Mags' Paradise Palm Trees Nail Art

Hello Everyone!!

Once again I'm coming here and sharing a palm trees nail art. Can you all tell I'm longing for my vacation to start? Two more weeks to wait, so in the meantime, I'm bringing paradise to my nails.
I did those in a hurry before meeting friends for drinks and diner so they aren't as prefect as they could be. Also the pics are not the best quality for the same reason :/

I've done a gradient again, mostly because I think it's what goes best with palm trees but also because I recently bought some liquid latex (yeah I know finally!) and couldn't wait to try it out. It works like a charmed and helps reducing the clean up time. I went to an "Halloween" shop in my City instead of spending a fortune on an indie website which just re-bottle liquid latex and humph the prices.

My dominant hand which needed a bit more cover up, as I have had some trouble with the gradient (yay for heat wave!).

As usual, the black is just plain acrylic paint. Which is easier to work with than polish.

I hope I made you travel with my nails, I keep looking at them and picture me on a white sand beach with a cocktail in my hand, the wind in my hair and the waves crashing endlessly. Sigh, 2 MORE WEEKS!

See you next time!
-Mags

Mags' Psychedelic Circular Gradient Nail Art

Hello Everyone,

today I felt adventurous and decided to dip my toes into the great unknown and try something new, aka a circular gradient. I finally mastered the gradient technique so I figured doing a circular one would be easy peasy. And in a way it was, but not without some struggles, like trying to center it on the nail and surprisingly, applying the polish on the sponge to form a bullseye! But those little hiccups didn't make me abandon, so I stick through it and managed somewhat to do what I had in mind!

I slapped on some psychedelic stamp which wasn't the best quality, nor a centered image, but the result is quite cool, so I'm not gonna complain too much!

As you can see, the stamp isn't of great quality as there is a lot of 'blind' spots. But from far it's not noticeable. So there's that I suppose :) And I have centered the gradient on my nails (as much as I could) but forgot that the stamp isn't centered! Gah! You live and learn! At least the pinky is aligned!

I have spent few hours de-frosting my freezer so I got some booboos on my fingers and my hands aren't in the best of shape, but nothing will stop me from having fancy nails!

I hope you like this design! The colors I chose aren't the ones I usually wear but it's very fresh and summery!

Until next time!
-Mags

Fabiana's ManiSteal from Elie Corzo

Hello everyone!

It is a slow Saturday afternoon and I am doing some blog/community house-keeping. Time to turn my eyes to the Nail Art Coven. :)

I am a little at at time working my way to more current manis. Today's post is the #manisteal I did of the sunny mani done by +Elie Corzo. She did a gorgeous orange based neon sponge base and used vinyls for a silver swirl. The effect was hypnotic to me! I didn't have vynils, but I think the stamping worked pretty well. :) I did a base of pale gray and the glow in the dark "Guiding Light" from Serum No. 5. Then sponged on the neons, finally stamped with Essie "No Place Like Chrome". I had an absolutely horrible time parting with it. It was soo beautiful!

Polishes

Serum No. 5 "Guiding Light"

Cirque "Hatch"

Color Club "Wham! Pow!"

Color Club "Warhol"

Color Club "Poptastic"

Color Club "Almost Famous"

Color Club "Twiggie"

Essie "No Place Like Chrome"

Stamping Plate

Pueen 59

Here is how the mani looks under a UV light because of Serum No. 5:

Here is a link to Elie's original mani. Link

That's all for now!

Affectionately, Fabiana.

Mags' Flower Pastel Gradient Nail Art

Hello Everyone!

It's been a while since my last mani, but with the crazy heat wave we've had here, doing nail art was not the first thing on my mind. But we have a bit of a breeze before the heat comes back so I took this opportunity to do my nails!

I've done a pastel gradient, and a flowery accent nail. The flowers are done using the one stroke technique but with nail polish and not acrylic paint. So it doesn't work as well but still looks nice. The outlines are done with black acrylic paint.

I am trying a new base coat, that I recently purchased, it's the P2 Brittle Stop. My nails have this stupid tendency to peel so I hope it will help with that.

Close up on the flower

The other hand

That's all for today, it was just a short post!
See you next time

-Mags

Fabiana's ManiSteal from Katolin

Hi, Everyone!

It's late on a Saturday night but I super wired. It has been exciting getting the new community Nail Art Nation up and running and seeing the enthusiasm of the new members! Not a member yet? Check us out!

So it's been a few days since I shared the massive post about neon and glow in the dark manis.
This Saturday, I want to share the manisteal I did from the ridiculously talented +Katolin O
 from Eccentric Whims. I picked her stunning lightning mani. I do not have her amazing freehand skills, but I tried my best!

Polishes

Zoya "Hunter"

Zoya "Sailor"

Serum No. 5 "Guiding Light"

Serum No. 5 "Pure Glow Getter"

Serum No. 5 "Moonlight"

Serum No. 5 "Twilight"

Picture Polish "Starry Night"

Max Factor "Fantasy Fire"

Here is Katolin's original mani and a link to her blog.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

With much affection, Fabiana.

Fabiana's Adventures Photographing Neon and Glow in the Dark Nail Art

Hi, everyone.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have a lot more to say about neons and glow in the dark polish. More specifically, I have a lot to say on photographing them. I have seen some glorious glow in the dark nail art photography out there. And also some that are less than successful. I am not impressed with the blurry ones. I am not impressed with the ones that don't look like they are glowing at all. I spent a lot of time in trial and error, so I am going to share with you what I have learned so far.

First, I had to understand the distinction between neon polishes and glow in the dark polishes. They are not the same. Neon polishes are exceptionally bright and glow beautifully under an LED or UV light. Glow in the dark polish, if you hold it under the LED or UV light for 30 seconds, will reflect the light and glow on its own for a little while! Keep in mind I have very little experience with this, but my first few experiments were so exciting I HAVE to share.

So my first attempt at photographing neon is below: I just used an LED light (Sensational LED Lamp) and photographed in darkness. I wanted to see it glow and I was completely blown away by the fact that it DID! It was so bright it was ridiculous.

The problem with this was that you have to photograph under the LED lamp. It will not glow away from the lamp. And I am really not a fan of the blue fingers... But oh well, something for me to think about.

That photo started it all! I was on a mission now to find bigger better neons and the pinnacle for me... glow in the dark.

So two ridiculously big orders of Serum No. 5 later, some of them arrived!

(I had also order a small UV light)

This is how they looked after charging them with the UV light. Not terribly impressive.

And here is the first mani I did with them. It was charged under the UV lamp. Not terribly impressive.

Attempt three. Starting to fast forward a bit. Not great, but pretty. Still too dark. Disconnected floating blobs charged by the UV light.

Fast foward to my favorite neon/glow in the dark mani so far.

This is the original mani.

Now. Let's make it glow! And glow it does. :)

So now, I start to experiment with an LED Lamp that came with the Sensationail Gel Kit.

I set it up in my bathroom and turned off the lights. Not bad... A significant improvement. This mani was a combination of neon and glow in the dark.

Next, charged the glow in the dark with the LED Lamp. Oh that glow!!! MAGICAL.

But I still wasn't getting the hair raising, bow you away glow. So further experimentation was in order. The final combination and the one that made me a fan of neon and glow in the darks for life.

The UV Light casting a glow around nail art not in complete darkness but shade.

It is a bit bizarre what I had to do since I don't have a UV light stand. I had to hold the light at a contorted angle next to my iPhone as I took the picture. Painful, but oh so worth it. Much like strappy high-heels.

One misstep. Shining the UV light directly on the nails. It has it's own charm, but it doesn't really bring out all the wonderful colors.

The first of the great success holding Serum No. 5 "Orange You Sunny". Talk about sunny!

My favorite was holding Serum No. 5 "Guiding Light". The softer glow lit up the mani just right!

 

 Woof, that was a long post, but I hope you enjoyed it! I am learning and as I go along, I will share more. :)

-Fabiana

Fabiana's ManiSteal from Danielle Rabone

Hi, Everyone!

Things have been hectic. As some of you know, +Keely Gallagher and I are starting a new nail art community. It has been a great adventure so far and Keely is a great partner in crime. :)

So as we set things up, I thought I would shoot out a quick post for you.

Today, I want to share the manisteal I did from the wonderful  +Danielle Rabone from Danni Nail Nerd. I love her manis and I picked this fabulous design. The contrasts really caught my eye. I did add a touch of sparkle with Cirque "Magic Hour" for a bit of fun. :)

Polishes

Color Club "Glitter Envy"

Color Club "Warhol"

Serum No. 5 "Guiding Light"

Cirque "Hatch"

Cirque "Magic Hour"

Konad Sp. Black

Stamping Plate

Gals GA15

Here is Danielle's original mani and a link to her blog post.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Keep an eye out for the announcement of the new community. :)

With much affection, Fabiana.

Fabiana's ManiSteal from Karen Sulkowski

Hello, Everyone!

I am so behind on posting. I am doing my nails constantly but not getting around to posting.

So when you last saw me, I had done a ManiSteal from Crystal Bond. Today, I have for you my ManiSteal from the lovely +Karen Sulkowski. Her wonderful cheetah, zebra print print rainbow mani inspired by +Robin Moses Nail Art - Nail Art Tutorials, Nail Designs, Easy DIY Nail Art Ideas, Nails was just spectacular so that is the mani I chose.

I am going to keep this post limited to the mani. However, keep an eye out for a future post where I will be talking in depth about glow in the darks, neons and my trials photographing them.

Polishes:

Sally Hansen "Vibrant Violet"

Color Club "Warhol"

Color Club "Glitter Envy"

Orly "Glowstick"

Serum No. 5 "Orange You Sunny"

Serum No. 5 "Indi-glo"

Serum No. 5 "Guiding Light"

Deborah Lippmann "Misty Morning"

This was so much fun to do! I started with a white base.

Then added the neons. Yes, it looked like a big mess!

Then I painted the black stripes and cheetah pattern in black acrylic paint. And then it all came together!

This is how the mani looks under UV light

This is the glow in the dark effect! There was no bad picture!

And here is +Karen Sulkowski original interpretation. You should definitely check her out in Google+ :)

Both Karen and I followed the tutorial by the super talented Robin Moses. Link to tutorial

For now, wishing you a happy July 4th, Fabiana.

Mags' Retro Palm Trees Nail Art

Hello Everyone!

When it's 30°C, the last think you want to do is do your nails, you'd rather plunge into a cold bath and read a book while you're slowly getting comfortable and cooling off. But you know, when you're addicted to nail art, you won't leave a chipped mani on for another day, so I had to do what I had to do!

I decided to recreate a design I saw on Pinterest (you can follow me there if you'd like). I really wanted to do a palm trees nail art again, they are one of my favs along with nautical nail art.

It kinda has a retro feel to it and I love that! I didn't want to bother doing a gradient, everyone who has done their nails during a heat wave of Hell, will avoid doing gradient or anything complicated as the polishes get gooey real fast!

I could have bothered and use tape for the lines but I didn't :) It's all freehand again, it was just quicker to do it that way.

The colors are perfect for this weather, would probably have loved doing them with neon colors, but like +Fabiana N I don't have that many neon polishes either. Yeah I know, it has to be rectified! I'm working on it!

I hope you enjoyed this manicure! Have a nice end of the week and see you next time!
-Mags

Fabiana's ManiSteal from Crystal Bond

Today, I have for you the #ManiSteal that I did from +Crystal Bond The Polish Plebe beautiful freehand neon stripes.

I really have to give it to her. This was a CHALLENGE. You do the black base. Then you do the white strips. THEN you paint over the white stripes with the neons...

#FACEPALM!

Let's start with doing your nails starting around 11 at night. Strike one.
I am horrible at freehand stripes. Striiike two!
The consistency of the neon polishes I used varied and most were on the "I don't feel like going on evenly!" lot. Striiiiike three, YUR OUTTA HERE!

I know... whine, whine, whine.

It took me a few hours, but the end result was really striking. Har har! The game was won... at a high cost of patience and sleep deprivation. ;)




Polishes:

Color Club "Glitter Envy"
Color Club "Warhol"
Serum No. 5 "Orange You Sunny" (I will be doing a post soon where you will be able to see just how glorious this glow in the dark is)
Serum No. 5 "Indi-glo"
Zoya "Charisma"
Cirque "Memento Mori"

Here is Crystal's original mani:

I really encourage you to check out her blog! :D The Polish Plebe 

Until next time, sincerely yours, Fabiana.