Bestie Twin Nails

Bestie Twin Nails with Fashion Footing - Round 12!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today on this fabulous Friday?  Nothing better than a Friday on a four day work week!  I'm not going to lie though, I'm still thrown off because of this holiday weekend stuff.  Each day I've had to stop when I get into work and go "Okay, what day is it today??"

Today I am posting alongside Amanda from Fashion Footing for our 12th round of Bestie Twin Nails!  That's right, Amanda and I have been doing this feature for a full year!  That calls for a celebration....maybe next month.

For our manicure this month, we were going to be inspired by something I found on Pinterest, until I attempted it and totally failed.  So I got my creative juices flowing and I came up with this random floral looking design.

Let's take a look!! 




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - I Sea the Point
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • IMN - Northern Lights
  • China Glaze - Treble Maker
I love the color of I Sea the Point, but kind of hated the formula.  It was weird, it seemed to dry on the brush before I could apply it.  I know that makes no sense, but I would probably have to film it so you could see what it does.  Who knows, maybe I"m the only one who had this problem with it.  Regardless, once I got it to apply, it did so in two coats.  It's such a gorgeous color and I will probably use it again as an accent or something.  For nail art though, I may pass because it dried quickly and left little strings behind when I picked my dotter off my nail.



I love the look of Northern Lights over the blue.  So sparkly and beautiful.  It truly added a different dimension to a simple manicure.

What do you think?  Fan of the manicure?

 Make sure to check out Amanda's version!  She got a fancy camera so her pictures are all professional and stuff.  That reminds me, I need to set up my new lightbox my father got me.

Until next time, <3.

INM

Twinsie Tuesday: Mattify!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today?  I hope every one had a very calm and relaxing Memorial Day weekend!  I skipped posting this weekend because I was fully enjoying the weather and the three day vacation.

Today is Tuesday (which feels like a Monday), which means it is time for another Twinsie Tuesday.  Our theme today is "mattify!" which means it's time for some good old matte nail art!  Now, I love matte nails on other people, but on me I feel like they just look odd.  Maybe it's my nail length or shape.  Maybe I'm just overthinking it.  Who knows.

I was going to do a floral design today, but then I saw this cute tribal looking manicure by Nail That Accent.  I just had to re-create it!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Salon Perfect - Tickled Pink
  • Salon Perfect - Sugar Cube
  • Black Acrylic
  • Out the Door Matte Top Coat
See?  I think they look weird on me!  Mine are no where as good as Lindsay's!

I used Tickled Pink from Salon Perfect.  It's such a pretty neon pink polish which is a lot brighter than what it is photographing as.  It had a weird formula like most neons do.  I had to use 3 coats to even out all the patchiness.  Honestly, I think the topcoat was the real reason as to why it evened out.  Despite the bad formula, it's a gorgeous color and I think it will be great to create gradients with.  Maybe even water marble.  It dries matte on it's own, but I added a matte top coat because there was a tad bit of shine finding it's way through.


For my matte top coat, I used INM Out the Door Matte.  I used this once before and had an awful experience with it and refused to ever try it again.  Since that time two years ago, I have received two other bottles of the top coat.  I decided to give one of my newer bottles a try to see if it did the same awful shrinking and shriveling the other did.  This one was great and I have zero complaints.

Just like when I use my OPI Matte top coat, I first went through and added a shiny topcoat.  This way the designs are sealed in, and I think it prevents the shrinking too.  For my shiny, I used plain old Out the Door.  When it was completely dry, I used one coat of the Matte and everything turned out well!

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Think I should do more matte designs?

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


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amanda at Fashion Footing
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Savannah at Addicted to Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

Lilac Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today?  It's Friday so that means it is the best day of the week!  Especially because I'm heading into a three day weekend!  That reminds me, I need to paint my nails something patriotic for Memorial Day!

Spring seemed to have skipped us for a bit with a lot of 80 degree days, but finally it is here.  Funny how people are complaining that 60 degrees is too cold.  I honestly think that the 60s and 70s are perfect temperatures!

Spring time means it is lilac season!  As I have mentioned in previous years, I love lilacs, they just do not love me.  So since the pollen kills me and I can't cut them off the bushes and have a little bouquet in my room, I create a cute purple lilac design on my nails.

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Lotus Begin
  • China Glaze - At Vase Value
  • Zoya - Stevie
  • FingerPaints - Grassy Knoll
  • Zoya - Josie

I'm so happy I purchased Lotus Begin and At Vase Value the other day at Sally Beauty.  I have been eyeing them for awhile and finally decided to purchase them during the most recent BOGO sale.  Lotus Begin is such a gorgeous lavender purple shade which applied evenly in two coats.  I used three because I wanted the purple to really pop.  Formula was good, definitely easier to use than At Vase Value.

At Vase Value applied evenly as well in two coats, but they were very streaky.   You had to work fast otherwise it dried quickly.  Not the worst and was very workable.  I think the worst China Glaze I've worked with is I Sea the Point, but I will talk about that in another post.  This blue though of At Vase Value is gorgeous and I've been looking for a shade like this for awhile.  I can see some awesome nail art being done with it!


For the lilacs, I used two different purple polishes along with a white one and created marble dots.  To do so, you drip the three polishes on a plate/piece of foil, then take your dotting tool and dip it in all three of them.  Then you quickly dab it on the nail and you have an awesome marble look.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?? 

 Happy Friday!  Until next time, <3.

FingerPaints

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired by a Mug

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today??  I'm doing well!!  It is Tuesday so that means it is time for yet another Twinsie Tuesday.  I was looking at my tags the other night, and I cannot believe that this is post number 61 with the Twinsies.  I cannot believe I've been blogging with this group for over a year now!!!  Where did the time go??

Today for Twinsie Tuesday we are sharing manicures inspired by a mug or cup.  Well, I don't drink coffee so I do not own any fun mugs, and all my cups are clear glasses.  I guess I could have slapped on a base coat and took some photos of that, but who would want to see my ugly naked nails with a shiny topper?  No one.

So I decided I would Google some fun looking mug.  All the lawns lately are covered in dandelions so I searched "dandelion mug" and found this adorable mug.  I took some inspiration from that and came up with this manicure.

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • INM - Granite
  • FingerPaints - Yellow Out Man
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • White Acrylic

Okay I kind of went crazy and mine doesn't really look like the mug, but it works....right?  The yellow polish is one of my new favorites....Yellow Out Man from the Tie Dye Collection by FingerPaints.  It kind of reminds me of Frosty Lemonade from the Picnic in the Park collection, but this one is a tad brighter.  It applied evenly in two coats and dried rather fast for a shiny cream polish.  I love yellows that are two coaters and still are bright.  I'm so happy to have it as a part of my collection.


I love how the dandelion turned out.  I think it's cute how it's blowing away in the wind.

What do you think?  Fan of the manicure?

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


Tiffany at Polished To Precision
Savannah at Addicted to Polish
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Marisa at Polish Obsession
​Lisa at The Polish Playground
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Amanda at Fashion Footing
Amanda at Amandalandish

Until next time, <3.

Flowers

Coral Splash Flowers

9:00:00 AM



Good morning polished world!  How are you all today?  Hopefully you are nice and rested since it is a Sunday.  I think I have slept more in the past 24 hours than I have all week.  That's what the weekend is for though, right?

Last week I attended a gala with a bunch of my coworkers thanks to my very generous boss.  I work for such an amazing company, it's truly a blessing.  It was such a fun night which raised money for a great cause.  I'm not going to lie, my coworkers and I stressed though over what to wear for the longest time.  While everyone was stressing mainly over their outfits, I was stressing over my outfit and nails.  What does one wear to a gala?? What is gala appropriate nail art?!  Is there such a thing?!

I decided to wear a black high low dress with a floral design which I wore to my friends wedding last year.  I did a similar manicure with a splash flower in coral/orange, so I decided to go with the same theme.  Something subtle and yet something that still was eye catching.  And since it matched the dress, I didn't believe it was obnoxious at all and totally gala appropriate.

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Cole
  • Sally Hansen - Kashmir Valley
  • Orly Instant Artist Black
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
For my gradient nails, I started off with a base coat of Zoya Cole.  This polish is from the Awaken collection and is a gorgeous peachy-orange cream.  It almost reminds me of a creamsicle.  It applied evenly in three coats.  You could have gotten away with two if you did a thicker second coat, but three was really what I think this polish needed.

When that was dry, I took Kashmir Valley from the Complete Salon Manicure line and sponged it on the tips.  This polish is a beautiful peachy-coral color with pink undertones.  I actually wore it on my toes for the gala and it was beautiful and matched my dress and manicure so well.  Anyways, when it came to sponging, it was perfect and made the tips of my nails dark enough and created a gorgeous gradient.



For the flowers, with just an itty bitty amount of Cole on the brush, I painted three swipes onto the nail for the flower.  I then used Kashmir Valley and added the centers of the flower.  With my striper, I added the outline of the flowers, used a dotting tool to add some dots, then added some Out the Door and went on my merry way!  I love how the flowers look next to the gradient.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  I really should take a photo of the dress and share it on Instagram or something.

 Now that I'm looking at the photos more, I feel that it is oranger than what it was in person.  Meh oh well!

 Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

Sally Hansen Blue Dots

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today??  It's Friday so I'm happy!  It's been quite the long week and I'm just happy to be home this weekend and relaxing.  I'm possibly planning on seeing Pitch Perfect 2, which I still need to see the first one.  My one friend said he would buy the first one and we could have a marathon, so that could be fun.  Who knows if it will happen though.

Today I am bringing you a very simple manicure I did with two of the new Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes.  I love this line of polishes from Sally.  Not only do they have great coverage, but the brush is just perfect!  The Complete Salon Manicure line is a 3 in 1 polish with base, color, and top coat all in one bottle.  AKA great pedicure polishes.

Let's take a look at my manicure!




Colors Used:

  • Sally Hansen - Dark Denim
  • Sally Hansen - Teesta Turquoise
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
Application on both these polishes was perfect.  Both were 2 coats, but really Teesta Turquoise could have been one.  Dark Denim is just like the name.  It is a deep deep navy blue polish.  It dries darker than the bottle and almost looks black from a distance.  In certain lighting you could clearly tell that it was blue.  I thought I was going to hate it, but I really ended up enjoying it.

Teesta Turquoise is a gorgeous turquoise shade.  Nothing overly unique about it other than it could be a one coater.  I would have loved to seen a little shimmer to it.  If you're looking for a three in one polish in this color, I would recommend it.  I think it would be a fun summer pedicure color.



Now, I never can leave well enough alone.  I always have to test the boundaries of a polish.  As I said, the Complete Salon Manicure polishes have a base coat and top coat to them, so technically you shouldn't have to add anything.  I didn't use a base coat because I was interested to see if they stained.  Good news, they didn't.

Then, I decided to add a top coat to see if it would add to the longevity of wear and well that was a bad idea.  Hello bubbles, hello shrinking, and hello disaster.  If you use these polishes, I don't recommend using Out the Door or other Quick Dry top coats.  These polishes on their own dry rather fast with a shiny finish.

What do you think?  Have you ever used the Complete Salon Manicure polishes?

Until next time, <3.

Animal Print

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired by Artwork

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today?  It has been unseasonably warm here, meaning my allergies are a mess.  I'm trying my hardest not to complain after the awful winter we had, but it's kind of difficult when your constantly sneezing every second of the day.  Oh well.

Today is Tuesday which means it is time again for another Twinsie Tuesday.  I apologize for skipping last week.  Crazy schedule = no time to paint a manicure.  I fail, I know.

We have created designs which are inspired by artwork.  I was really wanting to do something funky using my new China Glaze Electric Nights neons, especially since it got so warm out.  I Googled neon zebra artwork and found this canvas print and took inspiration from that.

Let's take a look at what I came up with!




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - UV Meant to Be, Plur-ple, Treble Maker, Glow With the Flow, Home Sweet House Music
  • China Glaze - Point Me To the Party 
  • Zoya - Storm
Awesome manicure, right?  I started off with a base coat of white polish and sponged on a neon rainbow gradient.  Once the gradient was dry, I added the zebra strips using a striper brush.  Over my middle finger I originally had a black cream polish, but Zoya Storm really was what made this manicure.  Glitter was a necessity, and really I should have put some Northern Lights over the gradient.



I am in love with China Glaze Point Me to the Party.  Such an awesome multi-color neon glitter.  It applied perfectly in one coat with no need for dabbing or placement of glitter.  I love when glitters are like that!  All the glitters in the Electric Nights collection are fabulous and I applaud China Glaze for creating them!

What do you think?  Fan of this look?

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


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amanda at Fashion Footing
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Savannah at Addicted to Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

Pink Floral Manicure Using China Glaze Glow With the Flow

9:00:00 AM


Good morning and Happy Saturday polished world!!!  How are you all today?  I'm doing fantastic!  Okay, maybe not so much.  My allergies are killing me!  I love Spring, but Spring does not love me.  Pollen is one of my biggest enemies in this world.  I've been cooped up all winter, now the weather is perfect and I want to be outside, but all I end up doing is sneezing.  Oh well, I'll take the sneezing over the 4 degree temperatures.

Today I am sharing with you a bright pink, fun, perfect for this warm weather manicure!  It was inspired by a gorgeous design that I found on Pinterest that I must not have pinned.  I spent at least 10 minutes looking through my Nail Ideas board, followed by another 10 minutes searching Pinterest for "Pink Neon Floral Manicure."  Of course, I can't find it and I feel like a complete jerk for not properly crediting.

Anyways, thank you to whoever created this design, because it is now my favorite manicure of all time.  I can't wait to do more flowers like this! 

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Glow With the Flow
  • China Glaze - The Grass is Lime Greener
  • Sally Hansen - Disco Ball
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Black Acrylic
Awesome design, right?  I love it so much and I really am wanting to re-create the design again.   Or at least do the flowers on all 10 of my nails.  Maybe in the summer and I can add a tropical twist to the flower.

Anywho, the pink is Glow With the Flow from the China Glaze Electric Nights Collection.  By now everyone has heard or discovered how amazing this collection is.  This polish applies perfectly in two coats and dries with a semi-matte gloss finish.  I definitely recommend a glossy top coat.  Or in my case, a super awesome glitter topper.



For the flowers, I started off by drawing out the black outline on my nails.  When the outline was dried, I filled in the black white spaces with color like you would with a coloring book.  I cleaned up the lines by going back over them with the black acrylic and a brush, and added the little detail on the flowers and leaves.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

Random Dot Manicure :)

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all today?  Sorry I skipped out on Twinsie Tuesday yesterday, but it's been kind of a busy week.  I'll for sure be back next week!

Today I have a manicure to share iwth you using some polishes I recently purchased at Sally Beauty Supply.  A few weeks ago, all China Glaze polishes were buy one get one free.  They just got in the Electric Nights, so of course I splurged and purchased all those.  On top of that, China Glaze re-released polishes as part of their core line, so I grabbed some long wanted colors and a few back ups of ones I thought I would never see again.  Sixteen polishes later, I was one happy girl.

Today I am sharing a manicure I did using DJ Blew My Mind from the Electric Nights collection, and The Grass is Lime Greener from last years Avant Garde collection.  The manicure was inspired by Young, Wild and Polished.  I never would have thought of this color combination if it weren't for Nicole, and I'm so happy I saw it and re-created it.  I absolutely loved how they turned out!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • Sinful Colors - Cool Grey,
  • China Glaze - DJ Blew My Mind
  • China Glaze - The Grass is Lime Greener
  • FingerPaints - Silver Bells
DJ Blew My Mind is so much more vibrant in person.  My camera kind of dulled it out.  Regardless, it is a gorgeous neon blue cream polish which everyone should run out and go purchase.  It applied perfectly in two cats, and worked great for dots!  Same went with The Grass is Lime Greener.  I'm not sure how the application is on that green polish since I have yet to apply it as a swatch, but for art and dots, it's great!



Seriously, aren't the colors together fabulous?  The grey works so well with the silver, and then the green really just adds a different dimension in with the other colors.  I really truly loved this combo.  I think this manicure is going to force me out of my "color comfort zone" and start to try things I normally wouldn't do.

What do you think?  Fan of the design?

Until next time, <3.

Nail Artist of the Month

May Nail Artist of the Month: Talia Louise Nails

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  How are you all today on this fine Sunday?  It's supposed to be in the 70s today, so we all know I'm ecstatic.  Sure, this warm weather means a burst of pollen and death to my sinuses, but it's really worth it. 

Well, today is the first post of May, so you all know what that means!  It's time to introduce you all to another Nail Artist of the Month!  I'm pleased to introduce you to Talia from Talia Louise Nails!  I started following her a few months ago and she does great work!  She truly has grown in the year that she has been blogging and deserves a feature!

Time to hand the blog over to Talia!
________________________________________

Hi there, I'm so excited to share my little journey with your thanks to Alaina contacting me to be her new artist of the month.

 My name is Talia, I'm 27 and the creator of TaliaLouiseNails. I live in a little town in Derbyshire, UK with my little kitty cats, Prince gizmo fudglar gibbles and Princess Pepper Maisy rhain. This is such great timing as I have just hit my 1 year nailversary. I never intended on being a part of this amazing nail community but I'm so glad that I am. I started out with just a handful of polishes with not a technique to my name just loving any chance I had to paint my nails, until I stumbled across a tutorial on YouTube on how to create gradient nails with a make up sponge. Little did I know that that one design would set light to a fire inside me but I never knew existed. I started poking around looking for more techniques to have a play around with and just like that without me realizing TaliaLouiseNails was born.

Now I'm always on the lookout for inspiration, polishes and new ways to prettify my nails that leads me to a new creations. With that being said random inspiration lead to this design.


I originally tried an inspiration piece from YouTube and that's well known but I didn't like how it turned out.

 So after looking around the Internet for roughly the same designs to create my own design, until I nearly gave until I looked down at my toes thinking of a new summery nail art for them and noticed my flip-flops. They was covered in hibiscus flowers and my favourite colours so I decided to look for the colours in my polish collection and only found the right brown base. I decided to make the rest of the colours I needed with a mix of acrylic paint. I started by drawing the pattern that I wanted with a white acrylic so the colours I was using would pop out.


After I was happy with my design I mixed the colours that best matched the colours on my flip-flops and went to work on finishing at my design. To finish the design I added a top coat of Matte polish.


I love to help people where I can I love talking to all walks of life through doing my nail art. I recently got asked what advice if I have any would I give to somebody starting out. I'm by no means an expert but the little bit of advice I do have is "if you saw my what one you ago flashback post, I was completely useless. It's one of those things were you never stop learning. Keep your eyes Open for how to's, tutorials and absorb useful criticism and advice. My key tips are to have a good nail/cuticle care routine that is tailored to your needs, a slick, clean finish to your design and don't touch water with naked nails. Never forget to have fun with different nail art techniques. There is hundreds of things you can do, Ive literally only started getting the hang of stamping after a lot of trial and error. Have a go you'll be surprised at what you can achieve with a little practice" :). 

 I just want to say thank you again for allowing me to be the artist of the month and share this little piece of me with you all. Hope you enjoyed the start of my nailart story. xXx


______________________________________________

What a beautiful design and what a great post!  I've seen some of her now and then posts, and it's quite amazing how she has grown.  You never would think it was the same artist.  She is right though, you'll be surprised at what you can achieve with a little practice.  I still surprise myself!

Make sure to follow Talia on Instagram, YouTube,Twitter, and Facebook!!!

Thank you so much again, Talia, for this wonderful post and design!!!!  I am excited to continue to watch your nail art journey!!! :)

Until next time, <3.