This is, once again, nail art that I have been anxious to post. It was one of the first ones I did for this challenge and I am smitten by it!
Why do I love it? First, because it is not your typical valentine/hearts color scheme. Secondly, I took a stamped mani and built on it until it looks more like intricate nail art. Not that stamps can't look like intricate nail art...but let's be honest, they usually still look like stamps. Please excuse the pic heavy post, I just love this one too much to limit myself!
This pic makes me miss my long nails *wah* I started with two easy coats of Julep Millie, a 2013 dark blue top pic. If you want to see a full review of this blue eyed beauty, you can find it HERE, along with all my other dark blue top pics for 2013.
Next I added Avon Royal Blue using the saran wrap technique. Royal Blue is a suede finish, which basically means matte metallic.
I added top coat next, because....well I always add top coat to my base before stamping! That way, if I mess up, I can remove the stamped polish without damaging my base. Plus it made Royal Blue into a sparkle fest (tee hee). I could have stopped here and been very pleased, but the prompt is hearts, so.....
I stamped with LeaLaC LLC-B and Revlon Copper Penny. See the little hearts? I love this image for its' versatility. It could be some ivy under a flower stamp too! You can purchase LeaLac plates at Llarowe HERE. Be forewarned, they are pricey, but worth every penny in my opinion. I have used this plate multiple times and know that it will continue to be a stamping staple (tee hee) for me in the future. The images are HUGE and stamp like a dream!
I knew I was going to layer polish on those little hearts, and felt they were a little to small for that, so I made them bigger with more Copper Penny and a large dotting tool.
Next I added Butter London 2 Fingered Salute with a medium dotting tool, leaving a thin border of Copper Penny showing. I again top coated, as the final polish is textured and I wanted to seal everything in before adding it. What good is a textured polish if you top coat it? Well, actually, this one is gorgeous with or without top coat!
Finally I added FingerPaints Sparkle in the Sky with my smallest dotting tool. Here comes the spam!
Since I remembered to take a pic of every step (don't faint!), I decided to do my first step-by-step tutorial....thingy. Enjoy!
Although I used a stamp for this, you could easily create the same look freehand. Every time I look at this, I am bombarded by all the color combos I could use! Thanks for looking and commenting! And don't forget to check out all the other Valentine appropriate manis!
When I saw today's prompt, I went to a camouflage coniseur....My husband. The man has more camo than a hunter....and he doesn't hunt. I tease him that he is a closet redneck! This is how our conversation went:
"I have to do camouflage nail art. Will you help me?"
"What do you mean, help you?" He eyes the nail brushes suspiciously.
"I don't know...colors...pattern, whatever."
"Well, what do you want?"
"Um, camouflage."
"Hunting camo, Military camo, desert camo, German camo, winter camo, rainforest camo, traditional, digital, Kryptec, ADS?" (I told you he was a coniseur!)
"Forget it, I'll figure it out myself."
"I can show you some examples."
"Good idea! I knew you could help me!"
He proceeded to pull out no less than eight examples of different camouflage. I finally settled on this, which he told me is Navy Working Uniform, which the soilders call "Blueberries", and which is based on the Marine Corps MARPAT digital design. Bet you didn't expect a camouflage lesson...well neither did I (tee hee).
These camos are worn on the Navy ships, and apparently the sailors joke that if they ever fell overboard, this is not the right camo to be wearing.
What I liked about it, of course, was that it isn't your typical camouflage colors. I figured there would be several green/brown camos, and maybe even a pink, but we will see if there is any other "blueberries" done.
One of the things I loved about doing this mani was choosing the colors. There is just something about searching through my polishciles to find the perfect color match. The only one I felt I didn't nail was the dark grey. I ended up using black, because I couldn't find one in my stash that would stamp.
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I started with two coats of Julep Daria. Daria was an add on for the September Maven box and fully worth the $4! Although I used two coats, it could easily be a one coater. She is a blue leaning dark gray with an excellent formula. When first applying it, I thought it was going to be a mess. It is so highly pigmented that it is just a little thick and was showing brush marks, but as soon as I was done with the next nail, everything had leveled out to a perfect finish. Plus it is one of those "I will stay where you put me" polishes. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for grey on my tips, so this one is sure to grace them again soon!
I knew that I would never be able to freehand nice little squres, so I found this image from PUEEN48 and thought that by using different portions of it and filling in some of the open squares, I could achieve a look similar to the camo.
Here is the first layer of stamping using FingerPaints Black Expressionism. I fully intended on taking pics of every step but, as usual, I got a bit caught up in the process and forgot!
I next stamped with Julep Michelle, one of my top dark blues of 2013.
Finally I stamped with Zoya Kristen. I love Kristen and should use her as a base soon. She is too purdy to just use as an accent. Plus, looook, she stamps!
I ended up really loving this look. Being the perfectionist that I am, I felt I could have done a better job of representing the pattern, but I really love the look of this funky blue mani! Let's see if there are anymore Blueberries from the other girls!
I love Tuesdays! Why? Because I have Wednesday off! That means I can relax a bit in the evening, because I know I have all day tomorrow to get done what I want to get done. So that was what I was doing tonight when all of a sudden I was like, "Did I get my mani done for today?!?" Panic mode sets in! "What's the prompt today". "I am pretty sure I did something for that". "Where are the pics?" "They aren't in the Feb Challenge file!" "Oooo Noooo, what if I lost them?" "Maybe I didn't really do something for today!" "No...no I did! I know I did!" "Maybe I just dreamed I did! I have mani dreams...maybe I dreamed I did a purple wallpaper mani!" "Oh wait, here's the pics in this random file...Whew! Panic attack over!"
Deep breath...here is my non-dreamed, non-lost mani.
Back in the.....90's I think....there was a designer who made children's clothes and matching mother/daughter outfits and fabric and wallpaper. Her style is what I would call "country cottage chic" with intricate and interesting florals in mostly lighter colors. Can I remember her name? No! That was 20 some years ago and I have ARADD (Age Related Attention Deficit Disorder). If you know who I am talking about, let me know, because it is driving me crazy!
With that style in mind, I just went for it, and feel that I succeeded in creating something that I can see on the walls of a little girls bedroom.
I started with two coats of Zoya Stevie, such a pretty sparkly textured pastel purple, one of my favorite light purples of 2013. Next I sponged at the cuticles with SpaRitual Intuition. Intuition is a sheer purple gellie filled with blue glass flecks. This gave it a subtle purple/blue shimmer that ended up pretty well masked by the stamping, but I still like the subtle shine it gave it.
I stamped over Stevie with Pueen11 and A England Lady of the Lake. I liked the way this pattern (that I would normally never use) gave a subtle vertical pattern. Finally I stamped with Messy Mansion MM07 and Konad Metallic Green.
For these last pics, I added a thin coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast Top Coat. This made the texture a little more subtle, but did not totally smooth it out.
So, have you remembered the name of that designer? Nope, me neither (tee hee). Check out the other wallpaper manis below. Thanks for looking and commenting!
Tina
So I am kinda cheating today :0 I have a mani I created at during the holidays that never got posted, so I am using it today. It makes me sad to see these long and lovely nails, now that I am flashin some nubbins. Flash back to Christmas sky mani....
The reason this didn't get posted during the holidays is that I ended up not really being happy with it...at the time. But now it has marinated in my unposted file, I like it more.
I think the reason I was not happy with it was because it started with two coats of the amazing I Love Nail Polish Birefringence and then I covered it all up with a gradient of FingerPaints Winter Chill, a dark grey textured polish.
You can just barely see Birefringence under the stamping. Okay, I am getting a little sad :( Let's move on! I painted and sponged a moon on my ring and pinkie with Wet & Wild French White, Piggy Polish Make Waves, Julep Winter, Zoya Kristen, China Glaze Dandy Lion Around and CG Recycled. Is that enough for ya?!? How could I have a night sky mani without a moon? I feel like I am getting pretty good at them, which is good for a blog named Light of the Moon Nails.
I stamped all the tips with FingerPaints Black Expressionism and Bundle Monster BM-H02. Finally I stamped my thumb and middle with Sugar Bubbles SB Special 002, Konad Special White and dotted the tree with Ulta Cream of the Crop.
So, what do you think? Is it weird to post a Christmas mani in February? Yeah, I think so too. Does it make you sad that I covered up Birefringence so much? Think it is a fail? Give me your thoughts and check the other night skies.
I am a total geek so this prompt is right up my alley. With the 3rd season of Sherlock so quickly over, I am now going into Sherlock withdrawl, so I knew that today would be Sherlock themed. My original idea was to do the wallpaper/smiley face/skull theme, but I thought I would save that for the wallpaper prompt. Then I saw a couple of them floating around the nail community, so I might scrap that idea. Then again I might not :)
In getting ready for this season, I went back and watched the previous two seasons and got my daughter hooked on it at the same time. While watching season one, I was struck by a bolt of genius, if I may say so myself, during the Buckingham palace scene (my all time favorite by the way). Here is my inspiration.
Sherlock laughing...be still my heart! Here is what I did.
So, doing this in the hotel room made me realize how good my lighting set up is! Plus I forgot my clean up brush, so I had a bit of a mess on my middle finger. And let's not even go into my sad little nubs :( The patch I have had on my middle finger for two weeks finally gave out, so everything else had to be cut down to match.
- Index - Representing John's hunting jacket with the leather patch at the shoulder, 2 coats of Finger Paints Black Expressionism with Nails Inc Noho in the corner.
- Middle - Representing the red pillow, 2 coats of Zoya Rekah "sponged" with Essence Do You Speak Love. I say "sponged" because I forgot to bring a sponge or saran wrap, so I scrunched up the plastic wrapper on the microwave popcorn provided with the room for a makeshift saran wrap. Worked pretty well! You can see it better in the first and last pics.
- Ring - Representing Sherlock's sheet, 2 coats of LVX Fantom.
- Representing the couch (I am sure it is called something fancier in the palace), I started with 2 coats of Barry M Lychee. I then stamped with Vivid Lacquer VL020 and Maybelline Bold Gold.
I LOVE how this turned out, despite not having all the tools I usually have and poor lighting for the pics. It turned out just like I envisioned! So rare that this happens!
What do you think? Are you a Sherlockian, like me? Did I nail my inspiration or do I just have a high impression of it? Gotta run, the boys are getting restless and we need to vacate the room. See you tomorrow!
So, right now I am on a little adventure! My son, his friend and I drove 4 1/2 hours from Minnesota to Madison WI so they could see Neutral Milk Hotel in concert. I am relaxing at the hotel while they are standing in line for the concert. Well, maybe they are in the concert hall by this time. I will pick them up when the concert is over, we'll stay the night in the hotel and drive back tomorrow. The original plan was that his friend's mother was going to take them, but that fell through, so I posting this from the hotel and am even going to try to do my nails tonight. What I will do for my kid....and my blog (tee hee). Sorry if it seems brief or rushed....but it is.
Today's prompt is "still life". Bria has been asking me to a Japanese scene on her nails for quite awhile, so I figured this was as good a time as ever.
I wrote down everything I used for this and then left my notebook at home. I know that the base is Barry M Lychee. The tree cherry blossom stamping is Mentality Prim and some plate, but I can't remember which. The cute little characters are from Messy Mansion MM09. Bamboo....um, a Revlon magnetic and....can't remember what plate. The hearts are Mentality Beautiful with a dotting tool. The cherry blossoms are LA Colors peachy....something? Maybe peach nectar? The middle of the flowers is NOPI Ladies in the Limelight. Wow, pretty good for not having anything written down!
Kinda cute and perfectly valentine friendly! In fact I will use this for Don't forget to check the other, more talented still lifes.
Yeah! It's neon day for Nail-Art-A-Go-go! Why am I excited? Ever have an idea in mind for nail art and not sure if it will turn out or not? This was one of those times that it actually did!
I had this marinating in my mind for awhile....maybe not with neons...but I figured this was as good a time as any to give it a try.
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This started with two coats of FingerPaints Warhol Wannabe. This is an amazing neon bubblegum pink! And only two coats!
Next I added some striping tape off center.
I painted black to the left and white to the right. I used white because I tried the green over the pink by itself and the green just wasn't popping. You can also see that I got a little sloppy with the black and the white helped cover that up.
Next I reapplied the striping tape and painted 2 coats of FingerPaints Silk Screen Green.
More tape and 2 coats of Finger Paints Pop Art Purple.
Finally, more tape and one coat of FingerPaints Black Expressionism.
Topped everything off with top coat and, whalla, neon racing stripes!
I love the pairing of neon with black! It reminds me of the 80's!
What do you think? It took a lot of time to do this as I had to let each layer dry completely before I could apply the tape, but I think the end results were worth it! Don't forget to check out all the other neons!
