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)

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?

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.)

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.

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.

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

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It’s a great day! It’s Friday and it just so happens to be the birthday of one of my all time favorite bloggers EVAR! Jemma of Eeeek! Nail Polish! has just completed another trip around the sun. To celebrate the occasion, several of us got together to honor her by recreating some of her fabulous nail art. I chose this glitter placement mani that she did recently. Check it out. Isn’t it just lovely? If you love nail art you NEED to follow her because she is a never-ending source of amazing inspiration!

Happy birthday Jem! Thanks for being such a darling and an inspiration. I hope that you get spoiled and have a great day. Here is wishing you a great year ahead and many more fabulous manicures to come!

Hugs!
Rach

PS. Thanks Brijit for being a sweetheart and organizing all this.

The post Eeeek! Inspired Glitter Placement Nail Art appeared first on The Nailinator.

Want to know what these pretty purple polishes are?
Pointer – Ballerina by Nails To Go
Middle – Tropical Breeze by L.A. Colors
Pinky – Amethyst by Chic

I used a coat of white under the water decal to keep the colors vibrant. I’m not sure why I can’t get the decals to photograph as clear as they look IRL. But they really do look great.

If you are following me on Instagram you already know this… But Pretty Nifty Thrifty is generously sponsoring a giveaway (open to Philippine residents only). Three lucky winners get their pick of 3 sets of decals as a prize. All you have to do to join is follow @thenailinator and @prettyniftythrifty on IG, repost the picture about the giveaway with #pntgiveaway, and tag a few friends.  What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go! Winners will be announced on Sept. 20!

I hope you are having a great day!
Hugs!
Rach

The post Purple Mix’N’Match Mani (Featuring Pretty Nifty Thrifty Decals) appeared first on The Nailinator.

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

The post Review of Chic Siam (and Freehanded Zebra Stripes) appeared first on The Nailinator.

I hope you had a wonderful day filled with much love and laughter and that you got to spend it with people that you love. We enjoyed a Skype date with my hubby’s folks in Texas and we enjoyed a lovely lunch with my parents and siblings here in Cebu. Among other yummy things, we had some awesome mashed potatoes for lunch. Mr. Nailinator found this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. The secret ingredient? Cream cheese! Best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!

Sometimes a girl needs some nail art that is easy and super speedy. This was just that. I applied my polish ahead of time (I’ll talk more about the polish in a bit) and had planned on doing a lovely free handed design, but due to time constraints (seriously, I’ve got two very active kids and a household to run) I chose to use the Hot016 Christmas themed water decals (should have taken a picture) that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu a while back. It doesn’t really get much easier than water decals, gals. The Blooming Nail decals are great quality. They are so easy to work with. They have vibrant images, and they are thick enough that I was able to use my tweezers to position them, mumble under my breath at my lousy attempt at centering the design, and reposition it several times. Then I applied topcoat to seal it and smooth it out. I forgot to make sure the decal was completely dry before I placed it on my ring finger, thus you can see I experienced a bit of bubbling. Hopefully the next time I do decals I won’t forget that step and they will all be smooth.

The polish I used as my base is Chic Shadow Crystal (PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78). It is one of the 5 shades in their Grainy Collection. The polishes in their Grainy Collection dry to what I would describe as a slightly textured semi-matte finish. This is two thin coats of Shadow Crystal over one coat of San San Cloudy Gray. I think Shadow Crystal would need 4 coats for it to be opaque on it’s own so I decided to use undies again. I really love this polish. It dries fast and I love the finish and the little sparkles. It reminds me again of glistening snow except with a grayish silvery tint. I received several compliments when I wore the polish on it’s own. If you look closely at the pictures with the decals, you will see that there is no visible tip wear. I had already been wearing it without topcoat for 2 full days when I added the decals so it wears quite well also. Cleanup was very easy for me. A few sparklies were left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. This is another perfect holiday shade in my opinion.

I’m still getting used to doing actual reviews on polishes. I would really appreciate if you would tell me if there is any lacking information in this review that you would like me to include in future review posts. Or feel free to tell me what I did right.

Mr. Nailinator convinced me to take the plunge and file my nails to a sort of pointy almond shape so the next time we meet I will be sporting a different look. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback so I hope you all love them too.

I’m singing off for bed now. Again, I hope you had/are having a very merry Christmas. May God bless you and yours.

Hugs,
Rachael

The post Review of Chic Shadow Crystal and Blooming Nail Cebu Water Decals appeared first on The Nailinator.

Great news girls!
I’m officially out of the nail art funk! (and the crowd goes wild)

My submission for the 31 day challenge today would be considered a stretch for many but not so much for me. The theme is “Inspired by a book”. While Doctor Who is obviously a TV series, I have never seen the show. The Shutterbug, on the other hand, is an avid fan and I happened upon a collectors item book at a used book store and flipped through it to familiarize myself a bit. So you see how this qualifies as “inspired by a book” for me. The Shutterbug has been aching for Doctor Who nail art and she came up with what she wanted and told me the ten nail designs she wanted and we went from there. I have never watched Doctor Who so she had to explain most of them and show pictures.

From left to right we have The Doctor’s (Matt Smith) fez, The Doctor’s (David Tennant) blue suit, a gold Dalek, The Doctor (Tennant) and his 3D glasses, two hearts representing The Doctor’s two hearts, the TARDIS, a Cyberman and a little andipose guy. On the thumbs below we have tally marks from the episode with The Silence and a galaxy nail.

Do you like them? My favorite is the gold Dalek. I think they all look cool and The Shutterbug keeps saying they are the most awesome nails ever so I think I executed her dream look well. Hopefully those of you who are Whovians (????) like them too.

This is my first time photographing someone else’s nails in the lightbox so the pictures are a bit different. I think you get the picture.

I used a ton of supplies to do these and I’m not going to list them all but here’s a picture…

I hope you are all having a great day. Today was our day off and we got to go out and run some errands and play with the kids. Good times!

Hugs!

The post Doctor Who Nail Art appeared first on The Nailinator.

I used a whole bunch of different polishes to do this and don’t particularly want to get my bum off the couch to list them all (it’s been a long day). Sorry. I guess it’s one of those days.

On a more exciting note, I’ve got a great week lined up for you gals. I’m going to be guest posting on not just one but TWO great blogs this week and hopefully I will have my very first guest poster come visit to wow us with her amazing skills! I am excited so stay tuned!

Just in case you missed it, I joined instagram a couple of weeks back and I would love to connect with you there especially if you want to see more pictures than what I share here or on FB. Find me @thenailinator (I’ve got a link in the side bar) and let me know you follow my blog too.

I hope you are having a fantabulous weekend. Talk to you soon!

The post Sun and Flowers Nail Art appeared first on The Nailinator.

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!

The post Reverse Gradient Leopard Print appeared first on The Nailinator.

I got word from The Shutterbug that she has started on my wishlist of polishes to buy for me while she is in the US. She found Sally Hansen Golden-I and Sinful Colors Easy Going. I’m excited. Does anyone know where she can pick up a couple of LA Girl 3d Effects in a store in Texas? I know I can get them online if she can’t get them but I only wanted Sparkle Ruby and Brilliant Blue.

I hope y’all have a great day!

The post Montana Glitter appeared first on The Nailinator.

Here I’ve used 2 coats of Chic Black Velvet and did my art with white acrylic paint and topped it with Etude House Matte Real. I went with an elementary theme as you can see. Shapes, spelling, letters, multiplication and the thumb is writing lines. I thought that was a nice touch although it is REALLY hard to write letters so tiny! Props to the ladies that make it look good.

PLEASE ignore the horrible state of my cuticles. I blame it on playing in the pool with the kids today.

Well, I’m off to bed. Have a good one ladies!

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