Technicolor Leopard

I felt like being a little experimental with stamping today.  I started with two coats of Zoya Zara ...

Zara is, in a word, amaztastic.  It is such a naturally shiny shimmer ... this is two coats with NO top coat!!!!

After the two coats of Zara, I used one of my Red Angel plates, RA-107 for the leopard design.  I dropped a small bit of each of the Ulta colors on the design, then scraped and stamped.  When the light hits the leopard, the different colors will subtly come through.  Next time I might use a contrasting color palette, but I didn't want anything to clash with beautiful Zoya!  

To add some sparkle, I taped off the tips diagonally and added two coats of Purple Gleam, a gorgeous purple glitter in a grey jelly base.  I finished it with a coat of SV. 

This was a fun mani to create, so I hope you like it!  

Happy Painting!!!

Colors: Zoya Zara, Milani Purple Gleam, Ulta Love my Blackberry, Ulta Moody Blues, Ulta Wild Night, Ulta Dance Teal Dawn

Feeling a Little Moody

Over the weekend I snagged a few of the Claire's Mood polishes.  So, I thought I'd try one out for Pink Wednesday!

The coverage of this one was a little lacking.  It has the finish of a neon polish, and tended to be a little streaky.  It took three coats for a fully opaque finish, and one coat of SV for shine.

Above is the "cold version" of this color, a pretty pinkish coral shade.

Below is the "warm version" of this color, a soft pinkish peach shade.

After the polish begins to react to your body temperature, you're left with the look of a french manicure, as the shade on your tips will be different, due to the lack of body heat there!

After some fun in playing with the color change, I decided to use one of my stamping plates: m73, from the Born Pretty Store.  

Let me remind you, Ulta polishes work brilliantly as stamping polishes!  So I used Scene Steel-er on my ring fingers, and Devious on the others.  

I really like this shade from the Mood polish collection.  The color change is very subtle and pretty!  I'm looking forward to giving the other shades a try!  

Happy Pink Wednesday!!!!!

Colors: Claire's Mood Excited/Bored, Ulta Scene Steel-er, Ulta Devious

Stars Over Plumeria

Welcome to another Pink Wednesday!  I recently got Revlon's Starry Pink as a gift, so I thought today would be a good day to give it a shot!  It's a very delicate, almost milky, pink with small silver glitter and silver hexagon glitter.

Isn't it pretty?!

Colors: Revlon Starry Pink, Ulta Devious, Confetti Get the Party Started, Kiss Silver Glitter

I decided to use my Red Angel plate RA-119 to create the plumeria (aka frangipani) flowers with Devious.  For the ring finger, I used Get the Party Started on the plate, with a little Devious on the edges of the flower petals.  I mean, come on, it's Pink Wednesday!!!  Then I used the Silver Glitter to stripe a little down the center of the flower petals.  I hope you enjoy this one!  I know I do!  Happy Pink Wednesday!!!!!

Happy Little Trees!

Colors: China Glaze Ultimate Holiday, Orly Wandering Vine, Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Color Club Holiday Splendor, Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar, Color Club Gingerbread, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Barielle Falling Star, Ulta Mint Condition, Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer

I decided to make some happy little Christmas trees today!  I used Ultimate Holiday as the base color, which is a gorgeous gold/green glitter!  Then I used my dotting tools with all of my greens for the tree, Gingerbread for the star, and the rest of my colors for the ornaments.  This was another big hit with my little ones!

Pleasant Hooters

Colors: OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow 360, Nicole by OPI Nicole's Fave, Zoya Yara, Zoya Gemma, Sally Hansen The Real Teal, OPI Mermaid's Tears, Essie Coat Azure, Ulta Mint Condition, OPI Planks a Lot, Essie Nice is Nice, China Glaze Flying Dragon, Sally Hansen Lively Lilac

I decided to try my hand at these cute little owls tonight!  They were actually very quick and easy to create!  I used a strip of scotch tape on the top to create the half moon effect, and used the darker selection from my color combinations to create the owl bodies.  Next, I took the lighter complimenting shade and created the owl tummies.  I used my larger dotting tool to create the eyes and spots on the owls.  I used the small dotting tool for their pupils and their beaks.  I finished with a coat of SV!  For my left hand, I used the same design, but reversed the color order! 

This is one of the funniest manicures I've done.  I giggle every time I look at my fingers!  The cross-eyed owls are my favorites!  I hope you enjoy this one!  I know I do!!!!  Happy Painting!!!!!!

Snow Fall on Poinsettias

Colors: Butter London Victoriana, OPI Vampire State Building, Ulta Scene Steel-er, Sally Hansen White Out

Everyone in the house fell asleep a little early, so I decided to break out the Red Angel plates tonight!  I used two coats of Victoriana, but this polish has such amazing coverage that one coat would have easily done the trick.  I used the RA-118 plate with Vampire State Building for the poinsettias on my finger finger, and the RA-119 plate with Scene Steel-er and White Out for the snow flakes on the rest of my fingers.  Scene Steel-er worked really well with Victoriana.  You can only see the design when the light hits it, so it isn't too much for the beautiful blue.  This was a quick and easy mani to get done, so I definitely recommend something like this if you're pinched for time!  Happy painting ladies!

Mermaid to order!

Colors: Milani Rad Purple, Ulta Love my Blackberry, Milani Purple Outline, OPI Rainbow Connection

I wanted something a little mermaid inspired for tonight, so this is what I came up with.  (And this one actually took some time!)  Rad Purple is a great color, but, since it's a neon, takes more than a couple coats.  I used four coats, so I applied a quick coat of SV to speed up the dry time.  Next, I used Red Angel plate RA-111, for the scale effect stamp, with Love my Blackberry.  The Ulta polishes are fantastic for stamping, should you ever wonder!  After the stamp, add one more coat of SV.  Notice a pattern forming here?  Once that was completely dry, I taped off the tips and used Purple Outline, which is actually a nail art polish, and I LOVE it!!  Then - you guessed it! - one final coat of SV, with the exception of my ring finger.  I really wanted the scales on my ring finger to pop, so I grabbed Rainbow Connection.  I swiped some onto a paper towel, and used my dotting tool to pick up individual hexagon pieces of glitter to place in the scale spaces.  Was this a pain?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Completely.  After my glitters were in place, one very careful coat of SV, and we're done!

I really enjoyed creating this mani.  The colors went together really well without being too much for each other to handle.  So, if you have a good bit of time, I highly recommend it!!  Happy painting my lovelies!  

Half-moon Hoopla!

Colors: Ulta Material Girl, Color Club Foil Me Once

It's already time for Pink Wednesday!!  I decided to go über pink today, which is honestly a little out of character for me, and went with a half moon mani!!!  I used one coat of Material Girl first, which is a fantastic magenta jelly loaded with fine glitter.  Next, I taped off the top section and used one coat of Foil Me Once.  This is such a great metallic pink.  It's super shimmery without that pepto-pink I fear so much!!!  This is an easy mani style that doesn't take a lot of time, works great with almost any color & finish combos, and is always a crowd pleaser!!  Have a pink-tastic Wednesday!  Happy painting!

In-blu-ential bubbling

Colors: Ulta Bam-blue-zled, Pure Ice Strapless, Nails Inc. Connaught Square, Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe, Color Club Holiday Splendor, Nicole by OPI Kendall on the Katwalk, China Glaze First Mate

This one is especially for Evan, my two year old!  His favorite color is blue, and he loves bubbles and basically anything circular!!  So, just for him, I thought I'd have a little fun with my dotting tool!  (I know it's green, but I had to throw in a little holiday splendor too!  It's such an amazing color!)  I can't wait to show Evan tomorrow morning!  He's my biggest mani fan!  He always grabs my hand and says, "Ooooh!  Pwetty!  I lobb it!"  I enjoyed doing this one a lot, and I hope you all think it's something breezy and fun!

You cursed brat!!!!

After a few days off, I'm almost ready to close out my Wizard of Oz series!!!

Colors: Spehora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar, Sally Hansen Black Out, Ulta Bam-blue-zled

Leaf Him at the Altar is a fantastic green!  It has hints of gold that really shimmer in the sunlight!!!  I decided to water marble my ring finger because, well ... she's melting!!!!  After I marbled, I dotted a little of the green here and there.  (I didn't use the green in the marbling because shimmer colors don't cooperate when marbling.)  Then I dotted the black diagonally on the remaining tips. I'm excited to finish the series with, of course, Dorothy!!!  YAY!

If I only had the nerve ...

Today's mani is inspired by The Cowardly Lion!!  I thought about how my little boys might draw a lion ... with a zigzag mane.  So that's what I did!!!  And The Corwardly Lion would not be complete without his medal for courage!!

Colors: Butter London All Hail the Queen, Revlon Hot for Chocolate, Ulta Plum Street, and Sally Hansen Celeb City

I used my zigzag scissors with my scotch tape for the lion's mane, and then used my tiny detail brush to create the medal!  

If I only had a heart...

Welcome to the second installment of my Wizard of Oz Inspirations Series!!  Have a little heart and give some love to the Tinman!!!!

Colors: Ulta Scene Steel-er, Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter, Ulta Plum Street, Sally Hansen Black Out

I really like the Scene Steel-er polish, it dries so quickly and looks amazing with only one coat!  I used my zig zag edge scissors with scotch tape for the tips.  The black detailing and heart were hand painted with my tiny brush/dotting tool.

More Wizard of Oz Inspirations coming soon!!