He's nothing but a Cheetah.

I do have one guilty pleasure, for all my slick modern outward appearance,

deep inside I love animal prints.

I think it was bred into by my parents, who both own silk/polyester leopard shirts. I don't think I had any say in this biologically ingrained need. I only let this deep embed secret rear at it's head on special occasions. Inspired by all these gorgeous leopard print designs like Melissa's at The Daily Nail (See them here.), I decided to try my hand at a cheetah print instead. 

See here how I accomplished this:

I used my CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Finger Paints White (Sorry sticker fell off not sure the exact name, all I know is it's "white"). I then used facial "wedge" sponges with Essence Colour&Go Sundancer and China Glaze Papaya Punch to create the gradient background. 

I stamped the Bundle Monster Plate BM-225 cheetah print on with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. A coat of Seche Vite and I was out the door.

I really love this for the beach. It's super bright and obnoxious, but in a good way. 

Love and chip-free nail polish to you all!

...if a woodchuck, could chuck...

I know, I know your thinking WOOD GRAIN? Having to design and research for the wood industry and industrial woodworking for the past 4 years has given me an appreciation of the natural beauty in wood. Can't help it.

So here's how I accomplished today's manicure.

I started with basecoat, I've been using CND sticky lately and it's wonderful. Followed by two thin coats of China Glaze Going My Way?.

I printed a black and white wood grain pattern about the size each nail on a laser printer. Cut each nail sized strip out and let it sit in a glass of rubbing alcohol.

Once throughly soaked, placed the strip of paper on throughly a dried nail, pressing firmly then lifting gently to reveal the transfer onto the nail (see manicure "french poetry").

One coat of Seche Vite and I was out the door.

Gotta saying this is definitely one of my favorite manicures I've done of all time.

Yay for trees! BTW I used recycled paper.

Love and chip-free nail polish to you all!

French Poetry

Getting the swing of this blog thing, bare with me fair readers. Any tips on photography would be greatly appreciated.

So today we have FRENCH POETRY, I feel inspired by France and Paris lately, maybe something is telling me I need to go on vacation to the french riveria.

So here was the sketch:

I once again started with basecoat, two coats of China Glaze Heaven.

I typed up some wording and printed it out on a laser printer, soaked the small nail sized strips in some rubbing alcohol and placed them on my throughly dried nails pressing down firmly.

Gently, I lifted the paper, leaving the toner left on my nail.

I love this technique and I will be using it a lot in the future, STAY TUNED.

I could have stopped here, oh yes I could have, but I needed some shimmer and stamping awesomeness.

I pulled out one of my favorite stamping polishes, China Glaze Avalanche and BM plate 09 and 15 to add some floral goodness. Bundle Monster Nail Art Nailart Polish Stamp Stamping Manicure Image Plates Accessories Set Kit 21pc

I know, I know, my middle figure is going through some personal issues and will be grown out and back to normal soon.

Ever tried toner transferred nails? Your thoughts?

Love and chip-free nail polish to you all!

French Boudoir

Yes not only do I sketch out nail designs on paper I give them names.

This one seemed to be the red light district version of your standard french manicure so... 

FRENCH BOUDOIR seemed to fit so much better.

I started with a basecoat, two coats of China Glaze Heaven. My "goto" neutral for french manicures.

Once everything was throughly dry I used bundlemonster stamping plate m57.

I don't use konad polishes, I hear they are amazing... and blah blah blah... but this girl tries to save money, and in saving money I use Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear in "Black Out". It's tricky but I've been able to use most polishes with high pigment content for stamping just took time to figure it out how to do it.

So with the stamping plate, I stamped the fishnet pattern from nailbed to 1/2 the length of my nail, then on the same m57 plate I used the lace pattern right below were the fishnet pattern ended.

I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Here is the sketch and the result, your thoughts?

I

loved the way these turned out, perfect for a little black dress and a night out.

Sneak Peek for the next manicure....

That's all for today,

Love and chip-free polish to you all.