Messy Fishtail Chevrons

Hi all!

Sorry for the later-than-usual post, I've been really distracted doing other things on the computer and kept forgetting to finish editing the pics. I'm sure I kept forgetting because I just don't like these pictures that much but I like the color combo enough to justify posting them.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Tart-y For the Party, then used OPI My Vampire is Buff and L'Oreal Not a Cloud In Sight, all from their respective spring collections, for the chevrons.

Overall, not that bad for a first try from someone deathly afraid of doing freehand, just not as clean as I would like. Both colors I chose for the chevrons required two coats to be opaque and streak free so the layers just kept building up and it looked too lumpy by the end. I do LOVE my pinky though, that's how all the nails should have looked.

Have you tried this technique before? There's a great video tutorial for it on Chalkboard Nails!

Have a great day lovelies! (As great as a Monday could be, anyway).

MASH Nail Art Pens Review

Hi all!

I know I never shared any Valentine's day manis on here because I'm just not that into that particular holiday but today I have some nail art that would be perfect for VDay or an anniversary or whenever you feel like wearing cute hearts. Got a lot to say so I'll get right into it.

I started with two coats of Orly Boho Bonnet from their Spring 2013 collection. Formula on this was weird, it seemed to thicken with use and wouldn't spread to the edges or self-level but it still looked good at two coats. It's also a close dupe of Zoya Kristen, not exact but enough for me since I can't get Zoya here.

After that was mostly dry, I used my pink MASH Nail Art Pen for the hearts and the black pen for the outlines. The consistency of the pink pen was great though it was a touch sheerer than the black one, I went over the big hearts twice for that bright pop of color and left the little hearts with just one 'coat'. If my base color had been white or lighter,  I doubt I would have needed the second coat. Finally, a little flick of white acrylic paint and topcoat finishes the look.

My favorite heart was on my thumb.

You'll notice I said the base polish has to be mostly dry to use these pens and that is because the tip of the pen is plastic and could dent the polish if it's too fresh. Also, if you're going to go over a part of your design twice to either deepen the color or make a line cleaner, it's best to wait for it to be mostly dry as well so you're not pulling up parts of the design or making grooves in it.

Aside from those tips, I found these SUPER easy to use and I'm in love with them already. I've always been mediocre with a nail art brush because of the abnormal way I hold them but with these pens I can make it work! I'm sure someone more talented than I would make amazing art with them but they're also great for beginners. They do take a couple of tries to get them going when they're new though. Nothing major, but worth mentioning.

These nail art pens can be found HERE on the MASH website and you can see the different colors they have (I'm dying to try the silver one now). Also follow MASH on Twitter or like them on Facebook for info, ideas or special promotions!

Product featured was sent for review, all opinions are my own. For more information, refer to my Disclosure policy.

Born Pretty Store Fine Brush Review

Hey all! Hope you've had/are having a great weekend!

I know nail art has been in short supply here lately and I do miss it, but I've been painting my nails so late that I just don't have time to experiment with nail art techniques. This is also the reason it has taken me so long to do this review. I have had this brush from the Born Pretty Store for a while and I've tried a couple of different designs with it and they've all been such a fail that I don't even take pictures before I take it off. However, I gave it another try and decided this was decent enough to post.

Up for review is THIS brush (Item ID: 3296) from Born Pretty Store. It has short flexible bristles great for fine details. It's not the best brush for straight lines (as you can see), you're still better off with a striper brush for lines, but it works great for filling in details or for a design that needs short strokes 

Grr smeared ring finger

What do you think of the design? I didn't have a plan at all when I went into it, I just started making shapes until something looked decent then I repeated that.

Remember that you can get 10% off from your BPS order using my coupon code FHL91! What kind of design would you think of for this brush? I <3 comments :D

31 Day Challenge Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

Hi guys!

Today's challenge was Inspired by a Book! I really hit a wall with this prompt too, I looked at my little bookcase hoping to be inspired by one of the book covers or one of the scenes in the book but no such luck. In a desperate attempt to not miss another challenge day, I asked my mom what my favorite book was when I was little. The answer was El Principito.

"The Little Prince" is a children's book that is insanely popular here (and maybe elsewhere?). I have very fond memories of it though I admit I have no idea what its about anymore. I just know I remember the cover vividly, and he was standing on a moon for some reason.

I decided to do my nails just from memory instead of looking it up. I started with two coats of Sation It's All Navy Baby, which is an awesome deep inky blue jelly. It has so much depth and just glassy shine and I'm so happy I found it by its lonesome at TJ Maxx.

I think the lighting is making the color look a smidge lighter. IRL, it looks more like my thumb. Then I added a pretty silver holo glitter from Forever 21.

This macro was taken after topcoat, which made my tips matte again for some reason.

Then I re-did my middle finger so I could do the moon without the glitter disturbing the background. I did the moon mixing Illamasqua Load with China Glaze Elephant Walk.

I totally regret the yellow stars but, by then, I had looked up images of the book cover and it had really pretty yellow stars, so I added them and promptly effed it up. Here's an image of the book:

Image Source

I hope you guys like this and can forgive me for skipping 'Inspired by a Movie' day. To make up for it, I have some unrelated posts lined up, starting tomorrow with a spanking new top coat comparison!

Have a great last day of the weekend and visit the other ladies participating!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista 

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

-Me, Myself, and Polish 

- Robin Sparkles

31 Day Challenge Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

Hello lovelies! Mondays suck as usual. Let's go straight to the point.

Today's prompt is 'Inspired by a Song'. I'm very tempted to just put the pictures and the first person to guess the song in the comments gets a little prize..... Yeah I think I'm going to do that.

I started with two coats of Illamasqua Kink, from their Theatre of the Nameless collection a while back, which were all rubber finishes. I'm so in love with this forest green, its flawless and fall-y! Other colors I used were Milani Rapid Cherry, Sally Hansen Grass Slipper, Pop Beauty Turquoise, Essie Little Brown Dress and black China Glaze crackle.

Now, I went pretty literal with the song lyrics and the images on my nails. The song is from Radiohead, btw. I rediscovered this song recently and fell in love with it all over again. It was insanely popular and is still used in movies and shows to this day, so that's why I'm venturing to try this guessing game.

Ok, may the best lady with a weird music memory win!

For less complicated interpretations of songs, make sure to visit the other bloggers participating!

 

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista 

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

-Me, Myself, and Polish 

- Robin Sparkles

31 Day Challenge Day 16 - Tribal

Hey guys!

Tiny bit late on this post, but no big! I had a hellish day yesterday and I just crashed when I got home.

Today's challenge prompt was supposed to be tribal but seeing as I was feeling uninspired and very short on time to actually attempt a complicated tribal mani, I kept it simple but close to the heart again. I chose to do a mani inspired by the indian tribes that were the original residents of Puerto Rico- the taínos. I started with a base of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons (a very mannequin hands polish!) and sponged a gradient with L'Oreal Now You Sea Me and a random white polish to simulate the beach. Then, on my pinkie I used a fine tip Sharpie marker and acrylic paint with a striping brush on my ring finger.

The ring finger is the classic taíno depiction of the coquí, our natural little tree frog that sings us to sleep. It's weird, visitors sometimes find the sound annoying but, when I'm traveling I really miss the sound, it's comforting. The smeared sad pinky was a spiral I saw in the image I used for inspiration. My idea was to do their depiction of the sun, but it was a little more complicated than I wanted.

I'm sorry this was short on explanations, I'm pooped as I write this.

As always, make sure to visit the other ladies to see their tribal manis!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista 

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

-Me, Myself, and Polish 

- Robin Sparkles

31 Day Challenge Day 14 - Flowers

Hi all!

Ok, first things first. Is anyone else pumped for the premiere of Once Upon a Time today?! I didn't realize how much I missed the show until I started seeing the promos! I had kind of a little ritual where I would always give myself a pedi while watching Once Upon a Time (not weekly, but always while watching the show) and I'm happy it's tomorrow because my toes need some love o_O.

Back to nails. For today's challenge prompt I was, once again, befuddled (I freakin' love that word). I had a couple of ideas I wanted to try out but my mojo was definitely gone and nothing came out nice enough. Before giving up and just stamping, I tried these little freehand flowers and I'm ok enough with the result to show you guys. Base color is Illamasqua Milf (yum), the flowers are Essie Play Date and Orly Charged Up and the leaves are China Glaze Exotic Encounters.

I did little blobs with Play Date then added Charged Up with a striper brush. Sometimes I wouldn't like the result or I would have too much polish on the striper so I would pat the blob with a tissue, sorta like a saran wrap marble mani. The leaves are most assuredly not my best work but it was late and I was watching Sons of Anarchy with le boy while polishing so I was distracted. I was also distracted by someone whining that he was watching tv alone and not receiving any cuddles, so I apologize for the awkward leaves :D.

There is a 92% chance I'll see you tomorrow for a challenge post that's actually on time!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
- Robin Sparkles 

31 Day Challenge Day 2 - Orange

'Ello ladies!

I'm back for the second day in the challenge! If I had been feeling discouraged about participating, you all would have convinced me with the sweet comments on the last challenge mani. I will never not be amazed at how nice everyone is in this, our little weird nail polish obsessed community.

Now, the task for today was Orange, and boy is this sucker orange. This is POP Beauty Mandarin, a neon orange color. I also freehanded my first leopard print! It's by no means ever anywhere near perfect but, from afar, it looked really cool. I sent a pic to le boyfriend of these nails and titled them 'Cheeto Nails'. They look exactly like that, like you ate a whole bag and that weird 'cheese' still hasn't been licked off.

EDIT: I completely spaced on mentioning who inspired me to do this! There's been a lot of leopard print nails but it was when The Little Canvas posted this awesome neon skittles mani that I decided to go for it! Make sure you check her blog, aside from being a sweetheart on twitter, she does great nail art too!

As you can see, definitely not perfect but that's part of the beauty of the leopard print, imperfectness still works. I do have to work on my spacing and not make the nail too cluttered. Also, you see the huge spot in the middle fingernail, right in the center? Yeah, that wasn't there. As I was about to take the pics I dinged the nail with the camera and took off some of the polish. Since it was late and I was cranky, I just filled in the hole with white, outlined the spot, topcoated and called it a day.

I hope you like this and if you have any advice/comments about this technique, let me know!

Never don't ever forget to check the other ladies participating!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista

-Greta at How Was Your Day?

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance