Clouds

I know I've been MIA lately. Grad school is done and graduation is on Mother's Day! And then 5 days later, I'm getting married!! So, I've been a little busy, but I have been keeping up with my nail art just fine!

I just wanted to show you all a few cloud nails I did.

 This manicure was created using an Enchanted Polish and 2 Sally Hansens.

 This manicure is 100% Zoya polish

Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

ASBMF #12- May Flowers! (Watercolor Manicure)

Wow! I only have 2 more to go and I'll have finished my first challenge!! Soon up, I'll begin the Summer Challenge! But let's not get ahead of ourselves here!

For May Flowers, I knew I wanted to try the watercolor manicure technique. When I first saw this technique, it instantly reminded me of an impressionistic version of a flower garden! I knew this would be perfect for this challenge.

Now, this was my first time executing it. I will say, I've learned a lot on the way on how to make this even better next time.
More than anything else, I learned that I need to get a better brush! I used a makeup brush and it was just a horrible shape and kept falling apart. Hilariously, I have a few brush strands STUCK in the polish on my right hand. I got super annoyed when this happened but there was nothing to be done! Those babies were stuck!

Also, it's disgusting out today. It's dark and rainy. I tried and tried to get some decent pictures but only manages one. Better than none!!

Poor, poor middle finger. Too much acetone fell off that stupid piece of crap brush and killed the effect- and washed away some of my base!!
Other than that- it's not too bad for a first try! And I like my version of "flowers".

I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the base (2 coats), added Seche Vite to keep the base from running (2 coats), and then used Color Club Almost Famous, and Poptastic and Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!


I hope you enjoyed!
Thanks for reading,

-Amanda

Abstract, and Ethereal?! An Adventure in Mixing Techniques~

What do abstract, and ethereal both have in common? THIS MANICURE!

See, I enjoyed my last stamping attempt so much that I wanted to try another one! I was feeling extra ambitious so I thought I would do some sponging too! Whoa man!

I knew I wanted to work with my three favorite colors- Blue, Green, and Purple.
I started with a base of Color Club Twiggie. Then sponged on some Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! and Color Club Pucci-Licious. Sorry about the washed out picture quality as compared to other recent pictures. It's gross and overcast today so not much natural lovely light to work with. Oh well.
 Here's a picture of the sponging:

 I feel like these take on a serious abstract- wanna be grunge look! I mean the colors totally negate the grunge vibe, but I think you get what I'm saying?

Alright, next, I picked up my Bundle Monster stamping plate (BM-212) and chose one of the peacock-esque (making up words here, look out!) and stamped it on my nail using Zoya Trixie. I wanted a little sparkle but not too much and Trixie did the trick! Oh, fun fact of the day- I LOVE peacock feathers. The colors, the design, love, love, love them!

So here are some pictures of the finished product.

I don't know if anyone would necessarily agree, but I think Trixie gives this manicure a lovely ethereal feel!

Hope you enjoyed!
Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

ASBMF #10- Butterflies!

This challenge was a series of trial and errors. I initially wanted to do the popular butterfly wing nails but messed up a few time and got so frustrated! So, I took a day off and came back to it. 

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Four Leaf Clover on all nails but my index. Index got 2 coats Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. Colors were opposite on my right hand. Butterfly was drawn with a white, purple shimmer, green, and black nail art brushes. Flowers done with dotting tool using Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Color Club Almost Famous.

I feel as though I should have excluded the flowers. I think it would have looked better without them. Your thoughts?

Also, I'm super bummed the true color of the base polishes didn't show up on my camera! Four Leaf Clover is so VIBRANT in person. And Pacific Blue is much deeper in color in person. I tried to fiddle with the color settings but nothing worked well enough. 

Best picture I could get of the butterfly up close.

Hah! Look! My right hand! I had no idea how dry it was until I was editing my pictures! Oops!

I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

More Stamping

Stamping. I think I'll master it some day. I also think I'll master the art of cleaning up my cuticles and whatnot after painting my nails. I don't think today is the day for either of those things, but it doesn't keep me from trying to make a decent manicure...disregard the paint on the hands please.

This came out a little more differently than I had hoped. I expected the green to retain it's duochrome capabilities but it didn't. I wish it had been darker. But still, not horrible.
This is Nubar Blue Hydrangea. I used Konad plate m83 and Zoya Gemma.

A closer view.

You can see the bottle here. I LOVE Nubar bottles. So easy to use and super cute. All the Nubar polishes I own (all 4 of them) were recently purchased on Amazon. Great use of a purchase.

This is the manicure I did today. I wanted some colors that would really pop so that I could see how good the Bundle Monster stamp plates really are. I LOVE them! My fiancé had gotten them for me for my birthday. He's a sweetheart :-D
This is Sally Hansen White Out. I used Bundle Monster plate BM-204. I used Ulta Moody Blues for the stamp as well. I love the result. It reminds me of a Polish pottery type design.

 

The pinky is without a doubt my favorite. I ended up having to use my dotting tool for a few fingers because I placed the design too far down on the nail for my liking. I added a few blue dots to fill the space.

Thanks for reading!

Halloween Candy Corn/Spider Web Mani

Ugh, so this blogging often thing is already off to an iffy start. However, I started this as a way to catalog some fun nail designs and talk about stuff that makes me happy. So, on that note, something that makes me happy:

H A L L O W E E N !  

It really is my favorite holiday. Everything from the history and spiritualism behind it, to the dressing up in costumes makes me swoon in anticipation! With the way the cards have fallen this year though, I'll be bowing out of actually celebrating the day. So, to keep my heart from crumbling, I at least wanted to keep up with the themed manis. Be warned, this was my first themed nail art and my downfall is always that I set the bar too high with what I want it to look like in the end. This didn't quite meet my expectations but, in it's own right, it's fun! I used colors that were available because I don't have the funds to go out and buy exact colors (secretly, I think the neon adds a little pow! to the look). Also, please don't judge the chips in the polish. I neglected to photograph the nail right after I completed it.

Base is Sally Hansen Xteme Wear in White On, stripes done with Color Club Wham! Pow! and Color Club Almost Famous. Copper glitter stripes done with L.A. Colors Art Deco in Copper Glitter. The spider web was some freehand art that I did using Finger Paints. I don't have the bottle with me so I don't know the name. All I can tell you is that it's a basic finish black. I finished it all off with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

I hope you enjoy! I'll do my best to have more up soon!

Here We Go!

       So, I've toyed with this idea for quite a while. To blog, or not to blog? I've teetered one way, then fell back the other way...but now I've decided! Why not? What do I have to lose? Not a single thing! So, here I am.
       I don't have much of a plan for this blog yet. All that comes to mind is posting whatever I feel moved to post. I enjoy creating, making, and dreaming up many things. I'll likely post such things. However, I hope to gain some knowledge through my time here blogging. If you have any bit of knowledge/constructive criticism for me, regarding the post of the day, I'll gladly accept it!
      With that said, I suppose I'll start this blog by sharing my current obsession. Nails. Nail polish. Nail Art. I've been working with creating some pretty looks in the past few months, and so, I'd like to just share them now.

This was my first experience ever with nail art. Water marble done with Sinful Colors in Mint Apple, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue, Orly in Charged Up, and Orly in Going to the Chapel. I am so proud of how nicely they came out. Try to disregard the messy cuticles. In my fit of sheer joy of having successfully completed a water marble (that didn't look like a complete massacre) I forgot to clean up!

Shortly after discovering how to water marble, I came upon the dotting tool. This is truly one of my most favorite designs I've done. Done with Sinful Colors in Tokyo Pearl (base), and dots done in Sinful Colors in Black on Black, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue.

So then I tried to get a little more fancy and do a funky french with the dotting tool. The idea was great! The color choice was not...ugh! But, I did wear it for 2 days! Base was Nina Ultra Pro in Leaf Me Alone, with the dots being OPI in Strawberry Margarita and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away!

Last one for you all that I have was my first use of a striper brush. I'm quite proud of this one as well. Came out better than I had anticipated. I question the color combination, but I think it seemed best at the time. Base color if NYX Girls in Pistachio, L.A. Colors Art Deco striper brush in white, dots in NYX Girls in Indigo Blue and NYX Girls in Chocolate Taupe. Top Coat is my beloved Seche Vite.

I think this should more than do it for my first blog post. I hope you enjoyed!