Nail Art from a N00b to Nail Art

I'm katarin and I'm a nail polish addict. This is a blog about nail polish from someone who doesn't yet know a lot about nail polish. Get excited.

[nailsforn00bs]

Raven Boys Mani Project #6 "What he meant by this was that he was worried that one day someone would fall on Ronan and cut themselves.”

Manicure #6 and the final manicure in my Raven Boys Manicure Project is everyone's favorite Greywaren dickbag snake, Ronan Lynch.

I knew long before i started getting this together that I was going to use a base of butter London Two Fingered Salute. The murky-green with copper flecks in it is a wonderful shade generally and a PERFECT shade for Ronan Lynch.

I knew I was going to be purchasing at least one stamping plate, because I was snakeless and Ronan REQUIRES a snake. So I purchased Mash 50 (which I also used on my Blue manicure). Because it was several weeks ago, I also talked myself into buying Bundlemonster 215, so I could stamp snakeskin underneath the snake. It doesn't show up much, but I still like it.

I stamped the Celtic symbols from Bundlemonster H05, from their holiday collection and even layered two of them on my right thumb.The Ley Line and Raven decals were an obvious choice, since he's both an Aglionby student and part of the Glendower seekers.

I like this manicure a LOT. I love the color, I love how it turned out and thought it's possibly not sharp enough to perfectly capture Ronan, I think it does a pretty close job.

Pictured

Basecoat: ORLY Bonder Base: butter London Two Fingered Salute Stamped with: Essie Penny Talk and Licorice Water Decals: NorthOfSalem Topcoat: Seche Vite

Happy Blue Lily Lily Blue Day! Have you bought your copy yet?

[nailsforn00bs]

Raven Boys Mani Project #5 “She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”

Manicure #5 in my Raven Boys Manicure Project is everyone’s favorite acerbic try-hard not-psychic: Blue Sargent.

My very first idea when it came to Blue Sargent was an ombre base. I knew I couldn’t use just one shade, I needed several to really embody the changeable personality of Blue Sargent. Because I was going to be doing stamping in black (because the decal was in black) I needed to use lighter blues, so I went with these.

I knew I’d be using the Ley Line decals, but also that I wouldn’t be using the Raven decals, since she’s not an Aglionby student. This meant I needed to cover 4 nails, instead of only 3. This was ultimately pretty helpful, since I had a bunch of ideas of what to put on my nails.

I was already buying the Mash 50 plate for another manicure I’m doing and when I saw the leaves/flower print on it, I needed it. I think they look kind of like lilies and I wanted some connection to growing things, that I associate with Blue. Whether it’s Cabeswater, her name or the beech tree outside of her house, I feel like Blue has a connection w/ growing things.

I wanted to incorporate that if Blue kisses her true love, she’ll kill him and used Bundlemonster 002 (BM002) for the lips. After wrestling w/ whether to stamp them in red or not, I decided to do them in black rather than put red in the manicure, because Blue Sargent’s kiss is deadly I also knew I needed to incorporate the Page of Cups somehow, since that’s Blue’s card. I looked for tarot wraps but couldn’t find anything. Then I found this cup on my Cheeky 42 (CH42) plate. I briefly flirted with the idea of putting a fish in the cup, perhaps from another stamping set. But after the DISASTER i had with the Gansey manicure, decided to leave it at just the cup.

Finally, I knew Blue wouldn’t just have any old manicure and knew I needed to add some kind of weird lace. I mean, I couldn’t very well shred my nails, so I went with the next best thing. I used Emily de Molly (EDM01) for the try-hard lace with the fancy loops and floral pattern. I think it suits Blue’s unique style

Pictured: Basecoat: ORLY Bonder Ombre Base: Tea Beauty Mint Leaf, Lime Crime Once In A Blue Mousse, OPI Can’t Find My Czechbook, Ciate Boom Box and Revlon Mesmerize Stamped with: Essie Licorice Water Decals: NorthOfSalem Topcoat: Seche Vite

Do you think they capture Blue?

[nailsforn00bs]

Raven Boys Mani Project #4 "A place made for leaving"

Manicure #4 in my Raven Boys Manicure Project is the elegant one: Adam Parrish. I had a hard time trying to come up with this mani, because a lot of the signature aspects of Adam are ideas that don't translate well to physical things. I knew I'd use the Ley Line and Raven decals, because he's part of the Glendower seekers and a Raven Boy, but what else?

I began with a neutral base and used the (http://www.chalkboardnails.com/2014/10/midnight-smoke-nail-art-tutorial.html)Chalboard Nails technique to give them a dirty look. I wanted it to look something like having dirty nails, since Adam specifically mentions having dirt under his fingernails a lot, since he works with his hands. That part I'm pleased with.

I remembered him being called "Coa Cola shirt" and how that's often used as a physical representation of him on tumblr, but didn't know how to achieve it.I looked around the internet and found (http://www.amazon.com/Stamping-Manicure-Nailart-Designs-Cheeky%C2%AE/dp/B00H86P8NI)this stamping plate, but the only thing I would ever use it for would be this manicure. It felt like a total waste of money. Instead, I decided to try and create the signature swoop of the Coca Cola logo. I'm not sure if I captures it perfectly, but I hope that for people who know that this is an Adam manicure, the idea comes across.

I also wanted to include Cabeswater into the manicure and was lucky to have this forest-themed stamping plate (hhttp://www.messymansion.com.au/products/image-plate-mm19.html)MM19. The trees have that dreamy, not-realness to them that reminds me of Cabeswater, so I stamped the all-background version of the treed and also just the tree.

Pictured:

Basecoat: ORLY Bonder

Base: OPI My Vampire Is Buff with Sally Hansen Bittersweet, Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby and Snow Me White

Stamped with: Essie Licorice

Water Decals: NorthOfSalem

Topcoat: Seche Vite

I'm not 100% pleased with these, but I do think they represent Adam pretty well! What do you think?

[nailsforn00bs]

Raven Boys Mani Project #3 "I've been dead for seven years. That's as warm as they get."

Manicure #3 in my Raven Boys Manicure Project is everyone's favorite cowardly ghost: Noah Czerny

This mani really centers around the smudge. I originally thought about buying charcoal pencils to make the smudge, but it seemed a bit much. But in general, I wanted the mani itself to have a smudgy, less polished feel to it.

In addition, I wanted a gray base and to play with texture or opacity in some way, to create a visual representation of how Noah blinks in and out based on how much energy he has. I grabbed Old Compton Street (which is part of Nails Inc.'s Leather Effects collection) because my initial thought was to keep it un-topcoated and utilize that subtle texture. But then I saw this tutorial by Chalkboard Nails and it was a real lightbulb moment. What a PERFECT way to mess around with opacity and create a more ghostly air on the base of this mani!

I used the Raven Nail Decals and Ley Line Nail Decals I bought from NorthOfSalem and stamped the skeleton using Essie Licorice with BM413 from the CYO Collection. I didn't like the look of of my bare pinkies, so I grabbed Essie Licorice and my VL011 plate to stamp some spots onto my nails.

At the last minute, I decided to mattify the whole thing and I think that might have been the step that really brought the mani together.

Pictured: Basecoat: ORLY Bonder Polish Base: Nails Inc. Old Compton Street with OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine! Stamped with: Essie Licorice Water Decals: North of Salem (Ravens here, Ley Line was a custom order) Topcoat: butter London Matte Finish Topcoat

What do you think? is it ghostly enough?

[nailsforn00bs]

Raven Boys Mani Project #2 "Rex Corvus, parate Regis Corvi. The Raven King, make way for the Raven King"

Manicure #2 in my Raven Boys Manicure Project is everyone's favorite President Cellphone with a heart of gold: Richard Campbell Gansey III.

Foolishly, the idea for Gansey's mani came from a picture I saw on tumblr (that I can't find right now) of the Pig with EXCELSIOR spelled out going down so it was EX  CEL  SI  OR. I really liked how it looked and decided I could recreate it with stamping. That... was a decision. A bad one, as you can tell. Because what I ended up doing was using BM425 from the CYO collection to stamp the letters I needed, made decals out of them, cut them out & then assembled them on the nail. My right thumb turned out so poorly I didn't even take a picture of it.

Things that DID turn out well: the base. I knew I needed to do a saran wrap manicure for the base, because I wanted more texture and depth and I wanted to subtly add a bit of sparkle to it. These colors saran wrapped beautifully.

I was almost shocked to remember that MM18 (http://nailsforn00bs.tumblr.com/post/73878621147/black-and-gold-stamping) actually had a stamping image that as a bee with a crown and laurel. It seemed too perfect. Upon reflection, I'm wishing I'd replaced the bee in that image with a small raven from my decal set and then used the bee image on MM18 somewhere else. It would have ALSO meant not needing to use the damask from MM18, which isn't QUITE right for Gansey.

This manicure introduces the Ley Line water decals though, which I had custom made by NorthOfSalem and includes the Raven water decals, also from North of Salem. I like how they turned out, delicate but very clearly the ley line from the books.

Pictured:

Base: ORLY Bonder Polish: Revlon Trade Winds saran wrapped with butter London Two-Fingered Salute and Essie As Gold As It Gets Stamped With: Essie Licorice Decals: NorthOfSalem Topcoat: Seche Vite

?

[nailsforn00bs]

Raven Boys Mani Project #1 “You gonna race with those shades on, you Bulgarian mobster Jersey trash piece of shit?”

Raven Boys Manicure Project:

As I count down the days until the release of Blue Lily Lily Blue, I figured I'd do a manicure project for the book series. Could I come up with manicures for the main characters of the Raven Boys? Duh. And so, the Raven Boys Manicure Project was born.

Manicure #1 for my Raven Boys Manicure Project is for everyone's favorite jerktastic bad guy: Joseph Kavinsky

Technically, Kavinsky isn't a "main" character in the series. I don't particularly care though, because he left a HUGE impression on me and I love his terrible, awful human being face. Because he doesn't really fit though, I put him first, before the main characters proper.

This entire manicure was born out of my seeing the BundleMonster Sun Kissed Collection reviewed by ChitchatNails Seeing the sunglasses on 508, right next to those birds... it felt like fate. I ordered the set immediately & decided then and there to do this entire project.

I had a very clear idea of a stark white base with black stamping and lettering for Kavinsky with a riot of color for the sunglasses. I went through a couple of different polish combinations before settling on the green, blue and purple I chose and it's exactly how I pictured it.

The raven is a decal that I bought from NorthOfSalem. I wanted there to be constants in this project and I thought that a Raven decal for the Aglionby students (and a Ley Line decal for the Glendower seekers) could be that constant.

I'm incredibly grateful that THIEF is all straight lines, as I'm not particularly skilled at free handing. It is legible though and gets the idea across.

The splatter is from BM416 in the CYO Collection and I toyed with making it a black and red spatter, to signify his death and also that final creature he took out of his dreams. In the end though, I decided I really only wanted color on the sunglasses and kept it at an all-black splatter.

Pictured: Basecoat: ORLY Bonder Polish: Zoya Purity Stamped with: Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess, Barry M Guava, Essie The More The Merrier and Essence Colour and Go Black is Back Water decals: NorthOfSalem Topcoat: HK Girl Glisten & Glow

(sorry it's been so long! I'm really excited about this manicure project though!)

[nailsforn00bs]

Black and Gold Stamping

Today I've got a mani I did with another Messy Mansion plate i purchased recently (I swear I bought them all last year, I haven't broken my NYR!). I was so, so interested in this plate as soon as I saw it. I love the little bee images and the filigree/broacde/damask/whatever.

I feel like the example stamping isn't really indicative of just how great this plate stamps, but a lot of aspects of this plate are kind of INTENDED to be on nails. The scroll across the top would look amazing if you stamped it over multiple nails, with the center piece on your middle nail and the outer parts over the index and ring finger.

The smaller images are also a lot easier to isolate when you're stamping on your actual nail, AS I'LL ILLUSTRATE:

I decided to go with a black and gold mani because I thought that gold would work well with the bee and honeycomb imagery. I added Essie As Gold As It Gets over everything to add sparkle.

Pictured: Basecoat: CND Stickey Polish: Essie Good As Gold, Topshop Gypsy Night, Essie As Gold As It Gets Stamped with: Claire's Black Hole Topcoat: Digital Nails Aint Nobody Got Time For That

Have you done any cool manis lately? What do you think of this one?

[nailsforn00bs]

Lily Anna Plate Review and Holo Stamped NOTD

Today I have another review for a plate I bought from Messy Mansion. It's the Lily Anna 10 plate, from Lily Anna and I  L O V E  it. I can't wait to buy a few more (08, 07 and 03 are the ones I'm eye-ing the closest!)

As you can see, this plate stamps SO AMAZINGLY WELL. The lines are so crisp and detailed and I'm so, SO glad that they stamp this well. The plates themselves have so many thin lines and I was worried they just wouldn't transfer. I love that you get so many images, including the smaller images along the bottom. I'm also a fan of the font that Lily Anna is written in along the bottom. Those are things I could potentially isolate later, if I had an idea for a mani involving those words.

I wanted to do a stamping manicure with these and some of my recently purchased polishes. Cult Nails Party Time is a gorgeous bright blue polish that I love but WARNING, it stains quite a bit. I wish I'd used a ridgefilling basecoat on under it and I'm VERY glad I applied cuticle oil to my cuticles before trying to remove it. (Also, I purchased this toward the end of last year, SO I HAVEN'T BROKEN MY NYR!)

I also wanted to bring in Color Club Blue Heaven, because I got it recently and the holo in this is AMAZING. It works PERFECTLY as a stamping polish. I might never stamp with anything else ever again.

The topcoat is ALSO new! I bought it on the rec from AccioLacquer and because I wanted to see for myself if it could really be as good as she says. Protip: IT IS. I can't BELIEVE how quickly this dries. It goes on a bit thick and it's not as shiny as I'd like, but it's so fast-drying that I'll forgive it almost anything.

Pictured: Basecoat: CND Stickey Polish: Cult Nails Party Time, Barry M Amethyst Glitter (a gift from knight-tracer!) Stamped with: Color Club Blue Heaven Topcoat: Digital Nails Aint Nobody Got Time For That

Do you like the Lily Anna Stamping Plates? Are these stamp examples helpful to you? Did you try out anything new lately?

[nailsforn00bs]

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New Year's Resolutions! And Emily de Molly Plates

Hey All! I'm sure you thought I'd abandoned this blog, BUT I DIDN'T! In fact, one of my Nail Polish Fandom New Year's Resolutions is to update this space more!

Nail Polish Fandom New Year's Resolutions:

Update my blog more often

Take better care of my cuticles

Don't buy more blue polish unless it's really different/not something I already have (or it's super cool)

Send more polish/etc. to my friends

Spend my money more wisely when it comes to polish, plates, etc.

I'm a huge fan of Messy Mansion. Their stamping plates are full of high quality images that stamp perfectly every time and the size of the images can't be beat.

In addition to the quality of their plates, the quality of their customer service is top notch. Messy Mansion is a company based in Australia and I'm constantly impressed by the speed that my plates get to me. I'm equally impressed by the fact that the only time I've ever had a problem, Messy Mansion fixed the issue as quickly and professionally as possible. I can't say enough good things and I'm more than willing to pay a bit extra for shipping for the quality I'm getting in return.

I'm not reviewing a Messy Mansion plate today though, instead, I'm reviewing a couple of plates that Messy Mansion sells, Emily de Molly 01 (EDM01) and Emily de Molly 05 (EDM05)

I was drawn to the Emily de Molly plates because of the intricacy of the designs. They're designs I respond positively to and I remember thinking "oh, I HOPE they stamp well" (Please forgive the streaks on my plates, I took the picture after cleaning it up with some acetone and it was very cold in my apartment)

And how do they stamp?   P E R F E C T I O N .

Here's EDM01 stamped onto paper just using Claire's Black Hole (a plain black polish I use for stamping because it came in a large bottle and I assumed it would thicken a bit with time (it did)). Look how crisp these images are. Look a the detail of those swirls and lines?

Here's EDM05, a plate that's full of gorgeously intricate floral designs that I can't wait to put on my nails. As soon as I saw this plate, I immediately started thinking about manicures I could do with it, which is how I knew I needed it.

Overall, I'll say I'm a HUGE fan of the Emily de Molly plates and I might be going back for more. I bought mine via Messy Mansion (I'd also suggest you take a look around for other GORGEOUS plates) but they're also available on BigCartel (if you're interested in also buying Emily de Molly polish, rather than more plates!)

Stamping Manicure I did using these plates:

Essie Tart Deco, Color Club London Calling and Sephora by OPI I'm So Sari stamped with EDM01 with Sally Hansen Jungle Gem

What do you think of the Emily de Molly plates? Do you have any Nail Polish Fandom related New Year's Resolutions?

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 7: Black and White Nails

I was super excited for Black and White Nails day because I think black and white nails look super cool. I knew I wanted to work in Face it CMX324 Glam Stud, because it's such an awesome glitter. It's tiny black and white hex, circle, square and bar glitter. I ordered it from The Cutest Makeup (and actually want to do a review post on The Face Shop nail polishes I bought, cause I got CMX322 Lovey Pop, CMX321 Tropical Candy and CMX324 Glam Stud from the Colored Paper Nails collection and MX311 from the Festival Nails collection) and haven't managed too many manicures that use it. So I was super excited for black and white.

I love the dandelion stamp on my NailzCraze plate and I'm always in a mood to use it. I was trying to make it look like the dandelion was being blown across my nails. I hope it turned out.

Essence Colour & Go Black is Back, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and The Face Shop CMX324 Glam Stud stamped with NailzCraze NC01.

Are you into black and white manicures? Do you think the dandelion stamp was successful?

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 6: Violet Nails

I have to do a gradient as part of the 31DC2013, and I’m not looking forward to it. For some reason, I’m utter garbage at doing them. I must have read 10 tutorials, watched hours of step-by-step videos and nothing. I have the steps, I’m just weirdly terrible at execution!

So, with this in mind, I figured I’d practice gradients a bit on violet nails day. I wasn’t entirely successful, but it’s better than I’ve ever done before. Again, I can sing the praises of masking fluid (liquid frisket) enough though, because it made cleanup a snap.

Sponged on:

And easy to remove:

I can’t imagine how many hours of scrubbing and swiping at my cuticles with acetone this would take under other circumstances.

Covergirl Outlast Vio-Last!, Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess and Sally Hansen Trouble Maker topped with Dior Gel-Coat

Are you good at gradients? What am I missing?

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 5: Blue Nails

I was super, super excited for Blue Nails day. I have so many blue polishes. Like, you don't even want to KNOW how many blue polishes I have, it's ridiculous. So when I sat down, I wanted to a lot of different blue polishes.

In addition, my sister recently bought me this plate I've been coveting and I was dying to try it out:

Don't you just love it? Birds, birdcages and feathers are my downfall, no lies, and I thought these would look great in dark blue over a much lighter blue.

I grabbed my new plate and some striping tape and added some glitter to the whole thing!

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, Revlon Mesmerize, Nails Inc. Green Park and butter London Blagger with Claire's Here Comes The Sun. Stamp is Messy Mansion MM14

What do you think of my new plate? Are you doing anything for blue nails day?

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 4: Green Nails

I love, love, LOVE green polish, so this was something of a challenge only in the sense of "which of my dozens of green polishes should I use?".  I decided to go for a tone-on-tone stamping mani, because as I said, so many green polishes.

Add in that I got a present in the nail today from my friend Saba that included this gorgeous bright green and I felt pretty set! The feathers don't show nearly as well on camera, but I like the subtle look on the nail.

Catrice Miss Piggy's BF with Illamasqua Nomad Nuance by Salma Hayek Prickly Pear stamped with Messy Mansion (MM14)

Are you a fan of green polish?

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 3: Yellow Nails

Because of The Yellow Polish Problem, I don't do a lot with yellow nail polish. Sometimes I'll throw some on for a summer manicure, but mostly, I leave it alone. That provided a unique challenge for Day 3 of the challenge, where it was all about yellow. Add in the fact that I had an interview and thus, needed a neutral nail early in the morning and you can see my dilemas.

I reached for some tape though and went for another tape mani. It looked a little plain, so I added some fruit-shaped fimo. I kind of wish I'd kept it plain, or chosen studs or tiny gems instead of fimo. Also, I realized halfway through doing my nails with Sand Tropez that the reason I don't use it often is because the formula is just awful.

Essie Sand Tropez and butter London Cheeky Chops with fruit fimo. Topped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 2: Orange Nails

Orange... oh boy. I was worried about today. I was SUPER worried about today. Like, when I saw the challenge was happening and saw Day 2 was "ORANGE NAILS" I nearly said "... never mind". But hey, it's a challenge, right?

Why the concern over orange nails? because orange and me... aren't friends. Orange clashes so much with my skin tone I have a huge trouble with it. I don't own a single piece of orange clothing and only own maybe 2 orange nail polishes.

All that said, I'm pretty excited with what I came up with. The gold sparkle in Dhara keeps it from being too intensely orange as do the color block tips. Love getting to use my Zoya Pixie Dust Fall 2013 collection, as always.

Zoya Pixie Dust Dhara with colorblock tips in Zoya Chita, Sunshine, Carter and Arabella.

Can you wear orange polish? Let me know if you're also doing the challenge! Any tips for what to do tomorrow (yellow)?

[nailsforn00bs]

31DC2013 Day 1: Red

Sorry I didn't get around to posting this yesterday! Lost track of the time.

Red was surprisingly, a bit of a stretch for me. I don't wear a lot of red nail polish, because I worry about it looking a little mature on me/my skin tone. I wanted to do something that was fun and I'm hoping that 2 accent nails per hand isn't cheating?

I wanted something that contrasted with red a lot, but didn't want to be too Christmasy and use green. The mint color was a good compromise on that and I that the scalloped stamp keeps it playful. I wanted to add gold, but gold and red can look REALLY old, so I used Zoya Tomoko, which is more of a champagne glitter with silver sparkle.

(please excuse my AWFUL lighting)

Lancome 179M, Wet N' Wild Megalast I Need A Refresh-Mint and Zoya Pixie Dust Tomoko stamped with Pueen 15


Are you a red polish fan? Are you doing the 31 Day Challenge?