Xmas mani: Rudi the reindeer nails

Hello my fellow nail art addicts, I hope you had great Xmas time :)
My Xmas only felt like Xmas, after I painted my nails :)

My base is a soak-off gel color by Gelish called Arctic Freeze. My hope is that I can remove the design with acenton-free remover and reuse the white base for another mani. I'll let you know if my plan worked in my upcoming Gelish post :)
Everything else is acrylic paint.

Rudi the reindeer was inspired by a cute nail art I saw on @bagheeranails. 

I couldn't paint Rudi with my non-dominant hand, so i went for some Xmas decoration instead. After I was done, I couldn't decide, which design I like more :)

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31DC2014, Day 08: Metallic snowflakes with Kiko 856

With temperatures in Hamburg dropping below zero, I feel it's high time for some metallic winter mani:

Kiko #856 is a dark blue, almost navy metallic polish. Cool color, which is a perfect match for dark jeans. The formula was good - I mostly needed 2 coats, which dried pretty fast.
The snow flake pattern comes from the Cheeky Jumbo Plate 6 ("Happy Holidays") .

Base color: Kiko #856, bought in a Kiko Shop in Hamburg
Texture: a great textured silver polish Maxybelt Arena Plata, bought on my holiday in South America
Stamping: Pattern from Cheeky "Happy Holidays" plate, stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome Read More......

31DC2014, Day 07: Black & White Nails

I'm going through the topics of last September's 31 Day Challenge - why not use them as the inspiration for your next mani? :) Here are my black and white nails:

For this mani I followed "Dabbed Floral Nail Art" tutorial made by Lindsay of Wondrously Polished. She is one of most talented and creative nail art bloggers out there and I'm a huge fan :).  I used acrylic paint for the dabbed flowers/drops.

Since I still cannot control my brush perfectly, my mani not perfect, but I still like it. I expected the painting to take ages, but it was quite ok. The most important thing was to find the right brush - I went for medium sized nail art brush, not the thinnest I have.

Base color: one coat of Cult Nails Fetish
Dabbed Pattern: white acrylic paint

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31DC2014, Day 06: Seche Ornate and HeHe Plate

Totally happy and relaxed I'm back after four weeks of holiday! :)

Here comes the violet mani for the 31 Day Challenge (which every normal person did in Septemer ;)).  With this post I can show you two great things: my new Seche polish and a new stamping plate:

Everyone in the Nail Art world knows Seche Vite top coat, but only few of us in Germany have tried Seche polishes. Ornate was my first Seche polish and is absolutely fantastic. The  formula is perfect - self leveling one coater! I'm definitely going for more Seche polishes in the future!

The color is also quite unusual - not your typical purple and not blue, but kind of flashy violett. Me likey!!!

Another great thing in this mani is the pattern from my new Hehe stamping plate I got on Aliexpress:

The plate is perfectly etched and gives a crispy image:

I'm not an expert on stamping (always scraping and pushing too hard), but even with my skills the stamp turned out beautiful!

Base coat: one coat of Seche Ornate, bought in a sale at TK Maxx in Hamburg. Cabree also sells Seche polishes with shipping to Europe.
Stamping: the pattern from the héhé 004 bought on Aliexpress with international shipping, stamped with Essie Good as Gold Read More......

31CD2014, Day 05: Blue gradient with Mesauda #91

Going in my snail paste through the topics of September's 31 Day Challenge, I went for a blue gradient. As you can see I still cannot manage the perfect transition ;), but the colors are nice, right?
I used my new Mesauda polish as a base:

Mesauda is an Italian brand which is rather unknown here in Germany. And what a pity it is! The formula was great and the coverage was really good. I found that the their polishes have better coverage than most of my OPIs.
I've got some beautiful polishes on my trip to Bulgaria for some 6-8€. And I've seen some on Ebay for just around 3-4€.

Base color: Mesauda #91

Gradient: p2 Crazy Beauty, Kiko #336 and Kiko Poker #5 (got them in a Kiko Shop here in Hamburg) and just a hint of Essie Midnight Cami on the very tip of my nails.

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31CD2014, Day 04: Formula X Fearless

I'm on holiday, so my posts are a bit irregular again.
I decided to do some free hand practice and paint some leaves for the  31 Day Challenge:

I used Formula X Fearless as my base color. The leaves are acrylic paint. I cannot say I love the look, but better some nail art for practicing then nothing, right? Otherwise how am I suppose to get better? :)

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31CD2014, Day 03: Mint Polish Tart

Last week I only managed to do one mani for the  31 Day Challenge - Yellow Nails:

I wanted to do a floral mani for ages, so it took my favorite yellow - the cute Tart by Mint Polish (reviewed here) - and set to work.

I used my small nail art brush and acrylic paint. I mixed white and black paints and layered different shades of grey over each other - darker grey first, then light grey, then some medium grey on top.
I love how cute this mani looks!

I'm always surprised, that it doesn't take ages to do such a mani. Maybe because it looks like you'd need hours to paint all these small flowers. But believe me, it's much faster - the flowers don't have to be perfect, just small. A tiny, cut down brush does the trick for me. Check out this tutorial  on how to cut your brushes.

Base Color: Tart by Mint Polish, bought through their website with delivery to Germany. Hypnotic Polish is also an option if you are located in Europe. Read More......

31DC2014, Day 02: advanced stamping

Topic #2 for the  31 Day Challenge is Orange Nails. Orange is so not my color, so I didn't even have an idea what to do until I saw this vintage wallpaper pattern on Pinterest:

I've searched through my stamping plates and came up with this:

This time I tried the advanced stamping technique - coloring the design on the stamper and then stamp over a slightly tacky top coat as shown in this tutorial.
Although the technique on itself worked great for me, I'm less than thrilled with my nails. Somehow the final design doesn't work for me... :-/ But good to know this technique is pretty easy, so I can do better next time ;)

Base color: Essence Flashy Pumpkin
Stamping: pattern from MoYou Pro XL 06 plate, stamped with Mundo de Uñas Chocolate. Flowers colored with OPI My Vampire Is Buff

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31DC2014, Day 1: Strawberry Nails

Already late with the first post for the 31 Day Challenge, here I come with "Day1: red nails".

I wanted to do strawberry nails for ages. So finally, with the autumn looming over Hamburg I decided it's high time to do it. My inspiration is this fantastic mani by Coewlesspolish.

Base color: Hot tomato red by Inglot #724 (bought on my holiday in NY) and Barry M Coconut
Strawberries: free handed with a thin brush and Inglot #724 and two additional shades of red. Leaves is China Glaze Starboard. Yellow dots are KBShimmer Chick Me Out

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31 Day Challenge 2014

Although it took me almost a year (beat that!!! :D) to finish the last 31 Day Challenge, I decided to join in again for the 31DC2014. I seldom manage more than two manis a week, so it'd probably will take ages again. Let's say, it's more the topics than the tight schedule I have to follow ;)
However, I feel like I've learned so much trying to follow the topics last year - especially all these "inspired by ..." topics. So call me crazy, but I'm doing it again :)

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[AiS]: Stamping over a striped background

There was an interesting challenge in Adventure in Stamping FB group for today: stamping over a striped background. I thought combining stripes and stamping would not be easy, so I decided to try it :)

It was a tough job to think of a style with stripes and stamping. I didn't want to stamp hearts, bows or kisses, so I ended up with this. I cannot say I love this mani, although it'd be probably a cute look for a holiday at the beach.  But hey, a challenge is a challenge, and I'm glad I've managed to think at least of something :)

Base color:  p2 Gel Look Crazy Beauty  (matches perfectly to the MdU stamping polish!) and Cult Nails Tempest (white)  for my middle and ring fingers.
Stamping: Stripes from MoYou Pro XL 01 plate, stamped with Mundo de Uñas #49, Lavender. Flowers from MoYou Pro XL 06, stamped with MdU #29 neon pink.
Studs: 1mm neon studs from Ebay Read More......

The Lacquer Legion: Weird Science

Once I saw the next topic of The Lacquer Legion I just had to participate. Being an IT consultant, it's clear what science instantly came to my mind: computer science!!! So here I am, with my IT inspired mani:

Admittedly, I wasn't very creative for the "Weird Science" topic, but I wanted to use the BM-415 and my new MoYou Sci Fi 06 stamping plates for ages! For more realistic look I also added some golden dots with a toothpick.

I used Mundo de Uñas stamping polish called Avocado (#39). As for me, MdU have the BEST stamping polishes - great color range, most bright colors stamp even over black. Unfortunately, MdU - a Mexican retailer -  stopped shipping internationally. The whole nail art community is anxiously awaiting their shop to resume international service. Let me know, if you hear any news there!

Base color: Cult Nails Fetish (one coat!!!)
Stamping: Bundle Monster BM-415 and MoYou Sci Fi 06 with Mundo de Uñas  Aquacate + some random dots with Essie Good As Gold and a toothpick :)

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Born Pretty Store stamping plate QA61

Couple of weeks ago I saw a review for this Born Pretty Store plate on Kelsie's Nail Files. I loved Kelsie's mani so much, the plate was almost instantly in my shopping cart ;)

The reason I bought this plate was that the patterns on it are similar, but not the same. A perfect plate for a harmonious look without much effort.

I'm not an expert on stamping as you can see ;). I always scrap and press too hard. But with this plate it was quite easy to get a clear stamp - the etching is perfect and not too deep. I also love how delicate the pattern looks:

I used one of my new Mundo de Uñas stamping polishes for the first time and was absolutely amazed:  it's incredible, how pigmented they are! Unfortunately I just saw that they don't ship internationally anymore. Please-please-please, ship internationally again! 

Base color: OPI My Vampire Is Buff

Stamping: patterns from Born Pretty Store Plate QA61 stamped with Mundo de Uñas Chocolate.

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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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Ming nails with water decals

Couple of weeks ago I've ordered these Born Pretty Store decals and finally got to use them:

This mani reminds me on so many things: Spanish tiles - azulejos, Chinese Ming vases,  Russian Gzhel porcelain...

These are the original decals, but as you see the color on my nails is slightly different -  a beautiful royal blue. Instead of applying the full decal to my nails I cut out single flowers for lighter coverage.

I always forget how simple it is, to use water decals. To make it even easier, I always put some water on my "target" nail as well - this way I'm able to move the decal on my nail and see what position or angle works best for me.

If you're not a Michelangelo with a nail art brush or just simply don't have time for intricate manicures, decals are for you. As for me, I like the result and will definitely go for deals again!

Base color: Cult Nail Tempest
Flowers: water decals #1619 from  Born Pretty Store Read More......

Roses with Dance Legend 186

I was seeing these beautiful floral manis all over the internet - roses, sunflowers, violets, daisies... I decided it's time I learn how to paint flowers. So here is my fist attempt on roses:

I didn't know how to create this shading on petals, so I watched countless tutorials on youtube. Just search for roses... and spend the evening glued to the screen ;)

I used nail polishes and a very, very thin brush which I cut down as shown in this post (scroll down, there is a link to a tutorial how to cut your brushes).

It was a bit easier than I thought and surprisingly didn't take ages. The main thing is actually to have a thin brush and try to paint with very light strokes. I tried not to press the brush too mush, just barely touch the nail. Frankly, at first it looked really bad, but my top coat blended the colors together and it looks kind of cute now, right? 

The Dance Legend polish #186, which I used as my canvas is "solar active"  - it changes color to pink, when exposed to the sun. In my case the effect wasn't as as strong as shown on their shop page, but it was still very pretty - maybe I just move my hands to much when I talk :D. And the shadow/indoors color is just pure elegance for me. As for the formula, it's a dream - not streaky, self-levelling and fast drying. I'm wearing two coats.

Base color: sun active Dance Legend Magic Sun polish #186, bought online in their shop. If you are in Germany or North Europe, Hypnotic Polish  shop would be a better option.
Roses: pink Inglot 674 (from my NY trip), white highlights with Barry M Coconut (got it in here, Germany only )
Leaves: Formula X Fearless (the same NY haul) and darker Leighton Denny Femme Fatale (TK Maxx outlet) Read More......