A Valentine Look with Shimmer Eva

  Today I have for you all another amazing glitter from Shimmer - this time featured in some Valentine-inspired nail art.

Outdoors, shade

For this look, I started off with two coats Zoya Izzy on all but my ring finger (and thumb).  For those nails, I used two coats of Shimmer Eva alone.  Eva is a deep burgundy jelly with red and silver fine glitter.  The layering of the jelly base gives it a lot of depth, making some of the silver glitters take on a pink hue.  This applied really well and two coats gave full coverage.  I then used Bundle Monster plate BM-317 and Zoya Trixie to stamp on the hearts, added Eva to the tips and used Trixie to create the silver line.

Indoors, light box

  This was a fun look and pretty simple to create.  Eva looks great both on its own as well as layered, and as always I was impressed with the quality of the polish!  Eva and other Shimmer beauties can be found at Cindy's Blog or Etsy Store!

The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology for review purposes and represents my honest and unbiased opinion. 

Red Hot Hearts

  Quick post today - here is a stamping manicure I did with OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours and BM-317.  Rhinestones and half-pearls from a Cheeky wheel.  Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Outdoors, shade

Indoors, lightbox

A Love-ly Look with KBShimmer Elle

  Although I have been trying to hold off on buying many polishes lately (medical students don't exactly get paid... anything), I couldn't resist ordering a couple of KBShimmer polishes to add to my collection.  I've seen so many wonderful pictures, it was hard to pick just two to start with, but I finally narrowed it down!  Today I have for you nail art with KBShimmer Elle!

Outdoors, overcast

  Elle is a soft gray jelly base with dark pink, light pink, gray, white, and holographic silver glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes.  I used OPI If You Moust You Moust (dark pink) and Nicole by OPI Up and Kim-ing Pink (light pink) to paint/dot on the hearts and tips.  A very fun look for Valentine's week!

Indoors, lightbox

  Elle is so pretty, I had a bit of a hard time covering any of it up with nail art.  Shown is four coats.  It applied very well, with the glitter spreading nicely on its own - no glitter manipulation required!  I did give it just a bit of extra dry time between the last couple of coats to make sure I didn't push around the glitter too much.  The color combination is soft and feminine, and the many different sizes and shapes of glitter give it a nice complexity.  Please note: you will definitely see this polish again!  :)

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, sunlight

  I'm really happy with my first KBShimmer experience, and I cannot wait to try out my second polish soon!  And possibly find some room in the budget for a few more...

Valentine's Water Marble

  It's been awhile since I decided to get my hands all messy... I mean since I did a water marble.  ;)

  I started with a base of Zoya Purity and then used OPI If You Moust, You Moust (pink), Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam (white), and Nicole by OPI Kourt is Red-y For A Pedi (red).  I then used China Glaze Fairy Dust for a nice sprinkle of holo glitter.  Don't ask where that random silver glitter on my middle finger came from, because I don't know.  It bothers me, haha.  But other than that, I loved the results of this one!  The technique might be messy, but so worth it in the end!

Blurry close-up for the holographic glitter effect

Valentine's Day Sand Art - OPI Liquid Sand

  I don't know about you, but I am really enjoying the new textured polishes that are coming out.  I think the idea is really fun, and thus far the polishes have been really pretty.  While we have seen lots of swatches of the various textured polished, one thing I haven't seen much of is nail art with textured polish.  I was curious how nail art would turn out with OPI's Liquid Sand polishes, so I decided to give it a try!

  For these nails, I used OPI The Show Must Go On and OPI Stay The Night.  Stay The Night is a black based polish with bits of bright fuchsia glitter that dries to a rough, sandy finish.  The fuchsia peeks out like embers under molten lava, it is a really unique look.  Here is two coats of Stay The Night alone.

  For the designs, I used both a dotting tool as well as blue painters tape.  For the index finger, I used the dotting tool to make dots of decreasing size with the Liquid Sand.  For the middle finger, I used small strips of tape and painted over Show Must Go On with one coat of Stay The Night.  On the ring finger, I used the dotting tool to make hearts with The Show Must Go.  I used a similar technique on the pinky finger with Stay The Night and outlined the heart in small dots.

  While I'm not sure the Liquid Sand polishes would stamp well (I didn't try it but I would guess no), there are a lot of other nail art techniques they work well with.  I didn't put a topcoat over any of the sand polish here, but that would also be possible to give it a bit different look.  Lots of fun possibilities!  Of course, lets not forget the beautiful duochrome of the base color here...

Duochrome!

  Have you tried any sort of nail art or designs with any of the Liquid Sands or other textured polish?  If so I'd love to hear your ideas and see what you came up with!  :)

Purple Valentine with Zoya Julie

  I know, I know... it's not even February yet!  What can I say, I was feeling in the mood for a Valentine's-themed manicure.  I decided to go with some slightly less traditional colors on this one - don't worry, there will be plenty of red and pink over the next couple of weeks.

  For these nails, I started off with two coats of Zoya Julie, a pale, blue-toned lavender shimmer from the new Lovely collection.  The shimmer in this is gorgeous and it applied fairly well in three coats.  After that I used Zoya Neeka to stamp dark purple swirls using Konad plate m63.  Then I used Konad Special White and Bundle Monster plates BM-311 and BM-303 to add the heart designs to the top.  I added little white pearls from a Cheeky nail wheel to the circles on the hearts.  Finally, since I clearly didn't have enough going on yet, I added a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle.  It's a bit busy, but I love how it turned out.

  Above is Julie alone.  Aside from not playing well with the chip at the end of my ring finger it applied very well.  That shimmer is really gorgeous, and makes it unique among my light purples.  Looking at this now, I sort of feel like I need to get the other shimmers from the collection... I guess I know what I will be getting with the next Zoya promo!  :)

Valentine's Day Manicure, Nail-Strip Style

 I have been wanting to try Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Polish Nail Strips for a long time.  In fact, I have had one sitting in my nail cabinet for awhile, but I just never got around to trying it.  Well, a few weeks ago in Ulta, they had a display of special Valentine's strips, and I decided it was a perfect time to try them out!

Outdoors, snowy and overcast day (but SNOWY!!)

  I am fairly sure this print has a name - I think Are You Single? but I am not positive on that one.  At any rate, it is a super-cute design in pink and burgundy and red, with swirls and hearts and it was just perfect for Valentine's Day!  I found that it was pretty easy to find strips that fit my nails almost perfectly (I only had to do a tiny bit of trimming along the sides), but if you have very large or small nails this could pose a problem for you.  Application was difficult at first because I was learning the best way to put them on, but by the time I got to my right hand I knew what I was doing better, what with the folding over the strip and then filing off the excess and all.

Indoors, artificial light

  I added a coat of Seche Vite on top of these just to maximize wear (since i want to wear them for several days).  I really love how it turned out... honestly though, I am not sure it was any easier than just Konading away with multiple designs, haha.  I suppose that is just because I have gotten fairly good at Konad and am new to this.  The price tag or $9.99 makes these a bit much for an every day kind of thing, but I would definitely use them again for special occasions.  I have had them on two days now and they SEEM to be holding up really well.  I will let you all know how they do after a few more days - next time I wear these nail strips, I will do a full review including pictures of various days and try to keep them on for up to 10 days, if I can manage to not go crazy about having the same thing on that long.  :)

  Hope you all had a great day yesterday!

I ❤ U

  Here is another pretty in pink Valentine's mani I did, which I wore this weekend.  A bit softer colors than the previous plaid mani - soft and shiny and cute.

Outdoors, shade

  For these nails, I started off with OPI Pedal Faster Suzi! from the Spring 2012 Holland collection.  This gorgeous shimmery pink was the perfect base for this mani - look for swatches from the collection sometime in the next week or two.  For the base stamping image, I used Zoya Reva and Red Angel plate RA-108.  The accent finger design (I ❤ U) was done using BM-02 and the hearts are from Konad plate m59, both done with Konad Special White.

Outdoors, sunlight

  I really enjoyed this mani.  The shimmer in both Pedal Faster Suzi and Reva worked really well together and I love that accent nail design!  Lots of compliments on this one too.  I have one more thing up my sleeve for the actual day tomorrow, but I won't be able to get pictures of it until later, so I will show you all that the day after Valentine's Day.  So until then, have a great day tomorrow!

Plaid Valentine

  Time for some Valentine nails!  These are pink, girly, and glittery... perfect for Valentine's Day!  :)

  For these nails I started off with two coats of China Glaze Dance Baby, from the ElectroPop collection.  I then added hot pink plaid with Nicole by OPI All Kendall-ed Up and plate m60.  Finally, I added the hearts using plate m59 and white stamping polish from a new little Fingrs Flirt set I found at Wal-Mart (I will be reviewing it soon).  On top of all that, I used my new absolute favorite top coat, China Glaze Fairy Dust, which is silver holographic glitter.  I had a hard time capturing the holo effect on camera, but here you can see some of it...

  I really love how this manicure turned out!  I kind of wish I had worn it for the actual day... but I still have a few more pink-with-hearts ideas up my sleeve for the rest of the week... :)

Valentine's Day 2011 Nails

  These are the nails I actually wore on Valentine's Day.  This manicure was inspired by the second design on this post by Ashley of Polish and Konad - thanks for the inspiration!

Outdoors, full sun

  For these nails, I started off with three coats of Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men, a bright cherry red creme.  Application was lovely on this, could have gotten away with two coats except for a smidge of VNL.  For the design I used Konad Special White with Bundle Monster BM11 and Konad Special Black with BM17.  I think I used three coats of top coat on this (one after color, one after the first design and one after the second), using Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed.  Let me tell you, I think this would have stayed on forever without any wear - after two days it was flawless and it was really tough to get off!  A great polish and a fun mani for Valentine's day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

  Hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day today!  This is a mani I wore earlier this week for the holiday (I will have to post today's nails tomorrow).

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  This is two coats of OPI Hoodoo Voodoo?!, a great bright berry creme.  Silky smooth application, great coverage and drying!  I used OPI Chapel of Love and Konad m60 to add the faint light pink plaid design in the background, and Konad Special White with Konad plate m59 to add the hearts.  A really fun Valentine design!

Valentine's Day with Ahoy!

  Here is a Valentines' Day manicure the I did with China Glaze Ahoy!, a gorgeous bright magenta polish full of shimmer.

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  This is three coats of Ahoy!, all of which I found necessary to cover up VNL.  Smooth application and good dry time on this one.  I love this polish - it is a beautiful pink and that shimmer is pretty much always really sparkly (even if it is hard to tell in the photos)!

Outdoors, full sun

  I used Zoya Trixie with Bundle Monster plate BM11 to add delicate silver lines with hearts over each nail.  A very fun Valentine's mani!  I highly recommend Ahoy! if you haven't picked it up already, it is a stunner!  Of course, if you would like to win Ahoy! you can always enter my giveaway! :)