Luna Nails

  Last October I did a manicure in honor of my sweet baby boy Leo.  I decided it was about time that I did one to honor his slightly diabolical but still very loving sister, Luna!

 

  For these nails, I started with two coats of Zoya Dove as the light gray base.  I followed this up with leopard print stamping from BM-221 for all but the ring finger, and the design from M57 for the ring finger, using Konad Special Black.  I then added darker gray dots to some of the leopard spots using Zoya Kelly, as well as adding the kitty image to the ring finger in Kelly as well, using BM04.  I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite and was good to go!  I had a lot of fun with this one, especially with the accent finger.  I don't often do accent fingers but it was really fun, I may have to do more in the future!

Luna!

Kitties

  Gotta love them kitties.  :)

Summer Citrus Konadicure

  After swatching the Zoya summer collections, I was really in the mood for a light and summery manicure.. since I was already wearing Tanzy after swatching, I decided it was the perfect base for a summer citrus manicure!

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  I started off with my base color of three coats of Zoya Tanzy, and added the fishnet pattern with Konad Special White and Konad plate m57.  I then used another gorgeous Zoya, Dita and Bundle Monster Plate BM04 to create the citrus fruits.  I wore this mani for almost a week (things are still crazy busy and I had no time to change it!) with almost no chipping and got a lot of compliments.  I am ready for summer now!  Too bad it is still cold and dreary here...

Manhattan 610K - And Its Next Destination!

  You may remember awhile back my POST about Manhattan 610K, a German polish that is making its way around our blogging network, and around the world!  Today I have for you my manicure using this fabulous polish, as well as its next destination!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash

  Manhattan 610K is a very gorgeous blue-toned purple creme.  While the picture above is artificial light (it was a cloudy, rainy, miserable day), it is fairly color accurate.  The application was amazingly smooth, and dry time was great.  This is two coats, which was definitely enough to reach full opacity.  After the polish dried, I used China Glaze OMG using Konad m57 to create the holo silver fishnet background.  I love this polish as a stamping polish on darker polishes, I can't wait to try it out again!

Check out that holo goodness.  Artificial light

  On top of that, I added the white swooshing tip pattern with plate m80 and Konad Special White polish.  I topped it off with Seche Vite.  This pattern is very cute (I am still wearing it now!) and was perfect for the KSU basketball game I went to last night!  Did you know that K-State is currently ranked #3 in the country?  I can't wait for this basketball season! :D

Artificial Light

Natural Lighting Lamp

  Above you can see a couple of pictures of Manhattan 610K by itself.  It is seriously a stunning purple!  I would totally keep this if I could, but it has to keep making its way around the globe!  I used Random.org to find out where this baby would go next, and the winner is...

  jbrobeck, from POLISH INSOMNIAC!  The polish will be making its way to her this week, and you can keep an eye on her blog for her manicure with this beauty, as well as another chance to have it sent to you!  Thanks so much to Kesha, who started this off, and to Sammy, who sent the polish to me.  It has been a lot of fun to be involved in this! :D

OPI Show It And Glow It - with Konad

  Last night I decided to try out an experiment.  I absolutely LOVE glitter-bomb polish, and have always worn it by itself; not even as a top coat.  But I decided to give Konading over such a polish a try, and I am fairly pleased with the results.

Outdoors, full sun, no flash

  This is three coats of OPI Show It and Glow It!, a gorgeous chunky glitter polish from their Burlesque line.  It is completely gorgeous, with the main colors being medium pink, blue and silver same-sized glitter.  It gives off a really great sparkle.  Be prepared to stare at your nails with this one!  Application was very nice, like most good glitters.  Dry time was great and there was minimal bumpiness to the finish - two coats of Seche Vite totally smoothed out any rough feeling.

Zoomed-in view of the glitter!

  As for my Konad experimentation, I used my favorite silver stamper Nicole by OPI Positive Energy and Konad plate m57.  While I wasn't sure originally if I was going to like the look of stamping over such a colorful glitter polish, I have decided I really like the effect.

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  What do you think - Konading over a glitter-bomb polish a yes or no?  Have you ever tried it?

Leo(pard) Print Manicure

  Last week I received my package from Magic Maid's blog sale.  Included in the package was a Konad plate I have been wanting for quite awhile, m57.  I just had to take a break from Halloween nails and use it!

Outdoors, full sun

   I have had the idea for this mani for quite awhile now.  I actually picked up the two polishes I used with the specific intent of doing this exact manicure!  For the base, I used Wet n Wild Craze Goldmine, a gorgeous golden shimmery polish.  It was very sheer, taking four thin coats to reach full opacity, but the dry time was great and the final effect was gorgeous!  Three coats left just a touch of VNL, which is why I sprang for the fourth coat.

Shade, left hand - the nubbins are finally starting to get there!

   On top of the golden color, I used Konad plate m57 with Konad Special Black to add leopard print spots to the nails.  Then I used Wet n Wild Craze Rustic to dab a bit of a darker brown, shimmery color into the middle of some of the open spots.  I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite and was good to go!

Outdoors, shade

  Sorry for the slightly messy cuticles here, I had no time before the sun went down so I did a super speedy clean-up just to get a couple of larger messes, and didn't really get a chance to clean up the rest of the cuticles.  Overall this mani was really fun, wore well and I loved the colors.  I am so glad I finally got a chance to do this mani.  I had some awesome inspiration!

Manicure inspiration

  I know what you are thinking.  "Oh, what an absolutely gorgeous and fabulous leopard print, where did you find such stunning beauty?!"  Or something along those lines. ;)

Leo!

  On Leo, of course!  Not only is he like the sweetest kitty cat ever (even if he is super shy around strangers, unlike Luna who thinks that she is a dog, or perhaps "a people" as Dan and I say), he is also in my opinion the most gorgeous cat I have ever seen!  So it is no wonder that he would be inspiration for art - nail art or otherwise!

  I wanted to get a picture of my nails on Leo, but he is not such a fan of cameras.  Even when they are not on, he does not seem to like it so much.  I think the photo shoot I put him through last spring traumatized him.  So that is the only picture I was able to get.  I think the nails were a pretty decent representation of Leo's coat.

  What do you think of my Leo print mani?  Have you ever done nails inspired by your pets?