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

16 Apr

Girl Stuff Soirée (with Wild Berries)

Hi gals!
I feel sad that I haven’t been able to post as much as usual lately. I’ve been nursing a cough/cold for 2 weeks now, and we have been preparing for our trip to Texas. We leave in the morning, and while I am not looking forward to the long trip, I am looking forward to being with our family and friends there.

I’m so thrilled to finally have Girl Stuff Soirée in my collection. It’s been on my lemming list since I saw it in December. I finally ordered it a couple of weeks ago, and of course, I had to use it immediately. It’s a teal jelly base loaded with teal, green, purple and gold glitter. There is also a splash of holo in it that is lovely. I applied 2 coats and enjoyed the sparkly, textured finish for a couple of days. Then I applied top coat and loved it even more. The glitter really sparkles like crazy with top coat. It needed two coats to make it smooth.

Girl Stuff Soirée with Wild Berries and top coat

For my accent nail, I placed striping tape on the nail and then added one coat of Wild Berries (which Girl Stuff sent me as a bonus from their new Summer Collection. Thanks again, Girl Stuff!) and peeled off the tape before it could dry. Wild Berries is a pinkish purple that is very flattering.

Girl Stuff Soirée swatch

 

Here is a shot of Soirée on its own, without topcoat. Both Soirée and Wild Berry dried quickly and were easy to use. Girl Stuff polishes are 3 free too so that is great! Check out their FB page or Instagram to see more of their pretty polishes.

I think you will see Wild Berries again soon as it made in into my luggage for the trek across the globe. Believe it or not, I’ve only packed a few polishes to bring. I am planning to pick up a few in the US, so I tried to limit myself to about 10. Success!

That’s all from me for now. I’m going to try to get a bit of sleep before we have to load up and head to the airport. I’m excited because the hubby bought me an awesome “Greatest Hits of the 1950’s” album for me for the trip in honor of our anniversary which is also today. Nine years baby! Woohoo! Next time you hear from me, I should be in Texas enjoying some Mexican food, Dr. Pepper, and shopping (with coupons!) at Kohl’s!

I hope you have a fabulous day!
Hugs,
Rach

07 Jan

Guest Post by Simply Rins

Howdy!

I’m so excited to have the very talented Rina of Simply Rins stop by for a guest post today. Rina is the very first Filipina nail artist I discovered when I began getting into my hobby obsession and I’ve been stalking her ever since. She has great tutorials and tips and tricks for nail art and always has something creative to share. The tip that still comes to mind for me is to cut out caffeine before you plan to paint to minimize shakiness. It really makes a big difference. Please go check out her blog if you haven’t already. I even recreated her dripping rainbow manicure when I first started my blog. I’ll let her say hello now. 🙂

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

First of all, I’d like to say “Hello” to all the readers of The Nailinator! It seems timely that I mark the new year with something that I haven’t done before — to guest post! This is definitely the first for Simply Rins. I deeply appreciate the invitation and I hope that this nail art design I came up with will not disappoint.

Now where to begin? How about starting with the fact that we have entered 2014! The past year was full of challenges for me as a blogger. But every turn of the year calls for a celebration. Don’t you think so? No matter what happened the previous year, a new year represents another chance to be better. And so folks, I think my first nail design for 2014 should be a celebration. Only one idea came to mind before I sat down to do this — confetti.

I simply called this nail art, Welcoming 2014:

Welcoming 2014 Nail Art Design by Simply Rins

The idea is to paint colorful confetti on all my nails on a dark background so that the colors would pop. I was imagining confetti being showered on the streets during the new year countdown. I love the effect of contrasts at night.

Welcoming 2014 Nail Art Design on Seche Nouveau

For base, I used 2 coats of Seche Nouveau. I found Seche lacquers being sold in one of the bazaars I went to last October 2013 and I bought a few bottles. I have been meaning to try these ever since the news came out that Seche was launching 45 polish shades into the market. I am a huge fan of Seche Vite fast drying top coat and I am curious how the brand will fair with polishes. With the 3 colors that I have, I must admit it didn’t disappoint!

Nouveau appears charcoal gray on the nails and I love eeeet! I personally feel it is a great alternative to black. Consistency is good that makes application really manageable. Can be a one coater with a generous coat. But I still prefer 2 thin layers for complete coverage. I can’t wait to try the other shades.

Welcoming 2014 Nail Art Design

This is a freehand nail art using acrylic paints and a dotting tool. I find it easier to draw swirls using a dotting tool instead of a nail art brush because I can control the strokes better. A brush can result to a more defined edges or lines. But for this design, I don’t think you really need much precision.

Welcoming 2014 Nail Art

I decided to use pastel colors for the confetti. I particularly used 5 different shades for each nail on both hand. I used the same colors for adding a few dots to fill in awkward spaces. Initially, I thought that neons would look better but I didn’t have any. Are there neon acrylic paints? I think that would be a great addition to my nail art tools. I can also imagine how this would look if they are glowing in the dark!

Welcoming 2014 Nail Art Design by Rina Alcantara

Well, there you have it! A nail art design to celebrate 2014! The concept is simple and it is not so hard to do as well. I had fun painting my nails with this design and quite happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Thank you again to the wonderful author of this blog for this opportunity to share with you, her dear readers, one of my nail art creations. It is a pleasure to start the year with a chance to reach out to fellow nail art enthusiasts. Happy New Year to everyone! 🙂

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Aren’t they adorable? The design is so festive and the colors are great. What a great idea to use a dotting tool for the swirls. Don’t forget to check out Rina’s blog to see more great nail art.
Rins, thank you so much for dropping by! I’m honored that you agreed to do a design and have your first guest post be on my blog! I love what you came up with. It was definitely worth the wait! 😉 Happy New Year to you too! I hope 2014 turns out to be your best yet!
04 Sep

Guest Post by Craftynail!

Hi girls!
Welcome to all the new faces! *waves* I’m so happy to have you here. I’ve got another treat for you today! I’ve asked the very talented Jacqui of Craftynail to do a guest post and I’m so excited to show you what she has created! She is always coming up with some very cool and clever designs. If you don’t already follow her, you need to! Go, go, go!

Take it away Jacqui!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hello all!
My name is Jacqui and I have a blog in the US called Craftynail! I’m so very happy to do a guest post for The Nailinator today! Rachael and I both participated in a nail art challenge together earlier in the year- and the rest is history. We’ve been blogging buddies ever since! I’m also signed up for email alerts so I won’t miss any of The Nailinator’s posts. Did you see her Van Gogh Starry Night manicure from July? What a masterpiece! So when Rachael suggested I do something artistic like that for this guest post I figured I’d give it a try! It’s a perfect theme for me since I live in a very artistic household. My boyfriend is an artist so at any given moment there’s a good chance that both of us will be painting- me with my nails, and him with his movie paintings. So I’m gathering up all that artistic juju and putting it towards this manicure. How about some nail art inspired by Van Gogh’s Almond Blossoms ??

almond_blossoms_nails
wiki_Almond_Blossoms copy

I started with a coat of Sally Hansen Maximum Strength and then applied three coats of a scattered holo from AVON called Celestial. I’ve only done a handful of guest posts so far, but I’ve realized that I used a holo basecoat for every single one! I’m seeing a pattern here. LOL! I can’t help it- scattered holos are just my style! They’re so fun and I think they make a great base for nail art.

I noticed that Van Gogh’s branches were defined and had dark outlines around them. So I gave my branches definition by first drawing them on with my black Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen . Then I filled them in using a detail brush and 3 different green & grey polishes: China Glaze Westside Warrior, Orly Jealous, Much? and Orly Faint of Heart. Then I hand-painted some blossoms using three different yellow & brown polishes: Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty, Sinful Colors Pull Over and Sinful Colors Nirvana . I topped it all off with my favorite Seche Vite topcoat… and there ya have it! Van Gogh-inspired nails!

van_gogh_nail_art

Thank you Rachael for hosting my post! I look forward to your fresh nail designs once you’re settled in after the holiday!

And thank you all for reading. I love meeting new faces so feel free to find me on my blog, facebook, pinterest, twitter or bloglovin.

xx Jacqui

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

I just love these so much! Don’t you? She’s so very creative and she’s super sweet too! I hope you will drop by and visit her and show her some love.

Thanks a million Jacqui! I think you did a great job gathering up the artistic juju. Ha! We had a wonderful holiday and are still having a great visit. I look forward to getting some awesome nail art done in the near future too.

I hope you gals are having a great week so far. Toodles!

02 Sep

Guest Post by Chit Chat Nails!

Yes! You read the title correctly!
I’m honored (and pretty much in a state of disbelief) to have Marta of Chit Chat Nails guest post today. I have been stalking following her blog ever since my nail art addiction began and it is truly one of THE BEST out there. No one can match her skills with color combos, accent nails and stamping. If you aren’t already following her then you need to go do so now. 🙂
 
Take it away Marta!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Hello Lovely Ladies,

My name is Marta and I run a little Canadian Nail Art blog called Chit Chat Nails.

When Rachael asked me for a guest post I was very flattered… and while I waited until the very last minute to submit my post (shame on me, I know, I’m so very embarrassed), I hope you like what I have come up with.

It really is an honor be be here!  While stamping is my nail-specialty, I chose a very simple look for today’s post… I sometimes stamp my little heart out, and then just crave a simple look (do you ever have that craving?).

For this manicure I used two coats of OPI Chic from Ears to Tail.  For the silver accent nails I used three shades:
First, one coat of Sally Hansen Celeb City (a silver foil)
Then, one coat of OPI Crown me Already (a dense silver multi-size glitter)
Finally, one coat of Animeniac Cosmetics Crash Landing (a black and white shredded glitter).

I really enjoyed how soft and yet sparkly this look was, and I hope you did as well.
Thank you Rachael for inviting me to post on The Nailinator- I’m so sorry I was fashionably-late 😉

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Do you see what I mean? So pretty, girly and sparkly! Thanks you Marta for doing a post for me. You rock! I definitely know what you mean about craving a simpler look after a lot of busy nails. It doesn’t happen too often though. Ha!
 
I hope you girls will go check out her blog if you haven’t already. You can find Chit Chat Nails on Facebook or Instagram as well.
I hope everyone is having a great week. We had a great time at the beach with friends and family last week and are still enjoying visiting at home. Lots of good times and laughter.
See ya!
 
%d bloggers like this: