Day 7 of the 31 Day Challenge - B&W Nails

Today's challenge is black and white, which is always a classic combination. Once again I am using the flowery and leafy design from Pueen plate PUEEN15. I think this has to be my favorite Pueen stamp so far. I just love it. 

The base color is Zoya Storm which is a nice opaque black with holographic glitter. I love having this beautiful holographic polish in my collection. Gorgeous!

Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Challenge Day 40 - A Day at the Zoo

Hi there!

I love going to the zoo, and so does my youngest son. We have a membership and are planning to go this week. Each time we go, the tiger exhibit is a must. It's my son's favorite zoo animal - probably because his favorite color is orange. Haha

So for my son, I wanted to tiger nails for the zoo challenge. The base color is China Glaze Riveting and then I sponged a white polish toward the tips, stamped on some tiger stripes and topped it with a matte coat. And although he loved them, it was a mess. the polish smudged during the stamping and the stamp was not large enough to cover my entire nail bed. Ugh. Maybe someday I'll probably give it another try with a striping brush instead of a stamp.

Summer Challenge Day 36 - Buttercups

Hi there!

So for the buttercup challenge I probably would have preferred to paint some flowers, but it was such a busy week I had to take a few shortcuts. I decided to stamp with a flower design that resembled buttercups and I kept the cute couple as an accent.

The base color is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow. The stamp used was Cheeky CH14 using Konad White.

Summer Challenge Day 35 - Summer Lovin'

Hi there!

When I think of summer lovin' it reminds me of my first (and only) boyfriend who is now my husband. We met in high school and married five years later. After graduating high school, I spent the summer with my aunt and we carried on a long distance romance through love letters. Yes, this was before email. And it's probably the only time we ever wrote love letters to each other. With today's technology, it's easier and faster to just text someone and include an emoji. Not very personable, but I digress.

The base color on this mani is NYC Downtown. The hearts are stamped with Milani Hot Orchid and the couple and the arrow heart is stamped with Konad White. Plates used are Cheeky CH3 and CH29.

Summer Challenge Day 32 - Pink and Purple Mani

Hi there!

For today's pink and purple challenge, I considered practicing water marbling, but I decided to practice my stamping instead because I figured it would be faster. I seem to be short on time lately, working last weekend and I'm enjoying some family time with my SIL visiting for two weeks. In a house full of boys, I so need some girly time!

For this design, my base color is NYC Downtown, then I sponged a gradient with Wet n' Wild Megalast On A Trip, and finally stamped with Cheeky plate H using Pure Ice New Lilac.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great day!

Please check out the other ladies participating in the Summer Challenge!

Debbie @ The Crumpet - http://thecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk/
Neivys - http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/
Jo @ Northern Nails - http://therockchicksrambles.blogspot.co.uk/
arlene @ http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com/
Helena - http://nailwish.blogspot.com.es/
Cuti-CLUE-les - http://cuti-clue-les.blogspot.com/
Katee - http://www.agirlandherpolish.com 
Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/
Sarah - http://www.ynails.blogspot.co.uk/
bec - http://lacquerdreams.blogspot.com.au/
Misha - www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com
Sharon - http://whatcolorismycoat.blogspot.com/
Melissa - http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/
Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/
Lucie @ Lucy's Stash www.lucysstash.com
Emma @  http://manicurity.blogspot.com/
Caitlin - www.caitlinscreativecorner.blogspot.com
Jane- http://absolutevarnish.blogspot.com/
Amber www.nevernakednails.blogspot.com
Vic @ Glowstars http://glowstars.net
Jackie- http://memasmanis-jackie.blogspot.com/
Rychelle @ Colorsplash Nails- http://colorsplashnails.blogspot.com/
Stella - http://mywetnails.blogspot.com
Missy @ http://missysmanis.blogspot.co.uk/
Kim @ http://apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com/
Christine @ http://lost-in-my-reverie.blogspot.com
Angie @ http://ourpaintedworld.wordpress.com
Bazzia @  http://polishmymind.blogspot.se/
Missy the Manicured Maniac @ http://melissahenderson95.blogspot.com/
Michelle @ http://lacquerorleaveher.blogspot.com/
Nikki @ http://www.lilgreenheart.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth @ http://nailpolishismycrack.blogspot.com/
Ana Cris @ http://www.estacerradaladrogueria.blogspot.com.es/
Shayleen @ http://simplyhandyallyear.blogspot.com/ 
Dina @ http://secretarysnailart.blogspot.no/
Nayade @ Toxic Vanity http://www.toxicvanity.com
Karen @ http://nailsbykaybel.blogspot.com
Kelly (aka Nail Obsessed) @ http://crazynaillady.blogspot.com
Noniq @ Noniq Diary http://noniq.blogspot.com
Marce7ina - http://marce7ina.blogspot.com

Summer Challenge Day 27 - Independence Day

Hi there!

There are so many options when it comes to nail art for Independence Day. When I first got my stamping plates, my son and I were excited to see the stars and stripes and we had so many ideas. But when it was time to do the challenge, I was drawing a blank not knowing which one I wanted to do. In the end I decided to go with the look of the American flag.

The stripes didn't cover my whole nail so I decided to add some fireworks to cover up the missing stripes. I'm sure the fireworks could have been better, but I had a little trouble keeping my hand steady with my 4yo son playing next to me.

The blue base under the stars is an L.A. Colors polish. The red base under the stripes is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red.  I stamped the stars and stripes using Sally Hansen Extreme Wear White On and used Cheeky plate CH4.

Have a blessed day! =)

Stamping Sunday - Circles

Hey there!

For today's stamping challenge, I decided to stamp over my "Underneath the Stars" mani from the Summer Challenge. I learned all about recycling manis from The Crumpet. It saves so much time (and polish) to recycle!

I stamped using Cheeky plate CH16 with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Stamping Sunday - Goth Style

If I haven't mentioned before, I'm in a group on Facebook that stamps on Sundays. It's called Adventures In Stamping and today's theme is goth. I don't own any plates with skulls so I went with something dark and lacy with fishnet. I don't know how gothic it is, but I think it's very pretty.

My base color is Pure Ice Kiss Me Here. I stamped with Milani Deep Thoughts using Konad plate m71 for the lacy design. Then I used a black polish to stamp the fishnet design from Cheeky plate CH11.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day =)

Stamping Sunday - It's HOT HOT HOT in San Antonio

I don't have a very large collection of stamping plates. I only own Cheeky stamps and one Konad plate. So today's challenge was a little tough for me. I would have loved to do something with flames, but none of my plates have them. So as I was flipping through my binder I came across the ice cream cone on Cheeky plate CH10 and then the popsicle on CH17 and I thought how yummy it would be to have ice cream on a HOT HOT HOT day like today. It's currently 98 degrees!

The base color is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Chartreuse Chase. I stamped with Insta-Dri Raspberry Race and LA Colors Sea Siren. And because I put my base color on before my base coat completely dried, it started to bubble so I concealed it with some Wet N' Wild Kaleidescope. Haha

All these polishes cost $1 or less! Woohoo! The Dollar Tree is selling some SH Insta-Dri and Diamond Strength polishes for only $1. Score!

Gradient and Stars

My sister-in-law is currently going to a cosmetology college so she will often come over and let me do her nails. She likes to show them off to the other students who are always amazed at her manicures because they have never seen nail art like this. I don't know why, but I find that interesting.

Anyways, I recently tried gradient on my own nails and my SIL let me try again on her nails. She loved how the gradient turned out. But I wasn't done! I need more practice stamping so she picked out these stars to add to it.

Base color is a light lilac color by Cosmetic Arts. Then I did a gradient with the Cosmetic Arts, Pure Ice - New Lilac and Milani - Deep Thoughts. I stamped the stars using Cheeky CH26 with the Milani - Deep Thoughts polish.

The lighting in these pictures are a bit harsh and doesn't show the colors very well. Hopefully my pictures will be more consistent in the future.

Take care and have a beautiful day!!

Twinkle, Twinkle

Glitter polishes are very trendy right now. The great thing about them is that you can apply them on top of any color in thick or thin coats to create different looks. If you smudged your base color before you put your top coat on, just add glitter to cover it up. It's so versatile...and pretty.

For this manicure, I started with a base coat of Pure Ice Kiss Me Here which is a gray color. Then I added a coat of LA Colors BCC 582 which is a blue and purple glitter. Now my plain gray base color looks more like a bluish-gray or lavender.

From there, I added a top coat and stamped on some stars using Cheeky CH5 plate. Then added another top coat to protect the stamps. And there it is - a quick and easy manicure =)

Metallic Gradient

There are different techniques to getting a gradient look on your nails. I think the most common method is probably sponging with small pieces of a cosmetic sponge or a more porous sponge. You can then either dip the sponge in the nail polish and dab it onto your nail or you can paint it directly on the sponge and then dab. I haven't tried sponging yet, so I'll have to add that to my to do list.

About a week ago I was scouting out the L.A. Colors nail polishes at the Dollar Tree and noticed this shimmering loose eyeshadow with brush. I thought maybe I could create a gradient look with powder instead of sponging.

This is what the brush looked like when I opened the bottle. Not the best but, hey, it was only a dollar. :)

Here is my finished look. It worked! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of each of the steps but I applied two coats of the silver metallic polish by L.A. Colors. While the second coat was still wet, I dusted the bottom half of the nails with the shimmering shadow by tapping on the brush. Next, I tapped my fingers on a piece of paper on the table to get rid of any excess shadow and applied a top coat to seal it together before stamping.

Although I was happy with how the gradient turned out, I was not so pleased with the stamping. Perfectionists are hardly ever satisfied, right? ;)

Base Color: L.A. Colors BCC 571

Gradient Color: L.A. Colors shimmering loose eyeshadow - Sunshine

Stamping Color: NYC Skin Tight Denim

Blessings,

- Shayleen