Another Spring Mani!

Another spring mani that I did not too long ago!  

Started with some nice spring colours; OPI My Boyfriend Scales Wall, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Wet My Thistle and OPI Another Ramen-tic Evening; all two coats, no top coat.

Topped a few fingers with FingerPaints Shower With Flowers, then added a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top on all nails.

Macro of FingerPaints Shower With Flowers.  Even bar glitter which generally I'm not a fan of!  I haven't worn glitter in quite some time; I had used a peel off base to remove some glitter in the past and while I can't say for sure, I think scraping it off damaged my nails so I've been very hesitant using it again so have shied away from glitter.  Even when I used it here, I did the long soak method.  

I had made stamper decals using image from SugarBubbles SB039 and a few OPI's; applied them after applying sticky base and waited a bit for it to dry to the touch.  Unfortunately, my base polish wasn't 100% dried on the middle and I really messed up the middle finger decal.  I kinda smooshed it back in place, filled in and drew some lines and tried to salvage it as best as I could and all in all, it didn't turn out that bad.  Nothing that a coat of TC couldn't fix lol!

Top coat helped quite a bit; topped decals with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

I had planned on leaving the nails like this but they didn't seem balanced as in no black on the ones that didn't have stamper decals on them, so stamped pinky and index with image from Moyra 117 Carved in Sand and shadow stamped thumb with EYNails N1 using 15 and 2.  I also used the image shrinking method with a clear stamper head to help with placement which was the first time I had attempted this with a clear stamper head and while not perfect, the line up wasn't that bad!  But the image needed to be shrunk to fit my small nails!

Moyra 117 Carved in Sand.

Finished with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

I'm sure there's going to be a sprinkling of snow in the next few weeks but with any luck, the warmer temperatures of spring will be upon us in no time!

Have a great weekend and thanks for looking!

Fluid Nail Art Friday with St. Patrick's Day Nails!

Not too long ago, I decided I was going to finally try my hand at some fluid nail art.  I've had the Dance Legend Spot Its for a while now and thanks to my awesome US nail pal, I have all the Sinful Colors Transforming top coat polishes and the Sally Hansen Color Whirl (and even the OPI Spotted Top Coat from a couple years ago) but have never used any of them.  Nope.  That's right, haven't even used them once!  Well, after watching a few fluid art tutorials (stamping and for paint wall art), I sat down and tried out the technique!  Here's what I came up with!

I made my fluid nail art from decals on a plastic lid.  The polishes that I used were OPI Envy The Adventure, OPI Green Come True, China Glaze Gaga For Green, Sally Hansen CSM Slime Scene and Savvy Knightly Armour.  Again, I had watched a few tutorials and especially when viewing Kyong Lee's on YouTube (you can google link), it seemed like you can use quite a bit of polish to make some of the nail decals, so I didn't want to use anything overly HTF or even an indie which might be a little bit more pricier to buy.  Fluid art might be a good way to use up some of the cremes that I have that haven't seen the light of day!  I added the Savvy just because I like the look of a little sparkle in my decals for interest.  For the fluid, I found I had the best results with Dance Legend Spot it; I didn't have very good results with the Sally Hansen Color Whirl.  I didn't try any others as I felt I had enough decals for my nails with what I already had experimented with.  That being said, I did formulate my own 'spotted' mix after watching some paint tutorials as I don't necessarily want black cells, or white, or whatever cell colours I have from Sinful and Dance Legend, I might want to create my own cells!  I've already tried the method (not too successfully I might add, the Dance Legend polishes seem to work the best so far of any I have used) but will share the decals I made at some time!

After applying a base of sticky base to my nails, I cut the decals to somewhat fit my nail, then trimmed and used acetone and brush to remove any excess.   I tried to pick parts of the decal that had the most interest to me, keeping in mind that I still needed a cohesive mani that somewhat matched on all nails.

The leftovers lol.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top for shine and to help adhere the decals.

With the base being green, I knew I wanted to do St. Patrick's Day nails but didn't want to cover up too much of the base because that's the highlight especially after working so hard to make them!  So stamped most nails with image from BM03 on all except accent, which is MoYou Festive 21 using MdU 1.

Topped with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I initially thought that I'd only wear these for a day or so but I liked how they turned out so much that I think I wore them for 3 or 4 days!  I only removed them because they started to lift but I did enjoy them on my nails while they were on!  Overall, I like the method, I think it makes for an interesting base and hope to do these more often!

Have a great weekend and thanks for looking!

Snowflakies!

We had a bit more snow last night so how about another snowflake mani?  Unfortunately, my pictures (and poor cuticles!) don't do this mani justice as it was pretty cool when I was wearing them!  Here's what I came up with!

Matte! Like this version too!

Started with a base of two coats of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Beatnik, no top coat.

Topped with one coat of Illyrian Magika from December 2018 PPU.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped with an image from Sugar Bubbles SBS 013 using MdU 1.  (Please excuse the hair and bad cleanup!)

Sugar Bubbles SBS 013.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I thought a coat of matte top coat would enhance the flakies so added a coat of My Indie Polish My Perfect Matte.

Thanks for looking

Season's Greetings

Merry Christmas!!!  Hopefully you're having a joyous day with family or friends this Christmas Day!  Regardless of what you do, enjoy the company of whomever you are spending it with and safe travels if you have places to go!  

These the my favourite nails from all I have done during the holiday season!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of OPI Onyx with an accent of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Can't Beet Royalty.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using image from Powder Perfect-Christmas 1 using MdU 106 for stars, then stamped using  an image plate using MdU 48 for trees.

Powder Perfect-Christmas 1.

Added words from same Powder Perfect Christmas 1 on accent using MdU 1.  Then added random snowflakes from Infinity 75 individually.  Yes, that is 27 times.  

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Added snow using KBShimmer White Here, White Now which finished the mani.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Nail Polish Canada Holiday 2018 Nail Art Contest

Nail Polish Canada is again hosting a Holiday Nail Art Contest!  Here's my entry!  Please go here to vote for me your favourite nail art mani!  You can also use this link to enter your own nail art mani for the contest!  On behalf of all the contestants, thanks for voting!

Started with a base of Zoya Shawn, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Can't Beet Royalty, OPI Onyx.

Topped some nails with Polished For Days Seraphine.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

I had made a stamper decal using an image from Marianne Nails n.118; applied it to thumb.

Stamped using Lina 4 Seasons-Winter 02 (pinky and index), UberChic UC Christmas 02 (middle) and Powder Perfect Christmas 1 (doubled stamped on ring).  Dotted holly berries.  Used Mdu 1, 9, 48 and 106. Added China Glaze There's Snow One Like You on ring finger tip.

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Added words on thumb from Powder Perfect Christmas 1 using MdU 1, then various dots using MdU 1 and 106.  Individually stamped snowflakes on ring finger and thumb with images from Infinity Nails 75 using MdU 1.



Finished with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Ok.  I was a bit obsessed with my thumb image!  I love how it turned out!

I also thought that this would look kinda vintage like if matte top coat was added (plus bring out the flakies from the Polished for Days), so added a coat of My Indie Polish My Perfect Matte.  I can't decide if I like it best matte or glossy??!!??

Again, here's the link for the Nail Polish Canada 2018 Nail Art Contest; please make sure you vote for your favourite mani!

Thanks for looking....and for casting your vote!  Thank you as well to Nail Polish Canada for hosting the contest!  Good luck to all!

Gray Skies Call for Gray Nails!

We are having another overcast day here in the GTA.  But what else is new.  I heard on the news today that November 2018 had the most overcast days in a November ever. I'm not sure how accurate that is but it seems we haven't seen the sun very much.  Anyway, I thought the gray skies would be a good day to share these gray nails!  While I really liked how these turned out, there's nothing that wrecks a mani more than smeared stamping.  Grrrrr!  But it is what it is and by no means was the minimal smear obvious in real life, it just ticked me off!  Oh well.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Zoya Kristin, no topcoat.

Did a sponged gradient using Zoya Kristen, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Retro Grape and OPI Black Onyx.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using an image from Dashica Big SdP A using FunkyFingers Gesso.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  Now for those who check out my posts regularly, I use KBShimmer Clearly on Top most of the time and rarely have issue with it.  I know I had left time to allow the stamping polish to dry and when I thought about this, checked my supplies, etc. I determined that my bottle of KB topcoat was on the low side and I hadn't loaded it with top coat enough to float over the nails but rather spread what I had, causing brush drag.  I rarely have smear with KB tc and have used it for a long time with no issue.  I started a fresh bottle right after this and put this one away to top other others later and haven't had issue yet.  So user issue.  It happens.  But this just goes to show you when people say what is the best top coat that doesn't smear...is that it's not necessarily the top coat that causes the issue but user issue like I had here.  I should have known better but thought I was tilting the bottle to fill the brush well enough but it's apparent that I wasn't lol.  Some brands that people call their holy grail go to products have smeared for me.  There's a lot of factors that need to be considered and just trial and error what works for you!

Thanks for looking!