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

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hello Readers:

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sadly, my St. Paddy's day mani didn't turn out the way I wanted to. It was definitely one of those days. At first I tried doing a ombre/gradient with shades of green but sadly it didn't turn out, so I decided to just freehand some stripes. Then I wanted to stamp some shamrocks on top, but for some reason it just didn't want to turn out (even tried it with a couple different polishes). So after having to redo my nails many times I ran out of time and just had to settle with my freehand stripes.

I like the colors alot, but I just wish I could've had a little something extra on it. Nonetheless I'm happy with it, and (again lol) I love the colors!

In this mani I used BB Couture's "Laguna Lagoon", Girly Bits' "What the Deuce?", and Literary Lacquers "A Thousand Christmas Trees". 

For those who celebrated over the weekend, I hope you are recovering well. For those who are celebrating today, be safe and recover well.

Have a good one folks, and I wish ya all the luck o' the Irish today.

Until next time.

-Andi

Alien Stamping Nail Art

Hello Readers:

I looooved my mani with Midnite Meteor from Picture Polish, but I knew, I KNEW that I had to use my new MoYou scifi stamping plates on this polish. I think that I did pretty good for my second time using my stamper. It's still not perfect, but I'm definitely in love with this mani!

I used Picture Polish "Midnite Meteor", and BB Couture "Laguna Lagoon" along with MoYou scifi plates 1 & 3 to get my aliens, stars, and astronaut. Love love love this! I know the lighting isn't great in all the pictures but I found the more light I had, the more glare I caught on my nails so I had to go with darker lighting.

There are a couple of flaws from my stamping, but overall I think it is great, and so much fun! I'm kind of in love with my scifi MoYou plates. I may need to buy more in the future, and as I improve with my stamping abilities it gets more and more fun to do!

If you would like to get your hands on these AWESOME stamping plates you can get them from MoYou London, and if you would like either of these lovely polishes you can get them from BB Couture, Picture Polish, OverallBeauty or Llarowe.

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

My First Stamping Mani

Hello Readers:

Today my mani has double meaning. I wanted to try something for Valentine's Day that wasn't all about the pink and the red (but still kind of traditional), and also because I have read that today is World Cancer Day. Many bloggers have come together to showcase purple mani's to help show love and support for those who have been affected by cancer. Even though it was a coincidence that my mani is mainly shades of purple (as I was unaware of WCD) I still think it is appropriate.

Also, I have recently acquired a stamping set, and wanted to try it out so I've used it in my mani. It took me quite a few tries to get it to something I don't mind showing but I think I've started to get the hang of it.

The polishes I used in the mani are: Darling Diva Polish's Pink Diamond, Above the Curve's Crimson Time at Home, Dollish Polish's It's So Fluffy I'm Gonna Die, & BB Couture's Gluttony. The stamping plates I used were Mash-39 & Mash-48. I also did some water marbling which I did better on the cleanup this time around but still need more practice.

Overall I'm really pleased with this mani even though it's far from perfect but I think I'm coming along in the nail art process (though there is still far to go lol).

However, more importantly, remember to show your love and support for those you fought and succumbed; those who fought and won; those who are still fighting; and for all the ones who help them through the process. One day we will have a cure, but until then we will continue on with our fight.

Until next time.

-Andi

Chinese New Year Nail Art

Hello Readers:

Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate Chinese New year, I have done some themed nail art (double nail art week yay!). In this mani I have used BB Couture's "Uninvited" which is a burnt brick red with a natural matte finish. The matte finish you won't get to see since I used a nail decal and had to use a top coat (I don't know a matte top coat). I also used My Ten Friends' "Stars Collide" which is a glitter bomb of gold glitter. I have also used a nail decal for the first time. I was originally going to use the nail decal that said "wealth" buuuut since I had no experience with nail decals before I accidentally squished it and had to go with the back up of "gold".

I love it! So gorgeous! The polishes went on super easy, and I'll definitely be wearing them again in other manis! I didn't notice until after I applied the decals, but they have a slight amount of glitter to them which I don't particularly care for but it was fun using them and I think I might buy more in the future (but making sure I buy ones without the sparkle). 

To get your own bottle of Uninvited check out BB Couture's website or to get your own bottle of Stars Collide check out My Ten Friends' website (MTF is actually having a restock today at 10am Cali time).

Until next time.

-Andi

Nail Art For Christmas

Hello Reader(s):

It is now Christmas Eve Eve and I wanted to show you the Christmas nail art I had done. This one is much simpler than my last, and I love it ten times more. I think it turned out GREAT ^_^ I definitely need to work on it but still my most successful nail art to date.

In this nail art I used BB Couture's Sloth, Above the Curve's Anona, and Girly Bits' Giggity Giggity Goo. 

Love, Love, love this! Super simple and totally gorgeous! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! I'll try to sneak on before the New Year to do one last post before 2014 arrives, but no promises.

Until next time.

-Andi

Double Review: "Drive Shaft" & "Golf Pro" from BB Couture

Hello Reader(s):

Things have been pretty hectic this week so I'm definitely looking forward to this holiday weekend. (It is Thanksgiving for all my international readers). I'm actually quite shocked I was able to fit this post in, but it was a goal of mine for today so: Woot woot! ^_^

Anyways, today's post is a double feature. It is two polishes from BB Couture's nail polish for men collection. Not many brands specify polishes for men but it is slowly becoming a trend; a trend I'm all on board with. After all why should only the girls have all the fun with polish ^_~ Now I have no idea what kinds of nail polish men would like to wear, but I know that even I like the men's line from BB Couture, and here are two I've tried out.

First is "Drive Shaft" which is a copper tan frost polish with shimmer:

Second is "Golf Pro" which is a dusty swamp jade green with silver shimmer:

The frosted shimmer in Drive Shaft if very prominent whereas the silver shimmer in Golf Pro is much more subtle. I used two coats over a clear base with one clear top coat. Both polishes went on smoothly and you could probably get away with one coat but just to make sure I used two.

In retrospect I think I would have chosen to either use two different colors together or just use one of these as an accent nail because overall I dislike this color combo together. However, individually I really love both these polishes. So I'll definitely be using them again in the future but with different color combos.

For any Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales please check their Facebook page for more info, or if you just want to get your hands on some of their products go check out their website. They have a huge variety of colors to choose from.

Until next time (and Happy Thanksgiving USA)

-Andi

Review: "Venice Party" from BB Couture

Gosh today has been a busy day. I had meant to post earlier but I got sidetracked doing some foodie stuff. I love to bake! I did quite a few things today... I made caramel apples (which were messy!) with chopped nuts, I made homemade pie dough for the mini pies I'm baking tomorrow, some pickled cabbage, and some sweet potato soup for dinner. Like I said... I did a lot today so that is why this post is so late today.

Anyhoo onto my new indie brand discovery, BB Couture. It is a 3free brand, vegan, and cruelty free. They have created a wide variety of colors and they even have a line of nail polish for men. I bought several different polishes to try (even some from their men's line), and for my first test I decided to try their polish called Venice Party.

1 clear base coat, 2 coats of polish, 1 top coat

Venice Party is a blurple polish with lots of shimmer and glitter. I found it to be slightly thicker than what I am used to but application was still smooth, and only needed 2 coats for complete opacity. I lucked out and got a day of sunshine to show the wonderful shimmer in this color!

This polish is such a gorgeous color! The shimmer is great! The only downside to this polish that I found was what I found when I removed the polish. When I removed the polish I discovered an orangish-pink stain to my nails where the polish had been. I didn't expect such a thing to happen since I always use a base coat, but I guess that's not 100% full-proof.  I still love this polish and will be trying out the other polishes I bought from BB Couture, but I may have to double up on a base coat or try a different base coat to try and prevent the staining.

the staining i had after removing the polish

If anyone has tips on removing stains I'm all ears. I've only tried soaking my nails in lemon juice so far and no real luck. 

Until next time

-Andi