It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter!

It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter!

akzentz christmas gel gelish green negative space pink silver vetro

Meet my current holiday nails! I sat down to do a festive set the other night, but wanted to take them in a slightly different direction than the usual seasonal fare. I reached for the pastel versions of red and green and combined them with silver accents for a marshmallow winter set. I'm in love!

I used the following gels for this set:
Gelish Look at You, Pink-achu!
Gelish Do You Harajuku?
Vetro Silver Leaf
Akzentz Gel Play in Platinum Quartz
Akzentz Gel Play in White

Since I am still obsessed with all things Japanese nail art, this set is inspired by that style. I'm still working to master their eye for mix-and-matching, but I think I found a pretty good balance here that I'm happy with.

All of the details are handpainted, from the "PEACE" to the snowflakes! I also opted for a peace sign on my right hand, cause my left hand can't handle lettering (plus, it mixes things up a little more!).

I really love this set and my clients have been enjoying it, too! It's nice to feel festive without the traditional "rich red, deep green, glittering gold" color palette.

Carnaval Netting - X-Patterned Nail Art

Carnaval Netting - X-Patterned Nail Art

31DC2015 freehand gel gelish linework nail art pink

Today's prompt is "inspired by a pattern" and I don't even know where I took it today, but here's what I ended up with. The candy colored palette has me thinking of Carnaval in Rio, while the X pattern is vaguely reminiscent of netting.

Wouldn't you know it, my base polish fits the theme! It's Gelish Carnaval Hangover, which is my new gel manicure for the week. I completely finished and cured the manicure before adding the designs.

Using a small nail art brush, I added the Xs with Duri - Shocking Twist (pea green), Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away (blue), and American Apparel - L'Espirit (pale purple). I didn't try to make them uniform, especially not from nail to nail, and instead went for a more abstract feel.

The manicure still needed something else, so after the Xs were done, I added black dots wherever the lines met. I think it contributes a lot to the final look!

More "inspired by a pattern" nail art:

• Dark, matte, and dotted
• Partial checkerboards
• Pretty paisley
• Tori Burch ruby floral

Electric Carnival Half Moons

Electric Carnival Half Moons

31DC2015 blue deborah lippmann green half moon jinsoon lvx nail vinyls pink stripes

Half moon day! I love half moons and every year during the challenge, I say that I'm going to wear them more often and then I never do. So here's my look for this year -- it started out in a different place than it ended up, which is some kind of mix of "electric carnival," "60s mod," and "old wallpaper." I dig it, but had one main issue, which we'll talk about below.

The base of this manicure is LVX Midori, this gorgeous yellow-green shade that I adore. Like, ADORE it.

However.

Midori has this tendency to seep through and discolor any other shades that are used on top of it (even if there's a coat of topcoat between them). It's worse with light colors, but Midori even altered the deep cobalt blue that I used in my stripes. I didn't remember this when I reached for it, and by the time I realized, it was too late. In this case it was okay, because the color palette ended up looking kinda cool and retro, but this was not originally what I had in mind.

The process for these is pretty easy. I put down two coats of Midori plus a coat of quick dry topcoat. Once it was set, I used half moon nail vinyls to block off the moon area, then painted freehand stripes with JINsoon Cool Blue and Deborah Lippmann Whip It. As you can see, Midori turned Cool Blue into "Cool Teal" and Whip It into coral. Oh well!

Next, I removed the vinyls, and added the arcing stripes in the open moon space. The final step, of course, is to finish with topcoat. Carnival chic!

Here are my half moon manis from the past four years of the challenge:

• Sweet and girly leopard half moons
• Retro striped half moons
• Delicate lace half moons
• Autumnal gilded half moon stamping

Pink and Gold Rococo Nails

Pink and Gold Rococo Nails

31DC2015 3d american apparel china glaze gold metallic nail vinyls ocean nail supply pink

Today’s “metallic” nails for the challenge are very unlike my usual personal style. It was nice to step outside my box though, as I was super happy with the way these turned out! Girly and fun and kind of rococo-esque, don’t you think?

My pink base is American Apparel Coney Island. I haven’t used an AA polish in a really long time… I always forget how great they are. Their colors are lovely and the formula is really nice.

The frame embellishments on my pointer and pinky are from a grab bag I ordered at Ocean Nail Supply. I can’t remember where I got the brass studs from, but I imagine you could find something similar from ONS or a site like Daily Charme.

I chose one of my favorite gold polishes for the accents: China Glaze Goldie But Goodie. I like the complexity of it — it has these gorgeous flecks and a sort of coarse visual finish to it. I used nail vinyls from Love, Angeline for the pattern on the middle and ring fingers.

More metallic manicures:

• Nfu Oh 61 silver holographic
• Magnetic metallic with gold leaf
• Distressed metallic gradient
• Matte metallic gold French tips

Ride the Waves with a Pop of Pink

Ride the Waves with a Pop of Pink

akzentz black favorite freehand gel gelish nail art pink white

Black and white with a pop of color is a tale as old as time. It's such a classic combination: black and white on either end of the spectrum, with a color that falls somewhere in between. I had this manicure in my mind for a while now, and just had to pick the perfect base color. I found it in Gelish Tokyo A Go Go, a beautiful, bright pinky-purple.

And there's good news for those of you that don't wear gel: this pretty pink is also available in regular lacquer form from Morgan Taylor!

To begin this manicure, I applied Gelish Foundation before adding two coats of Gelish Tokyo A Go Go. It's just... ugh. So pretty. I'm obsessed.

Then, I used Akzentz Gel Play Paint in white to block out the general shapes of the waves. It was pretty opaque, but I went back after curing the first coat to fill in a couple of patchy areas. I used Akzentz Gel Play Paint in black to add on the thick and thin wavy lines.

Finally, I finished the manicure with Gelish Top It Off.

I was really happy with the outcome of this manicure and enjoyed wearing it quite a lot! It's always satisfying when a manicure you have in your mind turns out how you hoped it would on the nail.

Purchasing Information
The Gelish Hello Pretty collection is available from Esther's Nail Center, as well as Amazon.com. You may still be able to find the LE collection in Gelish MINI at Sally Beauty.
Morgan Taylor lacquer equivalents are available from Loxa Beauty.
Akzentz products can be purchased through Gellipop.

Floral Bouquet Accent Nail with OCC Cosplay Nail Lacquers

Floral Bouquet Accent Nail with OCC Cosplay Nail Lacquers

floral flowers freehand grey matte nail art obsessive compulsive cosmetics orange pink purple shimmer

Way back in the day, when I was first getting into nails, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics held a sale. I think they were changing their bottle shape and wanted to clear out their old inventory. I figured it'd be a good opportunity to try a new-to-me brand, and picked out "Grandma," a pretty coral, and "Ghostly," a lavender-grey. When I gave them a go, I remember being really impressed with the formula.

Now, here we are, some three or four years later, and I'm still just as pleased with the quality of OCC products. You may already know them for their Lip Tars, but if you haven't tried out their nail products yet, I definitely suggest picking a few of them up.

All of the shades I used for this manicure are from their latest collection, "Cosplay." I thought it'd be nice to do a floral accent nail to show off the range of colors, and drew inspiration from Paulina's Passions' distinct floral aesthetic.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - Silence (greyed beige, base)
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - Femme (pink)
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - Cosplay (green)
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - Cha Cha (orange)
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - Belladonna (purple)

I created the shade variations by mixing the colors with a white nail polish, and finished the manicure off with a matte topcoat.

The standout here, for me, is definitely Silence. It has this gorgeous silver shimmer to it and covered well in two coats. Super chic, very "me," I'm in love!

These lacquers are available now for $10/ea from occmakeup.com.

Kawaii Watermelons, or How to Make Your Fruit Cute

Kawaii Watermelons, or How to Make Your Fruit Cute

favorite freehand green kawaii kbshimmer nail art pink

I love watermelon, but I don't know that I would necessarily think of it as cute. UNTIL today. I've done some summery watermelon nail art before, but I wanted to take it in a different direction this time. In a cute direction. In a SUPER cute direction! And now I want to kawaii-fy ALL the things! All you gotta do is add faces!

I used two of the new KBShimmer summer shades for the classic watermelon pink/green! I did this as a ruffian with the pink over the green, but I think it probably would have been easier to just paint a green band on top of the pink.

KBShimmer Lei It Again
KBShimmer For Sail By Owner

Both polishes were opaque in two smooth, easy coats. I really enjoyed working with them.

I also used black and white polishes for the faces and other detailing.

Formula X Dark Matter
Essie Blanc

I dunno what else to say! I just love their little faces so much! KAWAII FOREVER

Disclosure: This post contains press samples.