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Friday, July 19, 2013

Mint Manis For Talia Joy

  Hello to all!  I know this poor blog has been collecting cobwebs and dust the past few months - life has been crazy.  I will tell you all a bit about what has been going on lately in another post (I do plan on trying to get on here at least once a week or so if possible) but right now I want to talk about what has brought me back today.

  As many of you might know, the beauty community recently lost one of our own in 13-year-old Talia Joy Castellano.  She fought a long and hard battle with cancer and earned her wings this week.  One of the last photos she posted to Instagram was a mint manicure she, her mother, and her sister all wore together.  The nail community decided to honor her today by posting "Mint Manis For Talia Joy," headed up by Nicole of Nail Polish Wars.  I had to come back to pay tribute to this amazing little girl!


  For this mani, I recreated an old favorite in mint colors.  I used China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint as a base, OPI Jade is the New Black and Konad White for the stamping using plate BM-315.  The white doesn't pop against the mint quite as much as the blue from the original but I actually love the subtle look.

  I think it's great that so many in the community are showing their love and support for this wonderful person and her family.  She touched a lot of people's lives and will be greatly missed.  My thoughts and prayers to all of her family and friends!


Monday, March 18, 2013

31 Day Challenge, Day 4 - Green: St Patrick's Day!

  I had really meant to get this posted yesterday, but the day turned out sort of crazy and I didn't quite get to it.  So now here is a super fast post of my St. Patrick's Day manicure for Day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge!


  These nails started off with a base of three coats of Zoya Ivanka on all nails, followed by a coat of Shimmer Kelly.  On all but the ring finger, I had originally put on straight, free-hand tips using Zoya Ziv but decided I didn't really like how it looked as well... so I sponged on Shimmer Tracy, a gorgeous gold glitter that I just realized I haven't posted on its own yet, even though I have some fabulous pictures, so expect to see that soon, haha.  The tips ended up a tad gloopy looking with all that on it, but they are still really pretty!


  On the ring finger, I used Zoya Dannii, Song, Ivanka, Ziv, Tanzy, and Reva to paint the rainbow using a striping brush.  Then I used Zoya Raven for the pot and Zoya Ziv with a dotting tool for the gold.  I'm really pleased with how this accent nail came out!  Don't forget to check out Becky's Day 4 nails!  Hope you all had a really great St. Patrick's weekend! 


Friday, March 15, 2013

31 Day Challenge, Day 3: I Choose You, Pikachu!

  Day 3 of the 31 Day Challenge is yellow, and I had a really hard time coming up with an idea for this one.  I don't wear a lot of yellow polish, and I really only have two or three truly yellow polishes in my stash of over 500.  I was very tempted to recreate my bumblebee manicure but wanted to try something new.  After coming up with and dismissing several different ideas, I finally realized that the perfect yellow manicure had been staring me in the face the whole time!  And I do mean that literally, as this has been the show I have been watching while I paint my nails the last couple of weeks.


  I have been a pretty big Pokemon fan since back in the good old days of Pokemon Red and Blue.  For Christmas, Becky got me the entire first season on DVD and I have been happily enjoying the nostalgia of what used to be one of my favorite cartoons as a kid.  What better yellow nails than some Pikachu nail art?  I used Nicole by OPI One Voice as my yellow base, and Zoya Tamsen, Zoya Raven, and Zoya Purity for the red, black, and white.  For the pokeball, I started off with a base of Tamsen and added Purity to the lower half, followed by a strip of black and a rhinestone in the middle.


  I got a lot of comments on these nails - from my residents, fellow students, nurses, the lady at the coffee shop... the two days I wore these I think I had around 15 people stop me and tell me how much they loved my nails.  Only half of them knew it was Pokemon without being told.. but that's okay, haha.  Loved this manicure a lot (although I clearly need to figure out how to put topcoat on dots without smearing them).  So much fun!


  If you are interested in a tutorial on this or any look, don't hesitate to ask (although this one is fairly straight forward).  Don't forget to check out Becky's blog to see what she came up with for Day 3!  I will have Day 4, green for you on Sunday, St. Patrick's Day!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

31 Day Challenge, Day 2 - Orange: Monarch Butterflies

  Hello all!  Orange didn't end up being a very hard prompt for me - it only took me a few seconds to settle on a design that I have been wanting to try for quite awhile, but never had the proper tools (or the confidence) to actually try.  This look has been done by many others and I am glad to have finally recreated my own version!


  For these monarch butterfly nails, I started off with two coats of Zoya Tanzy, a light orange shimmer.  I then sponged on China Glaze Riveting to give a gradient effect from light to dark shimmery orange.  I used Zoya Raven and a striping brush to paint the lines, and Zoya Purity and a dotting tool to add the white dots at the tips of the wings.. I mean nails.  :)


  I really love how these turned out, especially with the gradient!  I think after doing this once I am getting a better feel for how to use the striping brush well, and it makes me want to totally recreate the look because I think I could do a much better job, haha.  Maybe this summer!  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and aside from horribly smearing some of the dots, I really loved it.


  Also, my starting the 31 day challenge prompted my sister Becky to do it along with me!  We are a bit off-synch right now but we'll probably get caught up soon.  Check out her day one nails!  Now I'm off to brainstorm what do to for day three... check back Friday to see what I come up with!


Monday, March 11, 2013

31 Day Nail Art Challenge! Day 1 - Red

  After years of wanting to jump into this challenge and not feeling ready, I have finally decided to take the plunge - with a caveat.  Since my schedule is a bit too hectic to paint my nails daily, I won't actually be completing this in 31 days.  However, it will still hopefully serve to inspire new creative nail art and I am super excited!  So let's get going... day one is red!


  For this challenge I decided to do a fun ladybug manicure - I am in the mood for spring and this was the perfect way to express that on my nails!  I started off with two coats of Zoya Tamsen, and then used Zoya Raven and Zoya Purity for the details.  I finally got the nail art brushes I ordered quite awhile ago and I was excited to get to try them out!  They are definitely easier to work with than the brushes I was using before.


  These little guys were super cute and I got an awful lot of comments on them - even from some of my patients, which was fun.  It is getting a bit warmer here and almost all of the snow from Snowmageddon 2013 has melted... bring on spring!  Although I was not a huge fan of "spring forward" daylight savings time yesterday.  Ugh - I much prefer "falling back" in that regard.  Anyway, if you want to recreate the look, here is a little tutorial I put together!


  Check back Wednesday for Day 2 - Orange!