I'm Going to Nail School!

Over the last couple of years, I've really started to love nails and polish, and especially nail art. I figured I would have to wait for my youngest daughter to start school (in 3 years) before I would be able to go to nail school. Then I heard about a school in town that was going to have a night class! Now with some amazing friends and neighbors, and my wonderful, supportive husband, I'm making my dream come true! 

The first thing I did was go and take a tour of the school, I decided I needed to have awesome nails for the occasion, so I went with a neon gradient with chevrons! Because who doesn't love chevrons right now??

I used SquareHue- Kalver Straat and P.C. Hooft Straat for my gradient, then stamped the chevrons with Milani- White on the Spot and Messy Mansion plate MM12.

 After taking the tour, I was really excited. It took awhile working with the bank to get the finance side all figured out, and then the day came to go in and fill out paperwork and sign a contract! It was finally really going to happen!

For these, I randomly sponged on Sally Hansen Insta-dri- Pink Blink, Essie- Mint Candy Apple, Loreal- Meant to Be, and NYC- Water Street Blue. Then I stamped with Milani- White on the Spot and Pueen 26.

Then came my first day of school!

I used SquareHue- Placa Catalunya and Rambla de Raval for my gradient, and I absolutely loved how that turned out! Then I stamped with Konad Black and BM-223. 

I'm so excited to start this new phase of my life. And to turn this hobby into a career!

Quilted Reciprocal Gradient

Since the last time I did a reciprocal gradient, I've been really wanting to try it again. I just needed to carve out the time! For this one I did something a little different, instead of just stripes, I decided to put the tape in a quilt pattern. I absolutely love the way it turned out!

The colors I used were NYC- Boundless Berry, Color Club- Sweet Pea, and Color Club- Blushing Rose.

 

This is probably one of my favorite manis to date!

Welcome to the World!

I got two new nieces within 4 days of each other! My younger sister had her first baby, unfortunately, she lives in Tennessee and I live in Idaho, so I haven't been able to hold baby Brynlee :( But they're coming home for Christmas so we can meet her! My oldest brother had his little girl 4 days later, and I got to meet baby Dani the next day. Naturally I had to have some super girly nails for the occasion!

I used 2 coats of SquareHue- Happy Creme, sponged China Glaze- Ahoy! on the tips, and added some dots with Sinful Colors- Snow me White. Stamped the bow with Snow me White as well.

And this one is just the sweetest! Me and Dani showing off our nails :) I was wishing I had some polish with me, she could have had her first mani!

 And of course, I had to show off the gorgeous girls!!

Brynlee Hope

Dani Lynn

Congratulations to Lisa & Larry and Chad & Tasha!! I love you all! And welcome to the world Brynlee and Dani!!

Go Cardinals!

My husband is a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan. Oops, I mean...we all are :) I was informed that it's our household team. Anyway, he's been really excited because they recently tied for the best record in baseball and they're playing their first playoff game tomorrow against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So naturally, I had to do some nails for the occasion, and this is what I came up with.

I used two coats of Pure Ice- Crimson on my ring finger, then did the logo with Wet 'n' Wild- Denim Chrome, and Nail Ritz pen in white. My middle finger has 2 coats of Sinful Colors- Snow Me White, and Pure Ice- Crimson for the stitches. The rest of my nails are two coats of Wet 'n' Wild- Denim Chrome with a gradient of Pure Ice- Freedom.

I thought they turned out pretty cute. My husband loved them!!

My Birthday Nails!

I turned 27 yesterday! Woohoo! It's really not nearly as exciting these days as it was when I was little. I'm just starting to feel old. But, it was a good excuse to do something bright and fun on my nails!

I started with one coat of Sinful Colors- Snow Me White as undies. Then sponged China Glaze- Fancy Pants and Ahoy! for my gradient. You can't see much in these pictures, but they both have the same amazing pink shimmer in them, it was really cool how the shimmer was all the same through the gradient, I wish I could have gotten it to show in photos. The stamp was done with BM-315 and Snow Me White.

And last, but not least...my birthday haul! This is all a combination of polishes from my Mom, my friend, Sarah, my kids, and some that I picked up with birthday money :)

Ahh....aren't they beautiful?!?

Blue Reciprocal Gradient

I've seen the reciprocal gradient around a few times. On challenges, and a lot on Pinterest, and I've always wanted to try it myself. It was a little intimidating and looked time consuming, so I kept putting it off. The other night, the kids went to bed early, and we didn't have any shows on, so I had plenty of time to spend on my nails, so I decided to go for it! And I'm so glad I did! I love them!!

I started with a base of one coat of Milani- White on the Spot, then did my gradient with a makeup sponge and White on the Spot, Sally Hansen- Blue Away, and NYC- Water Street Blue. I topped that with HK Girl and gave it awhile to make sure it was dry. Then I cut 30 little strips of striping tape and used tweezers to place them all on my nails. I used the same colors in reverse order over the tape. I made sure to pull the strips of tape off white the polish was still wet to get clean lines. 

This was my halfway point :)

After removing all the tape, I topped it with one final coat of HK Girl and I'm absolutely loving the results!! Let me tell you though, clean up was a nightmare!! I think next time I do it, I'll tape off my nails before starting.

What do you all think? Are you going to give this look a try?!

A little bit of bling

I logged into my dashboard today and realized I lost a follower :( With only 36 followers, I treasure you all! I hope I can keep the rest of you coming back to read!

I found this pretty pink polish at Tuesday Morning. I had never been there before, but had heard that people have found great polish there, so I went hunting. I found a little display of Calvin Klein polishes. I've never tried or even seen them before, so I grabbed two to try. The one I used here is called Sheer Sparkle. The formula was flawless, the first picture is 2 easy coats. I love the shimmer it has.

For some added sparkle, I used Wet n Wild Fergie- Rock n' Roll to make a little glitter gradient. I picked this up at Walmart a few days ago, and I'm glad, because it needed a new home. It's packed with beautiful gray glitter and a little holo glitter as well. I loved how it looked with the pink in this look.

New 31DC Day 26: Inspired by your country

The good ol' USA. I figured red, white, and blue was only fitting. So I picked up this cool glitter, appropriately named Freedom from Pure Ice. It's packed full of red and blue glitter, with cute little silver stars in it.  I let the bottle sit upside down for awhile before I started because all of the stars were settled in the bottom. Even still, I was only able to fish a couple of them out and you can hardly see them on the nail. My base was 2 coats of Milani- White on the Spot.

New 31DC Day 21: Merge or Melt

For today's challenge, I had big plans. I wanted to try watermarbling again, then I wanted to try the reciprocal gradient, then I ran out of time :(  It seems like I've been really busy, but at the same time, I feel like I haven't really accomplished anything. Anyway...I ended up with a simple glitter gradient.

I started with 3 coats of OPI- You're Such a Budapest. I LOVE this color! Then I added LA Colors- Jewel Tone for the gradient. I liked how it turned out.

This polish looks more blue in these pictures. My camera has a hard time capturing purples.

Adventures in Stamping

The theme for this week in the Adventures in Stamping group was spring flowers. I knew just what I wanted to do. I started with a purple gradient using Nina- Lilac-ing Discipline and Sally Hansen- Deep Purple. It's so subtle, you almost can't even see the gradient at all. I should have taken a picture before I stamped, but I forgot.

Then I stamped the flowers with BM-321 and Milani- White on the Spot. I was determined to be patient this time so my stamping wouldn't smear. I waited probably 10 minutes and then added one coat of Out the Door. It still smeared!! I was so frustrated. It didn't look nearly as bad in real life as it does in these pictures though, so I guess there's that.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's day everyone! I hope your day is full of love :)

For this look, I started with one coat of Sinful Colors- Easy Going. Then I used a makeup sponge for the gradient with Easy Going, NYC- Polyester Pink Creme, and NYC- Love Me Red Creme. I love how it turned out! One of my better gradients so far.

 I topped that with one coat of Out the Door to speed up dry time for stamping. Then I used Sinful Colors- Snow Me White and BM-311 for the love letter. It was the perfect stamp for the look I wanted! It was delicate and didn't cover up the beautiful gradient too much.

Hope you all love this look as much as I do!

I love gray!

One of my favorite colors is gray. So I decided to try a gradient with gray and white. I used e.l.f.- Misty Haze and LA Colors- Energy Source. I really liked the way it turned out. Then I used Konad Special Black and BM-310 for the design. I loved this mani!

Halloween nails!

For this look I started with 2 coats of LA Colors- Energy Source. Then I sponged on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear- Mellow Yellow. It didn't end up much of a gradient that I was going for. I added the orange dots with my dotting tool and Petites- Passion Orange. Kind of candy corn-ish. Then I added the haunted house with Konad Special Black and BM-305. Topped it with one coat of NYC. I didn't totally love the end result, but it wasn't horrible.

Gradient Faux Marble

I started this look with 2 coats of Wet 'n' Wild- Shameless. Then I sponged the gradient with Shameless and Essie- Smooth Sailing. I topped that with a coat of NYC fast dry top coat. Then I stamped the marbled design with my Bundle Monster plates and Wet 'n' Wild- Denim Chrome. I added Jordana- Crystal Ocean for a little sparkle, then another coat of NYC. I loved how this one turned out!

Gradient and dots take 2

I loved the last gradient/dot mani that I did, I decided to do it again in the different color! I love it just as much as the pink one! This is probably a style I'll do in a bunch of different colors. It's so versatile!

Day 21: Inspired by a color

I knew I wanted to do pink for my color inspiration. So I started browsing Pinterest trying to get an idea of what to do with it. I saw this look from Oooh, Shinies!. My attempt wasn't quite as cute as hers, but I like how it turned out.

Gradient and dots

I also saw this look on Pinterest. It's originally from Polish Art Addiction. I thought it was so cute! So I recreated it to wear for my daughter's 3rd birthday party. It was Minnie Mouse themed, and she loves polka dots. Or "polka nots" as she calls them.

Day 15: Delicate print

This is one of my very favorites so far. I used an eyeshadow applicator and sponged on the pink gradient. Then I stamped the design over the top. It's a very girly look and I love it!

Day 10: Gradient nails

I love this one! It was so much fun to do and I love how it turned out. I used an eyeshadow applicator to apply the white and purple. Probably did about 3-4 coats.