Galaxy Nails...Aurora Borealis.

One of the things I love about doing nails is all the folks out there that love to do nails as well.  In addition to following all the lovely blogs out there, I love to share on Instagram and see what others are also doing.  I also like participating in Google+ communities.  One, Nail Polish Lovers, is a great place to share what they are doing and in addition they do a weekly challenge.  I need to start doing more challenges more regularly.  The challenge last week was  Galaxy Nails.  Yay!  I love this technique!  If you remember, I did these for the new release of the Star Trek movie this year....

and

I love this look.  I can't help it.  It may actually be my favorite mani.  For the challenge, I wanted to do something a bit different, but sticking with the technique.  So I decided on a lighter version.

For this I used:

- Sinful Colors: Amethyst [purple] and Soul Mate [pink]

- OPI- Can't Find My Czechbook [light blue]

- China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise [turquoise]

- Julep Adrianna [green]

- China Glaze Fairy Dust [micro glitter]

- Color Club Club Platinum Record [larger hex glitter]

The base coat is Sinful Colors's Amethyst with the other colors sponged on and layered for the nebula effect.  I get in such a groove when I am doing this, that I always forget to take pictures to document each step of the process.  I will make a point to start doing this with more regularity.  I promise!!

This effect was achieved by using a small amount of polish on a make-up sponge and applying the color gradually.  The more polish, the more opaque it will tend to be and the less you will be able to blend the colors.  I actually re-did the ring finger and thumb in order to correct this issue.  I wasn't happy with the color layers.  I like when it looks airy; the color wispy.  

After the color is applied, I use a coat of the Fairy Dust by China Glaze.  This may be my favorite small glitter nail polish out there.  No, I am committing.  This IS my favorite small glitter out there...I then placed the larger hex glitter by hand and finished with a top coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think of it with the lighter color/purple base coat?  Do we like the remix?  Or is classic black background still the way to go?

Back To School Part 3

Part 3 of my back to school inspired nails are Bring an Apple For Teacher...

Colors used:

nude- OPI's My Vampire Is Buff

red- Julep's Delaunay

brown- Zoya's Dea

green- Sinful Colors's 

I used a dotting tool for my thumb and pinkie fingers.  The apples were hand drawn with a paint brush.   I know they tell you not to pick favorites, but this one may be my favorite so far in this theme.  

A little mermaid.

I have been trying to improve my glitter gradient skills.  This last one that I am posting today is from a few weeks ago.  I do confess that I have been in full on wedding planning mode this month and have been neglecting this part of my life.  Well...NO MORE!  :)  i have a few posts to share with you of what I have been up to this month.  I want to start with this glitter gradient.

This look was inspired by a video that I saw on YouTube. HERE It is by PackAPunchPolish.  I had all the colors she used, so I thought, "what the heck!  Let's try it!"  

I started with a base coat of China Glaze's Unpredictable.  The three glitters on top are from Sinful Colors: Call U Later, Nail Junkie, and Super Star.  

I really like the was this one looked outside.  Sadly, I couldn't get the camera to pick up half of the iridescence and sparkle that this mani had.  Trust me, it sparkled!  

Weekly Challenge: Glitter Gradients

It has been a year now that I have made the transition from occasional nail painter to nail art explorer and overall polish enthusiast.  I have always been a process person.  I love to knit not for what I create, but the process of making it.  Same with when I make jewelry.  The process of creation is just as much fun as the end result.  The same is true for me and creating manicures.  That is part of what attracted me to going down this road to begin with.  Now it is time for me to up my game so to speak.  I have toyed around with different techniques that I have seen on others' sites and played around with some of my own designs.  I think it is time for me to embark on some mastery of skills.   I am going to set challenges for myself to attempt to become better at technique.  And this week I am going to start with glitter gradients.  I feel like this should be simple enough.  But for some reason it has not always turned out as I would have liked.

My 4th of July mani looked more like clumps of polish rather than a gradient.  

I decided to see exactly how others are creating these fab looks.  I love this video from EmJustLikeYou.  

I started with Julep's Annette, which is a light creamy dove gray.

I then added a coat of Sinful Colors's Frenzy, micro glitter of purples and blues.

I finished it off with OPI's Polka.com.  [top coat Seche Vite]

I think the finished product has turned out pretty well.  I like this as the beginning of this challenge for myself.

Days 3 & 4 of my July 4th Manicure Bonanza!

It has been a pretty busy weekend here in my household between summer cleaning and organizing, to family and friend visits, and the ever present wedding plans, that I did not make time to post my holiday nails until now.  So without any further adieu, here is day 3 and day 4 of my July 4th Super Birthday Mani Extravaganza.....or, 7 days of holiday nails until July 4th.  

Day 3:  Fireworks Gradient

Sticking with my red, white, and blue color scheme, Day 3 features a couple colors we have already used, and one I am very excited to announce.  The red is Julep's Delaunay and the blue is Butter London's Blagger.  Saturday my July Julep Maven box came in the mail....which will be posted tomorrow...and I did add on their special glitter polish to my box.  It is the third polish in this picture and it is called Fireworks.  This polish is packed to the brim with glitter.  The glitter is both multi-dimensional large and small hex glitter in red, white, and blue.  You gets lots of glitter per swipe of the brush and I just love it!

I decided on basic red and blue bases to let the glitter take center stage.  I pulled the glitter down from the tip so that it looks a bit like a shower of sparkles and added the loose stars to the blue nails.  

Day 4:  Deconstructed Stars and Stripes Tape Mani

For today's manicure, I used the above colors:  Sinful Color's Under 18, Essie's Blanc, and Julep's Eloise.

I wanted to produce at least one tape manicure in this series, and this is it!  I started with the blue as a base and the moved to utilizing the tape to divide my nail in half for the coats of red.  But I needed more pizazz then to then tape it off again for the white.  Solution?  Dots of course!!  I think it gives it a hint of both whimsy and sophistication.  Not sure if one can be both, but I am running with it!