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!  

Halloween Candy Corn & Giveaway Winner!

I'm thrilled to announce the winner of my first giveaway - it's Katie!  Katie is all set to get her plates.  I hope she comes up with some great designs!

Thank you to everyone who entered and, to all the new followers, thank you for making me part of your "nail family". :)

Amazingly - and nearly just in time for Halloween - inspiration struck and I'm sporting these fun candy corn nails!

This was one of those designs that sort of evolved as I went about my day.

I knew I wanted candy corn stripes, so I used tape for the color blocks.  I started with a base of  Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White (A).  I polished about half of the nail with Sinful Pull Over, an yellow-orange (B).

I waited until the polish was completely dry before adding tape to section off the middle (C).  Polished in my China Glaze Life Preserver (D).  And removed the tape! (E).

I'm getting better about remembering to smooth the tape before polishing and removing the tape while the polish is still wet; my lines are getting better!

I couldn't decide whether to stamp these or leave them in blocks.I decided I wanted to add the candy corn shape, but I didn't feel like trying to cut tape, so I decided to use nail pens and a nail brush to fill in the sides with Revlon Top Speed Espresso.

Then I decided I wanted to stamp them, so I used  Konad M17 and M18 and Wet n Wild Black Creme for the letters.

Please forgive the nail wear in the photo.   I wanted to take the picture sooner, but I have a new addition that has been keeping me busy.

This is Rosie.  She's only about 5 lbs, but she's a year old and is a burst of youthful energy.  My other dog, Barley, is 11, and we have been together for 8 years, so adding this little whippersnapper to our tried and true routines has been a challenge.  She's a sweet, sweet girl, though, and it already feels like she's a part of the family.

Well, take care Konaddicts!  I hope you have a fun and safe Halloween - and are wearing fun polish designs to celebrate!

More buttons!

Button madness continues!

For this manicure, I used Revlon Peach Petal as a base.  I taped off (only one piece of tape this time so it was much easier for me to handle!) the nail and polished using Revlon Demure.  Finally, I stamped buttons with Konad Plate M16 in Kleancolor Metallic Black and Metallic Red.  The buttons sparkle a little (which, unfortunately, you can't see in the pictures).

Snow is in our forecast, Konaddicts, so I hope you are warm and buttoned in wherever you are!

Buttoned Up

I love the buttons on Konad Plate M16!  To get the black and white, I tried my very first tape manicure.  If you've never tried one of these, Jane at Nailside has a great tutorial here.  I stamped the buttons using M16.

I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White for the base, Milani Black Magic for the accent, and the Whirlwind White for the buttons.  Konad Special Polish in white stamped better, but it also seemed to smear more.

As for the tape mani, I like the result, but I had a hard time getting the tape on straight, getting it pulled off without smearing everything and (because I'm impatient), trying to tape other fingers while the polish was still wet (not to mention trying to dispose of sticky tape with wet polish on it!).  It's also worth noting that it takes twice the drying time since you have to wait for your base coat and then your accent color to dry before moving on to your stamping.

Now...off to think of more designs with buttons!  Thanks for reading and happy stamping!