Deck of Cards

Hello readers! I have another stamping design for you today. Today’s post is inspired by a deck of cards! An idea thought up by my lovely best friend, Tara. I had done this design on my toes and when my best friend saw it she said, “Aw how pretty, they remind me of cards.” This girl loves her cards, so I took her word for it and decided that would be a really cute idea for a manicure. So voilà!

For my deck of cards, I used a blue design and my accent nail is of the four different suits. I originally was going to make a couple of my nails actual cards but because my nails are so small, it was turning out to be an impossible task.

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie Ridge filling base coat
• Base colors: Ulta Bam-blue-zled, OPI Alpine Snow
• Stamping colors: NYC Skin Tight Denim, Konad Black & Ulta Non-stop Red
• Stamps: BM 21, BM 19
• Top coat: Seche Vite

Above is a picture of my toes! This is the design that inspired today's mani! As for the design, I really like the way my right hand came out, my left hand didn't turn out as well. In fact I had to redo my left hand several times and then just got sick of it. Would you try a deck of cards mani? What would you do differently? I hope you enjoyed my post! 

Until next time,
Erin

Parrot Nails

Hello all! I have an interesting design for you today. Initially, today’s post was going to be about the fan brush method but it ended up evolving into something completely different. I had purchased nail art brushes from Bundle Monster, a while back, which included a couple of fan brushes. I have never used this type of brush before and thought It would be fun to give it a try. So I used two colors and dipped the end of the brush into the polishes and applied to the nail with a couple of brush strokes. I wasn’t to happy with the brush because it decided to clump instead of remaining fanned out. Perhaps I should have used acrylic paints instead of polish but hey, that’s what experimenting is for.

After the polish dried, I realized the strokes looked like feathers, so I decided to add on my feather pattern from BM 214. I choose to use a red color for the stamp because I knew it would stand out more (the whole green and red are contrasting colors thing.) Plus when I think of parrots, I see the color red.

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie ridge filling base coat
• Base color: Clear Polish
• Polishes used for fanning: essence Lime Up! and Color Club Age of Aquarius
• Fan brush
• Stamp: BM 214
• Stamping polish: Ulta Non-stop Red
• Top Coat: Seche Vite

Have you tried the fan brush method? Would you? I plan to try this method once again but instead of using polish, I think I’m going to use acrylic paint. I hope you enjoyed my post.

Until next time,
Erin

4th of July

Hello my lovely readers! Happy 4th of July to those of you in the States! I am proud to be an American, so to show my patriotic spirit, I have two designs for you today. I decide to do two different ones, since Blake kept saying that the blue I used for the first design looked black and not blue. I swear the boy is color blind. I hope you all enjoy my post for today.

So here is the first design that I did. I love how it came out, expect for the big stars. I need to get a better star stamp. The blue polish I used is dark but the color on the flag is a navy blue and this was the darkest blue I had. In the sunlight you could see the blue highlights of the polish better but I was unable to take photos outside. 

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Base color: essence Hard to Resist, Ulta Non-stop Red 
• Stamps: BM 14, BM 20
• Stamping color: Konad White, Princess 
• Top coat: Seche Vite 

As for my second design, I used a lighter blue (which made Blake happier) and the little image of stars that I had. I also slanted some of the strips to try and create a rippling effect of a moving flag. I was a little disappointed in my stamping skills here, I think the stripes look a little bit sloppy. 

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Base color: OPI Suzi says Feng Shui, Ulta Non-stop Red
• Stamps: BM 14, BM 20
• Stamping color: Konad white, Princess
• Top coat: Seche Vite 

Have you tried patriotic nails? I used the flag as my inspiration, but where do you find inspiration for patriotic nails? I think next year I am going to try to do a water marble or something with fireworks. I'm very proud of where I live and who I am, and I plain to spend the night munching away of classic American fair. I hope you all have a lovely evening. Spend it with the ones you love! 

Until next time, 

☮Erin

Game of Thrones

Hello fine readers! Today's post is bond to be long. I never intend to write long posts, it just happens. It doesn't help that today's post is about my latest obsession; the book series/ TV show, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, better known as Game of Thrones on HBO. I am currently enjoying the third installment of the book series, A Storm of Swords, and with the second season of the series just wrapping up, I wanted to do a nail art design in celebration of the awesomeness of the books and show.

If you have not seen the show nor read the books than I would like to warn you of SPOILERS! I'm going to explain my design and I would hate to ruin anything for anyone, so here is your warning.

The setting for my design is book 2/season 2. I wanted to do a nail art design for every "King" (despite my feelings for some of them *cough Joffery cough*) and I also wanted to represent most of my favorite characters. Sadly I had to leave out the onion knight, but I'm sure to do more designs later.