Day 7 - Black & White

I figured today would be great, and I'd have some insanely awesome inspired idea. I was wrong. I overwhelmed myself and instead went with something simple. Polishes are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.

This definitely didn't turn out as cleanly as I would have liked, but from far away it looks amazing! Hah

I lost a follower and am sad :( Where did I go wrong?!?! *dramatic crying*

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I had tried to scheduled this to post last night and apparently I had it on the wrong day (derp)!

Another stamping semi-fail

I really liked this zig zag pattern. I'd like it much better over some awesome neons, but I worked with what I had and came up with a white and black zig zag that needed a lot of touching up that I was too tired to do at the time. I did however fix one of the major errors by adding two heart-shaped rhinestones, pink and red. I feel like this has the potential to be a great manicure with a little practice on my end! It's super hard to get straight designs with stamping, or maybe it's just me.

Flash! 

Black stamping polish is a PAIN to clean up on the cuticles. Seriously need pure acetone to do it. I plan on making my own polish remover at some point. 

Cuticle report: These pictures don't show it, but my cuticles are coming along nicely. They were jagged and rough a few weeks ago, but with constant moisture and lots of attention, I am finally pretty proud of my hands. Hopefully some future photos will actually showcase what I mean. 

Thanks for reading!

Skull stamps (possible fail)

Stamping isn't as easy as it looks, nor is it as hard as some people make it out to be, but it is definitely something that takes PRACTICE. I imagine I will be covering all of my old manicures with stamping practice ^.^

I really only have two colors that I know for sure stamp: Black and white. So, I went with those and tried to do a black and white skittles set featuring skull stamps from the Bundle Monster 25 piece set.

I'm sort of satisfied with it in that I know what areas I need to improve to get better results. For one, I need to really pay attention to ROLLING the stamp across the nail (in all directions, really). I rolled top to bottom, but not left to right. I zigged when I should have zagged, ya get me? Anyway, the readers can be the judge I suppose! I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out and White In, and Konad's special stamping polish in black.

I'd like to note that I take all of my photos in direct sunlight when possible as my camera isn't exactly great and that's when I can get the best photos. I'm actually thinking of returning it so if anyone has any recommendations for good digital camera under 100 dollars I'm all ears! Or.. eyes, I guess! Hah

Obviously the weather wasn't as great today so the photos are as close to natural light as possible. 

Thanks for reading :)

Holy crap I made flowers!

I have this white striper (as seen in the last post about watermelon nails) that actually works really well for creating crisp and concise lines. Well, it works great if you don't have shaky hands like me! I've played with it before and am always slightly disappointed with the results. This time, there was no disappointment at all! These nails were inspired by Tartofraises! She is easily the most talented freehand artist I have ever seen. I can only hope that someday I will achieve even half of her awesomeness! I watch her tutorials often and I thought the style I chose to do was simple enough for me not to mess up and nice enough to at least pay her some tribute! What do you think?