October nail art - Part 2: (Birthstone) Opal Nail Art

So, I really liked my "leather & lace" nail art, but I guess I forgot to clean my nails well again, because it started peeling after a couple of days... :P And since I didn't want to end my birth month with ugly nails, I decided to redo them. :)

I found a nail art on Pinterest for "opal nail art" and it was really pretty so I thought I'd honor my birthstone. ;)

 

I used the Vinylux "Cream Puff" as the main color instead of just the base. Then for the color effects, I used OPI's Tints: yellow, blue, purple, and pink, in that order. My sister-in-law gave me a Revlon Moon Candy Nail Art set in "Orbit", and it has a shimmery chunk glitter so I used it to mimic the opal appearance. I used the Vinylux top coat first, then put on Nails Inc.'s "Kensington Caviar Gel Effect" top coat to make it more like a gemstone. 

The pictures really don't do it justice (no matter how much I edit them), but with the chunky shimmer, it really looks like an opal. ;) Overall, I really like it, and hopefully this one stays on for a while... :)

Halloween/Leather & Lace

I was feeling kind of lazy, but I knew I had to do a new nail art for Halloween/my birthday month, so I mustered up some energy to bite the bullet... ;P

During my college days, we used to go to karaoke A LOT... ;) One of my classmates liked to sing Stevie Nicks & Don Henley's "Leather & Lace". I had bought a Nails Inc. "Bling It On REBEL" kit from Sephora, ages ago, and it came with a Leather Effect nail polish "noho"... Also, I've seen some pins on Pinterest for some black lace type nail art, so I thought I'd combine the two. :)

The lace design, I kind of got the idea from my other nail tech friend who was doing some practice on my nails, a long time ago. ;) The skull piece is also from the Nails Inc. kit, and I glued it on with some crazy glue, so let's hope they stay on for a while... ;P  On the lace art nails, I used Sephora by OPI's "Nonfat Soy Half Caff" as the base, and used a black striper for the lace art. To give it that "overlay" look, I actually used Sally Hansen's "Big Smoky Top Coat". You're only supposed to put one coat, or else it'll get too dark, but it was really hard trying to get the right amount of "smokiness" without any streaks. I guess I'll need to practice more with that top coat... ;P  Then I sealed it with a matte top coat. Overall, I'm kind of happy of how it turned out, but I'm crossing my fingers that the skulls will last at least a week... ;)

For my toes, I just kept it simple... (Also, I got kind of lazy, from doing my mani...) ;P  It's simply Essie's "Chinchilly", and to give it that "chinchilla" feel I sealed it with the matte top coat.

Well, so far, this is the most "glam" nail art I've done (only because of the crystal-encrusted skulls), but hopefully I can try to do more in the future... :)