Amateur Manicure : A Nail Art Blog

Starbucks-Inspired Chalk Art Nails

2015-12-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know about anyone else, but going to Starbucks is one of my favorite things about this time of year. I'm sure that probably sounds silly, but just I love the decorations, the festive treats, and of course the coffee—it's all so great for me.

I especially like that Starbucks picks a theme for their decor every holiday season and uses it all around their stores. I'm not even going to touch the cup controversy that happened this year, but the holiday chalk art that's on lots of the signs, pastry bags, and even the window art was particularly inspiring to me in its simplicity, so when it came time to do my first holiday nail design of the season, that's the look I decided to recreate.

(And, to be clear, this isn't a sponsored post or advertisement in in any way—I just really liked this design!)

As far as nail art goes, this was actually pretty basic to put together: start with two coats of China Glaze Don't Honk Your Thorn, add some top coat, and then freehand the design with white acrylic paint and a small nail art brush. I finished it off by dotting on the red berries with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Red my Lips and a dotting tool (and one more layer of topcoat).

The tricky part of this one for me (and this is usually the case) was making each nail look different enough to capture the random/rustic feel of the overall design. (And also, doing my right hand. Wow but the ol' freehand skills are really not great with my non-dominant hand.) I had to sit and think carefully for a few minutes between each nail to ensure that I didn't end up painting a big leaf on the center of every one. As it is, I still kind of fell into the trap of doing almost the same red berries every time...

Another great thing about this design is that I think it would look lovely on just about any background color: green, gold, slate grey, etc. Easily matched with your holiday ensemble of choice!

I hope all your holiday preparations and festivities are off to a fantastic start this year, whether you're hooked on Starbucks like me or not. :) Thanks for looking!

Tales From the Borderlands Nails, Part Two: Fiona

2015-11-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

When I posted my first Tales from the Borderlands manicure a couple of months ago, I heard from a few folks that I should also do some nails for the game's other main character, Fiona. Well, I love Fiona a ton, and the only reason I shied away from doing a design for her the first time around was because I knew how much harder it would be, so... I really have no good reason for not doing it the first time around, is what I'm saying here.

It took me a little while to pull together my ideas—and supplies—to execute this look how I'd envisioned, but it turns out my timing is actually pretty good: the fifth and final episode of Tales from the Borderlands was released just a couple of weeks ago, making now a great time to get excited about the game and go check it out. I talked up TftB a bunch in my last post, so I won't repeat myself, but guys, seriously. Go play it. You won't regret it.

Anyway! On to the nails!

When I said doing Fiona nails would be harder, I didn't mean technique-wise: everything here is fairly straightforward. Lots of striping tape, stamping, a tiny bit of freehand work—all foundational in a lot of nail art these days. My main concern was putting together a look that was at least remotely cohesive, given all the different elements I knew I wanted to incorporate. I... am not sure I was completely successful, to be honest? This definitely screams Fiona to me, and I think those familiar with the game will also see it, but as a standalone look, I don't know. People may find it pretty weird. But hey, it's art, right? So those people just gotta deal. :)

Fiona looks fabulously put together, in my opinion, but the individual components of her outfit don't all necessarily match each other in a traditional sense. Thus, my strategy here was to match colors and elements across nails, as much as possible, to tie things together. The gold, for example, appears in little bits almost everywhere in her outfit, so that color features on multiple nails; in addition, I moved the gold buttons from her "vest" nail to the teal nail to bring that one into the fold a bit better. I really struggled with whether to do gold striping on the maroon vest nail as well, but in the end, I'm weak and I loved that hexagon pattern too much to break it up. I also felt like things were hovering at the edge of maybe being too busy? So that was another reason I held off. But looking at these pictures now, I can easily imagine a version with more gold that would also probably work well.

As with my Rhys nails, the thumb design is a bit of an outlier, but I'm okay with that. I like how the pants design translated to the nail (and thumbs are weird anyway).

Here's a closer look at the three middle nails—probably the most cohesive of the bunch. I really love how these turned out and could see pairing these with plain brown thumb and pinky nails for a slightly toned down but still Fiona-eque look.

If you haven't spotted it yet, the teal pinky nail is a nod to Fiona's own teal nail polish that she wears throughout the game. I really love that choice by the designers to give her a bold, contrasting nail color that doesn't necessarily match her own outfit, but does complement other color palettes in the TftB world (like maybe Rhys's colors, ahem?).

The list of polishes and tools for this one is a doozy. I won't get into what I used where unless anyone has a specific request, but here's the list, just for posterity's sake:

Pahlish - Shallow Lands || piCture pOlish - Cyan || piCture pOlish - Vampire

Sephora by OPI - Studs & Stilettos || Kardashian Cabana Collection - Sunrise || Julep - Nan

LVX - Cashmere || Julep - Nadia || Zoya - Spencer || butter London - West End Wonderland

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Peachypolish.com || a England - Her Rose Adagio

MoYou London - Fashionista Plate 14 || Bundle Monster - XL Plate BM-XL04

I think that's everything! I would say that this will be my last manicure inspired by this game, but you never know where or when the need to express fannish feelings may strike. (Nerd life! It's so tough.) I do intend to dive into some holiday looks very soon, however—I'm only human and all the the cute sweater print patterns are calling to me—so if that's primarily what you're here for, hang tight.

But thank you again, Telltale, for an amazing ride with this game. I can honestly say that it's changed me as a gamer and a person, and I'll always be grateful.

Thanks for looking!

Misty Green-Grey Halloween Nails

2015-10-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy (early) Halloween, everyone! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so even though I've been super busy with work and vacation and then getting sick at the end of it all, I couldn't let the occasion pass without posting some seasonally appropriate nails here.

These may not be stereotypically Halloween-y nails, but they feel dark & spooky enough to me to fit the bill. Like bare, dead tree branches silhouetted against a dreary grey sky, maybe... or cracks in a dingy windowpane. Or... something that sounds a little grim and unattractive? Can you tell I'm still feeling under the weather?

My base here is piCture pOlish Camo, and then I sponged on Julep Janae to create the gradient. Then I stamped on the branches/cracks/web pattern with MoYou London's black stamping polish, Black Knight, and plate 05 from the hehe Superhero collection. That's actually the Black Widow plate, so these are almost certainly supposed to be spider webs, but I can't bring myself to think of them that way. I love Black Widow, but I really hate spiders!

It's amazing to me how Camo changes when it's next to the dark blue-grey of Janae. It looks so green in the bottle, but nearly all that green disappears and it becomes quite grey when used beside another grey color.

This stamping plate and polish combo worked so perfectly. Crisp, clean stamps every time!

Thanks for looking, and if you're celebrating this weekend, have a fun & safe Halloween!

Tales from the Borderlands Nails: Rhys

2015-09-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid you're all going to have to humor me here, because this is probably another one of those manicures that most people are just going to find totally strange. My apologies if that's the case!

One of my big obsessions right now is the video game Tales from the Borderlands. It's a short little narrative adventure game by Telltale Games (they do lots of great stuff if you like stories more than shooting—check them out!) that I played a couple of weeks ago and completely fell in love with. It's gorgeous, funny, and full of complex characters that you can't help but adore.

Right after I played the four (out of five) chapters that have been released so far, it was time for me to head to PAX Prime, a huge video game convention in Seattle. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to honor my current favorite game on my nails, so I decided to recreate the outfit of one of the main characters, Rhys, with nail polish.

Rhys has... an interesting fashion sense, as you can see. His look immediately reminded me of a skittle-style manicure (different on every nail, but related overall) in clothing form, so I was really intrigued to see if I translate it into an actual skittle mani. I got some nice feedback at PAX from people who've played (and make!) the game, so I think I was pretty successful!

This look wasn't difficult to put together, but it did take some time—and a LOT of tools & polishes. Here's what I used:

Ginger + Liz - Grounded || Julep - Janae || OPI - Can't Find My Czechbook

Butter London - Jasper || Sephora by OPI - Havana Dreams || Julep - Anisa

OPI - Over the Taupe || A England - Camelot || Zoya - Purity

MoYou London - Rockstar Plate 01 || MoYou London - Pro Plate 01

I think most of the individual nails are pretty self-explanatory: the index & middle fingers were done with striping tape, and the ring & little fingers were done with stamps. I did have to just paint on the darker black hexagon pattern from Rhys's vest on my ring finger with a small brush, however, because the stamp I'd planned to use wasn't working.

I hesitate to even point it out, but I have to admit: that slightly jagged edge on the red stripe will probably bother me forever. That'll teach me to think I can touch up a line by hand after the tape has come off...

All in all, I really loved these nails and I was so thrilled to be able to wear them during PAX when I couldn't be at home (re)playing my new favorite game. Making myself little wearable reminders like this of the stuff I'm fannish about is one of my favorite things about doing nail art, so even if posts like this don't always have super wide appeal, they're definitely the ones that make me the happiest. And who knows: maybe I'll even introduce a few people to a fun new world. :)

Thanks for looking!

My Picture Polish!

2015-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

*press samples*

Today is a special day: it's My Picture Polish day!

If you've visited just about any nail blog in the last couple of years, you know that piCture pOlish is the best of the best in the indie polish world. They make gorgeous polishes, of course, and they do an amazing job of connecting with bloggers and getting to know the people who love their polishes.

One of the company's latest initiatives was My Picture Polish, where bloggers showed off their piCture pOlish collections on Instagram and some were asked to swatch and review new (to them) shades to grow their collections even more. I was lucky enough to be chosen for My Picture Polish, and today I have my swatches to share with you!

First up is Paris, the color I asked to be included in my swatch package (we got one polish of our choice and two surprise selections). Paris is a beautiful coral shade with a delicate scatter holo and jelly-like application.

I'm not sure what specifically about Paris inspired this polish, but I've admired it since its release earlier this year and was thrilled to finally get to try it. In spite of it's semi-sheer consistency, it covers really well in two normal coats and shows off the sparkle of the holo to gorgeous effect.

Next is Aphrodisiac, an intense, dark metallic purple that really brings the drama. I knew when I saw the bottle that this one would be stunning when worn, and as you can see, I was right! I only wish my pictures did it better justice—it looks almost black here, but in person, it's unmistakably purple.

The formula on Aphrodisiac is really impressive: if you wanted to, I think you could probably get away with just one coat. That's how well it covers! I went with two for my swatches, since bright lights and close-ups can reveal every little flaw, but that second coat was just for insurance. I suspect this polish would also stamp super well and I can't wait to give that a shot.

Finally, we have Voodoo. I don't quite know how to describe this polish: a deep, shimmery brown-purple cream, maybe? It looks coppery-gold in the bottle, the first coat leans very plummy, and the second coat develops into a rich, warm, earthy brown.

I didn't expect Voodoo to be my favorite of the three when I first saw my selection, but after swatching, it definitely is. The depth is just so incredible that I find myself wanting to stare at it forever. This is going to be an amazing polish for the fall and I can't wait to wear it a ton.

And... that's it! Thank you so much to piCture pOlish for including me in the My Picture Polish initiative—it's always an honor to work with them. You can find piCture pOlish online at their website, on Instagram, on YouTube, and with their network of international stockists. You truly can't go wrong with any of their polishes, so if you've never tried one, you really should start now!

Disclosure: The products in this post were provided by piCture pOlish for my consideration. All opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Nail Art: A Pluto Perspective

2015-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

All the excitement about Pluto recently inspired me to try something space-related on my nails. Galaxy designs are fun and I've done a couple of them, but I wanted to do something new this time. After some brainstorming (and perusing lots of NASA's new high-res pictures of Pluto), I decided: what about trying to recreate the surface of a planet on my nails?

And just like that, these Pluto/moonscape nails were born. We know now that Pluto is actually more of a reddish color, so this look was mostly inspired by the black and white photos, as well as my slight obsession with grey. This design also kind of reminds me of certain photos of Earth's moon, so if the color is a deal-breaker for the Pluto inspiration, we can just go with the generic moonscape idea here, too.

I started with a base of OPI Cement the Deal and then dabbed on some NARS Galathee with a little ball of cling wrap to give it some texture. When all that was dry, I did a quick hairspray water marble using piCture pOlish LakoDom to add the sparkly, crackling effect on the surface.

To say that I like how these turned out is something of an understatement: I wore them for literally two weeks before finally breaking down and changing them. Grey is just such a favorite for me, and I loved the space tie-in, so every time I thought about making a change, I couldn't bring myself to do it. (It also didn't help that everything held up extremely well and hardly chipped at all for two weeks—one of the unlikely downsides to a really good base coat, I guess!)

Now that I've (sort of) done the surface of one planet on my nails, I'm super intrigued to take a stab at some of the others. Some Saturn nails would be pretty amazing, don't you think?

Thanks for looking!

Golden Coral Gradient Nails

2015-07-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

I don't really have any excuses about how long it's been since I've posted here. I'm not quite sure what happened! I've been distracted with other things for the last month, but I have still been doing nail art when I can; for some reason, sitting down to actually focus and write a blog post is the part of the process that's been eluding me. Can I blame it on the sunshine and my backlog of novels that I've been devouring?

Anyway! On to the nail art. Today I have some simple but very summery gradient nails to share. I ended up with this look recently when an initial nail art plan didn't pan out and I needed to come up with a plan B to cover the mistakes I'd already made. I never would have thought I'd end up liking a peachy-orange & gold design so much, since I usually don't like orange or gold, but I really fell in love with this as I wore it.

My base color here is Julep Janet. The color and the semi-matte finish (not visible here because I added other elements and used top coat) are definitely pretty, but the formula was a bit thick. The pretty peach color is worth it, though—I like this look so much that I'll definitely be keeping Janet around for future variations on this theme.

Once my base was dry (and after I'd made some ill-fated nail art attempts with white polish that needn't be spoken of further), I used a makeup sponge to apply the gradient of Janet and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Poof! Be-gonia, a striking coral orange. As I mentioned (and tend to mention a lot on this blog, because I'm a broken record), I'm not a big fan of orange, so I can't really say what made me pick up this polish in the first place. But I'm glad I did: the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure formula was great, as always, and the color is super flattering.

Finally, to tie everything together, I added a coat of Zoya Maria Luisa, a delicate gold-flecked accent topper. A silver glitter topper just didn't seem right with the warm colors of the gradient, but gold turned out to be the perfect finishing touch.

I think this manicure demonstrates one of my favorite things about the nail art process: the way a design you end up loving can happen naturally, when you have no plan at all... and even when you think you've made unfixable mistakes. It sounds like a cliché, but sometimes it really does work to turn your brain off and let the polish(es) be your guide.

Thanks for looking!

ILNP Holo Water Marble

2015-05-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

My small collection of ILNP holo polishes is truly precious to me. They were my first introduction to holos, and it's still a joy to use them whenever I pull one out. I was feeling particularly holo-riffic on a recent sunny afternoon, so I decided to go FULL HOLO MANIA and spend a couple of hours creating an all-ILNP-holo water marble that would really sparkle in all that sun. (Have I said "holo" in this paragraph enough yet?)

I used ILNP Dreaming in Violet for my base color, and then use that one along with Kings & Queens, Fall Semester, and Cosmic Barney to do the actual water marble. Dreaming in Violet turned out to be the perfect base color: bold enough to stand out on its own, but light enough that the other three colors covered it without any issues.

As you can see, I still have the old style ILNP bottles. Vintage! The polish inside is still perfect, though.

My water marble technique is definitely still a work in progress, but I think I'm gradually improving. This time around I tried really hard to achieve the classic "flower petal" look that I see in a lot of water marbles, and I was actually mostly successful! (Don't ask me about the other hand—I was not nearly as fortunate over there, ahem.)

I never would have attempted a holo water marble before discovering my dear friend liquid latex. Covering your whole finger with it to the second knuckle (except for the nail, of course) before the marbling really only takes a minute, and it saves SO MANY MINUTES' worth of cleanup—and probably crying—that would otherwise result from all those tiny sparklies.

That one little out-of-place drip on my middle finger really, really bothered me, but alas. It adds character, right? I did learn an important (albeit probably obvious) lesson about not letting the latex snap back when you're trying to cut it off your finger, however...

Thanks for looking!

She Said Yeah Striped & Stamped Nail Art

2015-05-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

I feel like it's rare for me to run across a (US-based) nail polish brand out in the wild that I've never heard of... but it does happen! When I was at the salon recently, I stumbled upon a new-to-me brand called Smith & Cult, so of course I had to grab a bottle and give it a try. The eye-catching, rocker-inspired display and packaging definitely helped draw me in, too.

As it turns out, Smith & Cult was founded by Hard Candy founder Dineh Mojaher, which explains the chic, edgy vibe of the brand. All the colors on display really appealed to me, and a quick skim through the brand's website will tell you why—they're gorgeous! But in the end, I decided to try She Said Yeah, a muted periwinkle cream, because I don't have any other polishes quite like it.

I wanted to create a look that was both playful and edgy with this polish to complement the overall vibe of Smith & Cult, which is how this mix & match design was born. She Said Yeah applied beautifully: two easy coats was all I needed for good coverage. And it layered well over OPI My Silk Tie, too, which is what I used as my base for the striped nail.

My Silk Tie may have also worked for the stamping, but Zoya Trixie is my go-to for silver stamping, so that's what I've used here. It just never lets me down. The plate is MoYou London's Princess 13 plate, and the silver studs on my thumb and little finger are from the Born Pretty Store.

Even weeks after buying the Smith & Cult polish, I still haven't seen much buzz about this brand. Has anyone else tried it? Let me know what you think!

Thanks for looking!

Delightful Daisies Nail Art

2015-04-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

*press samples*

It must really be spring for real, now: I'm fixated on floral patterns!

I'm still trying to do less stamping for a little while, just in the spirit of branching out, so it was time to test my freehand floral skills again when I wanted some springtime daisies on my nails. They're definitely far from perfect, but I still enjoyed wearing them. Real-life daisies aren't perfect anyway, right? Right!

This incredibly bright and cheery pink base color is OPI Kiss Me I'm Brazilian—so, SO bright! The pictures hardly do it justice. I think it would be really striking against just about any skin tone. The white of the daisies & dots is white acrylic paint applied with a small brush and a dotting tool, respectively, and the yellow center are, appropriately enough, Zoya Daisy. (Its's like it was meant to be.)

I obviously took a super carefree and unplanned approach to painting my daisy petals, but if I did a design like this again, I would probably be a bit more deliberate about it by starting with an asterisk shape and then filling in additional petals uniformly.

If you look really closely, you can see the subtle shimmer of the yellow, Daisy; I like that extra little bit of texture it adds to the design.

Now that I've done the easiest and most obvious type of flower, I'm starting to ask myself: what kind of flower should I try next??

Disclosure: Some of the products in this post were provided by companies or their PR representatives for my consideration. All opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Black & Silver Spotty Stamping

2015-04-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I set out recently to find a blue polish that matched a specific shirt I have, and when I saw Butter London Giddy Kipper, I knew immediately that it was the perfect choice.

I adore this color! I'm not sure how I didn't already have a blue like it, but I'm going to be wearing it a lot, I can tell already (especially since I have a shirt that matches). I wanted to add a little nail art this time around, so I went with some chic and fairly low-key stamping to pull the look together.

To get the two-toned print, I just painted the two colors—Super Black Murdered Out and Zoya Trixie—on the stamping plate side by side and scraped them off carefully to keep the line as straight as possible. The design is from one of my favorite plates, MoYou London Pro XL 04.

The shimmer in Giddy Kipper is very subtle, but you can see a tiny bit of it in this close shot. So pretty! And of course I used my trusty liquid latex around my nails to keep the excess silver & black from the stamping off my nails for a quick and painless cleanup.

Everything is topped with the always amazing Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat.

Thanks for looking!

Playful Pink Floral Nail Art

2015-04-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm still here! Illness, work, and some other things have really been kicking my butt lately and eating up my blogging time, but I swear I'm still here. I have had a chance to do a bit of nail art, though, so that's something, right?

Today I have some freehand floral nails to share with you. I haven't done a great many floral patterns in my time as a nail blogger: not because I don't like them, but because I just don't have a lot of confidence that I can execute them well. I recently dug up some inspirational images that I'd saved, though, so I finally decided to take a shot at recreating one of them.

This pattern was heavily (like... almost exactly) inspired by this Shutterstock floral background. I just really loved the playfulness and casual-yet-pretty look of it. I went with a much less yellow base color, because yellow and I aren't friends, but other than that, I tried to be pretty faithful with my recreation.

Everything here is done with polish, even though I probably should have used acrylic paint for the brown to get finer control with my lines. Here's the full list:

OPI My Vampire is Buff (base color)
Zoya Zanna
FNUG Cover Shot
OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys

I also painted (and photographed) my right hand! And strangely enough, I almost like the design on it better in some ways, even though it was done with my non-dominant hand. Go figure...

Even though florals and brown tones aren't my usual style, I'm really happy with how this turned out. I even had a better experience with My Vampire is Buff this time (I didn't care for it when I first tried it), so, yay! Maybe I'm just a better polisher now?

Thanks for looking!

Green Thermal Clover Nail Art

2015-03-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

I've been sick for more than a week now and am actually still trying to fight off whatever this plague is, but somewhere in the midst of my haze of cold meds & Parks and Rec binge-watching, I managed to do some simple St. Patrick's Day nails.

My base is Polished by KPT Spring Around Me, a lovely green thermal that transitions from a medium minty shade to a bright, springy lime. I don't think my photos are working very well for the "warm" color, because it's a lot more yellow in real life, but I'm still really enjoying this polish. The color change is very pronounced and fun!

The clovers were added with acrylic paint and a small detail brush, and the tiny gold dots (if you can even see them!) are Priti NYC Chrysanthos.

My hand painting here is definitely not my best work, but since I was mostly delirious when I did it, I'm giving myself a pass. There are clover shapes—more or less—and they're green, so that's good enough, right?

Thanks for looking, and if you celebrate, have a fun & safe holiday!

Double Gradient Leopard Print Nail Art

2015-03-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm making an effort to force myself away from my comfort zone of stamping, so I'm turning to some tried and true nail art techniques for inspiration. Up this week: the gradient leopard print!

I know it may sound strange to call this look "tried and true," but I see (and love) variations of it on Instagram all the time, so in my mind, it's an old favorite. I went with purple for my version because, well... purple! I feel like you just can't go wrong with purple.

I started with a base of China Glaze Sweet Hook and then sponged on the gradient of Sweet Hook and China Glaze Grape Pop. Then I added irregular blobs of both colors on the opposite-colored sections of the base using a dotting tool. Finally, I add the black outlines and accents (A England Camelot) also using a dotting tool. Everything is topped with Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat.

This look is relatively simple to do (though maybe a little time-consuming, if you're a slow perfectionist like me), but I really like how it turned out and enjoyed wearing it. Something about the opposing gradients is just fun to look at for my eyes, I guess!

Thanks for looking!

Tri-Holo Lined Gradient Nail Art

2015-02-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Surprise—another stamping manicure! I swear I'm going to push myself to branch out a bit more in the coming weeks, but I just couldn't resist this one.

The gradient here is all piCture pOlish, because I can't get enough PP: Bette, Moscow, and Hussy. Then I stamped on the lines with SUPER BLACK Murdered Out and the MoYou London Holy Shapes 08 plate.

I'm in love with how well these colors blended together in the gradient, and I feel like the lines are the perfect touch to complete the look without overpowering it.

These ultra-close shots show all the lint on my backdrop (ahem), but more importantly, they also show all that gorgeous sparkle.

Speaking of the sparkle, I do have to point out that this gradient would likely have been a total nightmare to clean up if not for my trusty liquid latex cuticle barrier. I love that I can do a design like this and not have to give a second thought to how long the cleanup will take!

Thank you for looking!

Zoya Spring 2015 Delight Collection

2015-02-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

*press samples*

The sun is shining and it's trying to be a tiny bit warm where I live, so I think that makes it an especially apropos day to share these fresh & colorful swatches from Zoya's Spring 2015 Delight Collection.

Overview

The Delight Collection consists of three creams and three metallics. The creams are typical single-tone creamy shades, while the metallics have what Zoya calls a "turquoise metallic flash," which comes across as a subtle blue shimmer in the right lighting.

The formula for both types was very similar: two coats looked a little streaky for me, so I ended up using three thin coats of all six shades for full, even coverage. All colors went on smoothly and self-leveled, however, so having to do three coats wasn't a problem. I also used topcoat for all the swatches.

If, like me, you don't have a perfectly steady hand, cleanup for the metallics can take a few extra minutes: those tiny specks of turquoise can get everywhere (as you might notice in a couple of my photos!). This wasn't a huge issue or a deal-breaker by any means, however.

Overall, I really like this collection. I was thrilled to see some color on my nails after all the neutrals I've used in recent months, and I know I'm going to be reaching for some of these cheerful shades as I start thinking more about spring nail art. In fact, I already sneaked in some Valentine's Day nail art using one of my favorite Delight Collection polishes!

The Polishes

Tiana is a pretty pistachio green cream that screams "spring!" to me. I think it would match well with a variety of colors and would make a great base for lots of different types of nail art.

Eden is a truly perfect classic medium pink cream. I loved this one the moment it went on my nails, and I'm still loving it so much looking at the photos. It's just so bright and happy (and this is coming from someone who doesn't gravitate toward pinks very often).

Lillian is a flattering sky blue cream that leans a little aqua in certain lighting. I love the potential of a good light blue and this one is no exception.

Rayne is a delicate spring blue infused with the turquoise "metallic flash" shimmer. This one reminds me of cool, fresh water, but it might also be the perfect shade for some Frozen-inspired nail art.

Daisy is a soft, buttery yellow with just the slightest hint of turquoise shimmer in the right light. I've never made a secret of the fact that yellow polishes don't do it for me (I think they look terrible with my skin tone), but this one would make a perfect accent in some floral (or other springtime) nail art: decisively yellow, but not overbearingly so, if that makes sense.

Leslie is a sweet, warm lilac that balances really well with the turquoise shimmer. In fact, of the three metallics, I think this one makes the best use of the turquoise. My pictures don't do it justice, but the effect is lovely in person!

I'm not generally a pastels kind of person in my day-to-day life, but I love looking at any & all swatches of this collection—I think I'm dying for spring and these colors really scratch that itch while the weather still lags behind a bit. My favorites are Eden, Leslie and Tiana; which ones do you like best?

The Delight Collection can be purchased at zoya.com for USD $9 each, or in top salons & spas.

Disclosure: The products in this post were provided by Zoya/Art of Beauty for my consideration. All opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

One More Valentine's Day Manicure

2015-02-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

*press samples*

I'm not entirely sure how or when this change happened, but stamping has become my fall-back option for nail art these days when I'm short on time and/or inspiration. I can remember the not-so-distance past when stamping made me want to pull my hair out, so it's definitely a surprise to have it become my default!

Today's simple stamping look uses Zoya Eden from their new Spring 2015 Delight Collection (swatches for the whole set coming soon!) as a base, and two stamping polishes for the design: Konad Special Polish in Red and MoYou London White Knight. The plate is Pueen 63 from their 24B set.

I love using actual stamping polishes—the results are always just so clear, crisp, and opaque. Both Konad and MoYou London make fantastic dedicated stamping polishes!

If I'd had more time, I think I would have liked to do some reverse stamping/decal action for these: fill in the hearts with a third color, maybe, or add accent colors in the circles. Ah well, next time!

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend—whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not!

Disclosure: Some of the products in this post were provided for my consideration. All opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Picture Polish Valentine Water Marble

2015-02-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Now that I've discovered liquid latex as a liquid tape option for messy manicures, I'm much more willing to play with nail art techniques that tend to be cleanup-instensive. That's how this Valentinesy water marble was born!

I started with a base of white here (OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, but any white will do), and then created the marble using four beautiful piCture pOlish shades: LakoDom, Sizzle, O'Hara, and Shy Violet.

I coated my fingers (minus the nails, of course) in liquid latex past the first knuckle, so cleanup was a piece of cake. I can't even fathom how people ever did water marbles without it!

I think every water marble yields a best/favorite nail, and my index finger is definitely that one for me here. The gentle curves of those lines just turned out so perfectly.

Don't look now, but it's my rarely seen right hand! I almost never photograph it (even though it does always get manicured along with the left), but every nail is just so different that it seemed worth it in this case. I'm not thrilled with how my ring and pinky fingers turned out compared with the others, but they're kind of interesting taken on their own.

I'd love to hear what you think of this water marble—and if you're an old hat at this technique, I'd love to hear your tips, too. :)

Thanks for looking!

Liquid Nail Art Tape: Four Options

2015-02-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm continually amazed by the ingenuity of nail bloggers. If there's a problem to be solved in the nail art world, bloggers are on top of it! One of my very favorite nail blogger hacks (for lack of a better phrase) is the idea of "liquid painter's tape" for nails: or, to put it less simply, a substance you can paint onto your cuticles/fingers that dries into a polish-masking barrier on your skin. Anyone who's dabbled in nail art knows what a mess it can be (helloooo, water marbles and splatter manicures), so tools that help cut down on cleanup time are invaluable. I'm already a slow enough nail artist—I'll take any help I can get to be more efficient!

I don't know who first came up with the idea of liquid nail tape or what product started it all, so unfortunately, I can't give proper credit where it's due. However, I've seen and tried a variety of options for my own manicures, so I thought I'd do a roundup of them for you guys here, comparing things like price, ease of use, and effectiveness. Each option definitely has its own pros and cons, so I hope this helps you find a solution that works best for you.

I'll be discussing four liquid nail tape options in this post: white glue (also called Elmer's Glue, school glue, or PVA glue, depending on where you live), OPI Glitter Off, Liquid Palisade, and liquid latex. These are the four options I've seen used most often in the nail art world, but I'd love to hear about others out there—maybe this post can have a part two someday!

From left to right: white glue, OPI Glitter Off, Liquid Palisade, and liquid latex.

White Glue

This is the first liquid nail tape option I tried, back when the idea was still very new. I happened to have an empty polish bottle and some Elmer's Glue on hand, so it was technically free for me, but you can get a 7.625-ounce bottle of glue for USD $2–$4, depending on where you shop. When I first tried this several months ago, I was amazed by it—my gradient manicures didn't take ages to tape off and/or clean up anymore, hooray!—but glue as nail tape does have its flaws. It's thick and goopy, so it's not the easiest thing in the world to paint precisely around your nails, and the drying time isn't great: even a thin to moderate coat takes 5–7 minutes (or more) to dry completely. This kind of glue is also water soluble, so you can't use it for water marbling, and it can be tricky to peel off in one piece if your application isn't thick enough or if you have a ragged cuticle here and there. But other than those complaints (which really are pretty small, in the grand scheme of things), glue works well and I was happy with it for a long time.

OPI Glitter Off

OPI's Glitter Off peel-able base coat is marketed for use under glitter polish to make the glitter peel off easily when you're ready to remove it. I tried Glitter Off for that purpose and didn't have a lot of luck (glitter defies all odds and cements itself ruthlessly to my nails no matter what), but it does work well as a liquid tape option. It's basically just watered down white glue, so it has many of the same pros and cons as glue, but with a couple differences: the thinner consistency and OPI brush make it much easier to apply, but on the flip side, it's much more expensive —about $9 for one bottle. So if you have an empty OPI bottle and are willing to try watering down some white glue, you might get the same results for a lot less money? I'm not sure. But I still like this option a lot and felt like the time saved, both during application and polish cleanup, was worth the money for me.

Liquid Palisade

Liquid Palisade is a super popular product right now, and I completely understand why—it's fantastic! There are some great reviews out there that detail the myriad uses for it, so I won't get into those here, but as liquid nail tape, it's just about perfect. It goes on easily, dries fast, peels off cleanly, can be used in water, and comes with a fine-tipped little brush that makes it easy to cover all the tricky little spaces around your nails.

My one major issue with Liquid Palisade is the price: $22 for a small bottle about the size of a mascara tube is pretty steep! I do think it's probably worth that, given the time you can save, but for someone who needs to use liquid tape options regularly, the cost can add up. Other minor issues with Liquid Palisade include the availability (through their site, on Amazon, and at a few other third-party sites, so you can probably find it just fine, but I had to wait for a restock when I ordered mine), and fact that it's unusable for those with latex allergies. It also takes a while (and uses a lot of product) to cover a whole fingertip for techniques like a water marble.

Liquid Latex

Finally, we have liquid latex. When I got my Liquid Palisade, I could tell right away that it was at least partly made of liquid latex—that scent is really specific and easy to identify. It didn't even occur to me to look for actual liquid latex until Halloween time rolled around again, because I'm just that dense, but then I saw some ladies on Instagram buying & using it and I realized that yes, as always, Amazon had me covered. At $11 for the pot of latex (that will last for ages), plus a few dollars for empty polish bottles and a set of small funnels, I was able to put together several bottles of the perfect liquid nail tape—plenty for me, and some to share, too.

Liquid latex has all the benefits of Liquid Palisade, plus it's cheaper and you can paint it on with whatever size nail art brush you want for different levels of coverage. The downsides are few: as the photo above shows, polish sometimes doesn't stick to the latex as well as it does to other substances, so you can get little bits that hang on around the edges after you remove it. These are easy to flick off or remove with acetone, however. And pure liquid latex does smell quite a bit stronger than Liquid Palisade! But overall, if you don't have a latex allergy, I think this is truly the perfect solution.

I didn't intend for this to turn into a liquid latex sales pitch, but I guess that level of enthusiasm is where I'm right now as far as nail tape solutions go. I just adore it so much! I'll definitely keep my Liquid Palisade around for fine detail applications around my nails, and for using as a mask on actual manicures to create designs, etc., but I'll be sticking with the regular latex for everything else. I don't see myself using the glue or OPI Glitter Off much anymore, but it's nice to have those on hand in case I find myself doing nail art on someone who can't use latex.

I'd love to hear what you all think: what liquid tape option(s) do you prefer? If there's one you'd like to see reviewed, or if you make one you'd like to see reviewed, please hit me up! I love new nail art innovations and I'd be excited to try more and see how they compare.

Thanks for reading!

Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl XLIX Nails

2015-02-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure whether I'd have a chance to do a proper Seahawks manicure this year, but yesterday afternoon I finally had some free time and inspiration, so I decided to go for it. After all, it's not every year that your team makes it to the Super Bowl, right? (Ahem.)

This is one of those manicures that's pretty simple on paper: my base is A England Tristam, and the rest is all acrylic paint. I started with just the solid white shape of the logo, and then filled in the colors using my fine detail brush from Stylish Nail Art Shop. The glitter on the 12 nail came from an old ILNP glitter topper that's no longer sold.

All my usual hand poses were terrible for this design, since it looks best when all the nails are close together, but hopefully you get the idea!

The silver in the XLIX is OPI My Silk Tie, which is a truly fantastic silver that I know I'm going to use a lot in my nail art.

I've see SO MANY awesome Seahawks manicures on social media this year, so I'm excited to be able to add mine to the mix. Definitely hit up Instagram if you're looking for some last-minute inspiration! I also did Seahawks nails a few times last season, if you're interested in looking at those again:

And with that, it's time for me to start prepping all the game-watching snacks—thanks for looking! GO HAWKS!

Born Pretty Store Stamp & Glitter Review and Nail Art

2015-01-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

*press samples*

Born Pretty Store is an amazing nail art resource and one of my favorite online shops, so I'm really excited to be able to review some of their products for you today. I couldn't remotely fit everything into one post, so expect to see another Born Pretty review post from me soon!

Now that I have my stamping mojo well in hand, I was especially interested to review some of Born Pretty Store's stamping plates. You can never have too many good sources for plates, right? BPS has also started offering plates with larger, full-nail images, which is very exciting for those of us with longer/wider nails.

And since Born Pretty Store is the place to go for all kinds of nail art supplies, I wanted to highlight that in my review by adding another element to what would otherwise be a typical stamping manicure.

The stamps on my index and ring finger here come from the L003 plate, which, just to offer some perspective, is very comparable in format and image size to MoYou London's stamping plates: the images on this plate measure 1.6 cm x 2.2 cm, while MoYou's images are 1.5 cm x 2 cm.

This plate is fantastic quality: as you can see, the images transfered super clean and stamped for me without any issues. The designs on this particular plate are all pretty classic nail stamping patterns—I've seen similar designs here and there on other plates—but having all of these together on one plate is really nice. And there are no duds here: I would happily wear all of these!

Finally, you can't beat the price on these plates: $5.99 USD for a high-quality plate with this many large images is a great deal.

The triangle glitters on my other fingers are 3 mm matte black glitters that you can order in small pots of individual colors. For just a couple dollars you get more pieces than I think any one person could ever use:

As you can see in the photo, some of the pieces are stuck together in long clumps, but it was no problem for me to pull them apart with tweezers.

Like most glitter, you could probably adhere these to your nail just fine using only top coat. Since my nails are so curved, I opted to use a small dot of nail glue under these instead—I was concerned that the sharp corners of the triangles might stick up a little and snag on things or pull the glitters off entirely. The glue worked great: I wore this manicure for several days with no triangle casualties.

The polish I used for my base color is one that was already in my collection: Dance Legend Moorland. It looks lavender on its own, but all the black accents really pulled out the grey in these photos.

Overall, I'm thrilled with both the stamping plates and new glitter options Born Pretty Store is offering. Their products are always a great value, and with their cheap (or even free!) shipping, I feel like I would be hard pressed to find a better deal anywhere. The shipping does take some time if you live in the US, so that's something to keep in mind, but for me, the wait is worth it.

My blog also has its very own Born Pretty Store coupon code now, which you can find in the right-hand column next to this post—if you place an order, use the code SUZG10 to receive 10% off!

Disclosure: Some of the products in this post were provided by Born Pretty Store for my consideration. All opinions are my own. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Bright & Sparkly Stamped Gradient Nails

2015-01-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Gradients and stamping: they're my go-to techniques when I'm short on inspiration. So on those days when I'm feeling doubly uninspired, a stamped gradient must be the way to go, right? Right!

In additional to overall lack of inspiration, I also wanted to break out of my black & red rut leftover from the holidays, so I reached for some less wintery/holiday-y colors for this manicure. I love the brightness of the pink—it's making me crave summer weather already!

The base here is China Glaze That's Shore Bright and I sponged on the gradient with That's Shore Bright and China Glaze History of the World. Once that was dry, I stamped on the silver squares pattern with MoYou Fashionista Plate 14 and Zoya Trixie, which was my first and is still my very favorite stamping polish, even after all this time.

Thanks for looking!

Silky Red Water Marble

2015-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm still here! Life got a little crazy on me and I fell super behind on my blogging, but I'm hoping that things are getting back to normal now. I've have time to do a few manicures, however, so let's get right to the good stuff, shall we?

One nail art technique that's always eluded me is water marbling. I tried it a few times several months ago with disastrous results, so I gave up on trying for a long time and resigned myself to longingly watching Instagram tutorials and feeling sad about my lack of skills.

I was feeling especially patient and ambitious recently, however, so I decided to give it one more shot—and I actually did it! For the most part! It's far from perfect, but I feel like I can call this my first-ever successful water marble.

I don't have any nifty video footage of the process—there are lots of other bloggers who can do that part way better than I ever could. But I started with a base of Zoya ZsaZsa and then used ZsaZsa and two new OPI colors, My Silk Tie and Dark Side of the Mood, to do the marbling. I also used Kiesque Liquid Palisade around my cuticles for the marbling part to help with the cleanup, and it was a total lifesaver. Marbling is messy work!

Dark Side of the Mood isn't quite as opaque as I'd have liked for this, but My Silk Tie worked really beautifully. I don't often all-out polish my nails with metallic polishes, but they're amazing for nail art: stamping, marbling, decorative accents, etc. I need lots more in my collection!

I love close-up shots of water marbles. Each nail is so different!

Thanks for looking!

Guest Post at My Life in Turquoise

2014-12-24T09:21:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited: my very first guest post is officially live! Please go check out today's post at My Life in Turquoise for my holiday take on turquoise stone nails.

And thank you again, Hetal, for inviting me—I had so much fun with it!

Red and White Holiday Sweater Nails

2014-12-23T19:36:00.002-08:00

Happy holidays, everyone! I got busy with all my various shopping/wrapping/baking tasks and forgot to post these traditional red & white fair isle sweater nails I wore recently. But thankfully I found a few spare minutes and got them in under the wire!

This one is pretty straightforward: the base is piCture pOlish O'Hara and the various designs are all from the MoYou London Festive 04 plate, stamped with Zoya Purity.

My stamping precision could use a little work, but I'm still happy with how these turned out. O'Hara is such a gorgeous base and the plates are amazing, like all MoYous.

Thanks for looking, and if you celebrate Christmas, have a wonderful holiday!