Easter Nail Art Challenge Day 3 - Eggs

Happy Easter!!!!!

Today is Easter Eggs. Last year I did the egg designs on my nails (Im not going to link, because Im not proud of them lol!), so this year I tried something different.

I used Zoya Blu as my base again. It's the perfect, subtle blue. The bright blue is Zoya Robin, and the purple egg is Barielle Lilac Jelly Bean. I put pink polka dots on the purple egg with Avon Nail Art Enamel in cupid and the yellow on the blue egg is Stripe Rite Yellow. The flower center is also the Stripe Rite Yellow, accented with my Orly Yellow Submarine. For the grass, I started with Avon Nail Art Enamel in Styled Green and then overlayed it with LA Nail Art Deco Mint Green.


Be sure to check out the rest of the participants creations!

Galactic Lacquer

Dipped in Lacquer

Kate Kreates

I’m Just Me…ChiChi

Nail Polish Anonymous

 

I've got to go get ready and make green bean casserole for the family pot luck this afternoon. It's going to be 90 degrees out today, so I bought a maxi dress to wear... and am going to do a hairbow (thanks Pinterest! lol!)

Easter Nail Art Challenge Day 2 - Bunnies

It's Saturday, but not a relaxing one! It never is when it's Easter weekend!!

I am soooooo happy with today's mani! In fact, I may re-do them after the Egg mani for tomorrow.

So cute!! I used Zoya Blu as the base. The detail work was done with Zoya Gie Gie, LA Art Deco Bright Orange, Avon Nail Art Enamel Styled Green and my Stripe Rite White and Black. Everything was done with striping brushes and dotting tools. I obviously wouldn't be able to do the detail work (specifically the fine black outlines) on my right hand, so I did the dotticure on the whole hand instead.

Be sure to check out the rest of the participants creations!

Galactic Lacquer

Dipped in Lacquer

Kate Kreates

I’m Just Me…ChiChi

Nail Polish Anonymous

Easter Nail Art Challenge Day 1 - Grass/Flowers

Happy Friday!!!

The lovely Corrinne over at Galactic Lacquer is hosting a 5-day Easter challenge!!

Today is grass/flowers, and I wanted to keep it a little simple.

I used China Glaze For Audrey as the base (if you dont own it, go buy it. I need to get another one!) and Zoya Rehka and Barielle Gotta Have Fate as the flowers. I used a large dotting tool to make the flowers and a medium for the flower center. The rest was accomplished with the following striping polishes: Stripe Rite White and Yellow, LA Art Deco Mint Green, Orly Yellow Submarine.

Be sure to check out the rest of the participants creations!

Galactic Lacquer

Dipped in Lacquer

Kate Kreates

I’m Just Me…ChiChi

Nail Polish Anonymous

Today is the last day to enter my Blogiversary giveaway! It ends at 9pm tonight (PST time). Click here.

Luck of the Irish Nail Art Challenge Day 5 - Free For All

Happy St Patrick's day!!! While I am Irish, I typically don't do much for this Holiday. I'm not a fan of morons, and that's all that you find in bars celebrating this day lol. Plus, while I may be fine to drive home, that doesn't mean there aren't other drunks out there that could hit me! So, I stay home... Lame, I know haha.

Be sure to check out all of the other participating bloggers....

Dipped in Lacquer

College Polished

Kate Kreates

Galactic Lacquer

Makeup and Nails, Not War

Seriously Swatched

Tes Did It Nails

Jilltastic Nail Design

My Vanity Basics

I’m Just Me…ChiChi

XO, Noelle

What is more Irish than Guinness, right? I knew I had to include it somewhere in this challenge!

I used OPI Alpine Snow as my white base and LA Colors Art Deco in Bright Green and FingerPaints Caric-art-ure for the flags. I free-handed them.

I didn't have a dark enough brown to pull off the Guinness. The only thing I had was a striping polish, so I had to make due (painting a nail with a striping polish is hard lol). FingerPaints You're Kiln Me is the base and I used my Ulta Set in Nude to do a very short gradient and the froth with a dotting tool. I used my gold Stripe Rite polish to freehand the Guinness logo.

Don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway! It ends on March 29th. Click here.

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Days 2 - 4

So, Ive been in the dark ages... Yep... last Wednesday night I lost my internet... but it's finally back!! Today is day 4, so I have 3 days to show you. Please bare with me lol!!

Be sure to check out the other bloggers who are participating! And play along by posting your creation on my page, I will share it!

College Polished

Jenerally Speaking

Galactic Lacquer

Nails By Katie

Jilltastic Nail Design

Seriously Swatched

Makeup and Nails, Not War

Glitter Me This

Nail Polish Anonymous

Dipped in Lacquer

XO, Noelle

Makeup Your Face

Polish Snob

Just Another Polish Addiction

Play Polish

Tes Did It Nails

It’s Just Me…ChiChi

OK - so again, bare with me. I am so behind on review posts too; so you will be getting a review later today as well. That's right, its a two-post kind of day. Tomorrow will be too!! And I have 3 more reviews to do too! Bad time for my internet to go down lol.

Day 2: Snowflakes. Those of you that follow me on Instagram got to see this on Friday (if you aren't following me on Instagram and want to be, go here). The base for this nail art is Candii Polished Let It Snow; which is one of the polishes you will see in my review post later today.

I used my white Stripe Rite to draw the snowflakes, and went over them with the clear glitter Stripe Rite. It doesnt show in the pic, but in person the glitter really makes it pop!

Day 3: Christmas Movie. I love, love, love, love Dr. Seuss. I grew up reading all of his stories (my favorite was Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now. I could recite it by memory when I was little!) so my first thought was How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It was a bit out of my artistic skill set, but I decided to go for it!! It took forever to do the Grinch, so I left it at him lol.

The Grinch himself is my LA Art Deco Striper in mint green (their names are all messed up. Its clearly lime green haha). The black outline is my Stripe Rite, his yellow eyes are my Orly Striper in Yellow Submarine, and the red dots were my red LA Art Deco. I painted the rest of my nails with China Glaze Merry Berry and Glistening Snow from their Holiday Collection.

Day 4: Christmas Lights. I was in a rush for these, and am not totally happy with them... but alas, I did not have time to redo them. I wanted to do something different from the standard Christmas light manis you see, and since we outline our house with icicles (and then cover the rest of the house with lights so you can see it from space... my hubby has an illness. He cant just put one strand up; he has to put them all lol), they seemed fitting.

The base is Barielle's Coalest Day of the Year. It is absolutely gorgeous, I liked it much better before I used my white Stripe Rite to add the lights haha.

OK.... so glad to be caught up on my nail art!! Dont forget to check back at noon pacific time for my Candii Polished review!!

Thanksgiving Nail Art Challenge Day 2 - Charlie Brown

I've been very excited waiting for today! I grew up watching and reading Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. I didnt have a single notebook or binder in school that did not have Woodstock doodled on it!

Today I am thankful for my friends and co-workers. I dont know how I would get through the day without all of your company!

Be sure to check out the other bloggers joining in on the fun!

XO, Noelle
College Polished
PishPosh & Polish
Dipped in Polish
Jenerally Speaking 
Galactic Lacquer 
Tres' Chic Nails 
Charlottes-nails 
Manic Manis
The Life, Time and Lacquers of Lilmoon
Makeup and Nails, Not War
Not Too Polished
Mimi Manicures
Seriously Swatched
Jilltastic Nail Designs 

I only took one picture of today's mani. I find when I get my thumb involved, there are not a whole lot of positions for me to hold my hand that arent redundant. And I dont see the point of posting a bunch of pics of basically the same angle haha!

This is the best nail art I have ever done. I am pretty proud of them, and dont think I will ever top this mani! I should just retire now lmao! Im going to break it down by nail and tell you what I used. There will be some redundancy, my apologies ahead of time! :p

Thumb: A snoozing Snoopy!!!! China Glaze for Audrey as the base, LA Art Deco Red for his house and my black and white Stripe Rites for the details and Snoopy himself.

Pointer: Charlie's exasperated scream, most often seen when Lucy moved the football lol. I used OPI Alpine Snow as the base and my black Stripe Rite for the "AAUGH!"

Middle: My favorite Peanuts character, Woodstock. It is a lot harder to doodle him on a nail than a notebook! China Glaze For Audrey as the base, Orly Instant Artist Yellow Submarine is Woodstock himself with my black Stripe Rite and FingerPaints Striper in Art Hue Serious? for the grass.

Ring: The iconic Charlie Brown sweater. The perfect yellow just happened to be a striper, that was fun painting my nail with that thin brush! FingerPaints Master Muse is the base, and once again I used my black Stripe Rite for the accent.

Pinky: Psychiatric Help 5 Cents. My favorite parts of any Charlie Brown story are all of Lucy's shenanigans. Maybe it's because I have always been a bit "Lucy" in real life (at least I can admit it, right? haha). I couldnt do a Charlie Brown tribute without representing it! The base is Deborah Lippmann's Almost Paradise and I used (you guessed it) my black Stripe Rite to write it out.

What are you thankful for today?

I Love Jason Aldean!!! Nail Art

Hey everyone!! I have a geeky, fan-girl mani to share with you today.

I love all types a music, I grew up with a very eclectic collection of music in my house. But, my all time favorite is country music.

I am a redneck, tomboy that grew up wheeling in the desert with my step brothers and all of their friends... and I'm proud of it!! I don't own a car, I own trucks. My baby is a 1997 Chevrolet Cheyenne 4x4 truck with a lift, big tires and exhaust to let you know I'm coming. My only "girly" tenancies are my nails (obviously) and earrings. Otherwise, I am a tshirt and jeans kind of gal that owns more cowgirl boots than high heels.

My favorite artist is Jason Aldean. I have loved him since the moment I first heard Hicktown all those years ago. And with every CD he just gets better and better. He just released his newest CD last month called Night Train, and I wanted to pay tribute to it since I have had it on repeat for 3 weeks straight (Im a sick puppy, I know).

First I'll show you my right hand. It is a direct tribute to his new CD, my left hand is just a tribute to Jason and all the things he loves.

The lyrics to the title track on Night Train are:

'Bout a mile down old mill road, that spot nobody knows. 
Park the truck and we take off running, hurry up girl I hear it coming. 
Got a moon and a billion stars, sound of steel and old box cars. 
The thought of you is driving me insane, come on baby let's go listen to the night train.

What better to represent a billion stars than Zoya Storm? Storm is the base in the mani and Zoya Freja is the train. I used my white, black and silver Stripe Rite polishes for the detail work. I'm pretty proud of the writing on my thumb, considering I did it with my left hand!! (PS - I am incapable of taking pics of my right hand. It is so hard! Haha)

My left hand is a bit more specific. If you are a JA fan, you wont need explanation (and I know all my Aldean Army friends are reading this right now! lol!)

Jason is a Georgia boy, and a HUGE UGA (University of Georgia Athens) Bulldogs fan. He has red ear pieces to go along with this guitar strap...  and a pet Bulldog named Athens.

He is also a hunter, and on the show Buck Commander that airs on the Outdoor Channel. This guitar strap has the Buck Commander logo. And, because I cant let you go without a little redneck eye-candy... here's my boy all painted up for the hunt!

Now, as I wipe the drool away... The last thing you need to know is that he uses a black jack hand of cards as his logo. It's fitting with his initials! (You can see it on the guitar two pics up as well!)

You know I have to represent the spades!! So without further explanation, here is my left hand!

I am pretty proud of the Buck Commander logo! It's not perfect, but I'm no artist so its not bad for me! Haha I used Zoya Rekha as the base on my thumb, and Storm for the fingers. The detail work was accomplished with my white, black and silver Stripe Rite polishes and my Bright Orange LA Art Deco polish.

I was really sad that Jason got snubbed for awards last night at the CMA's, but he will always be Entertainer of the Year in my eyes (and I was just glad Taylor Swift didn't win. I'm sorry, but she is not country. Put her in the pop category where she belongs!)

One last pic, just because I can... and I love this one!

I should end every post like that.... sigh....

Who's your favorite artist?

8 Spooky Nights Day 2 - Vampires

I was loving all the skulls yesterday! Today was a trickier one for me. I included this one to push everyone's boundaries... because there isnt a whole lot of vampire nail art out there (trust me, I googled looking for inspiration... not a lot haha)

Don't forget to check out all the other awesome blogger's creations too... and go on my Facebook page and show the non-blogger contest participants some love too!

XO, Noelle
College Polished
PishPosh & Polish
Beauty Dish
Nail By Katie
Jenerally Speaking 
Jilltastic Nail Designs
Galactic Lacquer 
Tres' Chic Nails 
charlottes-nails 
Manic Manis
The Life, Time and Lacquers of Lilmoon
Makeup and Nails, Not War
Not Too Polished
Mimi Manicures
Seriously Swatched
8 Spooky Nights 
Glitter Me This 

Without further ado, I introduce my vampire!

OMG, I cant even tell you how happy I am with these!! This is exactly what I had in my mind, and it's the BEST when it translates onto my nails how I see it in my mind! It either works wonderfully (example above) or it fails miserably. Im not going to lie, I stressed out all day yesterday thinking about what I was going to do if I failed! Hahaha

I used Ulta Set In Nude as the base for the first three nails and Nina Ultra Pro Black on my pinky. Whimsical Idea's by Pam Boo was added over the Nude on my middle finger to give my vampire an eerie, vampire glow.  Then I used Barielle Elle's Spell for the blood drips, and my Stripe Rite silver striper to make my cross and topped it off with a red rhinestone.

For the vampires face I used my Stripe Rite black stiper for the thin line details and OPI Alpine snow for the white of his eyes and his teeth. Tipping the teeth off with my LA Art Deco red striper.

I cant get over these... I sure am going to be sad to take these off tonight to do my candy for tomorrow!!

Halloween Nail Art - Mummies

I have more nail art for you today! These guys glow in the dark; even though I found it nearly impossible to capture with my lame old camera!! Do you have glow in the dark picture tricks? If so, please share!! I have a lot more glow in the dark planned before Halloween!

I started with my white LA Color Art Deco striper polish to freehand the mummy's wrapping gauze. Then I used a striping brush and went over it with China Glaze Ghoulish Glow to make it glow!

I used Zoya Rehka and dotted the eyes... red seemed more fitting, since their eyes have to be soooooo dry! Haha! And then finished it off with smaller black dots.

Awesome, right? OK, so imagine the mummies glowing as bright as the bottle, because that's what it's like in person. The camera got too distracted by the bottle glow and detracted from the nail's glow. But, without the bottle there wasnt enough light for the camera to pick up the nails at all. Grrrrrrrrr!

I like these ones better then Frankenstein!!

I'm a part of a HUGE Halloween Trick or Treat Giveaway with 28 total prizes up for grabs. Click here for more details :)

Nail Art Tutorial - Rainbow Nails

Hey Gals!!

I finally had some time to do a tutorial for you!! You all remember my Rainbow Nails from the 31 Day Nail Art challenge I did a couple months ago. If you need a refresher, click here!

Here in Arizona, we have been baking alive. We had a cool day of only 109 today... most our days have been 110+... so, so hot lol. Luckily, we are seeing a bit monsoon activity pick up, and I saw my first rainbow in what seems like forever the other day! So this only seemed fitting! Here is my recreation of my challenge mani...

Here are the supplies I used:

Left to right:

LA Colors Art Deco Bright Green
LA Colors Art Deco Yellow
LA Colors Art Deco Bright Orange
LA Colors Art Deco Red
LA Colors Art Deco Magenta
LA Colors Art Deco Dark Blue
Sally Hansen White On
China Glaze For Audrey

Also, a medium to small sized dotting tool. If you dont have striping polish, you can always use a striping brush and normal polish. Personally, I like the It's So Easy Stripe Rite polishes over the LA Colors. I find the brushes are better quality and thinner with the Stripe Rite :)

Step 1: Start with your base coat and your sky blue base. I chose China Glaze For Audrey. If you don't have this polish, you should! It's my favorite sky background!

Step 2: On your ring finger (or whichever accent nail you want), start with your blue polish. You want to make sure you leave enough room for 5 more stripes below it; and make sure you have a bit of a curve. Stack your other colors:

Step 3: Purple

Step 4: Red (this one took 2 coats)

Step 5: Orange (also a 2-coater)

Step 6: Yellow

Step 7: Green (2-coater)

Be sure you keep them as close as possible. Letting each color dry a little before you add the next color, or you may mix the colors a bit.

Step 8: Drop some white polish on a piece of foil and use your dotting tool to create puffy little clouds. Make sure you do not add the clouds over the rainbow until the rainbow is completely dry. Wait a good 10-15 minutes.

On my thumb, I just added clouds. You could chose to add another rainbow, or you could even add the sun thumb that I did on my Lochness Monster Tutorial here! Any of those options are super cute!

After you add your cloud over the corner of you rainbow, this is what you get:

I just love this mani! And its a really simple one for any beginners out there!

Don't forget to enter the Christmas in July Fan Appreciation Giveaway. Here is the link to my original post :)

And if you recreate your own version of this mani, please stop by my Facebook wall and share it!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 26 - Pattern Inspiration

I was a little nervous for today in Painting Outside the Lines challenge... And it's my own fault for the pattern I chose!! :p

I found this pattern, and loved the colors (linked here) so I decided to give it a try!

Here is what I came up with!

I don't have a light enough purple to act as the lightest color, so I improvised. I started with Sally Hansen White On, and topped it with Essie Main Squeeze (it has a lavender shimmer). Then I used my Lavender Shimmer Stripe Rite and Intense Pink LA Colors Art Deco polish and free-handed the design!

I was pretty thrilled with how it came out ;)

Be sure to see the other amazing pattern inspired manis on Painting Outside the Lines wall!