Delicate Print Nails for the #31DC2018Weekly

Hi lovelies,

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I have a simple little stamping mani to share with you today for the delicate print prompt of the #31DC2018Weekly.  I tend to be drawn to stamping plates with delicate floral or abstract images.  They stamp well and you don't have to be very precise with them.  You get a fly manicure every time!

Striped Nails for the #31DC2018Weekly

Hello!

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I am almost caught up!  Today, I have my striped nails to share with you for Week 12 of my weekly version of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge.  I chose of calming colors and a little image of a succulent for this mani.  I have been obsessed with succulents over the past few years.  I am a brown thumb but my mother can make any plant thrive.  So, for Mother's Day this month, I got her a few succulents to start her rock garden off right.  Hopefully, I can watch her grow these beauties now!  My manicure today combines regular stamping with a little reverse stamping.  I think it all ties in well together!

Inspired by Fashion for the #31DC2017Weekly

Howdy!

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Happy Labor Day to all my American friends!  I hope you didn't have to work today.  Even though I did not have to work today, I am spending the day catching up on work.  It never ends!  I am also catching up on the #31DC2017Weekly.  Today, I have a nail art look inspired by fashion.  Specifically, fashion outfits worn by Kit Harington and Rose Leslie at the Season 7 premier of Game of Thrones this summer.  I love Game of Thrones so much and was in a bit of a depression this weekend because the season is over.  So what better way to deal with it than to do some nail art inspired by the series.  Kit and Rose are a real life couple that met on set playing love interests.  How cute is that!?!?  And...they looked great together a the premier.  My manicure is a skittlette that brings both of their outfits together as one.

Celestial Cosmetics and Color4Nails Stamping polishes

Hey there!

Press Sample

Celestial Cosmetics has teamed up with Color4Nails to create a line of stamping polishes.  They have already released a set of creme shades and now have come out with a few holographic options.  I have the 5 new holographic shades to share with you today.  I will be showing you each color stamped over a light and dark base as well at the stamping polish used on it's own.  Overall, there polishes stamped well but you have to be selective on what color based to use them over.  They all showed up nicely over light bases but were iffy over the darker bases.  These new holo shades released on Friday, so let's get into the colors!

Flower Nails for the #31DC2017Weekly

Hello friends!

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This week, we are all going floral nails for the weekly version of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge.  I decided it was time to do more advanced stamping and made some cute flower decals.  For this skittlette mani, I used all Zoya polishes again.  Most of them I had not tried before and I really enjoyed all of the shimmer.

Inspired by a Pattern for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hello!

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For this week's prompt for the #31DC2016Weekly, we are all doing manicures inspired by a pattern.  There are an infinite number of patterns to chose from.  Classic prints, fabric patterns, patterns used in art, patterns seen in nature, modern and ancient architecture...the sources are endless!  I was inspired by Damask patterns.  These are intricate prints that usually have some floral elements to it.  It looks classic and expensive.  I chose a bold Damask inspired image from the UberChic 7-03 plate to create this look.  I started with an alternating base of silver and black the stamped over that base with the opposing color.

The black polish I used was Cult Nails Nevermore and the silver metallic was Sally Hansen Silver Sweep.  Both of these were once coaters and stamped beautifully.  I think I like the silver stamp over black the best but they are both give a nice effect.  I did top this with a glossy top coat.  It would have looked amazing with a matte top coat as well.  Unfortunately, the matte top coat I used absolutely trashed this mani.  So mad.  I should do a matte top coat comparison for you all.  Would you be interested in something like that?

I hope you liked this manicure as much as I did!  It's simple but very pretty.  Be sure to check out the other participants doing the weekly challenge using the #31DC2016Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Next week, the traditional daily version of this challenge begins.  See Sarah's post about the daily challenge here.  So you will be seeing tons of people posting about these same nail art themes all month long.  My challenge will end on the same day at the daily challenge so we can all celebrate completion together!  Yay!


Thanks for stopping by!
 - Amy McG (McPolish)

*products purchased by me*

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Takko Tuesday! - Sakura

Happy Takko Tuesday!

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Today, we are looking at another one of the new creme polishes from Takko Lacquer.  They have created a new collection that will be constantly added to as time goes on.  It is The Curiosity and Exquisites Collection that will include creme polishes and top coats.  "Sakura" is a creme from the initial launch of this collection released this summer.  She is a soft bubblegum pink creme.  This color is super girly and sure to be a hit this summer.  The formula was a little streaky and I needed three coats to even everything out.  A glossy top coat really smooths out the slightly satin finish.  Takko Lacquer uses Vitamin E infused base for their vegan, cruelty-free polishes and it makes them dry a little dull on their own.  Here is what "Sakura" looks like on my way too long nails.

I added a little floral stamping using an Uber Chic plate and Takko Lacquer "Irezumi".  I like the contrast of the soft pink and the bold blue.

Takko Lacquer just had a restock of this color last week and it is still available in the shop!  These creme colors should be continually restocked, so if you miss out on it now it will be back.  Also, there are always the stockist sites you can try your luck at.  Here is all the info on Takko Lacquer!

Takko Lacquer Instagram and Twitter

Takko Lacquer stockists: Color4Nails, Mei Mei Signatures, Femme Fatale

Thanks for stopping by!
 - Amy McG aka McPolish

*products provided by the maker for honest review*

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Geometric Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!

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It is week 16 of the #31DC2016Weekly and we are doing nails inspired by geometric patterns.  I decided to use a fun stamping image from UberChic that is sheet of triangles.  Triangles are my favorite shape, three points where two lines meet (bonus points if you know that lyric, if not you can check it out here).  I really liked how this mani turned out except for one thing.  I should have used a black base under my stamping instead of white. You can see the small defects up close but in real life it isn't obvious.  Check out my little mini advanced stamping tutorial at the end of this post!

Click through for more photos!

Delicate Print Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!

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For this week's prompt, we are doing nail art using delicate print.  Typically, I have always some kind of stamping with a delicate floral design.  But this year, I decided to go more literal.  I used a stamping image from the UberChic Far East 01 plate that was delicate Japanese writing.  So it's the delicate printed word of a pretty language.  I am about 50% sure that the writing on my nails is Japanese.  And I am pretty sure that I stamped them upside down.  So, if it is not Japanese then is must be Chinese.  There are both Japanese and Chinese elements on this plate, so I am unsure.  I'm sorry.   But I think it looks pretty damn cool!

The true star of this mani is the base.  I started with a layer of Essie "Adore-a-ball" which is a sheer off-white jelly.  Then I topped it with two layers of Digital Nails "Crotch Ice" and one layer of Digital Nails "Crush Leaves, Not Dreams".  Both of these are shifty flakie toppers with amazing shifty shimmer.  Crotch Ice is more blue/green and Crush Leaves is more orange/copper.  Both are beautiful and look like magic on the nails.

After stamping over the flakie base with black polish on the UberChic image, I tried both a glossy and then a matte top coat.  You know I have to MATTE ALL THE FLAKIES!  Some of these photos I took under two lights to show off the shiftiness of the flakies.  I also tried to do a black frame around the nail and it just turned out crappy.  But if I had done it correctly, it would have looked bomb.  Oh well!

So what do you think of these nails?  I thoroughly enjoyed them.  Even if the stamp is upside down.  We are just about half way through the #31DC2016Weekly.  The prompts will be getting much more challenging as the weeks go on.  Are you enjoying this series?  Let me know!  And be sure to check out all of the other participants manicures by veiwing the #31DC2106Weekly tag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Join in anytime you would like!

Thanks for stopping by!

*one of the polishes used in this mani was provided for review*

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Takko Tuesday! - Vice and Iconoclast

Happy Takko Tuesday!

Press Sample

Oh boy...there is some awesomeness to talk about today.  Generally, when you hear someone gushing about how great a nail polish is, they are talking about some fantastic color or amazing shimmer.  But today we are talking about some seriously dope staples.  Takko Lacquer is releasing their first black and white creme polishes this month.  They have released one creme polish before but are coming out with 9 cremes this summer.  The first ones I am showing you are Vice and Iconoclast, the one coat wonders.  Everyone needs a good white and black polish.  They are perfect for bases under glitters and other toppers.  They are essential to nail type of nail art.  And they look great on their own for a full manicure.  Takko Lacquer is filling that need now!

Gradient Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Hi friends!

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This week's prompt for the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge is gradient nails.  I attempted a scaled gradient that turned out to be a complete nail fail.  So I ended up settling with a classic two color gradient with a little bit of stamping on an accent nail.  I always like doing gradient nails.  They are sort of messy but always give a nice effect.  I used a makeup sponge for my gradients.  Since I have short nails, the two color gradient seems to work the best.  But I have done up to a four color gradient on my shorties.  I can't get as smooth of blend with four colors as I can with two, so I prefer the two color method.

For this look, I used two Cupcake Polish holographics.  The pink holo is "Barbie Girl" from the Life in Plastic Awesome Sauce Indie Box.  The purple is "Berry Good Looking" which is the most popular Cupcake Polish ever.

My accent nail is a base of "Barbie Girl" with a stamp of "Berry Good Looking" with a design from the UberChic 4-02 Plate.  I used the UberChic XL clear jelly stamper head to make sure the design was centered.  This is quite a girly mani and I really liked it!  What do you think?

Well, we have made it though the first set of prompts for the challenge.  Next week we start on specific nail art techniques.  If you want to see more of this challenge, he sure to check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on these social media outlets: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  There are some great nail art looks out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

 - Amy McG (McPolish)

*some products used in this post were provided for review*

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Black & White Nails for the #31DC2016Weekly

Happy Saturday!

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I hope you all are having a lovely weekend.  I sure am!  Today, for the Black & White prompt of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge (which I am going weekly instead of daily), I have some stamping.  But not your typical stamping.  Today, we are stamping over textured polish.  I have done this once before and was stunned that the images came out so crisp over just a rough surface.  It's magic!

For this mani, I did two coats of Zoya "Dahlia" which is a black textured polish with a little bit of silver sparkle.  It is one of the original Pixie Dust formulas which Zoya isn't making anymore of but you can still find this on their website.  

Then I used Konad White Stamping Polish and UberChic Far East 01 plate and stamped right over the textured polish once it dried.  No top coat was used at all.  Look how crisp those white lines came out?  You would think they would be jagged the bumpy surface but they look super clean.  I really, REALLY liked how this turned out.

Have you ever done stamping over textured polishes before?  It is not a new idea but I just hadn't been doing it a lot.  I anticipate doing manicures like this more often.  Be sure to check out the #31DC2016Weekly tag on your favorite social media platform: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  You can jump in and join me on this nail art journey any time!

Thanks!
- Amy McPolish McG

*all products purchased by me*

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