Golden Roses

Hi Lovelies!

Believe it or not, but my nails have been nakie since the last time I managed to write a post a couple of weeks ago. I know, I know, it is my never ending sob story which I'm sure you're all sick of by now. I just have no clue where the time goes as usual. To compensate for lack of anything new, I do have a manicure out of the archives to show you. This was a mani that I wore last Fall and absolutely loved. I hope you'll enjoy it as well...

Slay Grey!

Hi Lovelies!

Happy Friday to all of you! Today I would like to share with you the manicure that I have been wearing for the past week. It features a lacquer from the Sinful Shine King Kylie collection. I came across a display for the collection a few weeks ago and this gray beauty really caught my eye. Although my initial thought was that it is likely a relabel of their wildly popular 2014 shade Prosecco, I knew I had to take it home and compare. Figuring that in the worst case, I'd have a backup of a shade I love, but instead I was pleasantly surprised that they are indeed different. They do, however, both have the gorgeous golden iridescent shimmer which drew me to them...

Nail Art Tutorial: Sparkly Vampire Tips

Hi Lovelies! This manicure probably didn't need a tutorial because I consider it pretty straight forward to begin with, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Would you like to see more tutorials? Less tutorials? Only for complicated techniques? I don't want to spam you with tutorials, but at the same time I'm having fun making them at the moment! :)

The tutorial goes along with a manicure that I posted yesterday inspired by the InDecisive Lacquer polish and name Sparkly Vampire. I keep thinking a vampire would love a mani like this! Or maybe it is just because the tips remind me of fangs! Who knows, but I really enjoyed wearing this and I hope you enjoy this tutorial...

Supplies used:

• Polishes: InDecisive Lacquer Sparkly Vampire, SinfulColors Black on Black
• Red hex glitter (mine is from the Born Pretty Store, part of a set. Item #3103)

Steps:

Instructions:

1. Apply desired number of coats of your red polish. Here I used 2 coats of InDecsive Lacquer Sparkly Vampire.
2. Paint a corner of the nail using black. Depending on the length of your nails and how steep you want the final point to be, start at the edge of your nail and swipe toward the center of the tip. Don't worry if the line is not perfect since you will be covering it with glitter!
• You can do this using either the polish brush or a detail brush for more control.
• Additionally try marking a dot on the side and the tip of the nail to help guide if necessary. 
3. Repeat step #2 and paint the second corner of the nail. Again don't worry about making this perfect since you will be covering it up with glitter. 
4. Apply a coat of clear polish (to adhere the glitter) and arrange the red glitter along the edge between black and red polish as shown above, to create a glitter chevron.
5. Seal with a top coat and enjoy!

Please let me know what you think of this tutorial and as always don't hesitate to ask questions!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Mint to Be...

I broke a few nails and decided to trim them all off instead of messing around with fixing corners. Right now my nails are shorter than they've been in a looooooong looooong time. I have no desire to swatch or create nail art so I'm taking a bit of a break from that. In the mean time I will be showing you manicures that have been patiently waiting for their shot in the spotlight.

Starting off today is a stamped manicure that I created after swatching the 365 Days of Color Romantique collection. The delicate mint shade called for an equally delicate floral print pattern in a color to match the beautiful golden flecks it contains..

A Transformation...

Last week I showed you a sheer little El Corazon Poly-Chrome beauty. As a rule of thumb I like to try the sheer shimmery shades over a black base and this was no exception. The beautiful brassy color that resulted did not disappoint. Accented with a bit of stamping, it was transformed from a delicate beauty last week to something much more bold today...

The Snake...

While swatching the 365 Days of Color Horcrux collection last week, I thought it would be fun to create some nail art to go with one of my favorites from the collection. I love the beautiful color of The Snake and decided that stamping a bit of snake print would be just perfect for it...

31DC2013 Day 7 - Black and White

As this post goes live, I'm heading on vacation, but have no fear, I worked my little tushy off to keep up with the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge and have scheduled posts to entertain you. The theme for challenge Day 7 is Black & White. I have been wanting to try the water spotted technique for a while now and finally got an excuse to make time...

St. Patrick's Day Manicure

Somewhere halfway through the day I decided to change my subtle St. Patricks's Day manicure to something a bit... greener. Since I didn't have much time to work on it, I opted for one that was quick and simple...

2013 Year of the Snake...

Yesterday marked the beginning of the year of the Snake according to the Chinese calendar. This year the snake's element is water and it's color is black. I wanted to feature both of these characteristics in my manicure. For the water element I used water decals as accents and the snake itself of course had to be black...

I wish everyone a wonderful and prosperous Year of the Snake!

Sunday Stamping: Light Stamp Over Dark

Today's Sunday Stamping theme of light stamp over a dark base gave me the perfect excuse to create a manicure I've been wanting to do for a while. When I first saw this stamping pattern, I couldn't help but get the feeling of deja vu. At the time I couldn't figure out what it was all about and it wasn't until weeks later when I finally realized what it was. The trash can that stands under my desk has this exact pattern on it. Really, I mean this exact pattern. It would be a crime not to replicate it on my nails...

Feather Skittlette

You may have heard of the Skittlette contest hosted by Marta on ChitChatNails. Skittlette is a term that Marta has come up with to refer to her unique manicure style. Unlike the typical skittle manicure where each nail is different, a skittlette by Marta's definition is "a manicure consisting of two, or three, different accent nails on each hand". I like to think of it as two to three nails are the same and the rest are different.

I was really excited to challenge myself to create this style and I honestly love how it turned out. Of course I waited until the very last minute to enter since I wanted my nails to grow out as much as possible after the break. Take a look at what I created and you can see more incredible skittlette contest entries on ChitChatNails...

Nail-aween Challenge Day 10: Halloween Manicure

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Today is the final day of the Nail-aween challege and gives the freedom to create any Halloween themed manicure. I want to show you a manicure that I actually created with the Bundle Monster contest in mind. The contest was held earlier this moth and is now over. Even though I made the manicure in time to enter, I changed my mind at the last minute and didn't actually submit it. I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to show it to you and there can't be any better day than Halloween itself!...

Sunday Stamping: Leafy

I'm a little bit late with this weeks Sunday Stamping challenge, but better late than never. This week the theme of the manicure is "leafy". For a split second I was tempted to create a fall color leaf manicure, but I might still be in denial that fall is really coming so I chose to go with pretty greens. This continues my unintentional streak of green manicures for the last three Sunday challenges...

Tutorial Tuesday: Olympic Rings Nail Decal

I have been glued to the TV every chance I get watching the Olympic Games, especially the swimming and gymnastics. It is incredible to see the athletes perform. I have also been so impressed with some of the manicures sported by the ladies. My own Olympic inspired nails featured a little Olympic rings decal on one of the nails. I thought I would put together a tutorial on how I made it. Hope you enjoy...

Supplies:

• Base color polish (I'm using Cosmetic Arts gold foil (no name))
• Clear polish
• Olympic ring corresponding colors: 
• Blue (Barielle Surf's Up), Black (Wet 'n Wild Black Creme), Red (China Glaze Adventure Red-y), Yellow (Barielle Sunshine), Green (Sinful Colors Envy)
• Ziplock bag or sheet protector
• Ballpoint pen refill (ink cartridge)
• Tweezers, Cuticle nippers

Steps:

Instructions:

1. Using clear polish paint a small rectangle on the plastic bag. Allow it to dry completely for a few hours.
2. Make a small puddle of nail polish on a disposable surface. Dip the end of the pen refill into the polish.
3. Press the pen refill onto the clear nail polish square to create a circle
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to create the first row of circles
5. Repeat the steps again to create the second row. Go back over the first row with any colors you might wish to overlap.
6. Allow the polish to dry then using tweezers peel the decal off the plastic
7. Apply desired number of basecoats of polish. Allow the polish to dry until it is sticky (not fully dry)
8. Place the decal in desired position on the nail
9. Using cuticle nippers, trim off the excess polish along the cuticles. Alternatively you can trim off excess clear polish prior to applying the decal to the nail
10. Apply top coat and you are done!

I'd love to know what you think of this and don't hesitate to ask questions if something is not clear :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Fashion Friday: Louboutin Python Inspired

Hi everyone! It has been quite a while since I've created a fashion inspired manicure so with my nails about the maximum length I wish them to be, it was time for Louboutin nails. I have done the "classic" black Louboutin before, so I wanted to try something new. For those that don't know, a Louboutin manicure is one where the underside of the nail is painted red to mimic the soles of the shoes...

Comparison: Sinful Colors Zeus vs Barielle Slate of Affairs

I just wanted to show you a quick comparison of Sinful Colors Zeus and Barielle Slate of Affairs*. I have yet to do a full swatch or manicure with Zeus, however you can see a full swatch of Slate of Affairs in yesterday's post here.

The two of them have a very similar base color, but what makes them different is the shimmer. You can see it right away by looking at the bottles...

Layering Experiment: Sally Hansen Resolution with Sinful Colors Cinderella

Often when I am trying to find the right color for a manicure, I layer potential candidates over an existing manicure just to see the color. It is not often that I find a combination that I choose to wear as a full manicure. Such was the case when I was trying to find a color to match my dress last week. I ended up using a different green for my emerald manicure, but thought I would show you this pretty combo today.

Sunday Stamping with Glitter for Father's Day

I'm pretty sure there are not too many (any?) fathers regularly reading this blog, but since it is Father's Day in the US, I would like to say Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dad's out there!

In addition to being Father's Day, it is also Sunday Stamping in Adventures in Stamping with the challenge today being a stamped manicure with glitter. I wanted to create something that both fit the challenge as well as Father's Day. Picking out the glitter polish took more thought than usual since we all know that most dads love anything nothing with glitter...

Black and White Challenge Day 10 - Manicure of Choice

Time really has flown by fast and today is the last day of the Black and White Challenge. I have had a lot of fun with this challenge and wanted to do something special for the last day, which happens to be a manicure of choice with black and white. The design is not my original design, I stumbled across it in an old Nail Max magazine. I have been wanting to try it for a while and since it contains black and white, I thought it was perfect for the last day of the challenge.

Black and White Challenge Day 9 - Water Marble

Day nine of the Black and White Challenge proved to be the most difficult yet. Difficult isn't even the right word, it really kicked my butt. Water marble is always a huge challenge for me and even though the results can be amazing the process of getting there sometimes doesn't seem worth it. I know you think I'm talking about the mess and the clean up, but no I'm talking about getting the colors to spread correctly and not bunch up when I try to marble. I just keep telling myself that practice makes perfect (and maybe someday I'll believe it). For now I'm just glad I didn't give up since I love how this manicure turned out.