Martini Summer- A Simple But Striking Nail Art Design

I'm not quite sure how I came up with this one. I wanted something with varying sizes of dots, and then I remembered the hole reinforcements I used to use in grade school. They weren't that great for their purpose, but they might be just what I needed for this look.

I dug through my polish boxes trying to decide what colors to use, and somehow picked out these four colors. I wasn't sure they'd work together, but I was willing to give it a try. I think it turned out nicely...

And since I didn't film a video of this experimentation, I put together an animated gif showing how I did this. The background is a bit backwards, because instead of painting a white nail and adding yellow dots, I did the opposite- I painted the nail yellow, then added my reinforcements and painted around the outside of them. Everything else was pretty straightforward.

Hope you enjoy it!

I so love lime green!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

One Last Halloween Nail Design

I know this is last minute, but I love this design so much I had to share it. I wanted to do sort of a take on candy corn but with a twist. This bright beauty is what I came up with, and I am absolutely in love with it!

This one isn't difficult to do, but it is fiddly. First I painted the nail with pink, orange, and yellow. I went with vibrant, almost neon colors because I wanted a strong, graphic look to them. I also didn't worry about a neat line, since I wanted that sort of candy corn feel to it.

Once that layer was dry, I very precisely laid out stripes using three pieces of striping tape next to each other, then skipping around that much space and adding another three pieces side-by-side. This gave me much thicker lines than I would have had just using the single pieces of striping tape. However, you could use whatever size tape you like.

I then painted the entire nail with a black creme polish. I pulled the tape pieces off while the polish was still wet, being careful not to smear the still-wet black. I let this dry for several minutes before adding a coat of quick-dry topcoat. That sealed the colors together and let them look glassy and seamless.

Can I just say how much this design makes me smile?? Seriously, I want to do all my nails like this! The bright colors look all the more bright next to the black, and I think thinner lines of color contrasted with thicker lines of black could be a fun spin on this idea. Clearly, I have some experimenting to do!

Speaking of, I may have some nail sets up for sale soon, so if you're looking for some sparkly nails for the holidays I just might be able to help you out! Keep an eye on this space... :D

Some polishes were provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

China Glaze Electropops Nail Art Revisited

I have to be honest. When I posted my nail art designs using the new China Glaze Electropops polishes, I wasn't really happy with this design. The lines were wobbly, the dots were horribly misshapen, and for some reason the design just didn't really do it for me.

Being the type of person that I am, I kept thinking about this nail, wondering what I could do to make it pop more. Then once I got out my nail art goodies I saw these flat-back pearls and realized this was exactly what I needed to perk the design up!

So, I'm sharing this nail again, only updated. What do you think- do the pearls make it better, or is this a design better left in the "oh well, better luck next time" pile?

China Glaze Electropop polishes were  provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Nail Art with China Glaze Electropop Colors!

I know you're seeing swatch shots of the China Glaze Electropop polishes everywhere, so I thought I'd do something a bit different. These aren't the best photos (it's been so rainy here lately!), but this gives you an idea of some of the fun nail art you could do with these polishes!

I used Aquadelic, Sunshine Pop, and Dance Baby for these designs, plus a shimmery black for contrast. These polishes are surprisingly opaque except for Sunshine Pop, which is a pretty typical yellow in that it's streaky and somewhat of a pain to use. Still, it's very pretty and just a touch shimmery. Dance Baby is a cool-toned bubblegum pink. It reminds me of the Bazooka bubble gum that came with the cartoon in the wrapper. Aquadelic is an absolutely gorgeous Tiffany blue, vibrant and opaque.

Also? Boy am I out of practice! I've been too sick to do much nail art, and I can REALLY tell. I'm hoping I get back to somewhat skilled soon, because it's really frustrating to not even be able to use a dotting tool well!

Stay tuned- I've got Valentine's Day manicure designs coming up next!

Polishes were provided by the manufacturer 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.

Deborah Lippman's Spring/Summer 2011 Collection- OMG YES!!!

I had a disturbing realization today. For my entire life, I have spent summers inside, quietly seething that summer was so infernally hot. I don't like hot weather, I don't like being outside with the bugs and the humidity, I just don't like summer at all. My hair frizzes, I sweat and smell funky after just a bit of being outside. Louisiana summers can get over 100° f with 100% humidity. At that point, the air feels like a hot wet sponge smacking you in the face when you step outside.

However, this year seems to be a bit different. Instead of stepping outside into 85° weather and complaining, I seem to be enjoying it this time. I'm wearing sundresses and tank tops, and for once, I feel kind of happy to be in the warm sunshine! It's weird.

Ah well, I'm not complaining! I'm also not complaining about all the summer collections coming out! I am absolutely DYING to get my hands on the Deborah Lippman Spring & Summer 2011 shades. These polishes look downright juicy!

Lara's Theme is such an incredible, warm, wearable-looking orange. I am dying to try it on! It's described as "a dare to wear shade of hot-hot orange," and is Deborah Lippmann's latest celebrity shade. Honestly, what else could you possibly want in an orange polish?


I Know What Boys Like is a deep, slightly muted blue. The press release says about this one, "A creamy periwinkle that credits to both the 80’s and my clients. Several of my clients have asked for interesting blues. This one is a blend of blue and purple with a creamy finish, which gives it a slightly retro look that is so playful and hip." Will I be able to wear this one? I don't know, but I'm certainly going to try!

Girls Just Want To Have Fun looks very similar to Lara's Theme in the photos, so I'm interested in seeing just how similar they really are in reality. This one is described as "a smooth, vintage coral that everyone can wear because it’s bold yet velvety – a sort of carefree, creamy coral." Hello, I'm DYING here...


Finally, Yellow Brick Road blows my mind! It's a yellow jelly!! How on earth... no, I'll wait. I have to see this one on myself! It's described as "a sheer mellow yellow with a jelly finish. The proof that it wears beautifully on all skin tones: it complements me and Lady GaGa, who wore it first for her “Born This Way” performance at the 2011 Grammy Awards."

This definitely fills my mind with thoughts of hot sandy beaches, of gulf waves washing over my toes while we laugh and walk... of summer, of family, of peaceful happiness. This is a set I want.

Also? GIVEAWAY- it's ending in just a few days, so you're running out of time!! GO ENTER ALREADY!!

Base images were provided by the product's PR firm for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Lady Gaga Wears Deborah Lippmann at the Grammys

Wow. Did you watch the Grammys last night? I have do admit that Lady Gaga is one of my favorite performers, and last night she showed why. She debuted her new song "Born This Way" and absolutely blew me away, as usual. That voice is unreal, and I love the way she uses it. No oversinging, no trying to disguise a lack of talent with the ever-present autotune.

Last night, Gaga's performance began with an egg that was carried down the red carpet by four scantily-clad muscular men, and watched over by her supermodel "nurse." Gaga's publicist had said on twitter that she was "in incubation," and on the red carpet that "nurse" said Gaga was in a "creative embryonic stage and won't be born until her performance this evening."

Later, that egg was rolled onto stage on large carriage wheels, where Gaga emerged in a buttery yellow ensemble. She then launched into her new song, accompanied onstage by her dancers. It was a hell of a show, and ended with a visually stunning image of Gaga and her dancers, all with one hand up in the air. To me, it spoke of solidarity, of acceptance. "We were born this way, and you were too. We stand together, for us, for you, for them..."

What can I say, it moved me. I love the message of acceptance, the idea of supporting people as they are instead of ask them to fit into some cookie cutter mold of society's choosing. I guess it's obvious that Lady Gaga is one of my favorite artists...

Also as usual, she was wearing Deborah Lippmann polish on her nails. Last night's creation was a stunning yellow polish called "Yellow Brick Road," and I for one cannot wait to get my hands on this polish. Yellows are known for being difficult to work with, so I'm hoping this one performs as well as the rest of the Lippmann polishes I've worn. If it's even half as nice as the rest, it's gonna be a showstopper.

So what do you think? Is this a yellow you'd wear, or is this just a bit too far out there for you?

Images were provided by Deborah Lippmann's PR.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Happy Holidaze the sixth- Laynie loses her mind with glitter!

I'm taking a break from the batch of nail tips I decorated, but don't worry. You're still getting the holiday nail art, but today it's more of a cautionary tale, although I'm not quite sure what I'm cautioning you against. I think it's a simple Don't do this, because it isn't pretty!

But first, let me show you yesterday's adventures! I finally sold the monster nails, so I treated myself to a sample pack of glitter! Unfortunately, it came packaged in cute little baggies, which doesn't work for me. I debated for quite a while in Michaels, trying to figure how I was going to store this stuff so that I could use it!

Then it hit me. I saw a set of paint pots for $2.75 hanging in the section with palettes and containers and things for painting. Have I mentioned I'm frugal? Yea, I don't want to spend $10 on something to store my $4 glitter, so this was just right for me! The only issue would be transferring the glitter from the packets to the pots, but I could be careful, right?

Right. The thing I forgot to take into consideration was that this is microglitter. It's so incredibly fine that it can waft into the air like a dust cloud, gently drifting and lazily gliding on air currents in the room. How do I know this, you ask yourself? Lemme tell you...

Because I'm so frugal, I wanted to get every last speck of the glitter out of the packages. I spent good money on that stuff, and I don't want to waste it! I cut the edge of the first bag off (emerald green, ine you were wondering, and haven't seen me since the incident!), gently tap-tap-tapped it into the pot, being careful not to spill any. Then, I lifted the bag up with the cut end pointing up, intending to tap it on my finger to pull down the glitter stuck to the edges of the bag. It worked perfectly while the bag was closed!

Unfortunately, I didn't think this through carefully enough. When I tapped the bag on my finger, instead of this causing gravity and inertia to pull the glitter on the edges of the bag down to the bottom it turned the bag into a very small bellows, sending a tiny mushroom cloud of green glitter directly into my face.  It felt like it was in slow motion, this tiny cloud expanding toward my face, enveloping my head in its sparkly green goodness. Except it wasn't quite goodness that enveloped my head. It was glitter, and glitter never goes away.

I won't waste your time with the tales of how I finally got all the bits of glitter picked up and shaken out of my hair. Let's just say it included lots of masking tape, lots of cursing, and lots of my family pointing and laughing at me. I deserved it, clearly, but really... how was I supposed to know this was going to happen?

I finally got the glitter packed away and most of the random glitter fallout picked up. What am I saying... I know I'm going to be finding glitter in random places for the next 15 years. Glitter is like herpes- once you get it on you, it never goes away.

And on to the nail art, since I've shared my secret shame. Unfortunately, this isn't much less embarrassing. I had visions of a cute, sassy Konad look that would be fun to wear. What I ended up with was more like the 80s threw up all over my nails. It's not horrible, granted, and it's better than I could do when I first got the Konad stuff. But still?

This isn't good. Not by a long shot. And the more I did to it, the worse it got.

It all started with the package I won from Scandalously Polished over twitter. I had no idea what to expect, so I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY when I saw it was 10 polishes and 4 nail foils! CRAZY! She is super awesome, and if you haven't seen her blog, then scoot over right after you read this and say hi!

In that package was a polish from H&M called Bella's Choice. I'm going to assume this has something to do with that vampire thing going around... Dusk or Nightfall or Twilight or something, yea? Whatever... it's an absolutely gorgeous turquoise creme that I couldn't wait to put on. I was hoping it would look wonderful on me!

In truth, not so much. It made me look somewhat ill. My husband looked at it and called it "that puke polish you're wearing." I wore it grocery shopping and the cashier caught sight of my nails, did a double take, then quickly looked away with a strange look on her face. I think she didn't want to ask if I was feeling ok, but you could tell she didn't think it looked good. I like the color, though, so I figured maybe if I stamped over it, I'd be able to wear it.

Enter the second color she sent- H&M Goddess on Stage. This polish is magnificent, y'all. I really don't even have the words to describe how amazing this is. Creamy, gorgeous, just luscious. I thought it would play nicely with Bella's Choice and make something wearable for me. But it actually stamped sort of sheerly, and in my stamping ineptitude I ended up missing spots and stuff.

No big deal, I thought to myself, I can just fix those spots with a brush. Sure, except that I couldn't copy the consistent thinness of the stamped image, leaving me with heavy purple spots on the edges of the print. Oh yea, that looks GREAT.

Maybe I can add some color to the spots, to draw the eye away from the dark edges, I continued thinking to myself. I pulled out my pink and white creme polishes and added some to the dots, but that wasn't enough, in my opinion. My husband did think it made everything look better, even better than the stamp alone. "It covers the puke nicely!"

Thanks hon. I feel much better now.

As a finishing touch, I added lime green and yellow creme dots to the remaining spots and covered it all in Seche Vite. And you know what?

It wasn't horrible, but I don't think I'll be wearing this one again. There are just too many things here that just didn't work well together, and I'm just... no. No. Never again!

Do you have any horrible stories about manicures that just didn't work as well as you hoped? I'd love to hear them to make me feel better about this one!

Ready for a Spring Manicure?

Whew!! What a day! I've been off wandering with my husband and our son, enjoying the wonderful weather and trying to work out some of this fibro stiffness I've been fighting with. We've been having a lot of fun looking at various home items and dreaming about our ideal house. We do this periodically, looking at furniture or appliances. Lately, though, I've been really drooling over electronics.

I wish I knew why I was so into shiny new gadgets. HD video cameras, Nikon dSLRs, home theater systems, CD changers, flat panel TVs... I could look and look and look for hours, it seems. My husband is no better. Anytime I lose him in a shop, all I have to do is wander over to the electronics department and there he is!

It's been fun. Exhausting, but fun. Still, I think I've been overdoing. It felt good to sit down and spend an hour doing nothing but painting my nails! This time I went for something springlike because I got the most gorgeous yellow polish I think I've ever seen! I've always shied away from yellow because it's seemed to hard to wear, but Hard Candy's Splendid is actually good with my skin tone! Then, when I held it next to my Essence Lime Up! I realized they were absolutely perfect together, and I was going to need to do a fun manicure using them both.


First off, before I get to that fun green & yellow mani, let me talk about Splendid first. You know how yellow is always a pain in the butt to apply? Well, this one isn't. It's creamy and opaque and almost a one coater! I was stunned at it, seriously. What you see in the main picture to the right is two coats. Gorgeous... absolutely GORGEOUS!

I also checked to see how well it stamps over both black and white. I wasn't expecting much, because yellow is traditionally a sheer color whether it's in nail polish or artist pigments. It's just really tough to get an opaque yellow! But Hard Candy have done it, as you can see. It shows up beautifully over both black and white, and is such a cheerful color! What can I say, I'm sold!

So... back to the mani. I started with a base of Splendid, then used Essence's Lime Up! to paint 1/2 of each nail on a diagonal. My ring fingers got the base green, the rest got green tips. I was going to apply some pink flower decals over this, then realized I wanted something with a bit more punch to try and pull it all together, although this is cute enough to wear as-is.

For the record, this would also be a great base for a full-nail Konad stamp. Can't you see it- stamping with Lime Up! over the yellow background, so that there's a green print over the yellow? I think it'd be adorable...

Ah well... I decided to use my silver Art Deco striper to paint a line along the join (and disguise some of my wobbly edges), then to put silver pinstripes along the green sections. I added pink flower decals from Viva la Nail for a bit more punch and decided I was happy with things. All in all it was a simple manicure that ended up looking a bit more complex than it really was!

And for once, I decided to do something I rarely do... I'm showing BOTH HANDS! See, I really do paint both hands the same, even if my right hand rarely comes out quite as well as the left. This one was pretty easy to do, though.


So even though it's actually fall and cooler weather is coming in, I needed to try something a bit brighter and sunnier. I think this fit the bill! What do you think?

Items have been provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Tiger Stripes- They're Fun When You Throw In A Gradient!

Let's be honest- animal prints are fun. They're especially fun for nail art, but they can seem a bit flat-looking sometimes. I decided I was going to try to do a tiger print with a bit of depth to it!

I started out with my standard base coat, then two coats of Love My Nails Hot Tamale. This is a gorgeous orange that's absolutely loaded with shimmer. I wanted a bit more, though, so I mixed it with a bit of white polish. Oddly enough, it turned pink! I wish I'd gotten pictures of that stage, but I wasn't thinking. Instead, I added some Sinful Colors Let's Meet (Yellow) to warm that pink up to a pale orange again.

Once I had a pale orange I was happy with, I sponged it lightly over the center high part of my nails. It ended up being a sort-of blended pale stripe down the centers. It still seemed too white/pink for me, so I ended up painting a coat of Let's Meet over my nails to make everything work together. At this point, it was late and I seriously needed sleep, so I added a coat of Seche Vite and let it dry for a bit, then went to sleep.

The next morning, I had to go run some errands, and didn't realize until I was already out of the house that I had odd nails that I hadn't even cleaned up edges on! Thankfully, I don't think anyone noticed. If they did, they probably thought I was insane! My nails looked weird! But that's ok... if they got a giggle, then maybe their day got a little brighter. I'm ok with that!

So, once I got home, I pulled out my Sally Hansen Nail Art pens, choosing the black for the tiger stripes. It was a simple matter to draw on stripes, and my biggest challenge was not drawing too many stripes! I added another coat of Seche Vite, then looked at them. They were pretty, but something was missing...

My basic rule of thumb is this: when in doubt, add glitter! In this case, it worked splendidly! Instead of brushing glitter over the entire nail, though, I wanted to enhance the light parts of the nail. I ended up using a very thin nail art brush to paint the glitter polish onto the appropriate areas.

Sounds fiddly, doesn't it? Oh yea. You could say that. First I painted on a layer of Love My Nails Dazzling (my go-to glitter of choice). It was pretty, but it wasn't enough. So, I pulled out my Sinful Colors Call You Later. This stuff is seriously gorgeous, a mix of gold and copper glitters in multiple sizes that absolutely sings on the nail. It turned out to be the absolute perfect addition, and once I was finished with the glitters I couldn't help but smile.
 

Once I got those applied I added one more coat of Seche Vite. (I hope you aren't counting, but basically, that's a lot.) Believe it or not, it dried fairly quickly and was super smooth even with all the glitter. I did a quick cleanup with my acetone & paintbrush and then I wasn't ashamed to leave the house anymore!

Even my husband seemed amused by this manicure. I showed him my nails and he said, "Awww, you're a kitty!" It made me smile.
Normally he just sort of shrugs and says, "Ew, stinky." To get a positive reaction makes me happy!

So tell me, what do you think about animal prints. Do you like them? Do you love them even more in rainbow colors? Are you a purist who thinks animal prints belong only on the animals who wear them? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen was provided by the company for evaluation.

Nail Art Samples... I couldn't make up my mind!

Last night was frustrating. I wanted to do my nails, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Even a quick look-through of my inspirations folder did nothing for me. I started three designs and gave up on all of them because my nails just weren't cooperating. Then Magic_Maid inspired me with a comment about trying a sponged gradient. She's nervous about doing it, so I thought this would be a perfect time to try making my first tutorial.

I will be, as well, except that as soon as I finished taking the pictures of the finished tests, I was so sleepy that I crashed hard. At the moment, all I have are sample pics, but I think they have value on their own, so this will be the preliminary to the tutorial. When you want to do something, do a test first!

That first image is the first design I fiddled with. It's got potential, but I'm not terribly thrilled with it. I'll think about it for a while, let it kick around in my mind. Next, I tried doing a gradient without using the sponges. That would be the pic to the left of this paragraph. It's definitely interesting, and I may keep this method in mind if I want to do firey nails anytime soon. But as for this as a gradient? I'm not sure about it...

The colors are still fairly linear- you can see a band of red, a band of orange, and then a band of yellow. This just isn't what I want. I want a smooth transition from bright yellow down to sparkly red. So, I grabbed my makup sponge and did test #2.

See the difference? This one is smoother through the colors, although it's still heavy on the red. But I think I'm getting closer to what I wanted. Tomorrow will be a test of not only sponging this style/gradient but also of cleanup. I don't want to have to spend hours cleaning my cuticles of sponged polish.

So, I'll have someone take pictures for me while I paint my nails in this pattern, and hopefully soon I'll have my first tutorial up. I've been writing tutorials for years for various techniques and procedures, so this should be a lot of fun for me. Hopefully it will be useful for you, as well!

Until next time!
   <3 Laynie

PS: Please fill out my little survey, if you haven't already. If nothing else, it lets me know what people enjoy, and what people could do without. I'm enjoying everything, but I also want to be read. For those who have filled it out, thank you thank you thank you! :D

Some polishes were provided by the companies' PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information. 

Paint splatters can be FUN!

You know, I admit it. I am totally a child of the 80s. I love neon, I love wild prints, and I love paint splats. This set of nails reminds me of a sweatshirt I had in grade school, only the shirt was white instead of black. But what better color than black to make colors pop?

You can see how vivid the colors are. I can't lie, I want to keep these all for myself! So much fun, but at least I can redo them if I decide to!

This set of nails is made with a custom-mixed rainbow of acrylic paints, so that they have the same level of intensity. I love the black base, and the topcoat makes the colors so intense and glassy!

I won't lie, I can see doing this design with shimmers, metallics, glitters... monochromatic colors, analogous colors... I think it'd be fun no matter HOW I mixed it up! It's just downright FUN! Oooh, imagine white splats on a black background, with the occasional splat of red! There are so many ways to do this, and I don't know if any are better than the others. You'll definitely see this pattern again, if only on Etsy! Speaking of Etsy, these will be going up as soon as I finish this post.

I'm so excited to add that I've got some surprises coming up soon! I'm planning some videos, both of some of those dramatic, color-shifting polishes in the sun as well as some technique videos. If you have anything you'd like to see, feel free to leave requests in the comments!

And oy, I've just looked at the clock to see that once again, I'm catching 7:30am from the wrong side. I think I need to go to sleep. Man... one of these days I'll get my internal clock set right again.

...maybe. :D