Guest Post

Guest Post from Kat at Hooked on Polish!

11:00:00 AM

Today I have an awesome guest post from Kat over at Hooked on Polish!  Kat is such a sweet heart and I love her blog, but alas, I'm a horrible nail blogger and forget to post comments.  Hope she will forgive me :).  The other night when I was complaining how uninspired I was and needed guest post assistance, Kat was there, feeling the same way I was!  We both were uninspired and burnt out from a challenge.  Thankfully though, Kat found some inspiration and came up with this post!  Let's see what she came up with!!!!

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Hey all!

I'm Kat and I blabber a lot on my blog Hooked On Polish! Alaina and I started blogging pretty much at the same time and we met on twitter a little while after that. Since then, I've gotten to know her and can honestly say she's one of the sweetest people in the blogging world so I was very excited with the prospect of helping her out with this guest post!

I know Alaina's style is usually more freehand nail art but that can get really draining and exhausting (trust me, I've been pretty uninspired after the 31 Day Challenge myself) so I tried to do something still special but with a simpler execution.

I started with a base of OPI Dutch Ya' Just Love OPI and Milani Purple Gleam for my accent nails. On top of that, I layered Essie Stroke of Brilliance and Cover Band Sticks 'N Stones. Then, a layer of Milani Rad Purple and one of Nail Pattern Boldness Boop Oop a Dupe. Gelous, topcoat and I'm done with this beast of a jelly sandwich! :P 






My poor camera freaked out with this mani, she had no idea what to focus on and most of the pictures came out blurry, which is good since it made me cut down on the number of pics. I just couldn't capture how much this shimmered, it looks like my nails are lit from within. I also have to say how happy I am that I finally have a Clarins/Fantasy Fire dupe!

What do you all think? Is this something you would try if you're burned out on more complex nail art?

A big thank you to Alaina for having me and I hope you all enjoyed my post!

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This jelly sandwich is gorgeous!!!! I'm sure every single one of my readers can agree!!!  I have done one jelly sandwich which looked nothing like this!  I'm so happy Kat picked this for the guest post because it's something I rarely feature.  Plus, purple is my FAVORITE color!!!! I think that's why I love this so much...in conjunction with all the different sized glitters.  What does everyone else think?

Kat, thank you so much for the kind words.  I am beyond thrilled with this post, and happy you were able to help despite being burned out as well!  I swear, you read my mind though with the perfect manicure, especially since it's purple.  I always forget we started blogging at the same time, probably because your pictures are more professional looking then mine!  You may need to tell me your photographing secrets!  Thank you so much for this post....I am truly grateful and hopefully one day will get the pleasure to post on your blog!!!




Guest Post

Guest Post by Nails4Dummies! Water Marble Amazingness

11:00:00 AM

Hi everyone!  Today is the first of a few guest posts that I will be featuring on my blog.  As some of you may or may not know, I am a tad burned out when it comes to the whole blogging/nail arting thing.  I'm still painting, so I will be back, but for now I'm taking a much needed breather.  This breather was suggested by my first guest, Lindsey from Nails 4 Dummies.  Lindsey is a newer blogger, but she has made her self known in this lovely lil world.  Her blog is adorable, her nails are amazing, and she is the sweetest person ever.  I'm so happy to be featuring her on the blog today!!!!

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Hello Little Canvas peeps! I hope you don't mind if I take over Alaina's blog for a day! This is my first guest post so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't break anything. Normally you are all used to amazing freehand art since you're following this talented lady but there is no way that I could compete with her mad skillz so I decided to do something that I love and that's a water marble! I have yet to master this technique, the hardest part for me is getting a decent design in the polish. The YouTube videos that I watch on it all make it look so easy but I'm just happy if ther aren't any gaps in the color! I'm pretty happy wtih how this one turned out though and I'm happy to share it with you!

The polishes used here are China Glaze Gothic Lolita (if you don't have this color and you like purple, it is a MUST!) and Cha Cha Cha and Loreal Notting Hill Blues. For a base I used my go-to white of OPI Alpine Snow - if you don't have a decent white, get this one! If you were careful enough it's a one-coater but two coats will get you a gorgeous white canvas. For marbles though, you only need a single coat and it doesn't have to be pretty!




Thank you so much for letting me post here Alaina, I hope your readers enjoyed it as much as I did! :) Ta-ta for now!

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Can we all agree that Lindsey did a FANTASTIC water marble?  Water marbling is something I have vowed never to do again since I stink at it.  If you want to see my views on this technique, please check out my water marble rant.  Love the colors, love the photos, just love everything!  Thank you so much Lindsey and hopefully you will guest post again for me in the near future...and maybe I guest post for you??  We shall see!!!

<3

Animal Mani

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Turkey Nail Art

10:30:00 AM

Gobble, Gobble!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!  How are you all going to spend your days??  I will be with my family eating stuffing, stuffing, and well more stuffing.  I'm not one for turkey, in fact, our family will be eating chicken.  For me, it's all about the sides....you know, the millions of carbs haha.  Oh, and of course, the pumpkin pie....how could I forget that??  Since it is the holiday, I had to give myself a festive manicure!

When I sat down, I knew what I wanted to do.  As I am a sucker for a cute animal manicure, I decided I was going to paint little turkeys on my nails!  I started searching Google for ideas and inspiration as to how to actually paint the little guys on my nails.  I first found this manicure from the tumblr Wah-Nails which is seriously amazing.  It was just so cute that I couldn't even handle it.  It was too much though for lil old me to do, and I know there would be NO WAY I could get my nails to look that cute.  I went back to searching and found another idea.  I originally copied a tutorial I saw on Adventures in Acetone, but it turned out awful on my nails.  I didn't angle the feathers enough  and I made my turkeys too big...it was just awful.  So, with one disasticure behind me, I wasn't going to give up....I went in a different direction.

Here's how they came out....






Colors Used:

  • Base
    • Sally Hansen - Golden-I
  • Glitter
    • China Glaze - Glitter Goblin
  • Turkeys
    • Sinful Colors - Nirvana 
    • Sinful Colors - Sugar, Sugar
    • Zoya - Lianne
    • Ulta - Sun Sational
    • Ulta - Chocolate Kiss
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White and Black on Black
Oh, how I love my little turkeys!!!  Best part, they were super easy!!!!  With my nail art brush, I painted on the little bodies using Nirvana.  When they were dried, with my brushes and the feather colors, I detailed on the feathers around each of their bodies.  Since the feathers bled a little onto the bodies, I outlined the turkeys in Chocolate Kiss.  Not only did it cover up the messiness, but it made the bodies pop away from the background.  With my dotting tool, I added some googly eyes, followed by a beak with my brush, and they were done!

Originally, I was going to put turkeys on all my nails, but I thought it would be too much.  Since I seem to be purchasing more and more glitters, I figured I need to start using them, despite my fact I hate removing them. I grabbed Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice, a dupe of Electrify by China Glaze, and painted it no my pointer nail.  Oh boy, it was awful.  Totally did not give my nails a Fall feel like I wanted.  It looked more Christmas-y with the red and gold glitter on the gold backed nail.  I then remembered my bottle of Glitter Goblin.  This is seriously the perfect Fall glitter.  It has bronze/brown glitter flecks mixed with holo pieces.  It's really quite pretty, and in many cases not something I would typically go for.  I bought it from Sally's on impulse due to the holo and definitely didn't think I would like it as much as I have.  Seriously, look at the glitter-y goodness in the blurry pic below.


Pretty, pretty, and really the pictures above kind of darken the glitter more than what it is.  I'm very happy I used it for this manicure, and with I used it more during the Fall months.  I still have some time...right?

What do you think of my lil guys?  Love them, hate them??  What about Glitter Goblin...what are your feelings?? Did you do a Thanksgiving mani?? I'd love to see so you should head on over to my Twitter or Facebook and share them!!! I would love to see!

To everyone out there reading this, I hope you have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends   Be safe and have a splendid day.  For those of you not celebrating today, just have a fantabulous day! <3

Tribal Print

31 Day Challenge - Day 21 - Tribal Print - Ikat nails!

11:00:00 AM

Second to last day of pre-swatched posts before I gave up on the challenge.  Oh what a failure I am as a blogger lol.  Seriously, I feel like I left my followers and the other girls who I was participating in the challenge with down.  I'm sowwy =/.  Anywho, I have to say, I didn't hate this manicure, but I also wasn't head over heals about it.

For tribal day, I wanted something different, I didn't want to go with the traditional line, dots, numerous colors, tons of effort tribal nails which everybody usually does.  Awhile back, my one friend had posted Ikat nails she did herself to her personal Facebook.  I loved the idea and it looked so tribal, in my opinion.  It reminded me of those Aztec patterns you see on old Southern throw rugs and such.  I bet no one knows what I'm talking about and I'm crunched for time so I can't insert a picture here.

I put Ikat on the back burner, and well this challenge day was the day to try them.  Let's take a look....






Colors Used:
  • Revlon - Dreamer
  • Julep - Sasha
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White and Black on Black
These are actually rather simple to accomplish!!  I started off with a base coat of Revlon Dreamer.  From there, I added the white polish  with the nail polish brush.  When that was dried, I added Sasha with the brush.  Finally, with a nail art brush, I messily outlined the patterns with black polish.  I forgot how pretty Sasha is as a polish, I need to start using it more.

Kristine from Pink and Polished tweeted me that she couldn't wait to see my Ikats.  After I asked if she had done them and she responded yes, I went and stalked her blog.  I found her first attempt at Ikats, and they were perfect!  Go take a look!!  I actually wish I used the colors she did!  For her base, she used Sinful Colors Mint Apple, which if you do not know, is my FAVORITE polish. Dreamer looks nice, but it's not Mint Apple!

What do you think?  Love or hate the ikat?  Do you also love Kristine's Mint Apple Ikats?

 I definitely will be trying these again when I'm out of my manicure funk.  I think my patterns were too large, so I think next time I'll scale them down.

In the next week (after Thanksgiving) I have some guest posts coming up from four lovely bloggers which I hope you will enjoy!!!!  I should be back to my personal regular postings in December.  I have so many Christmas/winter manicure ideas, it's insane.  I am very thankful that these girls offered because it gives me time to just calm down and not stress about the blog.  Love them for it.  Hope you enjoy and I will see you all on Thanksgiving! <3