Piggies in Love!

Welp, in case you hadn't noticed, JANUARY IS ALMOST OVER! I can't believe it. This month has flown by! That being said, I decided to do a fun little Valentine's Day mani. I was looking through my stamping plates trying to decide what to do, and I found this cute little piggy in the Cici and Sisi set I have (plate 05). I also saw a full-nail heart stamp on the same plate, so I decided it had to be done! Also--please excuse my DISGUSTING cuticles! I've been purging film at work and the files dry my hands out BAD! :S

I started with a base coat of Zoya Dove on all the nails. Once dry, I added KBShimmer You Rock My <3 to the pinkies - this polish can be a little tricky; the pieces will tend to want to wad up in a ball with each other and look poopy! Try: dabbing the polish on a plastic baggie and using a toothpick or dotting tool to place the pieces on the nail where desired; applying thin coats at a time; or using nail art tweezers if there are pieces overlapping that you don't like. 

For the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers, I used Zoya Shelby (light pink) and Caprice (darker pink), and Nailtini Bloody Mary (red). I added these in strips across the image, then when I scraped the excess off, I was left with ombre hearts!

Finally, for the cute little piggy on the thumbs! I decided to try "reverse stamping". If you haven't heard of this, YouTube it! It is amazing the designs people do! Anyway, I'm doing one of the simpler versions. So I used a black by Orly (I can't remember the name and I'm too lazy to get up and check! LOL!! Any black will do though) and picked the stamp up on my rubber stamper. Using a small dotting tool, I dotted Bloody Mary on the cheeks of the design. Then I used Caprice to fill in the nose. Last, I filled in the body with Shelby. Then I just stamped it on the nail! Easy as that! I also used the dotting tool and made two hearts with Bloody Mary and Caprice! 

I finished all the nails with a coat of Seche Vite!

Now tell me--do you guys like Valentine's Day, or are you black-hearted Scrooge's like me??

Lacquer Legion February - Adoration

The Lacquer Legion prompt for this month was adoration, and if you know me you know I LOVE (adore) shoes! Plus the cheetah print and bows just make them extra girly and cute don't you think?!

I used Zoya's Dot on fingers 1, 4, & 5, and Essie's On A Silver Platter for 3 & 4. I glued a plastic bow on the 4th finger with nail glue. Then using a Sally Hansen nail art pen in black, I drew a stiletto heel on fingers 1 & 5. Using a dotting tool and ELFs Red Hot, I drew hearts. Using a purple Sally Hansen nail art pen, I drew dots on the toes of the shoes to make a little pouf! 

On the 2nd and 3rd fingers, I made dots with Essie's Play Date. Then using a black nail striper, I made random lines around the dots to create a cheetah print. I finished it all with a top coat of Seche Vite. 

What do YOU adore?

Patchwork Shapes

I LOVE these nails! They are just almost too cute for words ;) Although mine are not as cute as the picture I got them from (saw them on Nails 2 Die For on Facebook--again, the artist was not credited). If I do them again, I think I will use a Sally Hansen nail art pen rather than a thin nail art brush to have thinner lines.

I started with a base of Essie's Sunday Funday. I made the heart, triangle, and square on the middle and ring fingers. Using Sunday Funday and a dotting tool, I made various sized dots in some of the shapes; then using the same color and a thin nail art brush, I made stripes in some of the shapes also. Using a thin nail art brush and Essie's Licorice, I traced around each shape and added hash marks around the edges to represent "stitching". I finished with a top coat of Seche Vite.

Love, Hearts, and Lips

I started thinking the other day that Valentine's Day is only a couple weeks away and I haven't done any new V-day nails yet this year! So this marks the first of hopefully many more mani's before then!

I saw these nails on Nails 2 Die For on Facebook--they didn't have the artists name for credit.

I painted the thumbs and pinkies with Zoya's Raven, the pointer and middle fingers with Zoya's Ali, and the ring fingers with Zoya's Purity. Using a dotting tool, I made hearts on the black nails. With XL stamping plate #2 from Shany Cosmetics, I stamped black lips on the pink nails. I used a Sally Hansen nail art pen in black to write "love" on the ring fingers. And I finished it with a top coat of Seche Vite.