Rosy Spiderweb

Hello Lovelies! I enjoyed my previous mani so much that I decided to take another creepy theme and give it an elegant twist. Many people are horrified and disgusted by spiders, I personally find them tolerable except if they're on me. I decided it was time to give spiders a prettier appearance...

Materials I used:
Basecoat - Superchic Lacquer "Bring it On!"
Bornprettystore.com stamping plate - QA26 item
Mundo  De Unas "Silver" stamping polishes

XL squishy stamper and scraper from Fab Ur Nails

Polishes - China Glaze "Seeing Red", "Spring in My Step", & "Petal to the Metal"

Green Nailart striper
Dotting tool
Small Brush
Spider charm from Bornprettystore.com item #16739
Topcoat - Superchic Lacquer "Marvel"

 

I stamped spider web images over all my nails directly over a clear basecoat.  I varied the direction of the webs just to keep things interesting.

I then hand painted roses over the webs.  I used a medium sized dotting tool to create roundish red and pink dots. Then using a small detail brush and medium pink polish I drew semi circles and dots over both the red and light pink flowers. I repeated this pattern with white over the light pink and the red to give it more depth.  Lastly, I added green leaves for more color.

 

Since I varied the direction of the webs, I also varied the area that I placed the roses on each nail.  I performed a clean up with gentle acetone and a brush and added a topcoat. 

I then added a pretty spider charm amongst its beautiful rose garden.

I really like creating these more elegant and feminine Halloween designs and hope you enjoy them too. Also, be sure to use code CREATEX31 when you place your next bornprettystore.com order for 10% off.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 

Color Club Oil Slick Swatches and Review

Hello Lovelies! Today, I have swatches of the awesomely gorgeous Oil Slick Collection from Color Club. It has been a while since I've purchased a mainstream collection. I vowed to dedicate most of my purchase power to indie brands, which I'm glad I did. However, I've always loved Color Club and I've been drooling over this collection ever since I first saw it. When HB Beauty Bar had a Columbus Day sale I could hold back any longer and finally made the purchase. 

This collection is a multi chrome collection. This means each polish shifts in color under different lighting. It was very difficult to catch this in the photographs but I did my best. I would recommend you try to see these polishes up close and personally to enjoy their full beauty. 

All swatches below are photographed indoors under daylight lamps. There is no topcoat on these swatches and I used a peel off basecoat to speed up the swatching process. If you have heavily ridges nails I would recommend using a ridge filler basecoat for a cleaner appearance. 

Burnt Out 

This little lovely shifts from a reddish to coppery orange. This shade is firery and very inviting. This is fully opaque in only one coat. 

Ice Breakers 

Unlike Burnt Out this shade is a cool silvery blue with a slight purple tone to it. This is mostly opaque with one coat but fully opaque with two.

Don't Kale My Vibe 

This is a gorgeous green that shift to a golden green. This color is so rich and the gold tones makes it nice and warm. Fully opaque in two coats.

Cash Only 

This ended up being my favorite polish of the entire collection. This is an awesome silver almost blue-ish shade that shifts to a bronze. It is phenomenally gorgeous in real life. It was also fully opaque with one coat.

We'll Never Be Royals 

This polish is very appropriately named. It is a very pretty royal purple that has a reddish burgundy shift to it. This was very interesting because under some lighting it is very cool and in others it's very warm. Fully opaque with two coats, however one coat would have worked too if you apply it generously.

Sorry, Not Sorry 

This is the softest and most feminine shade of the entire collection. In the bottle it appears very pink. Once it's applied you can see it is an almost dusty pink with a golden orange shift that is very inviting. Fully opaque in only one coat.

It's Raining Men 

This is another rich and royal shade that shifts from a gorgeous blue to a slight purple shade. Amazingly opaque with one coat. 

I am so pleased with this purchase. I have yet to be disappointed by Color Club. The colors and opacities of this entire collection are absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend you try to see these polishes in real life so that you may truly appreciate their real beauty. 

For those of you who are curious I created the look on my accent finger by spot sponging all the shades of the collection. I did this because I wanted to see how well the colors would blend, which you can see that they blend very well. 

I hope you enjoyed these swatches and found the review insightful. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time. 

Your Fellow Plebe,

Halloween Damask

Hello Lovelies! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, those of you that have followed my blog for awhile are probably already aware of this. When most people think of Halloween they think of ghostly specters, haunted houses, blood, guts, and gore. However, I present to you a different side of Halloween, a bit of gothic elegance. These are my Halloween damask nails...

Materials I used:
Basecoat -  Dream Polish "Smooth Gem Basecoat"
Polishes - Zoya "Penny" & Sinful Colors "Black on Black"
Fleur De Lis vinyls from Lou It Yourself
Pueen image plate 23
Fab Ur Nails XL squish stamped and scraper
Black stamping polish from bornprettystore.com use code: CREATEX31 for 10% off your next purchase
Topcoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Marvel"

I began with black polish on my pinky and thumb, and I painted my three remaining fingers orange. I created this nail design for this weeks Nail Art Nation orange prompt, so I wanted orange to be the dominant color.  I also applied a quick drying topcoat on my ring finger.

I applied a Fleur De Lis vinyl on my ring finger.

I stamped the metallic orange over the black and black over the orange.

After a quick clean up with gentle acetone and a brush, I sealed it all with a quick drying topcoat.  It is especially important to use a topcoat when using vinyls as a decal, this ensures that they won't peal off.

I love this design, it is a very feminine and pretty version of Halloween nail art that can be worn any day and any where.  I particularly like the subtle metallic orange over the black, it has a somewhat  ghostly affect.  I hope you enjoyed these slightly different halloween-esque nails, thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe

Nail Art Nation Many Swap - Team Cryza

Hello Lovelies! Today, I have a mani swap for you, but its not just any ol' mani swap. As many of you know I am a member of a wonderful Google+ Community, Nail Art Nation. This is a great community that allows like minded nail fanatics to get together and share their creations, hauls, questions, concerns, and various other nail related topics. Recently, our wonderful NAN moderators came up with the idea to have a random group mani swap. The rules were very simple, volunteer to participate, then you'd be assigned a partner.  Once we were assigned a partner we had two weeks to recreate one of their nail art designs. I almost didn't participate because my schedule has been a bit crazy lately, but they needed one more participant to make an even team, so I made time. I was paired with the amazingly talented Eliza and thus we were named team Cryza!

The hardest part of this mani swap was picking which mani of Eliza's to recreate.  Eliza's artwork is beautiful, and I wanted to recreate a design that I could do justice.  I was also having a hard time picking just one, because they are all so pretty.  After selecting a few that I really liked and I thought I could recreate without creating shame, I randomly selected a design.  I ended up choosing her "Sand on the Asphalt" mani and she recreated my "Dotted Stripe" nail art design.

In Eliza's original nail art design she used textured polishes to create her interesting geometrical design.  Sadly, I do not own any textured polishes (I don't care for textures on my fingers), so to create a similar affect I used holos over a crème base.

For my version of this nail art design, I used Color Club "Tall, Dark, & Handsome" for my base, which is a cologne scented crème polish from The Love Tahiry collection.  For my two accent holo colors I used Gothic Gala Lacquers "Dash My Wig" from the Victorian Era collection, and "Make it So" from the limited edition Star Trek collection (no longer available).

Eliza has a wonderful tutorial/pictorial on her blog, "Me, Myself and My Nails", I recommend you go check it out.  While you are there, please follow her blog and check out all of her other fantastic designs, trust me you won't be disappointed.  You can also find her on Instagram @okeliza. 

I hope you enjoyed the nail art in this very fun mani swap.  I can't wait for NAN to hold another swap, I'll be sure to sign up for it.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

Witches Brew

Eye of newt, wing of bat, tail of rat, wolves fang, ravens claw, bones from the dead, and blood of the damned.  These are the ingredients that I stew in my witches brew. What is Halloween without an icky gross concotion?

Materials I used:
Basecoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Bring it On!"
Polish - Sparkle with Pop Polish "Lime Explosion"
Sinful Colors Glow in the Dark topcoat
Various stripers and acrylic paints
Small brushes and dotting tools
Topcoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Marvel"

Sparkle with Pop's "Lime Explosion" is an awesome lime green crelly with white circle and hex matte glitters. For this nail art design I used two coats, topped with two coats of GITD topper. I also applied a layer of quick drying topcoat because I used acrylic paints to create the design.

I then hand painted the various ingredients of my witches brew using strippers, and acrylic paint with dotting tools and small brushes.

The glow in the dark polish makes this fun and creepy when the lights go out.

These nails are perfect for Halloween!  You can put anything you'd like in this design, what would you put in your witches brew?  I hope you enjoyed these icky nails, thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

Rosey Nails

Hello Lovelies! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.  Today, I have a quick simple stamped mani to share with you.  I created these for this week's Nail Art Nation prompt: Red. This prompt was perfectly timed because I have had an untried red polish from Sincerely Polish I won over the summer I've been wanting to use, plus I wanted to use my Uber Chic plates I recently purchased. 

Materials I used:

Basecoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Bring it On!"

Polishes - Sincerely Polish "Sparkly Rose" & "Barenaked Luck"

Polish for stamping - Chaotic Glitz "Little Black Book"

Stamping plate - Uber Chic 5-01 

Fab Ur Nails squish stamped and scraper

Topcoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Marvel"

I began with two coats of this beautiful sparkly red from Sincerely Polish on all fingers except for my ring finger which I accented with off white with gold flakies in it. 

I stamped the full multiple rose image over the red. I decided to use a semitransparent black instead of an opaque black for a more subtle look, however, this black also has a little sparkle.

Over the off white I stamped the large single rose image. 

I cleaned up my cuticles with a bit of gentle acetone and a brush and applied a glossy topcoat.

I am not a huge fan of reds, mostly because they stain my skin so easily but this is such a gorgeous color. Its elegant and sexy !  I am so excited that I am getting better at stamping too, because stamping is such a quick way to do nail art once you get the hang of it. 

I hope you enjoyed this vampy red nail art design, its a bit different for me but I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your fellow Plebe,

Sugar Spun Candy Corn Nails

Hello Lovelies!  We are officially one week into October, which means that Halloween is only three weeks away! Many of you already know that Halloween is my favorite holiday ever! For many people Halloween is all about the candy and goodies, so I decided to represent with the most iconic Halloween candy of all, candy corn.  Personally, I don't like candy corn but I love the colors and everybody thinks Halloween when they see them.  Last year I created a gradient candy corn design, so this year I wanted to try something a little different...

Materials I used:
Basecoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Bring It On!"
Polishes - Sinful Colors "Black on Black", Butter London "East End" & "Brick Lane"
Scotch tape
Toothpick
Topcoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Marvel"

I began with a black base polish topped with a quick drying topcoat.

Once dry, I prepped my finger by placing two pieces of scotch tape to create a triangular shape on my finger.  Using my Uber Mat as a work surface, I placed three dots of polish in white, orange, and yellow.  In order to create a sugar spun design the polish needs to thicken enough to become stringy.  When you are able to pull the polish up with a toothpick its ready for spinning.  Stir the polish a bit with the toothpick to speed up the process a bit.  When the polish is ready, simply pull strings of polish across the nail until you are satisfied with the coverage,  I repeated this process with each color.

When finished spinning, remove the tapes.  Clean up with gentle acetone and a brush if necessary.  I chose not to apply any topcoat over this, because I didn't want to ruin the textured affect.  If you choose to use a topcoat be sure to allow ample time for the design to dry, otherwise it will run when you apply the topcoat.

Even though I don't like the taste of candy corn I love this look, and it was incredibly easy to create.

I hope you enjoyed this quick simple Halloween nail art design too.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,