The nail stylists at CND who do fashion week, yeah they're awesome. They are undoubtedly the masters of interesting nail looks engineered for the runway. And with the big leap forward that nails are taking as concerns being viewed as almost an accessory, the runway looks are becoming much more acceptable on main street in a way that wacky runway makeup never could. Luxury nails, be it luxury art like this or luxury polish such as Chanel or Dior, are a very accessible way to add a designer label to your wardrobe in the form of an almost-accessory. Whether the country in the midst of a recession or not, you may not be able to afford that Chanel bag, but you sure as hell can afford to buy a Chanel polish, or to go out and get a fancy manicure that was worn down a fashion week runway.
Anyway, enough preaching about the godliness of nail art, let's get on with the manicure... I came across this manicure on BellaSugar, and immediately wanted to recreate it. CND stylists used CND Gold Chrome and BlackJack and some gold leaf to create a look that they call ‘Treasured Antiquities’…meets ‘New Rock N’ Roll.’ . I don't have those polishes... yet, but I used what I had and it looks just about the same.
Products used:
- China Glaze 2030
- Wet n Wild Black Creme
- Gold nuggeting foil
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For the second installment in my Hunger Games nail art series, I did nails based on District 2. In the books, that district is described as having several principal functions; it is home to stone cutters, it supplies the majority of Peacekeepers, they manufacture weapons, and the snow-capped mountain housing the military nervecenter called "The Nut" by the rebels. So in this nail set you see The Nut, the district number, elements of a Peacekeeper uniform as shown in movie trailers, a stone wall, and a gun silhouette. All elements are hand painted.
Products used:
- China Glaze Concrete Catwalk
- China Glaze Recycle
- China Glaze White on White
- China Glaze Sea Spray
- Wet n Wild Black Creme
- acrylic paints
- Seche Vite Topcoat
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Tagged with:
nail polish, nails, black, white, grey, nail art, China Glaze, Mountain, gun, The Hunger Games, lovewritewin
Nubar Polka Dot Collection - $20 at bynubar.com
The Polka Dots set actually contains Black Polka Dot, White Polka Dot and a Diamante Topcoat for that price. Not too shabby. I really liked both of these polishes. I applied WPD over black and BPD over white to give you as much contrast as possible.
Both polishes are nice, but I prefer Black Polka Dots. It's a lot more unique, and black glitter is just cool. Both have mostly small glitter with a dash of larger hex glitter. It's not hard to get the glitter to transfer but you'll have to maneuver the bottles around before applying to get the hex glitters near the top. Don't know why. The black one is pretty straight forward, but the white one... the glitter is this pearlescent white, first of all. It's pretty but it likes to suck up your base color and go all discolored. I let it stay on the black one for a while and the small glitter turned blue. Plus the white large hex glitter are prone to be broken when you get them on the nail so about 30% of them are shards instead of a hex. Either way, I like it. I actually liked when the glitter went blue, it looked cool, but if you want white, this might be inconvenient. The black makes anything look really cool and speckled and makes the purchase of the set worth it, in my opinion.
Side note: I just noticed Nubar has soak-off gel polishes... Has anyone tried them yet? I'm pretty much decided on buying the Orly GelFX kit but just wondering. I daydream constantly about China Glaze developing soak-off gels. That'll be the day.... *le sigh*
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I've wanted to do "graffiti" nails for a while and this is as close to that as I've come. I was inspired by a random photo of a mid-70s woman with a ratty old Union Jack tee. You know I love to do Union Jacks, but I thought this deconstructed black, white and grey version really was pretty cool. I've been getting pretty tired of Crackle polishes in general lately, but I thought it was perfect for this design, it makes it look like a nasty, dirty brick wall, so awesome.
Products used:
- China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
- China Glaze White on White
- Wet n Wild Black Creme
- China Glaze Crackle Cracked Concrete
- China Glaze Purple Panic
- Black and White Striping polish
- Seche Vite
One of the two glitter shades from OPI's new 6-piece specialty Nicki Minaj collection, Metallic 4 Life is a sheer black jelly with both small round and large hexagonal silver glitter. It's somewhat sheer, so I'd recommend layering it over a plain black polish so that you can apply and maneuver the glitter around to get the right look without leaving bald spots in your base. These photos are three coats on top of a clear basecoat and you can see that some of my little bald spots didn't stand up to the flash of my camera.
Below, I've also compared M4L to China Glaze Tinsel Town, which from M4L's promo photos I assumed to be similar. That's the not the case, though; happily it's different but just as awesome. Black polishes with shiny glitter, yeah they're awesome.
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Another one of my favorite Vera Bradley patterns is Baroque. I bought a kisslock clutch last Fall when it first came out because the pattern, honestly, is just irresistable. I love the swirlies and the dark grey and citron, especially together. I've been meaning to do a Baroque inspired nail design for a long time, but I couldn't decide just what to do. I'm not good enough yet to re-create these types of swirlies and I didn't have the right sort of grey. I figured that OPI Who The Shrek Are You? would work for the citron, but then came China Glaze Electric Pineapple and the wheels started turning. It's a perfect match for the citron in this pattern. Then last week I got the Metro collection from China Glaze and Concrete Catwalk is a perfect match for the grey. So I set out to do a manicure that evoked the whimsical feeling of the pattern with these colors. Please realize that this is not meant to MATCH the pattern, it's inspired by it. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I do like it.
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Tarte has come out with a True Blood themed collection, and it includes a pretty interesting palette. I loved the look of the packaging so I decided to give it a try on my nails. The design is simple to do and it looks pretty cool. It would look really good with another color in place of the red as well, especially a nude shade. I painted my nails with a base of China Glaze Phat Santa, and then using a black striper polish from Art Deco I made two diagonal lines from the cuticle to the corners of the free edge. Then I filled in the empty triangles on the outer portion of the nails with Wet n Wild Black Creme. Then I used China Glaze Millenium to make silver dots for the holes for the laces. I put a smaller black dot in the middle of the silver dots to make them look like little eyelets. With the Art Deco striper I made crisscrossing "laces."
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Today's nails are based on the beautiful pattern Deco Daisy from Vera Bradley. It's my new favorite pattern, for now anyway, and I decided I'd try to do my own version of it on my nails. I started with a base of China Glaze Phat Santa and then Wet n Wild white on the ring fingers, and then I used a Migi Nail Art Pen to make the white quarter-circles on the red nails. Once that was all dry I used Konad plate m63 and Konad special black polish to stamp on the houndstooth on the ring fingers. For the rest of the fingers I used a BundleMonster plate and Konad plate m66 for the flowers. On top is a coat of Seche Vite fast-dry top coat.
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The Indianapolis 500 - aka The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. I may or may not have mentioned it to you guys before, but another obsession I am afflicted with in addition to my addiction to nail art is cars. Fast cars. I'm not into racing in general; I don't really care about NASCAR, but I LOVE Indy cars and, to a certain point F1. Anyway, tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, and while I will not be there this year, I will be watching and sporting checkered flag nails. Instead of waving two checkered flags, I'll be waving two checkered hands. The technique is really easy to do and if I'm lucky, I'll get some time soon to do a quick tutorial video for you on it. The only products I used were Wet n Wild polish in white and an Art Deco Striping polish in black. Plus Seche Clear and Vite for base and top coats. The props used in these photos are a seat cushion and a keychain I bought at the 500 two years ago. I am already making plans to be there next year, and am so sad I won't be there in person this time to experience the awesome sounds and smells. Fortunately I have a friend in Indy, the guy with my husband and I went with last time, and he will be there tomorrow, undoubtedly sharing the untelevised portion of the awesomeness via Facebook. Score!
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I took another page out of Wah-Nails' book and did a tuxedo this week. I have been trying to branch out into freehand nail art since I'm not exactly great at painting miniatures like the likes of The Daily Nail or The Lacquer Files... I've been attempting to practice and hone my skills so that one day I might be, so I've been trying to re-create other designs I've seen done so I at least have a baseline to work off of. Today you're seeing China Glaze Cheers To You from the Holiday 2010 collection on all fingers except ring fingers. The more I wear this silver the more I love it. It's the most metallic silver foil I own, and I own a few. The pieces are so finely milled and the coverage is so perfect. It's almost like a chrome.
On the ring fingers I tried to recreate the tuxedo design from Wah-Nails. I think I did alright for my first try. I used Wet n Wild Black Magic for the base then with Migi Nail Art Pens in black and white I applied the design. It was pretty easy, but it was late and I was tired so it's not the most smooth or steady looking thing ever. I'll have to try again another time. I think this would be absolutely perfect for New Years but on the thumb I would add something champagne related or confetti or perhaps "2011." We'll see what I do, I need to get through Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas first, lol.
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