Pastel Watercolor

    In my last post, I reviewed some pretty gold stickers. I didn't tell you much about the base, so I thought I'd revisit it.
   The great thing about this design is that it doesn't need to be neat, so it's something you can more easily recreate on your right hand.

   Ignore my dry fingers; I soaked them in acetone to get rid of some glitter polish and forgot to put lotion on them before I took this picture!

   To make this 'base' I started with two coats of a thinner cream base (I used Revlon Colorstay Embody). You can also use white or a more opaque cream (or no base). Once that dried, I thinned out pastel pink, blue, and purple. With a smallish brush, I dabbed on the three colors in random patterns until I had the coverage that I wanted.

   I started with pink, then moved to purple, and ended with blue. You can also put drops of all three on at once and then swirl them together. Use whatever method works best for you! 
   If I have time, I'd love to make a tutorial for you guys. I haven't made one in ages...

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Review: Gold Stickers

   I have another review for you all! This week it is some cute gold floral stickers. You can find them here from Born Pretty.

   I forgot to take a picture before I used them.... Sorry!

   Pros: It is super cute and goes with just about anything. It's also easy to cut out whatever portion you want (the design isn't so close that you can't cut out just a flower, like I did), as well as easy to remove from the backing, even when you cut out a small portion. 

   Cons: Overall, it sticks to your fingers very well. However, there is a tiny bit of lifting on the edges, especially if you have a more curved nail. Luckily, this can easily be fixed with a tiny dab of nail glue.

   Consensus: This is a great product! It's a super easy way to quickly add a design to your nails. If you have some nail glue handy, it ought to last as long as your polish. Even if you don't, it will still last for a few days. Plus, the sheet is big, so you can reapply as often as you want!

   I'll go into more detail about the base in my next post. Suffice to say that it is basically a pastel watercolor. I'm ready for Spring!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

  

Flower Pillows

   No, this isn't a post about pillows. Not really. My inspiration this week was a cute embroidered floral pillow I found on Etsy.

   Aren't they cute?

   I started with a cream base, China Glaze Oxygen. To make the flowers, I used a light and dark shade of pink, purple, and blue. The leaves and vines were made with Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir and L'Oreal New Money, layered on top of each other.

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Diamond Glitter Placement

   This one is a first for me. I've done a glitter placement before, but nothing like this one; this one has edges that actually had to match up. ...And my perfectionist side might have decided that this would be a great time to show itself. Of course.

   I like the end result, but don't be too disappointed if I never do this again. :D
   It kind of reminds me of a Jester, for some reason. I guess it's the diamonds, who knows!

   My base polish was Liquid Sky Lacquer What Was Your Name Again. Then I used diamond shaped glitter to create the accent nail. In this case, the glitter was from Wildflowers Nail Academy. I watched a lot of Fixer Upper episodes while making this design!

 
   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Review: Art Deco Studs

   I have a new review for you all! I feel like it's been ages since I've done a review. This one is for some really neat Art Deco-esque studs from Born Pretty. You can find them here.

   These are pretty large for my tiny fingers, but not too bad.

   Pros: They are a beautiful color (that's always the most important, you know). The shape of the stud is such that it fits nicely on your nail; there is a tiny bit of a gap on the edges, but nothing that would cause a major problem with getting it caught on things. Another huge plus is that it is very re-usable. The color does not come off if you soak your finger in acetone to remove the stud, which is great!

   Cons: The size is really the only con, and that's only if you have tiny nails.

   Overall this is a really great product! It looks cute, and would work really as a stand alone or with an art deco design.

   I finally bought some of the gorgeous ILNP polish. I've been eyeing them for a very long time, and I finally broke down and bought some early last month. I purchased Black Orchid and Juliette. The base for this design was Black Orchid. It's a beautiful holo that really sparkles in the sun.

   Isn't it pretty?

   Well, I'll leave you with that dazzling shade. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Zoya Glitter Gradient

   I''m almost caught up! Hooray!
   While I was in Alabama, I bought myself some new polish (I just can't resist). It's not a new shade; cheap-o me bought it on clearance. :D I bought Zoya Pixie Dust Arlo. I love the pixie dust collection; it looks so pretty by itself, but it also is a great polish for layering.

   This is a terrible picture (I didn't get a good one before it came peeled off), but you get the idea. I used Essie Bahama Mama as my base and -- for the glitter, of course.


   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Flower Wreaths

   This design was inspired by this cute design painted by @mananails (Instagram).

   Back in February, even in Alabama, I was ready for Spring!

   I modified the design a bit, and it ended up looking a lot more wreath-like than I wanted. But it still looks close enough to what I planned. I started with a nude base, Essie Back in the Limo. The leaves were made with Revlon Parefumerie Balsam Fir and L'Oreal New Money.

   The flowers were made with 2 shades of red, purple, blue, and pink.
   The thumb and pinky nails were my favorite, I'll definitely have to come back and revisit this design sometime!

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hearts

   Happy super super late Valentine's Day! Ha!

   When I was in high school, I was in color guard (marching band). I like to think that I had the best guard instructor. He was an excellent teacher, wrote excellent routines, squeezed in an occasional life lesson, and secretly liked us all, not matter how crazy we got. He also designed all of our show flags. And they were all so beautiful! (You can see some of them in an old DeviantArt post here.) This design was inspired by one of them (that took a while to get to the point!).

   This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea.

   I think Girly Bits Cosmetics January Morning is my new favorite base... It goes with everything, and it is subtly sparkly. To make the heart, I started by making a basic heart shape with red acrylic paint, and then refining it to the shape I wanted. Then I added the gold accent with gold acrylic paint. The outline and scroll work were made with black acrylic paint.

   I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Butterfly

   I almost don't know where to start, it's been so long! As you might or might not know, I've been in Alabama the past two months helping my mom clean out her parents' house. On top of all that unexpected craziness, my computer died, meaning I couldn't blog. :(  But, my computer was fixed two weeks ago, and I've finally made it home. Be prepared for a flood of posts!

  I was thinking of Spring when I made this design. Even in Alabama, January was still a bit chilly and things hadn't greened up again yet.

   You might recognize this design, I painted one very similar several months ago. As with that design, the base for this butterfly is Girly Bits Cosmetics January Morning.

   To make the butterfly, I used my thinnest brush and black acrylic paint. Once I got a pattern I liked, I filled in the wings with Girly Bits Cosmetics Downtown Funk. The spots were made with gold acrylic paint.

   That was pretty short and sweet, compared to my usual posts! After so many months though, there's only so much that you remember you wanted to say...

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!