Gradients and Accents Plus Where I've Been

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Hello Polished Friends!

Wow it has been a long time since I sat down and wrote a post on here. I can't believe I haven't talked to you guys in over a month! There have been a number of things going on in my life that have prevented me from blogging recently. I' not going to go into too much detail, but I have been dealing with some personal and familial health issues as well as juggling grad school, and working 4+ days a week in order to pay for everything. It has been a struggle and blogging has been pushed to the back burner. I'm not going to promise that I'm coming back to full strength, but I did want to check in and let you all know I am alive and relatively OK :)

I did these accents and gradient nails a while back now, and I wasn't 100% sure I liked them at the time, and honestly I'm still not convinced lol. It seems like there is something missing... hmmmm. I do love me a gradient though and that is where the inspiration for this manicure began.

For the gradient I started out with Pure Ice Bikini which is such a soft pretty blue. Then proceeded with the gradient using Bikini and Pure Ice Flirt Alert. I did this on every other nail and then added two accents to mix things up a little. On my index nail I started with Color Club Harp On It and then added a coat of Happy Hands Motherboy. On my ring nail I started with my still favourite Cult Nails Tempest and then stamped with PUEEN 20 and black creme.

What do you think about these gradients and accented nails?! I hope I can start posting relatively more regularly soon :) Miss and love you all!

What's Your Damage Skittlette

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Morning friends!

Todays nails are a skittlette that I did that I'm still not entirely sold on. I was going out for the night with friends and needed something quick to do to my nails so they weren't bare, because the first thing all my friends always ask is 'Can I see your nails?!' Does this happen to anyone else out there?

The whole inspiration for this manicure was that I really wanted to wear KBShimmer What's Your Damage? because it really is the most awesome polish ever. I started off with 2 coats of that on my index and middle nails. Then since the glitter colours are hot pink, neon green and black, those were the accent colours that I went with.

I had originally planned to do gradients in pink and green, but kind of forgot once I got to that stage and ended up with plain accents. My thumb is rockin one of my all time favourite shades China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard and my pinky is wearing China Glaze Hang-Ten Toes. Both of which are from last summers neons collection. My stamped accent is a base of Cult Nails Tempest and PUEEN 09 with black creme.

What do you think of this funky skittlette?! Would you rock these bright colours together? I hope you are all having a great Tuesday loves!

Gradients and Stamping Galore

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Morning Friends!

Yes this has to be the least creative title ever, but it was all I could come up with at the moment lol. I was browsing through pinterest and found this amazing manicure and knew that I had to recreate it. Thankfully it uses all PUEEN nail plates which I just so happen to have!

To get this look I started off with a white base, using my current go to Cult Nails Tempest. Then using a make up sponge I got the gradient going using from cuticle to tip, Wet n Wild Lavender Creme, NYC Lexington Yellow and Wet n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint. Once I was happy with my gradient I added a coat of Seche Vite and allowed that to dry completely.

Once my gradient was dry I got out my stamping tools. I always add top coat before I stamp over a gradient because you work so hard on a gradient you don't want to screw it up!! I needed 4 PUEEN plates to stamp this skittle look. My thumb is PUEEN 05, my index and middle nails are PUEEN 11, my ring nail is PUEEN 08 and finally my pinky is PUEEN 10. All the stamping was done using Wet n Wild Black Creme.

I absolutely loved this look! And even though it was a blatent copy of someone elses work I'm still pleased as punch with how it came out :) Do you like this bright gradient and stamped look?

I'm headed out for lunch with my grandparents today to celebrate finishing my thesis and being the first grandchild to finish university! I'm also the eldest so that helps, but I'm going to enjoy our lunch regardless! I hope you are all having a lovely day as well!

A-England Beauty Never Fails

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Morning friends!

Today I have some simple stamping to share with you. It's not often that I do something on all of my nails and love the final look, but this was one of those times!

I started off with A-England Beauty Never Fails which I won in a nail art contest back in December and am only just getting around to using. Terrible I know. This is a stunner. Beauty Never Fails is a blackened pine base that is just filled with gold, emerald, olive green and bronze ultra fine shimmer. I should have taken pictures of this on its own, but I didn't think in advance lol. I then stamped with PUEEN-14 and Essie Good As Gold. The print is just fabulous and I think I'll be using this stamp again soon!

I am usually an accent or skittled out nails kind of girl, but sometimes these simple looks really catch my eye. I think the base being as stunning as it is helps in that department for me.

What do you think of simple stamped looks? Would you rock these nails?!

Copper Dreams

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Morning friends!

Today I have a skittlette inspired look to share with you. Marta of ChitChat Nails is an absolutely amazing blogger and always a source of inspiration to me. A few weeks back she posted this manicure and I instantly fell in love with the colour combination and knew I would be copying it someday!

I love skittlette looks and there is something about this that is just so elegant! Love! I started off with OPI My Vampire is Buff on my thumb and ring nails. On my index and middle nails I used Cult Nails Manipulative and on my pinky I started with OPI Sprung.

I created the gradient using Manipulative and My Vampire is Buff and a regular makeup sponge. Once that was totally dry I stamped using Wet n Wild Black Creme and PUEEN 23. I love how this stamp is for a full nail, but is sparse enough that it allows the gradient to show though! I added Shimmer Polish Katherine on my pinky to give the nail a little extra oopmh. I still felt like I needed something a little more, so I grabbed my Cult Nails Bronze Gemstones and added one to the base of my blue nails. Finally I took Sprung and added a few dots to my stamped nails to get the bronzed look on each nail!

I totally love these elegant stamped looks, and I especially love them when both my hands can look so good ;)

What do you think of this kind of look?!

Bluey as Gold

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Morning friends!

I am so happy to be walking and have my freedom again its amazing. Even being able to walk to my kitchen and get a glass of juice and walk back to my room is possible now. It's those little things that make life so much simpler :)

Todays look is some simple stamping and gradients that honestly I'm in love with. I was browsing through my helmer looking for something beautiful I forgot I owned and stumbled upon butter LONDON Bluey.

GAH it is gorgeous and I haven't used it nearly enough. Freakin love this colour!

Since we all know I'm obsessed with gold I decided to stamp with Essie Good As Gold and MASH-40. I had seen a few people use this swirly stamp in the past few months and had it on the back of my mind to use at some point. I also haven't done any gradients in a while and thought that I needed to spice this up with some gold gradient accents.

Sometimes simple looks are best and this I am totally digging! What are your thoughts?

Hope you're having a fab day!

Psychedelic Holographic Stamping

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Happy Tuesday! So as some of you may have seen on my Facebook page, yesterday afternoon I finished my last undergraduate exam!!!! And it went fairly well if I do say so myself! I'm really excited and now have about 2 weeks before my summer semester starts, where I'll be writing a thesis to finish off my degree. This is why I've been slightly MIA lately, needed to study for that crazy thing!

So what do you wear when you're done your exams?! Holographics of course! Once I had swatched the China Glaze Hologlam Collection I was interested to see if they would be suitable for stamping, so perfect opportunity here.

Turns out that yes! China Glaze Strap on Your Moonboots is great for stamping!

I used Revlon Bare Bones as my base, which I am kind of obsessed with as a nude lately, and then stamped with BM-221 and Strap on Your Moonboots. Super simple and I'm loving the effect!

I love the psychedelic look of the stamp and with the holographic polish it looks even cooler! Do you like this look? Would you wear your holographic polishes stamped?

Well I'm going to be relaxing and playing with my puppy all day and hopefully starting a book! Any good suggestions out there?

I hope you're having a great Tuesday!

A Broken Skittlette

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Afternoon loves!

Today I have the first nails that I have done since I broke my ankle. Everything is crazy tiring so I wanted something quick that was going to look great to last for a few days. I ended up doing one of my favourite looks, a skittlette!

I grabbed NCLA AM: Beauty Sleep, PM: Shopping Spree because I'm loving pastels for spring and used that as my inspiration. I rifled through my stamping plates and found MASH-47 and this broken pattern seemed rather fitting for this manicure.

I used Milani White On The Spot and Wet n Wild Black Creme for my stamped nails. I have really been lemming Nicole by OPI Luke of the Draw from all the swatches I have seen out there. Unfortunately every time I went to buy it it was sold out! Luckily when I was rifling through my helmer I found Milani Gray Tux which seems to be pretty close to my lemming! It has satisfied me for now!

I really like skittlette looks and this was my first time putting two rhinestones on my nails like that. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did, so you will see this style of nails from me again soon.

I think that I thought with a broken ankle I would have time to do my nails, but honestly I am struggling huge with even painting my nails once a week. Also my nails are breaking like crazy as they sometimes bang against my crutches and I have super nubs with no free edge. My swatch pile is building up, but at the moment I won't be able to catch up anytime soon. So I'm going to be a little more sporadic with my posting until I am able to walk again. I hope you all understand!

Love you all!

Holographic and Hearts

Morning loves!

How's everyone doing this Saturday? I'm still essentially snowed in, we got over 30cm of snow yesterday and the roads still aren't good. I had my first ever University snow day yesterday and it was awful nice not to have to get up and head in to 8:30 class lol. Buuuut I spent my whole day working on a paper, and that's what I'll be doing again today lol. I hope everyone that was affected by yesterday's storm is safe and sound!

Since Valentines Day is less than a week away I thought it was time to do some V-Day nail art. Since I am crazy busy with school right now I don't have a ton of time I did some simple and cute stamping.

Cute right?! I used Color Club Harp On It a fantastic silver holo as my base and then stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red and MASH-38.

I didn't mean to invert the stamp on all my nails but my index, but it looks kinda neat that way I think! If I were to use this stamp again next year I think I would try for maybe only inverting it on my ring nail or something.

Even when I'm in a rush I like to have cute looking nails! I may be buried in work, but my fingertips will still going to look cute as a button ;)

What are you all up to today? I hope to make more progress on my paper! Wish me luck! :D