Gothic Black and Fuchsia Nail Art - WIDW

Hey y'all!

So uhm... it's been a while.  My bad.  I had a rough month, and to be honest, I'm not sure I still have the blogging spark that I used to have.  I'm hoping that some time off will ease that and help me get back in the groove, but at this point I'm not going to make any promises to you or to myself.  Mostly this month has been consumed with me practicing my acrylic sculpting, going to the BeautyUK show in Birmingham to pick up some goodies for said acrylic practice, earning my certificates for hard gels, gel polish, and a few other nail procedures, and trying to clear out some old stuff from the house to make a little money and make space.  I'm also considering going into practice as a mobile nail tech, unless I can find a suitable position in a nearby salon first, so I am seeing my available free time starting to shrivel up and frankly that's what kept me blogging for the past 2 years (having a lot of time on my hands).  In any event... I have a few posts to finish off this month and the first of those is this WIDW look with Sinful Shine's Royal Flush - a gothic black and fuchsia look with studs.

31DC-D31 - Your Signature Style

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OHPRAISEDOT I can't believe I finished a 31-Day Challenge!  I am truly astonished that I managed to keep up with it, ON TIME no less, and managed to get every prompt done in time for a 10 AM posting the following morning, despite not getting that head-start I intended back in December.  Needless to say, the month of January has flown by and here we are on the final prompt, My Signature Style.  I was a bit confuddled by this one as I really don't consider myself to have developed a signature style as of yet, but there were aspects that I knew I would need to incorporate.  With a little inspiration from my kitchen apron, I was able to develop this look.

31DC-D25 - Complement and Contrast

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Happy Sunday!  Today begins the last week of the 31-Day Challenge, and I'm so grateful the end is in sight!  I really could kick myself for not getting a head start on it, because I feel like I've been in rushed catch-up mode for the past three weeks!  I haven't had a chance to cruise through the other challengers' nail art looks other than what's on IG, nor have I been able to read any of my other favorite blogs, or even respond to the comments that have been left for me, and that makes a hugely sad panda.  To that end, let me first apologize for not being quite so "present," and also assure you that I will be playing catch up during the first week of February to get things right.  For now, however, we continue pressing on, and today's prompt is Complement and Contrast.  I had really been wracking my brain trying to be clever with this prompt, and the answer dawned on me as I was looking at the trim of one of my makeup bags!  As I was growing up, I was always taught not to mix brown and black because they don't complement each other.  I think these days that rule has been pretty well tossed, but there are most assuredly some brown/black combos that don't work.  With that in mind, I created my own brown and black modified French tip nail art look that my grandmother would have hated, but I definitely love.

31DC-D24 - Decals

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Today's prompt for the 31-Day Challenge is Decals, and whereas I had intended to do a tutorial for making homemade water slide decals, time got away from me and I seem to have lost my water slide paper anyway, so that's gonna get pushed back, but it IS coming.  Instead I turned to a baggie in the bottom of my nail art kit that contains all the random decals and stickers that I somehow end up with but never use.  I pulled out a set of pretty French Tips and used them to make this look.

31DC-D13 Inspired By Pinterest

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My look today is inspired by this Butter London gold french and half moon look from Fashion Week 2014.  I loved the simplicity and thought it would be an excellent palette cleanser from all the heavy nail art looks I've been doing lately. 

12DOC: Santa!

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Happy Sunday!  We've officially put the first week of December in the bag, and as such, today's prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art 12 Days of Christmas Challenge should bring a few very familiar faces to you, because today we're doing Santa and/or Elves!  I know you'll be shocked by this, but I have *another* nail charm for this prompt!

Holo Leopard nail art

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Happy Black Friday!  Today I have a quick and easy nail art look for you that will sparkle and shine without requiring too much effort from your food-coma'd state.  This leopard print is done in autumn/fall friendly shades, and doesn't take an art degree to pull off!

Spooky French Tips CYNA Halloween Villains

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Today marks the penultimate prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art Halloween challenge, and the prompt is actually one that I suggested, so I knew I had to "bring it" with my contribution.  I opted to put a bit of a spin on these classic Halloween monsters by creating them as french tips.  Can you identify all the spooky species?

Disney's Little Mermaid Nail Art - LNMBC

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It's been a while since I did any nail art for the Llama Nails Movies/Books Challenge, but this week's prompt of Disney finally motivated me to do something I've been debating for a very long time - glitter placement.  After having a long think about my favorite Disney movies, I settled on one that is both a personal favorite for the music and which I felt I had a good supply of appropriate glitters to get the look I wanted, so, today's look is inspired by Disney's Little Mermaid.

French Tip Floral Water Decals from bornprettystore

*** This post contains items which were sent for review and affiliate links. ***

Hey y'all!

Today I have a new-to-me style of water decal, French Tips specially shaped for longer, rounded nails.  I suppose they might work on shorter squared nails as well, though. These were sent to me for review by bornprettystore.

Lifting the veil: Double-Stamped Glittery Purple Butterfly Nail Art

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Alright, it's time to get back in business.  New month, new nails, new giveaway, and new order of business.  This afternoon I will have a special post going up to thank you all for staying with me during my radio silence and to help celebrate all the stuff going on around here this month.  Today I start my nail tech training, which is really exciting for me, and I will definitely be posting about the experience as well as posting some snapshots on IG so you guys can see what's up.  Because we're going to be practicing on each other's nails, I decided I needed to trim mine down a bit to make life a little easier on my classmates.  I also decided to break my nail art embargo with a manicure that embodies everything that makes me feel good right now - purple, glitter, and butterflies!

Glasswing Butterfly Nail Art

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I recently joined yet another Facebook group for nail artists and enthusiasts, Inspire Me Nails.  The current challenge is Weird, Wonderful Nature, wherein you create nail art inspired by nature.  I found a gorgeous inspiration pic and created these nails, inspired by the incredible Glasswing Butterfly.

You look positively Orange with loneliness - CMC

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This week the Colour Me Crazy prompt turned to orange, and since no other word rhymes with orange, it must be a very lonely color indeed.  I dunno, that's just what Big Bang Theory taught me.  In reality I love orange and took this prompt as an opportunity to have fun with several different orange shades in my collection.  Also, I'm not into prison-chick naughtiness, so I'll have none of that OITNB nonsense, do you hear me??

Embrace Your Geekness Day! Cartoon/Skittles nail art

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So today I am killing two challenges with one look, because I am just that freakin' slick.  Happy Embrace Your Geekness Day!  Today brings us to the final prompt in the Embrace Your Geekness Challenge (Cartoon Characters), and my second FingerFood Theme Buffet prompt, which is Skittles.  I had to finally pay tribute to my favorite cartoon of all time with this nail art, which is kind of minimalist but I hope some of you will get it.

Floral stamping with bead accents - TPTC

Hey y'all!

First off, I have a bit of exciting news.  On Saturday I did my registration and enrollment to start nail tech certification courses in September.  I'm really excited to start "officially" learning how to create beautiful nails, and can't wait to share that experience here on the blog.  Until then, I will continue with business as usual, nail art and faffing about with things as they strike my fancy.  Today's Tri-Polish Tuesday brings me to a kind of look that I've seen in a few places but wanted to give it my own.  I've created a stamped floral mani that uses microbeads to accent the centers of the flowers.

#ManiMonday e.l.f. Festival Nail Art

*** This post contains samples which were sent for review. ***

Hey y'all!

We are right in the midst of festival season here in the UK, and I wanted to give you a pretty concept for some simple floral nail art in bright colors using e.l.f. products from the 14-pc nail polish set.

Girlie Googly Eyes and Studly Stars from BPS

*** This post contains items which were sent for review and affiliate links. ***

Hey y'all!

Today I have a couple more goodies to show you.  These were sent to me for review by Born Pretty Store, from their new arrivals section.  Here I have some girlie googly eyes and a wheel of gold and silver star-shaped studs.  After the jump, I'll show you the nail art looks I created with them!

Floral Foil Nail Art Video

*** This post contains items which were sent for review and affiliate links. ***

Hey y'all!

Today I have a video tutorial for a nail art look using this floral nail art foil.

A little Easter nail art for you

Hey y'all!

As I mentioned before, I'm still wading through the muck of book editing (but I can see light at the end of the tunnel!), and it occurred to me that I actually have some nail art to show you for Easter.  A couple of weeks ago I entered the Digital Dozen's Easter nail art contest, and since I obviously suck didn't win, this nail art would otherwise stagnate in the dark recesses of Facebook if I don't post it here.  Being that it's Easter, it seems silly to wait and post it after I've finished editing, because, yanno... timely!

Anyway... Happy Easter to those who celebrate.  Happy Sunday to those who don't.

St. Patrick's Day stamping look

Hey y'all!

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner!  Sucks that it falls on a Monday this year, but what better way to make a Monday a little more festive?  It's also one of the few holidays that everyone seems to celebrate, regardless of religious affiliation or Irish heritage.  Today I've got an easy stamped look that brings the craic to your fingertips!