Quick Nail Art

Hello Readers:

I wanted to do some quick nail art and had wanted to try this design for awhile so I thought this would be a great time to do so. In this mani I've used: Colors By Llarowe's "Oorah!" and "Penny For Your Thoughts" plus BMC Stamping Polish in Gold for the nail art.

 

Sadly, not enough sun to really capture the holo of the CbL's, but you get a sneak peek at least. I love how my ring finger turned out, but for the life of me I couldn't get my middle finger to come out how I wanted. I redid it a few times, and just gave up and settled on what is shown here (which isn't awful but just not what I wanted). Oh, and on a side note, while I was redoing my middle finger I noticed that Color's by Llarowe "Penny For Your Thoughts" had stained my nails *sad face*. No bare nails for me for awhile.

 

Nonetheless, I love this mani, and adore the colors! It may not be Christmas yet but I have so many holiday art swimming around in my head I wanted to get a jump start on it. So I did two coats of base colors, and then used my nail art brush to paint on the gold design.

 

Out of curiosity, do any of you have tips for getting stains off nails? I can get most of the stains off with lemon juice but some of it still remains. Any and all suggestions welcome.

 

Until next time.

-Andi



Cemetary Scene Nail Art

Hello Readers:

During my recent giveaway I took a small survey of what kind of nail art you'd be interested in seeing more of. First, thank you all for your feedback I really appreciate it! ^_^ Second, I may not get to all of them but I will definitely try to. I noticed that many asked to see more freehand art, my most dreaded of nail arts hahaha as I have very low artistic abilities, but I thought I'd give it another go anyway. As my skills in freehand are minimal I decided to stick to simple forms.

Today, I'll be showing you a very simple cemetery scene that I did entirely freehand using Above the Curve's "Hufflepuff" and a BMC black stamping polish (for some reason I couldn't find my go to black polish).

 

I used two coats of Above the Curve's "Hufflepuff" over a clear base coat, freehanded the ground, tree, bats, gravestone, and fence with black, then added a clear top coat. In hindsight I wish I had used a matte topcoat instead because I think that would've looked cool, but oh well next time.

 

Overall I think it turned out well, but boy do my tree skills need work haha. Certain forms didn't turn out so well with my shaky hands but I think you can tell what each picture is supposed to be. So all in all a success.

 

Any tips for freehanding trees? I can never seem to get the delicate tiny branches. I keep getting stuck with thick knarly ones.

 

Until next time,

-Andi



Happy Earth Day! Review plus Nail Art

Hello Readers:

Happy Earth Day! I have some lovely Earth Day inspired polish, plus a little nail art to go with it. First is my review of the Earth Day inspired polish. It is from the lovely Shawn and Angel over at Above The Curve. They aptly named the LE (limited edition) polish "We Are The World". We Are The World is a blue jelly with different sizes of blue, green and iridescent hexes and circle glitter.

 

I think "We Are The World" is a great representation of our mother Earth! It goes on smooth and easy. I used three coats by itself, with a clear top coat. The larger glitter is hard to get out if you don't turn the bottle upside down for a bit so please remember to do that (I was silly and forgot so I didn't get too many of the large circles but they weren't too hard to fish for either).

 

I'll definitely be keeping this polish around for the times I need earth/water inspired polishes, or anytime I just need something blue and pretty to look at!

 

Below are a couple photos of the nail art I tried out for an Earth Day inspired mani.

 

 

In this mani I used "We Are The World" as my base coat, and Dollish Polish's "Baby Gravy" for my tree accent nail. For my first attempt at freehanding a tree I think it turned out pretty good. After looking at other people's freehanded trees I know where I went wrong, but I think it turned out pretty well!

 

If you'd like to get this LE polish from Above The Curve there are still a few available from their BigCartel Shop or if you'd like to check out some of their other great polishes. Remember: no matter which polish you buy a portion of the proceeds go to charity!

 

Also, if you're interested in any of Dolly's fabulous polishes you can check out the Dollish Polish website.

 

Until next time.

-Andi

 





World Parkinson's Day Nail Art

Hello Readers:

As some of you know I was invited to join Nailpolis, a community where we can share our nail art creations. They put up a challenge to help spread awareness of Parkinson's Disease.

Excerpt from Nailpolis: "Today is World Parkinson's Day, and Nailpolis artists are raising awareness and showing their support! Parkinson's disease (PD) affects millions of people in the world. Parkinson's Disease involves the loss of nerve cells in the brain, leaving a person unable to control movement normally. Our hearts are with the brave people who are fighting Parkinson's. The Parkinson's Disease Foundation has personally reached out to Nailpolis, thanking each and every one of you for showing your support through your artwork and donations."

Showing support for World Parkinson's Day is represented by a blue ribbon and/or a red tulip, and in the spirit of spreading awareness I came up with the nail art below.

 

 

In this mani I used Delush Polish's "Bare To Be Bold" as my base, then I freehanded the blue ribbons using Different Dimension's "The Lovers, The Dreamers, And Me". I also freehanded the tulips using BB Couture's "Sloth", and Darling Diva Polish's "Green Diamond".

 

Overall I think this mani came out pretty well for my third time freehanding nail art. Practice makes perfect for sure!

If you would like to learn more about Nailpolis and the Parkinsons Disease foundation check out Nailpolis' Facebook or their website.

 

 

Until next time.

-Andi

 

Spring Is Here Nail Art

Hello Readers:

Since I had so many posts involving the Picture Polish LE (limited edition) polishes that for the next few posts I'm going to be showing just nail art.

Today's nail art is a mixture of stamping and free hand spring themed nail art and includes the following polishes: Lucky 13 Lacquer's "Mist & Shadow, Cloud & Shade", Darling Diva Polish's "Green Diamond" & "Rose Diamond", Delush Polish's "Make Me Blush", Above The Curve's "Happy Holidays (2013) mini", and Piggy Paint's "Tip of the Iceberg". Stamping plates used were: "MASH-28", "MASH-32", "MASH-41".

 

 

I stamped on the ladybug, butterfly, and dragonfly. I freehanded the grass and clouds. I love the spring theme, but wish I had other bright colors to have used. I originally planned on the butterfly being orange but the orange didn't show up at all so I went with the pink. Luckily, I have brighter colors on the way.

 

Otherwise I think this turned out great, especially the clouds I really loved that they turned out so well for my first try. Are there any spring mani's you'd like to see me try?

 

Until next time.

-Andi

 



My First Free-hand Nail Art

Hello Readers:

I decided to try my hand at doing some free-hand nail art. I originally was going with a different design but it came apparent that I needed to go with something far more simple until I get the hang of things, so I ended up with my current design.

indirect sunlight

natural light

In this mani I used Above the Curve's "Friday the 13th" which is a chocolate brown holo LE polish, and I used BB Couture's "Laguna Lagoon" which is a classified as a mint creme polish, but I find that this polish has more of a green hue than most mint colored polishes.

I used two coats of "Friday the 13th", though I could probably have gotten away with one. It went on easy and smooth and boy does it sparkle! I of course need to practice more to gain some technique with doing free-hand nail art but as a first try goes I think it turned out alright.

Any suggestions on easy to do free-hand nail art?

Until next time.

-Andi