31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 19: Galaxies

How could I have forgotten to post my "Galaxy" nails?  Well, without further ado, here they are:

This is Wet n Wild Black Creme.  I used the scraper to mix a little of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lightening (yellow) with Pure Ice Love (pink) to stamp my "vortex".  I used XL Plate B for the design.  I used Love My Nails Silver Bullet and BM05 to complete the design with the big silver star.

This design was different for me.  I don't always like having black nails but stamping the lighter colors over the black softens the black up some and made it, for me, a more wearable design.

Take care, Konaddicts!  Thanks for reading!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 8: Metallic Nails

Metallic nails...hmmm...  What does that mean, exactly?  I use chromes and metallics a lot when stamping so I decided to go for a mani that reminded me of sheet metal.  I tried a bunch of different things until I finally found something close to what I had in mind.

The base is Love My Nails Silver Bullet, a silver chrome.  I used (another!) pattern from my XL Image Plate B which seemed to perfectly fit the bill.  I stamped over the silver with a Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, a gray chrome.  It's the exact combination I used before in my Silver and Gray mani, except in reverse order.

I pulled out my striping polish that I bought at Sally's a million years back to add the yellow stripe.  I used my cheapie Nail Star nail pens to add the dots on my "caution tape".  Theoretically, I could have used a combo of tape and stamping to get something that more resembled an actual caution tape, but the combination of drying time and trial and (lots of) error time made me go for the simpler approach.

I had so much fun trying to put this together!  It really got my creativity flowing and I finished with a mani I liked and bunches of polish strewn all over like there had been a nail polish tornado.

Overall, it was a fun stamping night!

Next up, "rainbow nails".

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 7: Black and White Nails

Hello, everyone!
Today's challenge is black and white, a bold combination that I don't use very often.  For this mani, I used Wet n Wild Black Creme as a base.  I stamped with Konad Special Polish in White and used one of the designs from my XL Image Plate B (which has been getting a lot of use since I started this challenge!).

I like it!  This has been another challenge that has forced me out of my (rather pastel) comfort zone!

Thanks for dropping by!  See you tomorrow for "metallic nails".

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 2: Orange Nails

Hello, all!  Well, today's nail challenge was orange so I polished my nails with Kleancolor Pastel Orange, one of the few oranges in my collection.  I couldn't resist stamping it, so I used an interesting full nail pattern from XL Image Plate B and Milani Metallic Mango to stamp those interesting "fish scales".  

Well, once you have the plates out, it's easy to take one more step, so I decided to add a flower from Cheeky plate CH12.  I stamped the flower with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Blue Blast and filled in the petals with a green nail pen.

Well - I've tried new patterns, polishes and plates already!  I'm hoping the rest of challenge keeps those creative juices flowing.

Thanks for reading, Konaddicts!

Red Angel Peacocks

So, after fiddling around unsuccessfully with the peacock on plate BM-15 - I just couldn't figure out to how get the placement right - I heaved one last sigh, and decided I would have to pick some other design.

I flipped through my nail plates binder and noticed that there's a peacock on Red Angel plate RA-102!

Hooray!  I put my imagination to work to see if I could accommodate my hankering for peacocks after all.

I used China Glaze Kinetic Candy as a base.  I used XL Stamping Plate B for the background design.

I stamped the pattern - not sure how to describe it, but it's circled in the piture - using three colors - Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jade Jump, China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le, and Revlon Top Speed Stormy. I tried to mush the colors a bit with the scraper so that the colors would mix a little at the edges.

Finally, I used Revlon Top Speed Espresso and Red Angel RA-102 to stamp this awesome little image of a peacock on top (I love its little "top feather").

Well, Konaddicts, there's one nail obsession temporarily assuaged...these things never last long, though.  I'm sure I'll have a bee in my bonnet for another design any time.  

Wait a minute - do I have any bees? :)

Hello Kitty of the Month

Hello, everyone!  I have decided that I am issuing myself a challenge.  To put my well documented love of Hello Kitty to the test (not to mention to get good use out of my HK plates), I'm going to try to create at least one Hello Kitty manicure each month.

Without further ado, here is February's Kitty of the Month.

Since it's February and I'm still feeling sweet, I used Essie Fiji as the pale pink background.

I noticed that if I tried to stamp Kitty first, I got my alignment off, so I decided to stamp the bow border first.  I don't have the Konad plate for this design so I used my XL Image Plate B and Pure Ice Frosted Ice Sparkle Berry.

I stamped Kitty with Sparkle Berry using plate KD-1.  I like the metallic sparkle in this polish although I think I pressed the stamper a little too hard and got some smudges.  Finally, I used Pure Ice Spit Fire to add glitter to her bow and to the bows in the bottom border.

I think this endeavor will put my love of Hello Kitty to the test.  Is it possible that even I could tired of girly pink cuteness?  Stay tuned, Konaddicts! :)