Bright Patchwork

It isn’t technically winter yet! Also, as of writing this, it has been unseasonably warm in Philly. So…fall themes are still appropriate!

Although, to be fair, I think I’d find a way to use rainbows no matter the season, but since patchwork designs somehow scream “autumn” I don’t feel terrible for postponing posting these until now!

I actually painted these back when I posted the fall-themed patchwork nails (the orange ones) but these were done with stamping decals to compare. Unsurprisingly, I liked the free-handed ones significantly more, but these were so much faster!

Colors:
~ Nude: OPI – Be There in a Prosecco
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Orange: Nubar – Hot Orange
~ Yellow: Love & Beauty – Yellow
~ Green: Salon Perfect – Loopy Lime
~ Blue: Zoya – Ling
~ Purple: Sinful Colors – Dream On
~ Stamp: BM – 607

That’s it for today! Also, despite all my chatter, the rest of this week is not themed in any way (unless “things that have been sited in my painted folder for months” is a theme). Hope you enjoyed!

Flakie Overlay

I think the theme of this week is “things Eva matted.” However, unlike Monday’s post, I am really sad that this mani did not end up glossy!

The design was inspired by @kgrdnr, as many good things are. I mostly just wanted to use Ski Lodge by ILNP because it somehow found its way onto my desk. However, then I decided it wasn’t quite glittery enough, and I added some flakies over top. Voila!

Despite being really simple, I think this came out rather awesome. I have missed working with dark greens (they are not an approved-of color in the hospital or on the interview trail), and holographic + flakie polishes are an awesome combination.

Colors:
~ Dark green creme: Sinful Colors – Last Chance
~ Dark green holo: ILNP – Ski Lodge
~ Green flakies: Lyn B Designs – The Speed of Light, you Know
~ Gold: Salon Perfect – Gold Leaf
~ Matte: KBShimmer – Oh Matte!

Regardless, you can also see why I am sad I matted this! Usually I am all-for matted flakies, but I ended up removing some of the depth in the design and certainly in getting rid of the awesome holo inherent in Ski Lodge. Oops! I’ll likely try a similar design with a different color, and I just need to remember to keep it glossy 🙂

The Rainbow Fish

I love painting nails inspired by children’s books…and I’ve been wanting to try The Rainbow Fish for a while! I just haven’t had the time (until now).

The inspiration came from Adventures in Acetone, although I decided to stay true to the book and use only creme polishes for the scales other than the rainbow silver scales. I do wish, in retrospect, that I had used a lighter pink (even though I don’t actually have a good one)!

The story is about the joy that one person can get from sharing. Its quite a nice message! It also was one of my favorite books growing up (not that I wanted to be taught to share with my sisters) but because the shiny fish scales were just so pretty. This mani is a bit darker than I imagine the fish being, but still pretty and suitably colorful! Who wants to play with silver holo? 🙂

Colors:
~ Light blue: Zoya – Yummy
~ Blue: Maybelline – Shocking Seas
~ Dark blue: Zoya – Sia
~ Teal: Salon Perfect – Escape to Neverland
~ Purple: L’oreal – Paparazzi Pleaser
~ Pink: Zoya – Ciara
~ Holo: Color Club – Harp On It
~ Yellow: WOW – #301

These took FOREVER to paint because I had to do one scale at a time, and couldn’t put two wet dots next to each other or they’d run! I still love the end result though 😀 Hope you enjoyed! It looks like I wasn’t the only one to do Rainbow Fish this year!

Neon Print

Gradient time! Gradients are one of my favorite things to do with my nails, since it allows me to use a bunch of colors. And then, typically, cover the gradient with a stamp for added design :-p

When I was putting this together, I thought the colors might actually be too bright (because wow, neon). I was initially planning to cover more of the gradient as a result, but I like the amount showing! I ended up using another Born Pretty Store stamp, but this one works like a charm. I’ve actually even used the super-coverage designs on this plate and they stamped beautifully, which I’ve never had work for me before!

So, when it comes to gradients this hurts my eyes but is awesome, and when it comes to stamping plates this one makes me very happy, both for the etching and for the variety in patterns. Win-win!

Colors:
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Yellow: Love & Beauty – Yellow
~ Teal: Salon Perfect – Escape to Neverland
~ Blue: Maybelline – Shocking Seas
~ Stamp: BP – L049

Tomorrows post is ALSO with neons, although only one color rather than three. If you like the stamping plate and want to pick it up for yourself, you can find it at the Born Pretty Store for $2.99. Enjoy!

Vampy Roses

I know flowers (other than maybe poinsettias) are not considered a winter design…but I saw these and they just screamed vampy Christmas flowers to me!

The pattern was inspired by nailsandtowelnailsandtowelnailsandtowel, and I just ran with it. Luckily, I had All Sparkly and Gold by OPI just sitting around…I think this might be the first time I’ve used it since I swatched it however many years ago. Sad, but thats what happens when you have too many gold polishes! Also, I had it in my head that it was difficult to remove…and it wasn’t EASY but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be!

I really like how this design came out. Deep red and gold is one of my favorite color combinations 🙂

Colors
~ Dark red: Confetti – Masquerade Ball
~ Gold glitter: OPI – All Sparkly And Gold
~ Gold holo glitter: Cult Nails – Walk of Shame
~ Nude: Zoya – Chantal
~ Dark green: Zoya – Shawn
~ Green: Salon Perfect – Loopy Lime

Hope you enjoyed! Get ready for MORE winter-y and holiday-y manis next week :-D.

Paintbrushes

See, for the theme of Day 27, artwork, I decided to go with things that work to make art…in this case paintbrushes. I have no idea if anyone other than me would ever be able to identify what they are without me telling them! Oops.

To create the bristles I painted my nails a medium brown, and added a bristle-like stamp with a nude tone. I then dry-brushed on a bit of each of my intended colors to create an effect as though the paintbrushes had been previously used for the specific color.

Then I added the blobs of color and a little white crescent to indicate that they were shiny. I decided to matte the ‘brush’ part and make the paint part ‘glossy’ just for fun!

Colors
~ Brown: Zoya – Dea
~ Nude: Zoya – Chantal
~ Red: Pure Ice – Siren
~ Orange: ULTA – Sun of a Gun
~ Yellow: WOW – #301
~ Green: Salon Perfect – Escape to Neverland
~ Blue: Zoya – Ling
~ Stamp: BM – 314

So, do they look like paintbrushes? Did I succeed? 🙂

Colorless Teal Ideas

I don’t know why, but for some reason Noam Chomsky’s “colorless green ideas sleep furiously” got stuck in my head while I was trying to think of a name for these, so here you go!

This level of stamping is NOT for the faint of heart. Oy. It didn’t take that long since it was only a single stamp transfer…but to get all the colors exactly where I wanted them (on specific triangles or not) took longer than stamping usually does! And the direction of wiping off the polish became strangely important.

This was another to match a dress I wore to a wedding months ago, that I just never posted and it fit with Green Day! I wore the dress a lot. Mostly because my normal dress for weddings I wore probably 6 times in the last two years and I was getting tired of teal/coral nails. I think I overdid it!

Colors
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Light green: Essie – The More The Merrier
~ Light teal: Wet n’ Wild – I Need a Refresh-Mint
~ Dark teal: Salon Perfect – Escape to Neverland
~ Blue: OPI – Into the Night
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Stamp: Bundle Monster – 205

Hope you enjoyed! Tomorrows blue nails might be my some of my favorites of ever so be prepared 😀