Wet N Wild A Latte Love

I have a simple swatch to share with you today. I went to my local Rite Aid recently and picked up Wet n Wild A Latte Love from the most recent display. I kind of wish I had picked up all of the colors because they all seemed very light and springy. I am not really sure how I would describe A Latte Love. It seems like it should be a tan, but it kind of edges on purple or pink. I'll let you decide.

What I Wore to Las Vegas!

My husband and I recently took a short trip to Las Vegas! I knew I wanted to do something blingy and a bit showy for my nails, and this is what I came up with. I went with a black and gold theme to make it classy, but added a holo glitter to bling it up a notch!

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!

Born Pretty Store Review: Nail Stamp Plate QA 90

Press Sample

I have another Born Pretty Store review for you today! The Born Pretty Store has tons of nail stamping plates. One of which I bought myself and shared in my Turquoise Stamping post. I decided to try QA90, which has this interesting spike design along with some other interesting elements. I really liked the look of that spike design, but I ended up using the filigree look for today's mani. I used a base color of Sephora Formula X in Zing and stamped with Sally Hansen White On. In the last photo I used Mentality Pop as a base and Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme for stamping.

Nail Art: Leopard and Stripes

Today I have a fun re-creation mani! @McPolish on Instagram is having a nail art contest, which entails re-creating a design of hers. This one struck my fancy! I really like the combination of colors, spots and stripes! McPolish is brilliant, she is actually one of my favorite accounts on IG, so if you have IG go follow her! I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Sally Hansen Coral Reef, Sally Hansen Wet Cement and Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Nail Art: Sideways Moons

Sideways moons? I'm sure you have heard of half moon manis, but sideways moons? I'n not sure is it an appropriate name, but that is what I am going with here. I just thought of these one night and decided to see what they would look like. I started with a base of China Glaze White On White and carefully freehand painted Pelican Gray on the side of the nail in a somewhat curved shape. Then I painted Wet n Wild Black Creme over the grey in a similar arc shape. I then added some acrylic nail studs from the Born Pretty Store (Use code: HANDX31 for 10% off). 

Nail Art: Floral Stamp Over Oil Slick Nails

Hello! I hope you all had a great weekend! I feel well rested and enjoyed the summer sun. Today I have nail stamping design for you! I have really been into stamping lately and I recently received a new stamping plate, so I had to play. I have a color from Essence, that I have not been able to try out called Power Girl (Oil Slick Effect). It is part of the Superheroes Collection that was released quite a while ago. If you can find any, you should pick them up! I was actually pretty impressed with the ones I bought. I stamped from image plate 217. I think the images are really crisp and beautiful. Some of the patterns do seem really detailed for such a small area, but come out beautifully on the nail. I stamped the black with Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Nail Art: Galaxy Nails

Ever since my nail polish obsession started all of maybe a year ago, I have been wanting to try this amazing look on my nails. Something called galaxy nails at first sounded a little hokey to me, but once I saw photos of these galaxy nails I knew I had to try it! Your nails basically turn into a vortex into the galaxy. No matter how unskilled you think you may be, you can do this and your nails will be stellar! I couldn't keep from adding a pun! Anyway, this is a simple (I really mean it this time) look to achieve with professional looking results.

Direct Sunlight

Direct Sunlight

 Direct Sunlight

Shade

I started with a black base, let that dry and sponge on a deep blue, a lighter blue and a purple or pink. The result is a bunch of color blobs on your fingers, but the key here is when you add the glitter coat. Suddenly the glitter coat adds the stars and it transforms your nails. I also added a top coat. The colors I used are as follows:

Base- Orly Bonder

Black- Wet n Wild: Black Creme

Deep Blue- Essie: Aruba Blue

Light Blue- China Glaze: Sea Spray

Purple- OPI: Suzi and the 7 Dusseldorfs

Glitter- OPI: Pirouette My Whistle

Top Coat- Seche Vite, always

So fun! The only tricky part is getting the right glitter. I have one that has a good mix of big and small glitters. You definitely want both kinds to have the effect of both close and far away stars. I've even seen some where people take a white striping brush and paint on stars. The great part is that this design is so easily adaptable! I didn't create this design and there are many tutorials out there, but after seeing so many amazing versions I wanted to try one for myself. I hope you like it!

Nail Art: Flower Chevron Tips

Chevron tips!! I can't get enough! Chevrons are so easy and fun. It is pretty much instant gratification. Since the design is so simple, I decided to complicate it a little. I created a multilayer chevron tip manicure. As a base, I started with OPI Bubble Bath which is a pretty sheer nude. It just smooths and creates a nice layer to start with. On top of that I have OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. It is a nice aqua infused sky blue. I added a layer of black as a base for a floral design. I used Wet 'n Wild Black Creme. The flower design didn't turn out as awesome as I envisioned, so I added another layer of black to bring it all together. Photos are outdoors in the shade:

In direct sunlight:

I wanted to do these nails for a contest on Instagram (@HandtasticIntentions). I saw the contest and wanted to enter, but mostly just wanted to try out this design. I think it is pretty fun and I enjoyed doing it. Hope you like it! Thanks for reading!!

Welcome to Handtastic!

Hello Blogiverse! I am really excited to launch my first ever blog! I feel like I am behind the times, it being 2013 and all, but better late than never, eh? I hope to share with you my musings on nail polish, old and new. Colors, swatches, comparisons, thoughts, reviews and all around loveliness that is nail polish. I'm going to just jump right in!
 
This is a quick nail art design I just came up with! It is China Glaze Snap My Dragon from the Avant Garden 2013 Spring Collection. It is amazing! I have a few polishes from this collection and they have a great subtlety to them. I honestly can't tell if Snap My Dragon is a red or a pink, but I love it nonetheless. It has a great shimmer to it that makes it look like it glows! This is two coats:

 
I was hoping to go back to somewhat traditional colors after using a lot of crazy colors as of late. So, I decided to go with a red/pink and the rest sort of followed. Over the two coats of Snap My Dragon, I stamped the fishnet design from Konad plate M57. After that I did a row of dots with a larger dotting tool and another row of dots with a smaller dotting tool. The black I used was Wet n Wild Black Creme and the pink was Sally Hanson Pink a Card. I bought my nail stamping supplies and dotting tools on Amazon for a great price. This is what the plate looks like:

 Anyway, I hope you like the design! Since this is my first post ever, go easy on me! I'm glad I finally got this blog started and I hope you like it. Thanks for reading!