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 – Fashion

Hi everyone, today I have some simple nails inspired by a purse I've been loving the heck out of lately.



The prompt for Crumpet's Nail Tarts 40 Great Nail Art Ideas this week was Fashion and so since I've been looooooving the pattern on this great purse a friend gifted me for Christmas, I thought I'd recreate nails just based on that.







This is a super simple look. First I did two quick coats of KBShimmer Eyes White Open. Then I stamped on using Painted Polish Woodland Whimsy on my MoYou London Pro 01 plate and freehanding the base with a Morgan Taylor grey (sorry I'm not sure which one right now).

These aren't spot on, and if I had more time I would have used guides to make the perfect base, but they work for the purposes of this challenge it'll do! ]

Don't forget to check the out the other ladies of this challenge, who I'm sure did much better than I did!

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Red

Happy Friday everyone! We've made it. It's about 3 p.m. and I'm sneaking in this blog post between stuff at work on deadline. This weekend I'm headed to LA to visit my bestie and I can't wait. I leave later tonight. I didn't want to leave though, without putting this look up!!!



Today I'm sharing with you another Crumpet's Nail Tarts look with the prompt red + stained glass/mosaic. So I broke out my UberChic Beauty UberMat (You guys, if you don't have this there is a sale going on today I think you should check out!!!) and made some decals.



I'm still not a pro at the decal stuff guys, I need to find scissors to cut my decals closer to the size of my nail. I'm having so much difficulty with the transfer/clean up part.



So on to the details here. The three fingers that aren't decals are Fair Maiden Polish Holiday 2015, a lovely gift from the makers for past swatching work! This is a lovely red metallic glass fleck that just sparkles so much.



To make the decals I used Holiday 2015, Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Universal Loner and Darling Diva Polish The Alchemist trying to go for a three-finish red look. It was just so-so in my book. The stamp I used was from the UberChic Collection 2, plate 2-01. I think that looks like a mosaic right?

Anyway, I don't have much more time to chat, so I better get back to work now! But don't forget to check out all the other amazing red nail art looks at the inlinkz below!

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Love

Hey everyone, happy Friday! We've made it! And I don't know about you, but now I have three glorious days off, and in fact, I got home a little early, which leaves me a few minutes to share with you the nails I've been rocking all week!!!









This gorgeous baby is Glam Polish WHATEVER.! As soon as I saw the swatches for this polish I knew I needed it. This baby is packed with holo shards and microglitters swimming in a beautiful red base that sometimes leans pink and sometimes leans orange. This color is everything, I just absolutely love it. Now be forewarned, this does dry very textured, but two coats of top coat totally smooths it out and once it dries it is full of so much depth I just want to swim amongst all the holo and red jelly goodness! Almost a one-coater, but I used two for this look!



Now I knew I wanted to do my obligatory Valentine's Day look with this as the base, so I broke out my new UberChic Beauty 7 collection and found these cute heart looks on the 07-1 plate and stamped using KBShimmer Eyes White Open and ta-da!



And wouldn't you know it, these nails also fit in perfectly with my Crumpet's Nail Tarts challenge this week: Love! Hearts = Love right?!



And let me tell you one awesome thing about this polish, I've been wearing this look since Monday afternoon and now it's Friday afternoon and not a chip on it. See the crappy office photo above, just took that this afternoon!

So my consensus on this polish, you need it! Wears like iron and is beautiful!!!

Now don't forget to check out all the other beautiful love-related looks below!

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Watercolor Nails and 40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Aqua or Turquoise

Hey everyone, today I'm showing you a completely new to me technique I tried out which was SUPER simple and the results were stunning. Also this had nothing to do with my 40 Great Nail Art Ideas prompt, I just decided to add to it for that – so more on that later.



First up let me show you how to watercolor with sharpies and rubbing alcohol.



What you will need to start with is a light colored base. Most bases I've seen online are white. We all know I cannot do without holo, so I chose ILNP Paper Route – a light grey almost white polish with holo shards in it!



Once you base is dry, pick out the colored permanent markers you plan to use. Then you can take a shot glass (or as I have here, mini red cups) and color the permanent marker on the bottom. You can also use tinfoil as a base too, make a tiny little bowl for yourself. Then take a dropper and drop in three to four drops of rubbing alcohol and use a paint brush to put strokes on your nail.





Keep adding colors until you're happy with it!



And when it's done you have a Monet-esque masterpiece! Now I knew my 40 Great Nail Art Ideas prompt was coming up, and I thought this base made a great aqua/turquoise base and my prompt for this was mermaid/scales – so I broke out some scale stamping and a mermaid decal I bought ages ago but hadn't used yet.



Ta-da! Instant mermaid nails!



I think the star of this whole look was the new watercolor method I learned, and it wasn't even part of my prompt! Next time I want to try a gradient look using watercolors! This was so easy and now the results are endless!

Now don't forget to visit all the other ladies sites in the inlinkz below for more great aqua/turquoise nail art ideas!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Three Shades of Purple

Today I've got another nail art look to share with you in my 52-Week Crumpet's Nail Tarts Challenge.



My prompt for the week was three shades of purple and leopard. I know the natural thought here was, sure, go with a gradient. But I was not going to give in to that thought.

I thought, let's really get challenged, time to play with reverse stamping decals.



To start with this look, I painted two quick coats of the gorgeous Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Petal to the Metal on each nail.

Then I stamped a leopard image using KBShimmer Eyes White Open on a clear coat on my UberMat. Then I filled in the leopard spots using Glam Polish Daily Dilemma and Lemming Lacquer I'll Give You Darkness (which I admit almost looks black here but is actually a dark violet, I'll have to swatch it on a whole nail soon).



Then I put a quick dry top coat on the image, and waited a minute or two and then ta-da! I created a reverse stamping decal!





Then because I was getting tired and the idea of creating more decals seemed like it would take too much time, I wanted to round out the look on the remaining tow fingers. So I just freehanded stripes of the purples in an attempt to show them off better.



I think the final look was ok, but it wasn't really what I was hoping for. But I feel I actually challenged myself with this look, and I feel like I might be getting my nail art mojo back!!! What do you think?!?

And of course, make sure to check out the other talented ladies to see what they came up with for this fun three-purple prompt!


   

    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
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pale Blue Base

Hey everyone, today I am suffering from a terrible migraine but wanted to get this posted before I missed the deadline and head to a hockey game!



Today I'm sharing with you a beautiful pale blue holo that works as the base for some mega nail art fail that I put together to go with my Nail Crumpet's Art Challenge theme.







This polish is Great Lakes Lacquer A New Slate v2 – a gorgeous light blue with a strong linear holo finish and magenta flakies (see macro) which give the polish a pinkish flash. The polish was a bit sheer, but worked up to opacity in three thin coats. It was a Cyber Monday Exclusive, but I just looked and the polish is still available on the website!



Now onto the nail art. I got a little impatient while doing this look. I didn't wait long enough for the base to dry before stamping, and I thought I'd do a little stamping gradient with my prompt for this color – ikat, well as you can tell that got a little messed up.

Then I thought, why don't I try free handing it?



Also a fail. Buuuuut I do happen to like this color combination, so maybe at a later date when I have more patience I will attempt something like this again.

As always, don't forget to check out the other, I'm sure much better than this is, pale blue nail art ideas in the inlinkz below!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – New Years Nails

Ok I admit it, I am phoning it in this year for my New Years Nails. I'm acutally sharing with you what I wore on Christmas, but I figure it works for New Years as well.



Yes these are colored snowflakes, but if you blur your eyes, they could also be colored fireworks! Hahaha, so sorry for phoning it in for this Crumpet's Nail Tarts challenge, but I have family in town and I just have not had a second to do actual New Years nails.



Ok now for the details. The base of this mani is the amazing Painted Polish 2016, which I realize right now is also appropriate for my New Years nails. This is a gorgeous linear holo with silver holo microglitter and beautiful iridescent flakies. This polish has it all, in the shade the flakies shine and in the sun holo comes out to play. Sooooo pretty, couldn't stop staring at this polish.





And for this manicure I broke out the clear stamper, which I purchased from What's Up Nails (super fast shipping, so approve), and stamped various snowflakes in several colors using my Jolie Polish stamping polishes!

So that's all you get from me this New Years, sorry it took me so long to put this up (this was due last week), but I'm getting it in just under the wire. Well for the west coast that is!

Don't forget to check out all the other ladies who actually put some effort into this prompt, unlike me (SOOO sorry!!!).

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Winter

Hey everyone, sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, but life has been a bit busy to say the least! Today I have some fun winter nail art to share with you!



Another week, another Crumpet's Nail Art Challenge, the rest of this month is themed with the holidays, so not difficult stuff here! Just simple stamping. Please ignore the smudge on my middle finger, a sign of how crazy life has been lately, I wore nails with a smudge!



The base of this look is ILNP Cozy Mittens, a beautiful champagne holo polish with gold flakies giving it added depth. And the linear holo finish in this is SO strong.



Since the name of the polish is Cozy Mittens, I was thinking I would pull out an appropriate stamp for it, so I broke out my Bundle Monster BM-S220, which is the perfect snow-day stamp! And for this look I broke out my B Polished Red-y for the Holodays, which is an amazingly opaque red that is perfect for stamping with!



I really liked how this came out, not your typical winter nails, but I already did snowflakes earlier this month. I wish we had snow days in California, but we don't. Maybe we'll get some rain days this year with the impending El Niño, but probably not. I can dream right?!

Don't forget to check out all the other amazing nail art my fellow nail tarts have put together for this challenge in the inlinkz below!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up