Hello Kitty!

Hi!
Ok so, I have to explain how excited I am that I actually have followers!  Now I actually have a valid excuse to do my nails all the time ;)  Welcome all!  Hooray!

This time around, I've got some Hello Kitty nails (of course)!  I found this pretty shimmery color and stamped with some black polish on top to come up with these guys.  I was walking in Walgreens the other day when I noticed a huge tub full of nail polish for 99 cents each!!!  I went a little nuts, needless to say, but that's where this shimmery guy came from.  The color is Glass Pink by Sinful Colors.  I hadn't heard of the brand before, but so far so good :)

I found these stamps on ebay, and let's just say i'm now obsessed!  They are Faux-nads, but can you guess why I got them?  Yep, this one single Hello Kitty stamp.  But, now I have the luxury of having 8 new stamp plates PLUS a Hello Kitty stamp :)  Here's the link if you want to buy some yourself:  http://cgi.ebay.com/8-Nail-Art-Stamp-Stamping-Image-Template-Free-Gift-U01B-/280509858850?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414fb0c422

Yep, that's right.  For 8 dollars you get all of those stamping plates plus a free stamper/scraper!  Don't walk, run to this one, it is TOTALLY worth it!

Ok, yes, I do have a Hello Kitty keyboard - don't judge.  It's amazing and I got it at Best Buy.  Psh!

XXOO,
Steph

P.S.  I got a great mint lemonade that matched my Krypto-nails!  Had to take a picture ;)

I don't really know what to call this post.

*Disclaimer:  I took the pics with my phone so they're not too brilliant.  I could spend time Photoshopping them up, but I don't really feel like it right now.  :)  On to the post! 

Do you guys like Dita Von Teese?  I just LOVE her, I think she is so fabulous.  I've noticed that she does almost like a reverse French manicure on her nails, so this is kind of an indirect shoutout.  I actually was flipping through the latest Marie Claire, and noticed that there were a couple of ads with fun nail designs similar to this.  This is what actually inspired this look, but I still think Dita deserves the credit :)  Instead of doing the rounded edge on top, I tried to do a sort of pointy one to give it a funky feel.  The pointiness didn't totally work - I think I didn't wait long enough for my nails to dry.  Sigh.  I'm sure there are other methods of doing this and would love to hear what they are if anyone knows of them!

What you need:
*scissors
*scotch tape
*base and top coat
*polish color of choice

I started off by putting a base coat and letting it dry before anything else.  Unfortunately, it wasn't COMPLETELY dry by the time I started with everything else, so I had a couple of mishaps.  Whoops. 

Take the scotch tape to cut out the shapes that you want on your nails.  Once you've done this, place the scotch tape on your dry (hehe) nails where you would like the design to be.  Make sure it sticks everywhere that it needs to, so there is no bleeding around the edges.

Take your color of choice and paint over your nail and the scotch tape as you would normally.  (1-2 coats, depending on the polish).  Leave this to dry (try to make sure these guys are pretty close to dry before the next step - you don't want do mess up the crispness of the edge!).

Once you've dried, peel off your scotch tape - woo hoo!  Nail fun!  You can paint over your piggies with some top coat and you will be good to go!

Water Marbling Bonanza!

Happy Saturday, Everyone!  I'm only just writing about these nails now (I painted them like this days ago and they have since changed), because it's been an insanely busy week.  Whoops!

It is also my sister's 21st birthday and my 6 year anniversary with my bf Anthony!  Yay!  :)  I'm going to give my sister a special 21st bday manicure and will post pics later.  But for now, you get to see my water marbling fun!

I absolutely LOVE this technique, and highly recommend it for anyone looking to do something truly unique to their nails.  Has anyone else tried this before?  Would love to hear tips and tricks on it.

First of all, you want to have everything near you when you do this one.  You need:

-Cup, Jar, or container full of room temperature water (make sure it is not cold - the polish will dry too quickly!)
-Toothpicks
-Paper towels/cotton balls/etc.
-Desired nail polish colors
-Cuticle oil, scotch tape, or vaseline
-nail polish remover

Prep your nails with a base coat.  Once this is done, you want to put the cuticle oil/scotch tape/or vaseline on your fingers outside of the nail.  This will help you to clean the excess nail polish off your fingers.

Next, drop your nail polish colors one at a time into the room temperature water.  Don't overdo it - a drop at a time is just fine.  Pour single drops of each color, one on top of the other, until you have what you want.  Take a toothpick and run it through the drops of nailpolish to create a marbled effect.

Here comes the fun part!  Take your finger and dip it into the water on the part of the design you like best.  Use a toothpick to clear out the excess polish from the jar, and remove your finger - Voíla!  Marbled nails!  Use your polish remover to get any extra stuff off of your fingers ;)

Apply a top coat and you are set!  Enjoy!

Green French Tips!

You know when you've been wearing dark nail polish for too long and the outer part of your nails end up stained?  I decided I wanted to give my nails a bit of a rest and go for a simple (ish) French tip so that they can get back to normal.  I started with my most important product of all:  Sally Hansen Hard-As-Nails.  OMG, if you haven't used this product before, I highly recommend it.  I always kind of rolled my eyes at it when I'd walk by it in the store, but one day I decided to try it out, and I am NEVER going back.  My nails look like a totally different person's nails, for real.  Several months  back, I had been really sick and depressed and was having thyroid problems, which I think added to my nails being unhealthy, and ever since I started using this I can see a DRASTIC difference.  So, for all of you non-believers, I'm telling you this one is WELL worth it.

AAAnyway.  I started with my Hard-As-Nails as a simple base coat.  Then, I used this random greenish polish I have (I have no idea where it came from) as my tips.  When I do french tips, I've found that it helps to paint from the outside to the middle of the nail from each side along the smile line (is that what it's called?).  Then, I do little up-and-down strokes along the tip where I just painted to thicken it up.  Works like a charm. 

Then, I put some nail decals along the smile line of my nails.  I'm not sure what kind of decals these were, I have had them for a  loooong time and they don't have any labeling.  To finish it off, I used my other awesome Sally Hansen product, the Insta-Dry Top Coat, and voíla!  Hope you like them :)

Aloha!

Happy Wednesday!
My bee-inspired plaid nails were starting to chip after 2 days, so in my quest for perfection I decided to change them up.  This was a bit of a bitch.  I painted them with Sally Hansen's 'XL' polish in 'Marine Scene', which was a color I fell in love with at the store.  You'll need about 3 coats of this one, however, from what I learned.  Anyway, from there I stamped a floral pattern from Konad's m25.  For the color, I used 'Sci-fi' by China Glaze, one of my main go-to colors.  This turned out OK, but I wasn't happy with it, so after a day (yep, just one day - sigh), I changed it yet again.  This time I ended up happier with my result.

Hawaiian nails!  Well, kind of ;)  This time I started with my go-to 'Sci-fi' color (shoulda known!).  Then, I used the same m25 stamp, only with 'Big Apple Red' by NYC Color.  I stamped the flowers wherever I saw fit, and ended up with this look.  The only thing I maybe would have changed about this look is I may have stamped with more than one color for fun.  But, I was pleased enough with my turnout :)  Sorry for the excess polish on my skin - I didn't have much time to clean these guys up before I took the pictures.