elegant gold gradient

I am currently working on a cake design for a friend.  The cake is going to have some gold in it, either a gold ribbon or an entire tier covered in gold leaf.  Thinking about gold designs has rolled over into this paint job.

Just a simple champagne color paint for the base color.  Then some thick gold glitter paint on the tips.  I wasn't sure about the gold glitter at first.  But now that it is all done, I love it.  There is something very elegant to it.  It also reminds me of a pair of shoes I own.  They are nude 4 inch, nothing fancy, but they have this awesome gold glitter sole.  I wish I had more fancy occasions to wear them.

OPI - Up Front & Personal, GoldenEye

80's rage

All I need is some teased hair and spandex with some leg warmers and I would be set.  I apologize for the awful photos.  I picked two of the worst polishes to photograph.

The blue is actually a great turquoise/teal color.  The pink is a deep hot pink.  I tried five different lighting environments (sun, photo box, kitchen, desk & art light).  Nothing worked.  But the over all feel of this paint job still comes through.  Nothing fancy, just turning vinyl chevron stripes top to tail instead of side to side.

My nails are also getting very long.  I like longer nails because they make my fingers look longer but they drive me crazy.  They might last a couple more paint jobs before they get the chop.

Nicole - A Like-Haley Story...
China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise

crabby

Another great vinyl decal.  It went on like a charm and since the vinyl holds up, no need to try and slide the claws and legs around into a crab-like position.  Stick the crab on a gradient nail and presto, beach themed nails.

For the rest of my nails, I went with one of my favorite looks, light teal with a glitter gradient tip.  There is something so great about this teal color with this clear-ish glitter.  I have used it many times before and, I'm guessing, will use it a bunch more.

I did use a different blue for the gradient nail.  Before starting to paint, I tried the red crab decal with the teal and they just did not work together.  So I switched in a true blue but in the same hue as the teal.

Wet & Wild - French White, Hallucinate, I Need A Refresh-Mint
LA Girl - Flash Freeze

little blue bird

Another great decal from www.makeitstickdesign.com.  This was a decal in the variety pack.  I love it.  Nothing too complicated about it, plus it is in a great color.  I am going to have fun playing with the few bird decals I got (on a same hue pink? or a branch?).

please ignore the air bubbles,

i'm getting towards the bottom of my top coat

I went with a simple white background for the blue bird.  Then a gradient and polka dot nail for the other accent nails.  A solid blue for the 'regular' nails.  Can it still be called an accent nail when there are three of them?  More like a skittlette paint job.

Sinful Colors - Why Not
Sally Hansen - White On

confetti

Confetti!!  A super easy quick paint job.  Just a pearl white base color, and then lots of dots of different colors.  It works because all the dot color's are in the same family, not too bright, not too dark and the same thickness.  Very quick and fun.  Something about all the different colors and the randomness of the dots makes it work without being too much.

Wet & Wild - I Need A Refresh-Mint, On A Trip
Sinful Colors - Tokyo Pearl, Innocent
Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow, Fuchsia Power, Sun Kissed

cupcakes

I have wanted to do a cupcake paint job for a long time.  I finally decided to sit down and try.  I like it.  I need to practice a bit more with the paper cups part.  I got a little too aggressive with the scrapping on the pointer finger.

Overall, it is a rather simple paint job.  The only tool I used was a dotting stick. They sort of do look like ice cream (light bulb - might have to do an ice cream cone paint job soon now).

mint chocolate cupcake

purple frosting with rainbow sprinkles

Why did I add rhinestones to the top?  I only put cherries on black forest cupcakes bit this paint job needed a bit of sparkle.  It does make it look a bit more like ice cream though.  So, for the ice cream paint job, I will have to add a dab of whip cream (white paint) before adding the cherry (red rhinestone).

Wet & Wild - French White, I Need a Refresh-Mint, On A Trip
Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet, Mellow Yellow, Fuchsia Power, Sun Kissed
OPI - Do You Lilac It?
Sinful Colors - Nirvana, Easy Going, Cool Grey, Unicorn

retro

Why do hot pink and black go together so well?  I know that this pink polish is not a stamping polish so I stamped with the black polish.  I also knew that I wanted the stamped nails to really pop so I painted the rest of the nails black.  I love this paint job.

Sometimes the simple paint jobs are the best.  I get distracted by a theme, rhinestones, glitter, etc.  But it is nice to go back to a straightforward paint job every now and again.  The hot pink could easily be swapped out for a white or even bright blue.

China Glaze - You Drive Me Coconuts
Sinful Colors - Black on Black
plate - Cheeky CH33

nude & stones

Showgirl nails!  Not in the sense that they are what a showgirl would wear on their nails (that would be more bright red and long I think) but more what their costumes are like.  Sort of like an ice skaters costume as well.  A bunch of flesh tone netting and cleverly placed rhinestones.  The netting is there to give the illusion of skin but needs to be there so it stays rather PG rated.

Super easy paint job.  Simply apply the best nude polish for you and add some rhinestones.  This would also look great with just silver/clear stones.  But I went through my rhinestones and picked out a bunch of colors.  Nothing too fancy and very easy.

OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy

bubbles

This paint job was supposed to have a totally different look.  But my halo polish is very thin.  I wanted to use it for the stamping paint but it did not work at all.  Maybe I didn't use a good base polish.  I even quickly switched to a silver polish.  Nope, still did not show up.

Out came the white polish.  It's a fun stamp.  I really like the white bubbles over the halo base.  There was nothing fancy about this paint job.  Just a simple base color and a quick stamp.  Presto.

Nails INC - Electric Lane
Morgan Taylor - Give Me Gold
Sally Hansen - White On
plate - Cheeky CH9

Phillies

A college friend was visiting this past weekend.  She is from Philadelphia and is a huge sports nut.  I drew up a ton of different paint jobs for her to pick from (a different one each day).  They all came out great but there were a couple that she did not use that I like.  So, I used (and will be using) one.

The Phillies!  It's a rather simple paint job.  However, the red Sharpie I tried to use for the pin stripes and baseball stitches faded and bleed a lot.  Not good at all.  I had to go over them with some paint (which I should have just used in the first place).

 The nails aren't perfect, far from it.  But they are fun.  The 'P' is the Phillies logo P.  There is a baseball, pin stripe uniform, Liberty Bell, and the star over the Phillies name.

OPI - Got The Blues for Red
Wet & Wild - French White Creme, Saved By the Blue

random

Sometimes a random paint job is nice.  I wanted something fresh and fun but had no direction.  I used two more of the great vinyl decals from www.makeitstickdesign.com.  They are so easy to apply.  They are even pretty easy to get off the sheets, at least with tweezers.

I went with a simple contrast for the vinyl decal nails.  Then (it's hard to see) a glitter gradient on the blue nails.  Nothing fancy at all and very quick.  Yes, I had a little issue with the sea horse above, but I just trimmed off the edge and it still works.  I am loving the palm trees.  So much detail in the palm fronds.

Sally Hansen - White On
Wet & Wild - Hallucinate
OPI - Kola Beary
Sinful Colors - Why Not