, W117
Pueen 46

Stay tuned, I will be trying out a new stamping technique for my next manicure it should be interesting…

80s Prom Dress

Today’s look is inspired by the sea foam lace commonly incorporated into the typical 80s prom dress. Just kidding! I actually wanted to use a sea foam green polish, a nude polish and, a rich yellow gold polish I recently purchased at my local pharmacy. I used my Pueen Love Elements stamping plates to stamp on some romantic lace roses and some cute vines.

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I really like how the gold nails with the white lace turned out! The gold happens to be from the Sun Kissed collection by Essence and it is really nice in person!

For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Essence Nude ice strawberry cream
Essence Sun Kissed my sunny side
Revlon jaded, cloud
Miracote top coat

Nail plates used:
Pueen Love Elements 27, 33

Next up I’m going to try some water spotted nails so stay tuned!

Dazzling Retro Chandeliers

Today my manicure is a retro chandelier look with lots of glitter. I love chandeliers, I spent most of my childhood living in Europe visiting churches and castles, the nobles and the clergy always have the best chandeliers!
So here it is:

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I really like the black and chartreuse glitter combo. This colour pallet reminds me of those old school hard cover books they had in the seventies.
I also tried a new base coat product on this one the Quo by Orly strong bond rubberized base coat.

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It goes on clear with a dull finish, dries quickly, that is always a plus in my book, and my first coat of polish went on really well. This last point is really important, some base coats tend to leave bald spots when applying the first coat of polish, the strong bond did not. Bam! This may just become my new favourite base coat. *update: I wore these for three days and they withstood two evenings in the hot tub before they started chipping. This is a great product in my book! I will definitely be using it again.

For this look I used:
Quo by Orly strong bond rubberized base coat
Essence LOL, off to Miami!
Nicole by OPI brilliant idea
Rimmel black satin
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear celeb city
Miracote top coat

I used Pueen stamping plate 26 for the accent nails.

Stay tuned for my next look.

30 Day Nail Challenge Day 29: Inspired By The Supernatural

This is the second to last day of the 30 Day Nail Challenge! And it is a good one inspired by the supernatural. I had wanted to do a vampire mani but the look I started wasn’t coming together so I switched it up to unicorns!

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I also tried out this water speckled technique I’ve been hearing about on the various blogs I follow. The technique is the same as with water marbling but you spritz the surface of the “bullseye” with an alcohol based hand sanitizer before dipping your nail into the water. It worked like a charm but I use a plastic shot glass to do my waters marbling and I had to change the water for every nail because the product prevents the polish from spreading out. I love how this manicure turned out! I keep looking at my nails! Have any of you tried this technique? Any tips?

For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Revlon sunshine sparkle, Provence
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear mint sorbet, coral reef
Orly bubble bath
Essie no more film
Miracote top coat

Plates used for this look:
Mash 39
Pueen 04, 08, 18, 19, 20

Next up is a manicure inspired by a tutorial, stay tuned for the last manicure in this challenge.

30 Day Nail Challenge Day 28: Inspired By A Flag

Only a few more days left to this challenge, day 28 is a manicure inspired by a flag. I love Egyptian art and it just so happens I had some Egyptian nail stamping plates that fit the bill.

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I love the way these turned out. It also gave me a chance to use the liquid sand again. Unfortunately I was at my besty’s house and chopped off most of my thumbnail and now I’m stubby. Oh well, at least the food was delicious and it was totally worth sacrificing my finger nail.

For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear golden-I
Pure Ice can’t stop
Maybelline Color Show tenacious teal
Revlon foxy
O.P.I. What wizardry is this?
Miracote top coat

Nail plates used:
Mash 36, 41
Gals GA37
Shany SH206
Pueen 04

Next up in the challenge is a manicure inspired by the supernatural!

30 Day Nail Challenge Day 27: Inspired By Art

Day 27!!!! This challenge is almost over, this manicure is inspired by art. There were a lot of exotic animal silhouettes in amongst my different nail stamping sets and I kept wanting to do a jungle inspired mani, this seemed like the perfect time.

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I really like the way this turned out, those of you who are perceptive might notice that I used various reptile patterns as a base then I stamped on my various prey animals!

For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
L’OrĂ©al safari chic
O.P.I. Tickle my France-y
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear black out, golden-I
Miracote top coat

Plates used:
Pueen 10, 14
Gals GA27, GA32, GA45, GA46

Next up in the challenge is a mani inspired by a flag.

30 Day Nail Challenge Day 26: Inspired By A Pattern

Day 26 of the 30 Day Nail Challenge is a pattern inspired nail, I wanted to do a hippie pattern and chose to use a tie dye as my inspiration.

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I like the way the tie dye turned out a lot, I’m finally starting to get a hang of it.

For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Essie bikini so teeny
Hard Candy little hottie
Revlon gold coin, optimistic
O.P.I. Rapid dry top coat

Plate used:
Pueen 039

Next up in the challenge is a mani inspired by art.

30 Day Nail Challenge Day 25: Inspired By Fashion

The 30 Day Nail Challenge is starting to wind down, today is the 25th day of the challenge! Wow! Today’s look is inspired by fashion and I love Dolce & Gabbana! I had a look at their web site and stumbled upon this:
Dolce & Gabbana Winter 2014
and this:
Dolce & Gabbana Winter 2014
I love ornate embroidery and the look of old paintings so these two dresses totally fit the bill. I decided to try using some of my craft water transfers on my nails to see if they would work like the Nailene nail tattoos I’ve used in the past. Well they didn’t, they were thicker and tore/cracked easily but once you put a top coat over the transfer it stuck to the nail with no problems. Air bubbles however became holes once the top coat dried.

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I love the way this turned out and I definitely will be using the water transfers again. The water transfers I used for this manicure are by Lisa Pavelka, I purchased them at Micheal’s art stores in the polymer clay area or online.
Next up in the 30 Day Nail Challenge is inspired by a pattern, I just received three sets of nail plates I’m just itching to use!

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For this look I used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear golden-I, black out, mint sorbet, celeb city
Maybelline Color Show boho gold, porcelain party, tenacious teal
Revlon foxy, vixen, fashionista, copper penny, gold coin
Rimmel black satin
Nicole by OPI disco doll
NYC matte me crazy top coat
Miracote top coat

Nail plates used for this look:
Gals GA23
Pueen 02, 04, 05
Bundle Monster BM08