easter eggs

I wasn't sure what paint job I wanted to do for Easter.  That is until I drove past the local park and saw a bunch of kids getting ready to do an Easter egg hunt.  Light bulb.  Easter egg nails.  Super easy and won't be sad when I have to take them off Monday.  Just picked through all my colors and got out all the pastels that didn't have a glitter or shine to them.  And then I went a little crazy.  I like some of them but really dislike the pinky.  I also went with a matte top coat since most decorated eggs do not have a nice shiny finish (something about being super toxic).

Sinful Colors - Innocent, Why Not, Unicorn, Rise and Shine, Feeling Great, Easy Going, Amethyst
OPI - Do You Lilac It?
Wet & Wild - Sunny Side Up
Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet, Sun Kissed

black & white disco

I was flipping through my nail swatches for inspiration for this paint job when I opened my glitter swatch box.  I wanted to do something with glitter but I wasn't feeling any sort of color.  Odd sounding I know.  So I pulled a silver halo, black jelly with silver glitters, and one that is aptly named Techno.

*more photos after the jump*

quicky

Just a quick paint job.  Not much thought went into it.  Just had some fun.  Random accent nails (purple with grey dots) on each hand.  And solid color on the other nails.

 
Sinful Colors - Cool Grey, Jungle Trail, Black On Black
OPI - On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Vant to Bite My Neck?

nautical grab bag

I did a paint job on my friend when she was visiting earlier this week.  It was a combo of dots and anchor stamps.  It inspired me to do this grab bag nautical themed paint job,

*more after the jump*

wedding dress

One of my good friends is getting married this fall and she asked if I wanted to go along when she went dress shopping.  Of course I said yes.  But since I am such a dork, I did a wedding dress inspired paint job.

I started with a semi-nude base color.  It has a bit more cream in it than a standard nude polish.  I then stamped with a glitter/pearl cream.  But after looking closely, the stamping did not pop.  So I re-stamped with a straight white pearl polish.  It looks great.  The first stamp added a bit of glitter but the second stamp really pops.

I then did a string of pearls on my ring fingers, much like the back button closures of lots of bridal dresses.  Overall, another simple paint job but perfect for the occasion.

Essie - Hi Maintenance
OPI - Princesses Rule
Sinful Colors - Tokyo Pearl
plate - Cheeky CH44

24 K gold

I finally got inspired to use the polish "The Man With the Golden Gun", the 24K gold flake polish in the Bond collection by OPI.  There is something about deep red and gold that just works together.  I didn't just want a solid red polish with the 24K polish on top so I added some studs to my middle finger.

*more after the jump*

st patrick's day gradient

I own very little items of green clothing, so in order to avoid getting pinched (St. Patty's Day) I went with green nails.  But just solid green wouldn't do.  So I went with a gradient on four of the fingers and a pot of gold on the thumb (really just solid gold glitter).

I figured out an amazing trick for gradient paint jobs.  It worked perfectly.  I'm always heasanta about gradient because it gets all over your fingers.  Then, I was gluing something and got some white glue on me.  It dried and peeled off so easily.  Light bulb!!  What if I used the white glue around my nails.
*more after the jump*

retro dots

Sometimes a simple paint job can be beautiful.  Just a couple of dots make this new purple polish really pop.  I was going to do something special on the ring finger (stamping, lines, etc) but the look of the solid color really worked.

The purple base has some shimmer to it but it is wicked subtle.  Then just add some different sized dots and presto - a fun paint job.  I have done dotting paint jobs like this in the past but this was the first time using different sized dots.  I love the look.  It looks much more whimsical. 

OPI - You're Such A BudaPest
Wet & Wild - I Need A Refreshment
Sinful Colors - Why Not, Feeling Grate

march polish days - vintage

March's Polish Day challenge theme is 'Vintage'.  This is a great theme but super open to interpretation.  Vintage can be an old classic polish, from a past era (think 70's inspired nails), maybe a lace polish, etc etc.  I came up with a bunch of ideas which I am guessing I will use this month.

*more after the jump*

purple ombre

This purple ombre look was one of my first posts on this blog.  After getting my new dark purple polish recently, I knew I wanted to re-do this paint job.  Speaking about polishes.  I have swatches of all my polishes on fake nails.  Each fake nail is hot glue to it's own popsicle stick with the name and make of polish on the stick.  They are then divided into boxes (originally designed to hold photos).  I have five boxes in total.  The polishes are broken up into red/orange/yellow, blue/green, glitter, black/white/metallic, and purples.  Yes, I have that many purples that they get their own box.

There is nothing too complicated about this paint job.  Simply five different purple polishes that are in the same purple family.  Just figure out the ombre order and paint two coats.  Simple, easy and pretty.

OPI - Care to Danse?, Do You Lilac It?, A Grape Fit!, Vant to Bite My Neck?
Sinful Colors - Amethyst

elegant swirls

This look is totally copied from one of my Oscar nails.  I really liked the look of a nude nail with a almost nude metallic stamping.  When I started with this paint job I was going to do the brown/grey criss-cross stamping as well, but I like the simple look so stopped.

For some reason this looks reminds me of a classic ballet.  No, it is not light pink, but it is elegant and classy.  I have had some very vibrant stamping paint jobs in the past, but this combo I could see people that are anti-stamping (scary, I know) maybe like.

OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy
Sinful Colors - Super Nova
plate - Cheeky CH52

matte skulls

I have been looking at the skulls stamp design since I got the plate set.  I like it but I wish it was reversed.  The stamped color in the above photo is the black.  Having such a large solid stamp design leaves lots of extra stamp on the rest of the finger.  It would just be easier if the stamp was just the skull and bones patter instead of the back ground.

Having such a solid stamp makes stamping really hard.  Above is the best I could get.  So much fresh paint gives a lot of run and no clean edges.  I did got with a matte top coat because skulls are already so flashy and it just looks good with the matte.

Sinful Colors - Black On Black
Sally Hansen - White On
Nails Inc - Westminster Bridge (matte top coat)
plate - Cheeky CH49

Any tips with such a polish filled stamp?  Do you know of any stamping plates that have the skull and bones as the stamp, not the background?

new polishes & simple paint job

On my way up the mountains I stopped at my wholesale nail supply place and got four new polishes (as well as a bunch of not fun tools, ie buffing blocks, wooden sticks, etc).  I saw the swatches of OPI's new Euro collection on another site and picked out three that I wanted to get. While brousing around another OPI polish cought my eye and I got it as well.
*single nail micro photos after the jump*

pink

Another super easy paint job.  The color is great and my first time using the base color.  I added a different glitter polish on each ring finger on each hand for a bit of bling.  As small as my nails now seem, they look really good with such a vibrant color.  Plus, painting is so much easier.  Same with typing on my phone.  It is a great pink in real life, sort of like the dark pink in the Mr Sketch markers.  It has this subtle pink shimmer/glitter in it that you can sort of see manifested as gold glitter in the micro photo.  But for the life of me I cannot capture the pink in photos.  So just picture the dark pink Mr Sketch and not the lipstick red that appears in these photos.

I am a fan of Modern Family so I sort of geeked out when Nicole released the Modern Family collection.  I checked all the stores Nicole listed as retailers and could only find four of the colors.  Then I was at Bed, Bath & Beyond and decided to check the nail section.  Bam, they had the entire collection.  So dangerous and I splurged and now have a total of 8 Nicole Modern Family polishes.   I don't think I will buy any other Nicole polishes because of the price, unless I can find them wholesale like I can with the rest of the salon polishes.

Nicole - A Like-Haley Story, Haley Good Lookin'..., She's Lily Something

Do you have any tips on trying to capture the real polish color in photos?  Am I the only one that still uses Mr Sketch markers?