31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0: Day 5 Black and White

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Hello friends! A real quick update before I jump into day five. Some of you may have noticed I missed posting on Saturday. Due to some unusual circumstances, we (Fiance and I) were set to leave Alaska on Saturday, but we were made to leave our cabin (pack and move everything) on Friday. So we were pretty frantically packing and preparing to leave an entire day before we thought we had to. Luckily for us, we made some pretty awesome friends that not only let us stay the night but helped us move all of our stuff. So on Friday when I was supposed to be preparing a post, I was packing my stuff from the past 4 months (including shipping close to 100 polishes! Eek!) 

Onto the art! Today's prompt is Black and White. I once saw someone do a book. I believe chalkboard nails? If you know the link, please send it to me! Obviously, her's was a million times better, but I wanted to try something similar. 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0: Day 2 Yellow or Green

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It's time for day 2 of the nail art challenge. Yellow or Green and I chose green!  I'm blogging and babysitting today. Some friends needed someone to watch their little girl so here I sit, watching her eat rice cakes and "dippin'." So cute! It's been so long since I've been a sitter! 

As far as the manicure, unfortunately for me, all these pictures turned out a little blurry. Not terrible, but not as crisp as they usually are. I don't really understand because I haven't changed any settings on my camera or my light box set up, so it's a little frustrating. None the less, it's a pretty manicure so I decided to share it.

MoYou: Lace Bridal Look

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Hello my lovelies! As some of you may know, I'm planning a wedding... or in the stages of thinking about planning a wedding... err... I think about it sometimes and kind of sort of have plans on making plans. In any case, a wedding that I will be involved in will be happening soon. Phew, now that I'm officially stressed out, let's get on to the nail art. I recently purchased MoYou Bridal 06 because I love lace patterns, so I thought i'd try my hand at a bridal look. 

Light as a...

Press Sample

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Hello lovelies. Today I have some stamped nail art to share with you using my new Sugar Bubble plates that I am SO in love with, as well as to announce an awesome restock going on tomorrow. Keep reading to find out all the details!

To create this look I started with a subtle gradient base using Aurora Lacquers Sailor Eyes (swatch and review here) and I Love Nail Polish Admire Me. (Unfortunately, this beautiful polish is discontinued! However, Barbara has a TON of other beautiful colors on her site ilnp.com)

Next I picked up my new Sugar Bubble plates and used SB 22 for the middle and ring fingers and SB 15 for the feather on my pointer fingers. These stamp like a dream! I can't wait to get more of her plates! Finally, I added a complex glitter from Aurora Lacquers, Nixie. Ahh, I could probably write a novel about this glitter. It's complete perfection. One coat and it sparkle and shines like you wouldn't believe. I actually received two compliments on this manicure, both were about the glitter!

Here's one of just the gradient, don't those colors transition flawlessly? I love it! Did I mention that the Aurora polish is practically a one coater? Yep. Awesome. 

Finally, here's a sun shot to show off all that amazing sparkle that my lights don't pick up. Just, WOW! I really loved this entire mani and wore it for about four days!

Onto the restock news, Aurora Lacquers is restocking the Summer Mystic Mermaid collection tomorrow (08/05/14) at 4pm EDT so pick up a bottle of Sailor Eyes and Nixie while you can! She also has a purple holo to DIE for. Seriously, check out my swatch/review of the collection!

You can purchase Aurora Lacquers on their Etsy site: www.etsy.com/shop/AuroraNailLacquers

And follow them on Instagram @AuroraLacquers

and find them on Facebook here www.facebook.com/AuroraLacquers

The holographic polishes retail for $12 and the glitters for $10 each. 

Do you own any Aurora Lacquers? Will you be giving them a try during the restock tomorrow? Let me know!

 ♥ Pooka

OMD2 Day 6: Duochrome

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Hey lovelies, today I did a mani that I adore! It was my first time doing a across the nail stamping + decals. Plus it gave me a chance to use one of my favorite brands, KB Shimmer. <3 I hope you enjoy it!

I started with three coats of Julep Sera, a purple, gray shimmer, as my base. For the decals I used Messy Mansion 29 and KB Shimmer Pigment of my Imagination for the body (the duochrome), ILNP Molly, for the fins, KB Shimmer Whole Lava Lovin' for the V on the head of the koi and KB Shimmer In Bare Form for the face. I used two coats of KB Shimmer Clearly on Top to smooth everything out.

The decals definitely didn't go on the nail without a hitch. There was crinkling, smearing, and bubbles, but overall I really loved the effect! Pigment of My Imagination really brings magic the the whole manicure. It makes it look like a real koi flashing in the light.

Did you catch that fabulous shift? Blue to purple in the koi? Ugh. I love it.

Have you joined in yet? Did I mention there is a prize for every day you complete? Check out #OMD2Nails on instagram to see everyone else's fabulous ideas!

♥ Pooka

An InLinkz Link-up

OMD2 Day3: Lavender

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Hi! So on to day three of OMD2 Challenge. If you're keeping up, this means today is Lavender! What an awesome color. Also, it gave me an excuse to use two of my favorite polishes by Julep. (As if I need an excuse to use these freaking amazballs colors.)

Tropical Flowers

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Tropical Flowers 

( I feel Summer in the air already!)

Ahh, the month long unplanned hiatus. Have I mentioned it's my final semester in college and I graduate in less then two weeks? YES! I'm so excited. But, let me hurry and pop this post out cause this girl has homework to do!

Recently Julia from Messy Mansion released some new sheer polishes that she used to color in stamping and she called it "lead lighting." Although I didn't use her polishes, I did try my hand at the technique and I have to say, I LOVE IT! Why didn't I think of this earlier? This is one of my favorite manis of all time. Take a look.

Blazing in Brazil

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Hello Spring beauties! Are you suffering the cold front, too? Yesterday there was snow falling from the sky and flowers falling from the trees as I walked to my car. It was an interesting juxtaposition! It seems like it may be warming up a little, and I surely hope it does. My brother's outdoor wedding is in just over two weeks! Cross your fingers for us that it's warm for the ceremony and reception.

I literally JUST glanced up at the "Title bar" on this page and came up with this outrageously corny name. I used two colors from OPI's Brazil collection, so I thought, Brazil! I was trying to summon the warm weather gods with this one, doesn't look like it worked. : /

Handmade Floral Decals - Dreaming of Summer

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Winter is raging here in the South and I continue to dream of Summer. I honestly wish I were a bear and could hibernate during the cold months. I would do it. However, keeping me on task is some fun decals I made sometime ... last month? My posts are so back logged. So.many.pictures.to.edit!

AIS: Valentine's Day Nails

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There is an awesome Facebook group named Adventures in Stamping and thousands of talented ladies share their stamped manicures. Every Wednesday a new challenge is released and everyone who participates posts their manicures on Sunday - This week was Valentine's Day nails. I was inspired by all of their great stamping decal art so I thought I'd try my own.

______________________________

Valentine's Day is coming up. Is anyone a fanatic? I'm not, I think in the seven years my fiancé and I have been together we've only went out once! He's bought me chocolate and what not before, but neither of us really make a big thing of it and for that I'm thankful! I have too much stuff as it is! However, I was feeling a little festive and whipped up some decals to go with the holiday. Tell me what you think!

Zoya Sooki

Sunshine and Gold - Flower Stamping

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Hello ladies! Here is a stamped mani I did the other day that i just adore! I got so many compliments on it! Also, this post has quite a few pictures as I was ecstatic about how the light box was lighting up my nails. What do you think?

Mint Chevrons + Messy Mansion Plate 12 Review

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The new year has begun and I have had it up to here (points to eyeballs) with the dark nail lacquers! I'm so ready for Spring. Though, isn't that the way it always goes? In the Winter I'm ready for Spring colors, in the Spring I'm bored with pastels and I want bright Summer colors and... as habit would have it, yes you've guessed by now, in the Summer I'm ready for the colors of Autumn. So here I am, mid January with pastels. I hope you can appreciate it anyways. ;)

More pictures after the jump...

Invisible Manicure and "Free" Zoya

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Hello! I hope everyone had an awesome holiday season. I for sure enjoyed my break, but I'm still not ready to go back to work tomorrow, then school starts back the week after. Ugh. But in some exciting news, I made myself a lightbox! I'm still in the trail phase of using it, but overall i'm pleased with the picture quality. In all honesty, I'd prefer to use outdoor lighting, but often that's not an option, so I'm hoping this will help when I'm to busy to get pictures during the day!

Here is a simple stamped manicure that I did over winter break. I chose to coordinating colors, Zoya Bevin and Zoya Zuza. These colors were in part inspired by one of my stamping idols Wacky Laki, she always has the best stamping colors! Here is a link to her stamped manicures, take a look!

Lightbox

Christmas Ornament Nails and Giveaway Day 2

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Giveaway day numbaaah two! *Enter for day number one here* Today is a stunning red from L'Oréal "Devil Wears Red" and it's a great holiday color! It's a little something different. It's not "classic red" it has something extra. Maybe it's a light shimmer? I can't put my finger on it. (but I can put it on my finger!) :D ok... here is the ornament nail art I did with it. Does it look like a fancy Christmas ball?

I used two coats of "Devil Wears Red" and stamped with go to gold, Maybelline "Bold Gold" using the fabulous MoYou London plate Tourist 07. 

One more shot. (These honestly didn't look blurry when I took them, I have no idea what is happening!!!) But I already have new nails on... so, alas, I have to use these. I really love this design, I may use it for my actual Christmas mani! (Maybe red is to IN YOUR FACE for Christmas?) I'm not sure.

On to the give away! Here is the polish that you can win today! (I swear, cross my heart, hope to die, these are not fake nails! They do look so fake here though!) Obviously, this is a shot of  L'Oréal "Devil Wears Red" sans the nail art. This is what you are winning today! Isn't the color awesome? It's almost crying for some Santa hats. 

Good Luck! ♥ Pooka

I will email the winner using the address provided and winner must respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen!
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Banksy Grunge Nail Art and 6 days of giveaways! :)

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Hi gals! I have a super special post today. I reached 100 followers on Tumblr the other day and I decided it was time for a giveaway! :) (I have since reached over 200 since I decided to do the giveaway!) I wanted to do something special so I decided to do 6 fun days of giveaways, featuring a nail design to accompany each one. ^^

I'll start with the art! The base color is L'Oréal "Stroke of Midnight" and the mani was inspired in part by Serene at Copy Cat Claws. She has some beautiful art and you should definitely visit her blog!

 I used Chalkboard Nails' Tutorial for distressed nails and added some stamping from MoYou London Rebel 03. I chose Banksy's Balloon Girl. I did the same image for my college art class two years ago, I just adore it! 

 (YES the time has come and passed to get a light box. I'm working on it! You'll have to just envision how beautiful they are.) 

And finally the swatch without the art.

 

Look at that gun medaly goodness! Pure steel. Can you see why it was calling for some grungy art? This is the first prize for the giveaway! I'll love to see what you can create with this polish. :D

In case you're curious, I used L'Oréal "Stroke of Midnight" as the base and layered Pure Ice "Siren" and Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" to create the distressed look. The stamp is done with Sinful Colors "Snow Me White." 

Good Luck! ♥ Pooka

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Winter is Coming.

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Ha, I can't even lie. I'm such a poser. I don't watch Game of Thrones yet. YET! Key word. I was too involved with breaking bad to veer into another show and then school and work got in the way. (I'm full of excuses) but I did read the first book, does that count? ;)

For sure, winter is coming, can you see my dry old lady hands?! Yikes! But the mani was too cute not to share. So here she is, dry hands and all.

MoYou London Time!

*If you would like to help me win don't pin directly from this site, instead, go here and and here like and repin both of my entries! Thank you for your support!*

Hello friends! I honestly didn't expect to be writing this post today. I have three, yes THREE Christmas / holiday themed manis that I still need to post, but alas, MoYou started a contest and I HAD to submit an entry. After all, I have ten of their plates hiding (brand new) in my polish boxes. So I whipped them out to create two complimentary manis with their plates to submit to the competition.

*The competition is on Pinterest! I get two points for each repin and one point for each like, so repin, share and like away!*

I will be doing a full review soon, but I wanted to get these up and in the contest so I have a fighting chance. If I win I get my choice of 6 new plates from their new fairy tale line. After all that, are you still wondering what MoYou is? It is a brand of nail stamping plates! They are so well etched and designed, I want them all. Buy ALL the plates!

 Check out their site here! MoYou.

Here are my two entries. (There will be more before the month is over!)

All Geared Up

"All Geared Up"

A simple steam punk manicure perfect for Fall.

Sunlight with steam punk watch earrings!

 This mani was inspired by my new Bundle Monster plates and my new (old) polish I just purchased, China Glaze "Agro." I saw some swatches from the 2012 China Glaze Hunger Games collection and I died, fell in love, searched for it, found it, bought it, it arrived and 

HERE IT IS! 

This lacquer is a metallic, glittery, shiny, gleaming polish of awesomeness. 

Halloween Gradiant

Hello friends! I'm glad you dropped in to look at my very first gradient! Isn't it sweet? Speaking of sweet, isn't Halloween right around the corner? Ton pis pour moi, I have school and work and I won't be doing anything of interest. :C At least I managed to get a nail design in for the holiday. You know what they say... 

"If a holiday comes and goes without a nail design commemorating it, was there really a holiday at all?" 

-_-

 Halloween Nail Gradient (With a bonus skelly!)

The lighting today was terrible and I wasted the sun yesterday, I chose a "dingy" lighting to accent the Halloween theme... and sorry my nails are chipped and dull  I chose the "rustic" look for my nails to showcase the .... "creepiness of the holiday."

Blue and White Flowers

Another stamped mani this Saturday! I went to Walgreens and stocked up on Sinful Colors this week. They were two for three dollars. I bought eight in total and I've been playing around with different combinations.

Here is one of my favorite blues. Will you just look at how blue it is? Can a color be any more blue than that? I don't believe so. Anyway, I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and painted every finger except my ring with Sinful Colors "Savage" it is actually a matte color (swatches coming soon!) but transforms into this beautiful gloss with a quick top coat of Seche Vite ^^ The ring finger is painted with Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" 

The silver stamped color is Sally Hansen Instadri "Silver Sweep" This color definitely lives up to it's reviews as far as stamping goes. It shows so well! It's the best silver I've tried. The ring finger is stamped with Sinful Colors "Savage" and actually turned out better than expected, considering these plates are not brand name. 

Ok, now for the plates, I hate to do this but I have no idea the brand name of these! I bought them at Wal-Mart over  two years ago. I am fairly certain they are a knock off of a Konad design plate and you can find these flowers on one of their plates. I'll look into it. Maybe the brand name of these is Kiss? I'm not sure...

Is anyone else loving that blue? I can't think of a color that is more... completely blue than this. I think I'm in love :)

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