Encircled Black and White Nail Art

Black and White day of the 31 Day Challenge is always my favorite, because everyone’s nail art always looks so striking. There’s something just so magnetic about black and white as a pair, isn’t there?

I didn’t have any particular inspiration for this nail art, but I did know that I wanted to do white patterning on a black base. I started out with two coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl, and then used my trimmed town super skinny striper brush to add on some arcs and circles with Formula X White Matter. Thin lines were a priority for me this time, so if my white lines got too fat in any areas, I went back in with black and thinned them down. 

I added a coat of quick dry glossy topcoat, let it set, and then finished the manicure with a layer of Nicole by OPI Matte Topcoat. If you’re ever doing a matte topcoat, I recommend going glossy first to seal in your nail art, flatten the profile, and provide durability.

More black and white nail art:

• Tuxedo nail art
• Black and white wiggles
• Midnight smoke nail art
• Black and white mesh framed half moons

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NCC presents; recreating member designs; Animals - Leopard inspired by Druid Nails

Here's my second manicure for the Nail Challenge Collaborative theme this month. We're recreating member designs and I really liked a Leopard manicure which Druid Nails did a while back and decided to give em' a try. I like her version better, maybe my leo spots are too small? Or maybe the "rounded shape" the spots creates on the blue, is too rounded? Also she did her thumb and pinkie with full leo, I didn't. Sadly the holographic silver glitter, didn't look holographic/prismatic in these pictures, so you'll have to imagine.. ;) And as you understand I hurried up fixing this one done for today, it's blue and suitable for Blue Monday! :)

Polishes used:
Rival De Loop - 406, (swatch)
Nicole by OPI - Make A Comet-Ment
Essence - Let's Get Lost

An InLinkz Link-up

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Nicole By OPI - Gone Wishin' - with Claire's matte top coat

Yesterday I showed you Gone Wishin' from NOPI and today I'm showing it matte by adding Claire's matte top coat. I actually like it matte much better and Claire's matte top coat is a favorite among matte tc's at the moment. Which version do you like best?

And also, this weekend will be unusually quiet, as I mentioned we have guests this weekend so there's little time for internet in general. I'll be back to normal at Wednesday. :)

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Nicole By OPI - Gone Wishin', swatch

This polish has tiny glitter in metallic blue and warm toned purple in a clear base. I first tried using it on it's own but that didn't work so well so I gave up, took a coat of a black creme and then used 3 coats to achieve this look. I wanted the glitter to be really dense but it could definitely work with just 1-2 coats too. I like the look even though it's not a favorite. In the pictures I got 1 coat of tc but I realize that I should have used 2, because the surface is still somewhat "gritty". What do you think about the glitter? And what do you think about the bottle of the NOPI's?

Bought in Walmart in Canada. Think it was 5-6 CAD.

Oh and we will have guests this weekend but I'll try schedule some posts. Hopefully I will have some time off in the evening for "me-time". :)

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WrapArtist Nail Decals Make Cool Girl Nails Easy

Nail decals aren't a new thing, but when I first saw them, WrapArtist's water decals immediately stood out to me. The designs are awesome. They just totally get it, you know? The decals are chic, cool, and trendy, not to mention fully opaque, sometimes metallic, and really simple to use. I put together this look in just a few minutes, and it feels like something that could have come out of a New York nail art salon!

Each set of water decals comes on a small sheet like this. To use a decal, you just cut it out of the sheet, soak it in water for a ~20 seconds, and then slide the decal off of the white backing paper. Position the decal on your dry nail and dab it on a paper towel to remove any excess water, then finish with a topcoat.

One thing I really appreciated about these decals is that the clear part of the decals around the designs are already trimmed. You don't have to cut super close around the design to avoid excess clear around the edges...the work is done for you! Just slide it and stick it.

You can also use them in gel to get a lot of mileage out of your WrapArtist manicure.

For this look, I started with a base of Deborah Lippmann Like Dreamers Do from the new spring collection (swatches soon). The glitter accent nail is Nicole by OPI Get Carrie'd Away.

I added decals from two WrapArtist sets: Being Negative and Say What. The Say What set is especially awesome for those of you that like to get a little saucy, as it includes profanity & other buzzwords.

If you are interested at all in these decals, I highly recommend browsing the Wrap Artist site. There are lots of killer sets, and I've only given you a taste of the awesomeness here. I'm already scoping out some additional sheets to grab for myself.

WrapArtist decals are available at wrapartistnails.com. Decals range from $5-6 per sheet.

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Christmas music nail art

Today the theme for the Winter Nail Art Challenge is "Christmas Carol/song/movie", a quite hard theme in my eyes, my mind was blank until I remembered that the oh so lovely TracesOfPolish (if you haven't checked her blog out already, you should!) gave me a music themed MoYou London stamping plate. ^_^ That made the whole thing so more simple, I used a glitter polish which gave me some Christmas vibes as a base and then stamped with MoYou.dk's special black polish on top. It is not stamping perfection, I need more practice but the glitter helps hiding the imperfections. Hope you like it :)

Polishes and materials used:
Nicole by OPI - Fabulous Is My Middle Name
MoYou's special black nail polish
MoYou London music image plate
 

If you buy a nail art set, any of you choice, you can pick one polish OR one image plate of your choice if you use the code CEL246. Which polish or the number of the image plate you want, you write at the comment section at the checkout. You can use the code as many times you want, as long as you buy a nail art set. :D

***Some products in this post have been provided for review***

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Rough and Spotted - Stamping Over Textured Polish

I don't think it's possible for me to wear textured polish anymore without eventually stamping over it. As I've said before, textured stamping is just so great! It tends to disguise imperfections in the stamping, that may or may not be a direct result of my *ahem* lack of stamping skills. Plus, it looks really interesting to boot!

Last time I wore a stamped textured look, you guys really seemed to like it! This one isn't quite as subtle or glamorous, but has a strange appeal all its own.

Nail polishes and products used:
Nicole by OPI I'm Stucco On You
American Apparel Hassid
Vivid Lacquer plate VL009 - Water spotted image

I'm wearing two coats of the textured polish in these photos, and added the stamping after about a day of wear. The nice thing about the spotted image on the Vivid Lacquer plate is that it's SUPER wide, which allows you to randomize the pattern across your nails (no two nails will look alike)!

I did have a bit of trouble with the large open spaces in the plate though. When I scraped the excess polish off, my scraper tended to clean out more of the image than I'd have liked. I'm not sure if that's due to the plate or my own inexperience.

As the texture begins to degrade and smooth out from natural wear, the stamping will be affected too. But, I got a few solid days of wear on top of my one day of wearing the texture naked!

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Purple Galaxy Nails, Inspired by the Pelican Nebula

Galaxy nails day for the 31 Day Challenge! I don't do galaxy nails nearly enough. They create such a stunning effect for so little effort. For this year's nail art, I was inspired by a photo of the Pelican Nebula that I found on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). I didn't end up using enough pink in for the look to match exactly, but that's okay. I love the depth in these.

Nail polishes and supplies used:
OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!? (black)
Zoya Sailor (navy)
LVX Orchid (orchid)
Misa Loveliest of Lilacs (medium purple)
Nicole by OPI American As Apple Pie (red)
Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt (white)
China Glaze Lotus Begin (light purple)
Formula X Freaky Like Freud (holographic glitter)
Triangle makeup wedges
Edinburgh Realism #4 nail art brush

I started by painting my nails black. Then, I used a torn piece of the makeup sponge to apply a bit of navy on my nails -- admittedly, that part doesn't really show as well as I was hoping it did. Using new bits of sponge for each color, I sponged on streaks of red, then medium purple, medium orchid, and light purple.

I mixed a bit of white polish with acetone for a thinned out, watercolor effect, and used it to do a bit of freehanding inside of the light purple sponging (you can see it in the middle of the large purple nebula sections). A holographic glitter, used sparingly, gave the effect of distant stars, while white polish and a pinpoint dotting tool created some closer objects. The final step was to freehand a handful of stars with cross lensflare.

Go where one girl has gone before:

• Maroon and yellow galaxy nails
• Hyperspace jump nail art
• The Pleiades Star Cluster galaxy nails

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Black and White Mesh Framed Half Moons

Black and white are a classic pairing that never goes out of style. I love looking at everyone's work for black and white day of the 31 Day Challenge! For my look, I've done a negative space half moon mesh manicure, with contrasting thin detail lines and a thick outline.

I blocked off the moons using half moon Nail Vinyls, then painted my nails with Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt.

Then, using a small nail art brush, I outlined the white areas with American Apparel Hassid. This was the trickiest part as I had to keep the thickness of the lines consistent! Tough stuff! I finished the look off by adding some thin black lines for a mesh appearance.

More black and white nail art:

• Tuxedo nail art
• Black and white wiggles
• Midnight smoke nail art

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Violet Watercolor Wash

So, so pleased with the way today's violet nails turned out. I wasn't sure if I would be able to mimic the watercolor look I had in my mind, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! This manicure used a mix of a splatter technique, the watercolor technique, and freehanding.

Polishes used:
Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt
OPI A Grape Affair
OPI Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm?
OPI Push & Pur-pull

I began by painting my nails white, and then I added a coat of quick dry topcoat to protect the base while I watercolored.

Using a palette made of tin foil and working one color at a time, I mixed the purples with acetone. I filled a larger nail art brush with the acetone and polish mixture, and then loosely dabbed it on to my nail. The final touch was to fill the brush again, and then use my finger to flick the bristles over my nail, creating a type of splatter effect.

More 31 Day Challenge violet manicures:

• Violet color blocking
• Purple People Eater
• Violet hippie mix

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