Tutorial: Cheerleader

I decided to try my hand at making tutorials on this blog, as this is something I really enjoy and hopefully you will find useful. I would love to know what you think about it.

This is a tutorial for the cheerleader nails I was sporting yesterday...

	Supplies: To do this manicure you will need: - Two contrasting colors, one for the base, one for the tip - Scotch tape (I usually prefer transparent tape, but thought the matte magic tape would be more visible for this. However, the magic tape tends to rip, so I wouldn't not recommend it, if you will be trying this...) - Striping tape of any color - Scissors to cut the tape - Tweezers to handle the striping tape - Qtip or brush w/acetone (not pictured) for cleanup
	Starting out: - Start out by applying 2-3 coats of base color and letting it fully dry
	Step 1: - Cut the tape to make a 90 degree angle - Place the tape on your nail so that the corner is in the center and facing the tip
	Step 2: - Add striping tape on the tip above the Scotch tape
	Step 3: - Apply a coat of the contrasting color to the tip
	Step 4: - Quickly, but carefully remove both the Scotch and striping tape while the polish is still wet
	Step 5: - With an acetone (or nail polish remover) soaked Qtip or brush, clean up around the nail
	All Done! - Apply a topcoat and you are done!

Hopefully you found this useful. Let me know what you think...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Go team, Go!

I know, really cheesy post title, but it fit my nails. The final manicure reminds me of cheerleader uniforms... Kind of fun :)

I started out with a gorgeous deep navy blue, the only survivor of the Blush set of mini polishes. For the tips I added Wet n Wild French White Cream.

Also, I decided to try my hand at making tutorials, so I'll be making one for this manicure hopefully tomorrow. Look for it if you are interested in recreating this look...

UPDATE: Tutorial for this manicure available here!

The Blush polish itself, applied beautifully in two coats. This is with a topcoat...

Outside in the sunshine...

Shade...

Brand: Blush Collection: Graffiti Color Name/Number: ???

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Practicing my dots...

This manicure was inspired by a set of stickers I bought with my last ebay haul. The stickers didn't work out at all (read below for details), but they gave me a fun idea and here is what I ended up with...

UPDATE: Tutorial for this manicure available here!

Outside, overcast...

For this manicure, I started out with two coats of Zoya Grace and added a white tip with Wet n Wild French White Cream. The petal dots were made using Wet n Wild Black Cream and the center dot using Sally Hansen Celeb City...

And here are the stickers that started it all... When looking at the auction item before purchasing, I thought the stickers were just the black flowers and the white was a placing suggestion. Turns out it isn't, the white is part of the sticker as well, which is where my problems began... 1st, the largest sticker isn't wide enough for my thumb... 2nd, the stickers that were wide enough for my other nails were also too deep (about 1.5x my amount of free edge) and I don't want my nails any longer than they are now... 3rd, with the size selection available I would need 2 sets to do a full mani... so needless to say, these really didn't work for me...

They did give me an idea though as I looked at them closely. The flowers were made up of black dots with a silver dot center. Something I could definitely do with a dotting tool. Plus, I could place flowers wherever I wanted, not just on the tip, so I did... and I liked the result more than the stickers :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Nail Mail x2!!

I love coming home after a long day at work and finding presents in my mail box. Tonight I got two of them and I am so excited I just had to share!

I was somehow lucky enough to win two more giveaway. From Blingernails, who had her 100 follower giveaway, I won Spectra Flair pigment. I'm so excited about this one and cannot wait to try it in my frankens! Then from Never Enough Nails I won two China Glaze Crackles (Oxidized Aqua and Tarnished Gold). These colors are gorgeous! I can't even decide which one I want to try first!

I want to say a huge thank you to Blingernails and Never Enough Nails for their generous giveaways!
If you have not seen their blogs yet, make sure you check them both out!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Cosmetic Arts Sky Blue stamped...

This adorable little lizard from my new stamping plates wanted to be the first one stamped and I was more than happy to fulfill the request. He did however try to escape my finger and got dangerously close to the edge. I managed to snap a few photos before he ran off... :)

Tips and stamping using Wet and Wild Black Creme over Cosmetic Arts Sky Blue...

It all seemed kind of flat so I topped it off with Pure Ice Oh Baby! for a gorgeous blue/green/purple microglitter shimmer...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Cosmetic Arts Sky Blue?

I'm not entirely positive of the name of this color as it has no name or number stickers on it. Looking at the bottle photos on the manufacturer's website, I think it is Sky Blue from their Spring collection. Even though I'm not certain of the name, I am certain that I like it. It is a cross between baby blue and gray. The formula is a little on the thin side, but built up very well. This is three coats plus a top coat...

Outside in the beautiful sunshine...

In the shade, more of the gray aspects of the color come out...

If you can confirm/deny the name of this color I would greatly appreciate it :)

Brand: Cosmetic Arts Collection: Spring Color Name/Number: Sky Blue (not 100% sure)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Ebay Hauls...

I may have been having a little too much fun on ebay recently. Nothing too extravagant, but I'm enjoying most if it so far...

- Grace L&Y Acetone pump ($1.99 from lillyyangstore) - love this thing, makes dispensing acetone so much easier in addition to preventing spills. Since I tend to be accident prone and have already spilled acetone (on me, my keyboard and my computer) this really helps. It also has a nice cap locking feature which prevents it from dispensing at all.
- 3 brushes ($1.99 from lillyyangstore) - #0, #00, #000. I am very impressed with these, cannot wait to try them
- Cuticle pen ($0.99 from lillyyangstore) - The packaging for this says OPI, but it most certainly is not... The name OPI is even blurred out on the auction item photos which I did not notice at the time and just thought I was ordering a generic cuticle pen, not an OPI knockoff. However, it smells great and feels nice on my hand so no complaints here.

And... just for fun and giggles, here is what the box says vs what the pen says (spelling mistakes courtesy of the pen, not me for once... :D)
Box: "This unique natural revitalizing complex blend of peach extract, mango extract, calcium, safflower oil and vitamins to nourish moisturize and protect cuticles and nails"
Pen: "This noturol revitolizing comtiex blend of Peacn extract, mango extract,peach mango and vitaminstonourish,moisturizocuticie oil pen and protect the cuticles andnails"
Box: "Brush on your cuticle lightly and massage gently 3-4 times a week"
Pen: "Apply one drop to eachcuticle and massage genfly,3-4 times per wek"
So maybe the box is authentic? ;)

- Glass nail file ($1.50 from bestelectronic-store... yup, that's right, electronic) - Cute Gemini design because I'm a June baby, but lots of others to choose from - it is much smoother and finer than my Sephora glass nail file that I have been using.
- 20 Nail Stamping Plates ($9.98 from keyhere) - I didn't have high expectations for the price, but there are quite a few nice designs here and I will be testing them out soon. Plates: M07, M08, M09, M50, M55, M56, M59, M62, M63, M64, M66, M69, M72, M75, M77, M81, M83, M84, M88, and M91

Here is a close up of the plates. Click on the image to zoom in for details.
You can see a lot of the designs are not even centered on the plate, but as long as they work, that's all that matters to me...

The back of one plate was etched with a splatter pattern... I'm assuming acid spill, but I may have gotten an extra stamping pattern ;)

More goodies:

- Avon Wicked Malice polish ($1.75) - gorgeous deep red!
- Nail Stamper/Scraper ($2.99 from 99hk) - Not impressed with this one. The surface of both ends of the scraper were wavy and not smooth. I had to file them down to get an even surface. The green end now works fairly well, but the pink end is way too soft and doesn't transfer the pattern at all
- Liner brushes ($0.99 from circle607) - nothing impressive, very plain, but I don't care as long as they work well
- Stickers ($0.01 - 0.05 from various sellers) - some big spending on these here ;)... I got a few of them for a penny which really freaked my credit card company out seeing those charges one after another...

Also got some striping tape ($2.09 for all 10 from bijouterie-de-amelie). Each came individually wrapped.

Lots of fun colors to choose from...

See, told you I had some fun on Ebay and managed to keep my wallet is still intact. I got everything in this post for about $25 total :D

Did you have any fun finds on ebay recently?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)