HPB presents: Enchanted polish Majestic swatch and free hand "Little penguin" nail art

Introduction

Good day darlings. This month for HPB blog link-up we are showing our first indie brands. It might surprise you, but my first purchased indie brand was Enchanted polish. At that time I did not even know it was an indie brand (I did not know what "indie polish" is). I just saw that on FB page of my online nail polish store NPC everyone was excited about upcoming restock of elusive Enchanted polish and discussed how hard it's to get them (this was autumn 2013 and Enchanteds were in very high demand). I decided to try it for myself and get some of this polish. My first restock was quite successful Afternoon delight and Time to pretend, both are fantastic colors. Now my collection of Enchanted polish is expanded and includes some rare beauties such as Gummy worm. My choice for this link-up is Majestic - grey holo with lilac undertone. It's a very pretty shade and it became a perfect background for "Little penguin" free and nail art, inspired by my little boy. Pictures were taken shortly after Andy turned one year and I loved his cute face and outfit so much that I promised myself to create matching nail art. It took me very long to find courage and paint it free hand, but I'm super happy with results.

Results

Figure 1.  Enchanted polish Majestic swatch and "Little penguin" nail art.

40 great nail art ideas: Red ikat nail art

Introduction

Good day darlings. Today I have red ikat nail design inspired by beautiful dress. This was my 40 great nail art ideas challenge for this week and I never did ikat nails before. I found pictures of this dress while looking for examples of ikat designs and immediately fell in love with it. Initially I planned to make more detailed drawing, but it was quite difficult... so I ended up with fairly simple result.

Results

Figure 1.  Red ikat nails.

Picture polish Bette and dotting nail art "Flowers or snow?"

Introduction

Good day darlings. Finally, a non stamping nail design. Delicate dotting nail art for #clairestellechallenge. I used 2 coats of Bette as background on middle and ring fingers and thumb, on top I drew a floral design using tiny brush and medium dotting tool. On index finger and pinky I made diagonal gradient using Bette, White wedding and Chillax. Finally, I added white dots everywhere using acrylic paint and super tiny dotting tool. I hoped that tiny white dots will look like pollen, instead it reminds me of snow, ahahha. Henсe, I'm note sure if it's more floral or snowy ? 

Results

Figure 1. Nail art "Flowers or snow?"

Stamping Saturday: Acrylic rainbow nail art with Mundo de Unas stamping using Marianne 67 plate "Summer rain"

Introduction

Good day darlings, today I wanna show "Summer rain", which I made for Russian challenge (#лакоавгуст2015), #clairestelle8august gradient prompt and #stampingSaturday.  I used acrylic paint to create background rainbow gradient using blob technique, because summer rain usually involves rainbow. And I stamped silhouette flowers and romantic couple under umbrella using black Mundo de Unas polish and some of my new Marianne plates. It did not turn out exactly like I imagined, but I love this bright and colorful nail design anyway. I used wet mirror as a prop to show this nail art at it's best. Do you have a feeling of refreshing midday summer shower  while looking at it, or it's just me? 

Results 

Figure 1. Nail art "Summer rain".

Picture polish nail art quarterly 1 "Flower power" and my free hand design "Flowers and snails"

Introduction

Good day darlings, today I finally can post my free hand design for the Picture Polish nail art contest (* #ppnailartquarterly1), on which I was working for the past two weeks. It was a real challenge and I made four different designs, you gonna see remaining three later.  The theme was "Flower power" and many people strongly associate this phrase with hippie culture. Since I'm a biologist, my nail art was inspired by the amazing power of flowers which we often disregard. World wide people enjoy the beauty of flowers, forgetting that originally the perform a very important function, they create habitat for numerous little creatures. I've always admired how flowers and animals can co-exist and become an essential part of each other's life. For this manicure I used Never Nude, Dragonfly and Hussy to create fictional dry brush flowers and little snails living among them. Accents were done using black and white acrylic paint. Snails have colors similar to those of flowers and can easily hide among them, while helping to spread pollen from one flower to another. I love the harmony of this mini ecosystem, don't you?

Results

Figure 1. Nail art "Flowers and snails"

"Chrysanthemum" nail art with Jem by Zoya

Introduction

Today I want to show you beautiful flowers which are really easy to draw using acrylic paint and detail brush (short video tutorial will be uploaded to my Instagram @PhDnails). As soon as I made swatches of Jem I knew that it would look perfect with some acrylic flowers on top and I was right. If you never tried acrylic paint before this is one of the easiest designs, you also can make flowers bigger according to your nails. All you need is pointy brush and two colors of paint, it's fun to mix them together and get a whole spectrum of shades. After paint is dry, just cover your nails with favorite top coat, you can even experiment and use holographic or any other effect top coat.

Results

Figure 1. Nail art "Chrysanthemum".

Pirate's map - Messy mansion 37

Introduction:

Yo-ho-ho, are you ready for pirate's treasure hunt?? While searching internet for inspiration I discovered and fell in love with two pirate related nail arts. One from wackylaki blog and another one from on wednesdays we wearpolish. I had to buy this  messy mansion plate and make a pirate mani. Plate arrived some time back, but I was busy with Christmas challenge. I'm so happy, that I finally decided to give it a try. 

Results:

Figure 1. Nail art - Pirate's map.

Winter nail art challenge: Christmas carol/song/movie

Introduction:

I did not have time yesterday to write a post, but I made nails and my inspiration was awesome movie The Nightmare before Christmas. It's definitely one of my favorite Tim Burton's creations because it combines Halloween and Christmas and this is really hard to beat. 

Results:

Figure 1. "The Nightmare before Christmas".

Winter nail art challenge: Lucia/Christmas where you leave

Introduction:

Today the theme was "Lucia/Christmas where you leave" and i decided to do something which reminds me of my childhood in Russia. During winter the city where I lived is pretty grey, because it does not snow much, but we have these gorgeous red birds. They are called bullfinch and they love to eat rowan berries, which become sweet after freezing (you can see pictures of them at the end of the post). So they were my inspiration for this nail art. Seeing these birds gives me very christmassy mood.

Results:

Figure 1.  "Bullfinch and Rowan".