Harlequin Nails

Hello, everyone!  If you're here in the US, I hope you've got a great long weekend planned!

I finally had a little time for some much needed polish therapy; I decided to make the most of it!

This is a little tape mani made with Salon Perfect Baby Blues, Salon Perfect Pure Azure, China Glaze Spontaneous, and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Blue By.

I had my camera handy, and a couple of nails to redo, so I figured this would be a chance to take some step-by-step photos.

I'm redoing my pinky nail here.  You can see my base coat of Baby Blues with a freehanded bottom of Azure.

Here is the nail taped up, and ready to polish.  I pressed down the edges as firmly as I could to try to get those crisp lines.

Here I've polished Blue By and Outrageous over the tape.

I pulled the tape off and voila!

So, I wasn't ready to end my polish therapy, so I decided to add an accessory.  I couldn't choose between pale blue rhinestones and nail tape, so I chose both!

I couldn't find my good topcoat, so I had to use my kind of goopy one.  Other than that, I like it!  I'm sure it will look better tomorrow, when I've really had a chance to clean up the edges, but I'm always afraid that all the tapes and rhinestones will fall off before I get a good picture!

Well, Konaddicts, thanks for stopping by!  I really enjoyed by polish play time today; I can't decide whether to wear this one for a while or to pull off all the colors and start again!  

Lattice and Roses

Hello, everyone!
If this is your "Back to School" week, I hope it's going well.  As for me, things have been a little hectic and I'm still wearing a peeling and cracking mani from (gasp!) last week! I wanted to take a moment to share this design with you because - amazingly - I did NOT use Essie Fiji as a base (what?).

I LOVE Essie Fiji.  It's a sweet, pale pink that I use all the time.  I've never been fond of the application of Essie Fiji, but the light color and opacity has made it a favorite.  When I saw Sinful Easy Going, I thought I might be able to add a little variety to my pale pinks.

For this design, I used Easy Going and stampepd it with Orly Mind's Eye using Pueen 22.  I was going for a softer, vintage rose look when I added Pure Ice Love and Wet N Wild Lavender Creme.  They came out a little more "impressionist" than "vintage", but I liked the overall effect.

Well, Konaddicts - what do you think about this one?  Are there other pale pinks that you'd recommend?

Sea Creatures

Hi all,
Today I've got a beach inspired mani  to share with you.  I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted, so this one kind of evolved as I went along.

I started with a base of Sinful Colors Cinderella.  I used a nail brush to add a "shore" of Kleancolor Mocha, and dotted it with NYC Fashion Safari and Revlon Top Speed Stormy.

I decided to add decorations to my beach shore.  I tried stamping a little crab but it didn't really work well with this color set up so I decided to switch to the "decal method" for the designs.  The outline provides a lot of detail and really makes the design stand out.

So, for the decorations, I used these plates:
Octopus - Mash 37
Palm Tree - Shany SH19
Crab & Seahorse - Cheeky CH39
Starfish - Gals 42

In some places, the polish got a little thick from the layers and the stamp decal, but it's a small price to pay to keep company with such cute little critters.

Keep swimming, Konaddicts!

Good as Gold: Twin post with Jajuana from Mani's by Moore

Hi, everyone!
Today I have another twin post with the talented Jajuana from Mani's by Moore!  Our theme is "Good as Gold".  I puttered around a bit with plates and polishes and finally settled on a simple - but bright and bold! - mani of polish and glitter.

This is Kleancolor Metallic Yellow topped with Kleancolor Tiara Gold.  Tiara Gold steals the show!  You can see the hex glitter pieces ranging from really tiny pieces to big ol' chunky ones.

I have to confess that I slapped A LOT of glitter of these nails and (gasp!),  I didn't always wait for the coats to thoroughly dry (which I'm guessing may have been sometime next week - haha).  So, my metallic yellow base didn't come out as smoothly as it otherwise might have.  I'm just going to say that it added to the "textured look"...

So...dazzling sparkle and fun with another nail-girl?  How can you go wrong?

Can't wait to see what Jajuana does with today's theme!

Thanks for reading, Konaddicts.  It's Friday; get your sparkle on!

Where's my goldfish?

Hi, everyone!
I love the fish scale pattern.  It's one of my very favorites to play around with.  I normally can't get my colors quite right, but I'm in love with the way this one turned out (so expect  A LOT of pictures!).

For this mani, I used Color Show Sweet Clementine, Milani Metallic Mango, Orly Prince Charming, and Milani Blackberry Baby.

I used Milani Metallic Mango as the base and Prince Charming and Mash 39 for the stamping.  The metallic really adds to the scale-like shimmer.  I made little U-shapes at the bottom of random scales with a dotting tool and Sweet Clementine.

For the accent nail, I used a base of Sweet Clementine and a decal made from plate A48 using Blackberry Baby - darker and more metallic than Prince Charming - and Metallic Mango to fill in the fish's body.

I love the shimmer and the compliment of the lighter color.  I keep peeking at my nails to see whether it looks "really fishy" or just like splotches.

I think I'll be staring at this one for a while, Konaddicts!  Hope your weekend ahead is a great one!

Konad M95 Reivew

Hello, everyone!

With all of the new plate sets being released, it's been a while since I've actually bought a new Konad plate.  Many thanks to Joy at NailPolishCanada.com for offering me an opportunity to review one of the latest plate releases from Konad.  I chose M95 to review; hold on - it's a good one!

We expect quality from Konad but what I hadn't noticed was that the full nail pattern on this plate is a lot larger than some of my other Konad plates.

M95: 1.5 x 2 cm;  M78: 1.75 x 1.2 cm

The real selling point, I think, is the delightful little owl.  There are owls in other sets (one of the Bundle Monster sets has an owl) but this owl is very small, and is the perfect size for an accent.  I made several decals of this little guy and was able to fit two on a nail.

So - hearts, an adorable owl, a pattern that's big enough to fit your whole nail - what's not to love?

NailPolishCanada.com is having a giveaway to win all 5 of Konad's latest releases.  It only takes an email address to enter (woot!).

I hope you're having a super week, Konaddicts!  Best of luck if you decide to enter the giveaway!

~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's what I used for this little mani:
Base: NYC Fashion Safari
Plate: Konad M95
Full nail patterns:  Stamping with Revlon Top Speed Espresso, filled in with Sally Hansen Just In Lime
Accent nail:  Owl decal made with Espresso, filled in with Kleancolor Mocha and White.  Dotted with Just In Lime and Kleancolor Mocha.

Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots

Hi everyone!  I'm excited to finally get a chance to post.  It's been another busy week.  First, I had a leak and woke up to a small swamp in my apartment (argh!).  I was also preparing for a family reunion - which turned out to be a great couple of days with family.  It was wonderful to be able to be able to see my aunts and cousins, some of whom I haven't see in years!

So now...back to the nails!

I picked up this bottle of Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots Blue Marks the Spot (which must be the longest name is polish history) and wanted to try it out.  I used Rimmel Blue Eyed Girl as a base then I added the Blue Marks.  This polish is packed with glitter; one coat is probably enough.  I was being a bit of a glitter glutton, so I went for two.

To add a little variety, I polished the glitter over manicure tapes on the ring finger and decided to stamp the thumb.  I used Pueen 8 and Kleancolor Pastel Blue for the stamping.

I haven't tried many glitter polishes with different sizes and shapes of glitter.  What have I been doing?  This stuff is awesome! The variety of glitter adds interest to your nails, even if you're just wearing it over a simple polish. Blue Marks was the only one left on the shelf, but I'd really like to try out some of the other ones!

I hope you're enjoying your summers, Konaddicts.  Can you believe we're creeping into August now?

Thanks for stopping by!