[#WNAC2015] September Jewel Tones: Stained Glass

I could't resist to join into the last topic of weekly nail art  challenge 2015(#wnac2015): stained glas in jewel tones. I'm in love with my emerald-gold mani! The color and the holo particles are just gorgeous in the sun:

I used acrylic paint to draw the lines. Do you notice, I'm getting better - the lines are almost straight!.Yeeey! :) 

My base color is the beautiful Il était un vernis called In Teal We Trust. This polish is perfection: fantastic formula, almost full coverage in one coat, smooth finish with a lot of depth. I used two coats here.
The glitter polish is not another brand, but In Teal We Trust, mixed with gold holographic topper China Glaze Angel Wings. I mixed a drop of ITWT with two/three drops of Angel Wings and added a drop of nail polish thinner - this way the mix was a bit more fluid and didn't dry so fast.

In the indirect light of my photo box the mani looses some of it glittery magic, but under direct electric light the small holo particles come alive again:

Base color: Il était un vernix called In Teal We Trust
Glitter Polish: In Teal We Trust mixed with China Glaze Angel Wings and a drop of nail polish thinner
Lines: acrylic paint and a thin liner brush

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Marianne Nails Africa plate No. 13

Hi everyone,

I've got a beautiful new stamping plate from Marianne Nails called "Africa" and tried something new: grungy tone-in-tone stamping.

I'm not really sure how I feel about these nails, but the plate is superb! The etching is perfect and the patterns are pretty cool.

As for the grungy effect - I was trying to follow Meghan's Dreamcatcher tutorial, but my grungy border got out of hand ;) I guess I'd have to practice more. However I like the idea of tone-in-tone stamping and would definitely try this style again.

Base color: two coats of Barry M Coconut
Grungy effect: China Glaze Foie Gras, thinned with some polish thinner to build up the color towards the edges
Stamping: patterns from Marianne Nails plate "Africa" No.13, stamped with Mundo de Uñas Chocolate.

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Pink chevron mani

The inspiration for this mani comes from this beautiful design by @carlysisoka.

I probably should have stick more to the original ;) I like the color combination, although a paler glitter polish would have been better, right?

Base color: Barry M Coconut (ivory alternative to OPI's My Vampire Is Buff)
Chevrons: chevron-shaped tape stickers from Nail Vinyls, Dance Legend Glam Rock and pale pink China Glaze Go-Go Pink Read More......

31DC2013, Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural

I was determined to finish the 31 Day challenge from last year, but I see all these awesome manis on the net - and I quickly forget my actual goal ;).

C'mon, there are only three manis left and then I'm done with my first ever nail art challenge :) Here comes my supernatural mani:

Apparently a just cannot stop buying MoYou stamping plates, so it's high time I start using them!!! The base for this mani is a light blue gradient. Then I randomly sponged grey, beige and mud colored nail polishes to create the rocky bottom and stamped the cute mermaid and water plant patterns on top of it.
My top coat smeared a bit, but thank god I noticed it before ruining the design completely.

Base color: pale blue gradient with Formula X Infatuated and China Glaze Bahamian Escape, added spots of Picture Polish Whimsy around the stamped patterns
Rocks: sponged different grey polishes on top of each other
Waterp pants: pattern from the MoYou Sailor Collection 04, stamped with dark green Essence Deep Sea, Baby
Mermaid: pattern from MoYou Fairytale Collection 02 stamping plate with Konad black stamping polish Read More......

New York mani

My hubby and I have just returned from our trip to New York. What an incredible city!  We dreamed about going to NY for so long, I was giddy with anticipation before we left. And naturally I had to do a NY mani!

The skyline comes from the fantastic Bundle Monster plate BM-414. I was so excited, I couldn't stamp straight ;) The resulting image is more like New York fata morgana to be frank ;).
Mani done, I felt prepared to go:

Despite my "wavy" stamping I loved my nails. And it was a huge success in NY ("Oh, I love your nails!" and "Oh, this is New York! So cool!"). Who new that nails could be such a conversation starter! :D

Gradient: Mint Polish Tart, China Glaze Sugar High, CG Fade Into Hue, Essie Midnight Cami over one layer of no-name white
Stamping: BM-414 with A-England Camelot Read More......

31DC2013, Day 20: Water Marble

Last year I decided to join the 31 Day Challenge to improve my nail art skills. The challenge was for September 2013, so even the last nail-snail (lol!) has finished it, except me ;).  I never manage to do more then two or max three manis in a week, so I've just reached the Day 20!

With most water marble designs I see, I don't get this "Gimme polish, I wanna play NOW!!!"-feeling. I'm not into swirly things, I guess. But challenge is a challenge. So water marble it is!

I really like how Meghan from Will Paint Nails For Food has adopted the water marbling technique to her own style for example in this mani. Unfortunately I couldn't manage those frayed color stripes. Basically my water marble is terrible... I said "Whatever!" to myself and added the studs :-D

To match my ring finger I covered the studs with the same dark purple polish. Check out this blog entry from Lucy's blog to see how to create custom colored studs  - it is really easy!

Base color: pale pink Cult Nails Enticing (bought in Cult Nail's online shop with shipping to Europe). The color is beautiful, but the formula is a little runny and I kept flooding my cuticles. Dark purple on my ring finger is China Glaze's Crimson, which was a part of purple Ombre Grape Expectations set I bought on Ebay.
Water Marble: mix of the base colors
Studs: 2 mm round studs, bought online at Borne Pretty Store (all prices are with shipping), topped with Crimson

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31DC2013, Day 17: Glitter with "I Heart You" by Glimmer by Erica

I did some serious thinking about how to create a glitter mani I could wear to work. So the 31 Day Challenge is not just about the nail art, but how to make it wearable as well :)
I decided to use the beautiful indie glitter polish by Glimmer by Erica I got on Etsy and wore the baby blue and then pink silk blouses to work. It was fun to be a bit more girly for a change :)
(Sorry for the dark pic, I'll get better, I promise!)

Base Color: China Glaze Go-Go Pink and Essie Bikini So Teeny
Glitter: pink and blue glitter top coat called "I Heart You" by Glimmer by Erica Read More......

31DC2013, Day 14: Flowers

I'm back from my holiday. My hubby and I spent three and a half weeks backpacking in Ecuador, but we could have stayed longer - sun, fruits, fish, salsa dancing... The darndest thing about holidays is that they are over so quickly and you have to work again to be able to enjoy such a fleeting, but absolutely marvelous time again ;). So we're back in Hamburg, already working hard for our next holiday... (Damn, why don't I have a rich grandpa somewhere... ;) )

The autumn is almost over and I'm still in the middle of the September challenge. Who cares, I'm going in my own paste! :) The next topic is flowers. I had an idea of free-handed violets done in acrylic paint, but a) I'm still really bad at free-handing and b) I'm not really a flowery type. So I decided to stick to my favorite mix-n-match mani style - skittlette.

Base color: two coats of my favorite lilac Barry M Prickly Pear and just one coat of A-England Elaine on my ring finger
Roses: water decals from Born Pretty Store
Texture: on my poor broken pinkie nail - textured polish from p2 Sand Style - 080 lovely

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31DC2013, Day 13: Animal Print

October is almost at its end and I haven't even reached the middle of the 31 Day Challenge. At this pace I'll be probably creating manis for this challenge in January :D

I have a fantastic spring-green silk scarf with zebras on it. It's such a fun accessory, I really love it. So the idea for the animal print nails was there even before I really started to think about it. I'm not totally into the resulting style, but it was a good mani training:

The colors, the pattern -  it was too much for me, so I added the matte finish to make the look more calm:

Base color: Essie's Shake Your $$ Makers
Gradient: black China Glaze Liquid Leather
Stamping: Zebra print from Konad plate m57 stamped with A-England Camelot
Matte Top Coat: Cult Nails Wax That

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31DC2013: Day 12, Stripes

Admitted, my next mani for the 31 day challenge doesn't have many stripes, but I really like it. The original design comes from this blog post by Young Wild And Polished (thank you!). I loved this elegant look and recreated it with matching China Glaze colors:

Base Color: CG Dress Me Up and CG Foie Gras, stripes done with striping tape.
Studs: my thumbs are pimped with golden 3mm studs bought on ebay.





I tried another design on my thumbs. The color combination and the simplicity of this style is just to my taste. This look was a huge favorite with my friends, so I will definitely re-create this style as a full mani some day to get more compliments ;)

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31DC2013: Day 09, Rainbow Nails

The 31 Day Challenge was for September, so I'm officially late now. But it is so much fun and I'm learning a lot. So I'm still following it through. But man, have I struggled with the next topic...
I rather like simplicity and clear lines, so rainbow colors all at once are just a bit too much for my taste. But challenge is a challenge, so here I we go:

Cloudy nails  have been present in many blogs last summer, so I wanted to try it out. It's VERY easy to do,  so I'd probably recreate the sky-only-mani next summer.

Base color: white - Cult Nails Tempest
Sky: randomly sponged blue CG Towel Boy Toy and used white polish and a dotting tool to create clouds.
Rainbow: I used most of my China Glaze Neons for the rainbow, thinned with nail polish thinner. I went over the lines several times to create the desired opacity.

 Red - I didn't have a matching shade, so I mixed CG Pool Party(hot pink) and a drop of OPI Big Apple Red
Orange - CG Japanese Koi (my favorite color for pedicure - hot neon orange)
Yellow - CG Sun Worshiper
Green - CG I'm With The Lifeguard
Blue - Towel Boy Toy (light sparkling blue)
Dark Blue - Essie's Midnight Cami
There is CG Fairy Dust as a sparkle over the rainbow.


Well, I probably wouldn't wear another rainbow again, but it was good to learn how nail polish thinner can be used to add the watercolor-y consistence to a nail polish.... ;)

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#31DC2013: Day 06, Violet nails

I had a wonderful holiday in Riga (think Hotel Papa ;) ) and had some quality time with my cute little nephews. Now back in Hamburg,  it's high time to proceed with 31 Day Challenge. I'm totally late, but still determined to go through the themes.
The next theme is Violet Nails. I've been looking forward to try out the China Glaze Ombre set I bought on ebay. I first saw the gradient on Chalkboardnails blog and just fell in love with the beautiful colors. This is how it looks on my nails:

I know, it doesn't look as fantastic as on Chalkboardnails, but hey, that's just me, my limited nail art skills and rather ungraceful roundish nails. Who cares! I matched my mani with a violet silk scarf to work and felt like a diva :D.
But I think I'm rather a skittlette girl, so I used my Cheeky Plates to mix things up the next day:

Base color: Gradient with China Glaze Grape Expectations
Stamping: ikat pattern from the Cheeky Plate A stamped with silver Jolfin stamping polish
Skittlette: pinkie with Essence silver polish and textured P2  Sand Style polish  called "Strict" on my ring finger (I'm in love with Cheeky Plates, btw)

Since I don't have silver studs, I just used some gold ones, which I covered with silver polish as shown at Lucy's Stash Blog, and pimped up my thumbs with them.
It's amazing how you can change your mani with nail art, don't you think?

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#31DC2013: Day 05, Blue nails

As I wrote in my last post, I discovered that random sponging can produce beautiful marble-like results. The green base from Day 04 in this 31 Day Challenge had amazing depth and was so easy to create, that I had to sponge-marble in blue too :)
For this look I used two blue, one white-based jelly, one white and one silver nail polishes.
I used both white polishes and a drop of one blue polish to create the custom light blue shade, which I used as a base color for all my nails. And than randomly sponged the both blue and than the silver polishes:

Base color: blended drops of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (white-based jelly), white Essence stamping polish and China Glaze Splish-Splash (bright blue with slight shimmer)
"Marble-sponging": randomly sponged China Glaze Splish-Splash, P2 So Cool! (dark royal blue with shimmer) and Essence Icy Princess (silver)
Studs: bought online at Born Pretty Store Read More......

#31DC2013: Day 04, Green Nails

I'm doing the challenge in my own pace and it is so much fun!!! I must confess though, the idea for today's mani was entirely not mine :) I saw this amazing design and had to order the stamping plate MM16 by Messy Mansion immediately! :) I looked forward to the "green" day of the challenge, so I could recreate the design:

Since I didn't have the same shade of green as the sample mani, I decided to try sponging several green shades and even some gold over each other. I absolutely adore this newly discovered marble-like sponging technique!!! It is so easy, so I will definitely do this kind of color blending again!

I thought that black stamps with only one green accent nail looked very dark on my wide nails. The black hid the vibrant green color, so I added just one inverted stamp to my right hand.

Base Color: two coats of grass green Essie Shake Your $$ Makers, than randomly sponged some China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard(neon green with shimmer), CG Sun-Kissed (neon marker-yellow), P2 Perfectly Good(dark green) and P2 Next Exit: Party! (gold)
Stamping: MM16 plate by Messy Mansion ordered online stamped with black Jolfin stamping polish.
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#31DC2013: Day 03, Yellow Nails

I had to wait for the casual Friday to wear yellow nails to work ;)  My favorite sunny yellow polish is just too bright for my business meetings :-D Yellow Nails was a tough task as well. I could only think of lemons, bees and warning signs. But since I didn't have much time for my mani, I decided not to risk it and just do some cute stamps over one of my favorite combinations it did here - bright yellow China Glaze Sun Worshiper and golden liquid sunlight indie polish by Different Dimension.

Base color: one coat of Different Dimension Mr. Noisy over two coats of China Glaze Sun Worshiper
Stamping: patterns from various stamping plates (Konad m59, OB-NAIL XXL Plate E bought on Ebay from us-nails-arena) stamped with Jolfin black stamping polish. Read More......

Doppelgänger by Different Dimension

Oh, I just love polishing my nails! It really relaxes me. By now I have a huge collection of polishes and stamping patterns, and with all those nail art blogs to have as inspiration, it is a really hard to decide what to try out next :).
Couple of weeks ago I bought some fabulous indie nail polishes from Different Dimension on Etsy. Doppelgänger was one of them. It is a grey tinted jelly polish with pink glitter and small hexes. There are also some big silvery hexes, which I tried to avoid this time. Without any base color, this grey base didn't go well with my skin tone, so I had to try something else. I tried to be creative and used a new stamping pattern. I really love how it came out!

I tried to use the dark grey Astor polish I have on my ring finger also for stamping, but it didn't work out well, so I had to switch to the gunmetal grey color from China Glaze Romantique collection.

Base color: just one coat of P2 Volume Gloss 020 Business Woman (pale mauve/lavender color) and dark greige Astor Quick'N Go! 324 for my ring fingers.
Stamping: pattern from OB-NAIL XXL Plate E bought on Ebay from us-nails-arena, stamped with China Glaze Awaken (gunmetal silver).
Glitters:Doppelgänger by DIfferent Dimension
Seche Vite as top coat. Read More......

My first water marble

I've heard that water marbling can be annoying, frustrating and messy. Even some of nail art gurus like for example Nailasaurus say "Never again!". So it was kind of understandable that it took me some time to take my chances with marbling. 

I was going for more subtle look I can wear to work, so I went for the pink/dusty rose color combo and decided to do just two nails on each hand. It wasn't that bad! 

Base color: white (China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around) on index and ring fingers and Essie Eternal Optimist on others

Marbling and Gradient: Essie Eternal Optimist and China Glaze Emotion
Glitters: Northern Lights Top Coat + Seche Vite

I taped my fingers like shown in the video below (btw, the channel of SimpleLittlePleasures has other nice tutorials) and used tap water. Starting from the second drop my polished didn't spread well, so I moved the cup a little back and forth and it helped a little. It was fun to create patterns and think how it might look on your nail, so I'll definitely marble again!  

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Mint gradient

I tried an aqua-minty-ish gradient this time.  After I've seen some awesome mix-n-match designs shown by Nailasaurus or Manicured Amateur, I find this one really boring. But since it totally matched my huge patterned silk scarf, I tried to be easy on my beginner mani ;)

Base color: two coats of light blue China Glaze Kinetic Candy
Gradient: sponged stripes of P2 Volume Gloss Fresh Sister + metallic turquoise P2 Lost in Paradise
Glitters: China Glaze Fairy Dust Read More......

Pink gradient

There are so many color combinations in my big nail polish box just waiting to be tried out. I liked this one up close. A little sparkle, cute pink color... Unfortunately I had a feeling that my nails looked like I was digging in a purple dirt from afar... Maybe I would leave the second neon purple color out the next time...

Base color: two coats of bubble gum pink P2 Volume Gloss Happy Bride
Gradient: sponged 2 x China Glaze Emotion and dabbed some CG Señorita Bonita on the very tip of my nails
Glitters: China Glaze Fairy Dust and China Glaze Techno (ring finger) Read More......

"Sex on the beach" gradient

I just love China Glaze neons. Doesn't this gradient look awesome? Caribean feeling on my nails :) I tried to do the accent nail, but all my ideas looked even worse than this golden glitter. So I just gave up this time... Next time I'd just stay with these awesome colors.

Base color: two coats of China Glaze Sun Worshiper
Gradient: sponged 2 x stripes of CG Sun Worshiper + CG Flip Flop Fantasy + CG Japanese Koi Read More......