NOTD: Black and Gold

I’m not sure what inspired this one, I think it just came to me after watching various gel nail videos on Youtube lol.

My base on all nails is two coats of Zoya Willa with Essie Good to Go as top coat. Then I added the gold leaf, either scattered or on my tips. I apply it by applying clear polish, then laying the gold leaf over it. Then I pat it down, so nothing sticks up, let it set and seal with Essie Good to Go. If the leaf still felt bumpy, I just added another coat of Good to Go.

I love how this came out! What do you think?

NOTD: Blue Plaid!

I saw this amazing blue plaid nail art on instagram by @noco_nail and I had to try and recreate it!

The base on my thumb, pointer and pinky is two coats of Zoya Chantal (my new favorite), and on my middle and ring I have two coats of China Glaze Aquadelic.

For the plaid, I used Zoya Neve and Zoya Ziv and just freehanded the lines. Then I added studs to the nude nails and topped everything off with Essie Good To Go.

If you’re curious, I changed it up a little on my other hand and made my thumb and ring finger plaid, and everything else nude.

I love how this came out! It’s perfect timing too, as the weather is starting to get pretty chilly here. Think I’m ready for more plaid manis! What do you think?

NOTD: Classic Fall

It might not feel like fall yet, but I’m in the fall mood! And this year, I’m super into pairing nudes and vampy, dark reds.

My base for my pointer, middle and pinky is two coats of Zoya Anja. For my ring and thumb, I have two coats of Zoya Chantal. For the leopard spots, I used Zoya Willa and a small dotting tool. Then I filled some of the spots in with Essie Leggy Legend (another one that’s perfect for fall). Once everything was set, I topped each nail with NYC Matte Me Crazy.

It’s simple, but I love the leopard, I think it’s my best one to date. What do you guys think?

NOTD: Negative Space and Reverse Stamping!

I’ve been super inspired by my the Zoya polishes I got during the nail polish exchange.

To start… please forgive the stray cat hair that got stuck to my pinky lol.

For my middle and ring fingers I have two coats of Zoya Chantal as my base, then over that I used one of my Winstonia 3rd gen plates and Konad white stamping polish. I actually did a reverse stamp then applied that to each nail. I did get a little bit of smudging, but it’s only my second try… I’m still working on my technique. .

For my thumb, pointer and pinky I free handed the shapes with Zoya Sloane. Sloane is a super dark, vampy, ox blood color. It has some shimmer that is best picked up in natural light that my camera didn’t pick up. It’s perfect for fall.

Then I added some rhinestones to my middle and ring fingers (and thumbs, not pictured lol) and topped everything off with Essie Good to Go.

I really love this kind of negative space, and I’m happy with how the reverse stamping came out! What do you guys think? do you have any reverse stamping tips?

First Try at Reverse Stamping!

I feel like reverse stamping was all the rage for a while, and I wasn’t able to try it because of my super lame stamping plates! Well, if you saw my last post, you know that now I’m 21 plates richer and I finally got to try reverse stamping!

So, my pointer finger is two coats of Zoya Purity, my middle is two coats of China Glaze At Vase Value and my pinky is two coats of Zoya Ziv (bonus: my thumb is two coats of Zoya Belinda).

For the reverse stamp, I used Purity for the actual stamp, then I applied some Essie Good To Go. Once that was dry, I filled in the pattern with Ziv, Belinda and At Vase Value. Once that was set, I applied a coat of Purity over top. I let that totally dry for at least 10 minutes, peeled and applied! I applied it over a coat of base coat. Then cut the access and cleaned up the edges.

On my pointer and middle I decided to add gold triangles to go with the stamp. Then added a coat of Good To Go on all nails.

I have to say… it’s not my cleanest work, but it’s pretty cool. I definitely need practice with the technique, but I’m excited about the prospects! And I love those triangle studs! What do you guys think?

NOTD: Galaxy and Bling!

I love me some galaxy nails!

This time, I decided to change up the colors and add a blingy accent nail! The base of my galaxy is Zoya Storm, then I sponged on Zoya Purity, Jin Soon Heirloom, Zoya Neve and Zoya Arizona. Then I striped on some Sally Hansen Disco Ball and used Purity for the dots.

For the accent nail I use Zoya Purity and some striping tape. It’s hard to see but I blocked out two stripes with tape, so it was negative space stripe, white stripe, negative space stripe. I added some rhinestones onto the middle and they kind of smudged the white. Womp. I like how it came out anyway! I topped everything off with Essie Good To Go.

What do you guys think?

NOTD: Nautical Inspired Stripes and Studs!

I was on the hunt for Orly Key Lime Twist last weekend, but no one had it! Instead I picked up China Glaze Sun Worshiper and it inspired this mani!

So, I used three colors here: China Glaze Man Hunt, China Glaze Sun Worshiper and Zoya Purity. My thumb and pointer have two coats of Man Hunt. My pinky has a coat of Purity topped with two coats of Sun Worshiper, my middle and ring fingers have a base of two coats of Purity. On my middle and ring fingers, I used striping tape for the stripes. I didn’t want them all uniform so I spaced them all differently and made them all different thicknesses. I actually created my stripe pattern with tape first, then filled in the colors with striping brushes. I also added studs to the sold colored nails. Topped everything off with Essie Good To Go.

I wasn’t thinking of doing stripes at all until I got Sun Worshiper. I just though it looked cool and almost nautical with Man Hunt. I love how this came out! I love how bright and fun it is. I can’t stop staring at them! What do you guys think?

NOTD: Negative Space, Striping Tape and A England Proserpine!

When I saw the new A England Collection I fell in love! I bought two of the polishes right away, one of which was Proserpine!

Shade

Direct Sunlight

So what I have here is two coats of Proserpine. I used regular tape to tape off where I didn’t want polish. When that was set, I added some silver striping tape and some stones on my ring fingers. Topped everything off with Essie Good To Go.

In terms of Proserpine, it’s a blue with a hint of teal holo. It’s more blue than Saint George. The formula is fantastic, so buttery and smooth. It’s opaque in one coat, but I like to have two for good measure. It dries really fast but I find that it dries a little dull and needs that top coat.

How beautiful is that in the sun?! I love this polish, it reminds me slightly of Zoya Remy but a holo version. So pretty! If you love blues and/or holos I suggest you grab this one!

NOTD: A Little Bit Of Everything!

What happens when you can’t decide on one thing? This…

There’s a lot going on here lol. My pointer is two coats of Zoya Purity topped with Orly Glowstick. My middle finger is two coats of MAC Mischievous Mint topped with a Mischievous Mint and Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac saran wrap marble, and that is topped with a Milani Black Magic dry brush and then I added an outline of Zoya Ziv. That one was very complicated lol. My ring finger is two coats of Lacey Lilac with a gold foil gradient. And finally, my pinky is two coats of Mischievous Mint with a single stud! Everything is topped with Essie Good To Go.

I really liked these! It surprised me a little bit haha I love how the saran warp marble topped with dry brush kind of looks like a stone, and of course, everything is better with a little neon. What do you guys think?

NOTD: Mermaid Inspired!

Happy first day of May! Cannot believe how slow then fast April went by. Anyway…I got these little shell studs from Amazon a while ago and I’ve been dying to use them! I was trying to wait until summer because… sea shells, but now that the weather is warming up I couldn’t help myself!

Gah! So my pointer and pinky have two coats of Zoya Remy. On my pointer I added Sinful Colors Nail Junkie to the top half of the nail and Essie As Gold As It Gets to the bottom half (like a gradient). On my pinky, I added Nail Junkie all over the nail.

My middle and ring fingers have two coats of China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle. On my middle finger I added As Gold As It gets to the top half of the nail, kind of like a gradient, then I added the shell, gold leaf that I got from Amazon and the rhinestones to both nails.

I topped everything off with Essie Good to Go.

I love this! I dyed the ends of my hair purple, so I’ve been feeling mermaid-y and these nails are like icing on the cake. I’m going to be sad when it’s time to remove them.

What do you guys think?