Hey gals!

Yes, it is Monday! But my Monday is almost over, and it honestly hasn’t been too bad. I decided to turn the air conditioner on today and enjoyed a blissfully cool day at home with the kids making up goofy stories, working on cleaning their room, and doing school. We also enjoyed learning about iguanas and sea turtles!

Today I’m sharing a quick and easy nail art look that can take an already fine-looking manicure to the next level. If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably already seen the first picture below. (Keep scrolling for something new though!) I started with Girlstuff Diana which is a lovely dusty blue creme with a hint of purple to it. (Blurple! Yay!) For my accent nail, I chose L.A. Girl 3D Silver for some sparkle.

To add more pizzazz, I  used a thin striper brush and added some stripes at the base of my nails tapering off toward the tips. As you can see, I used gray, white, black, and silver polish for the stripes. Easy peasy! They call this “Waterfall” nail art.

I always love trying new, super-quick nail art looks. Don’t you? Please comment and share your favorite go-to nail art look for when you need something quick and easy.

I hope you are having a great day. Keep smiling!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Waterfall Nail Art Featuring Girlstuff Diana appeared first on The Nailinator.

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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My sweet friend, Jax, of Craftynail sent me Sand Storm a while back, and I’m so glad she did. I added gold studs for a classy but edgier look. I love it! It made me wish I had some triangle shaped studs though. I’ve added that to my shopping list for the next time I go nail art shopping.

All you need is 2 coats of Sand Storm for full, even coverage. I’ve got 3 coats on here because I wore it by itself for a day, then added another coat when I was ready to add the studs. I did not try this polish with topcoat so I’m not sure how that would look. Cleanup took a little bit of extra effort compared to a regular creme polish but not nearly as much work as glitter.

Well, what do you think? Do you have a favorite nude shade? Do you struggle with nudes like I do?

I hope you have a wonderful day!
Hugs from me to you,
Rachael

The post L.A. Girl Sand Blast in Sand Storm appeared first on The Nailinator.

Surprisingly, I LOVE it! This is three thin (and super quick drying) coats of L.A. Girl Electric Coral with some quick stamping with my JR-17 stamping plate (click to see image and pricing) that Meann of My Online Shop sent me a while back. Stamping is a very easy way to add some flair to any manicure. This plate has some really cool and fun tribal prints, and this orange is a perfect base for them IMHO. The black on orange was really eye catching.

I have mentioned before how great the L.A. Girl 3D Effect polishes are. I love the colors, the speedy dry time, the awesome holo sparkle, and the easy cleanup. Now that I know, I also have to add that they have great customer service. I ordered several polishes from them while I was in Texas and received one with a bent brush. I noticed the messed-up brush just a week before we left to come back home to the Philippines. So I contacted them and sent them a photo of the brush, and they sent me a replacement within just a couple of days. I appreciate them making and extra effort for speed considering I was on a time crunch. It’s the little things, people!

Things are going well for us. Our school year is off to a great start, and my house is slowly getting back to being organized. I hope all is well with you too. Thanks for reading. Have a fantastic day and don’t forget to make someone smile!

Hugs!
Rach

The post L.A. Girl 3D Effects Electric Coral with JR17 Stamping appeared first on The Nailinator.

I decided to take a blogging hiatus as we visited our family and loved ones in Texas. We had an amazing trip filled with much fun, laughter and lots of love. We are back in Cebu now, and have (mostly) gotten over the jet lag. I’ve been unpacking, dusting and cleaning everything! I’m about ready to get back to blogging. I’m going to have to find a new rhythm as we also just started our school year. I am continuing to home school and my boy is starting 1st grade. Fun, fun, fun!

Anywhoooo… While the blog has been on stand-by, I HAVE been posting stuff on my Instagram account. In case you don’t follow me on Instagram, I thought I would share some of the very simple looks I have been sporting the past 3 months. I appreciate you sticking around despite my absence on the blog. I decided to soak up as much family time as possible with those we see so rarely. I have lots of new goodies to share with you as I get back into the swing of things. Lemmings were CRUSHED!

Have a fabulous day and thanks for tuning in!
Hugs,
Rach

Girl Stuff – Wild Berries

L.A. Splash Tailscales

I Love Nail Polish Brand  (ILNP) Molly – So stunning!

Color Club – Harp On It

Nail Ritz Nail art Pens and Pueen Stamping

L.A. Girl Purple Effect

The post I’m back! appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’ll stop babbling now and get on to the main event. This isn’t a book blog after all. I’ve got a simple but fun look to show you today. I started with 3 thin coats of L.A. Girl 3D Effects Dazzling Pink. For my accent nail, I placed striping tape over the pink in the pattern seen below and polished over it with one thick coat of BYS Fool’s Paradise which was gifted to me by the lovely Rina of Simply Rins. (Thanks again Rins!) I quickly and carefully peeled off the striping tape and ended up with this.

Cool huh?  I am loving accent nails these days. I have tried some edgy things I feel I might not yet be able to pull off on all ten nails. It’s easier to commit to something bold on two nails than on ten when you are unsure if you can handle it.

I’ve got to tell you more about my base color. I’ve raved about these LA Girl polishes before, and I’ll keep doing so because they really are some of the best out there. Dazzling Pink is the least opaque of the ones I’ve worked with so far. (I’ve used all but the purple, silver and orange) Three coats builds nicely, dries quickly and is just gorgeous. The sparkle and depth in this (and all the polishes in this line) is to die for. I’ve included a fuzzy picture in direct lighting so you can see the holo sparkle. Additionally, I wore this for a whole week with minimal tip wear. Two Dazzling Pink thumbs up from me!

I hope you have a great weekend and that you get to spend it with those most dear to you.
Hugs!
Rach

The post L.A. Girl 3D Effects Dazzling Pink with BYS Fool’s Paradise Accent appeared first on The Nailinator.

All opinions are my own.

Hi Ladies,

I’m sharing a look that I’ve featured before (In fact I’ve done a tutorial for it too.) but I’ve gone with an all green theme this time. Behold…

Aren’t they pretty? I think Galaxy/Nebula nails are in my top 3 favorite looks for nail art. I love them more each time I do them. I’ve seen some pastel versions of nebula nails floating around and I’m planning to try that soon. I try mix it up a bit each time I do them. This time, as I mentioned, I’ve gone with an all green look and I’ve used L.A. Girl 3D Effects in Black Illusion as my base. LOVE! I swatched it before but I’ve swatched it again and it looks great with my newer nail shape. Every time I wear these 3D Effects polishes I’m reminded that I absolutely NEED the others in the collection! They look amazing and dry super fast too. L.A. Girl Cosmetics, I’ll probably be placing an order in April/May.

If you love these then why not check out my tutorial. It’s pretty easy to do and doesn’t require much precision. Indeed, I had 3 cups of coffee and an hour of sleep the night before and I was shaking like crazy when I did these. Ha! You can totally do it!!

I hope you have a stellar day. (See what I did there?)
Hugs,
Rach

The post Nebula Nails with L.A. Girl 3D Effects Black Illusion appeared first on The Nailinator.

I started with 3 coats of L.A. Girl Sparkle Ruby (You could get away with 2 easy but the color is much deeper with a 3rd coat) and then used my striping brush and free handed the lines with Sally Hansen X-treme Wear in Golden-I. I will be getting a back up bottle of Golden-I when I go to the US in April. It is perfect in every way!

You have heard me rave about L.A. Girl 3D Effect polishes in the past, and I still can’t get enough of them. I’ve used Sparkle Ruby before, but my nail shape is different and I still love it. I will have to see about getting my hands on the colors from this collection that I don’t have.

I’ve included a light box shot (above) and one with some direct light (below) so you can see some of the holo sparkle and the depth. Just gorgeous!

Are you a flowers and hearts kind of girl, or do you like things more on the edgy side? I personally love girly things, but I am challenging myself to try new things and looks that I have shied away from before. I do have some girly ideas up my sleeve, but I’m learning that I like some things I didn’t think I would! It has been fun!

I hope you have a great “hump day”! Don’t forget to make someone smile today.

Hugs,
Rach

The post L.A. Girl Sparkle Ruby with Edgy Tips appeared first on The Nailinator.

I started off with 2 coats of L.A. Girl 3D Effects – Black Illusion. I wore it by itself for a day because it is beautiful and I just had to admire it for a while. Last night I needed something more so I grabbed my clear coat and my nail foil #22 that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu for only 8 pesos (that’s 19 cents US) for a 4 by 1 1/2 inch piece of foil. One piece is more than enough for a manicure. I don’t have nail foil glue so I just dabbed some clear coat on the nail and let it dry a bit and then I dabbed the foil onto the still sticky polish. I’ve added two layers of topcoat to smooth it over. It is so shiny and metallic IRL.

On another note, how do you like my crepe paper rose prop?

You can see my swatch of L.A. Girl 3D Effects in Black Illusion below. So purdy!

What do you think? Would you try this easy and awesome look? Check out Blooming Nail Cebu on their Facebook page to see what else they have to offer. They have tons of foils to choose from. If you live in Cebu and are into nails then you NEED to drop by. If you live elsewhere in the Philippines, they will ship to you. I stopped by there today to buy some of their new items and they sent me home with some goodies for a giveaway that will be live later this week. Yay!

By the way, I’m not being compensated at all for sharing about Blooming Nail Cebu. I’m just excited about what they have to offer and want to make sure other nail art enthusiasts like myself from the Philippines know where they can find supplies.

Here’s hoping you are all having a great week!
Hugs!

P.S. If you are interested, do check out my updated “About Me” section and brand new “Disclosure Policy“.

The post L.A. Girl Black Illusion Gets Foiled appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’ve got a cool look for you today that was so easy to do. I started with 3 thin coats of L. A. Girl Teal Dimension. I’ve added some water decals I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu. This whole sheet (Hot-010) cost me 15 pesos (about 35 cents USD) and has a variety of decals on it to choose from! They have some great stuff available for very affordable prices and they ship internationally for the best price available.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I LOVE these L.A. Girl polishes. The base for their 3D Effects line is a tinted jelly but when you remove the polish there is absolutely no glitter nightmare left behind like a typical glitter polish. So I’m not sure exactly what makes up the holo glittery magic they have got going on. But I appreciate not having a difficult time cleaning up after wearing it. In addition to that, it is so easy to apply and is extremely forgiving. It dries quick too! Win win win! If live outside of the US, you can order these from Cherry Culture as they ship internationally (Philippines included! Whoop!).

I hope you have a great week!

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