Before & After: Simple Superbowl nails

Hello!!

Today I have a quick post, to show you the nails I wore to the superbowl party I attended. I'm going to keep it short because my team lost, so I'm pouting a bit...but I'm still proud I represented and I'm sure they'll go all the way next year!!

I started with a base of Maya For Michelle (Indie Alert!). You know I love red, and you know my name is Michelle, so how could I possibly NOT buy this polish? I didn't disappoint--it's a very earthy red, just different enough from anything else I have to make it worth it. Plus...there is a pretty pink shimmer to the finish when the light hits it:

In inside light, the pink doesn't show as much, and the first time I wore this polish, it struck me what a perfect polish it would be for a San Francisco 49ers manicure. I used some french-tip guides to add cool gold tips, using Barry M Gold Foil. Finally, I stamped a little helmet on the accent nail using Konad Black and Cheeky plate CH35:

Go Niners!

Don't worry, there's always next year!

I am so proud of those crisp lines, all due to some awesome tips from my readers! I did a tape mani a short time ago, and got some lines that were not straight. I asked if anyone had any tips for doing better, and I got two great ones that worked really well here:

1) Citygirl907 told me that I should try to make sure the edges of the tape/guides are pressed down really well so I don't get leakage. I pressed down very, very hard on this mani, lol.

2) Vwolf suggested I do a coat of topcoat before painting the tips. So I did. :)

3) Snookie Wegner told me to start with my brush on the tape/guide, and brush away from the tape/guide, down off of it across the nail. So I tried it that way.

I don't know if it was only one of these tricks that worked, or the combination of all three, but something definitely worked and I'll be doing all three of these from now on! So for any of you who struggle with this type of manicure, give these tricks a shot. If they can get zig-zags this nice, they can work for any sort of taped-off mani. :)

Thanks everyone for your help with the tips, and thanks for reading!

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: T is for Travel

Hello!!

One of the things I've fallen a bit behind on is my Llama Nails Alphabet challenge. I'm only one week behind, luckily, so now is the time to catch up!

The letter of last week was 'T'...and I decided to go with 'T' for Travel. :)

I decided to go with a vintage look, like old letters or postmarks, so I went with sepia-type tones. I started with a base of Barielle Aura Angora, a pretty butterscotch shade, if you like burnt oranges (which I do!):

Barielle Aura Angora in direct light

Barielle Aura Angora in the shade

Next, I saran-wrapped some China Glaze Kalahari Kiss over the base color (except on the accent nail). Finally, using China Glaze Mahogany Magic, I stamped some postmarks and flags with Drikk-C and my Cheeky XL plate:

What do you think? I like the vintage feel, but I wish I had some cool old time ships and trains that I could have stamped along with the flags. :)

Thanks for looking! Please check out the other 'T' manicures, linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Review: Diamond glequins from Born Pretty Store

Hello!!

Recently Born Pretty Store sent me some beautiful diamond-shaped glitter to review; they're little diamond-shaped glequins and I've been having so much fun playing with them. :)

I recently got some gold diamond glitters from another store, and they were $1 for a very small amount. But here is how much you get from Born Pretty Store for $2.38:

The only way I'm gonna run out of these is if I sneeze into the container, lol!

A few days ago I showed you a sneak peek of these glequins in this manicure:

But I've also done a second manicure with these as the main decoration. I started with a base of Impala Deitar Na Rede, a greyish-purple with pink flecks:

Then I stamped a diamond-mesh pattern on the ring finger, and placed the glitters inside of the shapes from the stamp. On the other fingers I put four diamonds together to make a bigger diamond pattern:

These glitters are very easy to use, just like any other glequin. Just put a dab of top coat on your nail where you want the glequin to stay, then put a tiny bit more top coat on your dotting tool and touch the top of the glequin you want to pick up. It will adhere to your dotting tool, and then you can put it right on to the dot of top coat on your nail. Voila!

You can find these on the Born Pretty Store site by clicking here. If you don't like silver, they have several other colors to choose from; they also have other shapes to choose from, as well. Don't forget that you can use my discount code to get 10% off this and anything else you want from the site--they have a ton of very cool stuff:

Thanks for looking!

Xoxox,
M.

(The glitter in this review was sent for an honest review.)