Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Roses for my nubbins

Nothing to Disclose

Whew! We made it through Monday! I had a pretty major break on my ring finger (yet again!) tonight and thought that I wasn't going to want to do any nail art tonight out of pure mourning of my nail breakage. However, once I trimmed down the rest of my nails, it felt so cleansing and cathartic to have fresh and short nails that I was inspired to try something out.

I always forget how much I love my nubs. I think most people can relate to having short nails so it's always nice to do some art on short nails. I know it's not everyone's taste, but I love short nails! Nubbin' club for life! ;)


Sunday, February 23, 2014

The cure for Sunday evening blues


Hello, all! I've got a bit of the Sunday evening blues so I decided to combat that and paint something simple, bright and fun to get me through tomorrow. This will be a quick post since I plan on spending the rest of the evening catching up with a good book :) 

So, without any fuss at all, here are my sunflower nails! 

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Bright Wallpaper inspired Triangles


Happy Saturday! I had a crazy crazy work week...I was there from 7:30am to 11:30pm on Wednesday night and I've spent the last few days recovering a bit from all that. Despite still feeling tired, I've been craving nail art the past few days so I'm glad I actually sat down and went for it today. 

As you know, I love doing art inspired by patterns and prints I find online. Recently I came across this fantastic site, Sian Elin, that creates a slew of items from pillows to wallpaper to textiles and I'm finding myself obsessed with the bold patterns. With all the textiles I'm falling in love with lately, I'm going to need a giant house to accommodate them all ;) I've had this pattern saved on my phone for about a month and every time I scrolled by it I was just dying to give it a go in nail art form. 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Because sometimes you have to paint lacy mandalas...


Hello, all! It's almost hump day! I'm already so exhausted from this week, but I was really craving some nail art tonight so I got my act together so I could share something new with you all. 

As I often mention on here, I find inspiration from many online sources (patterns, designs, etc) and pinterest has become one of my favorite sources of inspiration. I've even got a pattern board now! Anyway, I was browsing tonight and came across this wonderful site from a very creative lady (Rachel Taylor) who creates fantastic papercrafts. I took inspiration from her design and used it to inspire tonight's mani. 

Damask Love


Hello all! Hope everyone in the States had a good President's 3 day weekend (if you were lucky enough to get one!). I had to work today and got home late but I've been wanting to share this mani since I did it at the beginning of the month and I just couldn't wait any longer! 

I love damask patterns so much and lately I've been seeing chairs, pillows, walls, what have you, covered in this bold and classy pattern and I've been wanting to do it on my nails for so long. I'm so very pleased with how these turned out and I'd love to hear how you feel about them as well! 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Mani Monday - Deb Shops Floral Chevron Tutorial

While I loath Mondays, Mani Mondays do seem to make the day a little bit better ;) Today I've got a tutorial I put together for Deb Shops and I really love how they turned out! I was inspired by one of their many adorable dresses and they definitely get me in the mood for spring time. Be sure to head to blog.debshops.com to see my how-to for this look! 

 Happy Polishing :) 


Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Digital Dozen does Vintage - Day 5: Wallpaper


Hello, all - how is your Sunday going? I always get the Sunday blues as the evening progresses and I start thinking about going to work the next day. Darn! I'm warding off the bad feelings by finishing up my vintage manis for Digital Dozen week and today I've got some vintage wallpaper inspired nails! 

I found this really awesome Etsy shop called Hannah's Treasures that sells vintage (actual vintage, too, not reproduction which I thought was really cool) wallpaper and I fell in love with a bunch of the patterns. The one I settled on was this funky 1950's yellow, red and green geometric style one. They remind me a bit of colorful mandalas and that's why I was drawn to them. 

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Digital Dozen does Vintage - Day 4: Floral Cross-Stitch


Happy Saturday, all! So Sorry I've been delayed in my Digital Dozen posting. I've had family visiting since Thursday and I haven't been able to get away to do a mani until today. I'm hoping to have my day 5 post done soon as well so I'll be able to finish the challenge.

My younger sister is visiting and we're pretty exciting when we're together. We've been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy since yesterday while doing counted cross-stitch. Yes. We're probably the coolest cats around. Try to control your jealousy ;) In all seriousness, it's been pretty fun. We're catching up and just letting our minds relax and it's just been very enjoyable. But hours of actual cross-stitching wasn't enough for, so I figured I'd try it out on my nails and create this retro floral cross-stitch mani. 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The Digital Dozen does Vintage - Day 3: Funky Floral


Happy Hump day! Well, it's at least the start of it here in California. Yesterday was...lame. I spilt coffee all over my keyboard at work and now I have irritating stickiness on a bunch of my keys, polish I ordered that arrived today arrived with a broken bottle that spilled all over the other polishes, and I'm just dealing with some person things that is making me feel like the day is a bit of a joke. I'm ready for the weekend! I've got family visiting starting Thursday night :) 

To make up for yesterday's not so vintage-y look, I went (what I think is) very vintage tonight. I did (another) funky floral print! In my day one post I mentioned that I was inspired by this website (Q is for Quilter) and I've again found a 1930's print from that site. I quite like how this turned out! 

The Digital Dozen does Vintage - Day 2: Black & White Lace


Hello, all! I got home late from work tonight and I'm sleepy but I wanted to stay on track for Digital Dozen week so here's my quick mani for the night! I was inspired by this fabulous black and white vintage lace dress that then inspired this just as fabulous cake! Who doesn't love lace dresses and tasty cakes?! Sadly, I'm not so sure that I've had success with the theme for this mani. 

Monday, February 10, 2014

The Digital Dozen does Vintage - Day 1: Blue Floral


Hello, all! Sorry for being a bit MIA this past week. I've been feeling a bit uninspired and every time I sat down at my desk I just couldn't produce anything I liked. One of the more frustrating things artists go though. Sometimes I just need to step back long enough that I begin to miss doing nail art again and then I can get my head back into it. 

This week marks the start of February's Digital Dozen week! The best week each month, I'd say ;) This week is "Vintage" and I was initially really excited about the prospect of this. However, I literally spent from Thursday last week to today trying to come up with manis for this week...to no avail. Grrr! I actually did a mani this morning with the intention of using it for DD week, but I hated it. I almost quit for the day but decided to push through it and I'm super stoked that I did! 

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Tribal Geometrics


Happy hump day everyone! Does anyone else feel like Wednesdays take forever? I can't wait for the weekend! I'm going to make this a short post because I'm going to run and catch up on some TV shows with the boyfriend. 

Some exciting news in my corner of the world is that I'm now a Barielle blogger! I was sent some awesome products to try out and I figured I'd use one of them tonight. I'm not really sure what genre this pattern is...a tribal, geometric blend?...but I think I like it! 

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Orange and Grey, all the way - Floral


Good Evening, all! I'm going to keep things short and sweet tonight because I'm sleepy! I quite like how funky and different tonight's mani turned out and while this would probably work nicely for an upcoming Digital Dozen mani, I couldn't resist sharing it now ;) As an aside, my high school mascot was the greyhound and our school colors were orange and grey and we'd always say "Orange and Grey, all the way!" at football games and whatnot...and that just popped into my head...hence the title! 

I was browsing pinterest (I've been enamored with it a lot lately) and found this awesome pattern board with this even more awesome print and had to do it.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Nail-Art-A-Go-Go - Day 1: Achromatic


Today is a 2 day post day! This month, one of my favorite nail ladies (Gnarly Gnails) put together a really creative and unique nail art challenge that I knew I had to partake in. I loved doing the 31 Day Challenge and have been looking forward to this new one for months. Too bad I didn't start doing nail art for it months ago ;) 

So here it is, the first post of the Nail-Art-A-Go-Go challenge! :D Myself and several other talented nail ladies will be partaking in this challenge...which is quite the challenge. It's one mani a day for the entire month of February! I'm positive I will fall behind, but I really hope to take part in each challenge. If you're interested in partaking, check out this link to find out how to get involved :) 
Day one is Achromatic, meaning "without color" so it's all about black, whites and greys. I decided to go with a super simple 'love' tree mani (after all, it is the love month!). 

Renaissance Custom Lacquer Love...Everyday - Swatches & Review


Happy Saturday, all! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I can't believe it's already February 1st! It's definitely time to start thinking about that little holiday in the middle of this month called Valentines Day...and of course, the most important part of that will be choosing the right nail polish for the day! ;) 

Today I've got some stunning polishes from Renaissance Custom Lacquer to help make your Valentine's mani selection both easier and more difficult. Easy in that there are 4 great options to choose from...and tough because there are 4 great options to choose from ;) This is the "Love...Everyday" collection and is inspired by the concept that, well, we should show our love year-round.