Mani Re-do: Jungle Animals with Bundle Monster "Fuzzy and Ferocious"

Hello Readers!


Today's prompt at the #clairestelle8challenge over on Instagram is "re-do and old mani". This was an interesting prompt for me, because it's probably not something I would ever choose to do on my own. I decided to re-do one of my very first (actually my second) attempts at reverse stamping. Click this link if you'd like to see the original, but I'm warning you, it ain't pretty. You may need to scrub your eyes with bleach after viewing these nail fails. (I'm redoing the second mani on this link, not the first one.) I'm happy to say, however, that since that post almost a year ago I have learned so much and grown so much as a nail artist.

What I didn't know at that time, is that Sinful Colors "Call Me" is a terrible polish to try to stamp over. It eats whatever color you put on top of it. I also was in dire need of some lotion. ;)

So, I decided to re-do the mani with some of the same colors and themes, but more like how I would approach it now.

I really liked the monkey and flower images, so I decided to use those and then do some tropical foliage as a frame.

My base purple color is Sinful Colors "Lie-lac", which I applied two coats of even though it was looking pretty awesome at one coat and I probably could have left it there. I also decided to try stamping with the Sinful Colors/Kandee Johnson "Mint Chip" polish, and was pretty pleased with how it stamped.

30 Days of Color: First Day of Spring ft. MoYou London Enchanted

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Today's post is for this week's prompt at 30 Days of Color Challenge, which is "First Day of Spring!" I thought it would be fun to put a farm animal on my nails for this prompt, since I associate farm animals with spring for sure.

I decided to also try a wood grain background for my nails this time. I have really been loving the wood grain background looks lately!

I wanted to try a different color of wood grain this time, and I was also going for subtlety so I went with a base of "Yo Soy" and stamped over it with just slightly darker brown color.

My "unused" polish for the 30 Days of Color challenge is the purple, "Havana Good Time". This purple is part of the Spring Break collection for Sinful Colors this year.

My wood grain image came from this Bundle Monster plate, from the Secret Garden collection. 

I created a really simple decal from the sheep image off of this MoYou London Enchanted plate.

And finally, I created some smaller decals from the flower images off of this plate, also from Bundle Monster's Secret Garden collection.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to check out some more spring-themed manis in the link-up below!

26 Great Nail Art Ideas: Spring Animals ft. MoYou London animal

Hello Readers!


I've been looking forward to this Crumpets Nail Tarts prompt for quite some time now, because I love doing animal themed manis and of course seeing other people's animal themed manis! I'm posting this a day early to avoid two posts on the same day; I really want to post a St. Patrick's Day mani tomorrow!

The theme this week is "Spring Animals", and the first thing I thought of was the adorable bunny image on one of the MoYou London "Animal" collection plates. Adorable sweet bunnies sitting on tree stumps.

I wanted to keep my colors kind of on the pastel side to fit with the "spring" theme, so I started off with a base of Sally Hansen "Mint Sorbet."

I love the color of this polish, but it's a pretty runny formula.

30 Days of Color Challenge: Up-to-no-good Cat ft. MoYou London Animal

Hello Readers!


Today's post is for the 30 Days of Color Challenge, and this week's prompt is "blue". I decided to go with an image on a plate that I have always wanted to use as my inspiration: the little fish bowls from a MoYou London Animal plate. I figured, the water in the fishbowls would be blue... but what would I pair with it... and then I decided my fish bowls needed a mischievous cat.

Tee-hee.

For the 30 Days of Color Challenge, we are encouraged to use a polish that we have never used before, and for this mani that was the light blue "Cinderella" color. It was a polish I've heard a lot of people talk about but I always shied away because it is on the sheer side, but I thought it would be the perfect light blue color for this mani. I really love this polish, even though it took 3 thick coats because the shimmer in it is really lovely.

Nail Crazies Unite: Blue and White

Hello Readers!

Today over in the Nail Crazies Facebook group, we are doing "blue and white" manis. Blue and white reminded me of delicate china teacups; of something light and fun. I decided to use a plate from MoYou London's Enchanted collection because of the sweet dainty images.

I really love how this one turned out. The cat and dog images on this plate are so adorable! 

I used Essie's "Saltwater Happy" as a base, which almost has some a bit of a periwinkle tint to it.

30 Days of Color Challenge: Calm

Hello Readers!

Today's post is for the facebook group 30 Days of Color, where nail enthusiasts are encouraged to reach into their pile of untrieds and follow a prompt. There's a new prompt each week, and you can do as many manis for each prompt as you wish. This week's prompt is "calm".

I used an untried plate and an untried polish for this prompt. I picked up this Essie polish at my local discount store at a deep discount. It's a really unusual polish- it's the only kind of forest green in my collection- so I was happy to find it. I paired it with a plate from Bundle Monster's "Into the Woods" fall collection for 2016, as well as a couple of other plates. I though the deep green would go well with a calm, serene forestry theme.

I wasn't super excited about most of Bundle Monster's fall release this year. It was pretty, but I felt like I already had similar images as a lot of the plates. This plate, however, is so beautiful and unique I decided to pick it up. I wanted to use all the images on my nails today, but I decided that wouldn't be very "calm" so I settled on just one. The lovely hourglass, mostly because I wanted to feature the roses nestled up against it. So lovely!

One thing about this image, however, is that some of the fine detail lines on it are very dainty. I wasn't able to use my usual Sinful Colors "Black on Black" to stamp this; it just wouldn't pick up the tiny details of the sand inside the hourglass. So I broke down and used actual stamping polish. I normally prefer to use the Sinful Colors just because this Born Pretty stamping polish is so highly pigmented that it is a huge pain to clean up off your skin after stamping.

The roses on my middle finger come from this Bundle Monster plate from the Time Machine collection. This is one of my favorite rose images- so nice and big for decals! I used it for this purpose once before during the 31-Day Challenge last year to do yellow roses.

Finally, my tiny vines come from MoYou London's Enchanted collection.

You can check out some more calm manis for this challenge in the link-up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Wintery Orcas ft. MoYou London Animal and Enchanted

Hello Readers!

After last week's tropical mani, I was ready to come in from paradise and create something a little more winter-themed, to pay respects to all those caught up in snowstorms right now. We have no snow on the ground here- and likely won't, considering it's in the 50s-60s, so I put a little bit of snow on my nails instead!

Also, Orcas. Because all of the animal images make me smile. 

For this mani, I started off with a peel-off base coat because I sure don't want to bother trying to remove a heavily glittery polish with acetone. It's been a while since I have used Wintermint, and I'd forgotten how sheer it is! It's super thin though, so while I lost count of how many coats I put on my nails at about 4-5, it doesn't seem heavy on my fingers. It's a good thing it's pretty! Also, now my nails smell minty-fresh.

Wolf in the Woods with MoYou London Enchanted

Hello Readers!

Today I have a just-for-fun mani with a winter theme.

I just couldn't resist the beautiful pine needles image on this plate, and I love how the wolf peeking through the branches matches so perfectly with it! For my accent nail, I went ahead and stamped the entire image in green. Then I created a decal of just the wolf to layer over where the wolf had been stamped in green.

I decided to go with the same color scheme and feel but slightly different images for my right hand:

I only used one plate for this mani, which is from the MoYou London Enchanted collection.

And of course, my polish palette: