Labor Day nail art

Hello lovelies! Happy Labor Day to my US and Canadian friends!!

I wanted to do some fun nail art to celebrate and the only way I could think of honoring our hardworking friends was to do some patriotic nails. It came out a little more July 4th than intended...

I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White as the base color for all nails. My striped nails were done with China Glaze Ruby Pumps for the stripes. The blue was China Glaze Blue Year's Eve (was supposed to be China Glaze Dorothy Who? but I grabbed the wrong bottle -- oops!). The middle glitter finger was Julep America.

Got a lot of compliments. Not too shabby. I like the lazy, Americana feel.

Happy Labor Day friends! If you're off today, hope you stay safe.

Neutral One Stroke nail art

It's been awhile since I've had some nail art up in here. I've been doing mainly colors on my nails due to time constraints but I wanted to do something pretty with the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel nail polishes while I had them in my grubby little hands!

One stroke nail art using Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polishes in Grey-fitti and I Lilac You and Wet N Wild Black Creme. 

I used Barielle Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender and used it a smidgen early and it streaked a bit, but I think it makes it look a little post-modern art-esque. I liked it.  I had a few girls at work think it was a sticker nail art, so that made me think they must have liked it!

Close up of the thumb!

It was nice to do a little nail art, even if it was a floral! Getting me back in ma groove!

Spider Web Nail Art + On The 101

Happy Halloween! I did some fun spider webs for today. They didn't turn out as planned. I trimmed down a brush but the lines were still too thick. Something to work on, I guess. 

Again, inspired by Simply Rins - Cobwebs.  

I used Essie No Place Like Chrome with a small striping brush over Wet N Wild On The 101.

Wet N Wild On The 101 is a sheer black with red glitter of different sizes. Layers nicely to get an almost jelly-like appearance and lots of dimension with the glitter. I needed 4-5 coats to get some opacity and in the sunlight, still looks more gray than black, especially at the edges. 

Wet N Wild On The 101, low light 

Wet N Wild On The 101, sunlight 

Wet N Wild On The 101, sunlight, see how it looks more gray than black?

Wet N Wild On The 101, sunlight. Looks more black in not so bright light except at the edges. Sorry for extraneous glitter, it's hard to clean up!

With any glitter polish, removal is a hot mess unless you use a peeling basecoat, which I forgot to use since I was so excited to use this polish. Whoops. Clean up is also a nightmare since the glitter is hard to remove.  It was beautiful while it lasted!

Ghosts!

A ghost manicure is needed for Halloween isn't it? I certainly thought so!

This is another Halloween nail art inspired by Simply Rins - Not So Spooky Ghosts.

My favorite ghost. 

I chose to do the ghosts on a dark background of Wet N Wild Poison Ivy, which is a fantastic dark green with green shimmer. It's black leaning, but has enough green to retain its color even in shade and darker lighting and really is beautiful in the sun. This was part of the 2012 Halloween collection but I think it could also make a beautiful Christmas color as well.

The ghosts were done with white acrylic non-toxic paint and Wet N Wild Black Creme. I had to do 2 coats of Seche Vite (on top of a coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash quick dry top coat) because they were really rough from the white acrylic paint. You can still see brush marks, which usually doesn't happen, but I had trouble with this mani. I think it was painting under a fan (it's sooooo hot) and it dried quicker than usual.

Wet N Wild Poison Ivy, sunlight

Wet N Wild Poison Ivy, sunlight

Wet N Wild Poison Ivy, low light. Retains minimal shimmer but still looks green. Beautiful. 

Skulls and Stripes Halloween Nail Art

Time for Halloween nail art! I waited awhile this month to start but I was having too much fun with all the pink ribbons. This nail art is really simple but I loved it, and it wore suprisingly well. 

One coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme (love) and Essie No Place Like Chrome accent nail and stripes. Skull details are done with Wet N Wild Black Creme.



No acrylic paint used in this mani which made it a little more special since it's all actual nail polish. Small detail but makes me feel more accomplished. It helped that the nail polishes are opaque and easy to work with, no complaints here!

Based on Jack Skellington Nail Art by cutepolish.

Halloween Nail Art Ideas

With Halloween fast approaching, here are some of nail art ideas! I'm trying to find some that look fun and interesting for this year. All pictures link to post for supplies and materials used.

Halloween Nail Art: Monsters

Halloween Nail Art: Blood

Halloween Nail Art: Candy Corn

Halloween Nail Art: Tombstone

Halloween Nail Art: Spider Webs

Halloween Nail Art: Pumpkins

Halloween Nail Art: Mummies

Halloween Nail Art: Casper the Ghost

Halloween Nail Art: Spiders

Halloween Nail Art: Sugar Skulls

Let me know if you do any of these, I'd love to see them!

Preamp Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon

Orly Preamp is a gorgeous color that was released awhile back but as I just put it on my nails for the first time recently. It's prob in my top 10 polishes of all time. Please don't make me list the 10, I think I'd go crazy but that may be fun to do one day!

Orly Preamp, morning light

I added a pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness. As you've seen, I've been doing a fair amount of these pink manicures recently. I think I'm ready for Halloween nail art! Ribbon done with black and white nontoxic acrylic paint and Models Own Pastel Pink.

Orly Preamp, shade

Preamp is a pinky purple with light pink shimmer. In low light, it's smooth and unassuming (see above morning light pic), but in the sunlight, it really pops. Gorgeous.  Feminine yet powerful.

Orly Preamp, sunlight. Look at that shimmer!

Orly Preamp, sunlight

Metallic Pink Ribbons

More Breast Cancer Awareness nail art!

Wet N Wild Black Creme (best black creme EVER, cruelty free and only a dollar!) and hand drawn ribbons with Color Club Foil Me Once. 

I like how the light pink polish pops against the black background.

Pink Ribbons

Two finger Breast Cancer Awareness manicure with Lime Crime Milky Ways and Lime Crime Parfait Days. I got a lot of compliments on these, and a lot of them were just on the pink. It's pastel, but bright. I'm not sure how to describe it but definitely a unique polish. Awesome.

The pink ribbons didn't pop as much as I had wanted, but it was fun all the same. The polish chipped in one day despite Seche Vite coat. I can't figure out how to get these polishes to stay on!

Pink Cheetah & French Nail Art

Metallic pink cheetah and french nail art. I think I went a teeny bit overboard with this manicure. It came off when I was done with these pictures. The first picture in all its glory, is also the best representation of the base color (see pinky!). Kleancolor Metallic Pink is a fantastic bright metallic hot pink that covers in 1-2 coats and doesn't lose anything with a top coat. 

Kleancolor Metallic Pink, Essie No Place Like Chrome, Wet N Wild Sea of Change

This was before the french nail designs. Outside in evening light. I think I would have worn this for awhile. Chunky cheetah print done with a dotting tool.

Kleancolor Metallic Pink, Essie No Place Like Chrome, Wet N Wild Sea of Change

Some pictures of Kleancolor Metallic Pink on its own. It totally freaked out my camera. Hence the first picture really shows its beauty. Someone at work mentioned it looked almost mirrored. Verrrry reflective.

Kleancolor Metallic Pink, flash

Kleancolor Metallic Pink, indoor lighting

Do you wear crazy fun nails while going out or do you do them for your own enjoyment and change them before going out? For me, I'll wear anything while going out (running errands, dancing, restaurants, gym, etc) but I try to keep it a little more toned down for work, although I still wear metallic pink and yellows to work!

Dots

My bright pink manicure stayed on like a champ. So long, in fact, I got bored with it. While it hadn't chipped, I needed something else. What better way to liven up a mani than some simple dots?

Barielle Life of the Party, Accent nail Color Club Ultraviolet (Single coat over Barielle. Don't you just love the shimmer?)

Bottle shot of my accent nail color. Color Club Ultraviolet. Totally awesome color, pinky purple with turquoise shimmer. Love.

Color Club Ultraviolet
Nails: Essie Pink-A-Boo over Models Own Pastel Pink

I used nontoxic, water based acrylic paint in white and dotting tools in different sizes. So many compliments!

Distressed Oui

A fun purple, gold, and black mani that is super fun and rocker chic. I love it.

I'd never heard of a distressed manicure until I happened along an old post by Chalkboard Nails and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I tried it and I love it. It was a little harder to do than I originally thought, and takes some patience but the effect is pretty rad.

Yes, I just said rad.

Products Used:

Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein

Orly Oui

Sally Hansen Black Heart

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Geometric Design

As much as I enjoy Barielle Smarty Pants Pink, I needed a little fun on top. I tried my hand at some geometric designs and it proved harder than I thought. Definitely need to practice. 

I'm not sure if I like it more with the outlines or without.

Products Used:
Barielle Smarty Pants Pink
Deborah Lippman Footloose
Barielle Big Apple Red
Orly Faint of Heart mixed with Finger Paints Haute Taupe
Black Acrylic Paint
Tape
Striping Brush

New Year's Eve Manicure Ideas

Do you practice nail art or manicure ideas on fake nails or do you just go with the flow on your own? I have a hard time coming up with ideas unless I'm perusing Google or Pinterest so I like to fiddle with manicures and different colors and textures on fake nails. Here are some fun ones that just may New Year's Eve appropriate!

Glitter Gradient

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with friends and family, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

This is what I am wearing on my nails today. Funny tidbit at the end of the post!

I did these late at night with low lighting, so sorry for the bad cuticles. I had tons of clean up. I think a little more color would have been nice. Some blue or green to liven it up.

I did, however, go to sleep too early I think. This is what I woke up to ...

(please excuse the iPhone picture and before clean up polish - eek!)

And a green accent nail was born!

Products Used:
OPI Matte Nail Envy Nail Strengthener
Essie Marshmallow (3 coats)
Sephora by OPI Be-Claus I Said So Topcoat
Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me Topcoat
China Glaze Glittering Garland (accent nail)
Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

Did you wear anything special on your nails this Christmas?