Nail Passion

Nail Art is my passion! This blog is all about nails :) I wanted to share my passion with others and be able to connect and follow others who share the same interests! I hope you enjoy my blog :) Feel free to comment, like, share and/or give feedback. (You can also find me on Facebook and Pinterest).

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

SWATCHES

Hello again :P As I was posting pictures from my Halloween mani I remembered that I had done some swatches of a couple new colors I bought and some that I have had for a little while, but never got the chance to do swatches for. When I was in T.J. Maxx recently I came across some nail polishes they had that I could not leave without :) Not only because they cost less, but because they are So Pretty!!



Orly, Stone Cold


I fell In Love with this color the second I saw it!! It's gorgeous! It's the perfect shade of blue with very tiny pieces of glitter. I applied 2 coats and I think it's a very good formula, very nice and opaque :) I think this is definitely one of my new favorites!



Orly, Rock Solid


Orly, Rock Solid...Honestly, I never thought I would love glitter polish as much as I love this one! And I think they named it perfect! ;) It really does look like a rock hahah. A rock that glitters, so more like a crystal than a rock. Like a raw form of Hematite maybe? There is a crystal I'm thinking of, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment :S

This polish is a grey polish with TONS of glitter! I did 2 coats, and for the most part it came out even over the whole nail, but there were a couple of small places that I needed to add just a little bit more polish.



Orly, Black Shatter (Over Sinful Colors, Courtney Orange)


I bought this black crackle polish because I have a few (crackle) colors but not black, and I think if you own crackle polishes you at least need to have a black :P 

The first 3 nails turned out different than I thought they would (the pinky looks like normal crackle polish), but I really like the way they turned out. I'm not sure what I did different, but it was perfect for the orange and black together and doing this right before Halloween. The only thing I did not like about this crackle polish was that once I applied it (like any normal polish) it shrunk completely away from the cuticle, as if I had started below the cuticle. And it looked bad! :S  I'm not sure that I've had that happen before, or if it's normal...I did have to try and get up near the cuticle, but I think I did a decent job, because I can't really tell in the pictures.



Sinful Colors, Exotic Green


I did not get this polish from T.J. Maxx. This is a green I have had for a little while. I bought it at Walgreens when I found out that they were have a sale on Sinful Colors for $.99 each. I just realized I never did any swatches when I bought them, so I figured I still needed to :)

I really like this color green because it's not to dark and it's not to light, plus it has a great consistency. If I remember right, I had to do 3 coats to make this as opaque as I wanted it, but I'm sure you could get away with 2 coats just fine.



Sinful Colors, Courtney Orange



This orange is very unique, the pictures don't quite do it justice. It's kind of a burnt orange mixed with a regular orange and it has a shimmer to it. The shimmer is not quite big enough to call it glitter, but it does sparkle. I hope that makes sense hahah. I used 2 coats and the only downside was that I hadn't cleaned my cuticles that well before this, so the dark color I had on before kind of showed through.


I will be doing more swatches with my newer colors, so check back and feel free to comment :)

HALLOWEEN MANI

Hey guys! I know it's been a few days since I last posted. I ended my 31 day challenge on a good day though, because I had to work everyday after I ended my challenge, and sadly I had no time to paint my nails :( But I think that might be why I was so happy to do my nails today! It was such a relief to be able to sit down and relax and paint my nails :) I did have to file them down since I ended my challenge because some of them started to rip, so in order to keep them from ripping farther I filed them down.

Now seeing as how Halloween is tomorrow I decided I had to do another Halloween mani since it will be my last chance until next year. At first I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, so I decided to think of what comes to mind when I think of Halloween. The first thing I thought of was Halloween candy, especially candy corn. Then I was thinking of Frankenstein, Ghosts, Pumpkins, Spiders, Webs, Cats, Witches and Mummies. So here is what I came up with :)


The candy corn is my favorite :) I started out with that nail and wanted to do the rest of them with the candy corns, but decided to do them all different. But seriously! How cute would it be if I had done all of the nails candy corns? :)



I free-handed this design using China Glaze, Liquid LeatherHappy Go Lucky, Sinful Colors, TimbleberrySnow Me White and Silky Polish, Dupion Tang. I also used my white, black and green striper polishes, and for the most part I used the striper polishes to create all of the designs, but I also used my dotting tools for the eyes of Frankenstein and the Mummy.


This design is so fun to look at :) For me it really makes me feel like it's Halloween time, a fun Halloween, not a gross, gory Halloween :P


I hope you guys have an awesome, safe Halloween! :) I will post a picture of my Halloween costume tomorrow! I am having a Halloween party with my friend so if I remember to take my camera I will post pictures :)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 31, RECREATE A MANICURE YOU LOVE

Good evening! :) Do you guys know what today is? I assume if you saw the title of this post you noticed it's the last day of my challenge :( I'm so sad. But I do have some ideas of what I want to do now :) So don't worry, you will still hear from me!

Honestly I wanted today's design to make my challenge end with a bang, but sadly it's not going to :( at least not in my opinion. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do today. I tested some designs and failed :( but I finally found one that didn't take me very long and turned out cute, but then my photos didn't turn out so great :S idk what's going on today, but at least I do have photos to show you :)


This design is a 'Ruffle' design. I found it from Chalkboard Nails and I changed the colors so I didn't completely copy her design. If you would like to see her design you can check it out here.


I think this is a cute design, but I wasn't thrilled with it. I do like the colors I chose though :) I chose my nameless purple L.A. Colors and China Glaze, Flyin' High, Rich and Famous, Frostbite and Coconut Kiss.


I hope you guys have enjoyed my 31 Day Challenge as much as I have!! I want to plan on doing it about every 6 months? Maybe? lol if not once a year :) If you have any suggestions or recommendations please feel free to message me! I would love to hear from you guys! :)


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 30, INSPIRED BY A TUTORIAL

Hello there! :) Are you excited to see this design today? This design is 'Inspired by a Tutorial' and it wasn't the easiest to decide on haha. There are so many cute nail tutorials out there! I picked this one because it was requested by 2 different people that I do this, so I figured today was the perfect day :)


The original video (which you can see here) titled this as a Lion King design. I think it fits :) It's like an African look and I really like how it turned out.


The colors I used for this design were Sinful Colors, Timbleberry and China Glaze, Happy Go Lucky and Liquid Leather. I also used my black stiper polish to create the trunks of the trees. The entire design (apart from the tree trunks lol) I used a make up sponge, just like in the video.


I like that this design looks kind of complex but it is actually very easy :) and it doesn't take very long. So if you are in the mood to do something fun to your nails, try this one!


Monday, October 22, 2012

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 29, INSPIRED BY THE SUPERNATURAL

Oh my gosh you guys, I only have 2 more days left of my challenge!! :( What am I going to do with myself after I'm done lol...well I know I now have set a standard for myself, and I'm not sure if I will be able to keep a design on for long after doing my nails everyday for the past month :P So I'm sure I'll figure it out. Anywho, on to today's design! I apologize I'm posting so late, but my mother insisted I paint her nails tonight. So she has the same design on her nails that I did yesterday :) She loved them so much she wouldn't pick anything else hahaha. And I have to admit, I thought it was awesome being able to do those skulls on myself, but it's even more exciting for me to be able to do them again on someone else! I don't mean to brag or sound stuck up at all when I say this, but I am very proud of myself and I think I'm getting very good :) Going through all of the designs I have done the past 30 days has kind of blown my mind a little bit lol. I never thought I would be able to do some of the stuff I did....just like today's design ;) Today's design was 'Inspired by The Supernatural'. At first I could not think of anything, so I asked my Facebook followers for their opinion and their answers were, "ghosts, witches, vampires and eyes in fog". And apart from vampires, I decided to do all of them :P



Isn't this so cute!! My mom LOVED this! :) and so did Brandon. It actually turned out better than I thought. When I first started I had done the trees, ghosts and the tombstones and I didn't like it all that much...but after I added in the fog, it seemed to tie it all together :) and Thank Goodness! hahaha I think I probably would have cried if it didn't turn out.



I free-handed everything in this design except for the witch, she is a stamp :P  (from Bundle Monster, plate BM13). It was so fun to see everything come together as I came closer to finishing this design, I love how it ended up making a little scene in the night :) 
I started out with China Glaze, Frostbite and then added in the ghosts with my name-less white L.A. Colors, the tombstones with a mixture of the white and China Glaze, Concrete Catwalk and then the tree's with my black striper polish. The moon is a mixture of the white and Silky Polish, Tussah Sunglow and then I used make up sponges to create the flog, and dotting tools to make the eyes.



This is perfect for Halloween! :) I wish I could keep it on longer than one day. But I am almost done with my challenge! Have you guys liked my designs so far?

Sunday, October 21, 2012

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 28, INSPIRED BY A FLAG

Hello everyone! :) I am more excited about todays design than I thought I'd be. The design for today is 'Inspired by a Flag' and I was just going to do the American flag, but I decided since I have done some designs like that before I wanted to try a different flag. So I got onto Google and searched for flags (and I have to be honest, I felt like I would get in trouble if I painted some of the flags lol...as if I shouldn't for some reason, which is ridiculous). But even after looking through all of the country flags I still couldn't decide what flag to do, I kept looking through google and came across Nascar Flags. I thought that would be fun since I used to go to Nascar races alot when I was younger, but it just seemed so plain lol...and as my sister would tell me, "it's to plain for Tionna's nails!" :P So after searching for a little while I decided to look for a movie to listen to while I painted my nails and I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and decided to do a Pirate flag :)


I had to add a little bit extra to add my personality to it, and I love it! I had to take more pictures because I couldn't get over how cute they turned out!



I free-handed this design with my black and white striper polishes over China Glaze, Liquid Leather. At first I was really nervous I wouldn't be able to free-hand this onto my nails, but I think I did a really good job. And it didn't take me as long as I expected it to lol, I think I'm getting better :) Which is exactly what I wanted to get out of this 31 Day Challenge. 


ARGGHHH!!! 


Saturday, October 20, 2012

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 27, INSPIRED BY ARTWORK

On to design number 2! :) Today's design is 'Inspired by Artwork'. Now I have to say that I took a different approach to this design than most of the other Nail Bloggers I have seen. Instead of finding a piece of artwork to portray, I decided to do the artwork of a child. I used a matte top coat so that it looked like a child scribbled on a chalkboard :) Here's how it turned out!


I thought that this turned out super cute :) and kind of chaotic, but that's what makes it so perfect!


The colors I used for this design are China Glaze, Concrete Catwalk, Happy Go Lucky, Rich and Famous, Silky Polish, Twill Sea and Sinful Colors, Snow Me White and Timbleberry. The matte top coat is by Essie and it's called Matte About You. Now if you are trying to figure out how I created this, I will let you know :) This is a stamp that I have been dying to use! It's Cheeky plate CH16.


So do you guys like this? Or do you think I should have done actual artwork?

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 26, INSPIRED BY A PATTERN

Good afternoon everyone! I apologize about yesterday, I worked all day and didn't get home until late...So! I have 2 designs for you today to make up for it :P


So yesterdays design was 'Inspired by a Pattern', and I love the way this one turned out. I decided to do Jigsaw Puzzles (as you can see) :) I saw a nail shield by Jamberry Nails that looked similar to this and figured out a way to do it myself.



The colors I used were Silky Polish, Viole Serenade, and China Glaze, Flyin' HighHappy Go Lucky and Gaga For GreenI painted the colors in squares and then with my dotting tools, made dots to give it the puzzle look.


The only thing I didn't like about how this one turned out was because the colors I used are my oldest and some of my favorite, so they are pretty thick now. But other than that, I love this design! It's so fun!


Thursday, October 18, 2012

31 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 25, INSPIRED BY FASHION

Hey everyone! So today's design is Inspired by Fashion. I googled "Runway" and as soon as I saw this dress I new this was exactly what I was going to do. The purple color in the dress matched a polish I have almost exactly! You can't tell in the photos of my nails that it's pretty much the same color, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it ;)


This was actually a fun challenge :) I thought it was going to be more difficult, but it was only hard to figure out what I wanted to do because I love fashion! So it wasn't easy to choose, but like I said, as soon as I saw this dress I knew this was the one I was doing :P



For this design I used a Gap polish called, Maia and China Glaze, Fairy Dust, plus a black striper polish. I free-handed the black over top of Maia and Fairy Dust. At first I didn't think I would like it all that much, but after putting on a clear coat I liked it so much more! Top coats are always the life savers!