MoYou London Stamping Challenge: OOTD

I guess I'm not down with the kids because I had to google what OOTD meant. Apparently it means Outfit of the Day, lol. I bought this cute new dress from Tommy and thought it would be great to pair with one of my fun necklaces.

I started with a base of Zoya Purity on my thumb and ring finger and an unnamed Color Club on my other three fingers. I then used the Purity to stamp on the flowers using MoYou Pro Plate 06. The stripes were added using a blue striping brush.

I added some rhinestones to the centre of the flowers and an HK Girl Glisten and Glow top coat to make it super shiny.

I am so happy with how this turned out! I think it matches the outfit and necklace perfectly and looks so pretty. In love!

Happy painting friends!

MoYou London Stamping Challenge: Superhero

When you think of superhero you probably have pictures of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Thor, etc, etc. But when I think of superhero, I think of the people who are truly inspiring and who fight against obstacles that are placed before them. One such superhero is one of my former colleagues, Jeanne. She was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago and has been fighting her hardest ever since. I've never seen anything but a smile on her face and her faith is both amazing and inspirational. She touches the hearts of everyone she comes into contact with and I knew I wanted to do a beautiful design for this very beautiful person.

I started off with Pure Ice Outrageous on four of my fingers and Zoya Purity on the ring finger. The dots were just done with the opposite colour and a medium dotting tool. The breast cancer awareness ribbon was from the OPI breast cancer set that came out last year and then I stamped on the hearts using Zoya Purity and MoYou's Princess Plate 14.

I wanted to have the heart image in there as Jeanne has such a big heart and I feel like this one is perfect as it looks like it's swelling up with love.

I attended a fundraiser for Jeanne last night and if you'd like to contribute to this amazing woman's recovery, you can donate at http://tinyurl.com/forjeanne-paypal.

I hope you enjoyed this very special tribute to a very special person.

Happy painting friends!

MoYou London Stamping Challenge: Red

Today's prompt was "Red" which leaves an infinite number of possibilities! I decided to keep it pretty simple and just used one stamp from the Princess Collection.

I started with two coats of OPI Glints of Glinda which is just a sheer nude. I then used Nicole by OPI Boys'n'Berry to do the stamping. I topped it off with a french using a Zoya red (I think it was Carrieann).

Add some rhinestones (because who doesn't love a bit of bling) and call it a day!

Happy painting friends!

Pastel Sponge

Day 2 of the challenge brings us to the prompt "pastels". I grabbed a whole bunch of pastel shades and just started painting!

I did 2-coats of the following:

Zoya Gie Gie (pink) on my thumb, Zoya Blu on my index, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow on my middle, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet (green) on my ring and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac on my pinkie.

Once the base coats were dry, I sponged on all the colours over all my nails to give a muted watercolour kind of effect.

I then did a coat of Orly Goin' To the Chapel to give it a kind of pearly effect. I don't know that the pearly effect really came across in the photos but it really looked beautiful. I should have taken a picture in the sun (if only there were sun this time of year, lol!)

Then I chose an image from on of my MoYou plates and stamped it on my pinkie, ring and thumb. I added a couple rhinestones to the remaining two fingers and ended up with something I think is really pretty. I got lots of compliments on these at work.

Haven't started tomorrow's look yet, yikes!

Happy painting friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Silver Shoes

I deeply apologize for not blogging for a long time. Bad blogger!! <<hangs head in shame>>

Enough shame; on to the blogging!

I have a pair of silver ballet flats that I wore to my sister-in-law's wedding and absolutely love. They are nice and blingy without being over the top. I thought I would do a simple look that emulates them.

The silver colour is Zoya Seraphina which is a really soft beautiful shade. I then added some simple silver rhinestones that I got at a craft store.

Here is the look with the shoes. I think they match pretty well. The stones on the shoes are more opaque but it's not like you'd be holding your nails next to your shoes all day!

It was simple to do, really quick and I think it turned out really nicely.

I like matching my nails to an element of my outfit. Makes me feel like I'm at least semi put together, lol.

Again, sorry for my absence!

Happy painting friends!

Recreate Another's-Valentine's Week Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day. It's the last day of the challenge!! Oh my gosh I've really enjoyed this. It's been great having a focus for a week.

Day 5-Freestyle/Recreate Another's

Today's prompt was either doing your own design or recreating one that someone had done during the challenge. I really wanted to do a riff on what someone else had done since there have been so many great designs this week. I chose to take inspiration from Valerie Wilson at Nail Artsy. She did a purple background with a simple and beautiful rose design on it.

Here's my take:

without flash

I started with a base of Zoya Belinda which is an absolutely gorgeous deep purple. I then added the rosettes with a nail art pen.

I then added a layer of deborah lippmann Diamonds and Pearls which is just a beautiful shimmery overlay.

with flash

I then blinged the heck out of my ring finger (can you see that the bottom jewel is a heart?).

It's obviously not exactly like Valerie's but I was definitely inspired by her design.

I'm so glad I took part in this challenge. There are much longer challenges which I hope to be a part of but I know I'll have to plan it a bit better!!

Happy painting friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Roses-Valentine's Week Challenge

This was possibly my favourite prompt! I knew right away what I wanted to do and couldn't wait to get started on it. It took me awhile to choose my base but I absolutely love how these came out and I think they would be appropriate year round!

Day 3- Roses

I decided that I was going to do something fairly simple but elegant and what says elegant but a French manicure?

I started with a base of three coats of Zoya Jacqueline (cream) and then painted one coat of Orly Goin' to the Chapel over it which gave it a really pretty soft pearlescent look.

I then went in with deborah lippmann Run, run Rudolph (which is technically a Christmas shade I guess) and blobbed on the rose shapes. I love love love this red!

I added in the rose details with a black nail pen and then the leaves are made from piCture pOlish Jealousy. I added Glisten and Glow Top Coat, a bit of bling (rhinestone stickers I got from Michael's) and then called it a day.

I'm in "love"! It turned out exactly how I was hoping, simple and elegant.

Tomorrow's prompt is Hearts and as I write this I haven't completed my look yet. I need some inspiration!!

Happy painting friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Kisses- Valentine's Week Challenge

I love doing this challenge! I was a bit stumped with things at first but I feel like I've hit a stride.

Day 2- Kisses

Today's prompt is Kisses. I must say that I really could only think of lips but I thought I would need to push the boat out a bit. I've wanted to do comic strip nails for awhile and thought I could meld the two.

Here's what I came up with:

I like how these turned out but I wish a couple things were different. The writing on the "Kiss Me" nail is really bothering me and the edges on the lips aren't as smooth as I'd like. But maybe I'm just being picky!

I couldn't do it on both hands so the other one is just white with red polka dots. But I couldn't take it off!

Here are the main polishes I used:

All of the details were done with nail pens.

I'm really looking forward to showing you tomorrow's look. It turned out beautifully (if I do say so myself!).

Happy painting friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nude Leopard

I just can't get enough of the leopard print! It's so easy to do and I think it looks so fun. I started with a base of Zoya Jacqueline which is just a beautiful smooth nude colour. I then went in with a black and red nail pen and added the leopard and stripe detail.

I of course used my trusty new light box to take my photos.

The flash didn't really want to come out to play and I kind of wish I had forced it because these are looking a bit shaded.

Still getting used to the light box but I think with practice I'll get some really good photos.

Happy painting friends!

Zoya Hearts

You know how much I love Zoya! I haven't used them in awhile so I wanted to bust them out and do something light and happy. Featured in this nail art is Piaf (yellow), Gie Gie (pink), Blu (blue), Julie (purple), and Neely (green).

I started with a base of Piaf and then drew on the hearts with the different colours and a dotting tool.

I think this is so bright and springtimey (that's probably not a word!). I've been rocking the dark colours for so long that I wanted to go light for this look and I'm glad I did. It's already brightened my mood.

Did I mention I love Zoya? :)

Happy painting friends!

Purple Fracture

My husband went go-karting for his birthday and I went along for the festivities after but did not partake in the karting. What's a girl to do but her nails! My BFF had just grabbed me a new Zoya called Mason and I knew I had to use it so it formed the base of the design.

The silver was just a nail pen that I used to draw on the solid silver area and then the fractured look over the purple.

with flash

I was going for a fractured type look but one of my friends said it reminded him of a giraffe, lol. This was pretty simple to do but I think the effect is quite cool.

Happy painting friends!

Zoya Galaxy

It's no secret that I have a deep love for Zoya nail polish. I received 15 new ones for Christmas and I am constantly experimenting with them. Today I have a really beautiful design for you featuring a gorgeous polish from the new Zoya Zenith Collection. It's called Payton and I think it's one of the prettiest polishes I've ever used.

Here is the polish pre-clean up. It's such a beautiful beautiful shade of purpley burgundy with a deep shimmer to it. I feel like I was looking into a pool it had such depth.

I thought it would be great to do a galaxy with it and I wanted to use only Zoya polishes to achieve it.

I used Piaf (a gold shimmery polish), Jacqueline (a beautiful beige cream), and Seraphina (a light silver).

I layered the polishes on with a sponge from dark to light. Then I added in some "stars" with a bronze nail pen.

What do you think? It's not your traditional colours for a galaxy mani but I love this colour combo. The only thing I wish is that I had left a little more of the base colour showing.

On to more adventures with my Zoya!!

Happy painting friends!

Ahoy Matey

I got a new sweater on the Boxing Day sales that is a light beige with orange anchors all over it and I thought it might be cute to recreate on my nails.

I started with a base of Zoya Jacqueline, a really beautiful nude colour from Zoya's Lovely Collection. I then went in with the end of a skewer (because I didn't have my dotting tools to hand) and added on the polka dots in OPI Jinx a very vibrant orange texture from the Bond Girls collection.

I attempted to do a small anchor on my index finger.

I really like the colours but I wish my work was a bit cleaner. I know you shouldn't blame your tools but I wish I'd had my proper ones so my work would have been more exact.

Look how gorgeous this orange texture is though! I'm in love with it and I'm sure I'll use it a lot in the future.

What inspires you?

Happy painting friends!

Zoya Zenith Collection Glitter Gradient

As I said in yesterday's post I received 15 new Zoya polishes for Christmas. 5 of those polishes are the new Zenith Collection of which I featured Dream yesterday. Today I have two more from the collection for you. Zoya Seraphina (a really pretty light silver) and Mosheen (a light blue glitter topper).

I decided to do a glitter gradient using these two polishes and I was very pleased with the result.

The Mosheen gives a very subtle blue gradient to the silver.

I didn't have a sponge (which is usually what I would use to do a glitter gradient) so I did a technique that I read on a blog and I will have to try to find out which one that was. Basically you start by painting the glitter topper over 2/3 of the nail. The next coat you paint a little less of the nail and the last coat you just paint the tip. If your base is sheer enough, it will give a really cool gradiation.

I could have used with some cleanup on this look! I'm using my new camera now and it is both a blessing and a curse. It gets really close up which is great for detail but it shows off every mistake you make, lol.

So far I love love love the Zoya Zenith Collection. All the colours are so pretty! If you are in Canada, you can order Zoya through Nail Polish Canada. If you live in the States, you can order it directly from Zoya.

Happy painting friends!

How Many New Polishes?! (Zoya Dream Swatch)

My sis in law asked me today how many polishes I got for Christmas so I did a quick count and found I got 85 new polishes! Crazy! I think about 35 of them are minis but that's still a lot of polish. I ain't complaining though :)

It's going to take me awhile to get through all of these but I've already made a good crack at it and I'll be featuring some nail art with my new colours.

Today however is just a swatch of a new Zoya I got. (Santa was kind to me and got me 15 new Zoyas!)

This is Zoya Dream and it is an absolute dream!!

This is two coats and the formula is everything I have come to expect from Zoya. It goes on amazingly well and I think it looks like the late evening sky. It has such depth and is just amazingly pretty.

It's so gorgeous I didn't want to cover it! I imagine I will use this polish a lot in nail art though.

Happy painting friends!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Well tomorrow is the night that Santa finally comes and so of course I had to do some Santa nail art. I actually did these a while ago but I knew I wanted to post them closer to Christmas day.

I started with two coats of Zoya Delilah and then painted on the Santa suit details using nail pens.

Although I'm only posting my left hand, I did do the design on both hands. It's just so hard to take pictures of my right hand!

I love how Christmassy this design is and I ended up wearing it for a few days I liked it so much!

Happy painting friends!

Christmas Glitter Polka Dots

I wanted to do something a bit glam for the season and since I've been trying to do both hands (as only one hand done is weird when you're in public) I needed something that was reasonably easy. Dotting is a beautiful pattern and rather easy to do on both hands.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Diamonds which is a beautiful gold shimmer. I then went in with my dotting tools and did various sizes of Zoya Delilah (red), Tomoko (gold) and an unnamed Color Club green.

These pictures are of my ever elusive right hand! Let me tell you how hard it is to take pictures using your left hand. I need to practice apparently.

Happy painting friends!