Rainbow Stampers!

It's Friday!  Although that means the first of the month is next week, which makes a stressy April.


I saw this technique of stamping somewhere on Instagram I think. Instead of painting 2 or 3 colors on the sponge and fade them one into the other, you put more colors on there and it makes a swirly, rainbow tie dye thing going on.

I used 6 colors here, and all bright ones. Over top I stamped using my Pueen plates and finished it off with a sparkly holo glitter top coat, which it was cloudy and you can't see the awesomeness of the sparkles.  =(

I liked this, it was fun, but it was too much going on. I always dislike it when I stamp or do all my nails the same. I don't know why I haven't learned from that! Regardless,  it was springy and sunshiney.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
April

Days 11 and 14 of the February Challenge

Sorry for the delay in posts, guys. I was loving my Olympic nails way too much to follow the Californails February challenge exactly.  Maybe I should have used pastel colors for the Olympic look?  ;)

So, because I suck and I want to get back on track, you get two posts today!

First is day 11, pastels. I think maybe the reasoning behind this was like a box of candy hearts,  because I don't really associate pastels with February. Regardless, here's the look I went with.

Hey, can I get some props here because this is my right or Cinderella hand? Lol, I pretty much liked it better than my left. Look at how good my middle finger came back from that massive break in December! 

I used several pastel toned colors, and then stamped on top with Pueen plate #27. I topped it all off with a matte finish topcoat. In hindsight,  I should have used a different plate. The hearts that were solid look like a big smeary smush. I call these Laced up Easter Eggs. Lol

Ok, mani number 2. This one is for day 14, Match OOTD. So it's no secret,  I plan ahead, do my nails at night and then take pics in the morning.  Tonight I had to pick out what I'm wearing for tomorrow and hope that I still feel like it in the morning! I purchased this sweater last season at Old Navy, and I love it. I love mint, and love polka dots. Sweater full of win.

The mint here is from Essie's new Spring collection,  Fashion Playground. The grey is OPI'S Suzy Takes the Wheel.  I did the grey with mint dots on 3 of my nails, and the inside cuff look with the opposite colors. I like it, you can't go wrong with this color combination.  Simple, but that's ok because I'm tired of wearing Valentine's Day looks!! (Bonus, I looked up on Essie's website for more info on Fashion Playground and couldn't find anything... it's that new! Boom! We never get sneak peeks in Iowa!)


That's all chickies! Have a great weekend
April

Dark blue matte

Best day of football ever on Saturday.  It's no surprise to some of you that I love the Iowa Hawkeyes and I have season tickets this year.  We've had our ups and downs,  but we won in overtime this weekend. I have never yelled so much in my life.  I do a black and gold mani every game, so maybe I need to create an album of just those.


Today I have a quick mani to share.  I was fumbling around on Pinterest and saw a lovely manicure that was a super dark blue shimmer that was mattified and decorated with silver studs.  I totally stink at studs.  I get nail glue all over the nail and on my fingers.  Hate it.  So, I dug out my new Pueen stamping plates, and did that instead.

My blue is Essie's Aruba Blue.  This is just two coats and is a deep royal blue. The accent nail is Pueen plate #33 and the polish is Maybelline Bold Gold. The matte finish top coat I use is Essie's Matte About You.

I love how royal and elegant this looks when matte.  I'm not usually a big fan of blue nails, but I'm totally loving this.

I also need some more practice with stamping. I'm fairly new to it, and I'm having issues every time. Either the polish is not working, or the stamper doesn't grab the image. Top it off with that then I tend to put it on crooked.  I just need to sit down and mess with them more I think.


Also- I uploaded a ton of pics to Instagram on Sunday.  Follow me here and help a sister out.  ;)


Any tips with stamping? What's your favorite matte finish?
April