Textured Gradient Tape Mani

Today's nail art was really fun to do.  Eventhough it's messy, it's awesome.  When you sponge a gradient with textured polish, the texture is so much more...textured.  lol I love how much more gritty it gets since the sponge soaks up a lot of the base polish.  Anyway here it is.

I chose this color scheme because it reminds me of Winter and it's getting really cold outside.  I mean Christmas is just around the corner.  So I started with one coat of Zoya Purity for the white.  After that was dry I added the stripes with striping tape and Julie G Sleigh Ride (blue) and Sugar Plum Fairy (purple).  These are by far some of my favorite textured polishes.

So what do you think of this gradient?  Have you tried nail art with textured polish?  Let me know in the comments below.

31DC2013 - Stripes

Y'all!  I really don't like striped nails.  lol But I tried to make the best of today's mani and I decided to show you something never before seen on P.G.R&R! before.  A reciprocol gradient striped mani!

I definitely wanted to make it interesting so I used some really gorgeous polishes...one is a metallic and the other is a duo-chrome.  The skinny stripes show the original gradients, teal at the cuticle and purple at the tip.  The teal metallic polish is Sephora by OPI Mermaid to Order.  The purple duo-chrome is NYC Purple Pizzazz Frost.

So for the reciprocal gradient I just used three pieces of striping tape on each nail and then flipped the colors around.  That's really it you guys!

So what do you think?!  Let me know below...yes that rhymed.  lol

Pink and Black Attack

I didn't really know what else to call it and no, it has nothing to do with Bret Hart.  If you don't know what that means, no stress.  Google it.  lol  So pink and black are not really colors that I particularly like together, mainly because I don't like pink.  However, I wanted to do something fun with Orly Oh Cabana Boy.

So there it is.  This was a really fun mani for me eventhough it's definitely different.  I used striping tape over my bare nail (with base coat actually) in a diamond pattern and then painted two quick and thick coats of Orly Oh Cabana Boy over that.  Where the lines cross I just put black dots and couple of black "pearls" on each nail just for fun.  On my pinky and pointer fingers I painted one coat of Zoya Avery and while it was still wet I dipped my nails in some black beads from Finger Paints.  I think it's called Sweet Tooth.  They were available at Sally's a while ago but I haven't seen them recently.

So yeah!  That's my quick, fun mani that I got to wear for about 2 hours before all the beads fell off.  lol  That's just what happens I guess.

Zoya Sandy Stripes

I had a little trouble with this mani (because I'm too impatient) but I still thought it was too cute to keep to myself.

I started with one, even coat of Zoya Zuza.  Can you all kinda see the fill line?  I'm gonna need a new bottle soon.  I just love this gorgeous shimmery turquoise color.  I knew I wanted to wear it, but I had to spice it up just a little.

So I applied my striping tape in a diagonal pattern and added two coats of Zoya Godiva for some texture.  I didn't wait for Zuza to dry completely so when I removed the tape, some came off but not too much.  And like I said, it's still too cute to keep to myself.

Have a great night!  (:

Nail Art for Less

This is a post I've been wanting to do for a long time, but I just never buckled down to make it happen.  Well today I wanted to get out of the house and what better thing to do when you're bored but shop.  I also don't have a ton of money right now so this post was perfect.

Tonight's post is all about being frugal when it comes to nail art.  I know there are a lot of companies out there pushing nail art supplies for gobs of money so with the popularity rising, I wanted to let you all know that you can create super fun manis for a fraction of the price.

These are all my goodies!  I got so much stuff.  Everything you see here is the essence nail art decoration kit in gold, Minx nail wraps in Summer Splash, All Season Naturals cuticle stick in French Vanilla, A.S.P crystal nail file, Claire's nail jewels, Claire's nail wheel with pearls, studs, and beads, and Claire's striping tape.

Here is the close up (the best I could get anyway) of the Minx nail wraps.  I got these at Ulta in the clearance section.  They had other designs as well, but this was the last one and the best one.  I didn't even read the package either so when I opened it and saw that is was and mani AND a pedi, I was pretty excited.  The price on the package says $4.99 (from $18) but my receipt says $2.99 so another great surprise.  Oh and it was 20% off.  Woot!

Here are some embellishments that I picked up from Ulta and Claire's.  The essence nail decoration kit contains 3 types of gold glitter, some tiny studs, and small sheet of gold flake.  This also comes in silver but they were out.  The Claire's gems and jewels are Buy 1, Get 1 50% off right now, so you should all check it out.  I picked up these beautiful jewel stickers that remind me of an Indian or Bollywood themed nails and the nail wheel is full of rhinestones and studs in silver and gold, but my favorite part is the white and black pearls.

Also at Claire's I saw they had striping tape and although I still have a roll unused, why not pick up more, right?!  I wanted to know how well it worked and it comes with 3 colors, gold, black, and silver.  For $6.50, I thought it was a great deal given the promotion that is running.

Now how could I buy all these goodies and NOT get a top coat?  I couldn't.  So I got the essence gel-look top coat which from what I understand is supposed to leave a super glossy gel finish...so like my Gelous, maybe.  We'll see.  Sally's had a coupon for the All Season Naturals cuticle stick so I thought I'd give it a try.  Oh the coupon was buy the cuticle stick, get the A.S.P nail file FREE!!!  I've never tried a crystal nail file so I'm nervous.  The sound is weird and makes me cringe a little.  lol

And the grand total...

$23.17!!

I really hope this post was helpful for all you ladies on a budget.  I can't wait to try all of my goodies and show you all what I come up with.  If you've found any great deals, let me know.  I'm always on the lookout.  Have a great night!

Crumpet's Nail Tarts Present The April Tri-Polish Challenge

So here we are again for the Tri-Polish Challenge hosted by The Crumpet.  I'm gonna be honest.  I almost forgot about the challenge.  I didn't even realize it was the 3rd week of April already.  Gosh!  How time flies!

The colors for April are pink, orange, and turquoise.  I chose Zoya Kimber (pink), popBeauty Ablaze (orange), and Zoya Zuza (turquoise).  I'm totally loving my color combo so I can't wait to get the rest of these manis done.

This is my favorite mani I've done in a long time.  I usually get really excited about my gradients...when they come out good anyway.  This one came out amazing.

First I did the gradient on all my nails and then used some striping tape to create a lazer effect or I guess more of a starburst.  Then I used a thick coat of Zuza to try and cover the gradient.  You can still see some bald spots, but whatever.  I also didn't want to cover it up completely so I thought a cross print would be fun on my middle and pointer fingers.

I really love the contrast of the colors and how the crosses seem to jump off the nail.  Super cool!  Now I can't wait to brainstorm my next Tri-Polish mani for Thursday.

Merry Christmas!!

Hey Christmas balls!  What are you doing on my nails?!  I didn't want to do the traditional Christmas tree nails (mainly because I couldn't think of anything original) so I came up with this.

I know you all are in the middle of having Christmas with your families so I will make this short and just tell you what I used to make this awesomeness happen.

WHAT I USED:
OPI DS Classic - base color
Zoya Ivanka - lighter green
Zoya Julieanne - purple
Zoya Song - blue
Zoya Kimber - pink
Zoya Veruschka - darker green
striping tape

And on that note, I guess you all thought I forgot about the giveaway winner.  Nah!  I didn't forget, I just thought I'd keep you all waiting.

And the winner is

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OLIVIA GOEHRING!!

Enjoy the rest of your holiday and thanks to all who entered.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

D

Laser Mani

OMG I'm so sorry that I've been a bad blogger this whole week.  It was my first week on the job, and I had so much training stuff to do.  My brain was packed with so much new information that I couldn't bother to come up with a mani.  But now training week is over and I'm back.  To make up for my lack of posting I wanted to do something special for you all, so here it is.  My laser mani!

Ooooh!  It's so amazing!  It came out way better than I expected.  I can't even stop staring at it.  I've wanted to do one of these for so long but couldn't get my tape skinny enough.  Then a lovely lady from the FB group I'm in was nice enough to send me 2 rolls of striping tape.  I couldn't wait to get outside to take a photo in the sun and then it started raining balls outside.  So sadly it only looks good under my mini desk lamp.  Check the photo below to see what I'm talking about.  The holo didn't even show up. ):

Oh well!  When the sun comes out, it's on.  It's gonna be the most stunning mani I've ever done IMO.  Let me know what you all think.


WHAT I USED:
Layla Holo Flash Black - 2 coats
Zoya Savita - 1 coat
striping tape


Later!
D

Fun w/ Stripes

Hey Ladies!


Sorry for the late post, but I've been trying to narrow down which mani to do today.  I have so many new (well...new to me) ideas in my head in the past two days.  I guess if I'm eventually gonna do them all, I had to start somewhere, and since I love stripes, I decided to use my striping tape to create something worth blogging about.  Mission accomplished!

WHAT I USED:
OPI Designer...de Better! - base
NYC Classic Coral Creme (but it's a shimmer) - gradient
Sonia Kashuk Making Waves mini - turquoise
striping tape
BM-215


I'm not really happy with the stamping.  I feel like it ruined it a little, but I wanted to stray from the ever popular stripes and roses mani.  I thought they would look good, but I was wrong.  And I had to double stamp because Making Waves wouldn't show up.  Blah...whatever.  I still think at a quick glance, it looks pretty darn good. (:
D


EDIT: Ok after just looking at the live post, I decided that, yes, I definitely ruined it with the stamping.  However, I fixed it and I hope you all agree and like this better.

Enjoy! (: