A Little Beachy

Happy Wednesday! Short post today because I'm not really happy with the gradient so I didn't take many photos but the rest was decent enough!

Index and pinky: China Glaze - Sunday Funday with OPI - Amazon...Amazoff sponged on top.

I found the latter really watery for my gradient and it wasn't building up properly. Poo!

Middle: OPI - Love. Angel. Music. Baby

Ring: China Glaze - Shower Together 

Stamp: Winstonia 108 with China Glaze - Passion as my stamping polish. 

Inspired by this beauteous manicure from Kelli at the Nail Polish Challenge. Whose birthday is today and the reason why I recreated it :)

Rainbow Gradient Stamping

I was in the mood for some nail art after a not so good day. I felt like a gradient but didn't have time for a base and multiple sponge layers. So of course I gravitated towards stamping. I wanted to try some more gradient stamping anyway, so I combined the two! I stamped using this flower design from MoYou Pro Plate 11.

My cuticles are rough. Been a tough week yall I'm sorry lol.

Square Hue: Fifth Avenue

Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear: Sunkissed

OPI: I Just Can't Copeacabana

OPI: Jade Is the New Black

Nails Inc: Baker's Street

Wet n Wild: Who Is Ultra Violet

Base: OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

I hope you liked this! I enjoyed the look overall but wish I had picked a better stamp and tried to get the color transition more centered on the nail. It was actually hard picking colors! I really don't have a lot of range in shades in each of the rainbow colors. Must. Buy. More. Polish.

P.s my right hand is a gold polish. Like the gold at the end of a rainbow. ;)

Mani Swap!

Happy Saturday! Oh I have been waiting for the weekend... had a lovely week of midterms. A Saturday has never felt so good. 

Anyway, I have these amazing mermaid nails that were part of a mani swap with my lovely friend Lauren.

She posted this design on Instagram and I knew I had to copy it. I don't know why I haven't done a gradient with these colors before, it's gorgeous! This post includes my solo shots so be sure to check out Lauren's blog and Instagram and what design of mine she chose to copy.

I used China Glaze - Highlight Of My Summer & Too Yacht To Handle, and the tips are Essie - In The Cabana. Stamping is done with Square Hue - Time Square

A little blurred out so you can enjoy all that holo glitter and stamping! The plate for the fish scales is Mash plate 39 and I definitely had a problem fitting it on my entire nail.

Hope you guys enjoyed this other stamping mani.

Posh Flowers + Video

HALLELUJAH! I finally got my hands on some Zoya matte polishes! Zoya had them, discontinued them, brought them back.... and I still missed it! Luckily a friend sent me a link to a seller on eBay who had them BRAND spankin new and reasonably priced. I didn't hesitate and I have 0 regrets!

Anywho! I decided to use Zoya - Posh first, a gorgeous matte red that has a ruby color which seems to glow from within. I love it.

The flowers are non other than a MoYou stamp, Pro Plate 6. And I stamped with my trusty squishy stamper and Wet 'n Wild - Black Creme.  The glossy on matte combination is a winner in my book.

I've actually filmed a tutorial for this look as well! I know it's all pretty self explanatory but I was dying to use my tripod and test out the video mode. Be gentle, stamping on camera is way harder than I anticipated!

Gradient Stamping pt. 2 + Video

  Happy Sunday! This manicure was fun for me to do because it's using my favorite colors. I am in a stamping group on Facebook that has weekly challenges on Sunday. Today was create a look with three purples. It's the color I have most of in my collection so it was easy as pie! And I was wanting to give gradient stamping another go since I've only done it once before.

On my middle and ring I started with a base of O.P.I - My Boyfriend Scales Walls (the Holy Grail of all whites I believe. So wearable.)  And when that was dry I created a gradient on my stamping plate with China Glaze - Tart-y for the Party, China Glaze - Spontaneous and Barry M - Plum. Those colors are also my thumb, pointer, and pinky finger, respectively.

The image is from MoYou Artist Plate (04) and it's the corner image. It reminds me of an old stylewallpaper. I love it!

And here is a short video I did on the look. I'm loving making videos, even if the ones I've done so far aren't the first of its kind out there! I hope you enjoyed the look. I definitely want to try these in more color schemes.

Neon Cornflowers

 Mmmmm TGIF! And payday for a lot of people (including me!) Hope everyone is kicking the weekend off right. This flower design isn't a cornflower, my titles are usually just mashing whatever manicure colors I have on together.

 I'm excited to share this look with you because I am pretty darn proud of how it came out. 1. I love the colors. 2. Uh, floral stamps. Hello! 3. I used to be terrible at pairing colors together (no I'm not color blind) but my color matches were never real winners in the past. I am definitely getting better with this.

Base: China Glaze - Electric Beat (stunning cornflower blue, perfect in two coats)

Stamping: China Glaze - Highlight of My Summer (gorgeous NEON mint color I picked up just for the name, but ended up loving. And it's marvelously opaque for stamping. Win.)

Flowers: MoYou XL stamping plate (Pro 06).

Also this is what I think of when I think about Friday being pay day. 

Quick post: Satin Flowers

On Wednesdays, we wear pink.

Base: OPI - Hey Baby

Stamping: OPI - Love. Angel. Music. Baby 

Design: MoYou Pro Plate (14)

 Thought it would be fun to include an awkward bottle shot :) I am soooo in love with this gold satin/matte finish. Good job O.P.I!

Gradient Archways & Berry Rose Triangles

   Hello! Here are two manicures I didn't get enough photos of, so I thought I would combine them into one post.

Both stamping images are from MoYou XL Pro Plate (02)

The base for the first is Square Hue - Westminster, a creme polish in a color I would describe as an off white/french vanilla color. I got it in my Square Hue monthly description box and it took three coats to reach opacity, but I have decided I love it! I don't have enough off whites in my collection. 

The stamping colors are A-England - St. George and Dragon. These two colors were made for each other! And they are perfect for stamping. They are holographic but of course the sun was not out for me to get another picture.

This second manicure I think is kind of a miss, because the metallic seemed to dry too fast and I didn't get to pick up some of the triangles. But oh well! I liked the color combo and thought it was decent enough to post. I'm all about the progress.

The base for this manicure was OPI - Ate Berries In the Canaries a gorgeous purple berry color. I love it! I stamped with Essie - Penny Talk a bold copper/rose gold shade that works amazing for stamping.

Quick Post!

Quick, one photo post. Boring, I know. But I just wanted to share another amazing experience with the first generation Winstonia stamping plates! The quality is beyond belief for a new stamping plate brand, and for the first generation. From the biggest full nail images, to small very detailed images.

This right here is the mermaid image from plate W108. After two coats of China Glaze Seaspray, I stamped with China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots from the Hologlam 2013 collection. And it came out perfect!

I also only have one nice photo because chlorine destroys all longevity in manicures. I love swimming class but I have to make sure I get a good photo before or else all you will see is it peeling and chipping. I chose the mermaid because it was the last day before our school pool is closing down and it only made sense to choose something water themed.

So if you don't already have these plates, get them! They are also reasonably priced :)