Green Granite

Hi everyone! I hope your November is off to a great start!
I was in the mood for a little layering in my manicure.  I was initially thinking of purples, but I was drawn to the combination of teal and black; the rest evolved from there!

I started with a few coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear The Real Teal (I love this color!).  I followed that with a coat of Sinful Pearl Harbor, an iridescent teal glitter.  Then I used Konad Special Polish in black and the awesome "droplet" design on Vivid Lacquer plate VL009 to create the pattern.  I opted for one final layer.  I used Love My Nails Envy - a green chrome - and Mash 43 to add the metallic circles.

This is a fun change for me!  Normally I like my nails like I like my food - all separate and not touching each other!  It's fun to change it up!

So, I'm headed away for a little vacation, Konaddicts.  Any ideas on easy to manage vacation nails?

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!

Checkmate

Hey, all!
I've got a quick mani to share today.  This is Wet n Wild Lavender Creme stamped with the checkerboard pattern from Mash 38 using Konad Special Polish in Black.  The crown is stamped from Red Angel plate 119.

Quick, easy, and fun!
Thanks for reading Konaddicts!  See you soon!

Valentine Hearts and Roses

Hello, everyone!  Valentine's day is long gone (thank goodness!), but I'm still in the mood for hearts and flowers.  Luckily, Mash 39 has a unique design that is both roses and hearts!

I have been eyeing this plate for a while but I hadn't been able to come up with a design I liked.  This time, I opted for double stamping, and I love the result!

This is a base of Orly Sweet Temptation with a thin coat of holographic glitter - Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope.  I thought about sponging a background, but opted for something a little quicker.  Instead, I stamped the design once with Konad Special Polish in Pastel Pink and then stamped the design again with the darker Orly Mind's Eye.  I tried to line the designs up, but didn't worry too much about overlap.

Pink + Hearts + Flowers?  Love it!

Wishing you much love, Konaddicts!  See you soon!

Pastel Gradient Nails

Hello, everyone!  Happy 12-12-12!
I've been meaning to post this one for a while.  I've been experimenting with velvet mani - with varying levels of success - so I figured that now might be a good time to "pull something from the archives".

This is a simple and soft sponging mani.  The base is Kleancolor Pastel Yellow.  It's sponged with China Glaze Secret Peri-Winkle at the top and Revlon Demure at the tips.  I used Insta Dri Violet Vroom and Mash 40 for the stamping.

I like this!  It's perfect for a Spring day - or for a winter day when your velvet mani didn't quite work out like it was supposed to.  :-)

Well, Konaddicts, back to these busy pre-holiday weeks!  I hope you each are getting ready for the holidays - they'll be here before we know it!

Bright and Dark

Hi, everyone!
I've always loved manicures with black stamped over a colorful background.  I decided to give it shot - and I love the outcome!

I started with plain white polish and then turned each nail into a little rainbow of vertical stripes.

I used a quick swipe of Sally Hansen Insta Dris in Fast-Lane Fuschia, Lightening, Brisk Blue, Lickety Split Lime, and Heaven Nail Lacquer in Hawaiian Coast.  I started my "rainbows" in different places on my nails so that each nail would have a different lineup of colors.

I topped my rainbows with a coat of glitter - Cover Girl City Lights, a holographic glitter in clear base.

I used Wet n Wild Black Creme and Mash plate 45 for the stamping.

What do you think?  It's pretty bright for December!

Bronze Tiger

Hi everyone, and welcome to all the new subscribers!
Well, I've been waiting for the Halloween mood to settle in, and this year I'm just not feeling it.  The past six months have been the most "challenging" of my life.  Losing my father in April was, unfortunately, just the beginning of some pretty heart wrenching and difficult times.  I may post more on this later.

For now, I'm feeling pretty subdued and not especially festive.  It is beginning to feel like Fall outside, so at least I've gotten a lot of use out of all the browns and bronzes in my nail box!

Today, I've got tiger stripes.  I don't wear stripes very often, so this was a nice change.

I used a very old bottle of L'Oreal Jet Set Move Out,  a brownish, almost purplish color.  I stamped the stripes using Mash 38 and China Glaze Hi Tek.

Take care, Konaddicts, and have an awesome weekend!

Vibrant Pink and Teal

This looked nicer before the cotton ball got stuck on my ring finger! :(

Hello, everyone!  I hope you're having a great Saturday!

Today's nails came about in a backward sort of way.  For several days, I've been wearing Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear The Real Teal.  I planned to stamp it, but I wasn't sure what design I would use.

I picked Wet n Wild Lavender Creme as a complimentary color.  Since my nails were already teal - and there's no way the creme would stamp over it - I polished my tips white with Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Whirlwind White.  Then, I polished the Lavender Creme over the white, to give me a bright vibrant pink.

I stamped the heartbeat line using Wet n Wild Black Creme using Mash 38.  I used a little nail brush to fill in any spaces missing colors.

Take care, Konaddicts!  Take time today to remind your loved ones how much you care for them.

Moons & Stars

Today, I'm wearing moons and stars!  I love moons and stars; they remind me of my favorite pair of comfy pajamas. I have searched and searched for an image of moon and stars together and couldn't find anything that fit the bill, so, for this mani, I decided to improvise.

I started with a base of Sinful Midnight Blue.  I sponged on some Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Blue Blast. I added some glitter with Wet n Wild Shine Kaleidoscope.  I stamped the designs with Konad Special polish in White and China Glaze Passion.

I used images from Mash 32 for the moon, Mash 33 for the shooting star, and Cheeky 4 for the star cluster.

It's cosmic!
I really like how this turned out (despite the dent I managed to get on my thumb)...

Sheesh...my nails are getting longer.  I think I might try some french manicure designs before one of them breaks!

Thanks for reading, Konaddicts!

PS:  Guess what?  My new set of Cheeky plates finally arrived in the mail!  Hooray!  I can't wait to try them out!

Scales Nails

Good morning, everyone!
I have had so much fun experimenting with the fish scales pattern on Mash 39!  I'd like to try this again - maybe with some blue and green sponging.

This time, I used a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Real Teal topped with the blue and green sparkles of Sinful Colors Nail Junkie.  I used Mash 39 - the scales are a little more open than version on Red Angel plates - and Konad Special Polish in Black.

Shake your mermaid tail, Konaddicts!

Hot Rod Flames

Happy almost Friday, everyone!  A very busy week continues.  On the bright side...it's almost the weekend!

Today, I'm wearing hot rod flames using Mash 48 image plate.  I loved this design when I got my plates, and it took me a while to settle on how I wanted to design my flames.  I decided to go with a base of Wet n Wild Black Creme.  I used three polishes for the stamping and I mixed them a little with the scraper before stamping.  For the flames, I used that my awesome new MyOnlineShop Stamping Polish in Yellow and Sally Hansen Insta Dris in Racin' Red and Snappy Sorbet.

Some of my flames came out better than others, but even with the imperfections, this is a fun one to wear.  I'm suddenly feeling very "edgy"!

Be well, Konaddicts!  Thanks for reading!

Starstruck

Happy Saturday, Konaddicts!
I'm feeling better today, so I wanted to post today's manicure.

I love stars and, after trying other star full nail designs, I think the stars on Mash 40 are perfect!

I started with several coats of Maybelline Color Show Twilight Rays.  It's a black base with a gold glitter.

The glitter in Twilight Rays is pretty subtle, so I decided to use the China Glaze Blonde Bombshell to add some additional sparkle.  The Blonde Bombshell is a rich glitter, so instead of polishing the whole nail, I decided to stamp it using the streak pattern on BM 316.

Finally, I stamped the stars using Mash 49 and China Glaze Passion.

Oh, this design feels very Hollywood - despite the smears... :)

Have a great weekend, Konaddicts!

Summer Cherries

My favorite thing about summer is cherries!  When I was first deciding whether or not to try Konad, seeing the plates with cherries on them was one of the things that cinched the deal.

This is one of those manis that I've always wanted to try but never quite got around to.

For my cherry mani, I used a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Mint Sorbet.  I used Mash 50 and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lickety Split Lime to add the background lines.  It added more color to the design and made me feel better because I couldn't settle on a green that I really liked.

I used the Pure Ice Siren and Kleancolor Military Green to stamp the cherries using the cherries on Cheeky CH13.  I added a highlight with Pure Ice Sparkle Berry.

Let me tell you...this is one busy design!  But it's also a fun one to wear!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 23: Inspired by a Movie

Hello, everyone!  I'm finally getting a chance to post my "Inspired by a Movie" nails.  It took me a while to decide what movie to choose.  Here's the mani I came up:

Can you guess the movie?
It's Kung Fu Panda!

This was a  fun one, and it was a perfect use of my new set of MASH and Bundle Monster plates!

I started my Kung Fu Panda nails with a base of Sinful Colors Pull Over stamped with the lines from BM 301 and Nail Savvy in brown (sorry - the label fell off!).

I stamped the panda outline in white using Pure Ice Super Star and Mash 30 as a guide.  I filled in that outline with white and stamped the panda again using Konad Special Polish in black.  My outlines weren't perfect - you an see on the thumb in the picture above - but this one is fun even considering the imperfections.

Take care, Konaddicts!  I'll see you soon for "Inspired by a Fashion" nails!