NAILPALOOZA

He once was a little green ball of clay…GUMBY! I painted my nails green. It was sooo boring. But I loved the color because it instantly reminded me of Gumby (my favorite television show when I was growing up). So, I did what all nailistas would do: I grabbed some brushes and started painting the characters on my nails. I included a blockhead, even though they’re the bad guys, because sometimes they weren’t SO bad. Which character is your favorite?

[Don’t know Gumby? Read more about Art Clokey and Gumby!]

1 month ago 5 notes View high resolution

Pretty party! For once, I am not wearing teal or blue on my nails. Opted for bright fuchsia and multi-color sparkles with rhinestone accents. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. I just miss my blues :)

1 month ago 2 notes View high resolution

I got 99 problems and my nails ain’t one. So since Christmas, I have been holding onto a gift card for an art supply store. I finally decided to splurge and buy some gold flakes, as we both have seen a couple manicures that were beautiful and made use of some. It’s difficult to work with, and hard to apply accurately as I have no experience or technique, but the results are AWESOME! I opted to apply it abstractly since this was my first shot at it, but I want to try some more defined shapes next time. Any tips for application in the future?

[Peach/pink lace scarf for sale here.]

2 months ago 18 notes

Val had earlier mentioned how Deborah Lippmann’s Mermaid’s Dream is hard to photograph, and it definitely is because it is so shiny/sparkly. It’s pretty opaque for a glitter polish, and this is one coat over China Glaze’s Re-fresh Mint.They’re both great additions for spring time.

2 months ago 5 notes View high resolution

I haven’t posted in ages! But I am now on Spring Break and am hoping to catch up a bit…This manicure is one coat of Orly’s Passion Fruit (which explains the translucence on the tips) with one coat of Essie’s Shine of the Times.Passion Fruit is one of our favorite neon pinks, and we also love Shine of the Times to brighten up any mani.

2 months ago 5 notes View high resolution

Mermaid’s dream glitter explosion. So this Deborah Lippmann polish is gorgeous, and so glittery that taking an accurate photo of the color is nearly impossible (think constant glare). It’s a seafoam green with a golden shimmer and turquoise glitters throughout, it looked rather translucent at first but I only needed two coats. As if it wasn’t glittery enough, I added some Milani - Teal glitters at the base of each nail, with clear rhinestones on the ring fingers to mimic the look of “bubbles.” The result = splashtastic.

2 months ago 24 notes View high resolution

Hey everyone! Maddie and I are both San Francisco bound (she left this morning, I leave tomorrow morning). Any tips on cool nail happenings/shops to check out in the bay area over the next week?

We will resume posting next week, have a GREAT weekend and HAPPY MARCH!

2 months ago 1 note

Robin’s Eggs On My Nails. I love robin’s eggs, not just the tiffany-blue-turquoise hue, but the little brown splatters that sometimes show up, so I tried to recreate it on my nails. The base is a franken that Maddie and I mixed a few months ago (we need to mix more as we almost used the WHOLE BOTTLE!) and I added some China Glaze - Refreshmint streaks over the top for contrast. The brown is a Bareille color, the sticker is gone, but it’s a deep chocolate brown.

It sort of reminds me of dinosaur eggs. Or those egg-shaped bubblegums you find in your Easter eggs that are all splattered and neon colored. Either way it’s egg related so I think it was a success.

3 months ago 76 notes View high resolution

Summer brights! Because I’ve been in a nail painting rut lately, and because I couldn’t pick any single color. I picked all my favorites and put ‘em on my hands. It was fun to look at it and pretty much matched any outfit (since it has every color in it). Also helpful for comparing colors/formulas for future nail painting endeavors.

[Seashell necklace for sale here.]

3 months ago 5 notes View high resolution

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! And now that it’s almost over, let’s kick it into WARM WEATHER mode!

Here’s the high-res images from the Lara Miller Summer 2012 photo shoot I mentioned a couple months ago. I mixed my own polish for the shoot, a creamy near-fluorescent yellow with a slight golden shimmer. I wore two coats in the photos and MAN it looked gorgeous! If you love bright colors, insanely versatile yet comfy pieces, and Eco-friendliness, then check out the rest of the summer collection on her website. Photos by Bret Grafton.

3 months ago 4 notes

Sweet and tough textured nails. These are the nails I wore for the Lara Miller shoot earlier this week. I did a watercolor effect using China Glaze: Refresh-mint as the base, with OPI: Fly and Sally Hansen: Pacific Blue as accent colors. Then I carefully placed studs on my ring fingers to give some texture, it looks a lot like snake skin in real life. Love the look, the colors, everything. I could wear them forever!

3 months ago 4 notes View high resolution

Yesterday I had the awesome pleasure of modeling for Lara Miller, who coincidentally loves nail art as much as me and Maddie do :) You might remember that last time I worked with her, she let me mix and wear my own polish for the shoot. This time we shot her Fall 2012 collection and some bridal, all beautiful and eco-friendly/organic knits in some seriously awesome colors. I was totally inspired and rocked textural nails to pair with the collection. I’ll post the high-res photos of my nails from both shoots when I get copies, but for now here’s a behind-the-scenes pic. If you look REALLY closely at my thumb, you can try to guess what colors I’ve got on my nails.

Check out zpetals for more on the shoot!

3 months ago 7 notes View high resolution

Essie “Matte About You” issues?

So I decided to matte my manicure last night just to find that my nails still are not fully dry! We both seem to have this issue whenever we use Essie’s Matte About You. Our nails stay tacky for over a day (maybe even more, we re-do them by then!), and it is suuuuuper aggravating. Is it just us, or does anybody else have these issues with the topcoat??

3 months ago 8 notes

Cartoon heart tips! Alright so Valentine’s Day is the one season that I LOVE with the exception of the colors: pinks and red, ugh! You all know by now that I’m a blue/teal girl. So I did some heart tips but changed it up and used grey and blue instead of the typical V-Day color palette. Added a dark outline and white highlight to make ‘em pop. I love the outcome, plus they were super easy & quick to do.

[Loving that seashell necklace? Get it here.]

EDIT: After just browsing my dash I realized that Nailside’s cartoon hearts look similar, and although I wasn’t looking at hers when I did my own, she did it first, so go check out her take on the cartoon hearts!

4 months ago 17 notes View high resolution

WHERE ARE YA SUMMER?! Decided to go bright this week with our own robin egg franken and Orly’s Passion Fruit. The holidays are over, we’re ready for NEONS and WARM WEATHER!

Anyone else dislike cold weather as much as us? UGH.

4 months ago 363 notes View high resolution

Essie “Matte About You” issues?

Essie “Matte About You” issues?

NAILPALOOZA

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