Ruby Kisses: Lavender Dream

Hello everyone!

Lavender Dream is a nearly pink pastel purple cream nail polish from Ruby Kisses. I've been wearing LD twice on my nails, and on my toes for a month. I'm not showing photos of my toes, although LD made my white feet look like I had a tan (as if it was a neon)! :-) I even got a compliment. Here you see what it looks like with a coat of Seche Vite in the sun and in the shade. I don't remember if I used 2 or 3 coats, but the formula was good.

Love is Love - Pastel Rainbow Hearts- Valentines Day nails #8, NPC's Valentine's Day Nail Art Challenge, and #31Nails2014 Day 19 Rainbow

Hello everyone!

I was invited to Nail Polish Canada's Valentine's Day nail art challenge! :-) You can vote for me here by choosing my blog url; nailphotosbylani. I've already seen some very beautiful entries, so I don't think I can win, but I do have many hearts on my tiny nails. Lol! How many hearts do you see?

I must admit that I was inspired by the discrimination against homosexuals and lesbians, that happen many places, but that we've heard so much about now before the Olympics. I think people should be treated with respect no matter who they happen to fall in love with. Love is Love.

Rainbow nails was one of the challenges in the 31 day challenge I tried to do in January. So now that I've finally done day 19, I only have 5 manicures to do for NAILS Magazine's #31Nails2014 Challenge! Sadly, I have only showed a few here on the blog. But if you are on facebook, you can see my #31Nails2014 photo album. I will also share them on Instagram soon. Please follow me on Instagram! Btw, have you seen that NAILS Magazine now have a new 31 day nail art challenge for February?

This manicure was also made for the Sunday challenge in the facebook group Adventures In Stamping. I've never made a manicure for 3 challenges before. :-)

And also I have my own Valentine's Day nails series. This is number 8. I've included links to the ones I've made so far at the end of this post.

PRODUCTS USED:

Duri Rejuvacote (as base coat)

Pastels:
Nailstation: Guimauve (pink)
Nailstation: Agrume (orange)
Nailstation: Lightening Lemon (yellow)
Mi-Ny: #56 Klimt (green)
Nailstation: Gomme (blue) -used here in NPC Holiday Challenge
Gina Tricot: #47 Lilac me (indigo/ blue purple)
Linda Johansen: Violetta (violet/ red purple)

Sponge & dotting tool (for the gradient)
Messy Mansion: MM31 (stamping plate & palette)
Konad: SN White
Purple rectangular stamper
XL stamper (for the thumb)
Seche Vite


Nailstation, Mi-Ny and Linda Johansen are cruelty- free. I thought Gina Tricot was cruelty- free too, but now I couldn't get it confirmed...


I bought Nailstation, Linda Johansen, and the XL stamper from Norway Nails - The purple rectangular stamper, and MM31 from Messy Mansion.

WHAT I DID:

I used all the pastels horizontally on my thumb. On the other fingers I tried to make a diagonal pastel rainbow gradient; Index: pink, orange. Middle finger: orange, yellow, green. Ring finger: green, blue, indigo. Pinkie: indigo, violet. And then I stamped white over it with my new absolutely gorgeous Valentines stamping plate MM31 from Messy Mansion.

Click to enlarge

MM31:

I really love this stamping plate. The designs are awesome, and as you see, the images are so detailed that I can use them even though I have tiny nails that are very short, and the full nail image size is big (2,2 x 1,7 cm). So thank you Messy Mansion for making a stamping plate for all nail sizes!

STAMPERS:

It's also the first time I use a rectangular stamper. It was soft, but not as soft as the XL stamper, but easier to position, and the purple surface made it easier to see the white stamping polish. I also tried my new purple replacement head for the XL stamper, but it was harder than I had expected, and I couldn't make it work. So I guess I have to prime it. And it's the first time I use Duri Rejuvacote. After reading about it on the Messy Mansion web site, I really hope to get healthier and stronger nails. That, and using gloves when doing the dishes and housework, will hopefully prevent them from breaking so that I can get long nails again...

MY VALENTINE'S DAY NAILS:

Valentine's Day nails 1: Heart of a Vampire
Valentine's Day nails 2: Purple holo with red hearts
Valentine's Day nails 3: Black holo+ holo glitter+ black hearts
Valentine's Day nails 4: Black/ white rhinestone hearts+ 3 Halo Hues
Valentine's Day nails 5: Hearts with Sweet Dreams
Valentine's Day nails 6: Hearts with Gold and Raindrops
Valentine's Day nails 7: Black Hearts & Sparkling Venus


Lani

Lime Crime: Pastelchio

Hello everyone!

This is Lime Crime: Pastelchio. It's a pastel neon lime colored cream nail polish, that dries matte. This first picture is with Seche Vite, but the two next show what it really looks like. The rest are with top coat. The bottle came in a cute box. On the underside of the box you'll find the ingredients list, and it also says that it's vegan and cruelty free! :-) I love Lime Crime's slogan on Harlow & Co's web site:

"COLOR IS NOT A CRIME. IT'S A WAY OF LIFE."

Pastelchio was the undies for my Tiger Nails.

This nail polish can be bought online. Lime Crime can only ship their nail polish to the Continental US, but Harlow & Co ships to many countries.

I bought this bottle on eBay and had to wear it right away. Now I wish I had bought a few more... Do you have any suggestions?


Lani

Black Hearts & Sparkling Venus- Valentine's Day nails #7

Hello everyone!

I made this more than two months ago, when we (in AIS) should use a stamping plate that ends with 8. I used my new BM- H18 from Bundle Monster's Holiday Collection, and Konad SP Black to stamp the hearts. For the "Sparkling Venus" base I used two new nail polishes. I layered one coat of a sheer green- blue holographic glitter called ORLY Sparkling Garbage, over two coats of GOSH #622 Venus. Venus is not only the goddess for love, but also a dusty blue- green cream nail polish.

GOSH Venus on it's own:

My bottle isn't a special edition bottle. I don't know why... First, I only bought Venus from GOSH's Spring/Summer 2013 Collection, but now I have a few more. (I also found some Gosh polishes in the tax free and abroad this summer. Yeay! It was fun to see bottles that I'd never seen before. And the price was really nice.) GOSH is not tested on animals! :-)

Before the stamping:

Doesn't this look like the polish you see in the Orly bottle? Sparkling Garbage is from Orly's Summer 2013 Mash Up Collection. (I also bought the neon orange called Mayhem Mentality from the same collection.) I think I will use this glitter layered over blue, green, white or pastels.

More photos of the end result: 

Have a nice weekend!


Lani

Favorite Color Combo- stamping nail art

Hello everyone!

Favorite Color Combo

Today's challenge in Adventures In Stamping is "Favorite Color Combo". My favorite colors are green and purple. Here I use different shades of the two colors. I like all kinds of purple, from pastel to vampy dark, and from nearly pink to nearly blue(, maybe because I also like pink and blue?) I also love most greens, but not all of them. In this mani I tried to put my favourite colors together, but now that I see the result, I don't think it's my favourite color combo.

Favorite Color Combo

Used:

Thumb:
GOSH: #002 Misty Mauve
Nfu- Oh: #50

Index finger:
Picture Polish: Honey Dew
Picture Polish: Gene Doll

Middle finger:
IsaDora: #714 Lilac Bikini
Konad: SP Green

Ring finger:
Golden Rose: Jolly Jewels #105

Pinkie:
Joss: C701 Kyoto Green
Konad: SP Violet Pearl

GOSH: #002 Misty Mauve , Nfu- Oh: #50, Picture Polish: Honey Dew, Picture Polish: Gene Doll, IsaDora: #714 Lilac Bikini, Konad SP Green, Golden Rose: Jolly Jewels #105, Joss: C701 Kyoto Green, Konad SP Violet Pearl

Stamping plates:

I used Konad m69 on the pinkie and middle finger. I also stamped with Konad SP Green and Cheeky Jumbo plate 9 Wild at Heart on the thumb, but it didn't turn out so well, but here is a photo of what it looked like before the stamping, where you can see the thumb:

Favorite Color Combo- before stamping

I liked it like this to. Here is one more photo with the stamping. (The Jolly Jewels polish didn't look sheer in real life)

Favorite Color Combo, bottle: Konad SP Violet Pearl

What is your favorite color combo?

Lani

MI-NY: #56 KLIMT (on it's own and used for nail art/ layering)

Hello everyone!

MI-NY: Klimt

MI-NY: KLIMT is a pastel turquoise cream nail polish. It's a 1- 2 coater, and very easy to work with. The color is a little bit greener than on my photos. I bought Klimt in February, and have already used it several times. So now I want to show you what it looks like on it's own, and used for nail art. And I'll try to update this post when I use Klimt for nail art or layering in the future. This first photo was one of my entries to MI-NY' swatch competition called WE LOVE NAILS.

MI-NY: Klimt

I swatched some of my MI-NY polishes, but didn't get time to swatch all of them. I had planned to write blog posts about them too, but haven't had time or been sick...

MI-NY: Klimt

Color comparison

I called the color pastel turquoise, but some would perhaps call it blue-green or pastel teal. As I mentioned Klimt looks a litte more green and less blue than on these photos. Compared to my other polishes in this color family, Klimt is like a pastel version of H&M "Bella's Choice". Klimt is more pastel than Picture Polish "Honey Dew", but "Honey Dew" is a little more green. H&M "Mint Madness" looks like a dusty pastel green, and not turquoise at all, compared to Klimt.

MI-NY: Klimt

MI-NY: #56 Klimt used for nail art or layering:

1) One of the last challenges in the Sat- ART- Day Club, back in February, was "Dotting tools". This was my entry for MI-NY's nail art contest called "WE LOVE NAIL ART", but I didn't win. Details about the mani and more photos in the blog post.

Klimt used for nail art

2) This was made for World Ovarian Cancer Day. The first photos are taken before adding the flakie top coat. I don't think I've shared the first two photos before. Details and more photos in the blog post.

Klimt used for nail art

Klimt used for nail art

Klimt used for nail art

Klimt used for nail art

 With the flakie:

Klimt used for nail art

3) MI-NY's flakie "I LOVE LONDON" layered over Klimt and other polishes. This was an attempt to show what the flakie looks like over different colors. I made it for MI-NY's swatch contest; "WE LOVE NAILS".

MI- NY: "I Love London" layered over Klimt

4. Love is Love - Pastel Rainbow Hearts- Valentines Day nails #8, NPC's Valentine's Day Nail Art Challenge, and #31Nails2014 Day 19 Rainbow

As I've said before, MI-NY is an Italian brand, and according to their answer on facebook they do not test their products on animals. Their web site has a list of MI-NY stores.


Lani

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

Hello everyone!

The keyword for the Sat- ART- Day Club on Saturday was: DOTTING TOOLS. This is what I came up with. First I'll tell you what I did and show more photos, and further down I'll include a photo and a list of the polishes used, and thumbnails with links to the other dotticures.

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

What I did:
I started with pink, mint, peach, purple and blue cream skittles. Then I used the dotting tool and made darker dots and flakie dots on the sides of one finger, and then dotted three dots of the flakie in the middle of the next finger, and so on... So I used 3 polishes from each color family: one pastel cream, one a little darker, and one flakie.

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

What I used:
I used my biggest dotting tool, a little palette, base- and top coat, and all these nail polishes:

Click to enlarge

From pinkie/ left to thumb/ right (pastel- darker- flakie):

Pink:
Gosh: #598 Bubble Gum
Pieces: Lilac Rose (and in the latest post)
Deborah Lippmann: Sweet Dreams (also used here and in the latest post)

Mint/ green:
mi- ny: Klimt
H&M: Gentle Sky
Nfu- Oh 56 (also used in the Concrete and Nail Polish contest and for layering experiments)

Peach:
Pieces: Peach (This polish needs many coats, but the other Pieces creams have normal opacity)
Pieces: Fresh Pink
Nfu- Oh: #49

Purple:
Gosh: #002 Misty Mauve
Gosh: #571 Wild Lilac
Nfu- Oh: 51 (also used here, here, here and in the Concrete and Nail Polish contest)

Blue:
Gosh: #001 Lavender Love
mi- ny: Blue Sky
Nfu- Oh: 52 (and in the Concrete and Nail Polish contest)

Sat- ART- Day Club: Dotting Tools

I know I'm posting late, but it took time to get well from the virus. As usual, you can click on the thumbnails below to take a closer look at the other participant's dotticures!

Lani