Highlight of my Summer

I bought CG's Highlight of my Summer a few weeks ago at the BOGO sale at Sally. This colour is seriously hyped in the nail world! I used it as an accent in my Easter Egg nails but I wanted to try out the awesomeness on it's own. I was in the mood to stamp, but sadly I'm considering this set a stamping fail! Also quick note on the formula - it's definitely a 3 coater and drags and gets bald spots with any less. Gorgeous shade, but you have to work for it! 

Products Used 

China Glaze Highlight of my Summer

Wet n Wild Black Creme

INM Out the Door Topcoat

Bundle Monster 507 & 508

I think part of the reason I'm not digging this one is my new nail shape. I've envied many squoval nails so I decided to try it out. Ugh. I haven't had anything resembling square for a while (like, more than a year and probably closer to two) and it is really, really weird to me. Why do I keep doing this?!  Also the images didn't stamp as cleanly as I would have liked and got a little smudged when I top coated too soon. Live and learn, it's an excuse to re-do my nails tomorrow! 

Turquoise Water Marble turquoise #TGIF challenge

Happy Friday! My go-to monthly nail art challenge has been disbanded, so I decided to create my own as a great way to knock some to-do manis off my list and start exploring new techniques and styles. I've dubbed it the #TGIFnailartchallenge, so you can search the hashtag on IG to see more! It'll still be weekly, on Fridays. Of course if you're playing along it doesn't have to be done on the Friday, so you can jump in whenever! Week one is a technique that has been on my list for quite a while: the turquoise water marble. I used this tutorial. 

Products Used

Rimmel Do Not Disturb

Wet n' Wild Black Creme

L'oreal Because You're Worth It

China Glaze Fast Forward

Cuter Cuticles Cutie Guard

Non-Aerosol Hair spray

A million q-tips!

While this was definitely a "messy-mess" (as I would say to my nephew), boy do I love this one! I found my hairspray was a bit finicky for the technique so I had lots of do overs and had to clean the water quite a bit. I liked that, unlike a traditional water marble, if I wasn't satisfied with the coverage I would just dip my nail back in and catch the tiny little floaty bits to get more on the nail. My Cindy hand actually looks better, I may end up posting a pic on IG so go follow me over there!. 

Have you tried this technique? 

xo Shawna

Black and White Forest

Happy Friday! Goodness am I glad it's the weekend. I only work about one 5 day work week a month, and of course in January it's the first week back after the holidays - boo hoo right? Anyways, I'm wiped! 

Today's manicure is for week 2 of the January twinkie nail art challenge - the theme being "black and white". The timing couldn't have been better - I got a bunch of stamping plates I ordered in yesterday's mail (both MoYou and Bundle Monster, which is a new-to-me brand). I had seen the gorgeous, ethereal tree design in my feed a few times and just had to have it. Black and white was a perfect palette for this stamping mani! I sandwiched the stamping with a few different glitters and this is the first manicure all week that I have kept on for longer than a day!

Products Used

China Glaze Snow

Sally Girl (unnamed) Silver Glitter

Wet n Wild Black Creme

China Glaze Fairy Dust

China Glaze Fast Forward

Bundle Monster 407

I hear that BM plates can be hit or miss with the quality, but this image stamped like a dream. (I also tested out a second plate, and it was slightly more finicky but I still got quite good transfers. It was the sugar skull design - notorious for people having issues with). 

Any plans for the weekend?

xo Shawna

NYE black and gold

Well here it is folks, the last post of 2014. I am happy to say I am still just as in love with nail art as when I started this blog in August, and excited to bring you my final manicure of 2015! Ask any of my family members, and then will tell you I go through phases where I become obsessed with something only to move on from it in a few short months. I'm sure know they thought my nail art obsession was another one of those. Well, 5 months on at least I can justify my rapidly growing polish collection at least slightly! 

This manicure was inspired by So Nailicious. 

Products Used

Wet n' Wild Black Creme

OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Finger Paints Striper Hip Hip Hue-Ray

China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat

China Glaze Matte Magic

This look was super easy to create with minimal or no tools and cleanup. (I love stamping, but it really makes a mess!) I highly recommend getting striper polishes in basic black and white if you're into nail art. It makes it much easier to create a lot of looks, and reduces the need to buy or dirty nail art brushes! I got my finger paints stripers from Sally Beauty, but you can also get Sally Hansen brand from any drugstore. 

I love this look! If I can transfer the larger file to my computer for upload to YouTube, I'll have a tutorial soon as well. 

Happy New Years to all of you lovely readers!! I thank you so much for your views and comments. I hope you'll continue to return to the blog in the new year! 

xo Shawna

holo christmas sweater

I've been wanting a solid collection of holographic colours for a while, and while I have one gorgeous shade and a topper from echoes polish, I wanted more. As much as I would love to support more indies, currently my budget is should be on lockdown to save for our wedding. So, I decided to order a color club halo hues (2013) collection from amazon (free shipping!) and get a jump start. 

I finally went to pick up the order yesterday and I'm thrilled with the gorgeous holos. The black one, Beyond, was my most coveted and I had to get it on immediately! The photos (and indoor lighting) don't do it justice, this one was hard to appreciate in the dreariness of mid December weather.

I wanted to use my new zodiac plate from MoYou (woot Sagittarius!) but seeing as I was going to our annual family Christmas reunion the next day, I opted for sweater stamping instead. 

Products used

Color Club Beyond

Ciate Speed Pro Top Coat

Mundo de Unas Forest

HK Girl Top Coat

MoYou London Zodiac 11

The line on my ring finger went a bit wonky as I tried rolling the image instead of pressing straight into the squishy pad. Results from stamping: roll when doing someone else's, press in when doing your own. I actually loved my cindy hand as well, which had completely different designs. I didn't do a great cleanup but I included a pic as well! 

Do you love holo or are you over it?

xo Shawna

Walking on a Spiderweb

I love the look of all the spiderweb manis I've seen on Instagram! I have a China Glaze polish, Fortune Teller, that I only can wear for this time of year - it's a black base with loads of orange glitter - and I wanted to showcase it with some nail art that wouldn't obscure it. 

Polishes used:

China Glaze Fortune Teller

Finger Paints Striper Hip Hip Hue-Ray

Ciate Speed Pro Top Coat

The CG has amazing glitter payoff with loads of small and micro glitter and medium hexes. Full opacity reached in two coats. Unfortunately when I applied my top coat, the white polish smeared so the nail art is not as clean as I would like! I generally don't wear dark polish, and especially not black on it's own, but this is such a fun shade. 

Are you taking advantage of the holiday to wear dark polish or do you rock it year round?

xo Shawna