Sunday Stamping - Based On My Phone Case

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's stamping challenge was to stamp a mani based on your phone case.  My phone case is a custom that my brother had made for me with 3 of my pups on it - Banjo, the Rottie/Boxer cross, when he was a young pup, enjoying his first rawhide; Goliath the Rottweiler, my heart dog (who passed away a few years ago from Lymphoma) wearing my husband's tie (and a bad photoshop job on his eyes! lol;) and then Lena, the Italian Greyhound mix who looks like she's talking on the phone, too.  Really, we caught her right before foot-eating time.

As they are all dogs with some variation of black and tan, I wanted to play off that with a gorgeous holo I can't get enough of  - KBShimmer Run, It's the Coppers!

I used three different stamping plates for this mani.  The paw prints came from QA4, which also has Transformers on it.  How random is that?  The puppy face is on Mash 27.  The dog collage is on DRK-C.  I used Revlon Spirit and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme for the stamps.

I miss Goliath a lot, and it's comforting to have his picture so close at hand.  I wish I could have pix of all my dogs, past and present, on my phone case!

Puppies!

Bottle shot:  KBShimmer Run, It's the Coppers!, Revlon Spirit, and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

I also have one other phone case from Julep that says, "Keep Calm and Paint Your Nails."  What do you have on your phone case?

Throwback - First Magnetic Mani

Hello, Fireflies!

This month's NCC theme is to go back to our first 4 nail art manis and either recreate them, or use them as inspiration for an updated look.

The first nail art I have a picture of was this gem.  It's a China Glaze magnetic polish, but I don't remember the name.  Oy.  Oy, oy, oy.  Yeah.

I still like magnetics, but I really haven't worn them since then, so even though I've had lots of practice painting my nails, I had zero practice with the magnetic doohicky.  My first recreation got scrapped.  Right away.

Then, I picked this gorgeous copper magnetic from Finger Paints, Cop An Attitude.

Just a beautiful color, both alone and with the magnetic effect.  I really like it.

I emphasized the magnetic wave with a thin chevron black tip using Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

Bottle shot:  Finger Paints Cop An Attitude, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

Do you still rock an old-school magnetic mani?

An InLinkz Link-up

A Different Kind of Summer Sunset

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Summer Time Nail Art Challenge is sunsets, and the BBCFL put together a Summer roundup, so I present my version of a summer sunset!

I was inspired by this post from Plump and Polished, where she describes doing a gradient with a craft brush!  Being as crap as I am at gradients, I thought I'd try it.  Definitely will take me a little practice, but it's a lot less messy!

When KBShimmer put out her early summer collection, I knew I needed the neutral holos.  From nail bed to nail tip, the gradient is: In Bare Form, Big Tan On Campus, Run! It's the Coppers!, and Stark Raven Mad.

I put a drop of each polish in a vertical line down the center of the nail, and then used the brush to swipe horizontally across the nail. 

Probably shouldn't have made my first attempt at this technique with holos, and they are notoriously finicky and did get a little patchy when I over-brushed. Also, next time, I'll use the lightest color for a base, and then try the gradient after it dries.

Bottle shot:  KBShimmer In Bare Form, Big Tan On Campus, Run! It's the Coppers!, and Stark Raven Mad.

I love the orange glow that Run! It's the Coppers! gives the look, as if the sun were just disappearing behind the horizon, lighting the sky on fire.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Also shared on The Nail Files and the Nail Files Pinterest Board. Please feel free to click through for more nail art.

Turkey Time! #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

We're almost to the end of the Falling For Nail Art challenge!  I'm not going to finish *exactly* on time, but I'm hopeful we'll be at the end before December!

What's Thanksgiving without turkey? The turkey marketing people really got this holiday in the bag.  I wanted to make a vibrant, jeweled turkey feather mani based on this tutorial from NailPro.

It starts with Revlon Polished, a crelly creamsicle-cantalope color.  It's thin..and a little streaky.  Even with three coats, I wouldn't wear it on its own.

I made the outline of the feathers with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Chop Chop Copper, a gorgeous copper and gold microglitter with pink and chartreuse flashes.

Julep Karmen is like fire in the bottle!  I wish it looked like that on the nail, but it's still a pretty and vibrant red with flashes of gold.

I thought that using a black striper, like I did on my pinky, would look best, but it actually didn't work.  A gold glitter striper from Milani was better.  This design is versatile, too - it only looks like feathers because of the context.  Different colors would give it a totally different look.

I used another tutorial, this one from Adventures in Acetone, to help me make the turkey on my thumb.  I used the same colors for the feathers, and Cult Nails Miss Conduct for the head, Tempest and Nevermore for the eyes, and Sinful Colors Mardi Gras for the beak.

Now, that's a turkey that looks too good to eat.  Good thing, too, because I'm sure it tastes terrible.

Lots-o-bottles shot: Revlon Polished,  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Chop Chop Copper, Cult Nails Miss Conduct, Tempest, and Nevermore, Sinful Colors Mardi Gras, and Julep Karmen and Milani gold nail art striper.

That's a lot of polishes!  What's the most polishes you've used in one mani?

Falling for Nail Art - Glittery Crunchy Leaves

Hello, Fireflies!

For the Crunchy Leaves challenge today, I decided to go for a bomb. Glitter Bomb that is.

I started with 2 coats of Daring Digits Fallen Leaves.  Appropriate name, right? Nice green-tinted glitter with lots of micro holo. A little too sheer to be worn on its own, though.

I liked the green and brown base, but really wanted the reds and golds of dried fallen leaves, so I layered Candy Lacquer Mulled Cider over it.

  This pix is blurred a little - love that holo and gold pop!

It's a simple concept, but I really love how you can see some of the green and brown on the bottom, like a forest floor, and then the bright reds and golds on top.

I wish we had color change here in Florida, but I have lots of memories of Fall growing up, too.  Now, if only the pine needles quit dropping and covering everything, that would be great!

Matchy Monday - inspired by my Indian-print dress

Hello, Fireflies!

Today, I have a simple, but beautiful color polish to show you:  Barry M. Copper.

I love a microglitter like this that has flashes of other colors.  The pink and chartreuse are what drew me to pair it with one of my favorite dresses.

This dress has, what I like to think of as, an Indian-style print.  Some areas of the dress are tan with a pink hue, like here:

And other parts have this pattern with greens and blues and even rust colors.  I love how this makes the polish seem more green and gold!

One of the reasons I like changing my polish every day is to see what inspiration I get from what I wear - even if it's to pick out the right purple to wear with my t-shirt!  Are your nails inspired by your outfits?

Curvy stripey nails

Today I have a nail art look inspired by Beautylish .  All it takes is some tape, and some scissors.  The fancier the scissors, the fancier the mani.

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Firefly.  I like thinking of my followers as 'Fireflies' because, ya know, we're Lit From Within, and so are fireflies?  Get it?  I knew you would.

This is a pretty little copper/gold/pink multichrome.  I like it when drugstore brands start catching up to the trends we like in Indies.
 

I got these little craft scissors in the scrapbooking section of Target.  I know there are lots of different kinds, with many different cuts.  This one makes a wavy line.  I just cut both sides of the tape to have the wavy pattern offset.

I only cut one piece of tape, and then used it for each nail.  I would put the tape in the center, and then paint the top part of the nail with L'Oreal Royally Yours, and the bottom half with Essie Avenue Maintain.

The L'Oreal probably wasn't the best choice for this nail art, as pastels tend to be finicky, and in order to get adequate coverage, I had to lay it on thickly.. which distorted the nail art.  The Essie was perfection. Using topcoat did help to smooth down the polish.  This is one coat of Seche Vite.

Here's the bottle shot!  L'Oreal Royally Yours, Sally Hansen Firefly, and Essie Avenue Maintain.

Is it worth getting some craft scissors to make a curvy mani like this one?  Would you rather do it freehand?

Adventures In Stamping - Plate ending in 6

I love these challenges where there is more freedom to choose, and choosing any plate ending with a 6 is pretty open.  I started with Illamasqua Poke, because of course I'm using Illamasqua.  I'll be turned onto another polish next week, and another after that...

Illamasqua sure does have some pretty purples.  Poke is a shimmer.  Jo'mina is a medium creme, Faux Pas is a dark rubber purple.  I used Amy's Nail Boutique plate W226, with the flower.  There are mirror images of the full nail art, which is rather clever, for those who have nails long enough to make a difference.  I'm lucky I can get a whole flower on my little nubs.

I used Sinful Colors Super Nova, a shimmery copper, to stamp with.  Reminds me of holiday wrapping paper!

Do you like a subtle stamp, or would you like more contrast? 

SoFlaJo is SoFlattering!

Today, I'd like to show you some polishes by SoFlaJo, a southern Florida girl.  Yay, Florida... :)

Purple Reign of Terror.  Technically, this came out with her Halloween collex.  I don't think it needs to be relegated to one time of the year, though!  In fact, I wore it a couple of days ago and received a compliment on it!  Even with my li'l nubbies.

This was opaque in two coats, but I love that it still looks like a jelly, and the holo bits are just floating around.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The True Death.  Also from her Halloween collex, and I believe an homage to True Blood, this is another polish I loved and would wear year-round.  It's a charcoal jelly with red glitter.. but it also has a coppery feeling, too.  I have too many polishes that are black jelly with red glitter - this is completely unique, though.

Ballroom.  I never wear orange and pink together.. except on my nails.  Then, I can't get enough.  This polish has elements of both, but doesn't read as true pink or orange.  Maybe more of a rose gold?  It was really hard to capture the true color and shimmer of this polish, too.  It's gorgeous.

I used Layla Ceramic Effects 55, gold glitter in a orange-tinted base, to emphasize some of the orange tones.  Even with a gradient, this glitter is too opaque to be a layering polish.  It's pretty, but I just wanted an accent to Ballroom.  Really nice microglitter in the tinted base, though.

Hidden Gem.  Charcoal grey with blue flecks.  This polish dries a little matte, almost like a suede finish.

I thought it really came alive with some topcoat.  Look at the blue shimmer, it just takes this to another level.

I used some striping tape and Pure Ice Black Rage to create the tips.  This was my fave look!  So easy, too - just two pieces of tape across the tip of the nail.  I even used the same two pieces for the whole hand.  

If you'd like more info about SoFlaJo, she can be found on Facebook, and on her website.  Will you be trying the tape French tips or SoFlaJo polishes?