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Friday, May 22, 2020

Endless Knot Nail Art with Zoya Calm Collection

Press Sample

Greetings, dear readers; I hope this post find you well! It's been a little crazy around here, but now I can officially cross virtual schooling off the list. Yesterday was the last day of school here, and while I'm still going to use some programs to keep the summer slide minimal, it is nice to no longer *have* to stay on top of a workload each day. Here is hoping my sanity holds up now that it is officially summer, when the days are already feeling endless!

Speaking of endless, I was feeling inspired by the Zoya Calm Collection and wanted to enjoy some nail art. It's no secret that the world has become rather strange lately as we deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, and it has left me thinking a lot about not just those that have died, but my friends that are expecting (one little boy was born yesterday). It got me thinking about Samsāra, the buddhist cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The cycle itself is supposed to be unpleasant and filled with suffering, and the only way to break the cycle is through meditation. Whether or not you are Buddhist or believe in karmic rebirth or reincarnation like some other beliefs, I do think any sort of meditation that gives insightfulness is helpful. I opted to create a simple nail art look featuring an endless knot. I hope you enjoy it!


I created this easy look by painting my nails with the shade Laura. I then randomly dry brushed Leif, Vee and Emerson onto my nails.


Once my base was dry, I used Total Eclipse by KBShimmer with the endless knot pattern on MoYou London's Asia 02 stamping plate to stamp on to my nails. I then topped my nails with KBShimmer's Free & Clear top coat for a shiny finish. 


I hope you've enjoyed today's quick nail art post!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day and enjoy a (hopefully) long holiday weekend!
XO!



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Monday, May 4, 2020

May the Fourth Be With You Nails: KBShimmer Beach Break Collection

Happy Monday, dear readers, and more importantly, happy Star Wars day! It's been a few years since I have had my nails ready for May 4th as I've been traveling to New York City for The Makeup Show the past few years. That definitely has not happened this year, and since I was home all weekend, I couldn't resist the urge to get my nail art on and participate in the holiday.


As you've seen mentioned here on the blog, I've been really sick for the past month and a half, and that has kept me from doing some nail swatching. I had received the Beach Break Collection by KBShimmer just as I was getting ill, and it has been sitting unloved for far too long. I really wanted to give my bottles some love and thought they would give a fun spin on my typical Star Wars-inspired nails. Often, my Star Wars nails are on the darker side, and no, I don't mean in support of the Empire! The colours tend to fall on the darker side of the colour spectrum, so this gave me the opportunity to create a look that was brighter and more fitting for this time of year in general. While it's not what I normally would wear for today, I'm actually digging this look!


I used the following KBShimmer shades to create this look:



I also used assorted Star Wars-inspired nail decals from YouPolish and Toadarrific Vinyls. I then topped my nails off with KBShimmer's Free & Clear top coat. It's a little hot here and with my ac going, I had a little bit of bubbling once I added on my top coat. I'm going to have to be more careful in the future as it's only getting hotter around here for the next four months! It's nice having nail art on my fingers again!


Are you doing anything special today to celebrate Star Wars day? I think we're going to watch one of the movies later today when the hubby is home from work and my oldest is done with all his virtual schooling!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!

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Thursday, February 13, 2020

Gem Show Ready Nails with KBShimmer

Greetings, dear readers! This is the last stretch of the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, and I couldn't let the opportunity go by without a little nail art. Now that I'm back in Arizona, I'm hoping to go this weekend; I don't think I have the words to express how excited I am about it! I've not really said much about it on the blog, but I'm a rock nerd, and I look forward to this event every year. When we lived in Tucson several years ago, my husband and I would visit many of the individual  shows set up throughout town and definitely have our favorites. Now that I'm 100 miles away, I only go to the big event at the convention center. Maybe when the kids are older I'll just stay a night or two (if I can get a hotel room- they go FAST this time of year) so I can see even more of the shows.

What could be better for a gem show than gem-inspired nails? I have KBShimmer's new white and black cream polishes to try out (White Here White Now and Total Eclipse respectively), and I opted to give them some love along with other KBShimmer shades for my gemstone nails. I started out with White Here White Now for my base, so let's get a quick look at this polish by itself first.

Press Sample

White polishes are notorious for being difficult to apply. I often find them to be patchy and uneven, requiring multiple coats to get a relatively smooth working surface. I am happy to repot that was NOT the case with this baby! The application was surprisingly smooth and I was able to get full coverage with just a single coat without any extra fussing about!


Please pardon the photos as white polishes look a little harsh on my by themselves in the first place and then they really mess with my camera. White Here White Now is a stark white shade. The shade also uses KBShimmer's new curved fan brush, making it even easier to get your self-leveled manicure.


 I've also topped my nails with Free & Clear Quick Dry Top Coat for these photos.

Now let's get a look at my gem show-ready nails!


Jewel tones are my favorite, and I just had to include a few shades to create this look!


I used KBShimmer's Total Eclipse with a stamping plate from Born Pretty Store (direct link to L089) for the gems. I then filled them in with Under Cover, Vested Interest, and If You've Got It, Haunt It!, all by KBShimmer. These shades definitely gave me the sparkle I had in mind for this manicure! After topping it off with Free and & Clear Top Coat, I'm all set and ready to take in all the sparkly sights!


How has your week be going? Do you have special plans for Valentines Day tomorrow? My hubby doesn't like to celebrate, although I think we're going out for lunch.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!


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Friday, December 20, 2019

Diamond Stamped Nails with Cuccio Colour Soirée Collection

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope you've had a wonderful week and ready for the upcoming holidays! It's been a little crazy here with one kid getting really sick and down for the count for several days, and wouldn't you know it, I seem to have it as well. So far it isn't as bad as he had it, but I really could have gone without another round of illness to end out the year. As a result of being sick for three times within the past five to six weeks, I haven't done much by way of wearing and testing out makeup or doing my nails much. And to think I just bought some more stamping plates and nail art accessories that likely just won't be getting loved this year! That being said, I did manage to create a nail art look last weekend, and I wanted to get it posted before the holiday season has gone.

I had received Cuccio Colour's latest Soirée Collection in the middle of the madness, and I knew I had to create some fun nail art with it. The collection consists of eight shades in various red and silvery designs, making it a great collection not just for he holiday season, but to carry you through Valentine's Day as well! For today's post, I used three of the nail lacquers to create my diamond stamped nail art look. Check it out!

Press Sample

To create this look, I started off by painting my nails with 3, 2, 1, Kiss (red berry shimmer) and Just A Prosecco (silver with golden metallic flecks). Y'all! The formulas of these are incredible, and I'm wondering why I don't have a huge Cuccio stash yet! I found these to have a slightly thicker formula than the average mainstream polish, and I am living for it!


I loved the golden shimmers in 3, 2, 1, Kiss, so I opted to leave those nails alone. The gold flecks in Just A Prosecco are subtle but still present, so I opted to choose a stamped image that would let some of the gold shine through. To do this, I chose this fun diamond image from the Young Nail Caption Boho Bungalow stamping kit.
  

I used High Resolutions, a cherry red crème, also by Cuccio Colour to stamp onto my nails. While the colour is pretty pigmented, a single coat appears more of a berry shade than a red (although it is definitely a red-pink to begin with rather than a rich red hue).


I am really digging this combination. I was admittedly a little unsure about this collection as the colour options are so limited, but it's quite nice to have more options within a colour family to choose from to get just the exact one you have envisioned!


I may not be feeling so fabulous, but my nails sure have been cute this week! I just took this design off last night so I'm ready for another nail art look this holiday season; wish me luck!

Have you picked up any shades from Cuccio Colour's Soirée Collection? How do you like to pair red and silver together for holiday looks? I'd love to use some other shades from the collection and I'm still debating on how I want to pair them together.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!

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Friday, December 6, 2019

Colourful Snowflake Nail Art with Zoya Sensual

Press Sample

Happy Friday, dear readers! This has been a painfully long week, but I suppose that is to be expected the week after a holiday. It's been business as usual for the most part, although I've been hard at work with assorted crafting gift projects. I finished off a few things yesterday and am on track to finish up a couple more this weekend. I'm excited to get several packages in the mail early next week and not have to worry about that part of the holidays the rest of the month!

While it doesn't get particularly cold around here, and it's rare to get snow in town, I do like the idea of sparkling snow. I wanted to go in a different direction from traditional snowflakes, at the time being anyway, and opted to pull in some colour for my snowflake design. Several shades from Zoya's Sensual Collection were exactly what I had in mind; I wanted to give it a little more love before I really focus on their winter shades. I also went with a star design rather than traditional snowflakes. Check it out!


I started by painting my nails with KBShimmer Under Pressure for the nails that contain my snowflakes. I used Zoya Ashton for a dark accent nail.


My snowflake/star image is from the Pueen Fairytale Lover Stamping Plate. Because I wasn't using a separate snowflake design, I opted to use three shades at once on the plate to create a colourful look.


My snowflake/star pattern was created using Zoya shades Ripley, Elliot and Michaela.



I finished off my nails by topping them off with KBShimmer's new 5-free Free & Clear Quick Dry Top Coat.

I really love how this look turned out! I'm still likely to create a more traditional snowflake design this season, but I had a lot of fun with this one!

Have you been sporting any holiday or seasonal nail art this month? Do you have holiday-related plans this weekend? We're hoping to go get our tree tomorrow!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day and enjoy the weekend!
XO!


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