Nail Art: Japanese Garden

Here's part two of my foray into nail decals this weekend. LA Colors Wired provided the deep royal blue background for these red and pink floral decals from Kiss. 

Nail Art: Gold Embossed Burgundy

After a failed experiment with Revlon's nail stencils (I'm returning them to CVS pronto—impossible to use!!), I still had my heart set on floral designs. I turned to a simpler option—Kiss Nail Artist decals. I used the Confetti shade Glam 'N Up for this burgundy background. No more stenciling for me—I love the more intricate look of these gold decals!

Caramel Apple and Candy Apple Red Nails

Fall makes me think of county fairs with candy apples and caramel apples. I tried to duplicate both for these manis. To get the glasslike look of a candy apple I alternated thick layers of essie's appropriately named Jelly Apple with a glossy topcoat.

I didn't think it would be so easy to find a caramel colored nail shade, but on my first stop (at Bed Bath and Beyond) I was lucky enough to find L'Oreal's Hudson Sunset from their limited edition New York Nudes collection. The apple red is Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby. Admittedly there's no apple shape but I think I got the shades right, so those of you with more artistic talents than mine can create your own caramel apple mani.

Nail of the Week: Matte/Gloss

Revlon's new shade Surf is a great muted blue option for Fall. To add some dimension I used the topcoats NYC Matte Me Crazy and China Glaze Patent Leather.

Halloween Nails: Bride of Frankenstein

My Halloween posts from last year have been getting a lot of attention lately, so I guess it's not too early for more Halloween nail art.

Here's my follow up to last year's Frankenstein mani (link). Refer to that post for the techniques I used for drawing the eyes, mouth and hair. The nails I used are fake—I wanted them extra long to give the bride longer hair—they're Kiss brand Natural Square Long. The purple base coat is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails No Hard Feelings. For the earrings I used Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Showgirl Chic.

Nail of the Week: Simply Striped

I looked for a milky white shade that was glossy and semi-opaque and I found it in Sally Hansen's Polar Bare. The blue is essie Beach Bum Blu and I used nail tape for the pink metallic stripe. 

Olympian Mani: Going for the Gold with Minx Nails

I was in the mood for gold this weekend for obvious reasons. For a truly mirror-like metallic you can't do better than Minx.

This was my first experience with Minx nail polish strips. If you're not familiar with the brand, you can have them applied professionally at some salons (including Ulta), and you can also purchase the DIY packages for less, although there is a smaller shade selection if you choose the latter option.

As you can see the first shade (Technical Tribal) went on a bit cleaner than the second (Gold Moons). Admittedly my technique still needs work but I established two things: 1. In my experience patterned shades look better than solids because the slight wrinkles and bubbles are less visible. 2. Minx brand goes on a bit easier than the other brands I've worked with (Kiss and Sally Hansen). I only wish Ulta carried more shades!

Oh, and if you're planning to buy these at Ulta, try to avoid paying full price ($18). Coupons for Ulta are easy to come by—here's a Link to a printable coupon on their site.

Go USA!

Nail of the Day: Sally Hansen Crowd Surfer

This was my second favorite shade from SH' Avril Lavigne collection of nail polish strips and I picked it up for 50% off at Target this week. A cool glittery look for summer. I saw the entire collection on clearance at two local Targets this week, so act fast if you still want any of the Avril shades! By the way it's also a near-exact match of Sephora/OPI's $12 nail polish strips in the shade Silver & Blue Ombre. 

Crazy Summer Nails: Sally Hansen Purr-fect Harmony

This was one of my two picks from SH' Avril Lavigne collection. When I found these on clearance at Target this week I snapped up this one as well as Crowd Surfer. Once I applied these I liked the pattern even more. As usual I had a little trouble with the application process and it's not as perfect as I'd like but still, a fun look for summer. The multi-shades and gradients are what really make this shade.

Nail of the Week: Sally Hansen Good Morning Glory

This is another of my favorites from SH' Spring 2012 limited edition nail polish strip collection. It's mostly sold out everywhere, but I still see the display here and there and I happened to spot this at Walgreens yesterday. These are so lovely and feminine—perfect for a summer bridal shower or cocktail party. 

Crazy Summer Nails: Pink Peacock

I couldn't do a series of peacock prints without a peacock mani! These nails are wrapped in Kiss Nail Dress strips in the shade Push-Up. I love the Lilly Pulitzer-ish color scheme.

4th of July Nails

I used nail tape stenciling to create this flag-striped pattern. The shades are:

• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away
• Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

Rosette Nails

I'm still on my "all things roses" kick and I think I've found the most perfect shade of rose nail polish—Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rose Run. The decals are from a Kiss nail design set.

Water Marbled Rose Stripe

More water marbling. I was in a rosy mood this week and I took advantage of the Sally Hansen buy one/get one 50% off to pick these four shades. All are SH Insta-Dri. From darkest to lightest:

• Magenta Motion
• Rose Run
• Presto Pink
• Petal Pusher

Nail of the Week: Blue and Green Color Blocked

I used nail tape to separate the three stripes. My shades are:

• Top: Revlon Blue Mosaic
• Middle: essie Sweet Talker
• Bottom: Sinful Colors Mint Apple 

Crazy Summer Nails: Rainbow Sherbet

More ice cream fun—these colors look good enough to eat. To create this design I used one of my favorite nail art techniques, water marbling. My shades are:

 

• Orange: Sally Hansen Smooth Perfect Sorbet
• Lime: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet
• Raspberry: Sinful Colors Star Fish

Crazy Summer Nails: Lemon Lime

I used Sally Hansen nail polish strips trimmed with some pinking shears to create this vibrant mani. The shade name is Groove. The yellow polish is Sally Hansen Lightening. 

Crazy Summer Nails: Neapolitan Ice Cream

Here's the first in my series of fun, anything-goes manicures for summer. For this creamy design I deliberately applied thick coats to give the effect of melting ice cream. My shades are:

• Chocolate: Sally Hansen Honey Whip
• Vanilla: Sally Hansen Mousseline
• Strawberry: Wet 'n Wild #402 Tickled Pink

DIY Caviar Manicure

I'm a big fan of this textured look—the real thing costs $26 plus but like many others I used scrapbooking microbeads to create my own. For this mani I used Recollections' metallic collection from Michaels craft store over the Sally Hansen nail polish shade Emerald Express. 

Nail of the Week: Sally Hansen Mad for Plaid

I'm still seeing displays of SH' limited edition Spring 2012 designs and I picked up this plaid design a few days ago. It would look cute on its own but for fun I paired it with a matching SH polish—Salon Manicure Casting Call.