02 Jan

The Nailinator Does Nails

Hi Gals!

Happy New Year! I’ve got a scheduled post for you today as our plans to go out of town pushed through. Hopefully the weather will have cleared up and we have had the chance to soak up some sun while we are by the beach. If not, I’m sure we are having a grand time anyway.

I thought I would do a quick post sharing some of the nail art I have done for friends and family last month. I did a few designs that are seasonal and a few that would be great for any time of the year.

First up we have some fun zebra stripes in Christmas colors that I convinced The Shutterbug (my youngest sister) to let me try on her. If anyone can pull of this look, it’s her! I did the stripes with acrylic paint and a striper brush.

Christmas Zebra Stripes

Next we have some super cute and easy winter wonderland nails I did for The Bookworm (my other younger sister). We started with a light blue base (Sansan Warm Blue), and I stamped snow flakes and an adorable snowman from my OB19 plate that I purchased last year from MyOnline Shop. I added a few tiny dots for a finishing touch.

Winter Wonderland Nail Art

Next up is a look The Queen Mother requested after seeing my Holly Jolly nails. She wanted my holly stamped accent nail with all the other nails in red. I wish I could remember the name of the red she brought along. It is a stunner. I will check with her and update this (then I’ll probably go out and buy it!).

Holly Accent Nail

Next, I’m showing you a look that I was surprised to find I ended up really liking. A friend showed me a picture and I did my best to replicate what she was asking for. First I painted the whole nail in a very light jelly pink. Then I added color to just half of each nail (alternating brown and white). On each brown nail I painted a tiny gold bow. On each white nail I taped off the non-white part of the nail and stamped an image in black over the white. The tape kept the stamping on the white part I had painted before. I added a gold stripe across the nail and was finished. I had never tried a half nail design like this and had also never tried a stamping technique like this. It is always fun to try new things.

Gold Bow

The next look is a floral design, something I’ve done several times before with different color combinations. This lovely lady picked mint green and off white as her base colors and wanted small roses and leaves. This was my first time painting such tiny roses which proved to be a challenge. I did my best, though, and she liked them so that is what counts after all.

Floral Nail Art

The last look I have to share with you is so fun and colorful! My friend wanted rainbow stripes with black strokes. I used a striping brush to paint each color in rows starting from the cuticle out toward the tip (purple, blue, green, yellow, pink and orange). I used black acrylic paint and added the black marks. We did this on her accent nails and thumbs. Since we used 6 colors I suggested we paint the other nails with those colors. They look suuuper cute!

Rainbow Nails

I love doing nails for other people. It is fun to take on the challenge of suggesting things that will suit them and colors that will go with what they have in mind. Do you do nails for family and friends? If you follow me on Instagram you have probably already seen these as I share them there most of the time.

I hope you have had a wonderful holiday vacation so far. Mine has involved lots of food and laughs with my family which is just the way I like it. I’ve been under the weather with a crazy cold that won’t go away. But on the bright side, my hubby has been a darling taking care of me and the kids most of the time. I’m a lucky lady for sure!  Whatever you ended up doing for the New Year, I hope you have had a great time and blessed year ahead!

Hugs!
Rach

03 Sep

I’m Guest Posting at Simply Rins!

Hey all!
I’ve whipped up something bright and fun for a guest post at Simply Rins. Rina is an uber talented nail blogger from the Philippines. She is a super sweet gal as well and I’m thrilled that she asked me to post for her. Perhaps you recall that she did a guest post for me back at the beginning of this year. It’s so fun to have friends that share your passion. Please go check out her blog! You won’t be sorry you did. Thanks again, Rina!

I’ve included some instructions and tips in my post on how you can get this look.

Go check out my guest post now!

Rawr! Summer isn’t over just yet. Thanks for dropping by. Have a fabulous day/night!

Hugs,
Rach

10 Feb

Review of Chic Siam (and Freehanded Zebra Stripes)

Hi!
I’ve got another locally made beauty to show you today. Chic has a line of polishes called their “Grainy” collection. I’ve used 4 of the 5 shaded in the collection in the past but this is my first time to use Siam. I applied 2 coats of Siam and used black acrylic paint and a striper brush to free hand some zebra stripes. Yeah, another edgy Valentine’s Day appropriate look!

With topcoat

I added a bow I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu.

Just like the other shades in the Grainy Collection, Siam dries to a semi matte, slightly textured finish. The light box lighting doesn’t do the sparkle justice at all.

It is so sparkly and I love the slightly textured finish. Siam only required 2 coats for opacity and it wears well. Clean up was easy too. There were a few sparkly bits left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. I would like to note that, even after I applied top coat, it still was a bit textured. So if you want that extra smooth, glossy finish, you might need 2 coats of topcoat. I love this polish just as much as I love the others in this collection. These are available in 10ml bottles for PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78.

Check out the other colors in the collection:
Shadow Crystal
Montana
Peridot
Amethyst
Montana & Amethyst Gradient

I hope you have a great week!
Hugs,
Rachael

20 Aug

Neon Leopard Print

Hi ladies!
Before we get to the nails I’d like to let you know that it recently came to my attention that the “word verification” was set to ON for my comment section. Which means those of you who have been commenting are absolute darlings for enduring those stupid captchas all this time! I’m so sorry about that! Anyway, I’ve changed it and hopefully we are past that. Let me know if it pops up again because I remember turning it off when I first started the blog since I knew what a pain captchas can be especially on smartphones.

On to the good stuff!

RAWR!

So I have been feeling pretty low the past few days and decided I needed a really fun mani to cheer me up. So I incorporated my one of my favorites (leopard print) with the Shutterbug’s favorite thing (neons) and came up with this. What do you think? These are so fun and flashy! If you have been around, you already know I have a tough time going full blown neon on my nails. But I think this works for me for a fun day off.

 

I started with two coats of Jocarste white. Using a medium-large dotting tool, I added oddly shaped dots with Klik Neon Pink, Neon Green, Neon Orange, Neon Blue and Neon Yellow. Then I took my tiny dotting tool and added all the black with Oh My Golly Blackout. The colors actually look more highlighter-esque IRL.

I hope you are having a great week. Keep smiling!

23 Jul

Reverse Gradient Leopard Print

All products used were purchased by me or given as a gift to me by a friend.
All opinions are my own. 🙂

Day 22 of the Rather Awesome 31 Day Challenge Giveaway is “animal themed” and I’ve been hankering for some leopard print. 

Have you ever had an idea for some nail art that looked amazing in your head but didn’t quite translate the way you expected on your nails? Yeah, me too. But this is NOT one of those ideas.
I wanted to try a reverse gradient leopard print manicure (I’ve never seen one of those) and picked a color scheme and went all in and look what I came up with….

TADAAAA!!!

Oh yes! This look rocks! I’m not usually one to toot my own horn but I did GOOD! I started off with one coat of Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet then sponged on Mint Sorbet, CG For Audrey and L.A. Colors Atomic with a makeup sponge. Then I used a dotting tool with Mint Sorbet and Atomic for the spots and outlined them with Chic Black Velvet. This is definitely not a subtle look but I think it’s a lot of fun. 🙂 I’ve got a fun day out tomorrow and I’m excited I’ll be rocking these pretties all day.

I hope you guys love these as much as I do. Have a great day!

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