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

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

This week's design is based on a beautiful French manicure that I saw in The Model Stage blog:

Picture from The Model Stage Blog

I love the grey color, and the subtlety of the fine line for the tips!  So this the result of my manicure:

It is in no way as perfect as hers; but I normally use the nail tip whitener following my own white lines, and since this time I did not have them, it was difficult for me to be precise.  I think I should buy tip guides for this kind of work (I hate using tape!).  These are the tools I used:

Unglax nail hardener as base coat
Margaret Astor Quick'N Go (I believe it is #360, although I am not sure)

Nail Tip Whitener by Rimmel

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

While Ana used a nude color for the tips, I used my nail tip whitener.  I do not like nude colors.  I do not even own one.

Now that I have done it, I am not sure if I like the results on my own nails.  Probably I will like it more when it's Winter and I will be using darker colors to dress.  But I do not think it works during Summer.  Very classy and elegant, yes, but not suitable for a day at the beach, me thinks...