Category Archives: Nail Art

A to Z Series: G is for Gold

12 Friday Dec 2014

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This week’s A to Z Series prompt was gold! I was very excited because I had a reason to create a green and gold gradient. Green and Gold for the CSU Rams!!!

Anyways, I hope you like it! I am particularly happy with the subtle stamping!

 

Gold - A2Z Series | The Rite of AgingI started with 2 coats of Zoya Goldie as my base.

I used a makeup sponge, Zoya Goldie and Suvi for the gradient.

I stamped with the same gold polish and MoYou London plate 08 (Festive collection).

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other gold manicures below!

Challenge Your Nail Art: Icy Blue Colors

12 Friday Dec 2014

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This post is super late. I had done one on time with this awesome water marble, but the sugar spun ended up looking muddy and the colors just looked disgusting. So, I re-did it a couple of days later without the sugar-spin but I couldn’t take pictures until this morning. There is a little tip wear so apologies in advance! Also, sorry for the pretty poor photo quality…I cannot photograph whites to save my life….I still need to play with the settings on my camera 😦

 

I hope you like it!

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Mergh…I’m sorry I don’t quite remember all the polishes I used…If you want to know please comment and I’ll find out. Ergh, I am sorry…the cold weather is finally getting to me…I am so out of it right now.

Oh, and I stamped with Konad and some new plates from the MoYou London Festive collection.

 

Check out the other icy blue manicures below!

Challenge Your Nail Art: Santa

08 Monday Dec 2014

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I am now on a water decal kick. Of course, this is the best time of the year to use them since most of the images I own are holiday/Christmas themed! Water decals. I love them. I cannot freehand to save my life so I love these little freehand cheats! They’re not really cheats…but you know what I mean!

At first I was going to do a base color with a glitter topper but thought that really was not nail art so I decided to go with a glitter gradient. I am about 110% positive I used this exact nail art base (Metro Chic & On a Silver Platter) last year! But, for the life of me cannot remember for what so I added a splash of OPI to “change it up” a little. Hehehe.

I had a little trouble photographing this look. I always have trouble focusing the camera on glitter. There is too much going on, I guess! It is so funny. Back in high school my little Fujifilm 12 megapixel camera was one of the best on the market. Now, PHONES have better megapixel quality. Technology is out of control. I still love my Fujifilm, it takes great quality photographs when I am out and about but it is definitely not meant for close-up or macro shots. I really would like to get another camera specifically for blog photos but I have no idea where to start!

Anyways…

 

I hope you like my Santa nails!

DSCF2097_fotorI started with 2 coats of Sephora by OPI Metro Chic as my base.

I used a sponge tip eyeshadow applicator, Essie On a Silver Platter and OPI Polka.Com for the gradient.

I used an assortment of Born Pretty Store holiday decals on selected nails. The decals are different on my left hand. They are of two Santas and a stocking full of presents. However, my cleanup was basically non-existent. I had a lot of trouble removing the glitter so I am going to cheat a little and wait for washing my hands to take care of the leftovers! 🙂

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other creative Santa manicures below!

Guest Post at Beauty Expressions by Luchessa

06 Saturday Dec 2014

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Hey! Check out my guest post tutorial for Luchessa’s Hans Christian Andersen’s nail art series over at her wonderful blog, Beauty Expressions by Luchessa (tutorial linked here). I was thrilled to participate in the series as I have followed her blog for quite some time and loved her Grimm Fairy Tale series last year!

Which fairy tale did I choose? Hop on over to her blog and find out 🙂 (hehe, see what I did there?)

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Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Challenge Your Nail Art: Snowmen

05 Friday Dec 2014

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I dreaded today’s prompt a little. Not because I did not like the idea but because I could not freehand to save my life! I remembered I bought holiday water decals from BPS last year. Then I remembered they were a year old and when I last tried them they dried up and smeared with top coat application. Regardless, I proceeded with caution knowing fully well my attempt might end up in failure and I would have to start again.

Thankfully, the water decals worked pretty well. However, it took 5 minutes of soaking in water to detach them from their backing paper. A little bit of a bummer especially when in the end I did not wait long enough for two of them to dry and they smeared. Well, at least my favorite (on the ring finger) did not smear! That snowman is just so ridiculously cute!

I hope you like it! Can you see my subtle gradient?

 

12daysofxmas - snowmenI started with 3 coats of Zoya Crystal as my base. I could have done two since I completely went over with another color but at the time I still was not sure what colors I was going to use in my gradient.

I used a makeup sponge, butter London Knackered, Zoya Dream and Urban Outfitters Mystic (from cuticle to tip).

I used an assortment of Born Pretty Store water decals and sealed everything with a generous coat of Seche Vite.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Don’t forget to check out the other cute snowmen below!

Challenge Your Nail Art: Christmas Trees

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

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I knew exactly what I wanted to do for today’s CYNA prompt! Better yet, I knew which colors I wanted to use! I absolutely love using this color palette but it is very winter-esque so I rarely wear it outside of the holidays! Initially, I only wanted to stamp my ring finger because I wanted the glitter topper to stand on it’s own but I could not tell the image was a Christmas tree. In the end, I really liked the stamps on all my nails.

 

I hope you like it!

cyna - xmas trees

I used 2 coats of Zoya Giovanna + 1 generous coat of Serum No. 5 Forest Lights and 2 coats of Essie No Place Like Chrome as my base.

I alternated the colors for the stamping with Bundle Monster plate BM 321.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Don’t forget to check out the other Xmas tree manicures below!

Challenge Your Nail Art: Snowflakes

01 Monday Dec 2014

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Quick post tonight because I am running a little behind and I am a little tired.

Today starts the 12-Days of Christmas challenge within the Challenge Your Nail Art group. We have had the prompts for a while but it completely took me by surprise today. I knew the first day was the 1st of December but for whatever reason I thought it was in a month! December really crept up on me.

Needless to say, I was always excited about the snowflakes prompt because I got to use my favorite Bundle Monster stamping plate image! I used this stamp on multiple occasions and you will probably start seeing it more regularly!

I liked the idea of water-marbling and stamping so I set out to do that. I cannot decide whether I like the final result or not. I like how the marble works with the snowflakes but I do not like the colors on their own…What do you think?

 

CYNA: snowflakesI started with 2 coats of Milani Power Periwinkle as my base.

I marbled with Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and Pahlish Mind Like a Diamond.

I stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM319, Konad Special Polish White and Essie No Place Like Chrome.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other snowflake manicures below!