Cherry Blossom Nail Art

A while back I saw some Cherry Blossom Nail art by Kayla Shevonne, and I loved it!  I may have pestered her a bit asking for a tutorial and last week she totally came through!  She made it look so easy, but she is an evil trickster! I tried twice and mine didn’t look nearly as good as hers.
I’m just telling myself it’s because I'm new and don’t have as many materials to work with. It makes me feel better.
First, I tried with these colors…

Catrice Snow Motion, Miss Sporty Pink, Essence Let’s Get Lost, Essence Mysterious Black Nail Art Tip Painter.

It’s funny because I like this a lot more in the photo than I did on my nails.  When I had it on my nails it looked too dark, the blue and black didn’t have enough contrast and the pink dots looked too dark as well.  I liked it but something nagged at me that I should have used another color on the background. 
I left it on for most of the day but later that evening I decided to see how it looked with other colors.  A lighter background that would show off the other colors a little better, so I tried with these.

Catrice Snow Motion, Miss Sporty Pink, Essence Stamp Me! White, Catrice Easy Peasy,Lemon Squeezie, Essence Mysterious Black Nail Art Tip Painter.
I mixed the pink with some of the Snow Motion to make a lighter pink.

I probably should have waited until the next day when I wasn't so tired, but I am a total impatientpants and wanted to see if it was any better on a lighter background, so I got to work…

It’s funny because this is the opposite of the other photo. I liked this a lot more on my nails than I do in the photo!
I wish I’d taken my time more with the branches, which I think were shaped better on the blue, but the colors worked better with the green, I think. 
In any case, they aren’t quite as good as Kayla's but still pretty good for one of my first free hand nail art designs considering I didn’t have some of the tools I would have liked to be able to use.  I have kept this on longer than a lot of other manis I’ve done, almost five days!  It has started peeling though so I’m going to have to remove it and do something new soon. 
It’s ok, I already have a few ideas!
I almost forgot…. even with two layers of base coat the blue color totally stained my nails. They look just like this again. Argh.
Both manicures have a double layer of Seche Clear Base Coat and Seche Vite top coat.

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Giveaway Nail Mail!

I won my first giveaway! Sweeeeet! I was one of three winners in Traci's 200 Follower Giveaway!  Today a received Orly’s It’s Up To Blue, Oh Cabana Boy, and Shine.  I love the bottles, with the rubbery handles… I need to think of something cool to do using the three colors together.
To be honest, after filling out so many giveaway forms, posting all the photos and links to the giveaways I didn’t think I was ever going to win anything haha but I did!  It was so exciting too!  I guess it’s just like Traci says, you can’t win if you don’t enter.
I am a giveaway entering fool once again.  I may even host one of my own soon… 
Omg I love free stuff!

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My First Franken: Space Dream

Wow, a lot of firsts on this blog… guess that’s part of being a newbie!
I’ve been reading a lot on Facebook and other people’s blog about ‘Frankens’  … basically, polishes that people create by mixing existing polishes they already have.  I don’t have a lot of polish but I did have a few old ones that I never use, so I gathered them up and started mixing.
Of course I didn’t think to take photos of what I started with, because I was pretty sure I’d just end up with some glumpy mess.  The starting color was the green from Maybelline that I used in my St. Patty's Day Manicure, which was practically empty after my attempt at marbling.
All in all I'd say I used 7-8 different polishes in varying amounts.

This is what I ended up with, a pretty dusky purple color with gold and blue glitter which came from my Miss Cop Diamante Blanc that I bought at the market and love desperately. 
I added some heavier glitter, the squares you can see in the bottle, but they don’t appear to get picked up by the brush.  Not that I’ve seen yet anyway… That was a dab of Essence Nail Art Twin: Julia that I threw in for good measure.
I wasn’t sure what to call this so Megan from over at Painting Rainbows named it Space Dream. I thought it was pretty, so it stuck.
I’m not sure this frankening thing was as exciting an experience for me as it is for other nail gals.  It could be because I didn’t have a lot of nail polish and didn’t want to ‘waste’ any of my good ones on something like this, or maybe it’s just not my bag.  I guess time will tell.  Maybe I’ll try something else again at some point and come up with something that really knocks my socks off.  Until then I’ll put the frankening on hold, I think, and concentrate on things I enjoy a little more.  Perhaps next I will try making one of those Glitter Sandwiches everyone is so crazy about at the moment!  I think they look quite nice and I have plenty of glitter to test it out on!

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Gosh: Green Hawaii

This bottle has been hanging around in my stash for about two months now, and I kept meaning to give it a go but each time there was something else I’d get distracted with.  Today I finally got around to trying it and I’m a little torn.

On the one hand I really like the green and the glitter, but on the other hand, it does that ‘hungry glitter’ thing where the bumps show through even with  thick layer of Seche Vite over top.  It’s not as bad as I’ve seen it happen with other glittery polish but just enough to get on my nerves.
It was easy to apply, although it took three generous coats to make it fully opaque.   I also found it a little weird that there is so little blue when it’s on the nail, when it looks like there is so much blue glitter in the bottle.
In the end it’s a nice polish and the color really pops.  It’s not one of my favorites but I’m sure I’ll use it again at some point.

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Glitter Skittles Matte

What’s a girl to do when she has a great Glitter Skittles Mani and she knows it will need to be removed shortly?


Mattify that sucker!!
I think they all look pretty cool with the matte finish, which is funny considering until not that long ago I wasn’t a fan of any matte at all.  Since I got the Essence Matte topcoat I have gotten in the habit of seeing what every mani looks like matted before I remove it.  Sometimes I like it so much I even wear the mani an extra day or two just to have a bit more time to enjoy it.
What do you think of glitters matted?

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Glitter Skittles

After testing out my new Miss Cop glitter that I bought at the market, I wanted to see what it looked like on a black base.  As I was getting everything out I realized I had other new glitters that I haven’t tried yet, and some I’d like to compare.  That’s when it hit me… glitter skittle!!  Well, nine glitter and one flaky but whatever, apples and oranges.

So I got out some black polish, ten glitters (OK OK NINE) and tested them all out to see what they looked like.  I had a few that I thought would look the same, and they do in the bottle but once they are on they look completely different. Funny how it works that way.

These are the polishes I used for my left hand, thumb to pinkie showing from left to right

Here they are individually. Yes, I know I went completely pic crazy with this one!

Thumb -  Essence Nail Art Twin: Troy
I LOVE this color!  I’m a big fan of purple to begin with but this purple and blue glitter looks beautiful over the black.  I’ll be doing a full manicure of this sometime in the near future.  I like that it spreads evenly too, although thin glitter seems to do that easier than the more chunky stuff.

Index Finger - Essence Nail Art Twin: Julia
This one is a little more simple but pretty.  The fine glitter mixed with the larger square pieces looks interesting, I think.  It could also go over pretty much any color, I figure… silver is pretty neutral.

Middle Finger - Claire’s Red Glitter… no name, pity.
I saw an entire line of glitter polish at Claire’s and wanted to see what they were like.  I was so tempted to buy the whole bunch but I was trying to be sensible. Dammit! I should have known better than to be sensible because this one is great and now I want all the rest anyway.  That’s a lesson learned.  From now on just buy everything I want.
Ok, maybe not, but I don’t regret buying this one.  The glitter is very small and looks fantastic on black… it also came in blue, green, purple and a number of other colors.  I dare say it will only be a matter of time until I’m back with a post about them all.  Maybe a Claire’s Glitter Skittle?

Ring Finger - OPI Katy Perry Collection: Last Friday Night
I think most people will recognize this one.  The blue glitter from the Katy Perry collection is one of my favorites. I think because it reminds me a little of a starry night, like a set of acrylics I once had.  I have the complete set of minis of the Katy Perry Collection and I quite like them all.  The minis are such a great idea for those of us who don’t want to dish out on the bigger bottles but still want a wee taste of the good stuff!

Pinkie Finger – Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper: Circus Confetti
Seriously, how gorgeous is this?  Circus Confetti is the perfect name for it because that's what it looks like.  The multi colored pieces of glitter in with the finer silver glitter just screams PARTY ON MY FINGERS!!  I want to wear this again, and again, and again.  Oh how I love Essence.
Now, on to the right hand!

These are the polishes I used for my right hand, shown left to right in order from thumb to pinkie.  Can you see which one doesn’t belong?

Can you see it now?  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate taking photos of my right hand?  I wonder, does every nail blogger have a 'photo hand' that they usually use or am I the only one that seems to stick with photographing the same hand every time?  Usually, if I smoodge something up on my right hand I'm all "oh whatever, I won't be taking photos of that one anyway!".
Here is the right hand individually. As I said, it was SO much harder to get photos of this hand because I kept blocking the light on myself, so some rather odd finger acrobatics were in order.

Thumb – Miss Cop: Diamant Blanc
This is the same glitter that was in my recent post about my Market Mani.  It’s so hard to really get it to show up properly in photos, and that’s sad because it looks quite nice when you see it for real.  The mixture of gold, green, purple and blue is beautiful and I think this could be another contender for my ‘starry night nails’.

Index Finger – Nfu Oh 40
So this is the one that doesn’t really belong as it’s a flaky and not a glitter, but I couldn’t leave it out, I just couldn’t.  If I was going to paint on black with various things, this just had to be a part of it.  It was a gift from my hubby and is one of my big favorites of my collection.  Unfortunatekly I also have problems capturing this one in photos, as you can tell from the one above and the ones in the link.  It’s another polish that you just have to see for yourself.   I also wish I’d chosen a nail that was in slightly better shape to use it on for this mani. This one is a bit wonky and still has some damage from the acryclis.  Good grief my nails grow slowly.

Middle Finger – Essence Nail Art Twins: Blair
Oh man, it’s a good thing I didn’t turn this photo on it’s side.  I did say I had to do a few awkward positions for photographing this manicure, but I promise I am not trying to flip you off!  This is Blair, the match to Chuck in the Essence Nail Art Twin line.  This is one of the new polishes I hadn’t tried and much like Julia, that I showed above, I think it’s nice and neutral… but perhaps would look better on a colored base rather than black.  I had previously posted about using Chuck, but that was before I realized I had the wrong match for it.  I will have to try Chuck and Blair together to see how I like that. I suspect I will like Blair better then than I do here on the black.

Ring Finger – Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper: It’s Purplicious
Again, it must be a purple thing because I looooove this polish.  If I could live the rest of my days with black nails covered in this purple glitter, I would die a happy woman.  I’d die happier if my nails broke less and were a little longer, but beggers can’t be choosers. Purplicious indeed!!

Pinkie Finger – OPI Katy Perry Collection: Teenage Dream
How weird that when you put this light pink glitter over black it goes totally washed out.  Not UGLY, mind you, it looks quite pretty in fact… but it’s still different than I expected.  You really have to look at it in the light to see the pink hue, otherwise it looks like a fine silver glitter over black.
So what was my favorite?  Whew, it’s hard to say… to be honest I love all these glitters (and my flaky).  I never thought I’d be a glitter girl, but I am… I admit it.
Is there a support group for this, I wonder?
So what do you think of these?  Do you have a favorite?  Do you have a flaky or glitter polish that you love that isn't shown here?  If so I'd LOVE to hear about it!  There are still a lot of polishes I haven't seen yet so please let me know if there's something you think I'd like!

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