31DC2013, Day 31: Honor Nails You Love

Hello everyone! Long time no see :) Caribbean weather here in Hamburg, so it was hard to stay indoors :)

With this post I'm officially finishing my first nail art challenge - the 31 Day Challenge 2013 .

There aren't probably many people who'd need almost a year for a 31 Day challenge. I'm not slow, I'm special :D And anyway: whatever!!! It was fun and I've done it!  Yeeeeey!

Here I am with the last mani of the challenge:

I must admit I forgot what the exact topic was. I just thought I had to recreate my favorite mani of the challenge... Well... Not quite.
It actually had to be a tribute to someone's creativity - "Honor someone else's nails you love" :). So modest as I am, by mistake I recreated mine :D
To be frank, my whole nail art is a tribute to someone else's creativity. For more than a year now, I've been following nail art blogs, absorbing the ideas and techniques someone else had. I would never be able to learn so much and do such a mani without the nail art community!

I recreated this mani with blue color scheme, but this time I made use of this awesome idea by Dominika -  aka the Panna Marchewka: I painted the pattern as a square on a plastic bag, then cut straight stripes and top-coated them to my nails. Cool, right? It definitely saved a lot of time. Additionally, I didn't have to paint with my non-dominant hand, which is always such a pain in the... you know where  ;)

Base color: white Cult Nails Tempest
Pattern: mix of different blue, silver and glitter polishes: dark blue A-England Tristam, blue metallic Essie Blue Rhapsody and then some silvery glitter polish.
Studs: silver 1mm studs from Ebay

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Yeeey! Fing'rs decals from ChitChatNails!!!

It's hard to believe, but I won the Fing'rs Nail Tatoos Giveaway from Marta's blog ChitChatNails!!! Yeeey!!! I got the decals last week and had to use them for my mani:

Look at this, this or this post from ChitChatNails. Now you know where my inspiration comes from ;) Marta is the queen of skittlettes - this cool mix'n'match styles, where at least two nails are different from the others. My skittlette obsession started with her blog. If you're not a fan yet - check out her skittlette-tutorial and start following!

Base color:  P2 Sweet Like Sugar and OPI My Vampire Is Buff.
Glitter: Ligne D'Or Azúcar Canela - the best textured glitter I have. Bought for $1,50 during my holiday in South America.
Water decals: Fingr's Nail Tatoos

The rose colored P2 polish is a new addition to my collection - bought it in my local drugstore yesterday. The color is beautiful - slightly dusty rose with some soft shimmer. The formula however is a nightmare for me - thick, streaky, dries quick on the surface and doesn't level itself out much. I had to use tree careful coats to hide bold spots. If you do thin coats and usually manage to paint a nail without going twice over the same spot, you'd be fine with two coats.


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My own glitter polish: so much fun!!!

After seeing some franken polishes at Nagellack 2.0, I decided it would be fun to mix one myself. I ordered some glitter from Glitter Unique and had fun messing around in my living room.

I used an old base coat bottle, some clear polish from Essence and three metal balls (stainless steel balls from Ebay). I couldn't find any suspension base for a reasonable price with delivery to Germany, so if you know a supplier, please let me know!

I just mixed different types of glitters - without a system or plan. A what a fun it was! :) Add some glitter - shake - check the result - add some glitter - shake - check the result, etc...

I started with half empty bottle - even less than half. I used a simple paper funnel to direct the glitter into the bottle, but it was still a bit of a glittery mess. So make sure you have a piece of paper to cover your table.

Since it was my first glitter polish, at some point I've added too much of everything :-D  So I had to add a lot of clear polish to make my polish fluid again ;). So be careful with the amount of glitter!

Without the suspension base the glitter settles down very fast, but a good shake and the topper can be used again. At least I had fun mixing it ;)

What do you think? Did you try to mix yourself? How did it go? Read More......

Cute dotty skittlette

After challenging myself for the 31 Day challenge, I decided to take a break and post a fun and easy mani I wore last weekend. Pinterest is full of cute mix'-n'-match nails - aka skittlettes - so it was hight time for me to copy one style or another :)
My choice fell on this cute mani by Adriana at All Nailed Up (what would I give for such a beautiful nail shape.. sigh…)

But hey, even on my wide nails this style looks cute, right?

Base colors: Orly Terracotta(so not terracotta in color!) and China Glaze Liquid Leather
Glitter: China Glaze I'm Not A Lion with a top coat
Studs: 2mm gold studs bought on Ebay

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Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you're having a wonderful time with your family or friends!
I'm having my own way to express my joy over this cozy and cheerful holiday - I've been waiting for months to do this Three Kings Christmas mani :)

The awesome shapes of camel riders are stamped using Messy Mansion's Christimas plate MM01.

I saw this design in summer and had to order the plate IMMEDIATELY. Then I've waited patiently month after month for the right day to recreate it. Finally!!! :) I'm being a total copycat here, but c'mon, isn't it just awesome!?!

I used dark blue and two gold glitter polishes to create the glittery background. I didn't have my camera with me so it was really difficult to capture the amazing sparkle of the China Glaze's I'm Not A Lion.
I love this mani - it is so festive and glittered perfectly in the candle light :)

Base color: my trusty blue Midnight Cami by Essie

Glitter: China Glaze I'm Not A Lion and some big gold glitter by Essence called Gold Fever
Top Coat: Northern Lights over the top ("sky")-part of the nail and a coat of Seche Vite

Enjoy the second Christmas day and prepare yourself for the New Year Paa-haarty!!! :)

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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......

Barry M bubble gum gradient

For this cute bubble gum look I used my new Barry M shades - Prickly Pear and Strawberry Ice Cream. The colors are beautiful, if slightly sheer. It was difficult to achieve the gradient effect - there are three coats of the lilac Prickly Pear over the pink base color.

  

Base color: two coats of Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream and Prickly Pear (middle and ring fingers only)
Gradient: Prickly Pear
Glitter: fantastic golden-pinkish holographic flake glitter Nfu.Oh # 49 Read More......

Liquid sunshine

Yeee-haaaa! It's casual Friday again! As a tribute to the fantastic sunny weather we had in Hamburg the last weeks, I decided to do yellow nails. I think this color combination looks like liquid sunlight!

Base color: just one thin coat of China Glaze Sun Worshiper

Glitters: one easy coat of Different Dimension Mr. Noisy

The beautiful shimmering yellow is an indie polish made by Different Dimension. It would change to shimmery orange, if your hands are getting cold. I had no chance to see orange today: +28° is just not cold enough :) 

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Recently I discovered Nail Art and the meditational value of nail polishing :) My first experiments were fueled by numerous tutorials on youtube and jaw-dropping creations shown by some serious nail bloggers.
Highly motivated I tried some nail art techniques like stamping or gradients and got some astoundingly pretty designs. Some of them I liked so much, I decided I need to document how I managed to do them and which nail polishes I used.
So here I come with my first pics.

To hide the growing out line of my acrylic nails I tried out some simple glitter gradient (Gold fever by Essence) over two layers of Essie's A crewed interest. It was a bit too sparkly for my regular business day, but I thought it was not thaaat flashy, really pretty -  and most important, it absolutely covered the bump of my acrylic nails. A great way to "wait" for the next appointment at the nail studio.

In direct sunlight

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