15 Dec

Ruby Pumps Candy Cane Nail Art (with tutorial video)

Hi gals!

I’m sorry that I didn’t get this posted during the weekend as I had planned. It took longer to prepare the post than I had anticipated, and we had a very busy weekend.

Only 10 days to go until Christmas! I’ve got some serious baking to do this week! My boy has been learning fractions in math, so we will to work together on the recipes and baking as an extra fun school activity. Homeschooling rocks!

While I was in the US this summer, I got my hands on China Glaze Ruby Pumps which has been a lemming of mine since I saw Jemma of Eeeek Nail Polish post her swatch of it. I have been saving it for Christmas time. I added a nice little candy cane accent nail just for fun. I planned to do all the nails like this, but I just couldn’t find the time.

Ruby Pumps Candy Cane 2

I have seen loads of nail art using Ruby Pumps. It really is the perfect red! I would describe it as a dark red jelly loaded with teeny tiny red glitter. The glitter is not as dark as the jelly so it has a nice bright shine from within. I love a good red, but red with gorgeous glitter is even better!

Ruby Pumps Swatch

I’ve got a little extra for you today. A tutorial video! Please be forgiving as I am a complete novice at these types of things. Mr. Nailinator deserves a huge round of applause for being such a darling, I would never have even tried this if  he hadn’t promised to help me figure out how to get it edited and uploaded on YouTube. I’ve received a lot of requests for tutorials so, I figured I’d give it a try. Let me know what you think.

1. Place striping tape over dry base color.
2. Use orange wood stick to secure tape to nail edge.
3. Apply white polish.
4. Quickly and carefully remove tape.
5. Allow to dry then apply topcoat.

What is your favorite holiday inspired nail art? I’m looking forward to something extra flashy for the New Year!

Have a great day!
Rachael

11 Dec

Girlstuff Blues with Icicle Tips

Hi everyone!

Just a quick snippet tonight as I’m trying to get to bed at a somewhat decent hour. I posted a little teaser for these on my Instagram last night and now I’m happy to share this lovely nail art.

Girlstuff Blues with Icicle Tips

I started with two easy coats of Girlstuff Blues. Blues was a dream to apply. It evened itself out nicely and dried quickly to a very shiny finish. I used a striping brush and Jocarste’s silver glitter to add the icicles on the tips of my nails. Pretty cool, huh? (Pun intended!)
These are the only icicles I’ll be seeing this holiday season as it is always warm here near the equator. Oh well, I still enjoy wintry nail art.

Macro Shot of Blues with Icicle Tips

I’ve got a little tutorial video I made for my next nail art post, but I’m still trying to figure out the best way to edit it. I’m hoping to share it this weekend. Are y’all having a great week so far?
Keep smiling!
Hugs,
Rach

07 Nov

Pink and Purple Sparkly Tips

Hello!

I hope this post finds everyone doing fine. I had EVERY plan of doing my nails several times this week, and it looked like it was going to happen until news showed that a tropical storm was developing to the east of us, and we found ourselves bracing for Super Typhoon Haiyan which will make landfall in the Philippines in a few hours. It is going to be devastating for those directly in its path. While the eye will probably pass over Cebu Island, we are not directly in the path so we aren’t expecting the full hurricane-force winds. But we are still expecting some very strong winds and lots of rain and we are doing our best to prepare. Please say a prayer that the storm will lose strength quickly and pray for the safety of those in its path.

On a happier note, my joint giveaway with Blooming Nail Cebu ended this week and I was able to contact the winners and get each package/packet sent on their way. Giveaways are such fun! I’m thinking the next one I do will give you the option of extra entries if you create and submit nail art according to a theme. What do you think? Would you join?

I’m showing you a sparkly mani today to cheer me up after a day full of gloomy, cloud-filled skies.

Outdoor shade

Isn’t it pretty? It’s very eye catching too! I started with 2 coats of Jocarste #28 which is a light pink foil polish that is easy to apply and easy to remove. Then I sponged on Jocarste #8100 which is a gorgeous glitter bomb with purple, gold (multi sized) and silver holo bits in it. My amateur skills were unable to capture the holo sparlies in my lightbox and it was not a sunny day when I sported these nails so you will just have to appreciate the pretty glitters and imagine how extra special it was with a holo twist. #8100 is very different from #28 in that it is a PAIN to take off. I guess all glitters are like that though. Maybe it has just been a long time since I did glitter tips but I was muttering under my breath about how I would throw way this bottle if it wasn’t so darn pretty. Yeah, I know… much bigger problems in the world. Tiniest violin and all that. Ha! Glitter tip manis are some of my favorites and apparently you all like them too because I get a ton of hits on this look I did early this year.

Lightbox… soooo shiny!

Well, I’m off to get some more things ready. I wanted to post something so things wouldn’t be too quiet around here this weekend. See you soon ladies and have a great weekend!

Hugs!

14 Oct

Wheel Of Time Nail Art – The Stole of the Amyrlin Seat and The Flame of Tar Valon

Howdy!

Wow! That is quite a title huh? I decided to put all that in the title in hopes that this would be easily found by anyone searching for Wheel Of Time (WOT) nail art. I couldn’t find any when I Googled it although I know I have seen something somewhere a long time ago.
If you have read the EPIC 14 book (plus a prequel) series by Robert Jordan then you can probably interpret and enjoy this design easily. But in case you have not, I’ll give you a brief explanation.
In the WOT world, the Amyrlin Seat is basically the queen of the whole world as all kingdoms bow to her and submit to the will of the “White Tower”. The White Tower is where all women who can channel (do “magic”) go to be trained and when they graduate to a full fledged “Aes Sedai” they pick an “Ajah” based on their personal preference. Each Ajah goes by a color (Brown Ajah, Grey Ajah, White Ajah, Red Ajah, Yellow Ajah, Green Ajah and Blue Ajah) and they dress according to their Ajah’s color. The Amyrlin is head of all Ajahs. She is “from all Ajahs and yet of none” and to symbolize that, she wears a stole with a stripe of each of the 7 Ajah’s colors. That’s where I came up with the stripes. The accent nail is “The Flame of Tar Valon” which is the official symbol of the Amyrlin and the White Tower. That is just a tiny bit of info about the series. It is a REALLY long story!

I imagine if you haven’t read the books then this won’t be much of a manicure to you. But, even if you aren’t familiar with the MASSIVE back story behind the inspiration of these nails, consider how hard it was to free hand these stripes. Ha! It did take a while and I know they are not perfect. I planned to do both hands but it was so late after I finished these that my Cinderella hand just got skittles so I could get to bed at a decent hour. Then my topcoat bubbled in the middle of the nail. Oh well, sometimes topcoat kills the mani. I struggle at times to float the brush to avoid smudging and to avoid bubbling at the same time.

That’s all for now. I meant to get this up on Saturday but time got away from me. It tends to do that with two kids to run after. I hope you all have a great week.

26 Sep

Argyle Nail Art

Greetings!
I’ve got a short and sweet post for y’all today.

Day 26 of the 31 Day Challenge is “Inspired by a pattern”. I’ve chosen to go with an Argyle pattern. I saw a tutorial by Cute Polish for this nail art way back when I was just getting into nail art and I tried it out on a nail wheel right away and it looked very nice. So when I saw it on a nail wheel the other day I thought it was time to try it out on my nails. I learned that doing my nails while watching episodes of the Doris Day Show makes for some wobbly stripes. Definitely not my neatest work. :/ Whatever! I still think they turned out cute. Don’t you?

The colors I used are San San Cloudy Gray, Caronia First Crush (purple), China Glaze For Audrey (green) and Jocarste White.

If you are just starting out with nail art I strongly suggest you check out Cute Polish on You Tube. She has some pretty cute designs that are really easy to achieve. Have a great day!

Hugs!

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