Prettyfulz

Striped Candy Shop Nail Art Design!!

2012-03-08T18:30:00.000-05:00

After I did this nail design it reminded me of a candy shop, hence the name of the post lol. I started off by painting my nails pink then adding white stripes after the polish dried. I have been getting semi-sorta lazy about doing Konadicures only because I have to wait so long for the polish to dry before I could start stamping. Since I have had less time to do my nails lately, I decided I could try some non-stamping nail art. Although, I do have some Spring nail art designs swirling around my head right now that will require me to break out my stamping plates. lol I let someone borrow the pink polish I used for this design, and I can't remember the name of it if my life depended on it so I will have to update this post when I get it back. Here is a list of all the other products used ..

Pink Color: Sally Hansen *Will update post with polish color =/

White Color: LA Colors Art Deco Striper polish in white

Rhinestones & Pearls: All from ebay =)

That is all for now. I have 2 other nail art designs that I have pictures for, so I will be updated again soon.

Have you started your Spring nail art designs yet? If so, leave the link to your post in the comments. I would love to see them. =P

DIY Edgy Safety Pin Bracelet & Tutorial !! .. Pic Heavy

2012-03-03T18:50:00.000-05:00

I saw a bracelet like this online and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to recreate it myself. It was surprisingly simple but it does require some patience. It took a couple of hours for me to make it while taking breaks in between. I LOVE the way it turned out & this won't be the last bracelet I make like this.

If you want to make this bracelet too, here are the materials you will need.

Materials

These were a little bigger than an inch and came with 70 safety pins in a pack. I used all 70 and I could have used a couple more, so I would recommend buying 2 packs just to be on the safe side.

Each of these vial of beads cost $2.99 & I have enough beads leftover to make at least 4 more bracelets.

(I am thinking of making a very similar bracelet but with smaller safety pins with my left over beads)

I bought this a while ago so I don't remember how much it was, but it's just a thin stretchy elastic. I'm going to guess it is about 1mm thick.

Of course, you will need some scissors as well and then you will have everything you need to get started ..

Step 1

Pour some of the beads in a dish.

Step 2

Next you just want to line the pointy end of the safety pins with beads. I alternated colors and patterns to give the bracelet some more visual interest.

Step 3

Bead a bunchhhh of safety pins. =P

Step 4

Start threading the elastic through the holes on the bottom and top of the safety pins. Alternate threading them from top to bottom.

*TIP* Cut a piece of elastic a few inches longer than your wrists. It will make it easier to tie it together when you are done.

Step 5

Thread another piece of elastic through the other ends of the safety pins.

Here is a better picture to show how you how to alternate the safety pins.

Continue threading the safety pins till the bracelet is long enough to fit around your wrists. It helps if you measure your wrist with a piece of paper then cut it out and use it as a template to know when your bracelet is long enough.

Step 5

Once your bracelet is long enough to fit around your wrist tie the ends together, then tie those ends together to make the bracelet more secure. If you want extra security you can glue the knots and also the two safety pins next to the knot together.

& your done!

What do you think? Easy enough? I have a few more DIY projects I'll be doing so if you like this sort of thing, let me know in the comments and I will keep the tutorials coming. =D

Comfy Sweater Nails & More Updates!!

2012-03-01T21:07:00.000-05:00

Here is my newest nail art design. I was inspired by a sweater that I have & wanted to create nails to match my winter wardrobe. I had this idea floating around in my head back since Fall and was unpaitently waiting for Winter weather to do this design.

Gray Color: Sally Hansen "Wet Cement"

White Color: Konad Special Polish "White"

Black Color: Konad Special Polish "Pearl Black"

Image Plates Used: BM204 & BM20

A few days after I went over this mani with Essie's "Matte About You." I think I might actually like this design more with a matte finish.

About a week ago we had some light snow fall followed by freezing rain. Everything outside looked so pretty and was covered with a thin sheet of ice. As you can see in the second picture, there is ice around each individual pine needle. The ice blue glitter nails went perfectly with the weather.

Polishes Used: Deborah Lippmann "Just Dance" & Wet'n'Wild "Believe me, it's real"

So for some updates. Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I am taking block courses at college which are only 7 weeks long. Between work, 5 hour classes, and homework, I am struggling to find time to not only do my nails, but getting any spare time during the day to take pictures.

There is some good news though! I finally got a camera, but not just any camera. I finally caved in and bought a DSLR camera, a Canon Rebel T3i to be exact. I hope you noticed the quality of the pictures has upgraded from my last ones. At this time I only have the kit lenses, but I have a macro lens on my wish list which will really take my polish and nail art pictures to the next level.

I promise to start updating more! I am editing pictures now for another post I have coming up which features soft spring colors. I also have a DIY project I am dying to show you! I finished editing the pictures for the tutorial part, but I need to wait until Saturday morning to take pics of the final product. While I am at it, I am going to try to come up with a nail art design to match the bracelet, but we will see how that goes.

Christmas Nail Art 2011 * Mani & Pedi!!

2011-12-25T19:50:00.000-05:00

Merry xmas everyone!! I hope your stockings were stuffed with nail polish & you got everything you wished for! <3 I finished this mani yesterday & my boyfriend's mom let me borrow her camera so I could take pics to show you. (= At first, this design was really simple, just green and red nails, then I added the tree design from the BM plates the next day, then decided to "decorate" the tree & this is what I came up with.

Green Nails: Sinful Colors "San Francisco"

Red Nails: Orly "Candy Cane Lane"

Green Color: Sinful Colors "Call You Later"

Tree Image: BM 205

I did this pedi weeks ago but didn't have a camera to take pics with when it was fresh, but that's okay since the gems usually stay on 10x longer on my toes than my nails. I really wanted to do this design on my nails, but I over buffed then and they have been breaking left and right lol.

White Color: OPI "Happy Anniversary"

Silver Glitter: Wet'nWild "Kaleidoscope"

Gems & Sequins: Ebay.com & BornPrettyStore

Holiday Celebration // Snowflake Nail Art!!

2011-12-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

This has to be my favorite snowflake nail design I ever did! I wanted to do a holiday mani without doing the typical red, green, & gold nails. lol So I was thinking more of a bright holiday design instead and this is what I came up with! The first picture is the most color accurate of them all, but it still gives this polish no justice to how it looks in person. When I get my new camera (hopefully soon) I am going to make sure it has exceptional macro capabilities, enough to capture the smallest spec of glitter & shimmer. I just hope I can find it, and in my price range lol. But I did a few layers of different colors on my nails to make the glitter more multi-dimensional. I used some polishes that had contrasting colors of flecks to give the mani more visual interest. Although you cannot tell in the pics, the purple nails have small blue flecks of shimmer, and the blue nails have, you guessed it, small flecks of purple shimmer. To avoid any confusion here is my product list, and if you own some of these polishes you are well aware of the joy they create when using them in layers ..

Purple Nails

Petites Color Fever "Raspberry Ice" (base color) 1 coat

Sally Hansen HD "LCD" (layering color) 1 coat

Orly "Bubbly Bombshell" (main color) 2 coats

Blue Nails

Orly "Halley's Comet" .. 2 coats

Pure Ice "Busted" .. 1 thin coat

Decorations

Snowflake Image "BM 14"

Konad Special Polish "White"

All rhinestones from ebay =)

And I have some pics that I took with my phone in between times that I didn't have a digi cam on me, so excuse the quality although they aren't too bad for phone pics. lol

Here is the Xmas mani I just took off before I did my current one. I really love how the ring finger came out! I just might have to do that again for my actual Christmas nails. & as you might be able to tell, that nail was inspired by my most recent post of nail art scans, but I did it a bit differently.

And this is my mani from Thanksgiving. I know, not very Thanksgiving-y but I just reallllyyyy didn't want to wear brown nails that day. lol I was in much more of a pink mood and it matched the scarf I was wearing so it was still a *win* in my opinion. lol

On another note, I wonder if I am the only person who does this. I always want to wear nail colors at the wrong time. For example, I want to wear pink on thanksgiving. Or in the summer I want to wear black, and during the winter I want to wear bright summery colors. I want to do purple and blue nails when its a week before xmas, etc. lol Does anyone else do that too? It isn't only with nails though, I must admit. I am like that about everything. When it is summer I can't wait till its colder outside and I can get comfy in my layers of clothes, and as soon as it is winter, I can't wait to get into shorts and sandals.

Anyways, enough rambling. I have some extra late Christmas shopping to do & some more pics to edit for my next post. I hope everyone has all their shopping done and can just relax this week! I will post soon loves!!

Week 5: Nail Art Scans!! // Winter & Holiday Inspiration!!

2011-12-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

^^I did a mani inspired by the striped nails *will post soon!^^

^^I really want to recreate the tree nails for my xmas mani!^^

Here is the last week of the Holiday nail art scans. I hope it gives you all inspiration for your xmas nails! I am going to try to find some really glittery pretty nail scans to post for New Years inspiration. After that, I will be posting random themes of nail art scans & I can continue the 31 day nail art challenge. =)

*Credit* NailsUp & NailMax magazine. <33

Week 4: Nail Art Scans!! // Winter & Holiday Inspiration!!

2011-12-15T15:45:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Christmas is only 10 days away!!! Oh how the time flies by. I have 2 other holiday designs to show you also. One I took a picture of on my cell phone and crappy lighting, but the one on my nails now is worthy of borrowing my mom's camera to get a really good picture. I was inspired by the nail scans I have been showing you the past few weeks so you know it is jeweled and sparkly. lol

Week 3: Nail Art Scans!! // Winter & Holiday Inspiration!!

2011-12-06T19:58:00.000-05:00

Here is Week 3 of my Winter/Holiday nail art scans. I think the first one is my favorite. I have 2 more weeks of holiday scans coming, which I might post a bit sooner than a week so you can see them all before Christmas. If you want to make any requests for the next theme of nail scans I post (Ex. a color, flowers, etc.) leave them in the comments now so I can get them together! I also have the yellow nails for the nail art challenge on my SD card, so once I crop the pics I will post that. I think for right now I am going to take a rest from the nail art challenge so I can start doing some holiday nail art!

So enough with that. I have something else to share with you. Last week my hamster died. =( He lived really long though for the type of hamster he was, so I am glad to know he lived longer than the other hamsters I had. I know... I am like the only person over 18 who has a hamster still, but I think they are so darn cute!!! They are just tiny little puffs you can hold. lol So 3 days ago I went to the pet store to look at some of the hamsters. Then it happened.. I saw the cutest hamster I think I ever seen!

EEEEEEKK!!!! Isn't he adorable!!?? I can't wait till he is tame enough to the point that I can pick him up and play with him. Right now he is very skittish, so I have been taking it slow and just putting my hand in his cage and petting him. But one day, I will finally gain his trust and will be able to hold him! I named him Kabuki & he will make an appearances in my posts here & there. <3

31 Day Nail Art Challenge // Orange Nails!!

2011-12-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

Here are my orange nails for the 31 day nail art challenge. I have to admit, I was getting so frustrated with these nails lol. I was originally going to stamp with hot pink, but the the pink barely showed up. Then I found another design I was going to use, but the image was not transferring as crisp as I wanted it to. I was so close to just taking off all the polish and doing completely different nails. Then I saw this the design you see in the pic & thought "this could work." & Thank god it did! lol =) I then added some hot pink dots and rhinestones, and what started as a hopeless manicure ended up being one of those manis you catch yourself staring at throughout the day. I did this design late at night so I took pictures with my phone in the bathroom. I was planning on taking pics with the digital camera the next day, but unfortunately I broke my middle finger down to the finger tip. =( Which lead me to cutting all my nails down really short. That is okay with me though, I prefer shorter nails & I like when I cut them down and get to start with fresh nails lol. Anyways.. here are the products I used ....

Orange Color: L.A. Colors (I am not sure what the name of the color is)

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Cream Pink"

White Color: Konad Special Polish "White"

Nail Image: BM 213

Rhinestones: Ebay.com

Week 2: Nail Art Scans!! // Winter & Holiday Inspiration!!

2011-11-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

Ask & you shall receive!! I got lots of comments on my last nail art scan post, so I figured I can make this a regular thing. Since the holidays are just around the corner, I am going to post winter/christmas designs until the end of December. After that I can post other themes & might even be able to take requests for themes!

^^ I would love to wear this for new years!!^^

I think the last nail design, minus the xmas tree would be a cute idea for the half moon nails for the 31 day nail challenge! I might have to recreate it with different colors and possibly a different design. Speaking of the 31 day nail challenge... I have my orange nails on now and was going to take pictures of them today, but I broke my middle finger nail down to the finger tip! Grr! Oh well, at least I can trim them all down and start fresh. As for the design, I will still post my orange nails tonight or tomorrow still, so no worries. =)

Which design is your favorite? Any of them that you would like to re-create? I would love to try those sweater-like designs but would never be able to finish my right hand lol.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge!! // Red Nails

2011-11-16T21:14:00.000-05:00

I have been seeing a lot of posts for the 31 Day Nail Challenge floating around on the blogisphere lately. It was tempting enough to make me take the plunge. I want to mention that there is most like NO way I will finish this in 31 days. Mostly because of the holidays are coming up I will want to take a break in between the challenges to do some Christmas nail art. Not to mention the holidays are hectic, so it would be extremely challenging to find time to paint my nails every day. Even though it defeats the purpose of the 31 day challenge, I wanted to do it also so I would have some direction to go in for those times I can't decide what to do to my nails. Plus, that means I will be posting A LOT more! Regardless, I want to complete the challenge as soon as possible.

I wish I had more pictures to show you. Since the red came out darker than I had anticipated, the black card shapes seem to fade in the background. Either way, I love the dark shimmer this nail design provides & how the shimmering red and black go together.

Red Color: Orly "Candy Cane Lane"

Red Shimmer: Barielle "Elle's Spell"

Black Color: Deborah Lippmann "Ruby Red Slippers"

Black Stamping Color: Sinful Colors "Black on Black"

What do you think of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge? If you already started, leave me a link to your blog in the comments, I would love to see what you came up with so far!! =D

Until next time .. Happy blogging!!

Nail Art Scans!! // Christmas Inspiration!!

2011-11-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

I wanted to think of something I could post in between my nail art designs to keep my readers entertained. So that is when I decided I would show you where a majority of my nail art inspiration comes from! & If you read some of my previous posts, you already know that I am enamored with Japanese nail art. I started finding Japanese Magazine scans, which are now starting to become sparse. Luckily for you, I have a folder on my computer dedicated to nail inspiration which holds, idk, THOUSANDS of nail art designs! So I figured since the holidays are right around the corner, now would be the best time to give you some inspiration for your Christmas nails ...

CREDIT: All photos are 150% thanks to Nail Up Magazine!

This one is my favorite =)

How gorgeous are these!?! Oh how I would love to have a nail art magazine like this in the USA! Or better yet, I wish all us nail bloggers were sponsored by some magazine!! Or even better yet, if I made a magazine featuring all the best nail art from Bloggers around the world! But I wouldn't even know where to start!! lol

So.. some questions for you!

** Do you want me to post more nail art scans weekly? **

Let me know what you think in the comments! & Also let me know which design is your favorite!!

Fall Nail Art Design 2011 !!

2011-11-13T16:38:00.001-05:00

Here is my newest fall nail art design. I wanted to do a leaf design but didn't want to use the same stamp that I used last year. That is when I remembered my Bundle Monster plates had another leaf design. Since I just trimmed my nails not too long ago, it was the perfect opportunity to use the full image design from the first set of BM plates that are usually too small to cover longer nails. I wanted to incorporate fall colors underneath, I knew gold was going to be one of them and a dark raspberry color. I was going to add orange and browns too but once I sponged on the raspberry color, I thought adding the extra colors might be too much, so I just stuck with the two. Here is the list of products I used ..

Gold Color: Orly "Luxe"

Raspberry Color: Adoree "502"

Leaf Image: BM 19

Have you done your fall inspired nail art yet?? If so, leave your link in the comments, I would love to see what you came up with!! =)

I am going to enter this design in Nailart Creations Autumn nail art contest!! If you wanted to enter this contest hurry up and send your submission! This contest ends on November 15th!

Deborah Lippmann Dance Music Holiday Trio // Review & Swatches!!

2011-11-10T17:50:00.000-05:00

There is nothing more gorgeous than Deborah Lippmann's glitter polishes. I recently bought the new Deborah Lippmann Dance Music Holiday Trio. I am so excited to review them for you and show you some swatches!! I bought these from Nordstrom.com for $29.00 with FREE S&H! I also used my Ebates account to buy them so I can get some cash back while I was at it. =) Shipping only took about a week, so I was very happy with that. The Dance Music Holiday Trio is only available in mini sizes as far as I am aware of. But with the price reduction, it is worth it and very affordable.

The first shade I would like to show you is "Just Dance," which is a lovely aqua glitter. The glitter in this polish is finer than the glitters you are used to with the larger sizes, but it allows it to dry a bit faster.

This is 3 coats with no base or top coat. This polish has a medium blue jelly base to it, which helps you achieve opacity without using a base color. Since the glitter is more fine when compared to DL's traditional glitter polishes, it give you almost a foil-like finish which I love.

Next up is "Dancing in the Dark" which is a fabulous silvery-gray color packed with multi sized holographic and silver glitter.

For this swatch I used 3 thick coats, with no base or top coat. The jelly base in this polish is a bit less pigmented than I would have liked. However, I love this color, especially the dark shimmer quality it has about it. It would look stunning over a black base coat of polish & would be perfect for a night out or celebrating the New Year.

"Flash Dance" might be my favorite color from this collection. It is a nice pinky/purple color and the combo of the two works harmoniously together.

This color was the most opaque of the three polishes in this trio. This swatch is using 2 coats with no base or top coat. There is a darker purple jelly base in this polish which gives you rich color with two quick coats. This color is so mesmerizing and is sure to catch the eye of any passerby.

As I mentioned before, these polishes are only available in mini sizes for the moment. They are 0.2 oz each compared to the full sizes at 0.5 oz. The picture below is a size comparison of the full size v.s. the mini size.

(Pictured above: DL "Across the Universe" & DL "Just Dance")

The size difference isn't too dramatic. Honestly, I will most likely never use all the polish in my full sized DL bottles. So I think getting the mini sizes are a great option & I actually kinda prefer them! It allows you to own some of the well sought after DL glitters without hurting your bank account. On that note, I would really love to see them come out with more mini sized collections in the future. =)

The picture above shows you a size comparison of a full sized and mini set. On the left is my "All that Jazz" collection, in case you were wondering. The box sizes are a bit dramatic in comparison, but the boxes for the full sized collections are more wasted space than product. So don't turn away from these small trios if they are displayed next to a full sized set.

Overall, I am really impressed with the *NEW* Music Holiday Trio. I would definitely purchase them again and I would definitely recommend them.

What do you think about this collection? Is it a must have or pass? Which color is your favorite? Would you purchase the mini sizes or opt for the full sized bottles? Let me know! I would love to hear your comments!

& I need to give a BIG THANKS to Deriniti from My Pretty Nails!! Because of her, I finally figured out how to reply to your comments!! =) xx

Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish Review & Swatches!!

2011-11-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

Introducing Nail Inc.'s magnetic polish!! I can't even begin to explain how excited I was to see this nail polish!! I have been searching for a magnetic nail polish forever, and I am sure you can imagine how many people I knocked over when I saw this on Sephora's display! lol Nails Inc. had 2 colors on display, the silver one you see in my pics and a purple one. I tried them both, but I liked the silver one soo much better. The thing that I love about this polish is it dries super fast and it is soo simple and easy to use!! This is a must have polish for your collection, if you love nail art, but don't want to spend more than 10 minutes on your nails. The only thing I didn't like about this polish is the price. I spent $16 for this one polish!! Granted, I still think it is worth it. But I am hoping that this nail trend catches on with lower end brands so I can buy as many colors I want without abusing my wallet lol. So here are some extra pictures of the bottle and how to use it.

To use this nail polish, apply a thin coat to all your nails and wait a minute or two for them to dry. Then, one nail at a time, apply a thick coat and while the polish is still wet, wave the magnet on the cap of the nail polish over your nails and watch the magic happen!! You want to put the magnet as close to your nails as you can without touching them to get a really good effect. I am going to experiment with different magnets to see what other kind of effects I can come up with.

Have you tried Nail Inc's new magnetic nail polishes? Have you tried to use any different magnets with this polish? If so, leave a link to your post in the comments! I would love to check it out!

Teenage Dream & Milani Gold Nails!!

2011-11-06T15:19:00.000-05:00

This is one of my most favorite nail polish combos of all time! Me and my boyfriend were celebrating our anniversary and my birthday was only 3 days behind so I wanted to do a simple nail design that I could wear for both occasions. At first I was going to go super simple with a few coats of OPI's "Teenage Dream." (Which by the way, is one of my favorite glitter polishes to wear without any base color) But then I was deciding on what outfit to wear and I had just bought an open knit sweater with gold sequins. That is when I decided to add some more sparkle to my nails by applying a coat of Milani's "Gold" which helped match my nails perfectly to my outfit! This color combo is a great way to wear glitter on your nails while still keeping it simple, yet pretty.

Btw. I just got the *NEW* iPhone 4S !!! My previous phone was the first Moto Droid, so at first I hated my new iPhone. I was soo used to android and was surprised about the lack of stuff you can't do on the iPhone that you can do with android phones. Unless you want to jailbreak your phone of course. lol But all of that changed as soon as I took a picture with my new phone! I was in love by the first click of the shutter button. I have never had a phone that took photos this amazing!! The color, focus, everything about the camera is just perfect, especially when shooting in macro. Apple was definitely right when they said that the new camera was going to compete with your standard point and shoot camera! Don't believe me? Look for yourself! ALL THESE PICS WERE TAKING USING MY NEW IPHONE 4S!! Which works out perfectly for me now that my digital camera is not charging AGAIN!! I am about to use my iPhone for all my blog posts from now on.

Halloween Nail Art & Tutorial !!

2011-10-24T21:49:00.001-04:00

Here is my first Halloween nail art designs of many to come. I wanted to start doing my Halloween manis sooner but my birthday and me & my boyfriends anniversary is in the middle of October. Needless to say, I had to take a break in between from the orange & black polish during that time. lol But now that all of that is said and done, I can continue my Halloween Nail Art series. For this design I am using the following products...

Black Polish: Sinful Colors "Black on Black"

White Polish: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"

Orange Color: Sinful Colors "Cloud 9"

Black Stamping Polish: Konad Special Polish "Black Pearl"

White Stamping Polish: Konad Special Polish "White"

Image Plate: BM225

Pearls: BornPrettyStore.com

Rhinestones: Ebay.com

Along with the pictures, I also made a tutorial. =)

Btw. Sorry for not posting as much recently. If you remember in my last posts, I have been having some computer issues. Especially with Blogger, which leads me to believe I probably have 341 Trojan viruses. lol But I am getting my computer all strapped up with virus protection and getting all of the bugs out. I can't even begin to express how excited I am to have a normal working Internet so I can get back into the blogging game. lol

I hope you liked the design! I am going to work on another post tonight. I have some pictures of one of my top favorite nail polish combos along with some magnetic nail polish swatches!!

Cute Nail Art Designs!! Major Update

2011-10-23T19:38:00.000-04:00

Here are some nail designs I have done in between postings. Since there is a lot of designs I am just going to jump right into the product lists ...

Dark Purple Color: Sally Hansen "Pronto Purple"

Light Purple Color: Pure Ice "Outrageous"

Image Plate: BM208

This is a design I am sure all of you have seen or even done before. I would of added more detail to this but I wanted to do something just simple, quick, and easy because I had another nail design I wanted to do the day after.

Blue Color: Orly "Frisky"

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Soulmate"

Red Color: Sinful Colors "Be My Valentine" (nail striper)

Green Color: Sinful Colors "San Francisco"

Black Color: Sinful Colors "Secret Admirer"

Glitter: Wet'n'Wild "Party of Five Glitters"

Matte Top Coat: Essie "Matte About You"

I revamped the design above after wearing it for a few days. For this design I added some Chanel Fimo Slices from the Bornprettystore.com. And some decorative hexagons I bought from Ebay.com.

I LOVED this pedicure!! It is one of my top favorite nail designs. I actually took this picture about 2-3 weeks after wearing this pedicure. So for those of you who ask how long the gems stay on for, it is a very long time if you add a layer or 2 of top coat.

White Color: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"

Black Color: Sinful Colors "Black on Black"

White Stamping Color: Konad Special Polish in "White"

Black Stamping Color: Konad Special Polish in "Pearl Black"

Image Plate: BM223 (Bundle Monster)

Decorations: All from Ebay.com =)

Adoree Swatches & Review!!

2011-10-13T17:26:00.000-04:00

I recently received some new products to review from Thresa at Esther's Nail Center!! One of which was nail art stamping plates which I used to create this Halloween monster inspired nail art design.

Green Color: Sinful Colors "Innocent"

Black Color: Konad Special Polish "Pearl Black"

Image Plate: B32

Esther's Nail Center introduced a new set of stamping plates. To be exact this set includes 19 image plates for just $15.95. I've seen these image plates floating around on Ebay and some other websites but I never seen them sold in a set which is very convenient. I also have to admit, since I saw them on Ebay I had suspicions that these image plates might be cheap and might not work as well as the Konad or Bundle Monster image plates. However, I was very impressed with how clear the images came out when I stamped with them. As you can see from the picture above, the image transferred beautifully to my nails you can see every detail of the design. Overall, I really liked these plates and I can't wait to try some more of the designs! Below are pictures of the plates I received. I received 6 of the image plates for reviewing purposes, but when you order your set you will get ALL 19. =)

*click to images to enlarge*

Now onto the swatches. I received 4 Adoree polishes to swatch and review for you. If you seen my reviews before for Adoree you will already know the key features of this polish. But for those of you who don't, allow me to elaborate. Adoree polishes are Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP (Phthalate) FREE which makes them great for daily use. They also have over 150 colors to choose from. My favorite part about these polishes is their dry time. I am so impatient when it comes to waiting for my nail polish to dry so I am always happy to have a quick drying polish. Adoree polishes are also very pigmented, all the swatches below are just 2 thin coats. The swatches are also WITHOUT top coat because these polishes already dry with a high shine.

Copper Clay

I must first mention that this picture does not do this polish any justice. It was so hard to capture the beauty of this polish in just one click of the camera. If you look at the bottle in the picture though, you can see a duo chrome effect with flashes of brown, purple, orange, and gold colors. Depending on what light you are in, your polish will take on a different effect, which are one of my favorite types of polishes.

This polish is a perfect blushing creme color. Very simple, yet very chic. I was excited to see this color in the package because I am a huge fan of pink polishes, but also colors that can be worn as neutrals, so this polish was the best of both worlds.

Reef Green

I think this picture speaks for itself. This polish is packed with a ton of micro green glitter which allows you to have green sparkly nails in 2 coats. This polish also has a darker jelly base v.s. a clear base which I think really helps achieve a more opaque look with less coats and less dry time.

Shocking Red

The name of this polish suites it well since this is a shocking red color. Not shocking to the point where you are going to stop traffic, but shocking enough for everyone in that traffic to notice your classic red mani. I love how this is jelly based with a slight subtle shimmer to make the polish a little extra special. I will definitely get my use out of this polish when I start rolling out my Christmas and Holiday nail art designs.

Moving forward- Thresa let me know about a new website her and Esther created called The Honey Day. It is basically a monthly subscription that is delivered right to your door and includes candies and sweets from ALLLL over the world. Similar to a magazine subscription but with candy. Similar to those beauty boxes you might have heard of, but with candy. For those of you who have a sweet tooth as big as your nail art obsession, this is definitely worth checking out.

There will be a *NEW* post later today or tomorrow, with new nail designs and even a Halloween nail tutorial!! So be sure to check back!!

Splatter Nail Art Design & Tutorial!!

2011-09-11T17:51:00.000-04:00

So for this post I have a splatter nail art design with a tutorial! This is my 3rd splatter mani but this is the first splatter mani I posted since my camera was broken. This design is so easy, simple, and quick to do. It's a great technique to master because this design can be used in different ways with different colors. It is also great for holidays and incorporating holiday colors. This would be an awesome design to do for Halloween with some orange and black polish!

Black Color: Sally Hansen "Midnight in NY"

Blue Color: Orly "Frisky"

Purple Color: Pure Ice "Outrageous"

Have you done a splatter nail art design? What colors did you use? If you have any links to your design feel free to leave them in the comments. I would love to check them out! =)

Make a wish! Dandelion Nail Art Design & Tutorial!!

2011-09-10T23:30:00.000-04:00

I saw this design floating around on the internet and it was soooooooo cute I just couldn't help but to try it out myself. I love how it is so simple, yet so beautiful. Best of all, this design is really quick and easy to do. While I was at it I made a tutorial for this nail art design as well. Now that I got my both my cameras working again I am thinking of making tutorials regularly. =) In fact, I recorded another tutorial tonight that will be uploaded once it is edited and ready to go!

Pink Polish: Sinful Colors "Starfish"

Black &White Polish: Art Deco *bought from my local $ store =)*

Top Coat: Seche Vite

After this post I desperately need to update my blog. I need to make a new poll question, update my polish counter, and find another nail of the week design. Even though Nailside's design was well worthy of being featured for about a month lol. She also sent me an email with an article on what to do when someone steels your blog posts. What a sweet sweet girl. =) Thanks again! .. Most of all though, I want to get back to your comments and comment your blogs!! But now when I try to leave comments on blogs, it makes me log in, and then it says that my username doesn't have access to that blog??!! Wtf is that? lol I have to figure out a way around it though because blogging isn't as much fun when I can't comment. lol But enough babbling, here is the tutorial ..

Bundle Monster Hawaiian Nail Art Design!

2011-09-05T23:20:00.002-04:00

Here is a design that I created for the end of summer. I was practicing color combos and came up with this by mistake. I think I used the image upside down too. lol But nonetheless, I loved the way it turned out. The gold polish underneath kinda made the nail art design look a bit like foil if it caught the right light.

Gold Color: Orly "Luxe"

Purple Color: Pure Ice "Scandal"

Flower Image: BM 225

BTW .. I am still having trouble replying to your comments for some reason! Whats even more annoying is that I cannot leave comments on other people's blogs either!! GRR!!! I think I need to de-virus my comp, but I will try my hardest to fix these technical difficulties as soon as possible!!

Nail Art Challenge: Wallpaper/Background Inspired - Entries!!

2011-09-05T23:07:00.001-04:00

I needed to make a new post for the entries I receive for the Nail Art Challenges because apparently if you embed a youtube video on your post- editing it takes forever!!

Here is an entry I got from Sofie over at Swaafie. She made an adorable nail art design inspired from a background on her phone featuring fruit that is extremely cute and wearable for summer. Check out her blog to see more of her nail art!

If you haven't read my previous post. I am doing nail art challenges instead of having nail art contests. This challenges theme is wallpapers, backgrounds, or desktop images. Create a nail design inspired by one of your favorite wallpapers and send an email or link with your designs in the comment below. Designs can be old or new. The only rule is that the design has to be your own work, so no submitting other people's nail designs. All entries will be featured on this post and will be credited.

Super Cute Pink & White Star Nail Art Design for short nails!

2011-09-01T21:43:00.000-04:00

Pink Color: Sally Hansen "Heart of Stone"

White Color: Konad Special Polish "White"

Star Image: BM 20

Recently my ring finger nail broke, and when I say broke, I mean it broke all the way down to the finger! Grr! But I was starting to grow tired of having longer nails anyway, so I decided to trim them all down and honestly.. I like my nails a lot more this length. I usually keep them longer so I have enough room on my nails to have the freedom to do any nail art design my heart desires. But I really prefer the look of shorter nails, they don't get in the way as much, typing is much easier for example, you can go crazy with your designs without it looking tacky, but it still gives you that polished, chic, put together look to your hands. So I am going to keep them to this length until I need to grow them longer for whatever design is brewing up in my head. Plus, having shorter nails allowed me to play with some of the full sized images on the first set of BM plates which have a reputation for being too small for longer nails.

As for the nail design its self. I LOVE it! It's so very simple (compared to my usual designs anyway) but I find it to look better in one of those less is more kinda ways. It's very understated, but adds a lot of character. I was also admiring this color combo a lot too. I already have an idea of how I want to use this star image again in the future. I am thinking of a dark navy blue or black, with a sheer holographic/duochrome polish on top to give it some depth, then adding the stars in silver. Of course, I am trying to contain myself from wearing darker colors until its a bit colder and the outside world has more of that genuine autumn feeling. I know.. I am putting way too much thought into that lol.

I have some pictures on my phone of some nail designs I've done while my camera was broken, which I will be uploading VERY soon!

Nail Art Challenge: Wallpaper/Background Inspired - Abstract Konad Nail Art & Tutorial!!

2011-08-30T15:27:00.000-04:00

Here is a mani that I did a few weeks ago. I really wish that I was able to get a better picture of this beautiful design. I was using my Mom's camera and the pics looked really good, until I got them on the computer and saw that 98% of them were blurry, which is usually not the case with her camera. I also got my camera back from Best Buy!!! So be prepared for regular posting again! I felt so lost without having my camera an updating lol.

I got the idea for this design from a background I had on my cell phone, which I will upload a picture of shortly. The reason this post is titled Nail Art Challenge is because I was debating whether or not I wanted to have contests on my blog. I had sooo many ideas for different themes that I thought it would be way too hectic to organize contests around all of them. So I decided that I would try nail art challenges instead, where I challenge myself and YOU to create nail art designs based on a theme. For this challenge, try to create a nail art design based off of a background on your phone, desktop wallpapers for your computer, or even the wallpaper on your walls. I will post all designs that I receive on this post, so if you have one that works, old or new, submit a link to your design, along with a pic of the background/wallpaper that inspired you and I will feature the design on this page! =) There is no deadline, so even if you see this months from now, feel free to send your design. The only rule I guess is that it has to be your design, not someone elses.

I will do these challenges every week or every other week. I figured it would be something fun to do for all the nail art enthusiasts, or if you are just "stuck" and need some inspiration for a new design. If you have any other ideas too, leave them in the comments and I will definitely consider them.

White Color: Sinful Colors "Snow Me White"

Blue Color: Sinful Colors "Loves Nails"

Yellow Color: Sinful Colors "Let's Meet"

Green Color: Sinful Colors "Irish Green"

Black Color: Konad special polish in "Black Pearl"

Konad Plates: M65 & M77

Bundle Monster Plate: BM19

Rhinestones: Ebay.com

The editing for this vid is less than perfect and I had some technical difficulties, but I got it done. There is also an audio swap in progress so I apologize if you have to watch the video in silence until it uploads lol. So now more talking, here is the tutorial I made for this look ...

Adoree Swatches & Update!

2011-08-08T18:53:00.000-04:00

How have all my lovely readers been? Sorry I haven't replied to your comments yet, I really tried to! I think my computer has some kinda Google virus because when I try to reply or leave a comment on any one's blog, it makes me log in, then press send again, then it makes me log in again, then I press send, then I have to log in AGAIN, its a vicious cycle that keeps repeating. lol Not only that, but I can't send attachments on my Gmail account either. =\ But either way, thank you all so much for the comments and your support! I saved all my replies in a draft email so once I get it working again, I'll be all caught up.

So I have some good news too! I received more Adoree nail polishes from the wonderful Thresa at Esther's Nail Center to review for you. Also, if you didn't read my last post- my camera was broken. But luckily I had a 2 year warranty so it is with the geniuses at Geek Squad right now getting fixed. =) Now that that's out of the way are you ready for swatches??

First up is ....

Adoree 501

This is one of my favorite colors from the bunch. It is a shimmery gold/bronze color that is neutral enough to wear to the office but still glitzy enough to wear on a night out. The picture didn't capture the bronze and shimmery-goodness that you see in person, but nonetheless it is a beautiful color. I wore this color for a week without a single chip before I took it off.

Adoree 502

This is a raspberry color with cool undertones. It also has a small amount of shimmer which adds some dimension and depth to the polish. Above is 2 coats, if you look closely you can see a little bit of my smile line. But if you want this polish to be opaque, just one more coat will do the trick.

Adoree 503

This is another one of my favorite colors. A cool silver with a slight metallic finish. I love how this color is one of those rare polishes that can go from day to night so well. It also would look lovely on any skin tone.

Adoree 504

The picture does this glitter polish no justice! The glitter in this polish is a holographic and dances in the light. I also like how this polish is jam packed with glitter. I used 1 coat above over Adoree 503, so not exactly a one coat glitter, but with 3 coats you can achieve a more opaque glitter nail.

Adoree 505

This was one of the hardest polishes to capture on camera due to the unique color. It is a warm rosy color that would be perfect for the fall season. It appears to have soft pink and orange undertones and I have never seen a polish quite this color.

Like I said in my previous Adoree review post, these polishes are a great deal. The bottle holds as much polish as the Orly brand, which is more than most nail polish brands. The color is very pigmented, unique, and long lasting. My favorite thing about these polishes is their dry time. They dry really quickly, so this is a good polish to use when you are running out the door or have limited time to get ready. The polishes also dry with a high shine- in the pictures above I have on NO top coat and the colors are still have a mirror like finish. One other unique thing about these polishes is that they a nail hardener treatment in them, which is great for people growing out their nails, or want their nails to stay long without breaking!

Adoree has a HUGE selection of colors, so feel free to check out their website and find the perfect color for you!

I hope you liked the review! I will have more nail designs coming very soon along with a tutorial. Which colors are your favorite? Have you ever tried Adoree polishes? What did you think?

Cute New Nail Art Designs & Overdue Update

2011-06-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have been MIA from the blogisphere lately and kept you girls hanging for like a month. lol I was super busy with my finals at school but I did pass & graduate! *Yay* But now that all of that is over and I have my head on straight, I can continue to blogging. Other than that my camera decided to stop working. (I think I need a new charger) So I haven't been able to snap pics of my nail designs since my last post. I've tried taking pics with my phone but the quality sucks- so my only other option was borrowing my Mom's camera, but I can't hang on to it- so needless to say, taking pics has proved to be quite difficult lol. I am going to Best Buy tomorrow though to see if there is anything they can do. On the flip side- I figured out why my camcorder wasn't reading my SD cards- so with that problem out of the way, I can start filming tutorials again. Of course, I wouldn't leave all that time without having some nail art designs to show you! I am going to have to edit this post with the products I used so I don't have to keep you waiting any longer, but if there is something in particular you want to know the name of, leave a comment!

There is another mani or two that I need to post, the pics are on my phone so once I email them to myself, I'll post them for you.

In other news

someone is stealing my blog posts!!

http://nailartbeautiful.blogspot.com/2011/03/konad-leopard-nails-deco-leapord-nail.html

Check out the link above. After looking at her blog- you will be able to see that she took several of my blog posts. Not only did she use my pics without asking, linking me back, or at least giving me ANY credit, she copy and pasted my posts WORD FOR WORD! I bet you will find some other nail blogger's posts on there as well. This is one of the main reasons I watermark my pics- so if someone does use them without giving me credit, people can still find my blog. Don't get me wrong though, I love it & I am actually flattered when my followers like my nail art so much they can't help but to share my designs. Which is A-okay with me because they always at least link back. But I am not cool with someone who has been on my blog, likes it enough to take the time to copy & paste my posts, save my pics, update their blog, but they can't take 2 seconds to leave me a comment or at least LINK ME BACK! All my other fellow nail bloggers know how much time, effort, and money it takes for us to run our blogs, keep posting, keeping the content up to date, answering comments, etc. - so it is definitely discouraging when someone steals something you put so much time into. The other thing is- this girl has NO way of contacting her through her blog, so if anyone knows a way I can get around that or how I can report her, please let me know in the comments. IF NAILARTBEAUTIFUL IS READING THIS PLEASE REMOVE MY WORK FROM YOUR BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that- I will have more posts, update my poll question, update my NOTW, & some other fun stuff by the end of this week. Has anyone planned out their 4th of July nails yet?? I think I figured out what I will be doing and I am thinking of filming a tutorial with it! =)

Pastel Colored Pedicure Nail Art Design!

2011-04-28T01:43:00.000-04:00

Here is the pedicure I did on Easter weekend. I know it's a little late, but I am still going to post it since it has Spring colors. I had a really difficult time taking the pictures for some reason =/ but I think I managed to get two out of the bunch. =) I am really happy to finally get my hands on those dot like nail art decorations If you have ever checked out NailsUp, Nail Venus, or any other Japanese nail art magazine, you are already aware of how often they use these dots in their designs & I was totally jealous I didn't have any! lol I seriously searched online everywhere and was finally able to find a good deal on ebay!

Purple Color: Sally Hansen "Lacey Lilac"

Blue Crackle Color: China Glaze "Crushed Candy"

Mint Color: Sally Hansen "Mint Sorbet"

Pink Color: Wet'N'Wild "Tickled Pink"

Decorations: Ebay.com & BornPrettyStore

Pink Wednesdays | Abstract Pink & Silver Nail Art Design

2011-04-27T18:17:00.000-04:00

This is my first mani for Pink Wednesdays and of course I used my new bundle monster image plates. I have a bunch of designs in my head that I want to try with my new image plates, so be ready for lots of nail designs in the next few weeks. =) I was a bit overwhelmed with all the plates in front of me, so I tried out the design I saw on BM's facebook, but with different colors since I wanted to wear pink. lol There is a few bald spots on some of my nails from where the stamp didn't fully adhere, but this was the first time I used them and I didn't have this problem when stamping my other hand.

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Forget Now"

Silver Color: Sally Hansen "Pure Chrome"

Image Plate: BM-208

Have you seen any nail designs with the new BM image plates yet? If so, leave a link in the comments! I would love to see it! =)

NEW BUNDLE MONSTER IMAGE PLATES!! QUICK REVIEW & PICS !!

2011-04-26T18:43:00.000-04:00

I received my new set of Bundle Monster Image Plates in the mail today!!!! I was soo excited to finally have these in my hands! I placed my order on April 22nd and received them today, April 26th. The website said I should be receiving them around May 2nd, so I was very happy to get them only 4 days after placing my order. Not only was the shipping was very reasonable but it was also *free.* =)

TIP: When you first get your Bundle Monster Image Plates, remember to peel off the blue sticker first, or they will not work.

If you purchased the first set of Bundle Monster Image Plates then you already know that the edges were a bit sharp. On the second set of BM image plates, there is a sticker backing which reduces the sharpness. The sticker definitely helps and you can slide your fingers around the edges without a single boo-boo lol.

I am pretty sure after the month that BM spent teasing us with pictures of their new plates, you are beyond ready to see the entire set up-close and personal. So here you go, detailed pics of every plate...

The first plate had a small defect on the edge of the plate that looked like it got scraped. However, it does not affect the image and I can't complain with the price I bought these for.

On the heart design- one of the hearts is a little rough around the edges. It is a very small flaw though and you can't see it unless you look really close. Click the image above to enlarge it.

The first set of BM image plates had small full-sized designs that wouldn't cover your entire nail unless they were very short. The new set has BIGGER full-sized images that are comparable in size to the Konad plates.

First set of Bundle Monster Image Plates.

New (2nd) set of BM image plates.

As you can see, the new plates images are bigger and should be able to cover most people's nails. If the Konad full-sized images cover your nails, then this set will too. Overall, I am really liking these so far. I was very happy with the shipping, price, variety of designs, and the improvements BM made to this set. There were a few plates that had minor flaws, but it isn't a big issue for me. I am going to wait to do a full review for these after I used them a few times. I will update this post with my final thoughts in about a week.

What do you think about the new set? Did you order/receive your set yet? Which designs do you like the most?

If you had any questions about this set or want to request a design- feel free to do so in the comments. =)

Liebster Blog Award

2011-04-26T17:32:00.000-04:00

I want to start off by giving a *HUGE* thanks to Sara Loves Pretty Little Things for giving me this award!! I love her blog so I was so excited when she told me she gave me an award. =)

The Liebster Award is designed to bring well deserved additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 300 followers. If you receive the award you link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate 3 more blogs. So my choices are:

I am going to bend the rules a little bit and list more than 3 because there were a few blogs that I recently started following that deserve some love too!!

Nail Polish Art Addiction

KimsKie's Nails

Fresh Air & Fashion

Also- if you have a nail blog that you would like me to check out, whether it is yours or someone elses, feel free to leave a link in the comments! I always love to see new blogs! =)

Rasta Deco Nail Art Design

2011-04-25T00:41:00.000-04:00

I was going to wait till Summer to do these nails since the warm weather has more of that rasta/jamaican feel to it. But I got a little ahead of myself when the weather started getting warmer. lol Which is okay because I can show you the design now instead of waiting. =) I saw some variations of Rasta nail art designs online and I knew I could come up with something different and find a way to make it pretty and blingy. Although this design is fun, it may be difficult to wear, especially if you have work the next day. lol You don't want to give your boss the wrong impression haha. But if you think you can pull it off, here are the products I used...

Green Color: Sinful Colors "San Francisco"

Yellow Color: Sinful Colors "Let's Meet"

Red Color: Sinful Colors "Under 18"

Image Plate: BM 07

Rhinestones & Hexagons: Ebay.com

Peep Bunny Easter Nail Art Design

2011-04-24T16:37:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!! Here is my Easter mani. I wish I had some pink glitter so I could have made the peep bunny look more realistic, but I worked with what I had and this is what I came up with! I am about to eat Easter dinner shortly so I am going to skip right to the products I used...

Mint Green Color: Sally Hansen "Mint Sorbet"

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Pink Forever"

Pink Glitter Color: OPI "Teenage Dream"

Small Iridescent Glitter: LA Colors (No Name)

Big Iridescent Glitter: Hard Candy "Break Up"

Brown Color: Pure Ice "Magic"

Decorations: Ebay.com

My Mom also got me some new polishes for Easter too that I have to show you! Did you get anything exciting for the holiday? Did you do an Easter mani? If so, leave me a link in the comments! I would love to check it out! =)

Black & Silver Deco Nail Art Design

2011-04-22T15:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Good Friday! I was originally going to do an Easter nail art design and somehow I ended up doing this. lol I was having trouble coming up with an Easter design because I didn't know what to do beside bunnies, chicks, and Easter eggs. Actually, I think I just came up with something. =) lol But if my idea doesn't work out the way I see it in my head, I will do a mani with Easter colors and keep it somewhat simple. Anyways, back to the current mani. These are the products I used...

Black Color: Sally Hansen "Midnight in NY"

Silver Color: Sally Hansen "Pure Chrome"

Image Plate: BM 21

Microbeads: DollarNailArt

While I was taking pics of my nails, I got distracted by the big chocolate lab, Ralphie. So I figured I'd share the cuteness...

BUNDLE MONSTER IMAGE PLATES NOW ON SALE!!!

2011-04-22T00:20:00.001-04:00

That's right! The new set of Bundle Monster image plates are FINALLY ON SALE!!! YAYYY!!! They mentioned earlier today that they would be on sale on April 25th, but they got them earlier than expected and we can order them 3 days sooner now! I am glad I stayed up late tonight or else I wouldn't have known till tomorrow morning. =) I already ordered mine and I am dying to get them in the mail.

ORDER YOURS HERE!!

If this is the first you heard of the new set of Bundle Monster image plates, let me catch you up to speed really quick. The new set will have BIGGER full sized images and it will include 25 plates for $21.99. If you loved the first set, your going to love this one!

How excited are you that we can finally order these after the month Bundle Monster spent teasing us? lol Did you order your set already? I will be posting a review as soon as I get them to help you decide if you want to purchase them =)

Peace Sign Nail Art Design & Poll Results

2011-04-21T16:55:00.000-04:00

This peace sign nail art design was completely unplanned but I absolutely love the way it came out. I knew I wanted to do a multi-colored nail stamp and when I saw the peace sign I figured I could make it work. So I chose my colors around the design and this is what I came up with. I created the multi-color peace sign by applying a line of blue polish, then a line of purple polish, followed by another line of blue polish over the peace sign on my image plate. I would have made a tutorial since it is hard to describe, but my camera is having technical difficulties and isn't reading my SD cards. But once I figure it out- I will do a nail tutorial using the same technique. =)

Dark Purple (Base) Color: Sally Hansen "Pronto Purple"

Blue Color: Pure Ice "PussyCat"

Purple Color: Pure Ice "Outrageous"

Image Plate: BM 07

Rhinestones & Hexagons: Ebay.com

Now onto the poll results. I asked all my lovely readers which one of their nails broke the most and the "index" finger won hands down. Which leads me to the question, what is it with the index finger? Because my index finger loves to break. Seriously, browse through my nail art gallery and you will notice in about 80% of the pictures I have a broken, short, and stumpy index finger. lol Although, this isn't a problem for everyone. There was 10 people that voted who must have amazing genes that blessed them thick perfect nails, because they don't break. It is either good genes or they have some amazing nail secret for thick strong nails that they better share with us! =) lol

I will think of a new poll question to add hopefully later today. I also have some new designs for you that I will post by this weekend. =)

Spring Time Pedicure Nail Art Design | Bedding Inspired

2011-04-21T16:03:00.000-04:00

Here is my latest pedicure. It is spring themed and it was actually inspired from a comforter I saw on Target's website. Bedding might seem like quite an odd place to draw inspiration from, but I encourage you to take a look at some bedding or even fabrics. Their designs can be easily created by layering nail stamping images like I did here. There was a few other comforters I wanted to try to create nail designs for, like this one that I have the perfect image for on my first set of BM image plates. Surprisingly, I do not have a nude polish (I will fix that though) so that design will have to wait. =P Here is a list of the products I used...

Light Pink Color: Essie "Van D'Go" (well it is more of a light peach color)

Bright Pink Color: Wet'N'Wild "Tickled Pink"

Light Purple Color: China Glaze "Spontaneous"

Dark Purple Color: Pure Ice "Scandal"

Image Plate: BM 15

Rhinestones & Hexagons: Ebay.com

Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe Swatch & Design

2011-04-18T15:28:00.000-04:00

How gorgeous are Deborah Lippmann glitters?! They are so pretty I want every single last one of them. lol I used Pure Ice "All Night Long" which is a dark navy blue color for the base, then topped it off with 2 coats of Deborah Lippmann "Across The Universe" polish. I probably could have achieved the same color effect with a few coats of the DL "ATU" but I love this polish soo much I didn't want to use the extra coats if I can achieve the same effect using a base coat, so that's what I did. I think this and my Gosh polish are definitely my two favorites in my collection. I love polishes that don't need anything added to them to look this good, although my deco-tendencies made me add some pearls and rhinestones a few days later. lol I also used Seche Vite as my top coat, and this is the first time I experience shrinkage with this top coat. As you can see from the pics above, it looks like I have some slight tip wear, but the polish was freshly applied before the swatch pics. Meaning Seche Vite had to be the culprit lol.

What do you think of this color? Do you like the color more just by itself, or do you think the decorations make it that much more beautiful? Which polishes have you used that you experienced shrinkage while using Seche Vite as your top coat?

Pretty Pink & Teal Flower Nail Art Design

2011-04-13T20:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have been MIA for a while. =( It's almost the end of the semester, so there are tests and assignments every other day! It'll all be over soon though lol. Back to the nails- I wanted to do this mani back in Winter and I had to patiently wait to do it. Of course, right after I did this mani it got cold again! lol Oh well, it will get warmer again soon. =) Anyways, I bought the roses that I used for this design from the BornPrettyStore and they came in a pack with a bunch of other nail canes for under $10. Click the link if you want to check them out ..

Blue Color: Sinful Colors "Savage"

Rose & Rhinestones: BornPrettyStore & Ebay.com

I also have some swatches/nail designs and a pedicure that I am going to post this week. Along with another post for storing your image plates. I hope you like the design! I will have another one up in a day or two. =)

2 more New Bundle Monster Plate Releases!!

2011-04-12T16:37:00.000-04:00

OMG!!! Look how freaking cute these new plates are!! Click the picture to enlarge it. I am in love with their leopard print image, the flowers, the wavy design, the gingerbread man, just everthing on these plates!! Thank god for Cherish always letting me know when the new plates come out because these new ones are just too cute to miss! There is still no word when these plates will be released- but I am more than ready for their arrival.

These might just be my two favorite plates that they've shown us so far! (along with the halloween designs plate) Which designs are your favorite from these new plates? And how anxious are you for BM to release these new plates already!!??

Yet Another New Bundle Monster Image Plate

2011-04-07T18:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry it took me a little bit to get this post up. Here is the newest BM image plate and how cute is it?? The butterflies, the flowers, the xmas design, the wavy design, I think I love every design on this plate. There is still no word for the exact release date for the new set of plates but I promise once I hear anything I will let you know.

Which design on this plate is your favorite? Which new image plate has been your favorite so far?

Spring Flowers Nail Art TUTORIAL!!

2011-04-07T14:25:00.000-04:00

I think I kept you all waiting long enough. lol =) Here is the tutorial for how I did the flower design I posted a week or so ago. I think you will be happy to see how absolutely easy it is...

Step 1

Prep your nails with a white polish.

Step 2

Take a pink polish and gently tap the brush randomly on your nail.

Step 3

Repeat the same steps using a blue polish.

Step 4

Repeat the same steps with a purple polish.

Step 5

Repeat the same steps with a yellow polish.

(At this point you want to make sure the white base color is covered)

Step 6

Take a green polish and use the brush to create small "V" and line shapes to create "leaves".

Step 7

Continue to add "leaves" to your nails, add a layer of top coat, and your done!

So there you go. A super easy nail design that anyone can do. No special brushes or any percision needed. I hope everyone likes it! I have the products I used listed on the original post here. Feel free to use other colors to create a different look for this design. If you try this out, take pics and leave me some links in the comments. I'd love to see it! =)

KONAD PEDICURE | Pink & Black Leopard Nail Art Design & TUTORIAL!!

2011-04-06T14:15:00.000-04:00

I love this pedi! I think it's my favorite one I did so far. I was even more excited when it finally started to get warm and this was the first pedi I got to wear with flip flops this season!! =D I also wanted to do tutorials for some of my pedi's, but I wasn't really thrilled about having my feet on YouTube. So instead I think I am going to do pic tutorials for my pedi's. Since this post is very pic heavy, I'm going to shut up now and let you know the products I used so we can get to the tutorial. lol

White Color: Sinful Colors "Tokyo Pearl"

Black Color: Sinful Colors "Black on Black"

Pink Color: Petites Color Fever "Raspberry Ice"

Image Plate: Konad M57

Rhinestones & Beads: Ebay.com DollarNailArt.com

I also gave Sassy a pedicure while I was at it. =D

**TUTORIAL**

1:2:5 ~ Paint nails a white color.

3 ~ Paint nails a hot pink color.

4 ~ Paint nails a black color.

1 ~ Apply the leopard image from image plate M57 sideways on your big toe in black.
2 ~ Fill in the spots with a silver polish.
3 ~ Add a silver glitter polish over the silver your just applied & wait for your nails to dry completely.
4 ~ Apply a piece of scotch tape to the bottom of the leopard image.
5 ~ Add a coat of black polish and gently pull off the tape.
6 ~ Apply hot pink rhinestones along the black line and fill in the gaps with gold micro beads.

1 ~ Apply a black rhinestone to the top middle of your 2nd toe.

2 ~ Apply a silver rhinestone to the top middle of your 4th toe.

1:2 ~ Apply hot pink rhinestones over your 3rd toe.

1:2 ~ Apply the leopard image to your baby toe in Black and add silver glitter polish in the spots.

Then apply a layer of top coat to all your nails and your done! Pretty easy huh? I hope you liked this design! I will have more posts comming soon! BM just released another image plate, so I am going to cover that. Then I will also do my Spring Flowers tutorial & a post on how to store your image plates. =D

Adoree Swatches & Review!! Pic Heavy

2011-04-04T20:20:00.001-04:00

The lovely Thresa at Esthers Nail Center sent me these 5 polishes to review. I am so excited because this is my first review and I love to try out new nail products- it's my weakness. lol =D Adoree polishes are $6/ea and come in soooo many pretty colors. You can check out their selection here. While your there, I suggest checking out their nail art supplies too because they are amazing.

149 Royal Red

Direct Sunlight

In the shade

I loved this color! I would describe it as a dark coral red. I think this color would be perfect for summer. The application of this polish was also silky smooth & pictured above is 2 coats.

174 Cinnamon

What a pretty gold color! Ironically, I only have one gold polish in my collection and I don't like it too much. But this gold is a lot more opaque and easier to work with. Above is 3 coats, but you can easily get away with 2. This polish has a pearl-like finish, so be sure to roll the bottle between your hands really good to mix the color.

227 Claret Rose

This color looked a little more brown in person, but my camera picked up the orange and gold undertones. I think this color would be awesome for the fall season. I like how this color is a mix between orange and brown because it makes it a lot more wearable. I am wearing 3 coats in this picture.

158 Neon Yellow

This is a nice bright yellow. It is really hard to find a true yellow so I was really impressed with this polish and the color pay off. This yellow is pretty much the brightest yellow you can find without looking like a highlighter. lol I used 3 coats for the picture, but 2 coats will work just fine.

115 Petal Purple

This color was my favorite of the bunch. It's a perfect purple color for spring with a slight blue sheen. Petal Purple was slightly sheer and I needed 3 coats to make it completely opaque. It was worth it though because I already got compliments while I was wearing this.

The thing I liked the most about these polishes is their dry time. I painted one of the swatches and went to put on my jacket so I could take pics outside- completely forgetting I had just painted my nails. To my surprise they didn't smudge at all! =) Which makes me very happy because I am so very impatient when it comes to drying my nails. lol They don't dry as fast as Seche Vite, but they don't dry as slow as a regular polish either- they are somewhere in between.

Another thing I would like to point out is I did not use top coat for any of my swatch pictures. So as you can see, Adoree polishes have a high shine finish. The polish also works as a nail strengthener, which is always a plus. And lastly, these polishes are 18ml, which is bigger than most polishes. (They are the same size as Orly)

Do you own any Adoree nail polishes? Do you have any similar colors in your collection already? I think I have a possible dupe for Royal Red and maybe Petal Purple.

Oh My GOSH HOLOGRAPHIC & New Polishes!

2011-04-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

(w/flash)

LED Light

Fluorescent Light

LED Light

Sunlight

Do I even need to say anything?! I will anyway- even though I think the pictures speak for themselves lol. My Mom gave me some early Easter presents, including this Gosh Holographic polish which makes me feel bad after knowing how much she spent! lol If you ever checked out this polish on Ebay, you will know what I am talking about. But nonetheless, my Mom has given me the best polishes in my collection =)

I was having some trouble with this polish at first. I tried it out on my mom's nails that were already prepped with a base coat and the polish was like slipping and moving around on her nails. It was kinda weird. Then I tried to apply this over Sally Hansen's "Pure Chrome" and it worked a lot better over this polish. Apparently you are supposed to use this polish with a special base coat, so maybe that makes all the difference. The one thing I didn't like about this polish is you only get that awesome rainbow effect in certain lighting and angles. I got the best rainbow effect with flash lighting and LED lighting & in some lighting it looked like a regular silver polish. (I'm not sure if that was due to my base color though) I am going to play with this polish some and see what works and what doesn't, but either way, it is still gorgeous and I would guard this polish with my life! lol

Next up are these beautiful Deborah Lippmann polishes that my Mom also got me! (Bless her dear heart! lol) The blue one is "Across The Universe" and the red one is "Ruby Red Slippers." After seeing these polishes in person, I think this is going to be that brand that I am going to collect and make a special little spot for in my nail polish stash. =) They are just soo pretty I am afraid to even paint my nails with them because I don't want to waste any! lol I love the multiple glitter shapes and colors in these polishes, it really gives them this multi-dimensional effect that is so unique. Here is a close up so you can see what I am talking about..

I feel like my life is more complete with these polishes. lol It will be even more complete when I have the new BM plates too! =)

This week I will have more swatches & a review, a picture tutorial for my spring flowers nail design, and a really pretty pedicure that I will have to do more than once!

New Bundle Monster Image Plate & Nail Art Design Teaser!

2011-04-02T20:40:00.002-04:00

Here is another teaser for the Bundle Monster Image Plates and they even made a very pretty nail art design to go with it! I definitly want to re-create this look when I get my set! I love to color combo and how those two designs compliment each other so well. That necklace or bracelet in the picture also goes very well with the mani. lol I am sooo excited for these plates to go on sale! I can't handle it anymore! I want them! They could at least let us know when the exact release date is instead of torturing us like this lol. By the way, the gold color in the picture is "Sally Hansen's chrome pen in gold" and BM is going to upload a picture of how the design covered the thumb nail. It isn't up yet but when it is I will edit this post instead of making another one.

UPDATE: If you think they will sell out of their new image plates, BM says "No worries, we will have lots of it in stock! :)" YAYYY!!

Spring Flower Nail Art Design & Poll Results!

2011-04-02T18:46:00.001-04:00

I did this mani specifically so I could do a tutorial for an easy beginner nail art design and just guess what happened? MY CAMERA NEVER RECORDED IT!! Ahh! =( It recorded everything except when I did my ring finger- which was the whole point of the video. lol Needless to say I am a little bummed, but I will either do another design with this technique, or I might just repaint 2 fingers like I did for the last tutorial. No biggie! But if you wanted to achieve this effect it is super easy. Here is how you do it. Paint your nails a white color for a base. Pick 4 spring colored polishes, and gently tap the brush onto random spots on your nail. Then take a green polish and make little V's and lines to create "leaves" and your done! Easy right? But you know me, and I had to bring it up a notch, so here is the same design with some sparkle ...

UPDATE: I made a tutorial for this design. Click here to see how it's done! =)

& here is the long list of products used ...

-Ring Finger-

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Cream Pink"

Blue Color: Sinful Colors "Savage"

Purple Color: China Glaze "Spontaneous"

Yellow Color: Sinful Colors "Let's Meet"

Green Color: Revlon "Emerald City"

-Other Fingers-

Pink Color: Finger Paints - "I Pink I Can"

-Rhinestones & Decorations-

Ebay.com & JoAnns.com

Also, I got the idea for my new watermark from Abby at Lovely In Laquer, who just posted an amazingly pretty pink glitter gradient nail design you should check out =). I loved this idea and thought it looked sooo cute. I made my watermark into a brush and I have to admit it made my life so much easier when it came to editing my pics. I got a few designs I'm fiddling with, so you'll see the variation of them on my upcoming posts. =)

Now onto the poll results. Last week, I asked my lovely readers how many nail polishes they had in their collection. What prompted me to ask this question is there was a few blogs I read that mentioned their polish count at about 600-800+!!! I started to think this was the average number of polishes for a nail blogger to have and was wondering if I should be embarrassed of my polish counter on the side lmao! But then I just asked and was happy to see that most of you had the same amount of polishes as me! =D Although there was a few votes for 400+ polishes.. sigh.. those lucky, lucky girls. lol

I will be posting a new poll question on my blog when I am done with this & I also have some new polishes and swatches I have to show you in the next few days!

New Bundle Monster Plate!

2011-04-02T17:57:00.000-04:00

Bundle Monster released a new image plate! If you want to learn more info visit their facebook page or you can visit Cherish's blog -since she is usually the first blogger to keep us updated on BM's new releases. =)

If you want to get their new set for free, visit their facebook page and enter their contest. Your design should include BM products and the top 25 designs that get the most "likes" will win their new set! The contest ends on April 11th- I am wondering if that is when the new set will be available for sale...

So what do you think of this new plate? I love the little sleigh for xmas and the shoe design! How cute! What designs do you hope are on their new set? I think it would be nice to have some palm trees or hibiscus flowers for summer, or a firework design for 4th of July! Either way, I am pretty sure there will be a lot of fun images to play with on this new set! =D

Weekly Nail Blog Round-Up!

2011-04-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

Stacie from KawaiiNailArt had the great idea to do a Weekly Nail Blog Round-Up to feature our favorite nail art designs from the current week. If you wanted to be a part of the weekly round up click here.

Jen showed us how to use our Konad plates in a more inventive way with this manicure.

Stacie was in an angelic mood this week with her angel wing manicure.

Emily let her chocolate tendencies get the best of her with these Cadbury Nails that look good enough to eat!

To celebrate her starting a blog Claire is having an OPI Giveaway.

Shella was inspired by furry creatures and this lovely little bear manicure was the result.

Linda had fluffy bunnies and baby chicks on her fingers this week

Last but not least, For Your Nails Only's Spring Flowers free hand painted nails!

And I am pretty sure you are already familiar with my butterfly manicure. If you haven't already here is another look- & I recently went back and made a tutorial so be sure to check that out!

Bundle Monster Full Sized Image Comparrison!

2011-03-31T22:35:00.000-04:00

Wow! Bundle Monster has been updating left and right- it would be so hard to keep up without Cherish keeping me posted! Bundle Monster gave us a little comparrison of the full sized images from their first set and their new set. You can definitley see they are bigger this time around. When I finally get them in my hands, I will do a review asap and compare the sizes from both their sets and the konad plates. They also said that they will be announcing a contest tomorrow so I will update you on that once they let us know more details. =)

More Bundle Monster Image Plate Releases!!!!

2011-03-31T11:57:00.000-04:00

Here are the newest pictures Bundle Monster released on their Facebook. The new plates will have a blue covering and they will also have a backing this time too to reduce the sharpness. BM also mentioned that the pricing for this set will be $21.99! This set will have 150 images so you will only be paying $0.14-$0.15 per image, which is pretty much the same pricing as the first set at $0.13-$0.14 per image. If you haven't been following along, this new set will have BIGGER images and should be available in about 2 weeks. More updates to come !!! How exciting is it seeing all 25 images plates? I can't contain myself, I want this new set so bad! I already made swatches that I am just waiting to stamp. lol

Glittery Spring Deco Nail Art Design

2011-03-30T19:21:00.000-04:00

Peach Color: Essie - "Van D'Go"

Glitter Color: OPI- "Teenage Dream"

Rhinestones & Butterflies: Ebay.com

Pearls: BornPrettyStore

Oh how I wish I made a tutorial for this look, but I really didn't expect it to turn out this good! I wasn't too sure how I was going to like this color combo but I really like the way it turned out. I tried my Essie polish "Van D'go" that I won in Katrina's giveaway and OMG I loved this polish. I am so suprised how well it looked on my skin tone because I don't find many polishes that do. So I was off to a good start, then I added 2 coats of Teenage Dream which really complimented this color. I was also waiting for spring to use my gold butterflies and I figured it would be the perfect time. (Although were supposed to get a snow storm this weekend, crazy, I know) Then after I added the decorations and applied a coat of my brand new bottle of Seche, I was in love. lol I took these pictures with my Mom's camera which is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. and it even has a super macro mode which worked so well for taking nail pics. I am going to have to figure out a way to take more pics with her camera. lol I figured I might as well enter this into ThatsSOfresh's Spring Nail Contest although I didn't plan on it. But I just heard about it, the theme works, and it ends April 1st so this is my last chance to enter. The winner will get a $50 giftcard to WowSoCool. If you want to enter, do it now before it ends!

UPDATE: I went back and took this design off two nails because I was desperate to make a tutorial for this look. lol I'm going to update the format of my tutorials page and add this to it.

The PERFECT nail art supplies for beginners! & Under $50 !!

2011-03-30T16:13:00.000-04:00

This post is for nail beginners who are interested in nail art and are starting their own collection. With thousands of nail products on the market, it can be really hard to decide which products to purchase. And if you are just starting, it can be even harder to know which supplies to buy first. I have been growing my collection for a few years now but if it was all gone tomorrow and I only had $50, this is what I would buy ...

The Basic Colors

The first colors you want to buy should be black, white, and your favorite color. I suggest Sinful Colors "Black on Black" and "Snow me White" for your black and white polishes. They can be bought online for $2.50 on their website or Cherry Culture- OR you can buy them at your local Walgreens for $2.00. Not only are they affordable, but they work very well for nail stamping. Another brand I would suggest is Pure Ice which is also $2.oo at Walmart. I've used both of these brands and the quality is very good for the price & I only had trouble with a few of their polishes. Along with black, white, and your favorite color- buy 3-5 other basic colors like blue, purple, red, green, maybe a gold or silver, or whatever your little heart desires. I would also snag a glitter polish. =)

Image Plates

The best deal on image plates that I found are from a company called Bundle Monster. They sell a set of 21 image plates for $17.99. (In a couple weeks they will have also have a new set and I will have to update this post. lol) The image plates contain a total of 133 designs, and with this price, you only end up paying between $0.13-$0.14 per image, compared to Konad which averages $0.99 per image. You might also want to invest in a stamper or else you won't get much use out of your image plates. lol =) I found this one for $3.39.

The Miracle Top Coat

Seche Vite is a little miracle in a bottle and can be bought at Sally's for $7.99. I am completley obsessed with this top coat and most nail bloggers will agree with me. Seche is different from other top coats in many ways. Firstly, it is very thick, which provides the ultimate protection for your nail color. Secondly, it dries sooo fast, like less than 5 minutes fast, which is quite unheard of for a polish this thick. Lastly, it provides a mirror-like shine over your nails that will last over a week. Not to mention, Seche Vite will not smudge your nail stamping designs. When applied correctly, Seche makes your nails look amazing. In order to acheive these results, you need to apply a thick coat. Also avoid having the brush touch your nails- you want it to glide over the thick layer of polish you are applying.

Some Extra Glitz & Glam

Next I would buy some rhinestones, striper brushes, or any other nail art supply of your choice. Ebay is a good place to find a lot of inexpensive nail art supplies. I also had luck with finding striper polishes in the Dollar Store and some rhinestones at my local craft store. This is the time to buy whatever else you want with the money that is left over. I love anything shiny and blingy so I would go with the rhinestones. Nail stripers would be a good choice too if you wanted to do some freehand work. Abby also mentioned dotting tools, which are great for beginners and are useful in so many ways.

So after all your purchases this is what you will have and how much it would cost. & I love you girls so much I did all the boring math for you lol. =)

8 Nail Polishes .......... x$2 .......... $16
BM Image Plates .................... $17.99
Nail Stamper ............................ $3.39
Seche Vite ................................... $7.99
Rhinestones or Nail Stripers .. $4
GRAND TOTAL: $49.37

Is there anything you would add to this list? Anything you would take out? If you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments and I will add them in this post =)

Bundle Monster releases another image of their new plates!!

2011-03-29T22:33:00.000-04:00

Here's the newest image plate Bundle Monster will be adding to their new collection. If you haven't heard- Bundle Monster is releasing a new set of 25 image plates that will have BIGGER full sized images. The first set will still be available & the new set will have similar pricing. They should be available in about 2 weeks and BM recently got their sample plates to test. You can visit Bundle Monster's Facebook page for more info.

BM also said that this new set will have lots of full sized images and french tip designs- I like the full sized images, but I'm honestly not that into french tip designs. I am still sooo excited for the set and I do like the bottom two designs, along with the leaf one. What about you? Which designs do you like on this plate? Do you like full sized images or french dip designs more?

Cute Pink & Yellow Spring Nail Design & Tutorial

2011-03-28T20:12:00.000-04:00

This nail design was unplanned except for the fact I knew I wanted to do something for Spring. I was searching through my image plates and the flower design on my BM16 plate caught my eye as it always does. I just never used this design because I knew the full image wouldn't fit over my entire nail. (Thank god Bundle Monster will have bigger images on their next set!) But I really wanted to use this design so I figured out a way to make it work. I also made a tutorial if you wanted to know how to do this design. =)

Yellow Color: Sinful Colors "Unicorn"

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Pink Forever"

Image Plate: BM16 (Bundle Monster)

Mircro Beads: Ebay.com & DollarNailArt.com

Sparkly & Starry Glitter Pedicure Design

2011-03-27T17:38:00.000-04:00

Blue Color: Milani - "Blue Flash"

Stars, Rhinestones, & Beads: Ebay.com, DollarNailArt.com, Joanns.com

I recently bought some new polishes and Milani's "Blue Flash" was one of them. This polish reminds me of a color Alice would wear in her Wonderland. Well this color and OPI's "Absolutely Alice"- but sadly that color isn't a part of my collection so this is the closest to wonderland I'll get. lol The first picture I took in the shade and is more color accurate to this polish. But I just had to see what this color looked like in the sun- which was a light show spectacular-although for some reason my camera picked up a darker less sparkly color. This color was pretty enough to wear on its own, but if you know me, I just had to add something on there. I figured a star design would work good with the colors. What do you think?

New Polish Additions =) & Quick Reviews

2011-03-27T17:23:00.000-04:00

I was checking out Ivana's Blog recently when I chose her nail design for my NOTW and was looking at some of her recent polish purchases and swaps. She is a slightly bad influence on me since we have the same taste in polishes (especially when it comes to pinks and purples) and I just had to get some of the polishes I saw on her blog. =) lol

Above we have Milani polishes which I was surprised to find at my local Walgreens. The last few times I went there, I don't even remember seeing their Milani displays- but this time I got lucky. Here's what I got...

Milani - "Purple Gleam"

Milani - "Gold"

Milani - "Blue Flash"

*Close Up*

Purple Gleam & Blue Flash are part of Milani's "One Coat Glitter" series. I wouldn't say they are exactly one coaters, however, it only takes 2 coats to achieve opaque glittery goodness. Even though 1 coat isn't completely opaque, it would still be too over powering to use as a glitter top coat. These polishes consist of a very fine glitter with a slightly colored base coat from what I could tell. Blue Flash seems to have a clear to light base color, but Purple Gleam seems to have a darker, maybe purple base color. I love both these colors equally- but I have to admit that the purple color is very unique and is absolutely stunning with some top coat. Overall, these are by far my favorite glitter polishes along with Sally Hansen "Rockstar Pink." I never had any glitter polishes that were this jam packed with glitter, and if that is the look you are going for- these polishes would be perfect for you.

As for Milani's Jewel FX polish in "Gold" - this is a clear polish that is loaded with small hexagonal glitter. It looks very cute over any polish and can add extra sparkle to any nail design. I tried this color out on a swatch wheel over a few colors and it is so pretty. I already have an idea for how I am going to use this polish for a Christmas design. I am not sure how many coats it will take to be opaque- my guess is around 3-4- but I will do some research and update this post when I find out. =)

Next up are some OPI polishes from the Katy Perry collection that my bf was sweet enough to buy me. =) I found these at Trade Secret (the only place I know where to buy OPI in my state) and these were the two prettiest colors left on the display. I couldn't choose between the two because they were both unique in their own way, so I snagged both. Pictured above is..

OPI - "The One That Got Away"

OPI - "Teenage Dream"

Close Up

"The One That Got Away" is almost as hard to describe as it was to get a color accurate picture. It's a redish - pinkish - berryish color with flecks of gold and purple shimmer. It's one of those colors that put you in a trance when you move it around in the light. As for "Teenage Dream"- this is a glitter polish with a clear base that has very small fine glitter in a pinkish, purple, mauve color, along with bigger glitter shapes that are silver with rainbow reflects. With the perfect combination of glitter sizes and color- Teenage Dream is a step above your regular glitter polishes. It is more on the sheer side, so it will take a few extra coats to achieve the bottle color. But as you can see from the close up pic, it is well worth it.

Do you have any polishes from these collections? How are you liking them so far? I really want more colors of the Milani glitter polishes, or better yet, get my hands on their 3D polishes. =)

Giveaway Goodies!! & a quick update

2011-03-26T23:19:00.000-04:00

If you didn't already know, last week I won Katrina's 1st blog birthday giveaway! I was so excited because I never won anything. Well actually, in 2nd grade I won a one size fits all green sweater with the name of my school on it and a drawing of a tiger. So let me re-phrase that.. never have I ever won anything good lol. I was even more excited when I got home and saw the package sitting on the counter. I ran into my room and opened it right away. Katrina packaged everything soooo cutely. It definately made it 10x more fun to open. & I got a sweet lil thank you note written in perfect handwriting.

Here is what I got =)

Rimmel - Sunset Orange

Essie - Van D'Go

Orly - Candy Cane Lane

Barielle - Elle's Spell

Sally Hansen - Sea and be seen

Nicole by OPI - Nicole .. Spotted

Revlon - Emerald City

Zoya - Edyta

And I wanted to show you a close up of Elle's Spell since it was very unique...

I never seen a color like this before. It's a deep red color with a jelly base, glitter and iridescent flakes. In my opinion, if China Glaze- Ruby Pumps and Sally Hansen- Hidden Treasure had a love child- it would be this color. lol

I am sooo excited to use all of these polishes. Funny thing is, these are my first Zoya, Rimmel, Essie, Nicole by OPI, and Barielle polishes. I want to do a mani with the Essie color really soon & I think the Rimmel color is *perfect* for summer. Ahh! I just want to wear them all!

And in case you were wondering- these polishes are kitty approved. =D

And I wanted to give another *BIG* thanks to Katrina for having this fun giveaway and for being the awesome blogger she is!!

Updates: I will have a new pedi design posted tomorrow hopefully.. if everything goes according to plan it should have lots of glitter. & I have another nail design and tutorial for you on Monday that is Spring and Flower themed =D ... Also, I am in the process of making a page for my blog that will have all the links of the nail art supply stores I found. I figured this would be helpful since some things are hard to find and you might be able to find everything you need from just one website. So keep a look out for that .. have a good weekend. =)

You guessed it! Another teaser for the new Bundle Monster image plates

2011-03-25T12:50:00.000-04:00

Cherish Cup of Tea let me know that Bundle Moster released yet another sneak peak of their new image plates. && As promised - I would keep you updated. Yesterday they released 2 sneak peaks in one day- so hopefully the trend will continue and I can keep you posted. How cute would that heart design be for Valentine's Day, Anniversarys, or a date night? && That fishnet design would be perfect for layering. I seriously cannot wait to try out these plates!!

Another sneak peak of the new Bundle Monster image plates...

2011-03-24T01:07:00.000-04:00

Photo Credit

Super quick post. I just wanted to give you girls an update and show you the newest picture Bundle Monster released of their new image plates. If you didn't already know- Bundle Monster is expected to come out with a new set of 25 image plates in about 3 weeks which will be available on Amazon. I hope they keep posting pictures of their new image plates while we wait the painfully long 3 weeks. lol

How cute is that pumpkin with the scary tree & the haunted house!? I'm already so excited to do halloween designs for this year! I also like the full image design of what seems to be an alligator skin print maybe? Anyways, I will post more pics of these plates if Bundle Monster releases anymore. =)

Cute Deco Chanel Nail Art Design & Tutorial

2011-03-23T13:49:00.000-04:00

I bought Orly's "Halley's Comet" back when the FX collection came out- but this is the first time I wore it and I have NO idea why I waited so long! I always thought the color was pretty in the bottle, hence the reason I bought it, but I did not know it would look this cute on. The polish has almost a foil like appearance with flecks of shimmer that reflect blue and green light. I was about to wear this polish all by itself (which I never do) it was that pretty. But after staring at the color for an hour- I decided I would add some extra pizzazz to it & this is what I came up with. I also made a tutorial for this design which is posted below if you want to check it out.

Blue Color: Orly "Halley's Comet" (2 Coats)

Rhinestones, Beads, Etc: Ebay.com Joanns.com DollarNailArt.com

Top Coat: Seche Vite

Also- just a note for those of you that may be wondering. If you apply at least 2 layers of top coat to your nails, the decorations should stay on for about a week.

100+ followes & some BIG thank yous!!

2011-03-20T14:18:00.000-04:00

If you look a little over to your right, maybe scroll down a little bit, you can see that I finally have over 100 followers!! xx YAYYYY!!

I originally made a blog to share my nail designs- and also some clothes & makeup along the way. I started blogging pretty much a year ago, but wasn't too into it at first. I was lazy about posting and would update maybe twice a month, take alright pictures, and post so-so nail designs from some of my first Konadicures. lol I would even skip posting some really cute manicures =( - don't worry, nowadays, I would never let a fab. mani go un-photographed. But since Jan 2011- I think it would be safe to say thats when I REALLY got into the whole blogging thing and already posted more in the past 3 months than I have in the past year! Since Jan 2011 is when I would say my blog took off because I was definately more involved. I posted more frequently, talked to more lovely bloggers, took better pics, and not to mention- my nail skills were A LOT better since I started. =D

But I don't think all my hard efforts alone would have gotten me to 100+ followers in 3 months, so there is definately some people I would like to thank. Firstly is Charming Nails, who is a wonderful nail blogger from Finland. I featured one of her awesome designs on my blog as my Nail Of the Week and she gave me a little thank you shout out on her blog the next day. This was my first mention on another blog & my daily view count has never been that high before! Just from that one lil mention, I got TONS of traffic & some great new followers. So thank you very very much Charming Nails!!! Then on March 10th, I went to check my blogger really quick- and when I did I had around 10 new followers, at first I was just thinking "Wow, people must have really liked those leopard nails I just did..." lol Then after clicking the stats tab- I almost spit my coffee out looking at my view count. Turns out my post about making your own nail polish rack was featured on OPI's Facebook!!!!!! Needless to say- my view count had the highest 90 degree spike I ever seen lol. So a VERY BIG THANK YOU to OPI! I still get traffic everyday from their facebook. =) And last but not least, last night, blogger and follower Rainbows&Sparkles noticed that I was very close to 100 followers and was sweet enough to send some my way!! So now I have 104 followers, which is exactly how many nail polishes I have at the moment, so I am very happy with this number! lol So of course, I owe another big thank you to Rainbows&Sparkles!! THANNKKKS!!! I def. have to admit, that blogging has become my newest addiction other than polish! & how can you not? Seriously, everyone on blogger is soooooo nice & friendly, and it is really true that this is a "community" and one blogger is always willing to help out another one- I love it.

Actually, there is 104 people to thank, and those are all my wonderful followers!! Thank you so much for following and reading!! All 104 of you are the reason I keep polishing and posting. So THANK YOU for being such an inspiration!! And because I love you guys so much- I am thinking of doing a GIVEAWAY soon!!! Maybe in a month- or when I get 150-200 followers, but we will see how that goes. But I will DEF. have one soon and I am already brainstorming of what I should get for the giveaway! Ooorrr I might just do a smaller giveaway now for my 100 followers & doing a bigger one at 200? Not too sure yet. But I will figure it out and let you know. =)

Bundle Monster is coming out with NEW image plates!!!

2011-03-19T17:03:00.000-04:00

After reading Rainbows&Sparkle's most recent post, I learned that Bundle Monster is going to be releasing NEW image plates!! & I just had to learn more!! I did a little research which brought me over to their facebook fan page where I found some more details.

The next set they will be releasing includes not just 21 but *25* image plates!! According to Bundle Monster, the plates will include "lots of full nail and french tip designs." They also listened to all our feedback and are making the full images on the new plates BIGGER!! Bundle Monster also said the "Launch date will be within 3 weeks or so. We are finalizing the designs; production will take about 2 weeks. Price will be similar to the 21 piece set we have currently. We won't charge an arm or a leg for it~ ;)." If you become a fan on their facebook page- you will be the first to know the release date.

So who is excited?! I really want to try that flower french tip design on the first plate, it would be too cute for summer & I already have some ideas on how I can use it. =P I can't wait to get my hands on these!! I am going to be watching their updates like a hawk- so I can get them ASAP & do a review- plus some nail designs of course! Counting down the days now ...

KONAD PEDICURE| Cute Spring Bright Pink & Blue Pedicure Nail Art Design

2011-03-19T15:08:00.000-04:00

This is my latest Konad pedicure. I did a design very similar to this a while back, but never took pics. =( So since the colors worked well for Spring, and since Spring officially starts tomorrow- I figured this would be the perfect time to try this pedicure out again. I LOVE this color combo and have some manis planned out for summer with the same color scheme.

Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Pink Forever" 2 coats

2nd Pink Color: Sally Hansen "LCD" 2 coats

Blue Color: Pure Ice "Pussycat"

Black Color: Sinful Colors "Black on Black"

Image Plate: Konad M57

KONAD NAIL ART | Cute Deco Flower Nail Art Design && TUTORIAL !! ...

2011-03-18T14:15:00.000-04:00

Here is a easy-to-do nail art design. I had trouble getting decent pics since it was gloomy and cloudy the day I took these- but I was able to get a few. I really wanted to use this Konad design again, but since I already used it for another mani, I needed to change it up a bit. So I changed the color scheme and added some rhinestones & beads.

Gray Color: Pure Ice "Kiss Me Here"

White Color: Konad Special Polish in "White"

Image Plate: Konad M60

Top Coat: Seche Vite

And guess what else?! I am officially on YouTube and making video tutorials for my nail art designs!!!! I finally figured out a technique for making the vids- so hopefully I can make this a regular thing. I made the videos short & straight to the point- I figured this would make it a lot easier to edit and take less time to make them so I could keep posting. So I apologize in advance for not explaining anything in depth- but on the other hand theres plenty of other videos on YouTube that will explain the basics in detail. Anyways, I need a drum roll please ... Here is my first official video tutorial ...

If there is anything that I can do to make the vids better or more helpful- just let me know in the comments! I hope everyone likes the design!! I already have my next tutorial lined up so in a few days I will have the posted too!!

St. Patrick's Day Nail Art Design ...

2011-03-14T22:40:00.000-04:00

So here is my St. Patrick's Day mani. I was having trouble with my polishes while I was doing the water marbeling, so it didn't turn out quite the way I thought it would- but I still like it. =) I had to hurry up and finish this design before I ran out of sunlight to take the pics, so I apologize for not cleaning up the cuticles. lol

Yellow Color: Sinful Colors "Let's Meet"

Light Green Color: Sinful Colors "Irish Green"

Dark Green Color: Sinful Colors "San Francisco"

Green Glitter: Sinful Colors "Call You Later"

Gold Micro Beads: DollarNailArt.com

Tagged: Handwriting Survey ...

2011-03-13T18:21:00.000-04:00

I was unofficially tagged by Kellie Gonzo for this handwriting tag. If you want to do this tag, grab a notebook & pretty pen and answer the following questions in your own handwriting ...

1. What is your name? and your blog?
2. What is your blog URL?
3. Write "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
4. Favorite Quote
5. Favorite Song
6. Favorite Bands/Singers
7. Say anything you want.
8. Pass it along ...

I tag My Colorful Nailart, Katrina's Nail Blog, My Pretty Nailz, Charming Nails and anyone else who wants to do this tag!

Saint Patrick's Day Pedicure Nail Art Design

2011-03-12T15:25:00.000-05:00

Here is my St. Patrick's Day pedicure. I figured I would do a pedicure to give you some inspiration before I posted my mani. For the big toe, I used a sponging technique to make the colors fade and just added some rhinestones & other embelishments, the second toe is just medium green and glitter, middle toe is dark green with beads, 4th toe is light green with small green hexagons, and the baby toe is just dark green and glitter. Here are the products I used ...

Light Green Color: Sinful Colors "Innocent"

Medium Green Color: Sinful Colors "Irish Green"

Dark Green Color: Sinful Colors "San Fransico"

Green Glitter: Sinful Colors "Call You Later"

Rhinestones, Beads, Hexagons: Joanns.com Ebay.com DollarNailArt.com

Have you done your St. Patrick's Day pedicure yet? If so, leave a link to your post in the comments, I would love to see it!

Crackle & Scotch Tape Mani | Cute & Easy Nail Art Design

2011-03-11T14:41:00.000-05:00

Here is my current mani. I was looking at Chloe's Nail Blog and found her tutorial on how she does her scotch tape manis. The designs she is able to make with just some scotch tape are amazing, so you should check out her blog and see more of her work. This was my first attempt at the scotch tape mani, and I think it came out really well-even though I would posistion the tape better next time. Not as well as Chloe's though- but she also has many years of scotch tape & nail painting experience. lol This mani is really easy, the hardest part is cutting out the tiny strips of tape- but the results are well worth it. Since I was a first timer, I just decided to do two fingers with the rays and just used a crackle polish for my other 3 nails.

Light Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Glass Pink"

Medium Pink Color: Sinful Colors "Cream Pink"

Dark Pink Color: China Glaze "Hyper Haute"

Black Color: Sinful Colors "Black on Black"

Black Crackle Color: China Glaze "Black Mesh"

On another note, the reason I never posted a Mardi Gras mani is because it ended up being a complete nail fail. lol I used those tiny lil beads to create "mardi gras beads" but when I applied the top coat the color from the beads came off and smeared all over the place. Also beads were falling off left and right, and I dinged my nails up like crazy. But here is the pic of my most grand nail fail lol..

Anyways, once I take my new mani off, my St. Patrick's day one will be going on. I'll try to post it early next week.

Prettyfulz

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100+ followes & some BIG thank yous!!

Bundle Monster is coming out with NEW image plates!!!

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St. Patrick's Day Nail Art Design ...

Tagged: Handwriting Survey ...

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