Leopard Gradient

In the last week I've done mixed animals, zebra, and now it's time for a solo leopard!  While I was wearing my bright zebra manicure I kept looking at my nails wishing I'd done a hot pink and orange combination.  Then I thought I'd add a touch of yellow and maybe stamp something on top.  And thus today's manicure was created!

I painted my nails a base white color using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, then used two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow as my bottom color.  Next I sponged Zoya Jancyn on to the middle and then Zoya Areej on the tip.  I used M.A.S.H. plate m57 for the leopard stamp and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White as the polish.

This is another instance of "it sounded great in my head but not on my nails."  These types of manicures are always the most disappointing for me.  I'm going to have to try my pink and orange combination again sometime.

Bright Zebra

I guess I'm on an animal print kick these days!  Today I have a bright manicure I created last week.  I was feeling down in the dumps for no particular reason and didn't know what to paint on my nails. My natural instinct was pushing for neutrals and solid, dark colors...so I went with bright warm colors.

I painted my nails a base color of Zoya Jancyn then sponged Zoya Sooki on top.  I used four coats of Zoya Jancyn to get a fully opaque base.  What I should have done was use a white base before Jancyn so I wouldn't need so many coats!  Next I used a makeup sponge for sponging Zoya Sooki on top and then used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White to stamp the zebra image from M.A.S.H. plate m57 on top.  The end result was very fun and bright.

Week 6: Half-Moon Manicure

The challenge for week six of the 52 Week Challenge was to create a half-moon manicure.  I've done a couple of half-moon designs before but this time I wanted to spice it up.  I originally saw this style of half-moon from Colores de Carol and thought it would be perfect for me to try.  Then I ran across this funky design from the Daily Nail and fell in love.  You see, I'd stopped stamping because I was bored of using just black, white, and silver.  I want to start doing more stamping but with colors!  Lots and lots of colors!

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Choco-Latte as the base, then I stamped plate m57 on top using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Out.  I mixed a drop of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White with two drops of Sinful Colors Nirvana to make the light brown spots.  This I topped with a light coat of Out the Door.  Next up came the hole reinforcement tape and four coats of Zoya America.  My word, I didn't realize how much the spots would still show through with that many coats of America.  And you can still seem them (from the distance the photos were taken, not from normal viewing distance).  A final topping of Seche Vite and everything was beautiful!  This was much more involved than my previous half-moon designs but a good way for me to unwind after a very stressful week.

Speaking of stress...you think you have gotten rid of a terrible habit and then eight hours of testing later you discover that no, that habit is still there.  Le sigh.  I've got short nails now but I'm hoping they'll grow fast.

Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:

LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom  • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's  • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog

Day 13: ANIMAL PRINT

I love how this manicure for Day 13 of the 31 Day Challenge turned out.  I'm not an animal print person.  I have no clothes or accessories that have animal prints on them.  I've just never felt like it's me.  But this?  This I love and I feel it is super cute.  

It's Zoya Marley for the base, then M.A.S.H. plate m57 stamped on top with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Black Out.  To add some spice I added a few dots of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Pink I Can to the center of a few of the spots.  This is much more intense than the last spotted manicure I did and I think it turned out a lot better.

Wild for You Pt. 2

This is a scheduled post because I'm in China!

In keeping with the nail polish theme of the week, as determined by the Polish-aholics Anonymous group on Facebook, and since today is Wednesday, and On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, this is a pink zebra manicure.  My cuticles look especially horrible in these photos.  I spent the day cleaning before I painted my nails and they're terribly dried out.  :(

I used Sally Hanson Complete Salon Manicure I Pink I Can as the base with Konad Special Polish in White stamped on top using M.A.S.H. plate m57.

Wild for You Pt. 1

This is a scheduled post because I'm in China!

The nail polish theme of the week, as determined by the Polish-aholics Anonymous group on Facebook, is Animal Print/Animals.  Not normally my thing but that's the reason I joined this group - to try nail polish designs outside of my comfort zone.  This manicure did just that and helped me to get better at stamping.

These pictures are of my right hand because it wasn't until the time I'd done 4/5ths of my left hand I had stamping with this pattern and color under control.  I started with Bundle Monster plate BM-221 but the leopard image wasn't transferring well to the stamp.  I switched to M.A.S.H. plate m57 with much better results.  Now the image that was transferring to the stamp and my nail was showing up clearly but there was a lot of nail polish on the stamp itself.  This caused several of the spots to become closed circles and smudge when I rolled the stamp across my nail.  If I gently rolled (little pressure) the stamp across the design and my nail it was able to transfer beautifully.  Too much pressure and it was smudged and dark and ugly.

I'm guessing this is a function of the engraved plate and of the Konad Special Polish in Black that I was using. I usually stamp with white, black is just too dark for me plus it's a pain to clean up!

The bad hand - my spots all smudged.

Successful Fauxnaud - I have spots!

The base color is Zoya Crystal with Konad Special Polish in Black stamped on top using M.A.S.H. plate m57.