40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pastels

Pastels while still in winter is a challenge, but that is the prompt for this week.  :)  I had waterfall as my technique to do.  I haven't done one of these in a really long time!

It was really hard not making this look like an Easter egg, but it came out pretty cute.  Here is what I used for this:

I used 3 coats of The Way Tutu His Heart for the base color of this look.  It was still a bit streaky in the end, which was a disappointment.  I couldn't risk another coat and making the polish too thick so I just left it as is.

I used a fine striping brush that I bought from Bundle Monster to make the lines.  It is all just random and I tried to keep it to a minimum for this look.  I finished this off with a matte top coat.  I am really liking the matte look and it took me forever to find a matte polish I found to be decent.  In case you are wondering, I use the Wet n Wild Matte.  Yeah, the cheap stuff seems to be my favorite.  LOL!  It's a win-win.

 Thanks for stopping by!  Take a look at the other awesome entries for this prompt.

Cranberries In The Sand

I wanted to do something with a neutral color and red.  That is all I had to work with for this design.

I ended up with cranberries lounging on the beach.  LOL  That is all I can think of when looking at this.

Wocka Wocka! is just divine!  The color is irresistible and it paired wonderfully with On Taupe of the World.  I used a make-up sponge to apply these two colors over a base of the ULTA nude.  I did this on ALL of my nails then added the glitter only on the accent nail - with a make-up sponge to get the glitter spread out without the weight of the clear base.

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One thing I learned on this manicure is that Seche Vite will spread the red color!  I lost a couple of fingers on my non-swatching hand learning how to really "float" the top coat on.  Once I had that down, it was much better!

Cotton Candy

Have you ever seen those bags of cotton candy where, when you open it, there are several colors all smooshed together?  That is what this looks like to me.

I wanted to brave the watermarble technique again but this time I wanted to try something different.  I had seen a tutorial where you can pull the design off of the water and use it like a decal rather than dipping your fingers in the water.  Well, that was a total and complete failure.  I want to chalk it up to the polishes I used rather than my own issues...  I couldn't give up after the hours of trying to make this work so I did it the traditional way.

I used the white as a base layer of polish, then applied liquid latex around my nails and on my fingers to make the process less awful.  LOL!  Well, there is one thing I learned about the latex: don't let your fingers stick together!  It was really comical to see me trying to pull my fingers apart with bright blue webbing from the latex.

There were other disasters during this process as well.  There was a clump of latex that somehow got caught in the Seche Vite on my pinkie nail so that is why there is a divot.  I also found some fuzzy something or other while putting top coat on the other hand and when I pulled it out, it smeared everything.  It can't be great every time and it was a funny story to tell my friends.  I mean 5 hours of a manicure should have something awesome come out of it!

All in all, I like it.  I hope you do too.

Marsala Wallpaper

You know me!  I like to do combo mani's and this time I did a wallpaper design (more like a border) along with a Marsala-like color combo.  I have to say, I wasn't impressed with the 2015 Pantone selection until I saw KB Shimmer's take on it with Men Are From Mars-ala.  That color is amazing!  I used it as inspiration for this:

As my collection grows, I feel more and more guilt so I went to my stash to find something I hadn't used yet.  Here is what I used for this mani - I kept it very simple!

For once, I didn't use a white polish as an undie for this manicure.  I used my usual base coat and followed it up with 2 coats of Tan Lines and 3 coats of Quit Meatal-ing as my base polishes.  After that was mostly dry, I added a coat of Seche Vite to harded the layers and prepare for the taping process.

I worked on each nail individually to get crisp lines when the tape was removed.  Once the tape was down on the nail, I did 2 coats of the reverse polish and then quickly removed the tape strips.  This is my first "wallpaper" look this month.  I think it looks more like a border pattern.  Once the polish was dry, I finished it off with a final layer of Seche Vite.  This one was pretty rugged...I wore it for over 2 weeks!

Halloween 2014

For my Halloween mani this year, I went with spiders.  I actually have a bit of a phobia of spiders, but I had seen a lot of really cute designs on Pinterest which inspired me.

I want to start off with just how excited I am that my spider web stamp worked...I've had it for 2 years and this is the first time I have been able to get it to stamp!  Thanks to my Mundo de Unas stamping polish!

I applied my typical base coat followed by 2 coats of Ulta Devious.  I then sponge applied the Orly Intergalactic Space which provided great glitter coverage without adding too much of the black jelly base it is suspended in.  I also sponge applied a small amount of the Barielle Purple Hearts.  This was a great partner to the Orly glitter!

After a LOT of practice and cleaning off my BM13 spiderweb image, it finally stamped perfectly!  I used the MDU Silver for the webs and spider. I sponged a little bit more Purple Hearts on top of the webs for a little more dimension.

I added some gems on top of each nail as well.  I had to have red for the spider!  The webs all have a purple stone in the center.

Once the gems were firmly affixed, I topped everything off with a thick coat of Seche Vite.  I am super pleased with how these turned out!  I think they are a "cute" spooky look.  :)

I'm submitting this in to Crumpet's Nail Tarts 52 week pick-n-mix challenge as there are 3 dark polishes in this.  Take a look at the other lovely works below!

Stripes #4: Fall Foliage

It's the middle of October and the leaves are all turning here.  It has been so rainy and we have been so busy that we haven't had much time to really enjoy the season change.  It is my favorite time of year and things are just so beautiful!  I'm combining 3 challenges into my mani this week: Stripes in The Nail Challenge Collaborative; Gray + Color in Crumpets Pick-N-Mix Challenge; and my #HePicksMyPolish entry.

I love my husband.  He is so thoughtful that he pulled out 4 polishes for me to use...2 different sets of 2 polishes.  He wanted me to have options.  Well, I just used all 4 instead.  I knew that I was going to use my MDU Dark Gray for stamping no matter what he picked - it was just a matter of choosing the right stamp.

He is obsessed with my texture polishes!  I had to figure out a way to use all of these colors and incorporate stripes.  I haven't done any fall manicures yet, and that was his inspiration, so I went with it.  I settled on a Nimbus mani and I am super glad I did!  I started with Hanging In The Balance and played with the level of opacity before moving on to Toe-Tally Textured.  This one was a bit harder because of how textured the polish is.

I put down Sun-Sational next.  It didn't take too much to get a nice yellow hue.  Next, I added some Destiny to the mix.  This is kind of a jelly so, it took a bit more to get the red color in there.  It still wasn't popping enough, so I added a little bit of Sinful Colors Snow Me White to layer a little white in to put the red on top of it.  That worked out perfectly!

The colors all blended together reminds me of fall foliage and crunchy leaves.  I love it!  I added a layer of my trusty Seche Vite to prepare for stamping.  I used GA15 for the stamping image.  I was a little bummed that my image wasn't straight on one nail...I was shaking because I was so hungry!  I actually had to take a break to eat during this one...LOL!

Catching Up: Hawaiian Strawberry Shake

I'm pretty sure I did this mani for some "pink" challenge but I can't remember.  I really need to write these up as I do them because I just don't retain the reasoning behind them.  LOL!

• Milani Strawberry Shake
• Ulta Fuchsiamania
• Milani White on the Spot (stamping)
• MoYou London Pro Collection - 03

I started with a base coat and then 1 coat of Strawberry Shake.  I then did a sponge gradient on 3 fingers with both pink polishes.  The other 2 nails are 2 coats of the base color.  I always put a layer of Seche Vite on my nails before I stamp to help dry the base colors so they don't smudge with the stamper pressure.

I used the Fuchsiamania on the non-gradient nails.  It stamped beautifully!  It doesn't hurt that MoYou London plates are simply fabulous!  They are so nicely etched that they work great with just about any polish!  The gradient nails are stamped with White on the Spot.

This pattern looks like Hawaiian hibiscus to me so it was a wonderful reminder to me of my visit to Hawaii a few years ago.  Stamping has to be my favorite type of nail art!  One last coat of Seche Vite and it was all done.

Catching Up: Skittles

I'm going to be honest here and tell you up front that I remember very little about doing this manicure...sad, but true.  I think I did this mani for the skittles theme in May for the Nail Challenge Collaberative group but never got to getting it written.

• China Glaze Tree Hugger
• Ulta Celebutante
• China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's
• Pueen31
• Pueen49

I have a challenge with skittles - mostly because I am not very creative! I also struggle with water marbeling.  I keep trying though!

This was a fun one once it was all said and done!  I wore it for quite some time.

Short and sweet post this time around.  Thanks for viewing!

Catching up: Lilac Lovliness

I might just love purple more than pink.  Did I just say that out loud?  It is really hard to choose sometimes!  This mani is a simple purple gradient.  That's it...nothing too fancy.  BUT, I loved it!

• Ulta Tutu Cute
• Some unknown polish
• Ulta Vintage Violet

I used Milani White as an undie to make the colors vibrant and began sponging on layers until I got the desired effect.  Topped with a coat of Seche Vite and it's done.  :)

The Lone April Tri-Polish Challenge Entry

Hi everyone!  It has been a while since I posted!  I missed you so much.  I wish I could say that I will be back on a regular basis but things are crazy busy at work and it is taking up more and more of my time these days.
April's Tri-Polish Challenge colors are yellow, pink, and blue.

I chose:

• Ulta Sun-Sational
• Orly Hawaiian Punch
• Ulta Blue Streak

I literally picked these colors blindly.  I closed my eyes and went to my swatch sticks and used what I picked.  It really worked in my favor though.  I personally think any colors can make a beautiful gradient.

I started with my white undie polish: Milani White then used one coat of Sun-Sational.  After a layer of Seche Vite, I began the gradient.  I use a make-up sponge and put a stripe of each color on it and dab away.  This was about 4 passes of the sponge.

These colors blended together nicely!  I decided to add an accent stamp too.  As much as I reminded myself to stamp the butterfly going the other way so that when I take the picture you see it right-side-up but I still managed to do it wrong.  Oh well!  This butterfly is on RA-119 and has some great detail in it.

So...never mind that wonderful blemish on my middle finger.  I squished my finger between my laptop and my phone at work the other day and that is my reminder of how dumb I am!  It's a blood blister and since I tend to heal slowly, it will be sticking around for a while.

Be sure to check out the other lovelies who worked hard on their Tri-Polish Challenge mani's this month!