16 May

Birthday Nail art with Girlstuff Chill

Hello lovely ladies!!

Today is my birthday! Woohoo! It’s been a great day too. My hubby surprised me with a music album of 40 songs by the very talented (and entertaining) Betty Hutton and later on, we are headed to my mother’s house for cupcakes and Oreo cheesecake! Yay!

I’ve been busy with several projects lately and my nails and blog have been on the back burner. I made sure to do my nails for a special occasion like my birthday and I’ve used a new polish sent to me by Girlstuff. They have recently launched their new Rave Neon collection and I chose Girlstuff Chill which is a fun blue shade. It is opaque in two easy coats and dries quickly.

Girlstuff Chill with stamping

I brushed a little glitter here and there and then stamped over it with my MJ XXVI stamping plate from MyOnline Shop. It’s simple but pretty. I’ve been wearing polish pretty consistently but haven’t taken the time to do any nail art. So I’m very happy to have a pretty design on my nails. Today.

I hope your day is as lovely as mine has been. Do something to make someone smile today!

Until next time,

Rach

23 Nov

Girly Halo Hues Gradient with MJ XXVI Stamping

Hello lovely friends!

I noticed that I have had a harder time keeping up with the blogging these past few months. I’ve got a good reason though. For the past three months we’ve had some visitors, I’ve been helping hubby with a huge renovation project, keeping up with school with the kids and had a few health issues to deal with. The good news is that the renovation is almost complete and I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal. I’ve still been doing my nails so I’ve got some fun looks lined up to share with you.  I am so excited to get to some Christmas nail art very soon!

Today I’ve got a pretty gradient and stamped mani to share with you. I started off with one coat of Miss Bliss. Then I taped off my cuticle area to minimize the clean up and sponged Eternal Beauty on the tips of my nails. Then I used my fabulous MJ XXVI stamping plate from My Online Shop. This plate is my FAVORITE floral plate. I can’t get enough of it.

Edited to add: I just noticed that My Online Shop is having a 10% off sale from November 24-30. Enter the code BLKFRIDAY2016 at checkout.

Color club Halo Hues Gradient With Stamping

Aren’t they magical? So girly and sparkly! I loved wearing these and I received lots of compliments on them. That’s always fun! Now for a mandatory macro shot….

Macro of Color Club Gradient with Stamping

Soooo pretty! This is one of my favorite designs I’ve worn so far this year. Gradient nails are so easy to do and the possibilities are endless. If you haven’t tried a gradient look, then grab a sponge and your favorite polishes and go ahead and give it a try! Maybe I should make a photo or video tutorial for you?

I’ve been testing out a new product that I’m so excited to share with you. Keep an eye out for my next post! Have a fantastic day!

Hugs,
Rach

 

25 May

Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection ft. Pueen Love Elements

Hello again!

How was your weekend? Mine was quite busy and stressful, but it was a good one overall! I was looking for the song “Swinging on a star” by Bing Crosby and scored an album on iTunes for $3.99 for 100 Bing Crosby songs! I’m listening to it as I type this. I LOVE oldies! Especially Doris Day, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, and the like.

Anyhooo… y’all came here for the nails! I won’t disappoint! I just published my review and swatches of the new Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection from Girlstuff this past weekend. Please do check out the post if you haven’t already. I thought I would share the easy stamped nail art I wore with each one. I used my Pueen stamping plates from their Love Elements Collection which I bought a couple of years ago.

 

Topaz Horizon ft. Pueen 38

Girlstuff Topaz Horizon With Stamping Pueen 38

With Topaz Horizon, I decided to use plate 38 from the Love Elements collection and a dark purple polish which worked very well. I love the finished look!

 

Struttingonsunshine ft. Pueen 43

Girlstuff Strutting on Sunshine with stamping Pueen 43

I picked a dark pink polish to stamp an image from plate 43 onto Struttingonsunshine. The image stamped well, but I had issues with the polish streaking when I went to add topcoat. I even floated the brush across the design, so I guess the pink polish just didn’t want to stick to SOS. Still pretty and eye catching!

 

AskMeWhats ft. Pueen 29

Girlstuff AskMeWhats with stamping Pueen 29

With AskMeWhats, I stamped this cute bow design using Pueen 29 and a dark blue polish of mine. Then I added some yellow dots to make the design pop! I like how it turned out.

Go Jackie Go ft. Pueen 46

Girlstuff Go Jackie Go with accent nail Pueen 46

I wanted something whimsical for an accent nail with Go Jackie Go. This is what I came up with using Pueen 46. I dabbed a bit of iridescent glitter at the base of my nail. Then I stamped this image over it. Then with a dotting tool, I added some gold dots for a final touch. It turned out so pretty!

I had fun coming up with a complimentary stamped look for each of these colors. I haven’t had as much time for hand painted designs lately, but one can still be creative with stamping, and though simple, it definitely takes your nail polish to another level. Mr. Nailinator has been bugging me to try my hand at another insanely time-consuming design, and I’ve been toying with the idea. Maybe next week after the kids and I close out the school year.

Here is hoping the Monday blues don’t get you down. Always remember that coffee is your friend! Have a good one!
Hugs,
Rach

20 Apr

Chic Pastel Collection Skittles


Hello lovely ladies!

I wanted to pop in and show you not one but TWO skittle manis I’ve done using the Chic Pastel Collection by Chic Centre. My husband purchased these for me for part of his Valentine’s Day nail polish bouquet. ♥

Each of these shades is a lovely creamy pastel that doesn’t go on streaky at all. I would even describe them as crellies because they were a bit jelly-like but still pretty opaque. The only one that I found needed 3 coats was Daisy Wazy (yellow). The collection consists of these 5 shades:
Sweet Pea – Purple
Hula Hoop – Green
Daisy Wazy – Yellow
Baby Doll – Pink
Marionette – Blue (on thumb not pictured)

Chic Pastel Collection Skittles

I loved these and the fact that the colors fit together perfectly for a look that just screams romance and spring time! I added one coat of L.A. Girl 3D Silver because…well because WHY NOT? Amiright?

Chic Pastel Collection with holo

I sported these with my gorgeous, pastel, vintage dress that I bought from Best Finds Thrift Shop.  (They get a shout out because I am such a happy customer.)

Chic Pastels and my dress

I also want to show you the skittles that I did for the Shutterbug. We added some gorgeous stamping using my awesome MJ XXVIII stamping plate from My Online Shop.

Photo Feb 22, 9 33 55 PM

The stamping is in white, so it is subtle (especially over the yellow), but it is oh so pretty!

What do you think about this collection? I usually shy away from yellows and greens, but I can pull off a pastel yellow and pastel green. I love these colors! Oh and here’s a shot of the bouquet my husband made for me on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine's 2015 Nail Polish Bouquet

Have a great week! I hope that you get some coffee and some chocolate to help you cope with the fact that it is Monday. Ugh! Keep smiling anyway!

Hugs,
Rach

15 Apr

Quick and Easy Nail Art (featuring Caronia Shades of Summer)

Hi girls!

Just a super quick post tonight as I’ve got some chores to catch up on so that we can run out sometime tomorrow to get my hubby a rash guard. He and I are headed to the beach in Moalboal for a kid-free day-trip on Saturday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! Yay! I’m super excited and we are both looking forward to some snorkeling, kayaking and lazing about.

I thought I’d show you a few of the quick and easy nail art ideas I came up with using  the Caronia Shades of Summer Collection (See my swatches and review here).
Caronia First Crush with subtle holo stamping

First up is First Crush with a bit of subtle stamping using Color Club Eternal Beauty.  This is an extremely easy way to add a little something extra to your nails.

Caronia Sweet Surprise with water decal

Next, I added a water decal I purchased from Hokee to add a funky contrast for my accent nail. Fun, don’t you think?

Caronia Sun Kissed with Stickers

I saved my least favorite of this bunch for last. I try and try again to love stickers for a quick nail art fix. But stickers really seem to be a hit and miss for me. Honestly the local brand, Wish, is always a miss for me. These didn’t want to cooperate, had bits of glitter on them, and I can clearly see the line from the edge of the sticker. That really bothers my OCD self. They looked pretty cool though.

I told you it would be a quickie! That’s all for today. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Just two more days until the weekend y’all! You can do it!!!!

Keep smiling!
Rach

%d bloggers like this: