Snowflake French

Happy Manicure Monday! 

I'm winter ready with this design. It's a hand painted white French tip with blue and white Konad stamped snowflakes, topped with glitter.

Thanksgiving and Favorite Top Coat

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and gained three pounds!! 

Just kidding. 

This is what I painted on my nails for Thanksgiving this year. 

It's a gray nail. I stamped a white leaf french tip using Konad plate m56 and lined it with gold glitter. At first I didn't like it. I was going for a leafy, golden, autumn vibe but it reminded me more of a sweater. It grew on me though and now I think I like it. It's different.   

 

I also need to rave about my favorite top coat. I painted this design a week ago. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat (see my original review HERE). I was in a rush and did it really quick, barely letting them dry before getting up, getting ready, and leaving. It was a thin coat and I didn't cap them and I thought for sure they would smudge or chip. They really needed a second layer. But no chips! No smudging! Currently, it's been a WEEK and a DAY since I painted them and they still look amazing. The edges didn't even start barely showing wear until Sunday, day five!


 
 The picture on the left is the day I painted them.
The picture in the middle is day 5, Sunday, just starting to wear on the edges.
The picture on the right is today, Thursday, day 9. Finally chipped today!

So, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat is my favorite top coat! 

I very highly recommend it. Again!

Firecracker

Happy Fourth of July! 

A little late, I know, but I realized I forgot to post this one over the summer. My nana needed her toes painted so she could wear sandals. She liked the idea of a crackle polish so I got to try it out again. 

It's a bright red base with a coat of white crackle polish (which broke and split up beautifully, best one yet!), topped with a coat of red and blue glitter.  

 

Birthday Explosion

Happy Birthday to my friend Margaret! 

She wanted her nails painted so this is the design we came up with.

It's a white base with multi-colored streamers and swirls, topped with glitter. The accent nail is a bright blue base with three candles and rhinestone "flames."

Holiday Glitter

Merry Christmas! I love this time of year. 

Music, baking, red, Jesus, 

green, angels, eggnog, Jesus, 

giving, trees, snow, Jesus, 

hot chocolate, gifts, lights, Jesus, 

songs, family, friends, . . .and Jesus! 

This is my first holiday design this year. Hopefully there will be more holiday designs to come. For this design, I started with a white base topped with a coat of a pearl white polish. Then I used almost two coats (I didn't want two full coats and too much glitter) of China Glaze Party Hearty which debuted in 2010. 

 

Be on the lookout for more designs!

Ahoy Matey!

“As we sail thru life, don't avoid rough waters, 

sail on because calm waters won't make a skillful sailor."

Sailor. Bluejacket. Boater. Cadet. 

Deck hand. Mariner. Mate. 

Old Salt. Sea Dog. Shipmate. Swabbie.

 Nautical themed nails seem to be popular right now,

so I thought I would give a shot at my own design.

Rustic and worn boat wheel. 

Blue triangle and stripes with gold line.

Lifesaver. 

Blue french, red stripes, and white stars.

Anchor.

Fireworks

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I saved the best for last. 

This is the final design of my four-part Fourth of July nail design series. Of all four designs, I think this one is the most festive without overdoing it. It's simple but it looks great! I think of the four designs I've done for the Fourth of July, this one is my favorite! It is pretty simple as well. All nails are painted red. The smaller toes have white and blue fireworks coming from different corners. The big toe has two sets of fireworks opposite of one another with three pearl white stars in the center.

 

"Star Spangled Banner"

Happy (almost) 4th of July! 

This is the third design in my four-part Fourth of July nail series.

 This design divided the nail into three sections: white, red, and blue. 

The white section has three pearl white stars 

(which are a little hard to see unless the light catches them just right) 

and dots line the red and blue sections.

 The smaller toes are painted red with white, blue, and glitter fireworks coming from one corner. 

In this picture the stars are more visible.

No copyright infringement intended.

"You're a Grand Old Flag"

Happy 4th of July! 

This is the second design in my four-part Fourth of July nail series!

This is a simple design that screams patriotism. All toes are painted red. The big toes have white stripes and a diagonal blue triangle in one corner with pearl white stars. I left the smaller toes just plain red. This design would also look great on nails with the flag design on the ring finger. 

And a close-up.

No copyright infringement intended. 

"Stars and Stripes Forever"

Happy (almost) 4th of July!!

This is the first design in my four - part July 4th nail series.

This design is almost painfully simple. 

All toes are painted white. 

Each nail is lined on both sides by alternating red and blue stripes. 

The big toe has three stars in the center.

Each little toe has a single small star in the center.

The stars are hard to see unless the light hits just right. 

When they reflect light, the stars look green, pink, and orange. 

No copyright infringement intended.

Patriotic Swirl

My design for the 4th of July. This is another attempt at water marbling that also turned out really well.

I used: Finger Paints base coat, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Cherry Red, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It, bowl of room temperature water, Beauty Secrets top coat

Pink Swirl

 Pink and white swirl. This is my first attempt at water marbling and it turned out really well. Water marbling is a technique that involves dropping nail polish into water in layers and swirling it around to make a design. You just dip your nails into the water to apply it to the nail. It's a great way to create fun and unique designs with different colors. The only downsides are that it can be messy and it uses ALOT of polish (so don't use your good stuff!).

I used: Finger Paints base coat, N.Y.C. in Fuchsia Shock, CQ in French White, bowl of room temperature water, Q tips, toothpick, nail polish remover, paper towel, Beauty Secrets top coat

Dotted French

This is an earlier design, from when I was just getting started in nail art. It's just a simple white french tip with black dots and a thin black line. I used Finger Paints base coat, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, Pure Ice in Black Rage, Beauty Secrets top coat, dotting tool