Green Cheetah

Hey everyone!

I can't believe it's been over a week since I've been here! And I can't believe my number of followers has increased! Thank you all so much for taking an interest in my little blog, it really means a lot :).
Even though I said I would this month, I decided I won't be attempting the blogger 31 day challenge. There's no way I can do my nails every single day, I simply don't have the time.
But anyhow, the nails I'm currently wearing were inspired by the Wet n Wild On the Prowl display at Duane Reade. I was lucky enough to snag Correction Tape, Cougar Attack, and Behind Closed Doors. The only one I'm still looking for is Tangled in my Web.

Materials Used:
Orly Bonder base coat
Wet n Wild fast dry Ocean Grotto (3 coats)
OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air (2 coats)
Konad image plate m57 and Konad Special Polish in Black
Wet n Wild Cougar Attack (for filling in the spots)
Dotting tool
Seche Vite Top Coat

Green Cheetah!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pumpkin French Mani

Hello!

Today, I'll just let the pictures do the talking. I freehanded the orange tips; no need to go crazy, since they're more or less covered anyway. Enjoy!

(natural light with flash)

(natural light without flash)

(artificial light with flash)

(natural light without flash)

Materials Used (L to R):
Orly Bonder Basecoat
Seche Rose
Wet n Wild Scratchiti
Konad Black Special Polish
Seche Vite Topcoat
Bundle Monster Image Plate BM-224 (not pictured)

 Thanks for stopping by!

Arrgh! Pirate Themed French Nails

Hello!

I'm back to doing Halloween themed nail art! My nails are once again at the perfect length for french manicures, so I decided to try one out. And I love it! There's something so classy about french nails...but any-hoo, on to the pictures:

Thumb

Materials Used (L to R):
Orly Bonder Base Coat
Seche Rose (French Base)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red (stripes)
Konad Special Polish in Black
Diamond Shield Top Coat (for sticking rhinestones)
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
1mm Rhinestones (not pictured)
Fauxnad Image Plate m28 (not pictured)

I used a striping brush with Rapid Red to make the red stripes. I wanted to make it a little more interesting, so I stuck red rhinestones on the skulls eye sockets. Simple and cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hello Everyone!

Today is my 24th! And so far, it's been great. I got some great gifts, and got to spend the day with my family, so it's been pretty good :)
For my birthday mani, I wanted to combine elements of my favorite things. This mani incorporates my favorite color (purple), my favorite insect (butterflies), and of course glitter!

Materials Used (in order):
Milani 3D holographic Hi-Res
Sinful Colors Purple Diamond
Wet n Wild fastdry Hannah Pinktana
Sinful Colors Fiji
NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Starry Silver Glitter (2 coats)
Konad Image Plate m1
Konad Special Nail Polish in Black (stamping)

It may be hard to tell, but this was actually a gradient mani. My first successful one! I used a make up sponge to apply the polishes, and it was a breeze.

I got money as birthday gifts, so guess what I bought? Polish of course!

L to R: Milani Garnet Gems, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet, (2) NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Starry Silver Glitter, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement, Revlon Not So Blueberry

L to R: Revlon Blue Mosaic, Starry Pink, Facets of Fuchsia

 When I saw these 3 beauties in Target for $3.36 each, I literally squealed. My mom looked at me like I was a nut or something. She couldn't understand why I was so excited over polish. 3 lemmings satisfied in one go!

L to R: Sally Hansen High Definition Nail Color in Spectrum, Milani 3D Holograpic HD, NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Top Coat, Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat.

 I got the four above from CVS. I haven't been to CVS in years and was shocked to see that they had a good selection of Orly products! Of course, at $7.99 a pop, I wasn't about to go crazy. The basecoat sounded good, so I decided to grab it. On the back of the box, it says that it prevents nail lacquer from wearing off for up to two weeks. I will definitely be putting this claim to the test soon.

$5 for this set at Target! The polish junkie in me simply couldn't resist.

Shades from Payless. I paid $9.99 for one and $4.99 for the other! Payless is buy one, get one half off of everything.

Spin Pins by Goody. Greatest hair invention ever made! It holds my bun up all day long.

Inked Wet n Wild Craze Collection: $1.99 ea. at Duane Reade

Pretty decent birthday haul! And I'm totally happy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Black and White Spiders and Webs

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since I last posted...I've fallen into a bit of a depression lately and haven't really been in the mood for blogging. But I'm trying to pull myself out of it.
I finally decided that it's time to start doing Halloween themed nail designs, so I have a spidery design to share with you!

Outdoors

My rarely seen right hand!

Indoors

Materials Used:
Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris
Sally Hansen Whirlwind White
Konad Image Plate m1 (spider)
Bundle Monster Image Plate BM-13 (web)
Stamping Polish: Konad Special Polish in Black and White.

I tried to make each hand opposite the other. I love the way these came out, but it's kind of creepy seeing little bugs on my nails!

Thanks for looking!

Golden Cheetah!

Hi!

I just love the cheetah print image on Konad IP m57. And with Milani 3D Holographic in HD, it looks appropriately animalistic! Rwar!

Rwar (again)!

SmokE

Color Club Fashion Addict

Hello!

I don't have much time, so I'm just gonna jump right into it: Fashion Addict is GORGEOUS.

All pics were taken in full sunlight. Click to see the beauty!

I can best describe this color as light pinkish lavender (If that makes sense at all). It needed 2 coats to be fully opaque, and applied like a dream; absolutely no streaking/bald spots. Drying time was quick.There's some slight tip wear due to having to wait for my lunch break to take pics. My job is BRUTAL on my hands and nails :(  As with Revvvolution, Fashion Addict is a holographic polish, and the holo effect is quite noticeable. Again, I only put art on 2 nails, but this time it wasn't laziness. I just love this color so much that I couldn't bear to cover it up!
I stamped the butterflies from Konad IP m1, and the rainbow from Bundle Monster IP Bm-201.


Hope you love it as much as I do. Holographic nail polish is awesome!!

SmokE

Windy French Tips

Hello!

I was going through my nail art pics, and came across a picture from June. I couldn't believe how my nails and hands looked back then. What a difference a little bit of care makes!

Take it from me: MOISTURIZE YOUR CUTICLES!!!

Base Color: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle in Nurturing Natural
Tips stamped with Konad IP m19 in Konad Special White Polish (or you could just paint the tips white yourself)
Then stamp over white tips with Konad Black Special Polish using Konad IP m56 (I used a fauxnad plate)
One Coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, a coat of Seche Vite Top Coat, and Done!

Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle boasts 30% longer nails in 5 days. I have definitely noticed an increase in the length of my nails, so maybe this stuff had something to do with it. But I don't use it enough to say with confidence that it has.

Enjoy!

SmokE

Nail Art Challenge Needed!

Hi,

I don't know if its just me, but oftentimes when I open up my nail treasure chest, I have no clue what to do with my nails. I was thinking that it would be cool if there were weekly themed challenges to motivate and inspire, and where fellow nail fiends could showcase their themed nail art.
Well today I found out that such a group DOES exist...but on Facebook. I erased my facebook account about 2 years ago, and have not looked back. And as much as I love the concept, I refuse to re-join facebook...personal reasons. So I've been on the hunt for nail art challenges on blogs. I found a monthly nail art challenge on Bluekaffe.com which seems pretty cool. To participate, your nail art must be hand painted. So no Konad, Fimo, Stickers, etc. It seems like a good one to be a part of if you want to brush up on your self produced nail art skills.  Also, Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog is starting a weekly nail art challenge.
I'd love to start a nail art challenge of my own, but of course I can't do it alone. My challenge would be on the first and third Friday of the month. All forms of nail art would be acceptable as long as it followed the general theme. I want to do this! But again, I cant do it alone. That's where you come in.

Help!

SmokE

Orange Polka Dotted Nails

Hi!

Before I decided to get adventurous and wild with my nail color choices, I used to stick to pinks and purples...maybe the occasional blue. But for some reason I had never owned a bottle of orange nail polish. I didn't think it would look right, so buying China Glaze's Papaya Punch was a step way out of the box for me. But surprisingly, I love it!!

This was stamped with Konad Image Plate m60 using Konad white special polish.
Perfect for summer, wouldn't you agree?

SmokE

Hello Kitty Nail Sticker Giveaway!

Hey!

Want some free Hello Kitty nail stickers? You've got 4 days! Click here for all the info, and thanks a million Konad Addict!

While I'm here let me show you the magic that is Opi Teenage Dream. One little disclaimer: I'm still not entirely sure I know who Katy Perry is...I think I saw her picture on a radio advertisement on the back of a bus one time. So the fact that she's linked to it had no bearing on my desire to purchase the polish. I just loved the color.
Now, on to pictures:

 This was actually a simple Mani to do. I applied a coat of Seche Rose as my base, 2 coats of Teenage Dream, stamped over the tips with the flower image from Konad m53 (3rd image going clockwise from the plate number) and added the accent butterflies from MASH plate m78, which is a dupe of Konad m78. Top with a coat of Seche Vite top coat, and you're done!
Teenage Dream is too beautiful for words. The application was smooth, and it dried relatively quickly to a grainy finish. One coat of Seche Vite top coat was enough to smooth it all out. I was satisfied with the coverage after 2 coats. Removal was annoying, but again, it IS a glitter polish, so no surprise there. This color has definitely been added to my list of faves.

Hope you like it, because I sure did :)

SmokE

Black Fishnet with Flower Motif

Hola :)

I'm at the end of my 5 day mini vacation. The highlight was the Six Flags trip last week. Other than that, I've been happily seated on my steadily growing behind, web surfing, watching re- runs of  The Office, and eating any snacks with the misfortune of being within arms reach. I was supposed to work today, but had to run a few early morning errands. So its back to the grind tomorrow :(  These are the nails that I'll be showing off:

I loved the way this turned out. I used China Glaze Frosty as my base color (2 coats). I stamped the fishnet image from Konad Image Plate m57 and stamped the flowers from Konad Image Plate m60 over it. All stamping was done using Konad special polish in black. I didn't like the way it was looking at that point, so I filled in the flower petals with L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art paint in black, and added a pink dot to the center of each flower with L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art paint in a shocking pink color...I don't remember the actual name of it, and feel too lazy to go look. If anyone is ever interested in what the name of that pink one, I'll post it :)
I tried to do the same thing on my right hand, but it turned out to be an epic fail. It took forever to do my right thumb, and after i slightly botched my pointer finger, I gave up on trying to embellish my right hand. So the flowers stamped on my right middle, ring, and pinkie fingers only have the pink dot in the middle of them. My hand was steady enough to do that, but filling in the petals wasn't gonna happen. I thought I'd spare the world from seeing it, so I didn't take any pictures.

This design came about after a failed attempt at an uunderwater themed mani with Konad m27, and yet another failed attempt at a strawberries mani with the old Bundle Monster strawberry image. I realize that I suck at layering right now... but I haven't given up! I'm a bit behind with my posts, but I hope to catch up. Last weeks mani with Opi Teenage Dream was magical! But for now, I  must go.

Till next time....
SmokE

Graduation Nails

Hello!

This weeks nail design features a starry french tip design  from Konad image plate m44. These nails were done to match the outfit I wore to my brothers 5th grade graduation. Congrats little bro!

Materials:
Base Color: Seche Rose
Tip Color: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Color in Lacey Lilac (Stamped with Konad image plate m19)
Stamping: Star tip design from Konad image plate m44 stamped in white Konad Special Polish
Konad image plate m3 and Konad Special Polish in white for stars on thumb and ring finger
Top Coat: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

I used to think french manicures were boring, but Konad brings new life to what would be an otherwise dull manicure. If you like french manicures, do yourself a favor and buy image plate m19. It makes stamping tips so much easier. My nails are longer than  the length of the french tip images on m19, so I had to double stamp to cover the entire tip. I noticed that it left a dark line where the two stamps overlapped. But since I was stamping over it with the stars, it didn't matter.
Seche rose is awesome! After a bit of trial and error, it seems I have finally found the perfect base color for my french manicures. Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle in Bold Buff is a good one too, and i used that for my pedicure, which was done to match my mani. I'll snap a picture tomorrow if I remember.
Out of both Bundle Monster image plate sets, and the MASH set, I think the MASH set has the better sized french tip images. The image fit across my entire big toe no problem! Another plus? A couple of the plates are exact dupes for actual Konad plates, including the one I used for this mani. The french tip designs in the 2nd set of Bundle Monster plates were a little smaller, but a definite improvement from the first set of Bundle Monster french tip designs. Those were tiny...still haven't tried them out of fear that they would be a total disaster. I suck at double stamping.

More Later,

SmokE

Lisa Frank Inspired Leopard Nails

Happy Thursday!

As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday is nail day. This Thursday brings a fun, Lisa Frank inspired manicure. While surfing the web for nail art inspiration, I came across a video tutorial on You Tube by sayanythingbr00ke for Rainbow Leopard Nails. It does indeed remind me of a Lisa Frank trapper keeper I had in junior high school, similar to the picture below:

 

This manicure is colorful, fun, funky, and perfect for summer! I will warn you that this manicure is potentially time consuming, especially depending on the types of nail polishes you choose to use and their drying time. But its well worth the effort in the end.

Items Used:
Base Coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat
Green Color: China Glaze  'Paper Chasing'
Purple Color: China Glaze 'Harmony'
Blue Color:China Glaze 'Sky-High Top'
Pink Color: Sinful Colors 'Cream Pink'
China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'
Seche Vite Top Coat
Konad Image Plate m57 Stamped with Konad Special Polish in Black
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

After striping with alternating colors, I topped off with China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' for added shimmer. I'm holding the bottle in the picture because its my favorite glitter polish so far. The glitter is fine, and not difficult to remove, in comparison to other glitter polishes I've used. Make sure polish is completely dry before stamping. I fudged about 2 nails and had to re-do them because I stamped too soon. The polish took a little longer to dry than I'm used to, even with the Seche Vite. I thought it might be because some of the layers of color overlapped, leaving the polish a little thicker in spots than others. But then I thought that it could be the 95 degree heat messing with the polish. Either way, it took me about 2 hours to finish this manicure. But to me, it was worth the effort. I cant stop looking at my hands!
What do you think?

-SmokE

Argyle Nails

I think this is my favorite mani to date. My husband wears argyle all the time, so when I saw Konad image plate m60, I couldn't resist. And even though he's not usually interested in my manicures, he couldn't help but notice this one! After all, It looks exactly like his favorite argyle sweater.

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base and Top Coat
Nail Color: China Glaze in 'Sea Spray'
Konad Image Plate m60 Stamped with Konad black special polish
Top coat: Seche Vite Top Coat

This is day 2 of this mani, and you can see the ugly chip at the side of my thumb nail. There's also some tip wear on the other nails, but I'm not surprised. My job is very rough on my hands and nails. Usually I'm pretty lucky if I can go 2 work days in a row without a single chip. Actually, I don't think that's ever happened :(. But it's holding up pretty well considering all it's been through over the last 2 days.
Thursday is usually my day of self pampering, and I cant wait to do my nails again. I'm super excited to try out my new Bundle Monster image plates. There are a lot of full nail and french tip designs in this set, and they're all larger than the ones in the first set. I am in LOVE with these image plates, and I don't know which one I want to use first. So stay tuned for that :)

Today, I get to indulge my passion for the macabre thanks to '1000 ways to die' becoming available on Netflix. I never got a chance to watch it while it aired on SPIKE, so its cool to be able to just sit and watch all of them. I'm waiting to see a nail polish related death....

SmokE

Happy Memorial Day!

Hello blog world! And a Happy Memorial Day to all :)
On this Memorial Day, I played hooky from work, and decided to start a blog. Good use of my time, no?
At the moment, I know that I want this blog to be, primarily, a means to share my nail art creations with the world. But I'm sure that my ramblings on other subjects will find its way in here from time to time. In addition to an almost shameful addiction to nail polish and nail art, I love horror movies. Zombies in particular! So maybe a movie review will find its way in here at some point...who knows? Expect other random ramblings, because I am a very random individual :)
So to kick things off, here's my Memorial Day mani:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardner
Flag Background: Wet n Wild Wild Shine in 'French White Creme'
Flag Stripes: Orly 'Star Spangled'
Tip Color: Orly 'Royal Navy'
Smile Line Polish: Kiss Brush On Nail Art Paint in 'Silver Glitter'
Stars: Konad Image Plate m3 stamped with Konad white special polish
China Glaze in 'Fairy Dust'  (for added shimmer)
Top Coat: Seche Vite Top Coat

The photo doesn't do this mani justice. Orly 'Royal Navy' is very vibrant, and China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' just kicked it up a notch. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph it in the sun. The sparkliness is beautiful :'(

Until next time,

-SmokE