Days of Wine..and Rum.. and Hibiscus?

Hello, Fireflies!

It's still May, and I'm still working on our May Flowers challenge!  Today's mani is inspired by booze.

Dotticure Flowers

 Hello, Fireflies!

Welcome to a new monthly challenge from the NCC.  This month, we're recreating other members' manis.. oh, wait.  That was last month.  This month, it's flowers!  And for my first mani, I'm recreating another member's mani that she did last month, recreating someone else's mani!  It's like mani Inception over here.

Spring Stamped Sheswai

Hello, Fireflies!

Spring must be on its way - one day I'll have the house open for a cool breeze, the next day, I have the A/C on, and then the day after that, I need a blanket! I'm sure the flowers have no idea what's going on.  Mother Nature is a bit bipolar these days.

Yet, I'm feeling the need today for a light, spring nail art.  I started with this very sheer nude from Sheswai Lacquer called So Pretty. 

Then, I used my Dashica Plate Big SdP-B and Sheswai Lacquer Babe, a bold bright pink, to stamp the flowers and some of the lines on an angle across the top of the nail. 

When you have nubs, sometimes you have to get creative with the stamps to have them show anything! Some nails only have parts of flowers, and no lines.

I thought these cute flower rhinestones would go nicely, and I also placed some iridescent glitter in the stamped flowers, just for a little flash when they'd catch the light.

Does this say SPRING or what?  Hopefully, the weather is listening!

Bottle shot:  Sheswai Lacquer So Pretty and Babe

What are you most looking forward to with the Spring?

Textured Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

Y'all know that I don't have many original ideas when it comes to nail art.  This is why I love Pinterest so much.  Every now and again I'll paint from a pin without seeing the original inspiration (why do people remove the original source info from their pins, I don't know.)

So, I was inspired to do this art from looking at the tutorial, and it wasn't until I went digging around that I found out that this is from The Beauty Department's interpretation of Anna Rifle Bond's art.

I started with this beautiful holo from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer:  Dorkhead? You Slash Me with Your Words! a pale green with a green flash.

I love the interplay between textures, and thought it might be fun to paint these flowers with a textured polish.  So, I made the branches in the stunning Zoya Pixie Dust Chita.

I made the blossoms with a dotting tool and Zoya Pixie Dust Sunshine, a sparkling denim blue.  Why that blue is 'Sunshine,' I don't know, but okay.

Love, love, love that green flash in Dorkhead!

That green glow just makes the whole mani for me.  The glow, the holo, the texture, the sparkle.. oh, my.  And, the textures weren't hard to use for nail art at all!

Bottle shot:  Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer:  Dorkhead? You Slash Me with Your Words! Zoya Pixie Dust Chita, and Zoya Pixie Dust Sunshine.

Do you also like mixing and matching textures and finishes?

Karmic Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm old. I'm jaded.  I have TONS of Indie polishes now, and if I'm going to be seduced into buying another, it had better be on sale.

Unless it's the Fall-ographic collection from Amy's Nail Boutique.  Yes, it's holo and duochrome, and I'm a sucker.  This is Karma Chameleon.

Look at that lovely shift and glow. 

I wanted to do some nail art that I could pull off on my non-dominant hand, and I was inspired by this abstract flower look from My Nail Polish Online.  I love how the blues in her mani worked together, and I wanted to do something similar with pink and orange.

After drawing the stems of the flower with a black striper, I used a dotting tool and Too Cute-icle Gorgeous to make the petals.

It's an *abstract* look, see?  It's supposed to look that way on my right hand.

I wanted to see what it would look like with a stronger pink, so I dotted Priti NYC Jersey Beauty Dahlia over the orange.  I like it!

Amy's Nail Boutique has some spectacular, affordable holos that I really like a lot.  I love using holos as a background for nail art, plus they dry fast for a quick mani when you have to run out the door. This is a quick, fun nail art that is hard to mess up!

Delicate French Tip Cherry Blossoms

Hello Fireflies!

A friend of mine posted this picture of beautiful, delicate cherry blossoms over a simple French tip, and I wanted to see if I could recreate it. 

Well, I couldn't.  But I'm still pretty happy with my version of it.

I started out with a thin, thin layer of Essie Shop Till I Drop for the soft pink base, and then used Milani White on the Spot for the tip.  A long striping brush with Cult Nails Nevermore, and I had the cherry blossom branches.  I actually really liked this look, and could have stopped here!

But, I'm glad I didn't stop there! 

I used a teeny art brush and painted the flowers first in white, then added a mix of pinks - Essence Iced Strawberry Cream, and Orly Oh Cabana Boy.

This mani used a strange accent finger for me - I rarely use the index as an accent - I usually like the ring and thumb nails for accents.  Also, for this mani, the accent is the absence of nail art. Weird.

Bottle shot:  Milani White On The Spot, Cult Nails Nevermore, Essie Shop Till I Drop, Essence Iced Strawberry Cream, and Orly Oh Cabana Boy.

What do you think?  I hope you liked it, too.  I didn't want to take it off!

One-stroke pinkish-purple flowers

I had fun, but really stretched myself with all the challenges this month!  Which, I suppose, was the point.  My last flower NCC challenge mani starts with a palate cleanser, Models Own Utopia.

What a peaceful, serene, delicate color.  Made even prettier by a new-to-me Indie, Sweetheart Polish.  This is She's So Flakey, a blush-pink jelly base with pink and green flakies.

I encourage you to go check out Yummy Nails' video that inspired these one-stroke flowers.  Mostly because she is awesome and my flowers look a hot mess, especially compared to hers.  Mine are more like 'she-had-a-stroke' flowers.  But I keep practicing!

I used Nabi Purple Hologram for the inside of the flower, and Cover Girl Outlast Vio-last for the outside, and then added some detail with a black nail art striper.   A magenta half-pearl went in the center of each flower.

I really like that bit of purple holo sparkle in the flowers.  

Bottle shot:  Models Own Utopia, SweetHeart Polish She's So Flakey, Nabi Hologram Purple, Covergirl Outlast Vio-last, and black nail art striper.

Have you tried the one-stroke technique yet?  I suspect it would be easier with acrylic paints, but I like the effect with polish, too.  

If you'd like more info about Sweet Heart Polish, you can find her on Facebook and her Etsy store.

July's Nail Challenge Collaborative - Flowers

I was happy to see that July's challenges were all about flowers!  They are some of my favorite nail art to do.

SpaRitual Mind.  This is such a unique but subtle polish.  It's a shimmer, but it's a matte.  It reminds me a bit of the suedes that were so popular a few months back.  Next time, I'll make sure to wear a good ridge-filling basecoat underneath, though, because as beautiful as it is, it shows every bump and divot in my nails.

I didn't take any pix of the intermediate steps (what?!) but I did a black French tip with OPI Black Onyx first, then made the flowers with Maybelline Bold Gold.

I dotted the centers with more Black Onyx and then added highlights with Revlon Sequin.  I was going for an antiqued look, and all the colors look a little washed out to me.

Everything brightens up a bit, though, with some topcoat.  I still like that it's fairly monochromatic, though.

Bottle shot:  SpaRitual Mind, OPI Black Onyx, Maybelline Bold Gold, and Revlon Sequin.

Are flowers best when they are colorful, or would you wear a monochromatic floral nail art?

Ecopolo challenge - Summer Stamp

There were 4 Nail Collaborative challenges and 5 EcoPolo challenges this month, so I'm sneaking in this challenge without a neon! It feels so good to be bad.

And nothing feels better than a great holo.  This is Literary Lacquers Raspberry Cordial? from the Anne of Green Gables collex.  I have watched the whole trio of TV mini-series based on the books, and the first two are in my favorites.  I have seen them over and over again - in fact, when I get sick, I usually pop one in the DVD player and watch until I fall asleep.  They are the ultimate comfort food for the soul.

But, back to the polish.

I usually prefer my holos without any additional glitter, but this one works.  It doesn't disrupt the holo, but adds to it.  I love the blue fire.

I used my standby gold, Maybelline Bold Gold, for the stamping, and two stamps from the Pueen 22 plate.  The smaller roses in a pattern, with accents of the large rose by itself.

I love the antique look of the gold roses.

Though I am sure that Marilla, from the Green Gables series, would never approve of such fancy things as stamped and painted fingernails, I loved them so much that I did both hands and went out on the town.  Sorry, Marilla!  They are my 'puffed sleeves' if you will.  

What flower says 'summer' to you?

A Hare in Priti Flowers

When I was doing this mani, I was trying to work in contrasts (again) of a neutral base and bright foreground.  My hubby said that there isn't that much contrast in this mani.  I want to know what you guys think.

I started with a base of Hare Polish Return to Nature.  I love this - a nude with small gold and white square and circle glitters. 

Understated, but with a bit of bling.  Application was fine, no problems getting the glitters all over the nail. In these close-up pix, the VNL is more noticeable, but not as much in Real Life.  Another coat would have eliminated that, but I knew I was doing nail art, so I wasn't as worried.

The flowers were inspired by this design from Set In Lacquer.  I really liked the spiky look to her flowers. 

I made the flowers using  Priti NYC Flame of the Forest and Pincushion Protea for the petals, and SkyWaltz Delphinium for the centers.

They are such bright and cheerful colors, even if I've never seen a real flower that looked anything like it!

And, the bottle shot:  Hare Return to Nature, Priti NYC Flame of the Forest, Pincushion Protea, and SkyWaltz Delphinium.

So, is my hubby colorblind, or is there enough contrast? :)