Glow In The Dark Jellyfish

Hello!

I haven't done freehand stuff in awhile - so here we go!

I wish I had taken a photo of the subtle blue "sea". It looked pretty cool and I will probably do something similar again. I started with 2 coats of bondi NYC Midnight Mystery. I dabbed on bondi NYC NYPD, Misa Blue Over A Boy and Quo by Orly Prepster.

I didn't think of using glow in the dark polish until the very last second, detail brush in hand. I dug into the CANVAS lacquer stash and used Beyond the Wall, one of our best sellers. I also used Serum No 5 Skylights, another glow polish, to layer the glow power. With my Quo by Orly Instant Artist polishes in Black and White, I tried to add some outline details using the bottle brushes. For added shimmer I layered a bit of Misa Candy Girl. In person the jellyfish shimmer and sparkle so much more, I wish it had translated.

Yes, it's a crappy photo - but you get the gist of it right?

I know I still need to work on my freehand skills, but I wouldn't call this a fail. I also think I may try this again, but without limiting myself to glow polish.

-L

Colour Jungle

Hello!

So this started off as a tape mani - but when that turned into a hot mess I decided to stamp over it - a great solution to hide mani messes!!

On my thumb, middle and ring fingers I started with 2 coats of bondi NYC The Limelight, on my index and pink I used 2 coats of OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana. I then used craft scissors to cut little scalloped strips and painted on OPI Funky Dunkey (purple) and OPI Live.Love.Carnival.

I ended up with this.

Some of the lines did turn out fairly crisp, but when they didn't it looked pretty bad. Then on top of that, when I added topcoat, the purple and the green melted into each other making this weird brown shade. Ugh! It also made the coral turn orange, I'm fairly indifferent on that point.

So as my fix, I grabbed Pueen 56 and Konad Gold Black.

I was feeling lazy at this point, so I wasn't cleaning the plate between stamps and didn't get the nicest lines - but since this is such an abstract look I don't mind at all!

What's your "fix" when your initial ideas go awry?

-L

More holo! More floral!

Hello!

If you follow the canvaslacquer Instagram account you may have seen this a few days ago. I'm kind of new to this whole nail social media thing, so I'm happy to report this has so far been my most 'liked' look.

I started with 2 coats of a-England Her Rose Adagio. Not sure why the pink doesn't really come through in photos, but it's a beautiful shade (and I'm not typically big on soft pink). For added interest I dabbed on a bit of a-England Dancing with Nureyev. The blue seems to read a bit better than the pink, but overall it comes off sorta silvery.

For the branches I used a-England Briarwood, an amazing brown holo that also stamps beautifully. I used Vivid Lacquer plate 014. Next for the leaves I used Pueen 33 with my usual OPI Amazon...Amazoff, the only non-holo polish for this look, I have plenty of green holos that probably do stamp well, I just thought it might clash too much with all the other holo going on so I opted for a creme. Finally, with a dotting tool for the flowers I used Colors by Llarowe OABTRAD. The little centers are Color Club Kismet.

passiflora

I've been trying to incorporate more visual interest in my nail pics, but I find holding an item and positioning my hand for the photo at the same time incredibly awkward! So here's a rando photo of me trying to pose with one of my passionflower vines.

Do you guys prefer JUST the nails or do like seeing someone posing with something?

-L

Holo Meltdown, Drips

Hello!

Nothing new about 'drips' in nail art, but I had never done a drip mani before, and since I'm on a holo kick right now, this is what I came up with.

holo drips in direct sun

To achieve this look I started with 2 coats of I Love Nail Polish Bottle Service. I really like this shade, you don't see 'warm' silvers too often, but this has an almost imperceptible rose-gold glow from within. 

in shade

Very carefully, using the bottle brush, I painted on thin streaks of 3 colours on each nail: Emily de Molly Cool, Calm & Collected (turquoise-y blue), Cirque Vesuvius (deep pink), and Emily de Molly Moment of Impact (purple).

in shade

I then went back with different sized dotting tools and added a final 'drip' to the end of the streaks.
I considered adding more shading to make it all appear more 3D, but opted out - I find holographic polish obscures details, but maybe next time I try a drip mani I'll use cremes.

direct sun

I'm pleased with my first try, and I'm happy to add this staple "nail art look" into my repertoire.

-L

Holographic Mix with Floral Accents

Hello!

I haven't featured holos in awhile (which is odd since I LOVE holos), so here we go!

So I could utilize many shades, I decided to try the dry brush method to get this cool mix of holographic goodness.

I started with 2 coats of A-England Fonteyn. Then with very little polish on the brush, I randomly splotched on the following: Layla Emerald Divine (green), Color Club Eternal Beauty (purple), Colors by Llarowe OABTRAD (deep pink), and Liquid Sky Lacquer Swerve (blue).

I added the floral image from Pueen 72 using Konad Gold Black. The image was a bit lost at first, so to highlight it a bit I filled the flowers in, using a very light hand and a small brush, with Gosh 24HR Holographic. The difference is subtle but I love effect.

It's so hard not to stare at this mani when it's sparkling in the sun!

-L

Nail Fail

Hello!

Sometimes what you dream up in your mind doesn't end up translating well to your nails.

This is one of those times. I quite like the way the gradient turned out, so I'm disappointed I ruined it with this poor stamping.

I started with 2 coats of Cult Nails Let's Get Dirty, which is neither here nor there since no evidence of it comes through the gradient. I had originally intended for all 4 shades to be visible but the lines I created on the sponge were too wide. The gradient colours are Duri Showstopper (pink), Essie Naughty Nautical (turquoise), and Essie Sexy Divide (purple).

I then used different parts of a lily bouquet image from Vivid Lacquer 014 with Konad White. Crap. Nothing against the image plate, I just didn't plan my stamping well. It looked so stark with just the white that I used a couple Nfu-Oh jelly polishes and filled the image in a bit, but still looks crap!

Since I change my nails so often this really isn't the biggest deal, I only lived with it for about 24 hours before taking it off. Win some, lose some.

Do you wear your fails or do you scrap them immediately?

-L

Rebecca Minkoff Inspired Tape Mani

Hello!

Today I bring you another Rebecca Minkoff inspired mani. (If you missed my previous Ode-to-a-bag, you can find it here)

MAC Daddy bag by Rebecca Minkoff inspired nails

I have been putting off this look for awhile because… I’m afraid of tape manis! Over the last couple months I’ve attempted a few, and they’ve been such a mess that they had to be scrapped right away! I am so proud to be sharing a successful one today.

I started with 3 coats of Misa A Sunny Smile Makes Me Go Wild, a neon highlighter yellow. On my ring finger is 2 coats of Misa Paint My Nails @Work (ha, love that name!) with a coat of Elevation Polish Huangshan. Everything topped with SV.

I waited for a good long while to make sure everything was really dry before adding the tape. I love the results! A Sunny Smile MMGW and Huangshan are such a perfect match aren’t they?

...and another sunny day pic!

Should I be trying more tape manis in the future??

-L

Quad Stamped Floral

Hello!

I bring you more stamping! This time I only used one image in four different shades.

My base is 3 coats of bondi nyc Central Park Blossom. It’s a very pale off white peachy nude colour. The formula is very thin, and not self-leveling, which is too bad since I love so many of my other bondi nyc crèmes, but this isn’t that unusual for such a pale shade. Plus with all the stamping I do my bases don’t always have to be perfect.

I used an image from Bundle Monster plate BM15, one of the first plates I ever bought. The four colours used are OPI I Just Can’t Cope-acabana (yellow), bondi nyc The Limelight (green), bondi nyc Fuschia-istic (pink), and OPI Eurso Euro (blurple).

full sun

This is such a fun look for summer, and at an arm’s length it almost looks like tie-dye!

-L

90's Style Colour Blocking

Hello!

Today I bring you a look sans stamping! Colour blocking is such an effective visual punch, especially when you get a great colour combo.

The hot pink and turquoise combo and the abstract geometric design just screams out (early) 90's to me. I'm sure I probably had a windbreaker in this motif.

Quo by Orly Femme Fatale, 3 coats

First I started with 3 coats of Quo by Orly Femme Fatale. Once again, my camera doesn't seem to like pinks much. This shade leans a bit warmer, but just as neon in person. I found it a touch uneven still, but the topcoat helped it appear even, and added glossiness (like most neons it dries semi-matte).

After allowing it to dry for quite some time, I added little triangles of painter's tape I had cut up. I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise for the colour blocking. This is an awesome glowy shade that dries matte - so this is how it looks before I topcoated. I like the contrast in finishes, but I HAVE to topcoat everything or it will come off in minutes (seriously, I'm rough on my hands).

As an accent I added Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan, an amazing glitter topper with various black and white hexes, a few bars and minty circles. I feel like this added to the 90's - ness of the look. (Yup, I'm making up words!)

These sun pics are with topcoat.

 

So fun right?!? This is totally reminding me of early Fresh Prince outfits. Ah, memories.

-L

Floral with Butterflies

Hello!

This post brings you a look that took a lot of stamping - and unnecessarily so because in the end you can't even see some of the work I did. But live and learn!

I started with 3 coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, a cult favourite. I picked this up because it seemed so many bloggers were raving about it; a perfect off-white shade for nail art (sometimes straight up white is a bit harsh). I admit I do like the shade, but at 3 coats I found it a little uneven, but since I stamp over most of my bases it wasn't a big deal. However, 3 coats means waiting longer for dry time.

I then used Konad Silver and Pueen plate 25 for this netting image.

I fretted a little bit about getting the image on straight (it's one of my main stamping challenges), but I think I did a pretty good job. Unfortunately this is the part that gets buried under all the other stamping, but at least I know I can do it! And it's quite a delicate, sophisticated look I might revisit for a wedding or similar event.

Next I used Pueen plate 55 with bondi nyc Teal Magnolia for the leaves, and then Pueen plate 59 with Konad Gold Black for the butterflies.

 

I used Essie Come Here! with Pueen plate 59 for the floral parts, and added a few dots of it on the flowers with the butterflies to help tie them together. My camera seems to have trouble capturing pinks accurately - IRL Come Here! is definitely a bit more pinky-coral.
Lastly I used the leadlight technique and filled in the butterflies with Nfu-Oh Jelly Syrup 28 (purple) and 30 (blue).

I love the leadlight technique! I've tried it before and it didn't work out great, but I think the butterflies turned out really well.

Thanks for stopping by!

-L