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?"

Nail art with miniature water marble floral design using Picture polish Lakodom, Coral reef and Chillax "Exotic flowers"

Introduction

Good day darlings, very special nail art today :) I did this water marble design for Picture Polish contest, but unfortunately could not submit it as an entry, because I learned that water marble was not considered a free hand. I end up submitting another awesome free hand mani, and saved this one for a special occasion. Well, birthday is pretty special, is not it? And it also might be my last post for a while, because I'm going on vacation until the end of September. Do not worry, I hope to be able to a write post from time to time and upload some nail art on Instagram, you can check it out here. 

Now back to the mani, which might be my all time favorite. Did you ever made water marble so beautiful that you wished to put the whole thing on one nail? I know,  I did, and that's why I came up with miniature water marble technique. Unfortunately, there was no time to make a tutorial, but if there will be an interest I'm going to make a separate more technical post with video and pictures of how to make it. For now, please enjoy beautiful photos and do not forget to look at the macros. They show how holo flakies in Lakodom make a beautiful gradient with creamy Chillax and Coral reef, it's truly wonderful. And I'm gladly accepting birthday wishes today :*

Results

Figure 1. Nail art "Exotic flowers"

Picture polish Pshiiit and Pirouette with floral dotting nail art for #OMD3 "Pink flowers"

Introduction

Good day darlings, in this post I combine my final entry for #OMD3 challenge and Flowers & Butterflies prompt of Russian challenge. My current favourite perfume is Flower bomb by Victor & Rolf, so I made this  free hand floral design with a butterfly to match both challenges and of course I had to take picture with my flower bomb and a beautiful matching necklace. I used Picture polish Pirouette to make flowers using dotting technique and I have to say that this polish looks just stunning on macros and in real life, as well. This was one of my back up designs for Picture polish contest, but at the end I decided that snails and dry brush flowers were better. Nevertheless, I really like how this mani turned out, pink flowers look super nice on the dark teal Pshiiit background and Honey moon completes this trio beautifully.

Results

Figure 1. Nail art "Pink flowers"

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"

30 Days of Colour: Easter dotting bunnies nail art

Introduction

We  are done with colors in 30 Days of Colour challenge and from now will show polish with different finish. Today it's cream and I decided to make another Easter themed nails, because tomorrow will be Orthodox Easter. I did similar nail art last year for Easter and I used several pastel polishes with cream finish, so it was a perfect idea. Inspiration for this free hand nail art came from one picture which I found while searching Easter nails (you can look at it in my References section at the end of this post). Unfortunately it does not have any credentials and I was not able to find original working link. Last year I loved how this nail art turned out, this time I do not like it so much.  First of all, baskets take too much space, I should have made them smaller and second polish smeared in many places after top coat application. Since I'm a perfectionist I had to correct worst smears using photoshop, so that it does not ruin entire look, but you can see remaining smear :(

Results

Figure 1. Collage with "Easter dotting bunnies".

"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".

Winter nail art challenge: Santa/Elf/Reindeer

Introduction:

Today' s theme was Santa/Elf/Reindeer and I chose to make free had reindeer after I saw super cute decals on Etsy (link at the end of my post). Usually I create nail art one day ahead, but yesterday I was too busy making turkey. I was a bit worried, that there will be not enough time to create this look, however it turned out to be really easy to make. Little Christmas tree on my pinky I made without any practice, which is not my usual approach :) I hope you like my reindeer nicely decorated for Christmas.

Results:

Figure 1. All five nails with Christmas reindeer at LED light.

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".