Nail Challenge Collaborative: March 2018 - Pastels

 

Hey there!  Today I have my second post for the Nail Challenge Collaborative March Pastels theme.  I went with paint drips in different pastel colors for this look and used all Zoya nail polishes. 

 

 

I started with a base of Zoya Purity.  I did two coats plus topcoat.  Then I used Zoya Blu, Stella (also known as Cole, but my bottle is labeled Stella), Neely, and Dot and What's Up Nails Dripping Stencils to create this look.  I wanted to use different shades of pastels rather than one shade, and I felt that the white base made these colors stand out more.  I finished off my look with Tonic Topper quick dry topcoat. 

 

I think this look is fun!  I've used stamping plates to do paint splatters, but haven't done the drips before.  I'm happy with how these turned out and hope you like them too. 

 

What are some pastel mani ideas that you would like to see? 

 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!



An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: March 2018 - Pastels

 

Hey there!  I'm back after a hiatus due to work being crazy busy!  I am starting off my Nail Challenge Collaborative March Pastels theme posts with some shamrocks I did for St. Patrick's Day! 

 

I started with a base of Emily de Molly Cubicle Gangster which is an awesome green polish that I don't know why I waited so long to wear.  I used Rica Mellow Yellow and Summer Mint and What's Up Nails Clover Field and Shamrock Tape Stencils to create the pastel gradient shamrocks. I finished the look with a coat of Tonic Topper quick dry topcoat. 

 

 

I know this is not my neatest work, but I do love how it turned out.  Sometimes even a messy mani can be pretty!  What did you do for St. Patrick's Day nails? 

 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!  

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: January 2018 - Blue

Hey there!  Today I have my first post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative January theme which is blue.  All manis for this month should have blue as the main color, but can use other colors as accents. 

For this look I decided to do a pond mani.  The way a pond mani works is that you start with a jelly polish then you stamp or use a dotting tool to create the next layer, then you polish over it with the jelly polish, then stamp, then polish, etc. etc. etc.!  I never realized how time consuming this nail art can be!

I started with 2 coats of Rica Squishy Blueberry.  This is a really sheer jelly so that's why I decided to do two coats.  Then I stamped the snowflakes using MoYou London Festive 03 plate and Rica Whiteout.  I repeated this process two more times with two coats of Squishy Blueberry then stamping and finished up with two more coats of Squishy Blueberry.  I don't want to tell you how long it took me to do this. 

I am really happy with how it turned out though.  It's a cool look just very time consuming to create.  I hope you like it!

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thank for reading! 
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: December 2017 - Winter/Christmas

Hey there!  Today I have my second post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative Winter/Christmas theme.  I went with a snowflake look for this one. 

I started with a base of Lynnderella Making MerriMint which is a gorgeous mint polish with shimmers.  I love all polishes in this color family! 

I used What's Up Nails Snowfall Stencils to create this look.  Sometimes I have a hard time with the stencils, but they were so easy to use, and I love how this turned out.  I used a Lynnderella mystery to create the snowflakes. 

I really love this color combo.  The blurple is a great color and even though it's not white for snowflakes it reminds me of winter with the aqua base. 

I hope you like this look as much as I do.  It's snowing here while I write this so I think this mani is fitting for this time of year. Happy Holidays!

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: December 2017 - Winter/Christmas

Hey there!  I'm trying to get back into my nail art challenges now that the busy season at work has ended.  Today I have my first post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative December Winter/Christmas theme.  Since it's been a couple of months since I've done nail art I had to ease back into it! 

I started with a base of Lynnderella 12-19-16 PresentiMint.  This color is beautiful.  I love the mint base with aqua shimmer and turquoise glitters.  This is a total me color.  I did three coats plus topcoat. 

I decided to use some vinyl nail stencils from What's Up Nails to create my wintry look.  I used the Mittens Stencil and Lollipop Posse Lacquer Telephone Ice Cream and Polish My Life Fae Fever to create the mittens, and I used the Jolly Snowflakes Stencil and Telephone Ice Cream to create the snowflakes.  This look is so cute!  I love the mittens. 

I hope you like my first look back from my hiatus.  I will have at least one more look to share with you before the end of the year.  Happy Holidays! 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: September 2017 - Inspired by a Garment

Hey there!  Today I have my second post for the Nail Challenge Collaborative September Inspired by a Garment theme.  For this one I went with an orange and black plaid look based on a top I saw online and love! 

I started with a base of OPI It's a Piazza Cake.  I did two coats and finished it with topcoat.  This color totally screams fall to me.  It's the perfect burnt orange and totally reminds me of pumpkin and falling leaves. 

This is the shirt that inspired this look.  I used MoYou London Black Knight and Hipster 05 plate to create this look.  I wish I had the link to this top to share with you, but I can't find it anymore.  This makes me really sad because I really want to purchase it!

My stamping isn't perfect on this one, but I'm still happy with it.  It totally resembles the top that inspired me, and this look reminds me of fall and Halloween. 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: September 2017 - Inspired by a Garment

 

Hey there!  Today I have my first post for September's Nail Challenge Collaborative Inspired by a Garment theme.  I don't love this prompt to be honest.  For some reason whenever I have this theme my mind draws a blank.  However I do love argyle anything - sweaters, socks, shirts, etc. so I decided to do argyle nails for my first look. 

 

 

I found an argyle sweater that I really love on amazon.com and used that as my inspiration.  You can see the sweater here.  I used Zoya August and Jordan as my main colors and did the lines with an L.A. Colors Art Deco white striper.  I thought this mani would like great with a matte topcoat.  I used Butter London Matte Finish as my topcoat and I love how it turned out.  I will show you what this looks like with a glossy topcoat below. 

 

Here you can see this look with a shiny topcoat.  I used Tonic Topper which is my favorite quick dry topcoat.  I rarely use matte topcoats, but do prefer this look matte compared to glossy.  What do you think?

 

This was my first time ever trying argyle nails which is odd because of how much I love argyle.  I was a big preppy in high school!  I think I will do argyle nails again in the future.  There are so many different color combos you can do!

 

Have your done any manis inspired by a garment?  What garments inspired your nail art? 

 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: August 2017 - Flowers

Hey there!  Today I have my fourth and final post for the Nail Challenge Collaborative August Flowers theme.  I did stamping for my three other looks so decided to do a dotticure for the last one. 

I started with a base of a Lynnderella white mystery with tiny pink microglitters.  I am a sucker for a good white nail polish especially one with a little something extra.  The microglitters in this one make it so pretty.  This is two coats plus topcoat. 

One of my favorite color combos is red and teal.  I think they look great together, and if I were to ever get married that would be my wedding colors.  I used OPI 5 Apples Tall for the red flowers and Taylor Blue for the dots.  The white centers of the flowers were done with the base Lynnderella. 

I really like how this turned out.  The colors work well together and it looks simple and clean.  I hope that you liked my four manis for this month's flowers theme.  Check back next month to see what the new theme is. 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: August 2017 - Flowers

Hey there!  Today I have my third post for the Nail Challenge Collaborative August Flowers theme.  I went with a stamped roses for this look.   

I started with a base of Supernatural Lacquer Amulet which is shown above.  Amulet is a deep jewel toned blue in a blackened base.  I love colors like this.  They're so vampy and perfect for fall.  I've owned this color for a while, and I'm so happy I finally got around to wearing it!

I used Rica Mellow Yellow and Pinky Promise for my roses.  Rica makes some of my favorite stamping polishes, and I've shown you Whiteout and Blackout many times before.  She also makes stamping polishes in other colors, and these are two of them.  I really love these polishes and hope she decides to make more colors in the future.

I stamped with Born Pretty Store BPL-024 plate which I also used in my last post.  This plate is all flowers, and I love all the different options.  If I get the time to do one more post I will most likely use this plate again!

I hope you like my colorful roses.  I love how they look over the blue base.  I wouldn't normally have done a combination like this, but I'm so happy with how it turned out. 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: August 2017 - Flowers

Hey there!  Today I have my second post for Nail Challenge Collaborative August Flowers theme.  I did these earlier in the month, but just haven't had time to write a post so I'm finally getting to it now.  If you follow me on Instagram @samantha1027 then you might have already seen the base I did for this look.

I wanted to do something a little different for this one so I went with a fan brush nail art base using Zoya Tobey, Wednesday and Paz.  I've been trying to participate in #fanbrushfriday on Instagram and one week the colors were bright pink, bright orange, and teal.  I thought these colors would work well as a base for flower nail art so decided to stamp over them. 

I stamped over the base with Rica Whiteout and Born Pretty Store BPL-024 plate.  This is one of my favorite plates with all of the flower designs and I love this stamp in particular with the bigger petals.  It always looks great when I use it. 

I'm really happy with how these turned out.  I like the fan brush nail art under the stamping and plan on doing more looks like this in the future.  I should have at least one more post for this month's challenge if not two so keep on the lookout for them. 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nail Challenge Collarborative: August 2017 - Flowers

Hey there!  Today I have my first post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative August Flowers theme.  We've changed things up in NCC, and this month the members got to vote for the theme.  I actually voted for flowers so I'm glad that theme won.  There's a lot of nail art you can do with a flowers so it should be fun to see what everyone comes up with. 

I started with a base of Polish'M Tahitian Treasure which was part of the Seasonal Indie Box for summer.  This purple polish is gorgeous especially with the blue to gold duochrome shift.  In this photo you can really see the gold coming through.  It really shines!

I tried something new for my nail art.  I went with layered stamping which I've never done before.  I used the MoYou London Princess 13 stamping plate for both stamps.  First I did the checkerboard using MoYou London Last Dragon then I stamped the flowers on top with MoYou London Sweet Wysteria.  I love how subtle the flowers are, and I feel like they work really well over the checkerboard. 

I'm very happy with how this turned out, and I will definitely be doing layered stamping again in the future.  This also coincides with the When Colours Collide purple theme so it worked out for both of my challenges.  I hope you like this. 

Have you done any stamped flower nail art?  Which plates do you like best?

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thank for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nail Challenge Collaborative: July 2017 - Beach/Ocean

Hey there!  Today I have for you my fourth and final post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative July Beach/Ocean theme.  This look is a recreation for a look I did in July 2015 for our Travel theme yet I used different polishes.  You can see that post here. 

I started with a base of Tonic Nail Polish Deep Sea-Crets which is a beautiful turquoise crème with peachy-pink shimmer.  I am addicted to shimmer polishes lately and let me tell you this one is a beauty!  I stamped with Rica Whiteout, my go-to white stamping polish if you haven't figured that out yet, and MoYou London Sailor 06 plate to create the waves/water look.  Then I painted my tips with Zoya Bar to create the sand.  I really love how the shimmer in Deep Sea-Crets looks like the sun hitting the water.  It's a great effect that I didn't even plan for. 

This is definitely one beach that I want to go to!  I hope that you've liked all of my posts for this month's theme.  I'm excited to see what we'll be doing next month! 

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading! 

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nail Challenge Collaborative: July 2017 - Beach/Ocean

Hey there!  Today I have my third post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative July Beach/Ocean theme.  One of the scariest things about going to the ocean are the sharks so I had to shark nails for this one.  I started with a base of Zoya Cecilia.  Cecilia is a gorgeous teal crème and for this look I did two coats even though you can get away with one.  This color is very pigmented and did stain when I removed it even with basecoat. 

For the shark I found a tutorial on YouTube from Jenny Claire Fox or @missjenfabulous as most people in the nail community know her.  Her tutorial was easy to follow so I went with the simple accent nail for my shark design.  I do wish that I followed her idea of using a light blue for the nail with the shark so it stood out more because I feel it blends in too much with the teal base color.

 

I created the shark nail freehand and used Zoya Tao and Red Door Red, and Rica Whiteout and Blackout.  I used dotting tools for the eyes and a nail art brush for the teeth.  I know this look is not perfect, but it's still cute and you get the idea that it's supposed to be a shark I hope.  It worked out perfectly with this week being Shark Week on Discovery Channel as well! 

Do you watch Shark Week?  Have you done shark nail art?

Please check out the other bloggers below.  Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up