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Sunday, December 1, 2013

I'm Baaaaack!

I'm so happy. I'm blogging again! But that also means I'm regularly painting my nails again. Ladies and gents...the semester is ALMOST over!

So, my mom gave me this awesome gift!

Sephora came out with this great gift box from Ciaté.


It's an Advent Calender! Of nail polish!


Being December 1, this is the day everyone starts their Advent calenders.


I love the little quote! And inside is a mini bottle of Ciaté Snow Globe. It's like little torn pieces of iridescent awesomeness in clear polish.


I started with two coats of SinfulColors Amethyst. This is one of my favorite purples that I own.


It's so hard to catch all the colors! But this is so pretty.



I can't promise I'll blog every day. But I WILL share pictures of each polish. Can't wait to see what the other days have.

Thanks, Mom!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Quick! Another giveaway!

So, I stumbled across this one on facebook! The Mercurial Magpie is another amazing nail artist. I could seriously look at the photos all day. She's hosting a giveway for a Messy Mansion nail plate, MM14. Messy Mansion plates are among my favorites. They're so unique!

Enter away!


Back to my paper!

Cheers,

Becks

Anyone out there?

Hi friends. Well...school has gotten the better of me, and I've been completely slacking on my blog posts. I hope my followers out there are still followers! I appreciate you all.

I'm actually taking a break from writing a paper right now, and wanted to tell you about a great giveaway being hosted over at Lacquer or Leave Her. I greatly admire Michelle's nail art and I love her reviews of products! She's giving away the Barielle Sophisticated Lady and Nude&Naughty Fall 2013 collections. The giveaway ends in a few days, so head on over and enter!


Hopefully I'll be back soon with some nail art for you all.

Until then,

Becks

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Un-girly!

Today's challenge in Adventures in Stamping is Un-girly! No pink, no hearts, none of that. I had to admit, I got pretty excited with this one. I DO own pink nail polish, but it's only out of necessity for certain designs and holidays. I'd wear dark colors every day if I could.

Nothing really special or fancy here, just some basic stamping over a dark color.


I started with two coats of SinfulColors Leap Frog. How to describe this color...the photo isn't really very accurate. At first glance, it's grey. But the harder you look at it, you see maybe a hint of green, maybe a hint of blue. This is going to be a favorite color of mine this fall.


I got this plate from VividLacquer, VL009 I now own a few of her plates...she always comes up with really great images on her plates. I used the fingerprint image.  


I stamped that image on all my nails using one of Salley Hansen's new Fall 2013 colors, Insta-Dri Red-io Active. It's a really great metallic red to stamp with. See how well it shows up over this dark base?


I'm really happy with this mani. Simple, dark colors perfect for the Fall...even if it was 80 degrees yesterday. 

Until next time,

Becks

Saturday, September 21, 2013

AIS Challenege - Autumn

Whhaaaat? ANOTHER post?!?! Yes, you all are so very lucky. :) Also, I am just not interested in doing anything other than relaxing and doing my nails.

I went ahead tonight and did the Adventures in Stamping Sunday challenge, which is Autumn this week. I love the fall so much. Ok, I hate the hay-fever that comes with it...but this time of year is my favorite, and I am always so thankful that I live in an area where you can experience the true beauty of fall. Plus we have the added bonus of bonfires, Halloween, and pumpkin and apple everything! Ah...I so love it.

Such a happy fall mani!

I decided to go with a gradient. I have a love/hate relationships with gradients. Usually they're a fail for me, but this one worked out! I started with two coats of China Glaze Fast Track.



Then I added a topcoat, to help keep the base intact. That was a good call on my part! Usually when I sponge the gradient on, the base comes off with it. This time it worked!


It's not a very complex gradient...but I'm just glad it turned out.


And I've got to add some stamping, for the AIS Challenge! I used my Winstonia W119 plate, and stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Jumpin' Jade. For those who are wondering, every Sally Hansen Insta-Dri I've tried so far stamps perfectly!



A great fall mani! I'll be doing a lot of these, I'm sure!

Until next time,

Becks

Friday, September 20, 2013

It's Friday!

Whew! What a week. It's been a bit since my last post, but ALSO a WEEK since I last did my nails! What?!?! Well, last weekend ended with me having food poisoning, so I was preoccupied. Then this past week was so crazy with school and clinical...nails just weren't on the priority list.

BUT IT'S FRIDAY! I have some homework to do, but I can afford to have a free night or two this weekend. I think I've earned it.

So, here are some fun Friday-night nails...perfect for staying in and doing nothing, lol!


Ah...black and purple. My two favorite colors!

I started with two coats of SinfulShine with Gel Tech in Dark Room. It's a BlackBlack. Opaque in one coat, but I wanted it solid, smooth, and super shiny, so I went with two coats.

Pre-cleanup

Then I stamped with Wistonia plate W111 with Mundo de Uñas  special stamping polish in Fuschia. If you're looking into some awesome, affordable, stamping polishes...this is what you want. So many of her polishes stamp over black, and her black and white stamping polishes are the best out there, in my oh so humble opinion. Leave a comment if you're interested in finding out how to order them.


I'm trying to be better about moisturizing the ol' cuticles...all that handwashing at clinical is catching up.


So, pretty great color over black, isn't it? I love it. :)

Until next time,

Becks

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Glizy Glam

Well, it's Sunday. You all know what that means! Sunday challenge over at Adventures in Stamping. Today's challenge, is 'glizy glam'. I'll be honest...I SERIOUSLY debated participating in this week's challenge. I knew I was going to want to do something with sparkle. But, I have to have my nails nekkid by Wednesday for clinical...and I HATE removing glitter polish. It's such a pain. But...my desire to have sparkly nails won out! So here we are. :)

Ooooh I love this. It doesn't show up in the photos very well, but it's like looking at ruby slippers.


I stuck with all Kleancolor polishes for this mani. Why? Well...I have a lot of them, and they deserve to be used. Warning...they stink. Really smell bad. But they're super cheap, and they come in HUNDREDS of different colors/finishes. I started with a base of Red Alert(81).

 

Then, I added two coats of Chunky Holo Scarlet(231). It has the most wonderful shimmer. Hopefully there will be some sun before I have to take the polish off, and I can do an update so you all can see the sparkle!


I then stamped with a fauxnad plate. It's like a Konad only....not. I used plate m69.


I stamped using Kleancolor Metallic Black(168). A lot of Kleancolors stamp really well, especially the metallics line.


Glizy glam, right? Well, of course I broke out the nail bling! I got a large set of these Cheeky nail gems on amazon for a steal. There are lots of really cheap ways to get fun nail art additions. Just leave me a comment if you're interested in finding some.

Ah...clean-up...that's better!

I added a little red gem to the center of each flower. Ah...it's so pretty! I added the little embellishment on each of my nails.


I just think this is too fun! Nail gems are actually pretty easy to apply. Little ones like these, I just stick on immediately after I apply my top coat. Some bigger ones (like bows), you can apply using glue. I think they really take your mani to another level.


Until next time,

Becks

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Tone on Tone

It's Sunday, and that means it's time for the Adventures in Stamping Sunday challenge! Today it's Tone on Tone, meaning that you need to stamp in the same color tone that you chose for you base coat.

I chose to do something a little different, and stamp with the same exact polish I chose for my base coat. 


I chose a Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polish. These are typically all around good polishes, and stamp really well. I picked a great light purple called Grape Race.


I then painted over each nail with a matte top coat. A lot of polish lines now have matte top coats. I got this Fresh Paint matte top coat at Five Below, 3 for $5.


Mattes dry REALLY fast. So I was ready pretty quickly to move on to my stamping. I chose a cute xoxoxo image on Vivid Lacquer's plate VL001. Check out her etsy shop HERE! She has a lot of fun and really unique images on the plates she has made. I stamped the image on to each of my nails in Grape Race.


And here's the end result! It's a subtle look, but one that I really like and think is fun. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing this with dark colors a lot this fall and winter. :)


Until next time,

Becks

Friday, August 30, 2013

Nail Art Society!!!

Well, the first week of the semester is at an end. One down, fourteen to go!

But, today was exciting. When I got home I found my August Nail Art Society bag in the mail! :D Very exciting. Nail Art Society is a monthly subscription service for nail art goodies. You pay a small fee, and each month they send you a bag full of fun things! NAS, as it's referred to on Facebook, recently went through an overhaul. They took a couple months off, and oh boy, was it worth it! Here's my review of the August bag. I'm personally subscribed to NAS, and am simply offering my honest opinion.


The bag is a shiny purple bubble mailer. It's so bright and cheerful, I just smiled when I saw it in the mailbox. 

And here we are! ORLY paints! There are two brochures outlining the Orly line, a postcard featuring a NAS guru, a tutorial postcard, water decals, stickers, and four Orly paints.


Here's the tutorial, giving some ideas on how to use the items in the bag.


These Orly paints are special. They are water based paints! This is very exciting, because if you're doing a design, and you mess up, it's MUCH easier to remove than regular nail polish. I got white, silver, black, and a very vibrant blue.


It is blue...my camera here made it look purple. Sorry about that. They each have a striper brush, which is also great.


I also got one pack of butterfly nail stickers, and one pack of water decals. They're both butterfly themed, and just gorgeous.


So, the bag was well worth the subscription fee, which is $9.95/mo plus about $5 shipping. They send you a confirmation email when your bag is shipped, so you get to stalk the tracking.

I'll be the first to admit...I'm not very good at free hand designs. But with these Orly striper paints, I'm excited to try. 

Guaranteed nail mail each month for me! So fun. :D

Until next time,

Becks

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Adventures in Stamping Sunday Challenge

It's Sunday! I spent most of the day wrecked with sinus issues, so things could have been better. Fall semester also begins tomorrow (although I have Mondays off), so today is very bittersweet. But, in the nail art world, for those who enjoy stamping, Sunday is also challenge day!

Adventures in Stamping is the facebook group that started it all for me.  I learned everything I know about stamping from the amazing talented people over there. Every Sunday a poll is posted for us to vote on possible themes. The voting closes on Wednesday, and then Sunday we post our challenge manis. I've gotten so much inspiration from browsing through all the photos posted in AiS. 

This weeks challenge is 'stamp over a nude base. This was my final mani.


My base is a metallic sandy color. The brand is Kleancolor, and the color is 42 Sandstone. Kleancolors smell terrible, but they're great polish and you can get them very cheap online, often less than $2 a bottle including shipping. Here's a bottle shot, and you can see the color on my nails.


I stamped with a couple different images from the Pueen Love Elements collections. I used two images, both found on #33.


I stamped with an extremely vivid green from my favorite stamping polish maker, Mundo de Uñas. Her stamping polishes are thick and extremely opaque. Many of her stamping polish stamp wonderfully over black. Bonus, they're SO affordable! This is her stamping polish no. 8, Esmeralda


Isn't this fun? I know the base looks more gold in the photo, but in person it's just a shimmery neutral color, with a vivid pop of green. For some added shimmer, I topped the whole mani off with Oh, Baby, by Pure Ice. I like to think of it as my poor-man's holographic topcoat.


Summer is definitely coming to an end, although I don't think the heat is going without a fight. I'm going to miss my free time, but I'm so ready to be done with school. One more year!

Until next time,

Becks

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Stamping Plate Giveaway from SpellbindingNails

When I first started getting into nail art, one of the first blogs I stumbled upon was by the fantastic Sarah of SpellbindingNails. She's hosting a giveaway for some stamping plates from MoYou. If you'd like a chance to win 6 plates from the collection of your choice, just do the entries on her rafflecopter! 


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Summer Water Marble

So, friends, I thought I'd give doing a nail art tutorial a shot. I've had a lot of people ask me 'how do you do that?'

You'll want to gather the following items


Base coat, a light polish for your base color, 2-3 polishes with which to create your water marble, top coat, tape, toothpicks or dotting tool, small cup with room temperature water, paper towels, and whatever items you use to clean up the polish around your nail. I use a small glass cup, cotton swabs, and a cheap cosmetic brush to get close to the nail bed. My favorite is the E.L.F. Professional Concealer Brush. You can get one of these brushes at Target for $1!

Apply your base coat, and then apply your color. I chose white, as it would make the colors I chose for my water marble really pop. I chose three polishes from China Glaze- That's Shore Bright, Too Yacht to Handle, and Sun of a Peach.

Apply tape surrounding your nail, to help with clean up in the end. There are lots of other methods other than tape, however this is my favorite.



When you're ready to begin, line up your polishes near your cup of room temperature water, on the paper towel. The water needs to be room temperature so the drops of water spread the way you want them to.


Alternating polishes, create your bulls-eye.


Using your toothpick or dotting tool, lightly drag the tip across the bulls-eye, creating the effect you're looking for. Quickly clean off the polish off your toothpick or dotting tool in between each drag. You'll want to keep the end sharp and gunk-free. Make sure you don't play with the polish too much...I've found that if you play around with the design too much, the colors tend to get muddy. Here, less is more!


When you've gotten a design you like, position your nail over the section you want. Dip your nail into the water, making sure to completely submerge your nail. Keeping your nail in the water, lightly blow on the remaining polish that's on top of the water. Spin your toothpick between your fingers while in the water to pick up the leftover polish. When the surface of the water is mostly clear, pull your finger out of the water.


There it is! The image is on my nail and the tape. You can see the polish swirled around the toothpick and barely any polish is left on the water.


Here's my water marble. You want to let it dry a bit before you take the tape off, to avoid any boo-boos.


See how much the tape helped? Barely any clean up left to do. Since there wasn't much of a mess, I just used my ELF brush and cleaned up.


Add your super shiny, quick dry topcoat, and you're good to go! (If you have questions about top coats and base coats, leave a comment and I'll tell you my preferences.)


Isn't this great? I just love water marbles. Each nail is different. And I think these colors go great together. It's a perfect way to end the summer.


I hope you enjoyed my first nail art tutorial! Any requests? 

Until next time,

Becks