Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) Nail Art

Even though its not spring here yet ... I wanted spring nails. I love cherry blossoms they are so beautiful and just scream spring is here so I decided I would try to capture the beauty by painting them on my nails. For my Cherry Blossom inspiration I used the Arizona Green Tea bottle :D . I thought I had everything in my head planned out ... wrong hehehe. The mint green I thought I was going to use went on to thick, didn't like how it looked on my nails. Originally I painted 4 mint greens on 4 fake nails to see which I liked the best, but painting a fake nail and a real nail totally different!!!! So I ended up painting the mint greens on my nails to see which one I liked the best. The four nail polishes I had to choose from were Nicole by OPI - My Lifesaver, Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet, Revlon - Minted and Essie - Turquoise & Caicos. Guess which one I picked....... give up? Essie - Turquoise & Caicos won!!! But it was darker than I had wanted to use so I thought and thought and was thinking of trying some polish manipulation, but decided against it since its not something I have done before. So I used a lighter mint shade with acrylic paint and did a sponge effect. And here are the results!!! I will have to get more pictures up so you can see the sponging better.

I added the thumb in so you can see how the branches connected to all the nails.

 Before the Branches and flowers were painted on.

Now I was going to do a step by step kinda thing but I forgot to take a picture after I painted my nails the mint green. :-(  So maybe ill set up some fake nails to show step by step. As I mentioned in my previous post about my UV lamp dying on me, I went to Ten Nail Salon here in Indy Di is so great. She did the Shellac on my nails, and I was ready to go! So on my nails is Shellac Cream Puff, and over it is the Essie - Turquoise & Caicos. The Branches and flowers were done with acrylic paint and then put on Out The Door top coat. Hope you like!!! :D

Been taking more pictures but the damn top coat is driving me crazy!! The gloss just seems to be getting in the way. :( So as soon as I receive the matte polish I ordered going to try it out on the nails and see and take more pictures. Stay tuned!!!

Delayed ....

Well last night I was set to remove hello kitty and the St. Patty's nail art and start my new nail art, only nothing was going my way. I have natural nails that chip easily, so I have a process before I start any nail art on my nails. I use Shellac gel polish as my secret strength muhahahahaha!!! I recent started using it maybe 2 months now , and I love it!!! Its not as thick as acrylic and will not weakening my nails like acrylic can do but not as strong as acrylic.  I have not tried the new gels yet but was told gel will weaken nails also just not as much as acrylic. Only the problem my base coat and one layer of color was not going right. At first I thought I missed a step or something, but I didn't 2 bulbs in my UV lamp stopped working *cries*. I will post a picture of Strawberry Smoothie that I have on now so you can see the color as soon as I get a chance, but the application did not come out as well as it should have because it was not curing the polish right.  So I have to hit a nail salon for my base and one coat of color before I apply the nail polish I am planning on using. Shellac just came out with 12 new colors I might pick up some new colors that look interesting, and order a new UV lamp ugh. Word of warning if your interested in buying a UV lamp buy from a local supplier if possible, I purchased mine from a seller out of the country on ebay, so returning or exchanging is not an option. Also I have been debating trying a different gel nail polish which offers more colors, but Shellac is really easy to put on and take off so I have been hesitant. Gelish offers more colors than Shellac so would give me the option to take a break from hunting for regular nail polish, but I like finding new colors and trying them!! And Shellac is thinner to apply then Gelish I have read. I use it just to give me a little added strength to my natural nails. I did have one nail that broke and had gel build onto my natural nail till it grew out, and it has yay! So I made my appointment for tomorrow, soonest I could get.  =(   I have been thinking of doing a step by step of how I do my nail, I would love to know your thoughts on this, So email or leave a comment and happy polishing.   :D

Off Topic for a minute.

I am sure many of you have read what has happened and is still happening in Japan right now. First a major earthquake then the tsunami like if those 2 weren't bad enough but now to have to worry about a nuclear reactor completely exploding. There have been explosions to certain areas, but it seems they are still trying to contain the radiation. I have a fellow blogger that is posting what is happening over there, which is really appreciated considering our media outlets. She says "The Japanese news and the foreign news must be reporting on two different events, because no two stories are the same. The Japanese media keep insisting nothing really significant is going on, and the foreign media is making it sound like we’re about to get nuclear death rained down on us at any moment." The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. My thoughts and condolences to those that have lost or is missing loved ones and to everyone in Japan, and will be hoping that they can get the reactor cooled down and under control so Japan can start rebuilding. For those who would like to read her blog here is the link  so that you can take a look. NeverTooMuchGlitter

Grab your green beer.... St. Patrick's Day Nail Art !!

First off a big thanks for Robin Moses for her tutorial on hello kitty. :D She is an amazing artist and the nicest person who has helped me on my many questions hehe. You can follow her blog that I have linked on the left side and her tutorials will show up on the right side of my blog. I'll write up more after I get rid of my migraine but wanted to get some pictures up for now. :)

Time to describe my St. Patty's nails. I am also a fan of love4nails on you-tube she has some lovely tutorials and I found my green nail polish and the glitter on one of her flower tutorials. Her tutorials show up on the right side as well. And let me add it was amazing that I found them. Trying to find green polish locally... well really sucked!! I see so many blogs with beautiful green polishes and I'm GREEN with envy! So shopping online I will go, I must have my green polishes!!! hehehehe I will list the everything I used below the pictures.

I wanted to do a pastel rainbow because well rainbows are soft and light hehe, maybe I should see if I have a closer picture of the rainbow to show more detail.

What I used in creating my St. Patty's nails.
The nails with shamrocks I used Sinful - Happy Ending and Sinful - Call You Later
The Shamrocks were made with acrylic paint.
Hello Kitty nail.
Revlon - Minted (btw I hate this polish, its thin and dents really easy so I need to find a new mint polish)
Hello Kitty was done with acrylic paint as well I used robin moses tutorial on her Hello Kitty to get me started and worked the rest on.
Rainbow nail was done with acrylic paint and gold and black micro beads for the pot of gold.

I would love to hear comments on what you think. :D
And a BIG thank you to everyone that follows my blog *big hugs*~!!

So many Polishes!!!

OK so here I was reading my fellow nail bloggy pages and saw so many beautiful nail polishes and designs and realized I needed more polishes~!!! Like the OMG collection was a must have to me to try and get, but little did I realize it had been discontinued!! And hard to find only place I found was ebay, and some were so expensive =( So I only got 1 so far. I also read that China Glaze is coming out with the Tronica Collection and thought well maybe I will get some of those but  FashionPolish has some pictures that showed a comparison with the new china glaze Tronica vs OMG Collection and I have to say the new ones didn't impress me at all. So I went polish shopping except I ended up getting colors I wasn't even looking for LOL also purchased the Bundle Monster set of faux Konad plates. Pictures are on the way also working on a St. Patrick nail design. =)

 From left to right top to bottom

Nina Ultra Pro - Lime Light,  CG Millennium, CG - GR8, CG Techno, OPI DS Sapphire , CG In The Lime Light, Sally Hansen - Blew me away, Sally Hansen - Going green, Sinful - Social Ladder, Sinful - Gorgeous, Sinful - Happy Ending, Sinful - Love Nails, Sinful - Nail Junkie, Sinful - Innocent, Sinful - Hottie, Sinful - Call You Later, Sinful - Glass Pink, Wet n Wild - Blue Wants to be a Millionaire, Revlon - Minted

I had ides for some of these colors and a few were to see if I could use in place of others I could not find like Love Letters by NYC I could not find so I purchased Social Latter and Glass Pink as a replacement. I purchased OPI DS Sapphire to replace China Glaze OMG. Though I will probably still try to find China Glaze OMG polishes when I can to compare.

I have to say I was really surprised the lack of green polishes I could find. The ones here are the only ones I found in my hunt locally. Wet n Wilds - Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire looks exactly like Milani 3D Holo Cyberspace. That is all for now till I get more OMG polishes!!! hehe And finish my St. Patrick nail design.
Happy Polishing. =)