70's Style Polka Dot Floral Print

This 70's style, fall-appropriate floral is my polka dot nail art for the 31 Day Challenge. It looks fairly complex at first glance, but it's simple when you start to break it down! I just combined dots together in different sizes and colors to create a simple floral pattern. It feels very vintage, don't you think?

Nail polishes used:
DIOSA Dime Piece (light grey)
Jessica Cosmetics NY State of Mind (dark grey)
Jessica Cosmetics Meet at the Plaza (olive green)
Color Club Je Ne Sais Quoi (mustard yellow)
LVX Roux (coral)
American Apparel Berry (burgundy)

This nail art was really very simple, it just took a bit to put all of the unique dot floral pieces together! I used four different dotting tool sizes: my large flat rhinestone picker, a large dotter, a small dotter, and a pinpoint dotter.

I was just about ready to mattify this, but I've been using matte topcoat on so many things lately. I decided to let it rock the glossy look.

Check out more of my polka dot nail art:

• Ladybugs
• Polka dot pyramids
• Punchy dot mix

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ALS Awareness Pinstripe Nail Art

Last week, OPI challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. In lieu of dumping the ice water on my head (eek... I'm chicken!), I chose to donate $100 to ALSA.org and do this nail art inspired by the ALS awareness ribbon, which is blue pinstripes on a white base.

ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a disease that has personally impacted my life, as my grandpa passed away from a few years ago. I made my donation in his memory. If you have a moment, ALSA.org's easy-to-read summary of the disease is worth a read.

In this nail art, I used:
Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt
DIOSA I Sea You

For the pinstripes, I used my new Pure Color No. 9 striper brush from Stylish Nail Art Shop. I loved using this brush for my freehand pinstripes -- it created super super thin lines. The trick was keeping a steady hand, since the thinness of the lines showed every wiggle!

Thanks OPI for the challenge nomination! I nominate my sister Kelsey, Laura at Polish All the Nails, and Leslie at Work Play Polish.

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Illamasqua Inspired Speckled Nail Art and Eye Look

A bit ago, Illamasqua released their I'mPerfection line that included their Speckled nail polishes (among other makeup items). The varnishes were inspired by the irregular markings on bird's eggs, and part of the advertising in the campaign included an eye look that took inspiration from the same source.

As soon as I saw the eye look, I knew I had to try it out myself. But recently I got to thinking -- how can I recreate the style of the eye makeup on my nails? Here's what I came up with.

For this nail art I began with a base of DIOSA Dime Piece. I considered using nude as my base color but I did want this to be slightly different from the makeup. Then, using the brush that came with the polish, I painted a stripe of American Apparel Hassid down the center of the nail. Finally, I used a small nail art brush and Milani White On the Spot to add the irregular markings.

Of course I had to do some shots of the eye and nail look together! This is the first time I've tried to do photos of an eye look for my blog. Gotta say, it wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done!

I used L'Oreal Lineur Intense Liquid Eyeliner in Carbon Black, my Milani Color Play Felt Tip Liquid Pen in white, and L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara in Carbon Black.

If you like this eye look and want to try it out yourself, Illamasqua has released a tutorial that will show you how.

I hope you've enjoyed this post -- it's a little bit different while still being about the nails. I know I had fun doing it!

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Spray Marble and Studs - DIOSA Nail Art

Press Sample 

Hey folks! Just a quick note before we get into today's nail art. Per the updated FTC guidelines, I will now be including buttons at the top of every post that detail any disclosures I need to make. You can learn more about what they mean by clicking the buttons. Thanks for your patience with any growing pains I may experience with this new system.

Okay! I am really excited about today's nail art. Not only did I try a new technique, but I also tried a new brand, and let me just say that I am enamored with the results of both!

DIOSA Nails is a polish brand whose mission is to honor women and to help tell their stories. DIOSA encourages women to be themselves and inspire their peers. I love that manifesto! For this particular look I used two DIOSA polishes -- Dime Piece and I Sea You. Read on to learn more about the techniques and polishes.

The marbled look was achieved when I tried to do the water spotted effect but sort of half-failed at it. If you're unfamiliar with the technique, it begins much like a water marble would! You place drops of polish on the surface of your water, and then spray it with some alcohol-based fluid like hand sanitizer or perfume. It makes little holes in the polish and when you dip your nails in it, it transfers the spotted effect.

That's all fine and pretty easy to understand, right? Well, when I went to try it, I grabbed an old perfume for the first nail. It worked fantastically! But then, when I went to do my second nail, I found there was some oily residue sitting on top of the water and my next drops of polish wouldn't fully spread out because of it. I guess the perfume I was using must have had some sort of oil in the base? I dumped it out and tried some hairspray next, but it didn't create an even spotted effect, either.

Despite the unexpected spotting patterns, I dunked my nails anyway. I then manipulated the resulting patterns with a little bit of acetone to tailor them to my liking.

The studs and rhinestones in this manicure came from my Nails Inc Bling It On: Rebel set. I'm sure you can find equivalent studs and rhinestones from almost any online nail art supplier, too.

The grey polish I used is DIOSA Dime Piece. I really love this particular shade of grey, it's light and clean and slightly blue-leaning, I think. Almost like a breaking storm. It requires two coats for opacity and the formula was easy to work with.

DIOSA I Sea You is a highly pigmented blue beauty, and provided perfect coverage in just one single coat. But that's not all -- this one coater had a creamy, buttery formula, too. This means it's fantastic for nail art enthusiasts and plain polish lovers alike!

DIOSA polish is available at www.diosanails.com. You can also keep up with the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Press Sample 

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