The Digit-al Dozen Does Skittles: Neon, Nude and Studded

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Good Morning friends!

This week is yet another Digit-al Dozen Week here on Sincerely Stephanie and we are welcoming some new members this week! This week is also very exciting because I chose the theme this week, and it is my absolute favourite kind of nail art, SKITTLES!! If you are looking for more information as to just what skittles are you can check out my post on The Digit-al Dozen blog here.

My post is a day late starting as yesterday was a holiday here in Canada and I was finishing up spending time with my family and boyfriend whom I won't see again for over a month, so please excuse the late start!

For this manicure I started off with OPI My Vampire is Buff on all my nails except my index nail. I then grabbed my favourite small cut down nail art brush and some gold studs from Born Pretty Store and started skittling. Yup I just made that a verb.

The gold glitter on my index nail is OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder and all the neon line work was done with China Glaze Sun of a Peach. The neon looks really washed out here, but it was soooo bright in person and the contrast was fantastic. I think my favourite nail is the gold cross, what do you think?

I can't wait to see what everyone else is coming up with! Hope you are all having a lovely start to your week :)

31DC2013: Day 25 Inspired by Fashion

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Good Morning my lovely lacquerheads!

Today's challenge prompt is all about being inspired by Fashion. In all honesty I am not a big fashionista. I love clothes, but my meager student budget does not allow me to buy incredibly gorgeous pieces that I would if I had an unlimited budget. Also the lifestyle of trekking back and forth to campus everyday does not lend itself to gorgeous dresses and heels. So I follow other fashion blogs and wish that I could afford/have somewhere to go in those beautiful clothes! Today's inspiration is from one of those blogs!

These nails are inspired by this Mara Hoffman Open Back Column Dress which unfortunately costs almost $300. Good thing a girl can dream right?! lol

These nails are loosely inspired by the dress. I was originally planning on copying the print exactly, but my nails were just too small and I was too tired after work to do all of that :P
I started off with a white base and then began freehanding on the design with my smallest nail art brush. I did it over a white base so the colours would really pop. For this manicure I used, China Glaze Igniting Love, China Glaze Budding Romance, China Glaze Sunday Funday, Sweet Color #009 along with black and white creme.

I really like these nails even if they aren't quite as crisp as I would like because I was a little on the tired side. But they look great when I hold my hand out far! What do you think about these fashion inspired nails?!

Be sure to head over to The Lacquerologist to see what Emily has done today! Also be sure to enter our giveaway!
Check out last years fashion inspired nails here!

31DC2013: Day 16 Tribal

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Good Morning!

Today's challenge is Tribal, I really enjoy doing tribal nails, and have done a number of different tribal designs in the past, but I have never looked up any specific tribal art and recreated that! It has always been just a random application of colours and patterns. When I was in Alaska last month I learned a lot about the Tlingit Natives, pronounced Klinget, one of the groups of native people that still call Southeast Alaska home. At the stop of Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, Alaska we discovered much of the history of the Tlingit Natives and got to experience much of the art and totem poles that exist there. I took a number of pictures of the carvings that were on the walls and I decided to recreate one of those works today!

Here is the picture I took of the carving I recreated! The lighting isn't the best, but you get the idea. In person these were so beautiful.

For this manicure I started off with a white base using Cult Nails Tempest just to have a good surface for creating the art on. Then I drew the outlines of the fish and the wings with Wet n Wild Black Creme. Then I began to fill in the coloured areas using Born Pretty Store Sweet Color #009, the teal, Cult Nails Evil Queen, the red, and a mix of Cult Nails Feel Me Up and Joe Fresh Caramel for the yellow. All the details were done with my smallest cut down nail art brush and a small dotting tool.

I went back in with OPI A-Piers To Be Tan and filled in all the remaining white areas to mimic the wood of the carvings. I really loved the final outcome of these!

I created this combination image in case any of you want to pin my tribal manicure! I had a lot of fun in Alaska and learned a great deal about the Tlingit People. If you would like to learn more, you can check out some of the facts on this Wikipedia page!

Be sure to check out The Lacquerologist to see Emily's tribal manicure today! She has been killing this challenge so make sure you're checking out her posts!
Check out last years tribal manicure here!

The Digit-al Dozen September Spectacular: BLING!

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Afternoon my loves!

Today's post is another in the Digit-tal Dozen September Spectacular, this time we are recreating the theme BLING! We did bling week back in May and I seriously loved that week. I had a lot of fun creating blinged out manicures, especially because I was still on crutches at the time and it had been over 3 months. The bling nails made me very happy!

For this blingy manicure I wanted to do a skittle, because well I love skittles. I had China Glaze Escaping Reality sitting out on my desk and felt a strong urge to pair it with a holographic print and some gems! I started with Creative Fantasy on my thumb, index nail and pinky. On my middle and ring nail I started with Color Club Harp On It.

On my thumb I used Sephora by OPI Never Enough Shoes to freehand the zebra print and then I added a gem from Born Pretty Store. My index nail I freehanded the diamonds with Harp On It and then outlined them with Never Enough Shoes. My middle nail was a gem filled nail using big silver gems from Born Pretty Store and some 3mm rhinestones I had in my kit. On my ring nail I freehanded some random shapes of Escaping Reality and then added another gem. Finally on my pinky I used the same gems from Born Pretty Store as well as some small black rhinestones.

I had fun wearing these for the day that I did! Doing all these nails really isn't allowing me to enjoy them as much as I would like! lol Alas such is the nature of these challenges! What do you think of these pink blingy nails?! Would you ever wear something like this?

Be sure to check out the rest of the Digit-al Dozen below and ENTER our giveaway!

31DC2013: Day 6 Violet

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Morning friends!

We are here on Day 6 of the challenge and today's theme is Violet. I don't know about you, but to me violet means purple. That's how I interpreted it anyway! I was actually struggling thinking of something creative to do for this prompt, but eventually ended up just googling purple patterns and came up with these!

Here is the awesome image that inspired these nails,

I'm actually really pleased with how these turned out! There really isn't much explaining to do, I started out with 3 coats of China Glaze Creative Fantasy and then went at it with my teeny tiny cut down nail art brush and Born Pretty Store Sweet Color #009 and freehanded the floralesque pattern.

I started on my thumb and I had originally tried to get more of the image onto my nail and add a bit more free purple space. However when I started I liked the look of something over my whole nail slash my nails aren't quite big enough! :P

I'm not sure how violet these are, but I really like the teal and purple combination and the floral/bubbly print is pretty fun! What do you think of these?

Make sure you check out Emily's violet nails over at The Lacquerologist! She has been killing it so far and I can't wait to see what else she comes up with! Also be sure to enter our giveaway for 2 $30 Born Pretty Store giftcards!
Check out last years violet nails here!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Fashion: Neon and Nude Purses

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Gooood Morning friends!

I'm still away on vacation, but I could NOT miss a Digit-al Dozen Week! So this week will be my own posts, but pre scheduled while I'm still away!

We're back with another Digit-al Dozen week, with this theme being Fashion. I am not very fashionable, being a student an all so I turned to Pinterest to help me find some cute fashion trends. I saw these neon and nude purses and instantly knew these would translate perfectly to nail art.

Surprisingly I used tape for this manicure! I started off with one of my favourite nudes, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh and applied top coat and waited for that to dry completely. Once that was dry I taped off both sides of my nails leaving a strip in the middle for the colour.

Going one nail at a time I taped off the sides and painted using the polish brush. My thumb is Revlon Sorbet, my index is Pure Ice French Kiss, my middle is Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights, my ring nail is Pure Ice Flirt Alert and finally my pinky is Pure Ice Free Spirit. I added four gold studs from Born Pretty Store to replicate the clasp on a purse.

I wore these nails a few weeks back, and these were the nails that my supervisor finally asked me about! Of all the crazy nails I've worn and he's never said a word, these were the ones he finally went, "What's on your nails?" I thought that was pretty funny :)

What are your thoughts on these?! Remember to check out the rest of the Digit-al Dozen below!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Tape: Cool Gradient

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Morning!

We're gearing up to the end of the week and I have to say I am almost at my tape limit. I'm liking the manicures I'm creating, but the amount of time that they take is insanity! I admire all you ladies that do these on a regular basis, you have a crazy amount of patience!

For these nails I started off with Cult Nails Tempest, I feel like I'm using this all the time, I may need a new bottle soon! After applying topcoat and waiting for it to dry I went back at it with my striping tape. This time I cut pieces in advance to attempt to make it easier on myself. I went one nail at a time and laid down my striping tape on a diagonal.

Starting at the bottom I used a small nail art brush and butter LONDON Fiver for the first space. Then for the second one I mixed two drops of Sweet Color 009 and one drop of Fiver together. For the third one I added one drop of Bondi New York Tavern On The to the previous mixture. For the fourth stripe I used Tavern On The on its own and for the last section I used Pure Ice French Kiss. That was a lot of mixing and explaining! I hope you all understand :) I removed the tape quickly once all the colours had been painted to keep my lines clean.

I think these cool gradient nails are pretty fun! This is my favourite colour combination so it made using the tape slightly more bearable :)

What do you think of these? Remember to check out the rest of the Digit-al Dozen below!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Tape: Black and Yellow

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Goood Morning loves and lacquerheads!

Today I have the first manicure in tape week which I am actually quite pleased with! I went back to my favourite black and white and threw in some yellow for good measure.

I had an urge to pull out NCLA Tennis Anyone? and used that on my thumb, middle and pinky nails. On my index and ring nails I started with a base of Cult Nails Tempest. I applied top coat to my index, middle and ring nails and then waited until that was completely dry.

Starting with my index nail, I cut pieces of striping tape and using my set of pointy tweezers I made my design and then did one coat of Wet n Wild Black Creme and removed the tape quickly. I did the same thing in a different pattern on my ring nail. My my middle nail I taped off the sides and did a coat of black creme down the middle, then added a silver square stud from Born Pretty Store. On my thumb and pinky I did a coat of Animeniac Cosmetics Crash Landing to tie it all together.

I'm actually a little obsessed with these and don't want to take them off to do something for tomorrow! It's visually striking and right up my alley! I'm actually liking striping tape, in this small capacity.

What are your thoughts on these nails? Make sure to check out the rest of the Digit-al Dozen!