31DC2013 Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

It has been nearly a month since I created my last manicure for the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I think it is about time I picked it back up and tried to finish it. Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 23 of the challenge, inspired by a movie. Since it is so close to Halloween, I couldn't help but try my hand at the always popular The Nightmare Before Christmas manicure...

Besides a black base of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, the rest of the manicure is done using acrylic paints. I find it much easier to work with paint for any detail work. I cut one of my brushes down to just a few hairs for some of the really fine lines. I'm quite proud of how this turned out...

Here is the movie poster that I used for inspiration. It looked a lot more blue on my tablet which is why I went with more of a blue tone for my manicure...

What do you think of this manicure?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping Over Black Base

I've been in a bit of a nail art funk lately after burning out halfway through the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I'm still determined to finish it, but for today I decided to take part in a different challenge. It has been way too long since I participated in Sunday Stamping with the group Adventures in Stamping. Somehow these challenges always get my creative juices flowing and today's theme of stamping over black turned to this...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme...

I then added three coats of Essence Fly Firefly Fly glow in the dark top coat. It does alter the base color a bit which is why it looks gray rather than black...

I stamped the spiderweb from Bundle Monster plate BM-H07 using Color Club Cherubic, a peachy holographic beauty. The spiders were stamped using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Bundle Monster plate BM13. Each spider accented with a red rhinestone...

And now for the glow in the dark shot. Is it OK to admit that it actually creeps me out in the dark? The spiders look too real for comfort... *shudder*. I'm debating entering these in the Bundle Monster nail art contest....

A few photos of Essence Fly Firefly Fly before all the stamping. This is three coats over black. I originally tried just two coats as suggested on the bottle, but it didn't glow quite bright enough. It glows really brightly in the bottle (see photo above), but this doesn't quite translate onto the nail. The effect seems to fade rather quickly after the lights are out. Swatches are with no top coat...

Over black, you can see the little fluorescent particles. More coats equals more particles, less visible base and brighter glow...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essence Color Name/Number: 18 Fly Firefly Fly Number of coats: 3 (layered over black) Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure!

P.S. Sorry if I freaked any of you out with spiders :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

31DC2013 Day 7 - Black and White

As this post goes live, I'm heading on vacation, but have no fear, I worked my little tushy off to keep up with the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge and have scheduled posts to entertain you. The theme for challenge Day 7 is Black & White. I have been wanting to try the water spotted technique for a while now and finally got an excuse to make time...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. To create the dotted pattern, I put a drop of black nail polish into a cup with water and sprayed with a bit of hairspray. When the pattern had formed on the water, I dipped my nail into it. I then repeated that for each nail. Check out youtube for great tutorials on how to do this...

I tried putting Elmer's Glue around my nails for easy clean up and it completely melted when I dunked the finger into the water. Can we all just say a collective "duh Anutka, the glue is water soluble. What were you thinking?" Ok, so second attempt was with Liquid Palisade around the nails and it worked perfectly. Lesson learned...

This water spotted technique really sounds easy in theory, but came time to reality it was somewhat frustrating. The polish didn't always react as I would have liked. At times it either ended up with either no dots, tiny dots, or most often one large hole as the polish ran away from the hair spray. Then I found that after I had sprayed the water a few times, the polish no longer wanted to spread at all and I had to switch out the water. Quite a lengthy process to say the least, but I would definitely do it again. Love the look of it...

Are you seeing lobster hands here? I don't know what blogger is doing with my images since they are NOT red to begin with. Anyone else have this happening to their images?...

Sinful Colors Snow Me White is a pure white cream. The application is actually quite good for a white polish. I only needed two coats for complete coverage and it wasn't streaky. My brush was quite wonky, but that's a whole other story. These swatches are with no top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: SinfulColors Collection: core Color Name/Number: Snow Me White, 101 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

As always, I'd love to know what you think of this!

P.S. This post is pre-scheduled while I'm on vacation. I may not be able to respond to comments until I return, but I greatly appreciate them and will respond as soon as I return!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

OMG Viper Louboutin...

Whenever my nails reach a certain length, I start dreaming of Louboutin manis. Although this one was not inspired by a particular pair of shoes, but rather by the fact that I was unwilling to part with the Viper nail strips mani quite yet and was itching for a Louboutin look...

I am guilty of having picked at the beautiful python nail strips by OMG Nail Strips as I wore them the day before so the tips although not awful were not in the best shape. Matter of fact I picked at the sides too so don't look too closely. I just wasn't ready to give up this mani yet, so to cover up some of my picking, I added black tips using Wet 'n Wild Black Creme and I think they really look great with the snake pattern...

I painted the underside of the nails using OPI Danke-Shiny Red. Take a look at my Louboutin manicure tutorial for details on how I tape my fingers and avoid making a mess when painting the underside...

Sorry for so many photos, but I had a bit of fun photographing this one. I even did a little photo shoot with a pen that my brother made. Isn't it amazing? I'm such a proud sister! In any case, it made for the perfect prop...

After all was said and done, I couldn't help but do a quick online search to see if I could find a similar pair of Louboutin shoes... and look at what I found... they even have the same bluish highlights...

(image source)

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure!! Don't hesitate to comment :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Products were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Running Wild...

I'm not sure what has gotten into me, but something certainly has since this is my second tiger manicure this month. I got some fun neon nail studs for review from the Born Pretty Store and they really brought out my wild side. I wanted to pair them with an equally bright and matching color.

For my index, middle and ring fingers I started with a base of Nicole by OPI Sweet on Pete. I stamped the zebra pattern from Bundle Monster BM-223 using Essence Stamp Me! Black. I then sectioned off my nail using scotch tape and painted half of it black using Wet 'n Wild Black Creme. The pinkie finger is also Black Creme. While the polish was still wet, I added the nail studs and covered everything with a top coat...

I just get a fun 80s vibe from this manicure and it puts me in a good mood...

And as you might have expected, they do glow under black light. This photo doesn't do justice to just how bright they really glow!

These fun square neon nail studs (Item #6968) come in a variety of colors. The studs that I got are 2mm in diameter, but they are also available in a slightly larger 3mm size. Each bag of studs contains plenty for lots manicures...

What you think? Would I fit in back in the 80s with this mani?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Sunday Stamping: Multiple Colors

I'm going to try to keep this post brief because it is starting to get light outside and I still have not gone to bed. I had four hours of sleep last night followed by a very long day and when I got home at 3 am today this is what I decided to do instead of going to bed. I've had this idea for today's Sunday Stamping challenge in my head all day and it had to be done. The challenge today is to stamp with multiple colors on one image...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme. I stamped the design using Nailz Craze plate NC 03 with Pure Ice First Time and Essence Stamp Me! White. The reason I used white is because I don't have a good stamping red, so I stamped the strawberries using white and the stems using First Time. I then sponged over the white using Nicole by OPI Challenge Red-y. It is not the cleanest operation, so I definitely need to find a good red to stamp with. For the red berries, I again used Challenge Red-y to dot over them. Finally using KleanColor Metallic Yellow, I added small gold dots throughout the design...

I'm so excited about how this manicure turned out. It was inspired by a pair of Russian souvenir spoons that I kidnapped from my parents for photos. The NC 03 Russian themed plate is a spot on match for these spoons and I've been wanting to try this manicure for a while. Today's theme finally gave me the excuse to do it...

I hope you enjoy this mani! I'm heading to bed :)

P.S. I got new lights for my light box that I'm still experimenting with. The color of the manicure is true to life, but my skin tone looks a bit off...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Some polishes used in this post were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Challenge Red-y!

I'm back from a fun 4th of July getaway with friends and starting to get back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, my nails have taken a beating over the said weekend and I had to file them down twice after some major breaks. I'm going to try to pamper them a bit and let them grow out, so in the mean time I'll be sharing swatches and manicures that I managed to prepare before the trip plus a few older manicures sprinkled in. I'll start out today by showing you one from the archives, a matted damask manicure that I really loved...

For this manicure, I used a base of Nicole by OPI Challenge Red-y from the Kellogg's Special K lacquers. I stamped it with the damask pattern from Pueen plate Pueen18 using Wet 'n Wild Black Creme. I absolutely adore these type of damask patterns and I was so happy that this one stamped perfectly...

I matted the mani using Essie Matte About You, giving it a beautiful smooth and velvety look and feel...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **