Hello ladies!

I hope everyone is doing fine. I am just now entering my third trimester and the baby is doing great. I can complain of aches and pains but that sounds rather boring. Don’t you think? Instead, I just wanted to pop in with a quick post to share a quick skittle mani I came up with. I was in the mood for something a bit bold and funky and this is what I came up with. I have some swatch posts coming up but I wanted to share this fun nail art first.

Fun and funky, right? I’ve used several different polishes including Medusa from Nails To Go on my ring finger and Decadent by Sinful Colors on my middle finger.  I also tried out the craft scissors and ziplock bag technique for the first time. I painted a couple of coats of black nail polish onto a clean ziplock bag. After the polish dried, I peeled it off the plastic and used some zigzag craft scissors and cut some strips. I polished my pinky nail with two coats of Rendezvous by Seche and, while it was still a little bit tacky, I carefully placed the black zigzags and applied topcoat to bring it all together.  The glitter bits on my pointer and middle fingers were added using a tiny dot of nail glue to keep them in place. I recommend using an orange wood stick to apply the glue in the exact place you want it. Then seal with top coat.

Well, that’s all for now. Like i said, I’ve got some swatches coming up next. I hope you enjoyed seeing these fun nails and that perhaps it inspires you to think out of the box a bit and have some fun with your next mani. I hope you have a wonderful week and that you get to make someone smile today.

Hugs,
Rach

The post Fun and Funky Pink and Black Skittles appeared first on The Nailinator.

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

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

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

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

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

The post Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection ft. Pueen Love Elements appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hi Dolls!

Today I’m sharing my latest Nebula (or Galaxy) art. This is one of my favorite looks to sport on my nails. Aren’t they pretty? Sometimes I think I’ll try something fancy with crazy colors and mix it up, but I always end up just liking it like this with pretty purple nebulae.

Back in November when I swatched CND Midnight Swim, I knew I wanted use it as the base for my next Nebula nail art look. It’s such a pretty deep blue, and I was excited to test its durability with nail art over it! While the base color is CND Midnight Swim, all the purples, blues and glitter were done using  several Girlstuff polishes and a makeup sponge torn into small pieces. Check out my tutorial for nebula nails here. It takes a lot of sponging, but it is really easy to do. I added some stars using white polish and a small dotting tool. The criss-crossed stars were done using a teensy tiny brush that I cut into just a few strands.

I’ve been wearing this for 8 full days now, and I’ve got to say, I am SO impressed! Just look at this side by side of Day 1 and Day 8!

Can you believe it? I like this brand even more the second time around! This polish is out of this world! I would definitely recommend these CND Vinylux Weekly polishes for their long wear time. Check out my full review here.

You can get your own CND products by contacting CND Philippines on Facebook, Instagram  or Twitter.

Have a stellar day!
Hugs,
Rach

The post CND Vinylux Midnight Swim Nebula Nail Art appeared first on The Nailinator.

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.

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.

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!).

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.

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.

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!

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

The post The Nailinator Does Nails appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hello loves!

I’ve got another quick post for you this evening to share these super cute nails I have been sporting for almost a week now.

Don’t  you think they look like Christmas wrapping paper? They turned out so cute and were very easy to do. I applied my gold polish then added stamping using a no name brand opaque green polish I have in my stash. I used a small dotting tool to make the red holly berries. The holly image is part of the OB19 stamping plate which I purchased last year from Myonline Shop. This image is just perfect for Christmas nail art. It is loaded with great images. I used the two snow flake images for some nail art last December. I also used the Christmas tree image for some simple nail art on The Bookworm last night. You can see those if you check out my Instagram account.

As you can tell, I chose to stamp the holly image multiple times to cover each nail. I did start off with this as a simple accent nail (see below). It was a couple of days and several compliments later that I decided I needed holly on all my nails.

I finally got my hands on a clip-on macro lens for my phone. So I took a shot of these just for fun!

Well, I hope you like these as much as I do and that they give you some inspiration for some fun holly-day nails.
Have a great day!
Hugs,
Rach

The post Holly Jolly Christmas Stamping with OB19 appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hello Ladies!

I’m thrilled that one of my favorite polish brands is now available here in Cebu City, Philippines.  Girlstuff Forever has just opened a kiosk at Ayala Center Cebu on the 2nd floor along Paseo Ciudad (near What A Girl Wants and Converse).

I was invited to attend the press event for the opening, and I wanted to share the nail art I wore for the event and to tell you more about Girlstuff and why I love it so much.

Aren’t these adorable? I started with Girlstuff Wild Berries as my base and used striping tape to tape off the triangles and filled them in with Girlstuff Enchantè. I added the rhinestones with a dab of nail glue and finished off with topcoat. For the accent nail, I used my biggest dotting tool with Wild Berries to make the big blob parts of the rose. Then I used a tiny dotting tool and some light pink for the swirly parts of the flower. I used a small nail art brush for the leaves and the tiny polka dots.

My little one wanted her nails done “like mommy’s”. It was fun to have matching nails.

About Girlstuff Forever

Girlstuff is the first 5-free nail polish brand in the Philippines. The polish is actually made in France but only sold here. I love this brand because, in addition to being safe for my little girl to wear (which she does quite often), there is a wide selection of colors and finishes to choose from.

The selection includes textured and magnetic polishes, cremes, jellies, metallics, shimmers, duochromes, glitters, and an awesome matte topcoat! They are also quick-dry, kid-safe, and affordable (100-150 per bottle). This is a cruelty-free brand which means that they don’t test their products on animals. Here is my personal collection so far.   (Check out my Girlstuff tag archive to see other blog posts I’ve made featuring Girlstuff polish.)

I’ve included a swatch shot of Red Velvet, which is part of their newest “Redilicious” fall collection. It’s so pretty and shimmery. I used 3 thin coats and no top coat for this shot. They will be releasing a Christmas collection soon so keep an eye out for that as well.

Girlstuff also carries a variety of nail art tools and accessories like rhinestones, dotting tools, brushes, stickers, and the like.  They even have washable polishes which can be removed with soap and water. I will be getting my little girl some of those when she is a bit older and wants to do her own nails.

The owner and founder of the company, Janina, is a chemist-turned-SAHM. She started off making colognes and other products for little girls that are free of harmful chemicals. Eventually she started making nail polishes. Janina told me that each product is tested multiple times during production to ensure that the finished products are safe for us and especially for our little ones. Here’s a shot of me at the opening (on the right) with Janina (middle) and Ging, (on the left) who is the operator of the Cebu branch.

If you want to get your hands on some of this lovely polish for you or for the little girls in your life, you can find them here in Cebu on the 2nd level of Ayala. The other branches are located at SM Mall Of Asia, SM North Edsa, SM Megamall and SM San Lazaro. You can also contact them directly and they can ship to you.

You can keep up with Girlstuff through Facebook, Instagram, or their brand new website.

I hope you have a great day!
Hugs,
Rachael

The post Girlstuff Forever is in Cebu! appeared first on The Nailinator.

Today I’m reviewing a brush set from Born Pretty Store. They sell all sorts of nail art supplies and products (plus makeup, jewelry, etc.) and ship internationally for free, which is great! If you live in the Philippines, you will have to pay customs and a parcel fee on the package when it arrives. So keep that in mind. It cost me about 150 pesos to claim a package with 3 items in it. Just something to consider when ordering online.

The product I’m reviewing today is their 8 pc Nail Art Brush Set.

8 Pc. Nail Art Brush Set

I am rather pleased with this affordable brush set. They cost USD$4.32 right now, which is about PHP 190. The set includes seven different  brushes and one small dotting tool. The handles are pink, which I personally love.

If you look at the close-ups of the brushes below, you will see two sizes of brushes that come to a point, one angled brush, one flat brush, and two sizes of flat brushes that are slightly rounded at the end. I love these flat brushes for cleanup around the cuticle or for making bigger shapes for nail designs. If I had any skills whatsoever with one-stroke flowers, I’m sure they would be perfect for that as well. The set also comes with a very small tip brush, which is great for detail work (like the leaves of my roses in the picture below). The dotting tool in this set is a very small one and it’s perfect for making tiny polka dots like you see below and for the swirly parts of these roses. I use this size of a dotting tool to do the markings of leopard print nail art.

The set is shipped with these protective covers (pictured below) to help keep them from being bent. It is best to store them with the covers on, just to be safe.

Overall, this is definitely a good set of brushes. The price is right, it has a decent variety of tools and uses. If you purchased this set, you would be able to do a lot of different designs with them. You could even cut some of the bristles off  one of these brushes to make finer tip brushes if you want something smaller. I’ll be sharing some nail art I’ve done with these very soon.

Well, that’s my review of this 8 pc. Nail Art Brush Set. What do you think of this set? Do you want it? Already have it?

I’ve got a coupon code for you that will give you 10% off your entire order if you get the hankering to order this, or anything else, on BornPrettyStore.com.

I hope you have a great day. I’m off to bed so I can get up in the morning and take my two little ones (Super Mario and Queen Elsa) trick-or-treating at the mall. Yeah, we do things a bit differently here in the Philippines.
Hugs,
Rachael

The post Born Pretty Store Nail Art Brush Set Review appeared first on The Nailinator.

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

The post I’m Guest Posting at Simply Rins! appeared first on The Nailinator.

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:

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.

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!

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!

The post Guest Post by Simply Rins appeared first on The Nailinator.

I wanted to do some Christmas tree nail art this year, but I didn’t really want to have a tree on every nail so I decided to go with an accent nail instead. I started with two coats of NYC Fashion Safari on all my nails and then applied  Klean Colors Military Green with a small brush and small strokes to make the tree for the accent. I decked it out with a dotting tool and a glitter star for the topper. For the rest of the nails, I added one coat of Bobbie Star Gazer over the base. Star Gazer was so pretty in the bottle, but I have to admit I was disappointed when I tried it. By itself, it was so faintly pigmented that I’m positive I would have had VNL even after 3 or more coats. The glitter may have been dense enough to cover everything up, but choosing NYC Fashion Safari as my base gave me the color I was looking for and everything ended up alright. Being a VNL-aphobe means I don’t play with jellies very much, but I will have to experiment more to make use of the pretty jellies I do have.

Anyway, this isn’t my best work and I don’t LOVE it like I did my snowflake nails. I’m not a huge fan of nudes on my nails so, honestly, it doesn’t really stand a chance. That being said, it IS cute and I still learned something important: Elmer’s School Glue Gel (the blue stuff) works as a fantastic peel-off base for glitter polish. I squeezed some into an clean polish bottle, applied one thick coat, and let it dry well before applying my polish. I only sported this look for a day before taking it off, so I’m not sure about the wear time.

That’s it for me today. It’s been a long week for me. I hope you are having a great one. Do you use anything as a peel off base for glitter polish? What polish/es have you used recently that looked the bomb in the bottle but bombed when swatched?

The post Christmas Tree Accent Nail with Bobbie Star Gazer appeared first on The Nailinator.