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