Blue Skies

I was going to just paint my nails with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue-Away" and leave it at that, but it was like they were calling out for fluffy white clouds! So I grabbed my Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and a dotting tool and went to town.

This was the first time I tried this technique and I love how they turned out!

Concert Nails

I painted my nails for my concert band performance tomorrow. On a base of OPI "Russian Navy," I stamped the music note design from BM-411 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Silver Sweep."

Party Fingers!

I was going to a fancy party and since I was wearing a simple black dress, I thought I'd jazz things up with some fancy nails. Unfortunately, I don't remember the specifics for this mani! But, this is a background of two different Sally Hansen blues, stamped in black with a Pueen design. I love how they turned out! ...Unfortunately, they started chipping almost immediately!

Bright Butterflies

I was so excited about the spring weather, I wanted to do something with the allover butterfly design on Pueen plate #39. I did a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Love Train," which has a nice purple undertone. Then I stamped with Sally Hansen Instra-Dri in "Brisk Blue," which may have been kind of a crazy choice, but I was in the mood for something bright. Then I went one step further and used a dotting tool to add some details in Wet n Wild "Frosted Fuchsia," which was probably the craziest idea yet, but oh well...

Gray Butterflies

I have a busy week coming up at work, so I wanted to do something that wouldn't look bad when it starts to chip, haha! So I went with my much-loved Nina Ultra Pro "Spun Sugar," and stamped my ring fingers and thumbs with the butterfly design on Konad plate m20 using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Grey Area."

I bought this and a couple other Konad plates when I first started stamping, and have barely touched them since, so it was nice to pull this one back out.

A Blue Streak

I tried two new polishes tonight. On a base of metallic Maybelline Color Show "Blue Blowout," I stamped Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue-Away." I love this lighter color and would like to try it on top of a darker background so it can pop more, but overall I like the way this looks like subtle lace. This is the circle design on Pueen plate #24.

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...

Sophisticated Silver

Inspired by Am1e's recent "Sophisticated Saturday" post, I decided to use this design from Pueen plate #28. The base is Sephora by OPI "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam," and I stamped with my new Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Gone Gray," which in the bottle looked like a very dark metallic gray. In real life, it's just... silver, and isn't as "one coat" as most of the other Insta-Dri colors. It's nice, it just wasn't the look I was expecting.

Silver Hibiscus

I guess I just can't get enough of this Pueen plate #72. My mom gave me a bottle of OPI "Russian Navy," which looks purple in the bottle, but yeah, it's more like navy on. And I'd been wanting to do these flowers in silver (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Silver Sweep"). So here we go!

Hibiscus Inspiration

Inspired by Soguesswhat11's latest "fauxtorial," I used a couple of the flowers on Pueen plate #72 to do this design. All the colors are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri: the base is "Petal Pusher," flowers are "Presto Pink," and vines are "Mint Sprint." I like the gold on pink she does in her design, but I have cut all goldtone out of my life at this point, can't backtrack now!