purple & grey dots

This is another quick paint job that looks a bit fancier than solid nails.  Just a dotting tool, and some extra drying time between the base color and the dots.  Perfect when watching a movie.  The marble/gradient nail is a bit wonky but it's the best I could do with a dotting tool (didn't feel like busting out the sponges for a proper gradient).  I love purple and grey together, it's such a warm combo.

OPI - A Grape Fit!
Sinful Colors - Cool Grey, Black On Black, Smokin'

grey

I love this OPI color (I Have A Herring Problem).  It is so subtle and mellow with a great micro glitter.  It's a warm grey that goes with both silver and gold.  And it goes on like a dream, I used two coats in the paint job above.  But three coats makes it rich and creamy.

Add a single confetti glitter accent nail and it is a look.  Easy and quick.  I will admit that most of my paint jobs of late are on the quick & easy side.  There is something about cold dry weather that makes me shy away from extra drying agents (acetone, nail polish, etc) on my hands.  Once summer rolls around I will bust out the stamping plates again.

OPI - I Have A Herring Problem
Urban Outfitters - Scorcher

Side note - I'm having issues with coming up with titles for the everyday paint jobs.  There is no theme to this type of paint job but the post needs a title.  Any suggestions would be great.  For now I will stick to the straight forward and rather obvious.

stud-ly

Studs in a line.  That sentence has so many different interpretations, yikes.

I love these micro studs.  They are very tiny yet easy to work with.  They are also relatively flat so they don't stick up to much on the nail.  They work with everything.  I went with a grey & silver theme for this paint job.  Just a silver accent nail & darker grey base color on the rest.  Dot on some silver studs, a clear top coat, done.  Very easy as long as you have a steady hand to apply the studs.

Sinful Colors - Smokin
Sally Hansen - Celeb City

grays

Super easy paint job!  It still fits with this time of year since it is getting dark so early now.  Just five different polishes, then top with a large silver stud.

The pointer finger polish is a bit on the blue side but does still work overall.  It also would have been too big of a hue jump between the middle finger gray and the black.

I always forget how much I like these studs.  They are large but they are very thin.  Somehow they don't stick out too much even on the curved nails.  They are also large enough to make a statement.

Sinful Colors - Cool Gray, Black on Black, Jungle Trail, Smokin
Sally Hansen - White On

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

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

space

I bought this polish a while back but it has just been sitting in drawer ever since.  I wasn't sure how it would go on.  It is semi-pretty in the bottle.  I got it because it looked unusual and was only 99 cents.

I actually really like it once it is on the nail.  It carries it multiple colors/sheen pretty well.  I only used two coats and it it works.  I have no clue what it is called when a color is different from all different view points.  Sort of like oil.  I then did a simple white stamping over some of the nails for a bit of fun.  Nothing fancy but it really works on the short nails.

Wet & Wild - Gray's Anatomy
Sally Hansen - White On
plate - Cheeky CH46

grey & gold

I am loving the quicky paint jobs.  Nothing fancy but quick and fun.  I picked out a polish (grey) that I haven't really used a lot.  I love the color but it has of a winter chill to it.  It is not depressing dark but something about it is somber.  Well, I can't have that on my nails so I added an accent finger of gold.  Silver would have been the obvious choice with grey but the micro flecks of glitter in the grey polish are gold.  It just works.  Totally not spring-ish, more New Years Eve feeling.

OPI - GoldenEye, I Have A Herring Problem

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

newsprint

This is a super old trend but one I have been wanting to try.  Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty easy.  Simply dip your nail (super dry base color done) in alcohol.  Then place the newspaper on top, squish down with a cotton ball that also has alcohol on it.  Hold for about 15 seconds.  Lift both off.  Presto.  Top with normal top coat.

My biggest issue is I went with my local weekly paper that apparently is printed at a higher quality than the normal daily.  I will try again with the cheaper daily paper.  Cheaper here means the type that rubs off on your fingers when you read it.  I am also thinking about the different sections of the paper that might be fun to try this with.  Think the micro sudoku in the answers section.  Maybe the comics?

Sinful Colors - Cool Grey

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?

black to white with a dash of red

After cleaning out my box of paints. tools, and tricks from the birthday party, I re-found my two grey polishes.  Normally greys are so dull but they inspired me to do a gradient paint job.  I was going to start with the fifth nail being a silver halo polish but then I saw the red paint and it all came together.  

There is nothing fancy about this paint job and it still fun.  For some reason it reminds me of Vegas.

Sinful Colors - Black on Black, Smokin, Cool Gray
Sally Hansen - White On
Essie - A List

grey & retro stripes

 

After organizing all of my polishes and making swatches, I 'found' so many polishes that I want to use.  I bought this OPI color a while ago and have been meaning to use it.  It is grey but with some subtle glitter-ness.
*micro photos after the jump*

elegant blocking

After seeing some pretty cool color blocking nails on the web, I decided to give it a try.  I need to be more patient next time.  When I started to peel the tape off, some of the base color (grey) started to come off around the cuticle.  After peeling it back, the two colors just looked a little bland by themselves so I jazzed it up a little with some gold glitter polish.

I just found a great site for nail art supplies (bornprettystore.com).  I ordered a bunch of stuff (danger danger) including some nail studs.  These are like rhinestones but flatter and metal.  I also got some glow in the dark nail polish colors!!  I think I might redo this paint job, even with the same colors once the studs come.  This would look good with either the silver or gold studs.  But I have even more selection than that, because I got both square and circle.  This package is coming from Hong Kong, so I just hope to get it in time for Halloween.

Sinful Colors - Mesmerize, Jungle Trail, All About You, Why Not

Has anyone done any color blocking with tape?  Do you have metal studs for your nails?  Any tips and tricks before my package comes?