Amethyst Geodes

 I tried to emulate amethyst geodes for this design. Every time I look I can't decide if I succeeded or not. They still look neat, so it all works in the end?

 I started with a base of OPI Thanks a Windmillion, which is a dusty neutral green. It reminded me the most of the rock usually associated with amethyst geodes. Next, I painted on loose shapes in Zoya Payton on each nail. I considered painting on the inner facets all by hand, but realized Payton was  the perfect amethyst color, and it has a great depth to it with tons of holo sparkle.

 Next, I painted on the side facing crystals with OPI Alpine Snow and a small brush. I highlighted the tips with a touch of Color Club Sweet Pea. I also added a touch of an outline in Sinful Colors Coffee. As a last detail, I used Salon Perfect Loves Me Loves Me Not to give the outer stone some texture. It's a tiny matte glitter speckle polish with pale pink/sand and black microglitter.

Colors Used:

OPI Thanks a Windmillion

Zoya Payton

OPI Alpine Snow 

Color Club Sweet Pea

Sinful Colors Coffee

Kit-Yin Yang

 So I decided to play with a yin-yang challenge by featuring a black and white cat curled together. It maybe isn't as clear as a yin yang symbol, but it was interesting to try to make it work! I thought about making a yin yang on each nail, but didn't want it to look too confusing. Instead, I kept the other fingers simple and fun!

 I started by painting my fingers semi-alternating in OPI Alpine Snow and Wet n Wild Black Creme. It's only 'semi' due to the ring nail being apart from the pattern. I then added on alternating tips in black and white to each nail. For this step I switched to ORLY White Tips as it's a little thicker and shows up over the black in one layer. Lastly, I topped each of those nails with Icing Milky Way, which is my favorite black and white splatter polish.

 For the kitties I used a thin brush and Wet n Wild Black Creme/ ORLY White Tips to draw in the kitty faces. Even my dominant hand turned out recognizable!

 Colors Used:

OPI Alpine Snow

Wet n Wild Black Creme

ORLY White Tips

Icing Milky Way

Paws and Pets

 Continuing with nails matching my scrubs! This time I chose scrubs with cute cartoon animals and tried to recreate them as best I could! Photo with scrubs is at the bottom of the page.

 I began with a base of Sinful Colors New Wave. Next, I used a black marker to sketch out the animals, then filled them in with two or three layers of OPI Alpine Snow. I used a dotting tool to add little pawprints in more Alpine Snow. I also included the folded leash on my pinkie and thumb. The leash was done with Sinful Colors Rain Storm, which is a slightly lighter shade, and outlined in black marker.

 After the polish was dry, I went back with the black marker to add the details to the little cartoon critters. At the very end, I mattified everything. It ended up matching nicely!

Colors Used:

Sinful Colors New Wave

OPI Alpine Snow

Sinful Colors Rain Storm

Dotted Rings

 I find it strangely satisfying to match my nails to my work scrubs. I think it's because scrubs tend to have cute and quirky patterns.  Check the bottom of this post to see the scrubs!

 I started with a base of Essie Bikini So Teeny. Next, I watered down my brush with acetone and added patches of color to random locations across each nail. I used CQ Pink, Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing (teal), Color Club Pucci-licious (darker purple), and Color Club Hydrangea Kiss (Lighter purple).

 Next, I used a small dotting tool to add dotted rings in OPI Alpine Snow and Sinful Colors Cold Leather. For a few rings I followed that with small dots of Bikini So Teeny to create a dot outline.

 Colors Used:

Essie Bikini So Teeny

 CQ Pink

  Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing

Color Club Pucci-licious

 Color Club Hydrangea Kiss

 OPI Alpine Snow

Sinful Colors Cold Leather

Complementary Colors

 For this I decided to pair two polishes with the same bright foil finish. These turned out so flashy! It was a lot of fun.

 I started with a base of ORLY What's the Password?, which is a bright orange. I find that I love orange polish, but since I'm fond of cool tones I tend to use orange as an accent. I'll have to try the inverse sometime.

 Once that was dry, I used striping tape to block off the design on each nail, then added a coat of ORLY Sweet Peacock, which is one of my new favorite blues. The most impressive part of these polishes is that these photos were taken after three days of wear and they almost look as good as new!

Colors Used:

ORLY What's the Password?

 ORLY Sweet Peacock

Textured Gradient

 I'm definitely in love with textured polish. I have enough variety in shades that I decided to do a gradient!

 I started with a couple coats of OPI Solitaire, a sparkly white textured polish. It did take a few coats to work up to opacity. Next, I brushed on L'Oreal The Statement Piece, a nice pale gold textured polish.

 I finished the gradient with L'Oreal I Like It Chunky. I love that polish, it's just a great coppery orange. I've worn it on its own and loved it, and now I love it in a gradient!

Colors Used:

OPI Solitaire

L'Oreal The Statement Piece

L'Oreal I Like It Chunky

Crackle and Sparkle

 I do enjoy the look of layered polishes! This was another evolving manicure with a fun end result. Sometimes launching into nail art with no idea in mind can be great!

 I started out with a base of OPI DS Glow, which is a lovely auburn-coppery color. I actually wore that color alone for a day before deciding to add to it. Next, I added the crackle polish Sephora by OPI White Blasted. That actually absorbed some of the polish below it and turned ever so slightly off-white pinkish. However, it still worked! It was a gradual change, and it might have been caused by layering glitter over it.

 The glitter polish was Sephora by OPI Come to Pappa-razzi. It's an interesting glitter that is a mix of small coppery glitter, gold hex glitter and small matte black glitter. It complimented the base colors well while also adding that extra oomph!

Colors Used:

OPI DS Glow

Sephora by OPI White Blasted

Sephora by OPI Come to Pappa-razzi

Stamped Scallops

 I received a new super-squishy nail art stamper for Christmas, and I wanted to try it out. It's definitely good at transferring all of the design to the nail, but is a little temperamental about picking up some polishes.

 I started with a base of OPI DS Lapis, which is amazing. Photos couldn't do it justice. I love how shimmery it is! I then selected a stamp design from Pueen plate 15. I started stamping on my pinkie with an older China Glaze White on White that was thicker, but the new stamper had trouble picking up the design. I decided to sacrifice color in exchange for details and shifted to using a newer OPI Alpine Snow. The design wasn't as brightly white, but all the little lines transferred!

 Next, I used a dotting tool to fill in small sections with China Glaze Blue Bells Ring for an extra little flash of color. 

Colors Used:

OPI DS Lapis

China Glaze White on White

OPI Alpine Snow

China Glaze Blue Bells Ring

PUEEN 15

All That Glitters

 Sorry for the long absence! I've still been doing my nails, but I've been distracted and the last detail of getting them photographed and uploaded kind of slipped through the cracks. So prepare for an onslaught of uploads to make up for it!

 One of the things I wanted to do more of this year was play with glitters. I do love freehand painting and detailed art, but that is best done with creme polishes and my glitters just get ignored. Anyway! For this I started out with Sinful Colors Cold Leather, mostly because I was undecided and wanted something that would dry fast. Next, I added one coat of ORLY Watch It Glitter, which is an amazingly bright copper glitter

 I was so in love with the effect that I wore just the copper on blue for a day. The next day I was just rummaging through polish and on a whim decided to add Pure Ice Wide Awake, which is a bright blue thin bar glitter. I think it added a little extra blue shine to help balance out the copper, and it was a nice result to a casual experiment!

Colors Used:

Sinful Colors Cold Leather

ORLY Watch It Glitter

Pure Ice Wide Awake