KBShimmer To Peach His Own and Color Club Wicker Park

I have a pretty simple look to show you today. KBShimmer To Peach His Own and Color Club Wicker Park are two colors that were brought to my attention through other bloggers and I am so glad I found them! The two colors pair well together, especially since one is more of a neutral and one is so bright and vibrant.

Swirly Nail Art

I have a swirly design to share with you today. It looks like a water marble, but it involves no water! I saw this technique posted by MelyneNailArt on Instagram and I loved it! I immediately wanted to try it out. I grabbed some of my favorite colors from Color Club and went at it! Melyne uses an interesting and messy technique that just drops wet polish on top of wet polish drops. What you end up with is somewhat difficult to control, but I love the effect.  

Duck Nails for the Rose Bowl

Yesterday was the Rose Bowl! The University of Oregon Ducks football team was playing against Florida State, and my husband loves the Ducks. I remain neutral on the Ducks v. Beavers civil war within the state, but when the Ducks play in a bowl game I'll do my nails for that! Don't worry Beavers, I'll do my nails for you too when you make it to a bowl game. 

Election Day!

Today is Election Day in the United States! I am a strong advocate for voting and I think that every person who is eligible needs to exercise their right and civic duty. Voting is something that people in the U.S. take for granted, and that needs to change. I created a nail art look that will hopefully remind some of you to head out to the polls or official drop sites to make sure your vote counts before 8pm tonight! I dropped off my ballot at an official drop site last night. In Oregon we have vote by mail and it is too late to mail it, so please google your nearest official drop site in your county!

On to the nails! I started with a base color of Color Club Mamba and then added the stripes with stripping paint. I then let everything dry and taped off the lower section and painted the upper section with China Glaze One Track Mind (to be reviewed very soon). I added top coat and waited for that to dry then I painted little stars and top coated again. On my ring finger I just painted Mamba and carefully added the letters with paint from the stripper.

Frankenstein Drips

Today, I have a new to me technique. I have seen drips all over the place, but have never tried them myself. I was trying to think of another Halloween design, and I thought of drips in Frankenstein colors! I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show  Flash of Purple and added drips on Color Club Sunrise Canyon.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 22 Inspired by a Song

This challenge was extremely difficult for me! I love music and listen to it every day, but I have a difficult time putting music into visuals. I remember feelings I get when I hear songs, but not images. I didn't want to recreate scenes from music videos either, because that felt like cheating. Finally, after scouring youtube for ideas and rediscovering music I haven't listened to in ages (Chuck Berry!) I came across Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood. I have embedded the video at the bottom of the page, just so you can listen to it! I don't know why I love it so much, but it just makes me happy in the way that cinnamon perks up my coffee. When the song was new, it was one of those I had to listen to over and over again. So I did a loose interpretation of sweater weather nails. I used Essie Rock the Boat and Color Club Abyss as well as Maybelline Bold Gold as an accent. I used matte top coat, again.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 28 Inspired by a Flag

For the "Inspired by a Flag" prompt, I had to think about it a bit. Since I paint some version of the American Flag on my nails every year, I decided to go for something different. I have always wanted to try to paint a Union Jack, but I wanted to make it pastel, because wanted something non-traditional. I decided to just paint it on as accent nails and I think this turned out really nice! I started with a base of Sinful Colors Sugar Rush and then I painted the white stripes with acrylic paint. I then added the pink and used Color Club Endless. I really liked the pastel effect of it all. I couldn't think of what else to add to the other nails, so for once, I left them alone!

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 27 Inspired by Artwork

I love Alphonse Mucha. I have been a fan of his work since the first moment I saw it, and have been lucky enough to visit the Mucha Museum in Prague, Czech Republic. I knew that his work was what was going to be my inspiration for today's "Inspired by Artwork", but I kept lamenting over the fact I can't paint like Mucha. Finally I realized that inspired by doesn't mean reproduce or copy. Therefore I based my design on the tones and shapes I saw in two pieces of which I have small prints: Poetry, from the Four Arts (1898) and Lorenzaccio (1896). I started with a base of Color Club Mod in Manhattan, a favorite off white. Then I stamped with Born Pretty Store plate QA90, which I have had problems with in the past, but served it's purpose here. I used Maybelline Bold Gold for that stamp. Then I stamped another image from Born Pretty Store plate QA88 in Revlon Trendy. I think the tones and shapes mimic what I am seeing in these two pieces.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 23 Inspired by a Movie

The movie I chose for the nail art challenge, inspired by a movie, was Alice in Wonderland (2010). I actually chose a dress that Alice wore in the court of the queen of hearts. I would love to put a photo of it in this post, but I cannot find an original source for the photos I am finding so I won't, but if you google Alice in Wonderland Red Court Dress, it will come up. It was a tulle poofy dress with a red to black underskirt and a sheer white overlay with stripes and hearts on it. Ever since I first saw this dress in the movie, I have loved it. It is so out there, but girly and sort of steampunk it inspired me. I loved it enough to remember it years later and recreate it on my nails!

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 16 Geometric Print

Hello! Sorry my posting has been a little sporadic lately, I am trying to keep up with the nail art challenge posts, but it takes time! For today's post I am doing yesterday's challenge. The theme was geometric print. Funny enough I was wearing a geometric print dress to work yesterday, so I used that as my inspiration for my nails. It has a Mondrian feel to it, but not exactly a copy. I did some Mondrian nails a little while back and loved the result, so these were a lot of fun and reminiscent of that design.  I started with a white base coat and free hand painted with Zoya Ling for the blue, Zoya Dove for the grey, and Color Club Sunrise Canyon for the chartreuse.

Nail Art: #31DC2014 Day 14 Flowers

For today's nail art challenge, I did a mani swap with a friend on instagram! Her username is @beautyintact, so be sure to go follow her! The challenge for today is flowers. A mani swap is where you take a design from someone else and copy it, they do the same with you. It was my first one and I thought it was really fun!

Nail Art: Green Dotticure for #fightforlifeandlive

Because of the tragic suicide of Robin Williams, the nail community has decided to band together to create green manicures for mental health awareness. The ribbon for mental health awareness is green, hence the green manis. I think all of us have been touched in some way by someone we love or suffer themselves from depression. It is very tragic that Robin Williams felt he had to take his own life, but I hope that with his passing, others can learn that they are not alone in this battle and that the stigma of mental illnesses needs to be lifted. If you or anyone you know is seeking help and is in crisis visit: Save.org. 

Video Credit: Moderngreen

With that, I would like to share my nails. I meant to post these earlier in the day, but I went on a hike and suddenly, it seems, it is 8pm! I started with a white base and dotted a gradient effect with two sizes of dotting tool. I used Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet, Color Club Wild Cactus and Sinful Colors Calypso. I staggered the dots a little to give more of a gradient effect.

Neon Week Nail Art: Neon Gradient and Rhinestones

Can you believe it is the last day of Neon Week already? It went by so fast for me. I enjoyed creating every neon look this past week and I think I learned a bit as well. Today I have a simple gradient with Color Club Flamingo, Wham! Pow! and Mrs. Robinson. I topped the gradient with China Glaze Fairy Dust and added some rhinestones on my thumb, middle and ring fingers. 

Neon Week Nail Art: Neon Galaxy

Today's neon look almost hurts my eyes it is so bright! I think that is a good thing, it being Neon Week and all. If you missed previous Neon Week posts you can find them here: Neon Mist (Day 1), Monochrome Arrows (Day 2), and Neon Rainbow Flowers (Day 3). Today, I have something I don't think I have seen all that often if at all: neon galaxy nails! I have done galaxy nails before, one was quite popular and another for the #hepicksmypolish challenge, but both were more conventional types. I have seen a ton of pastel galaxies which I have been wanting to try, but then I thought, why not make it neon? So this kind of looks like a radioactive galaxy and all I can think about is that song Strange Clouds, but I think it is pretty cool. This was the most difficult to photograph so far. The neon is a little out of control here!

Neon Week Nail Art: Neon Rainbow Flowers

Neon Week is going by very quickly! If you missed day one or two you can see them here: Neon Mist (Day 1) and Monochrome Arrows (Day 2). Day 2 also had a tutorial, so be sure to check that out. For today's look I was inspired by the way that Oh My Gosh Polish did her Rainbow Abstract Dab and I wanted to re-create the underlying color. She is amazing and she posts YouTube videos daily and sometimes more than once daily! She seems like such a sweet lady too. Definitely go check her out. She used a dry brush technique which is one that I love! I ended up with a dry brushed rainbow as a base and then I stamped over it! I used China Glaze White On White to make the neons pop. Then I started with Color Club Warhol at the base of my nail and feathered it out far enough to create an orange blend between it and Orly Glowstick. Then I feathered Glowstick out enough to create a green with it and Color Club Chelsea Girl, and finally feathered that out and blended it with Color Club Mrs. Robinson. All of the Color Clubs are from the old Poptastic Collection. I then stamped with plate D14 from the Born Pretty Store and used Wet N Wild Black Creme.

Neon Week Nail Art (and TUTORIAL): Monochrome Arrows

Day 2 of Neon Week! If you missed day one, you can see my Neon Mist post here. So, today I have one of those designs that started as one thing in my head, but evolved into something else when I actually sat down to do it. I think it was a good thing in this case. I started with a base color of Orly Ablaze which is a bright sparkly orange and part of their summer Baked Collection. After that I painted a thick stripe down the middle of Color Club Warhol from their old Poptastic Collection. I think they re-launched the Poptastic Collection recently. Lastly, I used a striping brush to paint a boarder line on either side of the pink stripe and then I decided to add some chevrons (arrows). I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy for the stripes and chevrons and topped it all off with Glisten & Glow's topcoat HK Girl. I am really excited, because I actually did a little pictorial tutorial for you! I added it at the end of my post.

Neon Week Nail Art: Neon Mist

I am happy to start day one of NEON WEEK! I wanted to create something kind of like Shark Week on Discovery Channel for my blog and I decided on neon nail designs for summer! Who knows, maybe it will one day be as popular as Shark Week. Today is the first day, so be sure to bookmark my blog, follow on social media, and come back every day for a new design! For today's nail art design, I am calling it Neon Mist. I wasn't sure what else to call it. It reminds me of neon clouds or the Indian color festival Holi. I used several polishes: Blue- Color Club Chelsea Girl, Green- China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener, Yellow- Orly Glowstick, Purple/Pink- Color Club Mrs. Robinson, Orange/Yellow- China Glaze Sun Worshiper, and China Glaze Fairy Dust. I also used a white base color (China Glaze White On White. After the white base dries, I blobed on all of the colors on each nail and lightly placed a plastic bag over the nail while all the colors are still wet. I use my finger to lightly spread the colors under the plastic if needed. Remove the plastic and you are left with a bright design on your nails! I finished it with Fairy Dust and top coat. 

Nail Art: Patriotic Roses

I have an exciting mani to share today! Patriotic Roses! I recently went to a meet up with other nail polish lovers in my area and we talked about doing "Portland/Fourth of July" themed nails. Since Portland is the Rose City I combined that with the fourth of July colors and created this. I used my nail vinyls for the first time, which was really exciting! I used so many polishes here:

1. Essie- Aruba Blue

2. Sinful Colors- Snow Me White

3. Essie- First Timer

4. Color Club- Wild Cactus

5. OPI-Quarter of a Cent-Cherry

6. Ruffian- Ruffian Red

7. Nika K- Red

8. Essie- Head Mistress

Phew, seriously that was a ton of polish! I also used a red acrylic, because I realized part way through that all of my reds are very similar in tone. Oh well, here is the final look:

Nail Art: #Hepicksmypolish June Edition Dotticure

Third month in a row, I have decided to participate in #hepicksmypolish! You can read up on the challenge in my past posts, but you have a "he" in your life pick out polishes for a nail design for you to do and you have to use them. My husband has been kind to me in the past, but this time, he chose a more difficult combination. He chose Sinful Colors In the Spotlight, Color Club Sunrise Canyon and Essie Fiji. This is what I came up with:

Nail Art: Plant Inspired

Do you ever see something inspiring and you just can't get it out of your head until you do whatever it was that you sought out to do? The nails I have for you today were just that. I have this house plant called a Sansevieria (I had to look at the tag) and I have been wanting to try to create its coloring on my nails for a while now. I used Color Club Wild Cactus, Sunrise Canyon and Sinful Colors Let's Meet.