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     Hi Everyone, I know Christmas is over but I have one more look to share with you before moving into the New Year. It's my Ugly Christmas Sweater nails from this year's Ugly Sweater party. You might remember my ugly patchwork nails from last year, this year I decided to go a more traditional route. Afterall nothing was going to top the excitement from last years party. And just in case you were wondering, no we haven't set an official date yet. I will you keep you posted if anything changes. Now let's get to the nails!



     For this manicure, I started off with a base of Stiletto on the Run from the Darlings of Defiance collection by Orly. For my accent nail, I used a base of Sinful Colors Black on Black. Once again I used SuperChic Lacquer G-Force X to help the holographic powder adhere to my regular polish. Once again I used the silver Holographic powder from Born Pretty Store.

 

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     I hope you're not getting tired of my Holiday nail art looks yet because I have a few more to share with you before the big day. Today's look might be a bit familiar to you since I've recently used the technique. Anyone remember my stamping with holo powder post? Well in that post I mentioned a nail art look that I had in mind and now I'm finally able to share it with you. 

     I have to be honest here and let you know that I didn't think through each step thoroughly before starting this manicure and it's not exactly what I had in mind so you will probably see this technique again as I work the kinks out. On the other hand, I do like the way this turned out and I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve to try out now so I guess you could say it's a win-win! 

     I call this manicure Holo Powder snowflakes because well, that's just what it is. Snowflakes stamped onto my nails and holo powder burnished over them. Yeah I know, I'm not very creative when naming my manicures or blog posts. It's one of the things I'm working on. 

     

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     Hello and welcome back to another blog post. I don't know about you but I am excited to share today's look with everyone. For the last year or so I have been watching youtube videos and seeing pictures posted online of all these gorgeous manicures using the holographic pigment powders. But 99% of them were done using gel polish. I have only worn gel polish once in my life and the removal process was the stuff of nightmares. Granted I attempted it myself and probably did it wrong but it was enough to scare me away from using it again. Well, I no longer have to look longingly at these manicures with envy because I was finally able to get the powders to work for me using regular polish! 

     I know there are a ton of tips out there on how to do this and you're probably wondering what took me so long to join the holo powder party. Trust me I was eager to get there long before this, I just struggled with it and took a step back for a bit. I tried using Orly Bonder on my nails with so-so results. I think I let it dry too long before applying the powder so I will be attempting it again. I also tried using my Sally Hansen miracle gel top coat to see if that would work and it failed miserably. However, it did work great with the multi-chrome flakes I received from Beauty Big Bang.  

     So what was the miracle product that helped me finally find success? G-Force X from Super Chic Lacquer.  I was able to get such great result so easily with this product and would recommend it to anyone who wants to use the holo powders with regular polish. Sadly there was no sun the day I did this manicure and I had to take photos in my light box. This resulted in a duller holo flash than what I actually saw on my nails. Thankfully while I was editing photos at my desk I noticed enough natural light coming in the window to get one shot that worked. So I've added it as a bonus shot at the end of the post. 

    Now on to how I created this look. I started out by painting my nails with Hit the Bottle As Black as Night. I know it's a stamping polish but I wanted to make sure that the color I stamped with completely matched my base color.

     Once that dried I added a layer of G-Force X to one nail and let it dry for about  30 seconds. And stamped my design using UR Beautiful plate 11. After this step, you want to make sure you wait long enough for the stamped image to dry before burnishing in your powder. I got a little excited and didn't allow enough time between steps and the faded image on my middle and pinky fingers are the end results.

      The holo powder I used is from Born Pretty Store item #33256. Use code LAUNX31 to get 10% off your order if decide to pick some up. The macro shot above it before adding a top coat. And the next photo is after adding a layer of the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel top coat.

     I still have the holo flash but the power no longer looks smooth. So any recommendations you have for a better top coat to use are greatly appreciated. And now for that bonus shot I mentioned earlier.

     Some of you might be wondering why I did the manicure the way I did. Why didn't I apply the holo powder before stamping? I'm sure that would have been an easier process. But I wanted to see if the powder would stick to my entire nail or only the places without my stamped image. I have an idea in mind that involves stamping and a few colored powders, almost like the lead-light technique. My hope is to test it out this weekend and if it works I'll have it up on the blog soon. Make sure to come back and check it out! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

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     It's time once again for the monthly link up brought to you by the Facebook group Hobby Polish Bloggers. This month's theme is spring! Now I know there are a lot of options to choose from and I could have done any number of things for this prompt but I just cant pass up an opportunity to do a floral manicure.  Now there isn't a whole lot to say about this manicure so this post is going to be short and sweet. Just what we need on a Friday right? 

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     So looks who's got a post up today! This whole working 2 jobs while raising 3 kids situation has really done a number on my time management. And my heart hasn't been into blogging for a few months so it's been easy to come up with excuses to put it off. In order to try and jump start my mojo, I've got a quick post to share today, and I've committed to a 52-week nail art challenge that will start on Friday. 

     Today I'm sharing a polish from a brand that I have a feeling isn't very well known.  But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Nanacoco was a brand I stumbled upon on a website called Stucco which sells bulk polish as well as single bottles for a very reasonable price. 

      Illusionist from Nanacoco is a beautiful duo chrome that shifts from amethyst to bright cerulean depending on the lighting. 

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     Today I have a tutorial of sorts to share with you on how to achieve that embossed metal manicure look that has been floating around the internet lately. I say a tutorial of sorts because I didn't quite achieve the look I was going for and this is more of an experiment that I tried and decided to share. Plus I have an ulterior motive,  I'm hoping some of you talented ladies will have some tips or tricks to share so my next attempt will be a success. 

     Let me start out by showing you what I ended up with and then I'll get into the steps I took to get there. I really do love this look and my goal right now is to master it!

     I started this manicure off with a coat of Orly Bonder on a nail tip. I wanted a semi sticky base to hold the design. Which was a good idea, but ended up not working quite as well as I had planned. I'll get more into that later on in the post but if you look closely at the picture above you might get an idea of what Im talking about. 

       For the design I chose a 3D sticker from Born Pretty Store. 

     I really liked the look of a few of these stickers but for my experiment I went with one of the designs with all the curls. (Far right of the picture) Here is where I made my mistake. I placed the sticker on the nail tip but I didn't make sure to press down firmly near the edge. You know, right where the tip starts to curve.


     Can you guess what happened? That's right the stickers popped off of the nail surface, only I didn't notice it until after I had added my first layer of polish. Can you say face palm moment! When it comes to my own nails I press the tape or decal down and hold it there for a few seconds and then repeat until I know it's good and stuck. I knew I needed a semi sticky surface for this to work, but I think the Bonder gave me false hope about the sticker sticking without the extra pressure I normally apply.

     Now for the magic! How do you transform a 3D sticker to embossed metal? Cover it up with a metallic finish nail polish of course. I chose Essie Blue Rhapsody although Penny Talk was a tempting choice.

2 coats of Blue Rhapsody without top coat

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     Good Morning!! I don't know about you but I'm pretty pumped it's already Wednesday. Why am I so excited? Well I have the rest of the week off from work so I can attend some programs for my kids at school and then Spring Break starts for the school I work at. That means that I have the next 11 days off from work! That gives me time to work on some things for my blog. Like today's post for example, today I'm bringing you a review of the 230Pcs/Box Newly Round Rhinestone Flat Back Acrylic UV Gel Nail Art Decoration Hot Selling Wheel  or as I like to call them, Black iridescent rhinestones from Born Pretty Store.

     This kit contains 230 rhinestones in 4 sizes ranging from 2 mm-4mm. As you can see in my picture the backs are completely flat which means you can get a nice seal on your nail during application. I've used some in the past that have a con-caved back and they tend to pop off easily. That's not exactly a quality I want to have in my nail art supplies.

     So I'll be honest and tell you that I had no idea how I wanted to wear these while showing the different sizes. I've had them sitting here taunting my for a few months just waiting for inspiration to strike. Sadly it never did and I ended up randomly placing them on my nail when a pattern emerged.

     That's a lot of bling on one nail isn't it! This is way outside of my comfort zone but it started to grow on me as the day went on. I decided to not add any top coat because I thought it would end up looking gloopy and take away from the finished look.. Even so each rhinestone stayed put while I did 4 loads of laundry. I thought for sure the ones closest to the tip would pop off during the folding process.

   

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     Recently I was approached by Born Pretty Store to do some reviews of their products and today I will be showing you one of their stamping plates. This one is the Black Cat 03 image plate. 

  

     I chose this plate because it looked like it had a variety of images on it that could be used for different themes. And of course for the cute little cat image in the lower right corner.

I started off with a base of China Glaze Givers Theme. I wanted something bright as my base color to make the images really pop. I used Mentality Touch for the stamping. 

     

     I tried out a few of the images on this plate. With the exception of the smearing on my middle finger from the top coat, you can see they all transferred clean and crisp. I was particularly impressed with the details in the Frame image on my ring finger.

  

     Overall, I was really impressed with how well this plate worked and have heard great things about the other plates available. I will be looking to add a few more to my collection in the future.  If you'd like to purchase this plate or anything else from Born Pretty Store remember to use code LAUNX31 to get 10 % off your order. For a direct link to this plate click here.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing! 

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     Monday brings us to the 8th day of the 12 Days of Christmas Nail Art challenge, with the theme being Christmas Ornaments. This year I went a totally different direction than last year's ornament theme with some water decals from Born Pretty Store. I would have loved to try my hand at free hand ornaments but my nails are kind of short right now and I didn't think I would have enough space to paint them.

     For this manicure, I started out with one coat of Milani White on the Spot as a base for my gradient. I then sponged on Sinful Colors Sugar Rush and Sally Hansen Silver Sweep to create my gradient. When that dried I added a quick coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust for added Sparkle. Christmas Ornaments have to sparkle after all!



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     Raise your hand if you want to see some nail art today! Did I get anybody to raise their hand? You'll have to let me know in the comments if you did. Today I have for you a manicure featuring another technique I've been wanting to try for a while now. The Newspaper nail.

     I actually found a kit from The New Black on clearance at TJ Maxx that was meant for this exact technique. Of course, I snatched it up because I'm all about making nail art easier.