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)

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!

Flutter by...

Simple mani tonight... I used Pure Ice "Fairy Godmother," and then stamped just on my ring fingers with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Pronto Purple," using the butterfly/flower design from Pueen plate #39. Pronto Purple is one of my favorite nail colors (and I'm super bummed it doesn't seem to be in stores anymore), but it is kind of a lousy stamping polish :o(

Gradient Dots

Inspired by a few "dotticure" pictures I pinned on Pinterest, I decided to try a kind of gradient version. On top of a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Brisk Blue," I dotted Pure Ice "Black Out," "Kiss Me Here" (gray - that name makes no sense), and "Superstar" (white).

It turned out neat, but I'm not 100% happy with it. It took me a couple nails to figure out a pattern, and on the dark base, the white really sticks out, as compared with the black and gray.

Next I'd like to try a gradient base with a single color of dots on top!

Spring Thistles

I thought I'd try another gradient mani, this time with just two colors. I used Pure Ice in "Fairy Godmother" (purple) and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Love Train" (pink with lavender undertones). The first nail I did turned out like a beautiful sunset. Then the rest of them looked like a bad faux textured wall :o( But it didn't matter so much, since I was covering the whole thing with this thistle-like design from Pueen plate #51 (in Pure Ice "Black Out"), which I've been waiting to use.

The overall effect is kind of crazy (looks like something from the 80s), so we'll see how long this actually lasts...

Blue Waves

I've been wanting to try a gradient manicure for a long time, and finally picked up a pack of foam wedge makeup sponges last week. At this point, my nail polish collection is big enough that I have similar colors that will look good together in a gradient. I actually think this may have been a bit too subtle. I used (lightest to darkest): Pure Ice "Bikini," Maybelline Color Show "Turquoise Paradise," and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue-ming Fast." I put down a base coat of the medium color first, but in hindsight I probably should have used the lightest color as a base.

Then I stamped on the chevron design from BM-423 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blazing Blue." As usual, I had a hard time keeping the stamp lined up straight; weirdly, I got the stamp straighter on my right hand than my left! The stamp makes the gradient even more subtle, but the overall effect is kind of like waves on water.

I'll definitely be trying gradients again!

Lacy Underwear?!

After my snowflake Christmas mani, I thought I'd do another white and nude design. This is Pure Ice "Superstar" stamped on OPI for Sephora "Nonfat Soy Half Caff."

Without flash

With flash

I was originally going to use one of the flower-on-lace patterns from Pueen plate #27, but the images kept coming out kind of smudgy looking, so I ended up using the large rose design on plate #22, which came out a little better. However, when I asked my husband what he thought, he said it looked like lacy underwear!

Winter Wonderland

Well, it's been a while! For the last couple weeks, I've been so busy with holiday stuff, I've barely had time to sleep, let alone touch up my nails or do a design that wouldn't last more than a few days. So I just did a solid silver and then a solid nude color. But I wanted to do something a little different for Christmas day.

This is Nina Ultra Pro in "Spun Sugar" with stamped designs from BM-416 in Pure Ice "Superstar!" Originally I wanted to do that snowflake/sweater design on both ring fingers, but after two attempts, I still couldn't get it straight on my left hand, so I said, "Ok, forget it," and went for the penguin design on the same plate, instead.

Candy Stripes

I have to say off the bat, I'm not 100% sold on this. And the fact that the color ran when I added a top coat doesn't help. That said ... I wanted to do something a little festive for a holiday event I have at work, and after considering a couple options, decided to go with the candy cane look. This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Cinna-snap," one of my favorite colors. On my ring fingers it's stamped on top of Pure Ice "Superstar!" using the diagonal stripe design from BM-423.

This is a very bad picture, but that's ok because it's a kind of bad manicure.

My husband said he wanted to eat my fingers - what do you think?

Party Pink

I don't have any kind of special event coming up, I just thought this would look fun, and it does! I used OPI for Sephora "Henna-Thing is Possible," stamped with the swirly/vine design from Bundle Monster plate BM-406 in Pure Ice "Black Out." Then on my ring fingers, I have Finger Paints "Van Gogh's Violet" (which looks more glittery in the bottle than it is on your fingers - this was three coats).

Fun fun fun!

Also wanted to mention, I've been using Seche Vite top coat because I heard it doesn't make stamping streak so much, and so far, so good!

More Roses and Lace

After changing my mind about five times tonight, I decided to use the other rose and lace design on Pueen plate #27, stamping in Pure Ice "Black Out" on Revlon "Raisin Rage."

We're going to the renaissance faire this weekend, and I think the design and color scheme is kind of renaissance-y...

Flowers and Branches

I realized I hadn't used this Pure Ice nail polish in "Fairy Godmother" yet, so I did a test to see how opaque it was. Turns out it covers pretty much completely in just one coat! (But I did two anyway, just to be safe.) Then I did this flowery/branchy design from Pueen plate 33 (I just now decided that they were branches) in Pure Ice "Black Out," with dots of Wet n Wild "Rain Check" in the centers of the flowers.

There was a tiny bit of streaking after I put on a top coat, but also my scraper wasn't quite scraping as well as it used to, so there were a couple noticeable streaks transferred right from the plate.

Raindrops

I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest to do a multi-colored, multi-sized polka-dot thing. I went with a base of Wet n Wild "Bijou Blue," and then my plan was to use Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Celeb City" in place of the white in the inspiration photo, and then Pure Ice "Bikini" as the third color.
I think I misjudged the size of the dots, though. Even though I chose different sized dotting tools, the dots meant to overlap ended up being the same size. Just as well, because those two colors are pretty similar right next to each other. So there's no stacking of dots. But that's ok, I like the way this turned out, anyway. The color combo and bit of sparkle looks like drops of rain.

Coffee Table Rings

This circle pattern on Pueen plate 47 reminded me of the rings left on your table when you don't use a coaster.

The end result was a little more subtle than I'd intended. The Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes I've tried have been pretty opaque and good for stamping, but I guess "Vigorous Violet" didn't have quite enough pigment to stand up to Pure Ice in "Kiss Me Here" (which is a weird name for a gray color, btw).

Here is a picture after I added a top coat - it didn't streak too badly:

Leafy Greens

This is not my usual color combination, but my favorite Sally Hanson Insta-Dri nail polishes were on sale at the supermarket today, so I picked up a couple new colors. This is "Mint Sprint" on a background of Pure Ice "Bikini," using the leafy/vine design on Pueen plate 33.

When I first started stamping, I didn't have any problem with my designs streaking when I applied top coat, and I didn't even know that was a thing. It seems like ever since I heard it was a potential issue, my designs have been streaking more - did I jinx myself? I've been taking pictures before I apply top coat now, but actually this one didn't streak too much when I did it.

Blue Jewels?

I had this awesome multicolored stamp all planned, and when I actually went to do it... it just wasn't happening. It's possible these Pueen plates have some kind of residue on them that needs to be cleaned off the first time, but that hadn't occurred to me yet, so I scrapped that idea and went with something else.

Instead, I painted my nails with Pure Ice in "Kiss Me Here" (gray), and used three of the designs on Pueen plate 26 with Wet 'n Wild "Black Creme." On my middle three fingers, I used the one on the right that looks kind of like chandelier beads in varying lengths. For my pinkies, I used the similar one on the left where they're all the same length, because I didn't want to risk having the mostly blank area end up on my nail. And for my thumbs, I used the swirly dot pattern at the top to cover the large area.

I then went back and added dots of Wet 'n Wild "Bijou Blue" on top of some of the larger gem/teardrop shapes. Unfortunately, when I added a top coat, a lot of the designs smudged :o( I think this was mostly because the top coat is kind of old and gloopy now. That's going into the trash :o/

Peacock!

I've wanted to do this ever since I saw a tutorial for a similar look on YouTube. My Pueen plates arrived today, and plate 09 with this peacock design was the first one I pulled out!

This is a base of an OPI for Sephora color (sorry, don't know the name off the top of my head, it's part of a sampler), with stamping in black, and dots of Sally Hansen InstaDry in Pronto Purple in the centers of the feather looking parts.

I am really happy with these Pueen plates! How happy am I? So happy that I shared a picture of my right hand (I am right-handed) because it turned out just as nice as the left! All the problems I seemed to experience with the Konad plates I tried just aren't happening with these. I have two sets (the 2012 and 2013) and love all the patterns on them, so I will be entertained for a while!

Random Flowers

Bad news: my first plan, to use the French tips on Konad plate m19, was just not going to happen.
Good news: I finally ended up just stamping some random flowers over each nail, and it totally worked!

Sorry about the cuticles, that's what happens when I have to mess around so much with nail polish remover, washing my hands, repainting, etc. This is a base of OPI for Sephora "Nonfat Soy Half Caff," one of my all-time favorites! Then I stamped the flowers with Pure Ice in black (not sure of the exact name) and Revlon "Raisin Rage."

I didn't really care so much about how this turned out, because I ordered two sets of Pueen plates which should be coming tomorrow, so I plan on going a little nuts with them!