The Beauty Buffs

The Beauty Buffs: Nautical/Beachy Theme

8:00:00 AM

Happy Wednesday!  How are you all today?  I'm personally happy it's the middle of the week because that means the weekend is right around the corner!  Sleep in Saturday has become my favorite day.  So close, but yet so far.

Today I'm back posting with The Beauty Buffs!  Our theme this week is Nautical/Beach theme!  Since I just did a nautical manicure a few weeks ago for Twinsie Tuesday, I decided to embrace the beach part of our theme!  Especially after I saw this palm tree manicure by One Nail To Rule Them All.

I have done sunset palm tree manicures in the past, but never was too fond of them.  My gradients typically were weird and unevenly spaced so when I covered the tip with the black beach, the gradient itself disappeared and it looked like I had a one color base.  Not to mention, my palm trees were always sloppy and awful.

After seeing Alice's manicure and tutorial, I thought I would give it a try!  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Bright Lucite
  • Ulta - Blue Streak
  • FingerPaints - Petal Obsession
  • OPI - Hey Baby!
  • Orly Instant Artist - Jet Black
Pretty neat right?  I started off with a base coat of the lightest polishes.  For the blue nail I used two coats of Bright Lucite (which I need to get ten more bottles of) and FingerPaints Petal Obsession from the new Film Noir collection which will be hitting stores soon!  While they were drying, I put painters tape around all my nails and got my sponges ready to do a gradient.  Some people put Elmer's glue or peel off base coat around their nail before doing a gradient, and I do tape.  It is a little tedious but a lot quicker to remove than the peel off base.  Plus, I find if I don't use the tape, I get my paint all in my cuticle and then when cleaning up I ruin my actual design.

After I was all taped up and ready to gradient,I painted a line of the lighter and darker polish onto the sponge then dabbed it onto the nail.  After a few dabs, the color was just how I wanted it.  You can obtain the desired look so much faster when you use the lightest color as the base.  I recently found this out and each time I create a look using this technique, I'm mind blown that I haven't been doing it all along.



After my gradient was dried, I used my dotting tool and created the rocky shore.  With my striper I then went through and added the palm trees and all their little details.  The seagulls were added using a nail art brush because I'm not that good with a striper.  Honestly, I'm not that good with a nail art brush either because they look like messed up bats.

Before adding my OPI Matte top coat, I followed some of the lovely Beauty Buffs advice from way back when we were first starting, and that was to apply a glossy top coat on my nail first.  Last week I did another matte design that has yet to go on the blog and I forgot to do this step, and it practically ruined my art work.  The matte smeared my design something awful and I had to fix a few nails, and a few days later my nails were cracking.  With this manicure after applying the glossy then doing the matte, I had no smearing or cracking.  Instead I had a nice even matte look.

What do you think?  Liking the beachy theme?  Think I should have gone nautical?

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies posts!




Until next time, <3.

Puzzle Mani

Twinsie Tuesday: Interlocking Design

9:00:00 AM

Happy Tuesday polished peeps!  Yup, Tuesday, so that means it is time for another Twinsie Tuesday!  Today we are sharing interlocking designs.  Now, two years ago when this blog was still a baby, I did an interlocking manicure which never got posted and since then haven't revisited the idea, so I was super excited to see today's prompt.  Of course, I went in a different direction after seeing next weeks prompt and decided to hold off.  Spoiler alert, I think you now know what my design next week will be....possibly.

Anywho, I decided to go with a puzzle manicure because puzzles interlock!  I've done two or three puzzle manicures on the blog, and each time I created one I loved them.  I'm actually upset I don't visit the idea more often because they're a rather easy and fun look to create.  I think I might have to create a tutorial for them!

I should stop babbling and let you all take a look at my puzzle piece interlocking design!




Colors Used:
  • Ulta - Flamingo
  • INM - Brighella
  • INM - Beatrice
  • Orly - Gumdrop
  • Orly Instant Artist - Black
I started off with a base coat of Orly Flamingo.  I really need to go grab a back up bottle of this because it's literally the perfect pink cream with a very very very VERY subtle shimmer.  It's so bright, cheery, and fun as well.  For me to be saying that is a lot since I don't like pink very often.

When the base was dry, I took my darkest color and with my nail art brush and created a box so to speak which would be the outline for that puzzle piece.  Depending on where the piece was located, I would either fill in the blank area with a dotting tool, or the polish brush itself.  My rule was dotting tool for anything near the cuticle, brush for anything by the tip.  

What I was left with were four colored boxes on my nail.  I dripped a little bit of each color out onto a paper plate and then used a medium sized dotting tool to add the puzzle dots.  So I put a blue dot on the purple, a purple on the mint, a mint on the pink, and a pink onto the blue.  That is what created the interlocking look.

If your lines were super neat, then you don't have to do the next step which is to add the black outline.  I think the design looks good either way, but I personally prefer adding the black outline.  I can be kind of messy, especially when I'm painting my right hand, so it's best for me to add the black.  This time around I just used the striper brush instead of dripping it out and using a nail art brush.  Either way works, just depends on what you're more comfortable with.



I think that the manicure turned out to be super cute.  My top coat is getting a little thick so it's leaving some pesky bubbles behind.  Time to get a new 73ml bottle of Out the Door....or just use the small bottle I always hold in the pictures.  I try to keep that small bottle around for emergency situations...like when I totally forget I ran out of top coat and didn't have time to go to Sally Beauty Supply.  How things re turning out, it seems like that time is coming reaaaally close.

What do you think of the design?  Liking the colors?  Want me to create a tutorial?

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's posts!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Until next time, <3.

Fun and Random

City Skyline = Take 2

9:00:00 AM

Well hello there polished world!  How are you today?  I'm doing well, especially since last night I edited four posts worth of photos!  I have two awesome manicures that I cannot wait to share with you on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Then at the end of the week, I'll be debuting another Nail Artist of the Month.  This blog is booming with posts and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Well, after editing so many photos, I had honestly no idea which design I should share today.  I pretty much had to close my eyes and point at the screen and wherever my finger landed was what I was going to post.  When that didn't really work, I just went with the design that was the oldest....and that was my second take on the City Skyline nails.

I did these nails back in the beginning of June around the time that my team leader discovered my Instagram account and found my first attempt at the look which was done after I saw CutePolish's video.  She was in love with the design and it was all that she could talk about, so I thought it was the perfect time to try them out for a second time.  I meant to get them on the blog sooner, but for some reason they weren't in my "To Be Edited" folder and they slipped my mind.

No worries though, here they are!  So let's take a look!




Colors Used
  • FingerPaints - Paper Mache
  • OPI - Eurso Euro
  • Ulta - Tutu Cute
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • Mary Kay - Lemon Parfait
  • INM - Northern Lights
I started out with a base coat of white polish.  Once the white was dried, I grabbed my make up sponge and painted on the gradient of OPI Eurso Euro and Ulta Tutu Cute.  I dabbed it on the nail a few times leaving the tip of my nail white.  Since it was going to be covered by the buildings, I didn't think it was necessary to have the gradient go all the way to the tip of the nail.  Plus, I was scared that if I did put the gradient to the tip of the nail, the building would cover the transition and it would just look like a funky blue sky and not the electric night sky.

When my gradient was dried, I added a top coat of INM Northern Lights.  Clearly I'm obsessed with this top coat.  It's perfect for this type of manicure because it really makes the night sky look like one with zillions of twinkling stars.

Once that was dried, I took my brush from my Orly Liquid Vinyl and painted on the buildings.  I used my striper brush to add details for the little antennas on the top of the buildings.  Then when the black was dried, I used my dotting tool and Lemon Parfait to make the glowing windows. 



I had mixed feelings about this manicure.  The second attempt sure was a lot better than the first, but I still need to work on the whole building situation.  They just didn't turn out how I imagined them, and my windows were all wonky.  I think when I did them it was late and I was tired and really didn't care that my windows looked so crappy.  It's just something I'm seeing now.  Like look how that middle finger has huge windows where as all the others are all uniform.  Oh well, OCD pet peeve right there.

What do you think?  Liking the skyline look??

Hey so side note, would you like to see me do any tutorials for any of my recent designs?  I know it's been awhile since I've asked so I thought I would throw it out there.  I feel like I haven't done one in forever and am kind of itching to start doing them again.  I miss doing nail art wheels also.  Well, keep it in mind and let me know on here or any of my social networks!

Until next time, <3.

FingerPaints

Finger Paints Film Noir Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Press Sample
Good morning polished world!  Happy Friday!!!  Isn't it awesome that we are at the end of the work week?  I couldn't be happier!  Hopefully the weather this weekend will be amazing and I can spend lots of hours outside!  If it's cruddy out, then I guess I will work on the blog.  I really need to spend some time creating posts this weekend.

This post I'm very happy to say is making it up on the blog in a timely fashion before the collection is even released!  A week or so ago, I received the FingerPaints Film Noir collection which will be out in Sally Beauty Supply stores in August!  This collection contains 3 matte creams and 1 matte multicolored glitter.  As soon as I opened the box, the idea for today's design using all four the the polishes came to mind!

I'm super happy that the look translated perfectly onto my nail!  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • FingerPaints - Film Noir, Beautiful Mystery, Petal Obsession, Hollywood Decadence.
These polishes do all dry matte, but I decided to add my shiny top coat.  If you want to keep them matte, I would suggest putting a matte top coat on the top to even them out.  All the creams in the collection are gorgeous colors, but they apply a little funky.  The first coat is streaky, but the second one does level out nicely.  I think the matte top coat really just makes it as even as possible.  If you're steadier than I am, you'll be just fine.

Regardless, the colors are GORGEOUS in either the shiny or matte version.  I applied three coats of both Petal Obession and Beautyfil Mystery.  I really love the baby pink color of Petal Obession.  Really unlike anything I own at the moment.  Well, there might be a Sally Hansen, but this one was more unique.  Beautiful Mystery is comparable to Orly Boho Bonnet.  I think the Orly is more on the grey side, where this is more on the blue side.  I really am happy to add it to my collection because it's a perfect base for nail art!!!

I used three coats of Beautiful Mystery.  This polish is a multicolor glitter set in a milky base.  This polish, like the others dries matte and honestly I loved that about this polish.  I decided for my nail art to make it shiny since all my other nails were shiny.  I think this glitter polish is PERFECT for an accent nail.  I don't think I would be too happy with it on all ten nails, but if you're a glitter person, then you'll love it.


I'm so happy I used all the polishes together for this look.  Film Noir created a perfect gradient on top of Petal Obsession.  This polish is such a gorgeous plum shade which is perfect transition for Summer to Fall.

As for nail art polishes, they were okay.  Since they are matte polishes, they dry a tad faster than your typical cream.  They're workable, but you just have to move fast, especially with the little details.  Those details for me were the petal outlines on the roses.

What do you think?  Liking this collection?  Are they colors you would use? Enjoying the look I created?

The Film Noir collection will be available both in store and online at Sally Beauty Supply starting in August!

Until next time, <3.

**Polishes were provided for review. Please see my disclosure policy**

Nail Art Society

Nail Art Society: #NeonPop Kit Review

8:02:00 PM

Press Sample
Hello polished world!  I know it's an odd time for me to be posting, but I really wanted to share with you an amazing Nail Art Society kit I just received in the mail.  I want to start off by saying that I have not been sharing some of the kits recently due to a really hectic schedule, but now that everything is settling down, I'm going to get better at posting the kits once they come in and share with all of you how awesome they truly are!  I've been sad that I haven't been able to use the kits.


The kit I'm sharing with you today is the #NeonPop kit which contains many goodies from Sally Hansen!  In my opinion, this is the perfect kit for any nail artist!


First though, I want to talk about the new box that that was in my mail box!  I'm so used to the normal brown box each month, so when I opened the mail box and saw the black box branded with the NAS logo on the side, I was rather excited.  I think branding is super important in this day and age, and even though this is a small thing, it's a perfect marketing tool.


When I opened the box, I was greeted first with the NAS card which tells you what the theme is and what the kit contains.  I think this is so cute, especially with the nail art look right on the front.


Then I opened the box to see all the goodies laid out perfectly!  White polish, nail art pens, neon polishes, tape, a nail file!  Goodness gracious so much stuff!


As you can see above, with this kit you receive one bottle of Sally Hansen White Out, the perfect base for a neon design!  I quickly saw that the two bottles which I thought were stripers were actually neon polishes!  The green is Hot Wasabi and the purple shimmer is Intense Iris.  So so pretty.  Then there are the two nail art pens, one in yellow and one in black.  The tape is an added bonus, especially since tape manicures are all the rage.  If you have a pair of chevron cutting scissors, I highly suggest getting them out and using them with this tape!  I wonder where my pair is....hmmmm.

I'm in love with this kit and cannot wait to play around with it!  It is such a perfect kit for summer with the neon theme!  What I absolutely love about this kit is how easy it is for someone to create a nail art look.  Literally, the ideas are endless, even for those beginner nail artists.

You can get your own kits by signing up for the Nail Art Society on their website.  Kits are $11.95 each plus shipping.  I honestly do not know if it is too late for you to receive this kit, but usually kits are sold A La Cart in their shop at a later time!

Until next time, <3.

**Kit was provided for review.  Opinions expressed are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Flowers

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired by Nature

9:00:00 AM

Press Sample
Happy Tuesday polished world!  How are you all today?  I've been better.  Might be writing this post with a migraine so you know how that is.  I apologize in advanced for any spelling errors or sentences that make zero sense.

Today is Twinsie Tuesday!  I apologize for not being around last week!  One stroke flowers are evil.  This week, we are posting manicures which are inspired by nature.  Since flowers are a part of nature, I decided to kind of combine last week with this weeks.  Sure, it's not a one stroke flower by any means, but still it's a flower!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Harper
  • Zoya - Rooney
  • Zoya-  Kitridge
  • Finger Paints - Paper Mache
  • INM Northern Lights
  • Orly Instant Artist - Black
Normally I am not a huge fan of pink, but I am loving this manicure.  The Zoya polishes together are just amazing.  On my pinkie and pointer finger, I did a gradient using Kitridge and Rooney.  I find gradients to be so much easier when you use the lightest color as the base, which I did here with Kitridge.  Such a pretty bubblegum pink polish which applied evenly in two coats.

What really made the gradient pop though was INM Northern Lights.  I know, I know, I talk about this polish way too much, but goodness look at that subtle sparkle!  I'm not a huge fan of plain cream nails, so being able to add a subtle sparkle like this is a huge plus for me.  Everyone needs INM Northern Lights.  Everyone needs Out the Door also....but that's another blog post.

I decided to do a glitter accent on my middle finger using Zoya Harper from the Bubbly collection.  Really liking these pretty jelly glitter polishes.  The smell is kind of strong, but I'm assuming that has something to do with the base the glitter is suspended in.  Nothing too bad, but it's leaning towards that migraine inducing smell that China Glaze Fairy Dust has.  Kind of surprising the Zoya has such a strong odor too, didn't expect it from them since they're five free.



For my flower, I did a splash flower where I lightly brushed on Kitridge.  When that was dry, I added a center using Rooney and then went through with my striper and added the detail.  One of my favorite splash flowers with that different colored center.

What do you think?  Loving the look?

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsies posts!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

I know some things are currently happening with Zoya in the blogging community and I have no comment on the situation yet.  This post was drafted up before everything went cray.  I'm just going to sit back and watch how everything plays out.

Until next time, <3.

**Some polishes in this post were provided for review.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Bestie Twin Nails

Bestie Twin Nails with Fashion Footing! Take Two!

9:00:00 AM

It's Saturday!!!!  Can we all take a minute and cheer that that the work week is over and we can all relax for the next two days?  For me, I'm literally relaxing, especially since I came home from work yesterday and cleaned my car inside and out.  It really needed it and I'm so happy it's out of the way so I can enjoy the sunshine!

Before enjoying the sun though, I am here sharing another Bestie Twin Nail design with the lovely Amanda from Fashion Footing.  After we had so much fun creating last month's floral design, we decided to attempt to do a Bestie Twin post each month! 

For today's post, we have done watermelon nails.  Now, I've created a few of these on the blog but I've never truly been happy with the outcome.  This time though, I'm really loving how they turned out and cannot get over how good they are!  Okay, the seeds could have been a little smaller, but regardless, I'm happy!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Finger Paints - Paper Mache
  • Zoya - Wendy
  • Zoya - Tilda
  • Orly - Instant Artist - Black
Isn't the gradient neat?!  I started off with a base of white polish, and once it was dried I grabbed my make up sponges.  I painted a good portion of the sponge with Zoya Wendy, a gorgeous melon colored polish from the new Tickled collection.  I then left a tiny blank space on the sponge and painted on some Tilda, the bright green polish from the same collection.  After I had the spacing just right between the green and melon polish, I did a quick swipe of white polish in the empty space, then dabbed it on the nail.  The end result, a perfect looking piece of watermelon!

I applied a quick top coat, then started working on my little seeds.  Or should I say, large seeds.  Don't get me wrong, they're cute, I just think they would be cuter if the seed wasn't taking over the whole watermelon.


I really love the gradient for the watermelon.  I've seen a few girls do this same sort of look on Instagram and I knew I had to try it.  Don't ask me who, because honestly I can't remember, I just know I've seen it bunches.  Truly though, the nail looks like a real piece of watermelon, especially near the tip of the nail because the gradient makes it look like the rind!

What do you think?  Liking this design?  Loving the gradient?  Think my seeds should be smaller?

Do not forget to check out Fashion Footing's post.  I already know hers are amazing.  She sent me a photo the other night and I really wish I had her design on my nails.  Go over and check!

Until next time, <3.

**Some polishes in this post were provided for PR purposes.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Dot Mani

The Beauty Buffs: Floral

8:00:00 AM

Press Sample
Hello polished world!  How are you all on this fine Wednesday?  Just a few more days and the weekend will be here!  When I'm at work, I feel like the workday flies, but then I sit back and think "omg it's seriously only Wednesday."  With how fast everything has been going, it should be at least Thursday.

Regardless, today is Wednesday and I am here to post with The Beauty Buffs!  Today our theme if Floral.  If you know me, you know I LOOOVE floral manicures!  Dot flowers, roses, splash flowers, you name it, I love it.  Since I already have done a rose manicure for The Beauty Buffs during Coral week, I decided to do a different floral print.  While I love my roses, I wanted to try something a little new!

Lately on Instagram I have seen sooo many girls who have had daisy accent nails.  Typically the daisy nail is framed with polka dots, which again is something I love.  My Instagram sleuthing has led me to believe that this manicure was created by Trendy Polish, but honestly t's such a simple design, I really can't say this is this person's, and so on and so forth.  Literally, I've seen it on at least ten separate accounts in the past month.

Anywho, since I loved the pattern and the overall design of this floral manicure, I knew I had to do it and share it with all you lovelies today!  I grabbed a pretty new polish from the NYC New York Color Samba Collection and got to work!  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • NYC New York Color - Jacaranda Flower
  • NYC New York Color - Copabanana
  • OPI - This Crown Needs a Gown, & In True Stefani Fashion
  • INM - Northern Lights
  • Orly Instant Artist - White

Isn't it pretty??  I'm really loving the base color of Jacaranda Flower from the City Samba Collection.  It's such a deep purple, but still bright for summer.  It's truly unlike any other purple polish I own.  When I first received it, I thought to myself that it was very similar to other drug store polishes I owned, but it has a more blue purple color when on the nail.  It applied evenly in two coats, but for my manicure I used three since I really wanted the color to pop.  While the polishes from this collection are quick dry, I didn't think it dried any faster than my bottles of Sinful Colors.  Maybe it was the humidity that day, but I thought my top coat dried faster.

Once I added the INM Northern Lights, it dried super faster.  Fellow Beauty Buff Jacqui from Crafty Nail asked me about this polish yesterday, and I'm so happy to hear she's adding it to her collection.  I truly don't think she will be sorry, and that goes for all you lovelies reading this post.  If you use China Glaze Fairy Dust and love it, then you will be blown away by this topper.  Literally it's a fast dry, non smelly Fairy Dust!!


Enough of me babbling about the polishes, I should probably talk about the floral part of this manicure since that is what this post is all about!  The daisies were super easy and in my opinion super adorable.  With my small nail art brush, I created a mini "+" on my nail.  I then went and drew a little "x" through it.  Once it was dried, with my smallest dotting tool, I added the yellow middles using Copabanana.  The nail looked a little weird to me though, so I went through and added the dots in between the flowers.  I really think that helped tie the whole manicure together and made it really match the other nails.

What do you think?  Loving this floral/polka dot manicure?  Loving that base color?

I am sure I am going to be blown away by the other Beauty Buffs posts!  Make sure to check them out!






Until Next time, <3.

**Some polishes in this post were provided for review.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Twinsie Tuesday: One-Stroke Flowers

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  It is yet again time for another Twinsie Tuesday.  Sadly though, I am sitting this week out.  Our theme is One Stroke Flowers, and well my attempts were just awful.  So awful that I didn't bother to even photograph an attempt.  I'm going to practice though and hopefully accomplish the look in the future!

Make sure to check out the other Twinsies!  I bet they all ROCKED this weeks theme!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

INM Kitchen Sink Mani

9:00:00 AM

Oh hello again polished world!  How are you all today?  It's Sunday, which means tomorrow we are starting a new work week.  The weekends go by too fast, don't you agree?

Today I'm digging into The Little Canvas vault once again.  This manicure isn't as old as the splash flowers I shared the other day, but it's getting up there.  It is a really fun and pretty kitchen sink manicure using two bright polishes from INM.  I'm a huge fan of INM Out the Door and Northern Lights, so it's no surprise that I love their colored polishes.  I quickly found this out after I used the coral polish Pulcinella for this rose and dot manicure back in May.  Oh hey, May!  That's when I must have done this manicure because after I used Pulcinella, I wanted to use the others!  Goodness I stink at editing photos.

Enough of my babbling, let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • INM - Beatrice
  • INM - Brighella
Isn't it fun?!  As soon as I saw Beatrice (the blue) and Brighella (the purple), I knew I wanted to use them together!  At the time, I hadn't done a cloud manicure in the longest time, so I decided that would be the easiest way to boarder the manicure with that design.

Usually when I do kitchen sink manicures, I put glitter on my middle finger.  For this design though, I wanted to stick to the creams and not add any of my many glitter polishes.  I decided the best thing to do was a dotted nail.  I'm so happy I did this too, because I think that the glitter would have taken away from the actual look.

Now it's time we get to my favorite nails of all...the ring and thumb!  I'm a huge fan of gradient tape designs, and this one is my all time favorite!  When my white base was dried, I placed the tape on my nail to look like a star.  I then painted the two polishes on a make up sponge and dabbed it on the nail a few times.  Once the colors were as bright as I wanted them to be, I quickly removed the tape and let it dry.  I added my top coat at the last possible second as to not blur any of the color onto the white stripe that was left behind after tape removal.



These polishes from INM are perfection in a bottle.  The purple was a great cream which applied evenly in two coats.  Words can't describe the perfection that is the blue!  It's so bright and fun, and I was able to get full coverage on my cloud in one coat.  Sometimes with cloud manicures I have to do two thin coats, but not with this polish!  Both were great for creating dots, and the perfect polishes to use for gradients.  They're so concentrated that I didn't have to re-apply paint to the sponge and dab a second time around.

What do you think?  Loving this look?  How about that gradient tape nail??

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend!  I hope you all do as well!

Until next time, <3.

**Polishes in this post were provided for review.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Flowers

Splash Flowers Inspired by The Lacquerologist

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  Still kind of crazy busy over here at The Little Canvas, so I again apologize for not responding to comments!  I am reading each one as they come in and they're putting smiles on my face, so please keep them coming!  I swear this weekend (or even tomorrow) I'm going to play catch up!!!!

Today I'm digging into The Little Canvas vault and posting a manicure I did months ago.  I have wanted to share it forever, but it kept getting delayed due to new manicures I wanted to share.  Now that I've done a few different splash flower designs and I have another one coming up, I figured I should probably share my first splash flower manicure.

This manicure was inspired after seeing this splash flower tutorial by The Lacquerologist.  Emily created such a cute floral look, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to re-create it.  I decided to do a multi color skittle design because why not?  Around the same time I did mine, Amy from PolishEtc and mcpolish on Instagram did  multi color skittle one also.  I really liked her's so head on over to her Instagram and search through while looking at all her other awesome manicures!

Let's take a look!  Goodness my nails were shorter.  I've been trying to grow them out recently, and now I can really see the difference looking back at this manicure!




Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Ulta - Blue Streak
  • SInful Colors - Pistache
  • OPI - Kiss Me I'm Brazilian
  • Ulta - Sun-Sational
  • Sinful Colors - Mad About Hue
  • Orly - Instant Artist - Black
That moment where you're super to find you were proactive and wrote the list of colors used back when you painted the nails so now you don't have to dig through your very full memory bank and remember what colors.  I'm so proud of myself since I truly rarely do that with my posts.  Well, I take that back, when I use more than 5 polishes (especially when it comes to skittles) I try to write them down.  The two color manicures I'm good at remembering.

Anywho, I got the look by following Emily's tutorial.  I started off with a base coat of white polish.  When my base was dried, I grabbed the color I wanted and brushed off as much of polish as possible and then did a few brush strokes on my nail in the shape of the petals.  It is the same technique you would use to create Chalkboard Nail's grunge manicure.

  
When the colors were dried, I grabbed my Orly striper and created the petal outlines.  At the time I did these, I wasn't really confident with my striping skills, but it was really okay!  The petals aren't supposed to be perfect and the rigidness gives the floral a much more unique and abstract look.

What do you think?  Liking the skittle splash flowers?  Have you tried this design?

I think I have one or two more splash flower manicures coming up soon, so I hope you aren't sick of the look!  I honestly don't think that it can ever get old.

Back to my busy life!  Can't wait to catch up on all my commenting!

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

Twinsie Tuesday: Stripes: Nautical Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Good morning and happy Tuesday polished world!  First I'm going to start off by apologizing for slacking on my commenting and responding to comments on the blog.  It's been a very busy weekend and the beginning of this week has been kind of crazy, so hopefully by the end of the week I can catch all up!  I'm proud of myself that I was able to edit today's photos and get this post up!

Today for Twinsie Tuesday we are sharing striped manicures. I painted this last manicure last Thursday, which was the day before the Fourth of July.  Since I wanted to be festive with red, white, and blue for the holiday, and still be able to wear it for the whole weekend without having fireworks on my nails, I decided to do some nautical nail art!  I was able to get a festive looking design, while adding some stripes!  Win, win!

I was inspired by a design I saw over at Pshiiit Polish.  I love her site, her nail designs, and her photos, but I wish she would share what she does on her thumb nail!  I always have to guess and go with the flow.  I like what I came up with though!

Let's take a look! 




Colors Used:
  • Finger Paints - Paper Mache
  • Zoya - Livingston
  • OPI - Eurso Euro
Cute right?  I love the different colored striped nails!  I think all nautical designs require a striped nail of some sort.  Two striped nails = perfection in my opinion.  To get the striped nails, I started off with two coats of Finger Paints Paper Mache.  As I have mentioned, this is my new favorite white polish, so much so that I already need to get a second bottle.  I've literally used it for the last I don't know how many manicures.  I'm hooked.

After applying a fast dry top coat, I made sure the nails were completely dried.  Once I was sure they were, I added six pieces of striping tape, then painted two thin coats of the blue and red polishes.  I always do one nail at a time when I have multiple tape designs because I find it easier during every step.  It's hard working when you have more than one nail taped up because the tape gets stuck on other nails and it's just a huge mess.  Anyway, before the paint was dried, I quickly removed the tape and let them air dry a bit before adding more top coat.


To get my anchor, I just used my nail art brush.  Not my finest work, probably could have gone over it a few more times to get the blue totally opaque, but I got kind of lazy.  The one on my right hand looked so bad, the bottom part looked like a huge smile instead of the bottom of an anchor.

What do you think?  Fan of the Nautical Nail Art?  Like my stripes mixed with polka dots?

Can't wait to see what the other girls do!  I wonder if anyone else went Nautical!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Until next time, <3.