Stamping over magnetic polish

MY NAIL ART CONTEST!

That is all.

So, I tried stamping again. Every single attempt feels like a first attempt. I'm having so much trouble with this you guys! It's just really frustrating... and discouraging... and upsetting.

Still, I think the combo would work alright if it wasn't for the incomplete transfers, the smudging, etc... Have a look, and if the execution depresses you, just console yourself by staring at the cute polar bear that my boyfriend gave me! :D

It may not look that bad on some of the pictures, but the stamp sometimes didn't transfer completely, and I smudged some of my nails. I'm also disappointed because I tried to make this one matte and it seems as though Essie's Matte About You isn't compatible with this nailpolish. It just... wouldn't dry. Odd!

Gold butterflies set in emerald

This is a manicure I made to match a gold ring adorned with emeralds and diamonds. I was given this beautiful piece of jewelry by my mother but I never used to wear it. She asked me about it last week and I decided to just put it on and not remove it. It's very practical - the finish is quite flat and it never gets caught in my clothes or anything. I think I'm going to keep it on for a while!

The stamping in this one came out quite faint, but that's what I was going after. I wanted a subtle effect that gave texture without being to jarring. In retrospect I probably could have chosen a more abstract pattern because I find myself trying to make out the butterflies and being frustrated that it should be so difficult. See for yourself.

Please excuse my dry cuticles, I forgot to moisturize before I took these! There are so many steps to make my nails presentable... Eventually I'll get the hang of it!

Don't forget to check out my upcoming nail art contest!

Fall-themed stained glass

First things first. Do you know about the nail art contest I'm hosting? Have a look HERE for more details!

So this week's theme for our 52 week challenge on Reddit is "orange". I never really know what to do with these colour themes so I turned to my very best friend in the world, my boyfriend, and asked for his advice. (You'd be so proud of him, he has really learned to appreciate nail art. Not that he really had a choice!) He suggested some sort of variation on the autumn leaves and trees, but in a stained glass style. I went searching on Google Images for inspiration and ta-da! I came up with this design.

The whole thing was inspired by the following picture, taken from this Canadian custom-made stained glass panel company. They make really beautiful stuff!

I know I just posted autumn leaves in my last update, but I thought these were so beautiful, I just had to try and reproduce them. Plus the general look is very different so I thought it would be fun to compare them. You can do so many different things based on the same theme!

There isn't that much orange in this design but I really liked that it gave me an opportunity to use many different shades of orange and to make them pop in contrast with the beautiful blue, which is its complementary colour.

Here are more pictures.

This is another design that I really like when looking at the overall result of the whole hand. The colours are very bright and eye-catching, plus I really like the effect of the black frame around each nail. They look like little individual works of art! I'm quite stoked! :)