Parchment and Roses

Hi everyone!

First, you may have noticed that I have 50 followers now!  Thank you so much!  I so much appreciate that you stop by to see what my polishes and I are up to!

To celebrate you, and one my one year blog anniversary later this month, I'll be posting details of a little giveaway later in the month.

So...on to today's manicure!

I was feeling nostalgic and trying to think of a design that was romantic, elegant, and kind of old fashioned.  I thought back to all those photos of roses on old music sheets (now you know what all my screen savers were back in the day!) and ultimately came up with this design.  I also wanted to try a new technique, so I created this look using saran wrap.

I started first with a base of that lovely caramel, L'Oreal The Perfect Trench (I am not yet over this color!).  I sponged on a little Revlon Top Speed in Stormy to add a darker color.  I covered the entire nail with white - Pure Ice Siren - and dabbed it using saran wrap.  That worked perfectly to give me the mottled-type background for the roses.  (Doesn't that seem like a weird combination?  It worked, though!)

I used BM 323 and Pure Ice Rumors for the roses.  I added the leaves from XL Plate I with Revlon Top Speed Emerald.

Ah...this suits my mood perfectly (isn't it great when that happens?).

Take care, Konaddicts, and see you soon!

Purple Accented French Manicure

Whoa - has it really been almost a week since my last post?  Where has this week gone?  Well, I guess I'll take a step out of the time warp to share today's colorful French mani.

This is a base of Kleancolor Pink Sleepers.  I couldn't find the nail guides so I freehanded the tips with Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Whirlwind White.

I wanted a big, frilly design, so I took a look at my XL Plate I.  One of the nice things about the XL plates is that you'll find the same design in different sizes, so you can pick the size that works best for the look you're going for.  I chose the largest of this fan or leaf design.

For the stamping, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Urgent Orchid and L'oreal Violet Vixen.  To finish, I added a rhinestone to the curlicue...and, there you have it!

I'll catch you soon, Konaddicts!  I hope you also aren't feeling stuck in a time warp!

Green Paisley

Hello, everyone!  I decided to try another paisley manicure.  After a fair bit of fiddling around - it's hard to get the placement right - I decided to look at some paisley patterns online.  I tried different sizes of the paisley design, but I noticed that the smaller designs require a thinner line and I didn't like using the same design with different line widths (oh, brother, these are nails and not the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel!).

I looked at some paisley designs again and noticed that little flowers are often incorporated into the designs.  Since the different sizes didn't work, I decided to give flowers a go. I like how the combo turned out!

Here's what I used:

I started with a base of Kleancolor Military Green (D), a thick formula forest green.  To make sure the design would stand out on such a dark background, I decided to try out the tiny $3 bottle of stamping polish I bought from Beautiful Scratchers.  I used XL Image Plate I and Beautiful Scratcher's AnyWear Special Polish in Mint (B) to stamp the paisley.  The polish worked pretty well - the image was sharp and the color didn't fade under topcoat.

To add the flowers, I used a portion of a design on plate A03 and Konad Special Polish in Pastel Pink (A). To finish, I used a dotting tool to stamp a dot of Kleancolor Metallic Pink (C) on the paisley and Kleancolor Jazz Olive (E) in the center of the flowers.

Here's an indoor picture using flash - this one is closest to showing the richness of the green.

Well, I hope you like the paisley!  Be well, Konaddicts!

Crazy for Paisley!

Why is nail stamping so much fun?  Because you can have paisley nails!  I had a lot of fun creating this mani and even more fun wearing it!

Here are the details:

I used China Glaze Kinetic Candy as the base coat.  I stamped with Kleancolor Military Green, Revlon Top Speed in Espresso and Revlon Top Speed in Stormy.  I used a dotting tool to add the gold and silver dots as accents.

The image plate is Cheeky XL Image Plate I.  I had some initial reservations about the plate because I got it at an "introductory price" of only $11.  When I got it, it even seemed to have a little bend in it .

Well...I gave the plate a try and haven't had any problems at all!  I do love the paisley designs and I'm always on the hunt for a bargain (which can sometimes backfire!).

Just when I got ready to give myself a pat on the back for coming up with such a nice color combination (always the hardest part for me!), I noticed my wall hanging from India.

Ah...the beautiful colors of India - always an inspiration!