Nail Challenge Collaborative: Negative Space #3

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great week so far. I can't complain with this warm weather! :]

Today, I have my latest NCC mani to share with you. This month's theme is Negative Space, and I've had a lot of fun with it so far! For this look, I combined a couple of designs from Robin Moses.

I really love how these came out! Here is a list of the polishes I used:

• Yellow Stopper base coat
• Zoya Sooki
• Sally Hansen Lightening
• Sally Hansen Heat Flash
• Sinful Colors Most Sinful
• Stripe Rite White
• Stripe Rite Black
• Stripe Rite Green
• HK Girl topcoat

I used striping brushes to do the string and the candy cane tips and dotting tools to make the bulbs. It was harder than I thought to make the bulbs because they had to be so small, but I still really like how it turned out. :)

I got a lot of compliments on these, and they are so festive for the holidays!! I think this is an easy enough design too, that anyone could attempt it, even a beginner. :) I didn't watch Robin Moses whole tutorial, but I'm sure it would be helpful! I just based this off two of her designs that I found on Google images. Here are the the images I used for inspiration: this Christmas lights design, and this design for the tips.

I had a great time with this nail art and I didn't want to take it off!! I have one more negative space design to show you next week. Thanks for looking, and be sure to have a look at the other ladies' looks! <3

Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Gingerbread Winter Scene for Nail Polish Canada

Hi loves! A while back, I was contacted by Nail Polish Canada and asked to join their holiday nail art challenge. I was so excited! And I worked really hard on this look - it took me like 2 hours lol. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going for, but I knew I wanted to do a winter scene. Here's what I came up with! :)

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Babe Blue on all nails. I'll just list here the polishes I used rather than going through what I used for each detail:

• Stripe Rite in White
• Stripe Rite in Black
• Stripe Rite in Green
• Zoya Sooki
• Sinful Colors Black on Black
• Sinful Colors Nirvana mixed with OPI First Date at the Golden Gate
• Julie G Hot Cinnamon
• Julie G Tangerine Dream
• Julie G Rock Candy
• Seche Vite
• Butter London Matte Finish

That gingerbread house took me forever!! I couldn't get quite the right shade of brown, which is why I mixed my own. I used dotting tools and thin brushes to do the smaller details. I was a bit disappointed that the Seche Vite smeared my gingerbread house a bit, even though I let it dry forever!! I think it's probably time for a new bottle. I also just recently got KB Shimmer's Clearly on Top, which I've heard great things about. Maybe it will become my new go-to! :)

I was SO in love with how these came out! And I got a ton of compliments on them. People kept asking me if they were stickers. :) I went through and took macros of each nail to really show the detail. This is the gingerbread house before matte topcoat.

After matte topcoat:

Snowman, matted!

Gingerbread man, matted :)

And snowy Christmas tree, matted!

These nails really got me into the holiday spirit. I am super excited to work on some more holiday nails before Christmas gets here. 

I am really thankful to be a part of this Holiday Nail Art contest with Nail Polish Canada. I've seen some of the other artists' work, and they are killer!! You can join in and enter the contest yourself, by checking out the link below. Just click that you are interested in participating, and follow the instructions. The deadline is December 18th! I'd love to see what you guys come up with! <3

If you like my Gingerbread Winter Scene nail art, please vote for me at this link. I so appreciate your support!!

Thank you for reading, and Happy Holidays! <3

Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Zoya Fall gradient

Hi everyone! Today is my birthday! :) I still have to go to work, so it's not too different from any other day unfortunately. Today, I'm sharing a fun mani I did this past fall with you. I had ordered some new Zoya shades during their early Earth Day promotion and I paired a few of them together for a seasonal gradient.

I started with a base of Channing, then used a makeup sponge to fade it into Blaze, and then Isa on the tips. I loved how this came out!! I used HK Girl to seal it all in. I wore this for over a week, on both hands! :)

I'm obsessed with gradients, I think they have such a cool look with minimal effort. And I really like these colors together. I think the bright pop of Isa on the tips adds a really cool effect. And the holo sparkles in Blaze really showed up well in direct sunlight or in flash, as shown below!

I didn't do any special birthday nails for today or anything, so I thought these were a fun alternative post to show you guys today. I can't wait to try gradients with some of the other new shades I got!

Thanks for looking! <3
Kelly

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Negative Space #2

Hi loves! Today I have my next Negative Space mani for the Nail Challenge Collaborative to show you. I wasn't sure what I was going for with this, I just kinda started painting and went with it. :)

I started with a base of Yellow Stopper and once that was dry, I freehanded the French tips on using Azature Lapis Diamond and just the brush it came with. They weren't perfect, but I knew I was going to stamp over it anyway. I wanted a geometric looking design, so I stamped using Konad Black and BM-322. And of course, my lovely squishy stamper from Born Pretty Store. I'm pretty much in love with it. I topped it off with Seche Vite. It was kind of interesting, the pair of the Yellow Stopper and the Seche Vite, or one or the other, really changed the color of the Azature polish. It made it look a lot darker. I was kind of disappointed by that, but I still like how it came out! :)

I've really been having fun playing around with negative space!! My naked nails don't look nearly as bad as I used to think. And I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with. :)

Thanks for looking! <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Swatch Spam!

Sometime last winter, I won a prize on Reddit from Kyoti of Lucky 13 Lacquer. I swatched all the polishes at the time and never got around to posting them!! So I'm doing that now. I have forgotten some of the names - I'm sorry. But the polishes are lovely and deserve to be shown off!!

First up is Starlight Polish - Blaze Crystal. It's a lovely copper holo! This is 2 coats, no topcoat. 

Next up is a pretty glitter topper from Sweet Heart Polish. I layered it over a dark green polish from Sinful Colors that I can't remember the name of. It was included in my prize! :)

This next polish is my favorite of the group! This is Lucky 13 Lacquer - Half the Sugar, Twice the Spice. It's a really pretty shade of purple that is unlike quite anything in my collection. There are little pink and copper glitters scattered throughout the polish. But not too many, just a smattering, which adds just a little something extra. I love it! This is 3 easy coats, with topcoat.

Next up is a glitter topper from Kawaii Nail Lacquer. I layered this one over the same dark green Sinful Colors polish. This topper is full of lots of little silver and gold squares and hexes, very festive for the holidays!

This last one is probably my second favorite of the bunch. This is Literary Lacquer - Lovely Intangibles. It has a super strong holographic silver base with little red, green, and silver glitters. This is 2 coats with topcoat. This is such a fun polish for the holidays!!

I was so, so thrilled to win this prize last year. It came at a perfect time for Christmas and I had so much fun trying out all these new brands. I'm glad I finally got around to sharing them all with you! :)

Thanks for looking! <3
Kelly

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Negative Space #1

Hi loves! I am so excited that my nails are healed up enough to jump back into nail art. I'm starting with my challenge group, the Nail Challenge Collaborative, and this month's theme is Negative Space!

I wouldn't typically do negative space manis because my nails have always been stained, but especially now, after all they have been through, they're not nice looking nails lol. The free edge is all misshapen from where they had been separated from the nail bed, I have a huge "onycholosis" bump in the middle of each nail, and another weird ridge a little higher up. So, when I saw negative space, I was like - crap. Then I thought- what the heck? I'm ready to get back into nail art fully, 100% so, this is me. These are my nails. And, I still like what I came up with!

I used Yellow Stopper base coat so you can't see quite how stained my nails are lol. Then, I used striping tape on the outside two nails with Sally Hansen Golden-I and Wet n Wild Black Creme. I used some decals from China Glaze for the two middle nails. I used a small pair of nail art scissors to snip off pieces of the decals to cover up most of the ugly parts while still showing negative space! :)

Nail decals never seem to work for me. They will stick initially, but even with 2 layers of topcoat sealing it in (I used Seche Vite this time), they don't stay on more than a day. The edges start to peel up. Any tips would be greatly appreciated on that! :) But, I loved how the striped nails came out. I wished I could have worn these longer but the decals started to drive me nuts.

Overall, I really liked this look! I love these colors together, and I liked the sharp angles of the geometric designs along side the stripes. And I thought the negative space looked really cool! I really haven't done much nail art incorporating negative space - actually, maybe none, I can't think of any, but this was fun. And, it got me really excited for the rest of the month - I'm already working on my next idea and I just keep thinking of more.

Thanks for looking, and be sure to check out what everyone else created!
<3 Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up