blues

I do love ombre nails.  I decided to try a new color for this ombre look.  I have a few blues but it was hard to figure out five good ones for an ombre look.  I think these five polishes work together. The ring finger is a bit off but it was the best paint for that level.  The only hard thing about ombre nails is not hitting your wet nails when switching polishes.

MAC - Ming Blue
Wet & Wild - Saved By The Blue
LA Girl - Flash Freeze
Sinful Colors - Why Not
Sally Hansen - Air
*the polishes are in order from darkest to lightest

little blue bird

I based this paint job off the little blue bird vinyl decal.  Nothing fancy, just add a polka dot nail.  Easy and quick.  Very preppy.  I didn't let the pearl polish dry long enough under the vinyl decal so it is peeling up a bit at the edges (I have curved nails).  The top coat helped hold it down a bit, but I just need to take my time when doing certain paint jobs.

Nicole - Stand By Your Manny
Essie - Room with a View
Sinful Colors - Rain Storm
Sally Hansen - White On

Frozen

I finally saw "Frozen".  I am glad I did see it on the big screen, it was beautiful. It totally inspired this paint job (in the most minimalist way possible).  I might have to break out the stamps to see if there is a snowflake or two, but I tend to go with the KISS* paint jobs.  So a frosty blue with a silver/blue glitter accent nail, presto - a "Frozen" paint job.

Nicole - Stand By Your Manny
Sinful Colors - Ice Dream

*KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid

party hat

This pink multicolor glitter jelly polish is one that I got but have never been really happy with.  It was in one of those bins 4 for $12 (or something like that) and it was cheaper to get 4 rather than 3.  It's an odd color.  The pink jelly base is sort of a muddy blue pink.  The glitter is both small and large hex.  It might not be a great NAIL polish but it is great for marking keys.

Urban Outfitters - Lollipop
LA Girl - Flash Freeze

anchor

When you try and do quick nail art, things get wonky.  Like the anchor is no where near center.  Oh well.  I wanted to do all red nails but I changed my mind when pulling out the red polish.  I wasn't feeling a solid color paint job so I added two accent nails.  A sticker and some dots.  Quick and easy but still fun.  It would look better with stripes instead of dots but I didn't feel like using a stamp and my hands are way too unsteady to do free hand lines (thank you double espresso).

OPI - Got the Blues for Red
Wet & Wild - French White Creme
LA Girls - Flash Freeze

teal tips

Super short nails can still rock a colored tip.  It gives the illusion of a longer nail.  Such an easy look.  No extra brushes needed.  Just do the base colors.  Let dry and a quick swipe of the opposite color just on the tips.  Done.  Yes, the lines are not perfectly straight but it still works.

LA Brites - Flash Freeze
China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise

bow tie

I have always wanted to try a bow tie decal but the thick and/or 3D ones always seemed too odd for me.  Like they would catch on everything.  But then I got some vinyl decals, perfect! They lay flat on the nail.

Another paint job where I wish I had swapped the colors.  The grey of the bow tie looked a bit darker on the sheet.  I added a rhinestone in the middle for some pop.  I like the look but I need to find a better color for under the grey bow tie.

Nicole - Stand By Your Manny
MAC - Ming Blue

feathers

I tried a real feather paint job a while ago and it was awful.  It just looked bad (think one of the Pintrest Fail memes).  But I have two great bags of feathers that I see every time I open the drawer to get out my stamping plates.

This time I took my time.  I did just the feathers first, the the normal nails once the feathers were dry.  I also went with a clear base color.  It looks a little odd but it works.  I really like the blue feather nail.  It is very clearly a feather.  Now I have gotten better with the feathers, I think I can try one over a colored base polish.

I thought a full paint job of just feathers would be a bit much, especially with the bright (aka fake) feathers).  So I book-ended it with a bright pink.  I like it.  Very simple.

**UPDATED**
The yellow and purple feathers lasted all of 12 hour.  I still liked the blue, so I cleaned up the two naked nails and painted it the same pink polish on the thumb and pinky.

I really like it.  It would have looked awesome with a pink jelly glitter polish under the feather, or even a very light pink.  But overall, this one feather nail paint job looks better than more feathers.
OPI - Koala Beary

claws

Still long nails so I decided to go with a paint job that accents the length.  These remind me of something you would see on a female villain in a movie.

Just the normal paint job, but I added the square studs near the tips.  This really makes my nails look super long.  And oddly enough, with the studs at the tips, I am not fiddling with them.  When I have studs and/or rhinestones on my nails, I catch myself running my other fingers over them.

OPI - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

blue dots

Dots, dots and more dots.  A simple light blue base coat & two rounds of blue dots.  Nothing fancy.

The light blue base color does have a micro pink glitter undertone which adds a bit a pop to it.  Strangely, I do like darker blue nails, but I am not sure if I am keen about the light blue.  Or at least this polish.

Sinful Colors - Cinderella, Why Not, Rain Storm

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

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

nautical

I went a bit crazy on Etsy a couple of weeks ago.  Not only did I get those water decals (the owls) but I got a bunch of vinyl nail decals from another seller (www.makeitstickdesign.com).  THEY ARE AWESOME!  Yes, all caps because I am so happy with them.

I got a bunch of different designs and there are so many decals in all different sizes per sheet.  They are true stickers.  And since they are vinyl they hold up after you remove them from the paper (ie the anchor goes on straight, you don't have to adjust it because it is starting to look like it melted).  And each design comes in different sizes (it looks like 5).  This is great because it makes them able to fit all size nails.

I also got the variety pack.  It is totally worth it because there are so many different ones in there.  They aren't complete sheets, but plenty to play around with.  And get to see more of the create colors.  The chevron stripes (paint job coming soon) are single stripes which I find much easier to apply than a full nail sticker.

Back to this paint job.  I used the anchor decal on one finger.  I went with a full stud polka dot nail, stripes and checkered for the others.  The pinky is a solid polish that has some glitter in it.  

Sinful Colors - Rain Storm
MAC - Ming Blue
Sally Hansen - White On, Celeb City

dusk

I knew I wanted to do a blue paint job but was sort of directionless.  I was in the Nicole section of my polishes and saw this silver/black jelly polish.  I thought it would be pretty to do a glitter gradient with it.  Sort of like a dusk effect.

Well, the jelly polish holds a lot of color in the jelly.  Overall, it does look a bit like dusk but more like a city skyline at dusk.  It would be funny to do this paint job again but with more defined lines.  Or doing a proper light blue - black gradient, then a little silver glitter on top.

I love this light blue base color.  I however do not like coverage of the polish.  It takes a proper three coats to get a solid color.  Yet the black/silver jelly polish is so thick.  Has anyone else found this inconsistency with Nicole polishes?  I knew it was a problem with Essie, but since I am rather new to Nicole, I did not know.
Nicole - What's the Mitch-uation?, Luke of the Draw, Stand by Your Manny

Seattle Sounders FC

After spending two weeks with my Sounders loving nephews, I was inspired to do a Sounders FC paint job.  I really wish they made a soccer ball print plate.  Sort of like a giraffe print but with straighter edges would have worked.

Instead I went with the classic ref shirt (except I think that might be more American football).  Then the Space Needle on the ring finger (done with Sharpie).  The Sounders' scarf inspired the pinky.  The jersey the pointer finger.  And then the checkered thumb.  I don't know where that came from but it helps balance so there isn't too much of the green color.

This was a fun paint job.  It is a fun theme to work with, especially since there is an almost unlimited supply of teams and sports to play with.

Sinful Colors - Why Not, Innocent, Black on Black
Sally Hansen - White On
plate - Cheeky CH10

crackle

Another great polish my nephew's got for me is this electric blue crackle.  I am pretty sure they did not know it was a crackle but just a pretty blue.  It is an awesome crackle, works perfectly and it is a great color.

I went with the white gold base color under the crackle.  I also remembered to let the base color dry 100% before trying the crackle.  The accent finger is just sold gold.  It does look a little funky but I do like it.  I now really want to try it with a neon color as the base.

OPI - Turquoise Shatter, GoldenEye
Morgan Taylor - Give Me Gold
*I have never heard of Morgan Taylor polish before.  I found it at the beauty supply store.  It was a very reasonable price and this color was great.  I am very impressed with it, the color is beautiful and the coverage is great.  It also dries rather quickly for a salon level polish.  Have you ever heard of Morgan Taylor polish?

aliens

I have had this plate for a long time, have always wanted to use it but never figured out a good color combo for it.  I think I finally have.

I love the single creature on the pinky.  For such a relatively large single item stamp, it came out pretty clear.  Sometimes they get wonky in the center.

On the creature plate, there is a large multi-creature item.  I used that for three fingers.  There are also five separate individual creatures.  At first I was going to do a single creature on each nail, but I went went with the multi-creature since my nails are on the long side.  For such a detailed stamping plate, I am very happy with how they turned out.  The lines are really crisp and the creatures little legs/teeth/arms all show up perfectly.

Sally Hansen - Fuchsia Power, Mellow Yellow
Sinful Colors - Black on Black, Why Not, Rise and Shine, Dream On
plate - Cheeky CH32

military coat

I was just pulling colors and found these five that all are in the same hue/family.  They are a little dark but with the addition of the gold studs, the overall paint job has some life to it.

Then top it all off with a matte top coat, and it makes it look like different wool military coat with gold buttons.  I wish I had done the arrow stripes on the index finger instead of the studs.  But that might have been too coat/military.

Sinful Colors - Smokin, Mesmerize, Jungle Trail, Rain Storm, In The Mist