Outdoor Mani with Flowers and Seashells | OMD2 Theme: Outdoors (Flashback Friday)

Ah, How I do love the summer heat... The sun is shining, the flowers are in bloom, the ocean feels warmer... people look happier.



 Hubby and I took a very nice walk on Sunday evening.  I was a little worried that we went out late and that the sun would soon be gone.  Alas, it was 9:30 at night when it started to go down.  No beautiful sunset that night, too cloudy.  Yet, it was great.  I was able to snap some pictures of beautiful flowers along the way, we chatted with some friends, relaxed on the sand... and collected clams.  Yup, not just seashells, live ones!!!

Solid Color Nail Art: "Shades of Gold" (Carrie Underwood Collection from Nicole By OPI)

Carrie Underwood from Nicole by OPI
SHADES OF GOLD

Nail art designs can range from simple to complicated, easy and fast to difficult and time consuming.  A great nail art though doesn't have to involve a lot of time nor fancy tools.  Solid color manicures can satisfy the nail art craving too.

Solid color manicure can also be made interesting, quite fun and unique.  This is a very easy design.  Still, undeniably chic ;)  The trick is combing several complimenting colors instead of painting all the nails one color.

In this manicure I combined, Lips Dripping Honey (glitter), Carrie'd Away (gold) and Sing You Like a Bee (white with gold dominant tones.)  I applied topcoat only to the glitter to smoothen out the surface.  The two others colors had an interesting texture to it but not quite as rough as regular textured-polishes.

The finish is very pretty without the topcoat, but that makes the polish more vulnerable to wear and tear... Hence, If you want the mani to last longer, topcoat is a great idea and reapply it every 2-3 days.
Finish up your easy nail art with a complimenting knuckle ring or stick a nail jewelry to it...  I thought my Eiffel Towel cellphone decor looked great with the gold tones... So... why not?

Related Post:

 LUX - Zoya's Magical Pixie Dust 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Candy Dandy - Nicole by OPI

Roughles {Ruffles} By Nicole by OPI

Candy Dandy - Nicole by OPI

My First GUMDROPS, Nicole By OPI
"Candy Dandy"

This is a pretty instant nail-fab polish.  Wearing it just on it's own provides a very neat, elegant nail art design... perfect for those times when we don't have enough time to sit and play with polishes.  Some designs take a lot of time, ya'know? lol... ;)

This is my most favorite of the Gumdrops Collection from Nicole by OPI.  Frankly, it is the hex that I love the most.  Textured polish's main attribute is the sandy feeling. Rough feeling on my nails though, makes me uncomfortable.  I just have the urge to keep touching my nails with my fingertips, like there is something there that doesn't quite belong... But glitters makes me feel fabulous, lol... The hex does just that for me.  "Candy Dandy" is the right combination for some texture and glitter.  And though it is still quite rough, the glitter trumps the uncomfortable texture and spells fab all over it...

How about you?  Which kind of textured polish do you prefer?  The classic rough finish or like these ones that have glitter hexes added to it?

I hope that you feel great and beautiful today dolls.... Happy Tuesday!

~*Maya*~

Related Post:

My Nicole By OPI Haul

 LUX - Zoya's Magical Pixie Dust 1

Roughles {Ruffles} By Nicole by OPI

LUX - Zoya's Magical Pixie Dust 1

"Three layers of top-coat to even out the surface and achieve a nice smooth finish," - usually, that is what it takes to smoothen a heavy glitter manicure.  I had to do this when I was experimenting with glitter.  Loved the mixture of shapes and sparkle but really hate the loose, often sharp dried glitters on my fingernails.  Not to mention tiny particles fall out and I dread the idea of eating them, ha ha!

I thought that would be the case for this textured polishes.  Really wanted to try this sweet little concoctions of glitter and sand.  I read many mixed reviews.  The very thing that attracts me, namely, chunky and heavy glitters, are what offends others.  Hesitant, I wondered If I truly would love it.  So I thought, if I didn't like the texture, then I'll use top coat ;)  Good plan... Well, I was wrong. Turns out, I love them!  No-base and top coat, the polishes stuck very well on my fingernails. So I might keep this polish for a while just to see how long it will last at my hard-working hands.  Then later on, maybe, do a swatch with a top-coat just to see how it turns out.

One of the textured polishes I dearly wanted to try is this Magical Pixie Dust from Zoya.  These babies are new additions to my PNat_jar (Pretty Nails and Tea Jar... as in 'collection', :d lol) Although I have coveted these babies for a while, budget constraints prevented me from grabbing them.  It was worth it for the sparkle and beauty of this one did not disappoint at all.  Polish-swatch pictures proliferating online makes this polish look so gorgeous.  It is just the same in person... felt like a fairy tale - aptly called "Magical" in my opinion ;)

On the above photo, I dabbed a bit of the Lux Magical Pixiedust over Mischa, also from Zoya. It's sparkle upon shimmer!  On the picture below, the dab of Pixiedust is also over Mischa but with matte top-coat.  The beauty of the Magical Pixiedust is more evident against the matte backdrop.  But these two are equally pretty to me.  What do you think?

I am really very excited about these textured polishes... Gladly, I have two more to try...

And of course, I would like to try putting top-coat on it too and see how a smoothened textured Magical Pixie Dust would look like.  Please comment below if you have tried... I would love to see you pics and read your posts.  If you don't have them and is reading this blog-post to see if you'd try it or not, I say... Go ahead girl! :) 

I hope you dolls are having a Magical Saturday evening and a wonderful weekend indeed!

Take care!  Remember, beautiful nails are nothing if you don't wear a smile on your face... As they say, smiling is the best accessory.. :)

~*Maya*~

Related Post:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more Nail Art designs, please visit my Nail Art Gallery

Thank you and have a fancy nails day! 

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Roughles {Ruffles} By Nicole by OPI

ROUGHLES, pronounced as ruffles :)
The first time I saw these polishes I thought, why would you call a textured polish rough-less, then it won't be textured anymore.. ha ha.   

On the store one day, I decided to illegally swatch a textured polish on my nails. I have not been much of a fan of sand-paper like nails, but the constant barrage of advertisement (uhmm) made me curious.  Smooth and glossy was my best preference. 

Then came this pretty pastels.  Pastels have always been my fancy.  I think they are beautiful, very apt for spring time.  Anytime, really... like an ode to subtle beauty and quiet happiness.  So, I gave in and gave this babies a try...

After wearing this for a little bit, I find that the texture isn't as harsh as I thought it would be.  It is still sand-like, but very fine.  The peaks are also smooth rather than sharp.  So, although I am almost always (subonciously) touching my nails with my finger-tips, the texture didn't bother me as much.

First up, "on what grounds."

Very light, baby blue color with speckles of red and darker blue shares. China Glaze's "Sand Dolla Make You Holla," was a great compliment on the ring finger as it has similar speckles.  (Okay, you caught me, Sand Dolla was my first textured polish.  Although I did not wear it as such, I applied about three coats of top-coat to achieve a smooth finish :)  I am quite pleased with this color the most.  It's so refreshing to the eyes, makes for a light, cheery mood.

"Sand in My Shoe"

has red speckles which makes the yellow pastel pop up a bit more.  I thought of complimenting that secondary color with an accent nail polka-flowers.  What do you think?  I would love this color for nice sunny days. 

"I'm Stucco On You"

Periwinkle! That was my first thought... This is a very pretty purple with dark blue and red speckles which make it a good match for quite a few other complimenting colors.
 

Here's  a photo with no flash to make the speckles more defined.

"Rock The Look"

A little bit on the darker side of the family of pink-pastels with more red speckles than it has darker blue.  On this swatch, I applied top-coat on the two middle fingers.  With two coats of top-coat, the texture was almost completely smoothed, defeating the purpose of the polish.  Although the little speckles still make a good design/color effect.

In conclusion, I'm glad I got to try textured polishes.  I was thoroughly pleased with these ones.  It makes me think of the days at the beach when one had been playing in the sand a bit and a film of dust is left on the skin. Strange as it may seem, it reminds me a lot of the beaches.

Trying out things for the first time is great indeed.  It worked for this one.  I am quite glad that I have another textured polish to try - Nicole by OPI's "Candy Dandy" coming up next.

Have you tried textured polishes?  What do you think about them?  Any favorites?
If you have made any designs using textured polishes, I definitely would want to see them ;)

Please show me some love and leave me a comment below :)

Enjoy being a girl!

~*Maya*~

Related Post: 

LUX Magical PixieDust

My Nicole By OPI Haul

Hello Dolls!!!
Just I wanted to show what I got from the local drugstore: Nicole by OPI.  Got these at a BOGO coupon and a great polish-hunt afternoon courtesy of my loving Hubby...  I will have swatches and review shortly.

I hope that you are having a great Tuesday... anyone eating turkey tonight for dinner> ;-)

Enjoy each moment for time when past will never return.

~*Maya*~

Related Post:

Roughles Swatches

Gumdrops

Carried Underwood (shades of gold)

"Sand Dolla Make You Holla" ~ Pretty In Pink, Hearts Nail Art Design

China Glaze: "Naked" and "Sand Dolla Make You Holla"

My first China Glaze polishes. Wahoo!  And by the way, my first time using textured polish as well.

I combined "Naked" the nice, girly pink and "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" textured polish from the Sea Goddess collection, the creamy white, light glitter polish.  Combined some iridescent heart glitters and white flowers to complete a dainty, pretty-in-pink design.

It is recommended not to use topcoat on the textured polish to preserve it's nature.  Since I added the heart glitter pieces however, i needed something to make it stick and make it stable.  So I added two coats of topcoat.  {The textured polish kind-off intimidated me as well, not quite used with a grainy feel on my nails yet.  This is another reason :D) But everything turned out pretty, so I'm not complaining :)

I think it looks very well with one of my favorite mugs too :)

What do you think about this design?
Would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment below :)


~*Maya*~

For more Nail Art designs, please visit my  

~* Nail Art Gallery.*~

Thank you and have a fancy nails day!

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