40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Pastels

Hey everyone! Happy Saturday! I'm out and about with my in-laws this weekend but I had time to write up this post ahead of time so that I could make my weekly challenge.



The prompt for Crumpet's Nail Tarts this week was Pastels and my added twist to the challenge is needle drag. Now I've never really done this before, so I wanted a few YouTube tutorials to try and teach me how. I was successful only once (as you can see on my nails)



See that center line there, it actually created the hearts I was going for. The other lines on all the other nails were kinda fails. But hey at least the center one looks good.



For this look I started with one coat of Essie Go Ginza. Once that was dry and I was ready to quickly do this needle drag thing, I added a thicker second coat of Go Ginza, and alternating dots of Zoya Neely and Blue. Then while the whole look was still wet, I took a sewing needle and dragged it through the dots to try an create the hearts.



As you can see I was only successful once.

Anyway, I do kind of like how these turned out! An interesting look and I'm sure with some practice I could get better at this technique.

As always don't forget to check out the other fabulous pastel looks from the other Nail Tarts in the inlinkz below!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Things that Fly

Hey everyone, I'm a little late on my Crumpet's Nail Tarts Things that Fly prompt, but better late than never, am I right?!



Every night when I drive home, it's my favorite time of day, twilight. The light is fading on the horizon and for some super strange reason the street I live on is home to a host of crows, that fly together finding a place to sleep for the night (usually on the tops of tall pine trees that line my street).

So for the this prompt, I thought I'd try to recreate that on my nails!



For the base I did a gradient of Zoya Blu and Zoya Stella and then topped it with that brand I wish not to name – it's a holo topper with silver flakies.



Then I broke out Painted Polish Midnight Mischief and I stamped the bird image using my Bundle Monster BM-508 plate. I messed up my thumb a buuuunch of times so for these shots only include four fingers, not my norm.



Don't forget to check out the other talented ladies doing this 52 week challenge with me!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

From the Vault and Sneak Peek

So three day weekends are just amazing! You get the first day to unwind and relax, the middle day for fun and activities and the third day to get all the to-dos done! Every weekend should be a three day weekend!

Well yesterday, my to-do day, I spent quite a long time in my nail polish work space. I'll share a little more of that with some sneak peeks later in the post. But for today, I let the day get away from me, I clearly played with polish too long. So today I have a look from the vault. Before my photos were super great, but I was still having so much fun with nail art, here we have my first multi-colored stamping job!



All of these polishes are Zoya! We have a base of Purity, with stamping using Edie, Heidi and Alexa using my Bundle Monster BM-501 plate.



This is a fun, tropical look! When I see this stamp, I think fun sea plant. Some under the water bright coral cousin! So anyway, that is what I was going for with this look and I hope you enjoyed it. I also had a good photo of what it looks like to stamp with multi-colors, but unfortunately, I lost it when I dropped my phone in water on vacation. :( Oh well.

Anyway, so yesterday I was in my lab for a long time. Before my vacation, I was sent a hefty Indigo Bananas package – I get to compare and contrast all the Mega Chrome Holo Flakies for you all! And there are a bunch, just look below!



So I'm thinking of splitting them up into alike colors, and then showing you all in groups like that. So that is why they are split up like they are! So after playing with a few of these and photographing them – I decided to challenge myself. I thought, let's go for it, try to water marble for the first time.



Whomp, whomp. Just keepin' it real and letting you guys know that things don't always work out for me! I'm not surprised it didn't work out the first time. But I knew I had to at least give it a shot. I have an arsenal full of tips for next time too! Yay. So don't expect to see success in this department anytime soon, but it will be something I plan to tinker with every here or there!

Coral Polish Comparison Showdown

I don't know about you but warmer weather always gets me longing for a good coral manicure. And being that coral is one of my absolute favorite nail polish colors, you better believe I have a bounty of it!



And boy do I have a ton of coral polishes! There are all different types of corals. Pink leaning, red leaning, orange leaning. For the purposes of this post, I decided to compare all my cremes and holos that were in the coral family.

Let's start with the creme's first. I'll start with the pinker leaning polishes to start off with!







From thumb to pinkie we have:

Essie Wife Goes On: This is a gorgeous pink leaning coral, but truly more of a watermelon color. A great summer color! This is two coats.

Essie Come Here: This was my favorite of these five polishes. My favorite type of coral is a more red orange leaning coral that is still bright. This is two coats.

OPI Live.Love.Carnival: This is a lighter, pinker coral than Come Here. This is a great bright color, but a bit to pink for my liking. This is two coats.

Essie Sunday Funday: This polish is almost practically a dupe for Live.Love.Carnival if it didn't have these fine silver flakies, which doesn't really make it a true creme I know. This was three coats the formula was pretty watery.

KBShimmer You're So Coral: Honestly, this polish shouldn't even be in the comparison. This polish is a lovely orange/peach leaning coral, but it's more neon than anything, and unfortunately I just couldn't capture it's beauty in this post!  This is two coats.

Now on to the darker cremes.







From thumb to pinkie:

OPI Aloha from OPI: This was my newest addition to my coral collection, and the real reason this post came to life. I had to see how my new polish compared to my collection. While I love the color of this one, a bright perfect darker coral, the formula was not great, it took three coats for this opacity.

Zoya Heidi: This polish is an oranger leaning coral, but still a big favorite of mine. This is two coats.

Zoya Rocha: Almost a dupe with Heidi, except it has a very hidden shimmer and is a smidge darker, that you can only detect in certain lighting. This is two coats.

OPI Red Lights Ahead, Where?: My all time favorite coral, and it still holds true. More of a red orange coral, bright and pigmented. I just love this polish and it has yet to be dethroned as my favorite coral creme. This is two coats.

Essie Hip-Anema: This polish is less of a coral and more of a tomato red-orange. Still bright and well pigmented, and very good for stamping! This is two coats.

Now on to the indie holos! Some of these are a stretch for coral, but I picked all my polishes in the pink/orange/reddish coral family. We'll start with the lighter/pinker colors.



From thumb to pinkie:

Different Dimension Coral Rose: This is truly in the lighter pink coral category and was my first coral holo polish. I do like it, but I favor a more bright and vibrant, less pink holo! This polish took three coats for this opacity.

Colors by Llarowe Nice Melons!: This is less of a coral and more of an orange peach holo. This polish was very bright, but had the weakest holo glow of the lot of holos I feature in this post. This was opaque in two coats. 

KBShimmer Whole Lava Lovin': This polish is a bright pink holo that leans more cherry to me. Though it looks very similar to the next two polishes, it is a tad lighter, just didn't really photograph that way. It is happy and bright and fun, this is two coats. 

Colors by Llarowe Lucy, I'm Home!:This is a bright pink coral holo that is just lovely. When I originally purchased this, I thought my search for the perfect coral holo was over, that was until I discovered the world of orange-red holos (my more preferred coral family color). This is two coats.

Fair Maiden Polish Total Eclipse of the Heart: This polish is a tad darker than the previous two, but is the brightest polish of the group, but leans a darker more raspberry pink holo polish with stronger violet undertones. This is two coats.

Now on to the orange/red holos!



Smitten Polish The Second Lobster: This polish was an oops mini batch from Smitten, and I just had to get it since I love The First Lobster so much. It basically is a lighter less bright version of The First Lobster (middle finger). This also had a thinner formula and required three coats for opacity.

KBShimmer Rust No One: This polish leans just a tad more orange and darker than The Second Lobster, but is a really gorgeous orange leaning coral in my eyes. I just love this polish. This is two coats.

Smitten Polish The First Lobster: I think this polish still holds the title of my favorite coral polish, though some wouldn't classify it as such. But this is one of my absolute all time favorites, it is bright and the perfect amount of red-orange holo. This is two coats.

Elevation Polish Yeti Hides in the Mini Apple: This polish popped up this year and quickly stole my heart. I thought it was a real contender to maybe dethrone The First Lobster in my heart at my top coral holo, but this is a more cherry holo. Still gorgeous and amazing in its own right. The formula was perfection, almost a one coater. This polish also had a golden shimmer and flakies inside, setting it apart from the other classic holo finishes featured here.

Bear Pawlish Bathory: Bear Pawlish is a newer to me brand that I haven't had a ton of time to play with. I threw it into this post, because I orignally purchased this polish because I thought it might be in this family of color. It's not, instead is a gorgeous smoky raspberry, a perfect fall holo in my opinion. I have nothing in my collection like it. This is two coats.

So which polishes win here? Well everyone's taste here differs. For me, I would have to say my two favorite cremes are Essie Come Here and OPI Red Lights Ahead Where? And for the holo category I would have to say Smitten Polish The First Lobster and Elevation Polish Yeti Hides in the Mini Apple.

But there is a shade of coral here for everyone to love. How do you like your corals, more light than dark? More orange leaning or pink leaning?

Have any coral recommendations for me to check out?! None of these are actual dupes of each other, they are just close, which is why I feel justified in owning them all! :-) Hope you enjoyed this post, it was a lot of work to put together!!!

Nail Art Technique You Love: Gradient and Nail Vinyls

Hey everyone, today is the beginning of a five day challenge from the ladies at Challenge Your Nail Art and the theme is Love is in the Air!

But hold up, that means this thankfully isn't five full days of Valentine's nails, a lot of it is just things we love. And today, we start with a Nail Art Technique You Love. This was an awfully tough one. I love stamping, I love nail vinyls, I love a lot of things. But I decided to combine two things I love for today's challenge.



For this challenge I combined nail vinyls with gradients. I just absolutely go ga-ga for gradients. I'm not super great at them but I just love how they look every time.



Now I had to throw a heart in there because it is Valentine's week, but truly this does represent two nail art techniques I love! For the gradient I used KBShimmer Shore Thing and Zoya Edie and then topped it with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, because I can't do a mani without some sort of rainbow reflection!

I used chevron nail vinyls in a pattern I hadn't tried before, angled, and I really like how it turned out. Different from your typical chevron look!



I created the heart using my freehand (definitely not a skill I've mastered or favor on my nails at least!) and added dots of Zoya Rocha, because I liked how the coral contrasted against the bright blue/green chevron!

I hope you like this look! What is a nail art technique you love?! Don't forget to check out the other fabulous ladies of this challenge, listed in the inlinkz below!
   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Freehand Heart Nail Art

Today starts a week of nail art posts all dedicated to Valentine's Day. Now I'm not really all that into Valentine's Day all that much, never meant very much to me or my husband. Maybe he'll give me flowers or something, but it's not really a holiday we actively celebrate.

But holidays always bring on the themed nail art challenges, and so here I am. Sharing with you a week of nail art (not all of it is V-Day inspired).

Today I have a look inspired by 52 Week Pick and Mix Challenge, this week the challenge is purple and hearts.



For the base of this look I used two coats of Zoya Chantal, the best nude creme polish I own. And the real stunner of this whole look, a coat of Elevation Polish Aguja St. Exupery. Aguja St. Exupery is a holographic top coat with golden flakies throughout. It is delicate and beautiful. And I can already tell I will be using this topper again and again.



Next step was to add some hearts and purple. The purple is a stretch here (only one of the hearts is purple-ish), but I was going for a delicate heart vibe. I used a dotting tool and Zoya Brigitte, Rue and Odette to create the hearts. I added a little white dot to each heart to make it look more 3D.



I really did love these nails, I think it is a subtle nod to the holiday without being so in your face about it. What do you think? Are you a big Valentine's Day celebrator?

And don't forget to check out the other ladies in the challenge, listed below!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

My Ode to Pantone's Color of the Year: Marsala

So the color of the year, according to Pantone is Marsala, and I've created a few looks in inspiration to that color.

According to Pantone Marsala is described as: "Much like the fortified wine that gives Marsala its name, this tasteful hue embodies the satisfying richness of a fulfilling meal while its grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness. This hearty, yet stylish tone is universally appealing and translates easily to fashion, beauty, industrial design, home furnishings and interiors."

It's a little frou-frou of a description for me, but basically this is a warm red-brown tone. 

Out of the polishes I have, and have recently acquired, I put together some nail art in inspiration of Marsala.

I don't know if you've heard, but KBShimmer, a great and affordable indie brand, has come out with a holo polish in inspiration of Marsala. It is called Men are from Mars-ala, and it is beautiful!

I paired Men Are From Mars-ala with Zoya Pepper, a great darkened brick red. This is a gorgeous creme and pairs well with so much! I used it a lot in the fall. 

To create the perfect single chevrons I used smART Nail Vinyls I won a contest from Serene at CopyCat Claws!

Anyway, on to the next look. For this look, I wasn't even trying to go for a Marsala nail look, it just ended up being that way. 

I started out with a new to me indie Elevation Polish The Sea Was Red. I don't even know how to accurately describe this, but I was so very impressed with the quality and uniqueness of this polish. I seriously have nothing like this. 

I paired it with Zoya Marnie (once again using smART Nail Vinyls), a creme polish I bought specifically because I thought it was a less brown version of the color of the year. Turns out it paired perfectly. I totally love it! This is a softer, more maroon/mauve-y version of the color of the year.

So what do you think, which did you like best? How do you feel about the color of the year? I quite like it, even though it can feel a bit dated. I still think there are ways to make it feel sophisticated.

Fishtail Braid Nails

Today, as a part of Crumpet's 52 Week Pick and Mix Challenge, I attempted a new to me nail art technique: The Fishtail Braid nails.

I google'd a few tutorials and watched them first, just so I got the hang of it, but basically this is braiding strokes of three different colors.



To begin I used two thin coats of LynBDesigns Seize the Day, Boys, a lovely teal holo polish with gold flashes. The application on this was perfect, very impressed with the quality of this polish. It is a bit jelly like on the first coat, but evens out by the second coat.



After that I went to work on the Fishtail Braid technique. It was a little difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't so bad.



To complete the look I added a dotticure to tie in the three colors on the other nails. I was originally going to do a skittle look, but I accidentally went nuts with the dots so I didn't get there unfortunately.



The coral/red polish is Zoya Rocha and the silver is Essie No Place Like Chrome.



Overall I liked this look, and trying a new technique, but I found it a bit time consuming trying to make sure the layers were dry between strokes. I think this technique probably works best with one coaters, which Seize the Day, Boys was not. The polish does build up on the Fishtail Braid nail, so you have to be extra careful not to dent it.

What do you think? Have you tried this nail art technique before? Do you have tips to share?

And don't forget to check out the other ladies taking part in this challenge today!

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Three Greens Nail Art Challenge

Hi everyone, I'm back with another Crumpet's 52 Week Pick and Mix Challenge. This week I chose the prompt three shades of green and/or yellow (the other prompt was fire and I couldn't quite figure out how to tie the two together, but Serene at Copycat Claws did an amazing job!).

So I didn't just pick out three greens, I picked four, because I just love green. It is my favorite color!



I started out with two thin layers of Color Club Kismet, because, I guess I can't do a manicure with out some holo!!! Kismet is a great super linear holo that is almost lime green leaning yellow green, just lovely.



Then I took three Zoya greens, from top to bottom, Noot, Hunter and Shawn and stamped them using this scale-y design.



It's harder to see the three greens in the light because, um, hello holo, but I think the effect is nice in the shade and in the sun!



The stamping plate I used is Lily Anna 09. I just love my Lily Anna plates, I seriously probably use them for more jobs than anything other plates I own (I own Lily Anna Plates 6-10). I think I want to collect them all because all the looks are so versatile. I might ask for some for my birthday (coming up in early March).

Overall I called these my dragon nails, because I just love the look of the scales and the green was just so dragon-esque!

My original concept for this mani was using Noot as the base and various green holo polishes in a dotticure gradient.



The reason I didn't stick with this one is because I feel the three shades of green holo get lost in each other. I decided to show it off though because look at how amazing Noot looks as a base. I can't believe this was an untried for me. I will definitely be breaking this out again for a nail art project in the future. Just look at how creamy and dark it is. Such a strong color, without being super black, which you can get with a lot of dark creme polishes. Just stunning!

Anyway, that is it for today. Don't forget to check out the other ladies taking part in this challenge!!!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

My Mani Must Haves

I've seen a lot of nail care posts out and about around the interwebs today and I've always wanted to share what I use, but I just never got around to taking nice photos of all the products I use. Fast forward to this weekend when my husband left town for a guy's weekend on the slopes, so I had a lot of free time on my hand. In addition to relaxing, I got this post put together! Yay. So now I can share with you all the great products I use/love.



It all started because someone in a Facebook group I am in posted a photo of her work space, where she does her manis, and I thought adding that to this post might be fun.



This is a photo of the guest bedroom in our condo. I usually do my nails while sitting on the bed and watching TV. The shelf features a spice rack with my to-swatch/recent purchases pile. The light helps when I am doing my manis and I use it for photography as well. I keep my light box folded up in between the bed and the dresser so I can take photos when I feel like!

The tray holds all the essentials, remover, base and top coats, some stamping polish, a nail file and a magazine I use use to scrape excess polish or place used nail vinyls, or whatever. I don't always do my nails in this room, so it is nice that I can just move the tray easily into the other room and do my nails there as well. A moveable workspace works well for me! What does your workspace look like?

Ok, on to the products!!!



First up is removers. When removing most manis I use Zoya Remove because I find it is less harsh for my nails, almost moisturizing! If you've never tried it, you must. It is the best remover out there hands down!

I also acetone remover, which you can pick up at a drug store or local beauty supply. I use for clean up and tougher remover. To clean up, I just pour a bit of the remover inside the cap of the acetone bottle and dip my clean up brush in it as needed.

Also, for glitter polishes, The up&up Nail Polish Remover Dip-It is a must have. Glitter polishes are so gritty and difficult to remove. I absolutely hate it, and sometimes admittedly I avoid glitter polishes because of this. But the Dip-It, while is pure acetone and not so nice on the nails, rally is a saving grace when removing glitter polish.



For nail care, I use a glass nail file I got as a gift from years ago, and I thought it would be good to feature my clean up brush. I've been using this for about two years now, I know it has seen better days. But it has held up pretty well! I got this clean up brush in a Red Carpet Nail Art kit, back from when I tried gel nails many moons ago!



Now on to base coats. I've been on quite the journey the past few months testing various base coats after my beloved Revlon Colorstay Base Coat was discontinued. The Revlon base coat was seriously a Holy Grail product for me. Made my manis last forever. If your manis don't last like you want them to, you really have to try switching up your base coats. Believe it or not it really does make a difference. After trying many different base coats (boo to CND Stickey, it stains my nails!) I think I've finally settled on Essie Grow Stronger, though I find it might not protect as well from staining polishes (thought that was only once), but it does make my manis last longer and my nails stay stronger!



Next is top coats. These are also as important. I use KBShimmer Clearly on Top as a great quick dry top coat that is affordable too! It's only $5.00. Brand new this is a great top coat, but I do find I need to thin it about halfway through, otherwise it does shrink the polish a bit (don't worry it's nothing like Seche Vite). The coolest product I just discovered is Marvel Liquid Macro Top Coat. This is another quick dry top coat, but I have to say what I've noticed most about this one is how well it retains it's shine! This retails for $6.50. It is lovely. My bottle is still new, so no news on if it thickens after awhile, but I'll try to post an update if I remember. The Sally Hansen is there as my drug store go to, but honestly this one rotates. I use an extra top coat when I have hungry glitters and I don't want to use a good top coat, so I'll just use whatever drug store top coat I have on hand and then top it with Clearly on Top or Marvel Liquid Macro.



Now on to cuticle care. This is an area in which I have a ton of products, but don't use them near as much as I should. But I do want to remedy that. I really love KBShimmer's Cuticle Oil Stick, love the brush applicator, really saves on the mess. Cuticle Glaze is a heavy duty oil and is really great for moisturizing the cuticles, and has a lovely sweet cookie smell to it. I won this one in a contest lately and is created by the lovely Danele of Low Country Lacquer. The Qtica Cuticle Repair Balm is for the jobs when you need a heavy duty job of moisturizing dry cuticles or healing a hangnail. This is in a jar, but I like to apply it with an empty cuticle oil stick to cut down on the mess. And I use the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover to push the cuticles back, but probably only once a month.



Probably one of the reasons I don't need as much cuticle care is because I moisturize like crazy. The Gold Bond Ultimate Healing Lotion with Aloe is THE BEST OUT THERE. I have tried so many lotions, but this is the best out there. It is thick, fast absorbing and so nice. The Ayres Body Butter is something I got in my ipsy bag, and liked it so much I got a full jar. It is a nice thick lotion, with a nice scent, and a little goes a long way. And it is also fast absorbing, which is a must have when it comes to lotion. Usually I apply the Gold Bond before bed, or just when at home and I my hands are feeling dry. I use the Ayres on my way out in the morning. Every time I apply lotion I rub it into my cuticles as well, which is probably what keeps the my cuticles pretty happy overall. 



Now for the pampering products. I keep my Qtica Sugar Scrub next to me in the shower, and use it around once a week. I use the Footloose and Fancy Fizz for pedicures, but also as a soak when I am treating my hands to a full on soak and manicure. And the most amazing find of the year for me, is the Forever Polished Mani Bombs, these things are so fun to use as a soak. They bubble and moisturize, and I just absolutely love them. This is the ONLY ONE, I have left. I have to get more during her next restock. Follow her on Facebook to find out when the next restock is!

So that's it! What do you think? Do you use any of these products? Have something to recommenced to me? Later this week on Thursday, I'll have my Nail Art Must Haves, which I'm excited to share with you too! I just love posts like these and I hope you like reading them too!