Nail design of the week

It's been sometime since I wanted to try one of those nail polishes that leave your nails rough and  bumpy, and not shiny and sleek as they usually do.  I stumbled upon an O.P.I. stand and they had some of the nail polishes from the Liquid Sand  line, and I bought one.

These are the tools I used:

Mussvital nail hardener as base coat 

Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! nail polish by O.P.I. (one coat)

Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

I absolutely love them!  My mother says that it looks like the manicure has been ruined, but I like it precisely for that.  A perfectly done nail is beautiful, but the moment it has an imperfection then the hard work is lost.  

It's been some days since I made them, and they are still perfect, apart from the obvious wear on the tips, since you cannot use a top coat with these polishes.  But I have had them scratched, hit, bumped, and the polish does not look any less great than the first day.  I also like to touch them and find that they have texture.  I would love a dark grey or black polish of this line - it would look like asphalt!

Nail design of the week

Remember some time ago I mentioned I purchased a stamping plate with dragons?  Well, on Monday I used it for the first time, and the results were fabulous:

Excuse the chipped nail!  I couldn't get pictures the day I made them

These are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat 

Black Orchid nail polish by Sally Hansen

Messy Mansion stamping plate #MM05

Konad plastic scraper

Konad small stamper

Icy Princess nail polish by essence for stamping

Seche Vite top coat
Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

The designs are BIG, which is great for my nails, and as you can see, the stamping is very clear and precise.  The one in the pinky does not look good, but that was my fault.  The pinky of the right hand looks awesome.  Fot the thumbs I used the crown and the axes.  The axes look great, but I could not get a really good stamping with the crown.  But overall I am happy with the results.  I think this is the best stamping work I have made since I started.

I hope I can use the backgrounds with other nail designs as accent nail.  They will undoubtedly cover the entire bed of any of my nails, they are so big.

Here is a little vid I made of the Messy Mansion plate.  Enjoy!

Nail design of the week: Perfect for Halloween!!

Finally Halloween it's here, and I can't wait to dress up and do my makeup!  My nails were done on Monday, and they will stay on until at least the weekend.  I saw this picture on Tumblr some years ago and fell in love with it:

If you are the original creator, let me know so I can credit you

It was strikingly beautiful and I have wanted to recreate this look for a long time.  I know there are many ways to do a blood manicure, but this is my favorite: as if you have dipped your nails on someone's blood.  I looked up some videos in YouTube for guidance, and followed this one to do my nails:

And this is the result:

I love them!!

These are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat

Nail polish Irresistible Cherry (#252) by Margaret Astor

Dotting tool

Seche Vite top coat
Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

I love that they do not have to be exactly identical to be great, and the fact that they are all different is even more fun.  Some people that saw them thought they had been professionally done, and they all recognized the dripping blood, so I guess they are a sucess!

Nail design of the week

I recently purchased a couple of nail polishes in gold and silver, and this week I decided to try out the silver one for the first time:

I absolutely love it!  These are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat

Essence Colour and Go Icy Princess (#141)

Seche Vite top coat
Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

I tried it first with a mate top coat; I painted the pinky finger, but I did not like the results - if you look at the picture closely, you'll see the shine that nail has is different from the rest.  So I just top coated everything with the Seche Vite.

I purchased it with the intention of using it for stamping, but I really like it by its own.  The color is really like antique silver - not shiny silver or steel. 

Looking forward to trying more colors of this brand!

Nail Design of the Week

It was some time since I wanted to do this beautiful Indian inspired nail tutorial by IndigoNova1:

After doing it, these are the results:

And these are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat
Colorama Turquoise Seas (#107)

Folk Art 660 Metallic Pure Gold

00 artist brush

Dotting tools

Konad Clear Top Coat 

Blue rhinestone

Seche Vite top coat
Naio coconut cuticle oil for the cuticles when everything is finished and dry

My nails are considerably shorter than the ones in the video so I had to do a smaller design - smaller teardrop, less dots, no green rhinestone.  It came out better in my left hand (of course) than in my right hand.  Since it is so complicated (at least for me) I only did it as an accent nail in my middle fingers.

I absolutely love it!  This design is simple enough to not be overkill, but at the same time it is dainty and delicate.

Since Summer is ending, I do not know how many times more I will be painting my nails blue.  I just adore when they are in sync with my tail!