Rose (Valentine's Manicure)

Geez... how many more Valentine themed manicures am I going to do?? The problem is: I have soooooo many Konad plates and I want to get some use out of them all!

Before I decided to add the glitter:

I've determined that layered designs need 3 elements to look complete [in my opinion]. Don't you think my nails are missing something in this photo? That's why I added the glitter :)

Base: OPI Elephantastic Pink

Rose: M25 in Silver (Konad Special Polish)

Heart Bunch: M59 in Red (Konad Special Polish)

Glitter: Nfu Oh GS09

Here is the look pre-rose:

Personally, I like the nails with just the hearts... but I really wanted to try out that rose.

And below is a hand shot. (Pre-glitter)

Hearts and a Bow (Valentine)

This is another very simple Valentine's Day manicure. I stamped in hot pink which is a very hard color to capture. The color on the left side of my nails is more accurate than on the right. For some reason, it looks like I did gradient stamping.

Base: OPI Mod About You

Background Stamp: M79 in White (Konad Special Polish)

Hearts & Bow: M59 in Psyche Hot Pink ((Konad Special Polish)

The reason I chose these specific stamps (background design & hearts/bow) is because they both have circles incorporated into their design. I think they complement each other :)

Hand shot. The pink looks purple. Sorry. I couldn't find a way to fix it.

Hearts & Bouquet (Valentine's Manicure)

This manicure has more of an impact in real life. I used China Glaze's Ruby Pumps for the base color so this nail design is actually pretty sparkly. My current camera is lame and doesn't capture the reflection of light off all the glitter :(

Do you see the light pink showing through the white flowers? I don't know why it does that... I stamped the hearts first and the flowers on top of it!

I think I'm going to begin regularly posting photos of my hands when I'm showing you all stamped nails. It just gives you a better idea of how the design looks in real life.

I just received my Konad order in the mail today. Yay! I ordered plates: M20, M77, M78, M79, M80, M81. I absolutely had to try at least one of them! Here is what I used today:

Base: China Glaze's Ruby Pumps

Hearts: M80 in Pysche Hot Pink (Konad Special Polish)

Flowers: M25 in White (Konad Special Polish)

Here is one last photo. The red is probably more accurate in this picture.

It is less obvious that this is a Valentine's Day manicure versus my previous posts. Maybe I should have stamped the hearts in white (so they would have been more prominent) and the flowers in pink. Oh well.

Bedazzled Valentine Hearts

I must admit, this turned out much better than I expected!

Here is the look pre-hearts:

Lately, I've been trying to master layered-stamping. I've learned that the best way to achieve this is to have a subtle background stamp and then a dominant (in this case, a white stamp) design which steals the spotlight.

Base: OPI Kinky In Helsinki

Background: Konad M60 in Psyche Hot Pink

Heart: Konad M59 in White

If you have seen image plate M59 then you know the heart design has a stupid star in the corner of the big heart. Why would they do that!? Hearts and stars don't go together! I applied the rhinestones to cover up the star. I really love the addition of the gem. Now my nails sparkle and feel so glamorous... yes, even in a sweatshirt:

Look how cute they are!

This is another photo in different lighting:

You guys should try this! It's so fun and very Valentine-y! By the way, I don't even like Valentine's Day... I just like pink and hearts :) Have a nice day!!

Tie-up Lace (Valentine's Manicure)

I really love these nails! They are so cool! From a distance you just see the contrast of the red bow on the light pink nails... but as you get closer you see the white lace print.

Base: Italian Love Affair

Lace Print: Konad M71

Bow: Konad M7

Here is just one stamped nail if you want a more subtle look (However, I don't find them overwhelming when all are stamped)

Trick: This made stamping so much faster for me. I used eyeliner to draw marks near my nails for lining up the Konad image. Otherwise, I'd have to visually decide "Ok, I need space for the bow, for the first lace stamp, etc"...

And since some of you enjoyed my last photo of Pete, I thought I'd show you his unique coloring. The pattern in his fur reminds me of a turtle!

Posts that inspired this look: Nihrida's "Lace Up" and Polish and Powder's "Konad M7..."!

Be sure to check them out!

Valentine's Ideas (This is long!)

I'm starting off with a photo of a very lovable kitty... Pete! He decided to join me at the table while I was taking pictures of my nails. He has the prettiest green eyes.

My index fingernail is still very short (the red one) but I wanted to pump out some Valentine's Day manicures anyway. I've been very inspired by all of the other bloggers' posts and had to try some of my own! Below are my initial Valentine's Day color picks:

Thumb: OPI Alpine Snow

Index: OPI Friar Friar Pants On Fire

Middle: OPI Italian Love Affair

Ring: OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

Pinkie: Nfu Oh #67

My bottle of Alpine Snow was painted shut! I have a blood blister in my palm from trying to force it open. After a few tries of holding the polish under hot water and tapping the cap with a butter knife, I got it open! Yay :)

Below are just "base" and "stamping" color combinations. I did this because I was having trouble deciding what colors I wanted to use... so I tried them all! I would not go out in public with these nails...

Oh by the way, it took me FOREVER to pick up the small strawberry image from the Konad plate (M55). Sometimes I think I have faulty plates because I usually have a lot of problems with the very small, detailed designs :( Anyone else feel like I do?

*IDEA!: Ughhhh! I wish I had a brown! It would be cool to make your nails look like chocolate covered strawberries! You know, paint your nails red and then do the tips with brown and maybe take a striping polish to draw white on like dribbled frosting! A brown OPI is definitely going on my "Need To Get" list!

This is an idea that I did not finish (because my pink Konad Special Polish is WAY TOO bright... the phrase was added in Photoshop) but thought someone else could. I chose these colors to represent the little candy hearts that are everywhere during this holiday. All these nails need is a small design or saying to put on the center of each. Then, coat the nails with Essie Matte About You (like I did in the picture) to give them that flat, almost powdery finish!

Thumb: OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

Index: OPI Bikini Envy

Middle: OPI Banana Bandanna

Ring: OPI Italian Love Affair

Pinkie: OPI Alpine Snow

Next I HAD to use my heart tips design from Konad image plate M56... Especially since I'm getting NEW Konad plates in a few days [Yay!] and will most likely favor them over my "old" ones (the majority of them I haven't even used!).

This is a very girly and surprisingly subtle design. The pink doesn't stand out as white tips would. I suppose if you wanted more pizazz, you could do the reverse. You could paint the tips white and stamp the hearts in pink. The colors I used are:

Base: OPI Pearl Of Wisdom

Tips: OPI Pink-ing Of You

Konad Plate: M56

Stripe: So Easy's (Pink Pearl) Stripe Rite

Gosh. Every time I use OPI's Ulta-Mate Berry Beautiful, I am just AMAZED! I'm guessing it's an old formula (it doesn't have the Pro-Wide brush) because it is opaque in one coat and is soooooo shiny!... similar to Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes! I absolutely love this polish.

What I've done here is similar to what would be called "Spot Varnish" in the printing world.

To achieve this, I painted my nails with Ulta-mate Berry Beautiful. The nails that I did not want a heart on I then coated with Essie's Matte About You. I applied Seche Vite to the nails which would have a heart so that they would be extra shiny. Once the Seche was completely dry, I placed a heart-shaped sticker to my nail, pressed it on well, and quickly applied Essie's Matte About You on top before the edges of the sticker lifted from my nail. Lastly, I used tweezers to remove the sticker from my nail. (I think it would be best to remove the sticker before the matte topcoat dries so you don't have rough edges around the shape of the sticker. Do you know what I mean?) Kind of fun!

Well, that is all for now... Thanks for looking!

Update (!)

Hello Everyone! It seems like forever since the last time I posted... I've got a few things to tell you:

1. I went polish shopping on Wednesday and got (6) of the new OPI colors! (A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find, Pearl of Wisdom, Suzi Says Feng Shui, Jade is the New Black, Lucky Lucky Lavender, and Meet Me on the Star Ferry)
2. I uploaded a new template for PHD. I hope you like it! There are still a few kinks I need to get resolved though. Is anyone familiar with code?
3. My nail is almost long enough to continue posting. I said "almost"! It might be another week...
4. And last, I'm saving for a DSLR. I CAN'T WAIT to own one! What does that mean for you? Better quality photos! Below is a Nikon D90... [I think my heart just skipped a beat]