Halloween Skulls

A few days ago I painted my nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Black Out." Now that Halloween is tomorrow, I added some of these little skull and skeleton designs from Bundle Monster plate BM-413, using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Silver Sweep." (I thought I had a spider web design, but I guess I imagined it.)

Fall Vines

I got a manicure just a few days ago (to prepare for a wedding) and it already had some huge chips! So I went ahead and painted my nails myself. This is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Surspice!" which I love for fall. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I topped it with the vine design from Pueen plate #76 in Pure Ice "Black Out."

Blue & Gray

A friend of mine at work today had gray nail polish, and it inspired me to do mine in Pure Ice "Kiss Me Here." Then I wanted to stamp with a design I hadn't used before, and this criss-cross flower one from Pueen plate #23 caught my eye. Love this bright blue Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Blue Me Away!" for stamping :o)

Purple Cherry Blossoms

This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment choice that turned out really well! Base is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Lacey Lilac," stamped with Wet n Wild Megalast in "Disturbia." I used a couple of the little cherry blossom flowers on Pueen plate #59.

Stained Glass Flowers

Very excited to share this one! After seeing the Powder Perfect Stained Glass polishes on another blog, I ordered myself a set of red, yellow, and blue (for mixing and making other colors). They're translucent, so designed to be painted over your stamped lines to color in the open spaces. People have done beautiful things with these. They seem to generally use them on white, though.

Mine is a base of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Get Juiced," stamped just on two fingers with a rose from Pueen plate #80 using Wet n Wild "Black Creme." Then I used Powder Perfect "Medieval" and "Cerulean" to make some purple shades...

My thoughts: I should definitely have done this on white or a very pale color, as the result was kind of muddy. However, the colors seemed to work well. They do dry quickly, so just put a little down for blending. I used a small nail art brush to apply. Also, I am extremely strongly right-handed ;o)

Melon Flowers

I had this look in my mind last night, so today I made it happen! I think this would look good with gold stamping, too, but I don't have gold nail polish at the moment, so went with my favorite silver...

Base is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Get Juiced," stamped with Insta-Dri "Silver Sweep" using the roses from Pueen plate #80. Love this base color, it's a nice coral/watermelon shade I got for the summer (it's been on my toes for the last couple weeks, too).

Fish Scales

Something I've been liking to do lately is paint my nails a solid color for a couple days, and then when it starts showing signs of wear, stamp over it. That's what I did with this mani, which started with just Sinful Colors "Sail La Vie," which got lots of compliments on its own.

Then I used Wet n Wild "Black Creme" to stamp this scale pattern from Pueen plate #86, and finished it off with dots of silver Stripe Rite. I got even more compliments on it this way!

Silver Grid

I originally had something else in mind, but changed plates at the last minute to use this grid-type design from Pueen #04. Base is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Pronto Purple," and stamping is "Silver Sweep."

Blue on Blue Flowers

I love how these turned out! I haven't used this one much since I got it, so I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show in "Turquoise Paradise." Then I stamped on a variety of flowers from Pueen plate #72 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Navy Fleet." Love the variety of shapes and flowers, all from one plate!

Minty Roses

Well, I had one thing in my mind (involving a gradient and a more geometric stamped design), but it just wasn't happening. So I went with plan B, which involves a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Mint Sorbet" stamped with "Jazzy Jade" (reversed on my ring fingers). I used multiple sections of the rose designs on Pueen plate #80. It might not have been my original plan, but I like the way it turned out!

Jamspiration

A few of my friends are now selling Jamberry wraps, but as I've discovered, they just don't work for me. However, the catalog is great inspiration for me in creating my own nail art! Inspired by the style Glam, I decided on a base of Finger Paints "Putty in My Hands," stamped with Pure Ice "Fairy Godmother" and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Mauve It." I had a couple design options, but ended up using the sketchy flowers on Pueen plate #77 - I loved this plate as soon as I saw it, but hadn't used it yet!

Black Lace on Gray Gradient

Last week I painted my nails with Sephora by OPI in "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam," and it was finally starting to chip to the point that really bugged me. Rather than starting over, I turned it into a gradient by adding Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Grey Area" over the tips. Then I stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme," using the lace design on Pueen plate #64. Came out pretty well, and I can get a little more use out of my original manicure!

Blue Scrolls

Look who's back! I got some great nail polish for Christmas that's really long-wearing and I didn't want to bother stamping over it, but I've been home sick for a couple days and was getting bored. This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Navy Fleet" (a new one I picked up recently, and honestly I think it looks more like a dark teal than navy), stamped in "Silver Sweep" with one of the flower designs on Pueen plate # 97.

Snowflowers

I picked something a little more elaborate than planned for my triumphant return to nail art ;o) Tomorrow is my holiday party at work, so I chose this flower design from my new Pueen plate #75, which reminded me of snow flakes. The base is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Blue Me Away," and the design is stamped in Wet n Wild "French White." On my ring fingers is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Breezy Blue," topped with "Sea-ly String" glitter.

How long did it take me to figure out the "Sea-ly String" pun? Way too long.

Gradient and Waves

I did this gradient/ombre of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Mint Sorbet" with "Jazzy Jade" tips last night, but it was just begging to be stamped on. I wanted something "wave" looking, so I added this wavy spiral design from Pueen plate #13 in Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Silver Sweep." Love it!

Flakey

I can't decide if these look more like snowflakes or flowers. I guess they should be flowers, since it's still August... This is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Jaded" (which requires three coats to look reasonable), stamped with Xtreme Wear in "Jazzy Jade," using that poinsettia-looking design from Pueen plate #49.

Green Lotus

Besides some of these stamps being crooked, I'm pretty happy with this one! I used two of my favorite colors at the moment, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Jazzy Jade" and "Mint Sorbet." This is a flower type design from Pueen plate #51 - this is probably the first time I used the "stamping buffet" plates to do the exact same design on each nail.

Origami Jam

A friend at work was selling Jamberry nail wraps as a fundraiser for her daughter's soccer team. I loved a lot of the designs, but decided to go with a couple that looked like things I couldn't just do myself with stamping. I loved these origami-looking birds on a white background. For my first ever attempt with Jamberry wraps, I decided to do them on my ring fingers only, with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Bubblegum Pink" on my other nails.

Well, I don't know if the problem was the wraps or user error, but they never seemed to stick right, and came off in the shower the next day. So I painted those nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "White On," and stamped the origami bird from BM-405 a few times in "Blue Me Away!," "Mint Sorbet," and "Bubblegum Pink."

Mint Lace

Another minty manicure! These Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes in "Mint Sorbet" and "White On" came in another of those kits I picked up on sale. The white actually stamps pretty well! I used the flowery lace design from Pueen plate #28.

Seafoam and Chevron

A new Target opened by my house, and I went today for the grand opening. I got a white and seafoam scarf, as well as this seafoam polish, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Jaded." I have to say, I was a little disappointed, as it took 3+ coats to really cover completely. On my ring fingers, I added the small chevron design from Pueen plate #03 in Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Silver Sweep."