prom nail wheel

Hi everyone! Sorry for being so inactive this week - I've been working a lot at a new job but after this week it'll slow down! (Thankfully because if I keep working this hard I might die! Haha!)

I don't have time for a long post so I'm gonna show you guys an awesome nail wheel that I made for my cousin Megan who was having me do her nails for her prom. Her dress was black and her shoes were red, so I stuck to those colors and added some silver and gold for accents. Before she came over, I made this wheel so that when she came, she could easily pick what she wanted!

Tada! It was a lot of fun making this wheel.
I'll put a list of the polishes I used, but if you have any questions about a particular nail, leave 'em in the comments and I will answer you later tonight after work.

OPI - Comet Loves Cupid (all the reds)
Essence - Black is Back (all the black)
OPI - Getting Miss Piggy With It (red glitter)
China Glaze - Blonde Bombshell (gold glitter)
Essence - Make It Golden (gold glitter)
Urban Decay - Superfreak (gold)
China Glaze - Millennium (silver)
Milani - Gold Glitz (gold glitter)
Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday (rainbow glitter)
Essie - As Gold As It Gets (gold flake)
Glitter Gal - Red Sparkle (holographic red)
Lynnderella - Connect The Dots (black and white glitter)
Color Club - Nomadic In Nude (nude)
OPI - Black Shatter
OPI - Red Shatter
Sephora by OPI - Blasted Gold Shatter

Phew! That was a lot of polishes.
Megan chose to wear Glitter Gal Red Sparkle and a black accent nail with a row of red rhinestones. It looked great!

Doing wheels like this really help get my inspiration going. I hope you guys like it!

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Effie Trinket Nails

Hey guys!
I have some very pretty and very popular nails to show you today!

I'm a big fan of The Hunger Games book series so of course I had to see the movie. Effie Trinket was rockin' some seriously hot nails during some of the scenes, and I had to recreate some of them!
But I'm definitely not the first to do this look, I've seen it probably 10 times already. Haha!
Despite being all over the place, they're still pretty and I really enjoyed wearing them!

Tada!
I did mine with a more purple color while Effie's were more fuchsia.
I happened to be wearing China Glaze Gothic Lolita when I thought about doing this manicure so I just went for it!

The gold glitter gradient was done with China Glaze Blonde Bombshell and Essence Make It Golden. I did the gradient with a sponge.

Glitter gradients are so quick and easy, and really eye-catching! I dig them. A lot.

I wish I had liked the colors from China Glaze's Capitol Colors collection... But they were just a bummer. I didn't buy ANY! And that's rare for me. Not my colors.
I mean yes, the Hunger Games is pretty morose... But the colors didn't have to be!!

Do I have any more Hunger Games fans out there? Did you do some Effie nails?
I'm really interested to see how they do the next two movies in the series. The books are pretty intense so I bet the movies will be too! (And I wonder if we'll get to see more crazy nails!)

More about → Effie Trinket Nails

a very special engagement

Hey everyone!
I have a short and sweet post for you tonight to show off some special nails I did today!

My dear friend Vicki got engaged on Saturday night!
She came over today so I could hear all the sweet details, and of course do some pretty nails because you know she's gonna be showing off that hand a lot this week!

I came up with the cutest idea ever and we both loved it!

Bride and Groom! Adorable, right?
And check out that rock! Her fiancé did a good job picking it out!

For the white, I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White.
The black is Essence - Black On Black.
On her other nails, I started with Nicole by OPI - Nothing Kim-pares to Blue and did a gradient on top with China Glaze - No Way Jose. 

Congratulations again to Vicki and Greg! I hope the nails last all week for all the showing off!

Well, Vicki's nails have made their first appearance here on RLN! I wonder if next year I'll be showing off wedding designs! ;)
Now everyone congratulate the happy couple!

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the sun isn't shining but my gradient is!

Here in Newfoundland, we don't get a whole bunch of sunny days. Maybe in July and August... A week or two... But it's not too hot usually.
I've gotta keep my nails sunny, even if the sky isn't!

Woohoo! Summery gradient!
Me and some friends all decided to do gradients on this lovely Friday, and here's what I came up with.

My color combo was inspired by one of my "nail crushes" - Ivana Thinks Pink. There's nothing she does that I don't like! Seriously. Ivana, quit being so awesome!
She did this mani using China Glaze Peachy Keen and Orly Fancy Fuchsia. Hot damn, I need Fancy Fuchsia. Why don't I have it?! Jeez. I NEED IT! Her nails were glowing. Amazing.

I used the same peach - China Glaze Peachy Keen.
I tried to substitute Zoya Lo for the pink but it just doesn't look quite so hot.
It's still pretty though!
But one day I will redo the mani... Whenever I find myself Fancy Freakin' Fuchsia.

To do this gradient, I tried the new gradient tutorial that is sweeping the blog world, from The Nailasaurus.
But, I couldn't get that to work... At all. It just was not showing up with these colors.
So I went in and did it the way I'm used to, which you can see in my older tutorial here.
But I still wanted the flawless blended look you can get from the newer way, so I ended up doing that on TOP of the gradient that I did my way. And that turned out magical! It blended the colors seamlessly.

After that, I stamped the floral pattern from Konad plate m65. It's almost like a Hawaiian shirt! Haha, I love it.

I'm was going to submit this in Kayla Shevonne's Nail Art Contest but then I realized you can't stamp for her contest. Damn!
If you haven't checked out her contest already, hurry! There's just less than 12 hours left to enter.

I hope you guys enjoy this mani! I'm going to be doing lots of gradients again because I just love them and it's been too long since I've done them! I think I might even do another one later today. Woohoo!

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Cover Band - Sticks 'n Stones

Sticks 'n Stones may break my bones... But black and white glitter excites me.

Cover Band - Sticks 'n Stones
You. Need. This. Plain and simple.

If you're "in the know" in the polish world, you'll know that this polish is meant to be similar to Lynnderella's Connect The Dots, to give people a way to get this look without a) having to pay the Lynnderella price and b) having to deal with Lynnderella's drama.

Duping polishes within the indie polish community is really a drama-filled topic so I won't say much about it other than "the more the merrier" and "it's just nail polish."

I've actually got a bottle of Connect The Dots on the way to me right now. I committed to buying one but then assumed I would never actually get it once Lynnderella shut down her blog and all that.
I then bought Sticks 'n Stones to get my fix.
...And got invoiced for the Lynn the next day.
So that was annoying, but I bought it anyway. And now after comparing this one to swatches of the Lynn, I like this one better! Maybe I'll swap the Lynn when it comes.

Anyway, after all that rambling, onto the rest of this post.

I started this manicure with probably the stupidest combination of colors. Stupid because they are so hard to photograph.

This is a mixture of four Color Club polishes.
I started with a base of Peppermint Twist and let that dry.
I then added a quick coat of Peace Out Purple, and swiftly used a tissue to blot most of it off.
I did the same thing two more times with Mrs. Robinson and then Disco Dress.

That's what your tissue will look like when you're done! I really like this technique, it gives a cool blend of colors.
And if you don't add topcoat, it leaves a cool texture too! (But I can never go without topcoat.)

None of those photos accurately show the colors, though.
Only one photo I took (out of like 100) shows the colors right.
And it was taken with my iPhone. Go figure.

Super bright, super fuchsia, and super awesome with Sticks 'n Stones on top!

Here's a bottle shot:

Sticks 'n Stones, as you can see, is a glitter polish that is packed with white and black glitter in all different shapes and sizes.  There's also a tiny bit of iridescent glitter floatin' around in there.

I'm still wearing this mani as I write this post, and it is still distracting me. I keep stopping what I'm doing to look at my nails.
I realized just how many times I was being distracted when I was in the shower, washing my hair, and I stopped to look at my nails. Really.

...I just did it again.

The mix-y base color combined with the different shapes of black and white glitter is just so eye-catching and fun to look at. It almost looks like a splatter effect, but without the mess of actually doing a splatter!

The one issue I had with the polish is that sometimes the bar glitters will not lie flat. I had to pick off three pieces with tweezers because I couldn't stand feeling the edge of them sticking up.
But that's a pretty minor (and obsessive compulsive) problem.

For some reason I decided to do one accent nail on my right hand, and I'm going to show it to you, but be warned that I am awful at taking pictures of my right hand! And vacation was not kind to my right hand, so the nails are looking a little sad.

My accent nail is China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise. I adore this color but it is another pain in the butt to photograph. Having one accent nail is pretty random but I dig it.

As I said earlier, you need Sticks 'n Stones because it is fantastic.
You can buy it from the website Ninja Polish which I am proud to say is ran by two of my friends!
Sticks 'n Stones is currently sold out, but there is a nice feature on the site that will email you when it is back in stock!

Have a lovely day, everyone!

More about → Cover Band - Sticks 'n Stones

NYX Acid Pink with Sponging

You guys! It's been so long since I have blogged! Moving is such a drawn out process! I am happy to say that we are slowly getting back on track enough for me to get back on a regular posting schedule. :)

This post is simple, but I figured that was the best way to find my blogging groove again. I recently made a Cherry Culture haul that you will be seeing more of in the future. 

Today I am showing you NYX Advanced Salon Formula in Acid Pink. I really like this line of polish. There are some unique shades as well as more simple colors that all have a great formula. Acid Pink is a super bright hot pink with some bluish shimmer. Dustin sponged white at the tips and I layered Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter over the top to make the look cohesive.

I really liked this look. It was a fun twist on a french mani that was more "me". 

Thanks for sticking with me through my short hiatus! :)

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tons of tape manis

[This post worries me a little - I won't have access to a computer on the day that this one is scheduled to post so if anything is wonky, I won't be able to fix it! I'm sorry in advance if there are any issues... Haha!]

Do you recall last week when me and all my best buds did water marble manis on the same day? Well this week, we decided to do tape manis!

I'm super proud of mine so I've got a ton of pictures of it for your viewing pleasure.

Tada! This mani took a lot of patience but I think the result is totally worth it!

To create these tiny, perfect stripes, I used striping tape!

You can get like 12 rolls of striping tape on eBay for less than 2 dollars.

There are two ways to use striping tape - you can actually use the tape itself in the mani, creating lines.

Or you can use the tape for relief patterns like this one, where you lay down the tape, paint over it, and remove it to reveal the pattern.

This is how my nails looked before I did the striping. I loved it like this too!
To create this look, I used the new plastic-wrap-sponging I'm seeing around but I used a tissue instead of saran wrap (because I was too lazy to go find some!)
Basically, what you do is paint your nails in one color and let it dry completely. I used Color Club Twiggie.
Then, you paint over it with your second color and quickly dab some of it off with plastic wrap or a tissue that you've rolled into a ball or just scrunched up in your hand. I used Color Club Warhol.
It will remove random sections of the top polish, revealing the base color! You dab around a few times until you're happy with the result.

Here's the various stages of this mani. Do you like how my striping tape matches the OPI cosmetic bag in the background of this photo? Haha!

Placing all the striping tape was time consuming but I just love the small stripes!

(The one larger stripe on my index finger totally hurts my OCD though. Heh.)

I used Color Club Where's The Soiree for the black layer.

I'm so stinkin' happy with how this turned out, and I can't wait to try more striping tape manis!

More about → tons of tape manis

Galaxy Tutorial

Here is how I created the background to the Marvin the Martian nails. I largely followed CutePolish from YouTube's tutorial here.

Start with black nail polish. This is Sinful Colors Black on Black.

Lightly sponge on some white in random shapes & directions. Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Sponge some yellow to the centers. Barielle Lemondrops.

Sponge on some pink around the edges. China Glaze Dance Baby mixed with a little bit of Orly Terra Mauve.

Sponge some dark blue polish around the edges to fade it into the black. Barielle Berry Blue.

Add some tiny white dots of polish either with a toothpick or paintbrush.

Add a coat of tiny glitter polish. China Glaze Fairy Dust. Seal with topcoat!

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Pastel Sponging with Stamping

Hi guys! Today's my birthday AND Dustin's last day of class before finishing school...so it's a good day!

This isn't what I am wearing for my birthday, I will probably post that tomorrow. I saw an easy way to do this look on Pinterest instead of trying to make a perfect gradient by hand. I started with a white base. Just paint the sponge directly with all the colors and dab it once on some paper and then the nail and it's done! Maybe you already knew about that. haha

This is Sinful Colors Unicorn, Beautiful Girl, and Sweet Dreams.

To add a little something, Dustin did stamping that was fun and springy!

Love it! Have a great day! :)

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Silver Gradient

I've been in a glitter mood lately.... So here is another look. I wore 2 coats of Barielle Expressive, and then did a sponged glitter gradient with OPI Crown Me Already. I just used a clean eyeshadow sponge applicator and applied the glitter heavier at the tips and lightly towards the cuticle.

Have a great day!

More about → Silver Gradient

31 Day Challenge - Day 10 - Gradient

I chose to go with an "under the sea" gradient. So again, The Little Mermaid comes up. It was a favored movie of mine as a child.



I started with this gradient. I used a clean sponge eyeshadow applicator to apply each color.

China Glaze For Audrey

Sally Hansen Insta Dri Blue Away

China Glaze Bahamian Escape

OPI Dating A Royal

Once that had dried, I applied a thin layer of Foil Glue (bought from Dollar Nail Art) and let that dry. Then I applied the foil "Opal Glitter" also from Dollar Nail Art. I think it's perfect to add the effect of shimmery bubbles under the water. :)

 Then I painted the characters on 3 nails.

Flounder

Sebastian

And Ariel

Polka Dots is next!

More about → 31 Day Challenge - Day 10 - Gradient