Tape Mani

Fruit Stripes Tape Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Happy end of July, polished world!  Can you believe the month is already over??  Before we know it, the leaves will be falling off the trees and we will all be putting on our vampy fall polishes.  When we say goodbye to summer, we also say goodbye to our neon polishes, which is kind of a sad thing.  I will sometimes bust out a neon or two in the winter to cheer myself up, but they just aren't as fun when it's constantly cloudy!

So, I busted out my neons, because it's summer and they're screaming at me to use them.  I had found a tape manicure on Pinterest which used pastel polishes as a base, then white polish on the top.  I thought to myself "well white makes neons pop, so why not try this with a neon polish!"  The result: a manicure I was not 100% happy with, but didn't hate either.  It reminded me of Fruit Stripes gum, you know the gum with the zebra and the neon stripes?  If you don't remember this, then you need to go head on over to Google.  When I was growing up, my sister and I would get this gum all the time as a treat, so this manicure really made me thinks about the good old days!

Let's take a look.  Of course, neon polishes don't cooperate with the camera.  I also found that when white polish is added on top of neons, it's a huge "haha I'm not going to photograph well."  So I opted for some photos half in the shade and half in the sun.




Colors Used
  • China Glaze - I'm With the Lifeguard
  • China Glaze - Splish, Splash
  • Funky Fingers - Riot!
  • INM - Bikini
  • China Glaze - Sun Kissed
Totally summery, right?  To get the look, I started off with a thin coat of white polish.  When that was dried, with my nail art brush I painted on diagonal stripes of the neon polishes.  I added a quick dry top coat and let them set for about 10 minutes.  When they were dried, in the middle of each color stripe, I put down a piece of nail art tape.  I then added two coats of white polish to fully cover over the neons and quickly removed the tape.  Added one more coat of quick dry, and called it a night.

Overall a simple design.  I think I would have liked it better if my white polish didn't look so thick.  My bottle (even though I just bought it) is starting to get goopy, so working over tape wasn't the greatest of great ideas.  When I removed the tape, I had little hills and valleys on my nails thanks to the thickness of the white.   You can kind of see it in the pictures, but it was more noticeable in person, or well to just my crazy eyes.

What do you think?  Love, hate?  Remember fruit stripes? lol

Well, last post of July, that means the next post is going to be another Nail Artist of the Month!  I've already seen my featured artists manicure, and boy is it pretty.  You're really going to enjoy it!

Until next time, <3.

**INM Bikini was provided to me by INM.  All other polishes in this post I purchased**

Foodie Mani

Watermelons - Take 2

9:00:00 AM

Good morning, polished peeps!  How are you today?  Hopefully you have an amazing Sunday planned! Maybe even a summer picnic?  It is the end of July, which usually means the perfect weather and time for one!  And what is a picnic without a little yummy watermelon?

Last year I did watermelon nails which were pink and so adorable.  While writing that sentence, I went back to last years post to link it and ended up getting distracted reading it.  It was published almost a year ago on August 4th, and I wrote a little tidbit about how happy I was that I reached 10,000 page views.  Now, as I sit here writing this post, I'm about 800 away from 100,000 page views.  The other day alone I hit 1,000 in one day.  It's just amazing to me, and I am truly thankful for all of my followers support!  You guys keep me painting and posting!

Look at me getting distracted, anywho, I wanted to re-attempt the cute little watermelons as soon as I received my bottles of Zoya Yana and Josie.  The two side by side literally are the perfect color of a fresh watermelon, and on the nail, they looked even better together!

Let's take a look - not quite sure what happened with these photos, my INM made them super shiny, and even though it was sunny, they got some weird looking light. 




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Yana
  • Sally Hansen - Pink Blink
  • Zoya - Josie
  • Revlon - Sassy
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
Perfect colors, right?  When I first received the Zoya Stunning Collection, I had used all the other polishes in a tape manicure, but not Yana as I felt it was a tad darker.  I'm kind of kicking myself for waiting so long to use Yana since it is such a gorgeous dark pink color.  It has a perfect formula which applies like a dream.  Sometimes, for me, when I apply darker polishes, I notice a lot of bald spots or uneven streaky areas.  Yana had none of these issues, two coats and I had perfect coverage.  I had no need or want to add glitter to mask any weird areas, it was perfect alone.  After my base was on, I was debating on just doing a glitter or dot accent and ignoring the watermelons.

But alas, my nail art self decided to continue on with the watermelons.  With a nail art brush, I painted a french tip of Pink Blink to resemble the watermelon's rind.  When that was completed, I added another french tip of Zoya Josie, which to me, worked perfectly for the watermelon shell.  As that was drying, with a toothpick, I drew on the little seeds.  Before adding the top coat, I created a little of uneven detail on the rind using Revlon Sassy.

Overall, I'm happy with how they turned out.  The colors worked perfectly (which I've said about a million times now)!  The only thing I wasn't too crazy about were the seeds.  A tad uneven on my part.  Maybe I should start doing my nail art earlier in the night so I can spend more time on them and make everything absolutely perfect.

What do you think?  Love, hate?  Yana the perfect watermelon color?

Again, thank you all for viewing my blog and following over this past year and a half!  You guys are so amazing!

Until next time, <3.

**Zoya Yana and Josie were provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  Sally Hansen Pink Blink was provided by Sally Hansen for promotional purposes.  I purchased Revlon Sassy and Orly Liquid Vinyl.  All views expressed in this post are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Tape Mani

Zoya Carter, Tomoko, and Liberty Tape Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Hello there!  How are you all on this fine day??  I'm enjoying the cooler weather we're having.  Seriously, last week it was literally 95 and now this week we're in the 70s.  I wish the weather weren't so bipolar around here this year.  It's sunny one second, then the next it's hailing.  It makes no sense.

Since the weather is a tad cooler, I thought I'd share a manicure I did using two of the Fall Zoya Pixie Dust polishes, and well one of the summer Pixies.  I received the new Pixie's in the mail last week, and sat in the 90 degree weather taking photos of them in the front yard.  After a half hour of staring at the sparkly goodness and nearly dying of heat stroke, it was time to add the beauties to my stash and start thinking of nail art ideas with them!

I knew right away, the first polish I wanted to use was Carter, the gorgeous dark purple one.  I took out all my Pixies and tried to figure out which colors looked best with it.  Originally, I was going to use Carter and Sunshine together in a manicure, but to me it didn't look right, and I will explain why after the photos.  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Carter, Liberty, and Tomoko
Kind of amazing, right?  So, reason I used the polishes I did.  Carter is a gorgeous purple polish with purple glitters.  When on the nail, it's literally a purple bomb.  I had swatched Sunshine on the middle finger and didn't think that these two really went together, reason being, Sunshine has silver glitters set in a blue base.  It just wasn't matching, at all.  Then it hit me, Liberty and Miranda!  Both of these Pixies have matching glitters to their bases, Liberty being blue with blue, and Miranda pink with pink.  Since I was itching to have blue with the purple, I grabbed Liberty.  For the accent nail, part of me debated on using a cream polish and then taping a checkerboard pattern with the Pixies on top of that, but crazy ol' me decided to put the Pixies on top of another matching base/glitter one!  That one being Tomoko!

As I have stated in the past in regards to the Pixie dust polishes, they are great for nail art.  I have used them in the past for polka dots, and I have never had an application issue.  With this manicure, I had one slight issue, and that was getting the tape to adhere to Tomoko, most likely because of the texture itself.  I made sure the Pixie was completely dry and really pushed the tape on there to ensure hat none of the other colors got under the tape.  In the end, it was well worth the little extra effort.

I loveeee how all these colors came together.  The dark purple, next to the striking blue, then on top of the gorgeous subtle silver/gold of Tomoko.  Zoya really did a great job with these polishes!  I do have one complaint about Carter, which you all may think is impossible.  I wore this manicure for three days.  After showering once, Carter went from a gorgeous purple, to a purple with many blank splotches, kind of like the glitters washed a way a bit.  The brightness of the purple dulled out and it looked kind of ashy.  It was quickly fixed by adding another quick coat.  These photos were actually taken after adding a third coat on the second day.

I can't wait to use Tomoko again!  It's such a perfect shade and with the texture it ends up giving a little extra umph to the manicure!  It reminds me of I'm Not Lion by China Glaze minus the holo glitter and, well with texture.

What do you think?  Love or hate?  Any ideas for future Pixie Dust nail art manicures?

Until next time, <3

 **The Zoya Pixie Dusts were provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  The opinions expressed in this post are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Accent Nail

Ulta Showgirl with Pinata Yada Yada :)

9:00:00 AM

Sometimes I need to take a break from nail art.  I should do it more often because sometimes my "creative" brain becomes fried.  This is an awful thing to happen when sitting down to do a manicure because it always results in disasticure after disasticure.  Then I get frustrated, swear off nail polish forever, end up wearing naked nails, then two days later return to my Melmer and begin painting again.  After doing this simple manicure, I think I may have found a way to break the "I hate my nail polish" cycle for good.....hopefully.

I wore this manicure awhile ago, like beginning of July awhile ago.  I told you I have a back stock of manicures to go through.  I posted a picture of them on Instagram, but never got around to posting them on the blog.  I remember when I did this manicure, I was talking to Amanda, The Nail Polish Enthusiast.  Amanda is the queen of rainbow glitter polishes and always has PERFECT placement of them on the nail.  Seriously, I find this to be the hardest thing in the world, painting a glitter polish on my nail.  I can do a polka dot, tape manicure, you name it, but placing glitter polish, is truly hard work.  Whenever I do it, it globs in one central area on the nail, or pools at the cuticle.  It's just nasty looking.  That's why I'm ALWAYS hesitant to use a glitter polish.

Thanks to Amanda though, she talked me through it and well, I for once got a decent looking glittery manicure!  Hers are still a million times better than this.  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Ulta - Showgirl
  • Ulta - Pinata Yada Yada
I wish my camera and lightbox cooperated with me to get decent photos of this manicure.  Ulta Showgirl is a gorgeous coral color, which isn't as orange hued as what it came out to be.  If it were sunny, I probably would have gotten more "close to life" photos.  It is one of my new favorite polishes though.  First application, it has a jelly like formula.  I really wasn't sure how it would build up or if I would like it, but after the second coat, I truly was in love.  It has the most perfect shiny finish and leans to wanting to be a jelly while still being a cream polish!  If you're a fan of corals, head on out to Ulta and purchase this!!!  I'm so happy I did.

Pinata Yada Yada is an awesome rainbow glitter with multiple sized glitters in many different colors.  Thus, rainbow.  I used it last year in my birthday manicure and used it once or twice since on my toes.  This was one thickish coat with some random glitter placement to fill in some bald spots.  If you're used to using glitters like this, then you should have no problem because the bottle is packed with glitter.  I love it despite my lack of skill.

What do you think?  Loving the simple? 

Until next time, <3.

**I purchased the polishes in this post.**

Fun and Random

Lightning Bolt Nail Art - Another Take 2

9:00:00 AM

I love recycling manicures and attempting them a second time around.  If it weren't for the blog, I probably would never try a technique or a nail art look another time if it originally failed.  Well, I lied, I won't ever try water marbling again, but that's just out of principle.  Seriously, it wastes too much of my polish.

Last year, after seeing a pin on Pinterst, I attempted these lightning bolt nails.  I loved this manicure, and thought it looked SOOOOO cool!  Now, if you know me, you know I loathe storms, so it was so odd that I loved the nails as much as I did.

The thought to re-create this manicure never crossed my mind until I got caught driving in one of the worst storms of my life.  I was coming home from one of my jobs a few weeks ago when the storm struck.  There were numerous cloud to ground lightning strikes, rain and hail which quickly flooded the roads, and the loudest thunder ever.  I had to pull over and wait out the storm because I was having such an awful panic attack driving in it.  Come to find out later, the storm dumped about 2 inches of rain in 30 minutes and of course hit my area the hardest.

After this rainy day, and very rainy summer, I thought, eh why not.  Since it's supposed to storm tonight, I thought it was fitting to finally share them!  So let's take a look!!!!




Colors Used:
  • Base
    • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • Bolt Colors
    • Sinful Colors - Sugar Rush
    • Maybelline - Beach Plum
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
Kind of cool, right?  I think both this year and last years manicure were great attempts at this technique.  I really have no complaints about last years seeing as I was a fairly new nail artist.  Plus, I created last years bolts using toothpicks, where as this year I used a nail art brush.

Getting the look is rather simple.  First you start off with a base coat of black nail polish.  I used Orly Liquid Vinyl because I think it's the best black polish ever.  Full coverage in two coats and it is so shiny.  Plus, it wears great too!  Totally worth the price!  When the coats of black were dry, I used a make up sponge and sponged on the blue polish where I wanted the beginning and end of the bolt to be.  I did a little down the middle area as well.  When that was dry, I used a dark pink polish and sponged it lightly over the blue.  Now, when this was done, it didn't look too pretty.  It kind of was a blur of colors which looked like they had no reason to be together.  It all starts to fit when you add the bolt itself using a white polish.  You can use a toothpick, dotting tool, or a nail art brush like I did.  When that's all dry, add a top coat and trust me, it all comes together!

What do you think?  Enjoy this years or last years better?  Any other manicures you'd like to see me re-try??

Pardon this post, I doubt it makes sense since I wrote it at midnight....again.  Exhausted Alaina shouldn't be allowed on her blog, but the posts must go on!!!  

Until next time, <3.

**I purchased all the polishes used within this post**

Fun and Random

Sunset Palm Tree Nails - Take 2

9:00:00 AM

It feels like I haven't blogged in ages.  Reason being, the last three posts were all written about 2 weeks ago when I was working my desk job.  I got a little ambitious and decided to get ahead on the whole blogging thing, told myself that I was going to stay on top of it from there on out, and well, here I am, the night before a post is due to go up, writing about a manicure I did awhile ago.  I'm not complaining, but I'm not going to lie, it was amazing not having to worry about writing posts!  At least for this post, I was ahead of the curve and had the photos already edited.

I wish that I had gotten photos of these nails in the sun, but they do look rather amazing with the black, lightbox background!  Last year, I did a similar manicure where I created a sunset gradient and then used black to draw palm trees, beach french tips, and some little seagulls!  I really loved the manicure, but hated how my black tips covered the tips of the pretty gradient.  This year, I was more cognizant of the gradient, and made sure that the tips still were showing.

Oh, how I loved this manicure.  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Ulta - Flamingo, Show Girl, Sun-Sational
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
Amazing, right?  It looks just like a gorgeous sunset with the purple, coral, and yellow.  Best thing, this look is rather easy to obtain!!!  Just as with any gradient, I started out with a thin coat of a white polish.  I can't remember to be honest what white I used, but I used a thin coat of one.  When that was dried, I painted the gradient onto a make up sponge and then dabbed the sponge onto the nail.  When i got the coloring I wanted, I added a thin coat of top coat to blend the gradient.  When that was dried, with a nail art brush, I added the details of the palm trees, beaches, and seagulls.  Added another coat of topper and they were done!

I decided to use all Ulta polishes for the gradient because my OCD set in and I wanted to see if there was a difference if you blend three of the same brand versus three different brands.  Crazy, right?  To be honest, I saw no difference.  I didn't feel as bad using the Ulta polishes because I purchased all of them for $2 so if I used a little extra, I wasn't using up an OPI or China Glaze.  If that makes any sense.  It makes sense in my brain, but probably not down on the blog.

What do you think?  Liking the summer beach sunset look?  I should do a night time one....ooo it'd be pretty!

Until next time, <3!

**All polishes used in this post I purchased**

Gradient Mani

Triangle Gradient Nails

9:00:00 AM

Yet another manicure I loved, but couldn't get decent pictures of.  Seriously, isn't that such a bummer when that happens?  Maybe I'm the only one who has a camera who loves them on some days, but hates them on others!

I've been wanting to do this manicure for awhile ever since I saw it on Pshiiit Polish!  I wish I had photography skills like she does.  Everything is so professional and pretty looking!  I fell in love instantaneously with her triangle gradient manicure.  She had a cute little tutorial, so I decided I had to copy! So happy I did!!

Let's take a look!





Colors Used:
  • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • Sally Hansen - Fuchsia Flare
  • Sinful Colors - Candy Coated
  • Sally Hansen - Blue-Away
To get the look, I started off with a base coat of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I'll save you from a rant of how much I love this polish since every single time I wear it and post about it, I rave.  Seriously, head on over to a beauty supply store and find it.

When that was dried, I took my nemesis, I mean scotch tape, and taped triangles onto each of my nails.  In order to ensure that none of my pretty white polish peeled off, I stuck the tape to my leg a couple of times so it wasn't so sticky.  When the tape was in a position I liked, I created my gradient on the make up sponge and started dabbing it onto the nail.  I did this twice until the colors popped how I wanted them.  When that was done, I quickly peeled the tape off and added a top coat.  Looking back on it, I should have added some INM Northern Lights while the tape was still on the nail!  It would have looked so much prettier!

I can't wait to try this manicure in a similar style as Nails and Noms did awhile back.  She did it with a black base and it looked super cool!!!  Putting that on my to do list right now!

What do you think?  Think you'll like it better with the black background?

Until next time, <3

Press Release

Fall 2013 Zoya Satin and Cashmere Polishes!

9:00:00 AM

Hey everyone!  No nails from me today, just a Press Release from Zoya regarding their new Satin and Cashmere polishes!!!!  Let's take a look!

________________________________

CASHMERES & SATINS
Twelve sultry new ZOYA Nail Polish colors for Fall 2013.

Six new long-wearing decadent, cashmere creams - five silky, satin metallics - one super luxe gold topper! All created to work together with this seasons most stylish runway designs and luxurious fabric blends. Try the topper as an accent or gild each nail - no matter what this Fall duo has you covered.


CASHMERESLivingston (ZP697) - Fall Red Cream - Full Coverage.
Pepper (ZP685) - Brick Red Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/AW13).
Sailor (ZP696) - Dark Navy Cream - Full Coverage.
Hunter (ZP695) - Dark Sea Cream - Full Coverage.
Louise (ZP694) - Chocolate Brown Cream - Full Coverage.
Flynn (ZP693) - Camel Brown Nude Cream - Full Coverage.

SATINS
Channing (ZP691) - Rust Red Copper Metallic - Full Coverage.
Mason (ZP692) - Red Violet “Fandango Pink” Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).
Claudine (ZP690) - Meteorite Gray Metallic - Full Coverage.
Neve (ZP679) - Sapphire Blue Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/AW13).
Giovanna (ZP680) - Lush Emerald Green Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/AW13).
SPECIAL EDITION - SATINS TOPPER Maria - Luisa (ZP662) - Sparkling Cellophane Gold Topper (Originally designed for Rafael Cennamo/AW13).

Photo credits: Zoya Nail Polish
Ultra long-wearing, nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.
Find over 300 stunning Zoya colors on www.zoya.com.
Each and every color has a name as unique as the women who inspired it.

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!
Zoya Nail Polish – Fall
$8.00 ea. (US)

AVAILABLE JULY 15, 2013
Zoya.com

______________________________________

What do you think?  I like the Satins and some of the Cashmeres.  I don't see myself wearing many of the Cashmere polishes alone, but they are GREAT for nail art!!!

Flowers

CutePolish Doodle Flowers

9:00:00 AM

So, it's no secret, I am a CutePolish fan.  When I'm too lazy to think of my own nail ideas, I typically will head on over to her YouTube page and watch some of her videos.  What I love about her is that her nail art is simple, but at the same time gives you an amazing nail art look which tricks people into thinking the manicure took you ages.  Besides being asked "Did you do that yourself?", "How long did that take you?" is the most commonly asked question by people who admire my nails.

Well friends, this manicure took literally 45 minutes.  Maybe I'm speedy, or maybe it was the fact I used Sally Hansen quick dry polishes, but it really was super fast.  After seeing CutePolish's doodle flower design, I knew I had to copy it one way or another.  So, I put a little The Little Canvas spin on her manicure, and ended up with the cute manicure below.

Let's take a look.  I wish I got outdoor photos of this.  Dang weather....




Colors Used:

  • Sally Hansen - Peachy Breezy
  • Sally Hansen - Blue Away!
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • Zoya - Josie
  • Sally Hansen - Disco Ball
My camera kind of messed up the coloring, but in the end, you get the idea.  I took a peachy coral, and light baby blue and painted them on the respective nails.  Then when they were dried, I added a coat of Disco Ball since cream polishes sometimes make me go crazy with no glitter or shimmer.  Both polishes are very pretty on their own, it was just my personal preference to add something more.  I was happy I did because Disco Ball is a gorgeous polish and it made the manicure pop just a little more.

Like CutePolish did in her tutorial, with a make up sponge, I sponged on the colors for my flowers onto the white nail.  When that was dried, with my nail art brush, I added the details of the flower.  Now, in the CutePolish video, she added blank circles to represent leaves.  I liked her look, but I wanted some color, so I sponged on a little Josie and outlined them as well!

What do you think?  Like the spin?  Like the original?  Ever do a CutePolish look?

Until next time, <3.

Animal Print

My Most Favorite Zebra Manicure

9:00:00 AM

So many posts, so little time.  I keep thinking to myself that I should change my posting schedule and post manicures on an every 2 day basis, but then I'm scared I will run out of manicures and be left with no posts.  Ahh, Nail Blogger Problems.  Seriously though, I feel like I'm painting my nails more than ever and I always have an extra post or three.  This manicure has sat in the drafts folder here on the blog for way too long.  It's a shame too, because the pictures are perfect and the manicure was one of my favorites!

When I sat down to do this manicure, I still had nubs.  Yes, from when I broke my fingernail about, hmm a month ago.  I told you this is a back log.  I wanted nail art but wasn't sure what would look good on lil nubbins.  Then it hit me, animal print always looks good.  I planned on doing a plain white zebra manicure because it had been awhile since I did something black and white, and then I saw my new bottle of INM Bikini sitting and calling my name.

Let's take a look.




Colors Used:

  • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • INM - Bikini
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
Amazing, right?  Ahhh the pretty pink and black pop so well off of My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  For those of you who do not own a bottle of this OPI polish, you need to run to your nearest beauty supply store and demand they find you a bottle.  It's such an amazing white polish, but with the subtle grey undertones, it doesn't jump off your nail screaming HEY I'M A WHITE POLISH!  Easiest way to say this, it's not obnoxiously bright.  It also has a perfect formula where in two coats you have full coverage with no bald spots.  I need to buy a back up bottle while I still can.  Or OPI just needs to make it part of their regular collection.

Bikini by INM is such a great color also.  I still need to swatch this polish but haven't gotten around to it.  For nail art, and sponging like this, it's a great polish!  It doesn't dry too fast where you can't work with it, and it applies like a dream to the base.

To get the look, I painted on two thin coats of MBSW, sponged on Bikini, and drew zebra prints with Orly Liquid Vinyl.  Easy peasy.  I was going to do a tutorial, but eh, kind of got lazy.  If you would like one, I can make it!

What do you think?  Loving the look?

Until next time, <3.

4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!!!

9:00:00 AM

Happy Fourth of July to my American followers!!!!  How will you all be spending your holiday?  For me, I'm still not quite sure.  I'm guessing we will end up grilling some food and then possibly going to see fireworks later on in the night.  That is, depending on how exhausted I am.  I'm working more house than I typically do, and I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to paint, photograph, edit, and create a special Fourth of July post.  Lucky, I found the time two nights ago to paint this manicure, photograph it after work and before going to a movie, then come home and edit and write all in time for it to post on the Fourth.  Go me!

Sadly though, it's not the manicure I had in mind.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I purchased a Star and Heart Hand punch to create easy nail art designs.  I've attempted freehand stars in the past, and well it's failed miserably, so when I saw on Chalkboard Nails that you can use a hand punch, I ran to Michael's and purchased one as soon as possible.  It wasn't that the hand punch didn't work, it worked great, but I globbered on polish onto my other nails which would have never dried and I was getting really sleepy and needed to head to bed.

So, after two disasticures, I went simple and copied a manicure I did a while back.  I'm happy with it, but not super ecstatic since it wasn't want I wanted.  And of course, now looking at the photo, I see one spot which could have used an extra red dot and it's driving me insane that I didn't see this last night when doing the manicure.  Oh well, let's take a look....




Colors Used:

  • Ulta - Snow White
  • Sally Hansen - Red Carpet
  • Zoya - Liberty
Look at that glittery Zoya Pixie Dust in Liberty.  Stevie is my favorite Zoya Pixie, but Liberty is a close second.  Just look at that blue and all the glitter!  Now, okay, for this photo I top coated it, I really wanted the glitter to sparkle extra since it is a Fourth of July manicure.  It sparkled just fine as a matte textured, but crazy Alaina wanted that little extra umph.

I originally had on a cream red of Ulta Let the Flames Begin, but I wanted my red to sparkle also.  So, on top of a base of Let the Flames Begin, I put on one coat of Red Carpet which gave the nails a subtle sparkle.  You can see it more in person than in the photos.  If we weren't getting the storm from hell, then I could have taken outdoor photos, but no, everything had to flood and be scary so I was stuck with the light box.

With the two polishes, on the white nail I just did some diagonal dots.  This tied the manicure all in. 

I would talk about what I wanted to do, but it will just depress me, so I'm going to stop this post here....lol

What do you think?  Liking this simple fourth of July manicure?

Well, until next time, <3

**Zoya Liberty was provide by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  All other polishes in this post were purchased by myself.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Nail Artist of the Month

July Nail Artist of the Month

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world, how are you today?  Did you remember to follow my blog via BlogLovin now that Google Reader has gone bye bye?  I sure hope so as this is a post you do not want to miss!!

As you may know, the first post of each month is dedicated to one nail artist of my choosing and they are designated The Little Canvas Nail Artist of the Month!  It seems like all my social networks are being slammed with new, amazing nail artists, that it's becoming very difficult to pick just one.

July's pick comes to us all the way from Turkey!  Her name is AyDi and I met her on Instagram.  Not only is she a talented nail artist, but she is also a sweet heart who constantly is posting the nicest comments on my pictures.  I am so excited she agreed to this post! 

Enough of my babbling, time for all of you to meet AyDi!!!
_________________________________

Hello everybody!

I'm AyDi (pronounced eye-deh). I'm from Istanbul, Turkey. I majored in journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, NY.  I graduated in 2006. I'm now 29 and currently a house wife with two beautiful furry children Arya and Zombie.

I've had a love for nail polish for as long as I could remember even though there were very few brands and color options of nail polish in Turkey when I was young (only recently that started to change a little). So as you can guess I felt like I was in nail polish heaven when I went to college in the US. Nail art wasn't a thing then, but I painted my nails almost everyday.

I decided to start a blog (in Turkish) and a Facebook page last year in May , even though I probably should have waited until I got a little better at nail art. My first blog posts seem a little embarassing now.

When Alaina asked me if I wanted to be July Nail Artist of the month I was like "pff why would I want that?" I actually said that but of course I was being sarcastic! I was really really super excited and happy!! I've been following her Instagram account(s) for a while and I was wondering when she was gonna ask me hahaha I know, I'm too funny!

Sorry, that was a long intro! Let's get to the fun part! For today's post I decided to recreate Alaina's curly-q graduation nail design, done with textured polish, not only because it was awesome, but also because I love textured polishes and am always looking for an excuse to use them.

Since 4th of July is just around the corner I thought using red, white and blue polishes would be very appropriate. Textured polishes are OPI liquid sand. Red polish is called The Impossible, and the blue one Get Your Number. I applied two coats of each. I had to hunt down the stars in the red polish because they don't really like to come out on their own :) White polish is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (two coats).





I also did a simple stars and stripes design using the same colors on my right hand to match my left. :)



Links:
Blog: aydininsekerojeleri.com the name means AyDi's sweet nail polishes. The blog is also in Turkish but I usually post a lot of high quality photos. So it's just fun to look at :P
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AyDininSekerOjeleri
IG: http://instagram.com/aydixiii

Thank you so much for this opportunity!! I really appreciate it!! :)))
xoxox

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Love it, AyDi!  This manicure is gorgeous and I love how you added the dots around the curly q's.  This is one of my favorite manicures I've ever done and I love seeing it recreated.  I'm also in LOVE with your left hand!  Amazingly adorable!  Thank you so much for this festive manicure!!!

AyDi included the links above in her post of where you can find her, and I've also included them on my Nail Artist of the Month page!  Be sure to check her out and follow her blogs!

Until next time, <3.