Valentine's Day Candy Cane Water Marble- a Layniefingers tutorial

A while back I mentioned that I was finally figuring out how to water marble nails! I still haven't managed to do both hands with water marble, but I'm finally getting the concept down at least. Once I'd finished with today's design, I was struck by a couple of things: the colors were very traditionally Valentine's day to me, and the pattern reminded me of a candy cane for some reason. That's why this is a Valentine's Day Candy Cane Water Marble in July... because that's what it felt like!

If you like the look of this one, why not check out the video? It shows step by step how I achieved this look. Thanks for watching!

Some polishes may have been provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

A muted, fall design

Today's nail is something more simple, something less flashy than I usually wear. (I know, I know, but I don't ALWAYS wear super-bright neon glitter and spangles!) I was thinking of fall- sweaters, falling leaves, and the general feeling I get around the holidays.

This was a very simple design to do. I started out by mentally dividing the nail into two diagonal sections. I painted the bottom half in Zoya Noot, a deep rich grey creme color that I absolutely love. Then I painted the top section with Zoya Rekha, a deep burgundy creme. Both colors are from the Zoya Designer Collection for fall 2012.

I loved the two colors side-by-side, but I wanted to accent where they came together. To do this, I painted Jessica Wing It in connected swooshes across the join. Jessica Wing It is a lovely incredibly muted creme color from the Awakening Collection that accented the two base colors beautifully.

I liked the nail at that point, but felt it needed something else. At that point I reached for Zoya Elisa, a bright metallic red from the Diva Collection that really pops against the dark creme base colors. Unfortunately, this was the hardest thing to capture! My camera did not like the combination, so the photos I'm showing are the best I got from two sessions! Ah well... it happens.

I finished everything off with a coat of ProFX quick dry topcoat. My bottle is starting to get goopy, and thinning it isn't working so well. I think it's about time for a new bottle. Still, it's lasted nicely!

I'm really liking this combination of colors. I may have to wear something similar to this on my own nails soon!

What do you think? Would you wear this? Leave me a comment, tell me what you'd change on this one.

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Blue Dots Everywhere

Whee, I have more nail art for you! This one is deceptively-simple looking. It's easy to do, though, and I love the end result!

I started out with a base coat of Zoya Song. It's a gorgeous color, deep, rich, and metallic royal blue! Once that was done I was strongly tempted to leave it like this.

But no, I had plans for this. Once Song was dry, I painted the tip half of the nail in a slant using Jessica Sky High. It's a light-to-medium blue creme that looked gorgeous next to Song! To tie the two together, I added a stripe of Zoya FeiFei between the two.

The sparkling effect of FeiFei looked really nice between Song and Sky High, but I felt like the junction needed something else. So, I added a stripe of Jessica Barely Blueberry over FeiFei, so that there was a nice transition between them of light, dark, light, dark. Then I added a coat of Jordana Glitter in Lunar Lights over the lightest blue stripe, because you know I have a thing for glitter. :D


Don't get me wrong, I could have left it just like that. It would have been beautiful, but I wanted more. So, I pulled out my basic black and white nail art polishes (my white was White Canvas from Milani, and the black was a striper from the Dollar Tree) and added contrasting dots- white on the dark blue and black on the light blue.

I feel like the end result is whimsical and silly, but still not too overdone. (It takes a LOT for me to consider something overdone...) I love the big round dots, even if I do wish they'd been more consistent. I need more practice, clearly! But overall I think this could be a really fun look!

You could also do this look in any set of colors you like. I can see this with various purples, or monochrome in shades of grey. You could even do this with contrasting colors! (Note to self, do one of these in blue and orange...)

So what do you think? Cute, or junk? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Nail Art Doodling Summer 2012- Glitter Madness

It's been a while, but I've finally got some new nail art to share with you! I've gotten several new collections recently that seemed like they would play very nicely together. So one day I pulled them all out, grabbed some full coverage nail tips and started playing.

The image to the right gives you a hint of what's coming up. I had so much fun making these, and I've got some designs I'm absolutely in love with! So, first we've got a design I called Glitter Madness!

I started out with Zoya's Diva collection. This set has some absolutely gorgeous metallic jewel tones that I really needed to see together. I chose a very long nail tip for this one so I'd have lots of room to play. From top to bottom I used: Elisa (red), Suri (purple), Song (blue), and Ray (green). I then added dots of a greyed-out blue, but realized I wanted more oomph for the nail

Enter the Jordana Glitter Specialty Nail Polishes. I'm a bit late to the party with these, but holy WOW are these polishes amazing. The day I got the collection I ended up painting all my nails with a different glitter and just watching them sparkle. This collection was basically made for me, and I am so in love with it!

Getting back to the Glitter Madness, I went over each section with a corresponding glitter. I added Red Flash over Elisa, Magenta Magic over Suri, Blue Bash over Song, and Green Glitz over Ray. This took the nail from gorgeous to magically glam. I still wanted some definition between the colors, though.

Thankfully, Jessica Custom Nail Colour had just the color I wanted. I didn't want white, because that seemed like it would be too stark against the deep rich colors I had going. Instead, I went with Barely Blueberry from the Gelato Mio Collection. This color is a very pale, very cool blue, just barely blue but still with enough color to not seem shockingly out of place with the rest of what was happening on the nail.

With the separating dots, I didn't want a precise line of equally-spaced, evenly sized dots. Instead, I wanted a slightly meandering, wobbly line. You know, if a leprechaun with a peg leg got drunk, stepped in paint, then staggered all over my nail!

Wait. That just sounds wrong. Forget I said that. :D

I then added a coat of ProFX Quick Dry Top Coat to protect everything and smooth things out. I have to say, I am in LOVE with this look. I just wish my nails were long enough to wear it! The various glitter polishes have multiple sizes of glitter in them so there's a ton of sparkle, and the deeper toned base colors show through underneath.

It's just a crazy sparkly, intensely colorful look that makes me giggle when I think about it! This satisfies my inner magpie, and makes me want more more more. It's definitely my style of nail art...

But my question is this- what do you think of it? Is this something you'd wear? Would you tweak this to fit your own style, or does this design call to your inner diva? Let me know in the comments!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Sparkling Hearts

Salon Express plate #21, Zoya Lara, and a silver
Sally Hansen Color Quick nail polish pen.

Whee, I'm back with actual nail art! So exciting, even though this is not exactly a groundbreaking design. Still, it's fun and maybe I'm back in the saddle again?

This look started out simply enough. I was sick of looking at my bare nails, so I reached for my Sally Hansen Color Quick polish pen. Unfortunately, I have no idea what this color is called because this is the pen I keep in my purse for emergency manicures. You never know when you're going to need to paint someone's nails!

As a result, this pen looks like it's had a very interesting life! At first I wasn't very fond of these pens, but then I figured out how to use them. It's important to press the button enough times to have a drop of polish visible at the top of the brush. It will ease its way down the brush fibers to apply beautifully. If you don't have that much polish, you'll struggle to get the polish to apply even though the brush looks like it has enough color. Once I figured that out, I was really happy with these pens.

I've had this pen in my purse now for over a year, so I guess that's a good example of how sturdy they are. It's never leaked, either, and the cap stays on wonderfully. I definitely need a few more of these!

So, back to today's nails. Once my nails were painted silver, I realized I wanted a bit more something on them. I decided to go with Zoya's Lara, from the Summer 2012 Beach collection. It's a gorgeous pink creme that applies like a gorgeously. As you can see, it stamps nicely too!

I wasn't sure what sort of design I wanted to use, so I decided to go with the clustered hearts on SE21 from the Salon Express stamping kit. I've had trouble with the larger stamps, so I thought it would be good practice as well as being cute.

Also, instead of stamping the whole image in the center of the nails, I decided to place them more near the tips of my nails. This actually worked pretty nicely, and although I liked the final look, I felt like there was something missing. (I bet you can guess what it was, too, if you've been reading me for very long!)

That's right... I decided to add some glitter! I couldn't find a glitter polish that worked well with Lara's pink tones, so I pulled out my loose glitters. I ended up using a pot of glitter that Melissa from the Daily Nail sent me last halloween. It's a fun hot pink that seems unsure if it's a deep hot pink or an electric purple. Whatever it is, though, I absolutely LOVE it!

To use it, I put a few drops of clear polish onto a palette (the back of my stamping plate in this case), then put a bit of glitter on top. A quick mix and I had custom glitter polish to dab on top of a few hearts! This added just the kick I felt they needed, and I was finally happy with this look!

So what do you think? Does the glitter take it over the top? Is it something you'd wear? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this one.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Broadway Nail Dress with a twist, and an explanation of where I've been

Wow, two posts in one day! This might become a habit again! Consider this a sign of improvement!

Gee, I didn't realize how wordy this post would be
til I got started writing! Sorry for the mental vomit!

Some of you may know that I've got fibromyalgia (along with a few other weird-but-not-deadly issues), and that I end up seeing a lot of doctors. Because my fibro pain got to such a debilitating point,  I eventually started going to a chronic pain management clinic. Hands down, it's the best decision I ever made, and one of the hardest ones.

Like many other people, I had the wrong idea about what a pain management clinic was. I imagined it to be basically a place to go get pain pills, and that's not what I wanted. Overall, I wanted to manage my pain, lessen it, but I didn't want to commit myself to expensive drugs and narcotics and who knows what. I was terrified I'd become an addict, that people would know what I was doing and look down on me for it.

Then my pain got to the point I couldn't function anymore. Couldn't dress myself without assistance, couldn't take a bath without help, couldn't cook dinner. I fight really hard not to whine too much and try not to bring people down, but I reached a point where I realized that frankly, life as an addict would be better than what I was going through and I had nothing left to lose. I called the clinic my general practitioner recommended.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that no- they don't like handing out pills any more than I like taking them. They've supported my choices to experiment with exercise, diet changes, weight changes. They've given me medication to control the pain when I need it, and have helped me taper off the meds now that I don't. And suddenly, I'm living in a world where even though I'm seriously out of shape and some days I hurt too much to do things, I have more days when I don't hurt too much to laugh with my family, or go on a picnic, or just snuggle in bed while we watch a movie.

Those things? For me, those are what make life good. They're the important things. The rest of it's just stuff, you know?

So- why have I been gone the last few weeks? Long story short, I've been taking methadone for pain management for about 2 years now. It worked, it was cheap, and since I don't have insurance it was the best option at the time. And now that my pain has improved, I've been very slowly tapering down for 5 or 6 months. Finally, I took my last dose 2 weeks ago, and it was so incredibly momentous...

... and crappy. Did I mention crappy? Yea, it's improving now, but after having taken this daily for 2 years, it wasn't a fun process. Add to it a bad reaction to an anxiety med I'd started the week before and I spent a few weeks pretty depressed and miserable.

However, it's improving, so I'm excited about that! I'm getting excited about life again, which feels absolutely amazing, and as a result, I'm hoping some of this will spill over into blogville. Keep an eye peeled, things might get fun soon!

Anyway, the reason I wanted to share the talk about doctors is because a funny thing has happened! My team at the pain management clinic have gotten to know me over the past couple of years, and now whenever I go in, several people will come up to me wanting to see what fun nail art I'm wearing! Some of them even read this blog! (Hi!! *hugs*) It's a wonderful feeling, knowing that even though I may be having a rough time, I can still bring a little bit of happy into their lives, so I find myself thinking about what I'm going to wear on my nails before every appointment!

For my last appointment, I wanted something fun and festive, but also sort of understated. (Ok, understated for me. Deal with it!) Also, I was feeling pretty gross so I didn't have a ton of energy to spend on my nails. So, I decided to break into a pack of Broadway Nail Dress sticker-thingies. Also, since I wanted a bit more flash, I decided to add some crystals from a limited-edition packet of Kiss Nail Art Paint. If I'm not mistaken, some of the kits still come with the sheet of french manicure guides and rhinestones- just check the back of the box when you get them.

I know, it seems like I use a lot of Kiss and Broadway products. But they're really good! Honestly, it seems like I reach for something from them any time I'm doing nail art, partly because they're affordable and available, but mostly because they're the best product to achieve my goal. There is SO much love in my heart for these products!

Ok, enough blabbing about that... There's not a lot to say about applying these. They're different from the nail polish appliques like Sally Hansen Salon Effects and Incoco strips. I'm not sure what these are made of, but they're almost like a plastic film. They don't seem to stretch as well as the nail polish strips, but they're not harder to put on. It's simply a matter of select a strip that looks just a bit wider than your nail, pull it from the paper, line it up with your cuticle, and apply.

Such a mess! You can even see one
of the leftover bits inside!

However, I do have one tip for application. When they show the nail file going straight down at the end of your fingernail, they do mean straight down. If you let it go at all toward your cuticle, you will end up with a tiny streak of bare nail at your fingertip. It's not pretty, so be very aware of how you're holding the emery board to remove the extra. Go slow and it should work out fine.

Once they were all on, I decided to add a bit of bling with the rhinestones. Since this pattern reminded me of netting, I decided to put a crystal at each joining. I started with a larger one sort of in the center, and then as I worked my way out, I used gradually smaller stones.

They turned out looking almost like dewdrops! I really did like the look, although it was sort of odd. I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite and called it finished! Unfortunately, these were almost impossible to photograph!! They're so shiny, with a sort of brushed-silver background and a metallic silver net pattern. Gorgeous, but my camera HATED me!

I did get a few pics to show sort of how they looked, but it was rough! Still, in person I liked them a lot. There was just enough interest to keep me happy without being all BOOM POW RAINBOWS IN YOUR FACE! The ladies at the doctor's office seemed to like this manicure as well, which is also fun. And next time?

Who knows. Maybe a monster manicure, or turkeys, or... who knows? I'll figure something fun out. I always do!

Can you believe this picture (like all the others) gets even bigger if you click it? :D

So, long story short- if you're fighting with chronic pain, you do have options. Talk to your doctor, talk to your family... even if it feels like there's no hope, you might be surprised. And you are definitely not alone.

Til next time!

Items were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Seeing Spots- some nail doodling to tide us over...

Hi y'all! I'm still coughing my fool head off and feeling gross, so I dipped into my photo archives to share something I did not too long ago while I was doodling. Sometimes I enjoy just putting various polishes together to see what I can come up with.

I'd love to tell you what polishes I used for this design, but I can't. Most of those colors I mixed myself from various polishes in my collection, and I honestly don't remember how I achieved them. However, this is a very simple look to achieve.

First, I imagined a V going down the center of my nail. I painted the three base colors, one in each triangle. After that dried, I began adding dots with whatever color I thought would mesh well with the backgrounds. I started with the large silver center dots on the turquoise bit, then added smaller pink dots on top of the silver ones. Finally I filled in the blank spaces with the sparkly blue dots. The side triangles are more simple. Finally I added black stripes to better separate the three sections. A quick coat of topcoat finished things off!

Hopefully I'll be feeling enough better to get a post up soon. If not, I'll dig into the archives again! Til next time!

The robots are coming to take me away!! :D

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Dr.'s Remedy Hot Hot Hot Summer 2011 Collection- ON ME!

You know, I wrote about the Dr.'s Remedy Summer 2011 collection a few days back, but the press release photos just did NOT do these beauties justice! Once I got these in my hands, I couldn't wait to put them on immediately!

Unfortunately, the metallic colors didn't fare so well over the deep color I had on already, so I had to take it all off and start over. Awww, shucks, such a shame... more time playing with my polish! *wink* Don't worry, I ended up with lovely shots of all the colors, and I'll share them all with you after the jump!

Green and Gold Animal Print- is it Tiger? is it Zebra? Who knows?

Hi hi!! I have to share this, even though I should be asleep. I had a weird night and should have been spending the day with my mom taking her to the doctor, but I seem to have a tummy bug. So I figured I'd give you something fun to look at while I'm feeling icky!

This is the last installment for this version of Animal Print week (which actually lasted two weeks, or... is it three? I can't count!) Still, it's cute as a button and can be done in the colors of your choice!

It's super simple too. Apply your base coat and then 2-3 layers of your background color. (This one is Manbug by BB Couture.) Once that's dry, add stripes of the metallic polish of your choice (I've forgotten which one I used here! EEP!) and follow up with thin black stripes under each metallic stripe as an accent. If your background color is darker, you can use silver and white as accent colors and it would really pop!

So, try it, and if you do, show me! I love seeing people trying what I've shown! Til next time!

The tiger zebra is actually a very rare animal. Green is considered the ultimate beauty for their coat.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

What Does the Essence Magnetic Polishes Pattern Look Like? Find Out Here!

Hi everyone! This is just a quick note to let you know that I added a bit to my blog about the new limited edition Essence Magnetic Metallic polishes. While talking with @amusedPolish on twitter, she pointed out a little detail on the magnet packaging that I'd missed. I immediately went back into the photos and looked, squinting, trying to see what the magnet's pattern looks like. This is the best I could do.

So, it looks like instead of the gorgeous starburst pattern Lancome's Le Magnetique produced, these polishes will have stripes. That's if the packaging shows the actual pattern. :D

Have a great rest of the day, wherever you are! ♥

New Fall Polishes From Essence and Catrice! GORGEOUS!!!

Oh my goodness, lovelies, do I have news for you!! You know how everyone's been pining away for the magnetic polishes that were out once upon a time and are now nowhere to be found? Well, there are gonna be a whole new set of them out this fall! The colors are so delicious... I really, really want these. Seriously, I want them so bad I can TASTE them!

(That's a bad thing, by the way. Nail polish tastes GROSS!! *bleah*)

Anyway, enough blabbing from me. I know what you want. You want to see these beauties! Well, feast your eyes on this...

You can click the image to make it bigger. They look like they'll be gorgeous even without the magnet, but I can't wait to see what they look like with it! The people at Essence had this to say about them:

Check out the new metallic nail polish collection that’s a perfect accessory for your fabulous make-up! The metallics nail polish collection will make you a fashionista from head to toe. A total of five new must-have colors offer ultimate luminance and ideal coverage. What more could you ask for in a polish? Available in 01 iron goddess, 02 copper rulez!, 03 steel me, 04 nothing else metals and 05 metal battle. Around 1.99 €*.

Is that fantastic or what? I'm giddy. As for the magnet, which is sold separately:

This stylish nail polish magnet doesn’t just attract trendsetters. Simply hold the magnet over a nail that has just been polished with the magnetic “metallics nail polish”*, and watch the color particles move. You’ll create totally innovative, exciting and unique nail designs! Around 1.49 €*.

*all essence metallics nail polishes are magnetic except 05 metal battle

They've also got some absolutely gorgeous other items coming out, all metallic. Silver or gold lipstick, anyone? How about eyeshadow quads with metallic gel eyeliner included? I won't lie, I want the whole collection. You folks who get Essence products are lucky!!

But don't think I've forgotten about Catrice! They're coming out with the limited edition Glamourama line and it looks just as hot! Again picking up on the metallics trend, Glamourama features four stunning metallic polishes. Tell me these aren't making you want to shop!

That purple is so intense. I cannot wait to see what it looks like on! The people at Catrice have this to say about the polishes:

Metallic must-haves: the limited Ultimate Nail Laquer colors are perfectly in tune with the Glamourama make-up in futuristic silver with mirror-effects, deep violet with fine glitter particles and velvety shades of red and blue. A multi-faceted finish with great coverage and long-lasting texture. Available in C01 Mirror, Mirror…, C02 En Vogue, C03 Times Square at Midnight and C04 Glamourista.

Also included in this line are individual lashes, a gorgeous metallic silver liquid eyeliner, and some very cute "eye jewels" that just might work as nail jewels as well, among other things. This is definitely something to keep an eye out for. If only I were a jetsetter, able to hop on a plane at the drop of a hat...

Ah well. Back to reality.

EDITED TO ADD:
While chatting on twitter, @amusedPolish pointed out a little detail on the magnet packaging that I'd missed. Apparently the label of the bottle in the picture has the magnet pattern showing! So exciting! Since it's a tiny detail that doesn't blow up well*, please understand I did the best I could to make this visible. But you get the idea!

*Unfortunately, the image doesn't get any bigger. It even looks that pixelated. While you can always shrink a photo, you just can't add in detail that doesn't exist.

Images provided by Essence PR.

Wet n Wild Craze- Shield

I've whined a good bit about Wet n Wild's basic polishes here. Maybe it's my base coat, maybe it's my application, maybe I got a couple of bad bottles, or maybe it's my chemistry. I have no idea. But I've finally found one that I absolutely adore...

Shield is a desaturated metallic gold that applied like a dream. The brush is very short and squatty, but I found that I had no problem with control, or with reaching the polish in the bottle (like the problem I've had with other bottles). This polish went on smooth and gorgeous and I had almost no need for cleanup, which is odd for me!


I'm also oddly amused by the bottle design. The swirly paisley on the cap makes me smile, and I think the bottle is just adorable. It's not really elegant, but it's cute as can be which also works for me!

I'm not sure why, but I'm often drawn to metallic polishes. It's sad, because they almost never look good on me! Golds are too yellow and make me look sickly, silvers are too cold and just look odd. But this? This is the perfect metallic tone for my skin, in my opinion, and happily I don't cringe when I see it on my fingers!

Unfortunately, I forgot one of the main things I've been testing when I use a new polish- I forgot the stample! I feel so silly, but there's no doubt in my mind that this would stamp beautifully, especially over black. Can't you just see it now...?

Dashing Diva Golden Nails... Are You Brave Enough To Rock A NY Fashion Week Look?

Photo credit:  Eric Yu from Dashing Diva

Mmmm, New York Fashion Week, I love you. For anyone interested in fashion, this is like Christmas! Take this nail look that was done by celebrity nail technician Pattie Yankee and the Dashing Diva nail team for the Cushnie et Ochs show on September 9th at Lincoln Center. This is absolutely LUSH, and I think anyone could wear it: male, female, long nails or short. All you need is a powerhouse attitude!

Wondering how they created this look? Believe it or not, it's something you can achieve at home! All you need is a metallic nail foil and something to adhere it to your nails with. Simple instructions can be found all over the web, like at Transdesign.com's nail foil information. You can also search YouTube for nail foil tutorials, and you'll find a ton!

Photo credit:  Eric Yu from Dashing Diva

For those of you trying to get the most bang for your buck, I can't recommend Dollar Nail Art enough. I know lots of people who've shopped there with fantastic results, and everything on the site is one dollar! I know, that's nuts! Try classic in gold or silver, understated with pastels, or go wild with some of the crazier patterns! This stuff is tons of fun, and if you don't quite get it right the first time, keep trying. It gets easier!

Have you ever used a nail foil? What did you think of it? Would you do it again? Leave me a comment, and tell me all the details, I wanna hear more!

Information and photos provided by Dashing Diva PR.

Nail Art Take Two- A Simple Design Using Sinful Colors Dream On

Yesterday I showed a very simple nail art design using Sinful Colors' Dream On, a warm fluorescent purple polish. Because I paired it with silver, the overall effect was very cool-toned. However, by swapping the silver for gold I can make the same polish look warm and rich. It's fun!

Just like yesterday, I used my base coat and then two coats of Dream On. But instead of silver, I wanted to try a warmer look. I grabbed a gold Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen, thinking it would complement the purple nicely. (That's color theory for you... but that's a completely new topic all together!)

I'd learned something about these pens yesterday. They don't contain traditional nail polish, which makes using them a bit different. The key to using these is to let the base polish dry thoroughly- if they're tacky at all, the pens won't slide over the polish. Instead, they catch and basically put dots and dents into the polish, which is the opposite of what I was going for. However, once the base polish is dry, they slide across the nail leaving a beautiful line of solid color.

I drew a diagonal line across my nails from one corner of my free edge to the opposite "corner" at my cuticle. That alone took a bit of effort, since I was working with my left hand! But patience is key, and I was able to sketch out a basically-straight line eventually. I then slowly filled in each bottom half, leaving a solid gold portion on each nail. The pen did get kind of dry periodically, but I would press the nib into the pen again (like when you first start using it) to get the paint flowing again.

Because of the way the gold goes on it gets a dimensional look, almost like gold leaf. It's absolutely gorgeous. At that point, I thought about several options- stamping on top, maybe drawing flowers on the purple side. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked the simplicity of the purple and the gold together. I finally decided to add three dots of gold in the far purple corner as a simple accent. This way there was something to connect the two visually, but not enough to totally overwhelm the design. A coat of topcoat and this look was done!

As you can see, this is a very simple look that completely changed the overall tone of the Dream On. With the gold, it seems warmer, richer. It was a lot of fun to hold my hands side by side and compare the looks, too! I had to put the two side-by-side so that you could compare them as well... isn't the difference cool?

So, what do you think? Do you prefer the wintery silver accents or the summery gold? Do you think you'll be experimenting with color combinations in the future? If you do, leave me a comment, I'd love to see what you do!

Nail art pens were provided by PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information. 

Purple Filigree Nail Art- Two Ways To Wear Sinful Colors Dream On

I have to be honest for a minute here... I don't usually think about the different ways polishes can be worn, and how that changes the way they look. The nail art you use on top of a nail polish can actually make the color look totally different! As an example of this, I've got two looks to show you over the next couple of days using Sinful Colors' Dream On.

By itself, Dream On is a fabulous neon purple, warm and rich color that's so intense it gives full coverage with just one coat. (This means it's an absolute dream to stamp with, too!) I did two coats because I'm not the neatest when it comes to application. It dried in no time, as neons do, to a very matte, almost plastic-looking finish. It's an interesting look, but I wasn't ready to stop there.

I'd received a wonderful package of Nail Art Pens to evaluate from the folks at Sally Hansen, and I thought this was absolutely the perfect time to test them out. I used two different metallic pens, one on each hand. I chose silver for my left hand, and thoughtfully doodled gentle swirls and dots to create a filigree effect. The Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens are really good for this if you happen to make a mistake, since they wipe off easily without affecting the base polish. I wiped off several nails' worth of mistakes! Finally I had a filigree pattern I was happy with, but I realized I wasn't finished yet.

I decided to pull out the package of nail art goodies I got from Viva la Nails to see if there was anything that would happen to work with these colors. Sure enough, there was a package of tiny blue faceted rhinestones that I felt would accentuate the swirls perfectly.

I pulled out my topcoat and dabbed a tiny bit onto a spot, then used a manicure stick to pick up a single stone and press it into the sticky spot. I made sure to apply a good bit of pressure to ensure a good bond between the stone and the polish. Then I started the process again, continuing until I had three stones per nail in varying positions. I feel like this created a fun, whimsical effect to the design that really made me smile. This would also work with clear diamond-like stones, or with silver studs. I'd LOVE to do it again with silver studs!

A final coat of topcoat on top finished things off. I really like the look of this, and it cooled off the warm tones of Dream On significantly. I used the gold nail art pen on my right hand in a totally different pattern, and you'll get to see that one tomorrow. It's been fun to see the two contrasting patterns and to see how different they look side by side.

One problem with this look, though, is that my son's school called today to have us come pick him up early. This means I had to go to my son's school wearing my totally different nails, sign him out, and let everyone see my totally different designs on both hands! Honestly, I don't think anyone noticed, but I was definitely self-conscious about it! I get silly about the weirdest things!

So the next time you look at your polishes with an intent to do some nail art, think about the different ways you could combine things to create a whole new look. Keep an open mind, be willing to experiment, and most of all have fun! It's nail polish, after all... it's supposed to be fun!

Nail art pens were provided by PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information.