It is that time again...my week in nails

Today we were hit by a snow storm and I have few minutes before I need to take out the dog, so I decided to post another article with my manicures from a week ago. Stay safe and I talk to you all soon.

P.S. - and if you are celebrating, then Happy Thanksgiving

Sunday - Tradition

For this theme I decided to go with the traditional colors that are associated with Thanksgiving. As a native from Europe this holiday does not have much meaning for me but my American family is celebrating it. When it came to think about what should I do for this challenge, I was not really sure what tradition should I address because I felt my cultural and family background does not have any traditions that I could transfer onto my nails.

In this mani I used all OPI polishes reflecting the traditional colors of Thanksgiving.

It happened I received the "new" German collection from OPI the same day when this theme was actual; thus I decided to immediately incorporate the colors that were closest to the colors I was looking for. I don't remember what were the other colors I used for polka dots but I am pretty sure they were all from the same collection.

OPI - two coats of Deutsch You Want Me Baby?

The rusty color of this OPI nail polish is so stunning. I got the entire collection off Amazon. After my order got lost in mail, the seller was luckily able to resend the order and the entire collection is really cool and has many fall/winter colors.

Monday - Feathers

This manicure was inspired by water decals I have ordered from Born Pretty store and when I saw the topic, I immediately knew I wanted to use them for the feathers. I applied 2 coats of OPI nail polish and prepared the required size of the feathers. As you can see on the picture, these water decals did not work out in my favor and they were really hard to work with.

Feather water decals ordered from Born Pretty store - would not recommend these ;(

The decals were hard and did not stick to my nails at all. I tried to dip them back in water but the truth is that these were a huge disappointment in general. The nail polish used for this manicure is another OPI; this time from the Nordic collection (an absolute must have in my opinion!!!). The color looks blue/royal in the bottle but it appears more like a purple blurple color.

OPI - Do you have this color in Stockholm? This is 2 layers. Also a snap shot of the water decals.

In general I am happy with the water decals from Born Pretty store but this one is definitely one of those I would skip. Luckily the cost for this set wasn't too high so I am not too upset about the quality. However, not sure if I will ever reach for this set again (or anytime soon).


Tuesday and Wednesday - Red

Red is such a classic color on your nails. When it comes to the color itself, I have at least 30 different red nail polishes in my collection. And yet I tend to reach for reds from China Glaze. For my first manicure I decided to go simple and classy adding only few studs on each of my nails. I have ordered all my nail art stuff from Amazon a long time ago; thus I do not have direct links to sellers I have purchased these from. But if you go on Amazon and search key words like nail art wheel, cheeky, etc., it will come up for you with a wide selection.

These studs were purchased off Amazon. They were really inexpensive and look nice for this kind of nail art/manicures.

As a base for both red manicures I used this polish from China Glaze Santa Red My List. This is 1 or 2 coats (I am not sure as I have done this mani a while ago) but in general most of China Glaze nail polishes do not need more than 2 coats. Especially, if you know you will be stamping over them or adding stickers or water decals, you can probably get away with 1 coat. My only issue with China Glaze is the fact that it is chipping on me within 2-3 days (some of the polishes do that the same day when I applied them). It is not a big deal breaker for me considering that most manicures I do not wear for more than 1-2 days. But I thought I would mention this in case you are thinking about purchasing them. What I found though is if you are using a really good top coat, you are able to extend the life of your manicure by few days.

I have found that Out the Door is an absolutely amazing top coat. I am thinking about writing a short review on it so stay tuned.

China Glaze - Santa Red My List; absolutely stunning red with a little bit of shimmer running through it. It is very festive and Christmas appropriate. I think this polish came out last year in their holiday collection.

With the second mani I tried to do a variety of red polka dots; however, as you can see, it turned into a decent mani fail. The idea behind this was to use this beautiful red base nail polish and adding different colors of red polka dots on top of it. As you can tell, all the red colors blend together and they all look the same. Thanks to this fail though I learned not to combine too similar colors from the same color family because it won't be the same effect as I planned.  It still was a nice manicure but nowhere near as I originally imagined it to be.

I used 4 different red polishes from China Glaze; however, it turned into a red polka dot manicure fail.

If you like China Glaze as much as I do, you can probably find them at your local Ulta and Sally's Beauty. If you live outside the US, I am not sure if it will be as easy for you to have access to this brand. I can definitely recommend you to check out www.8ty8beauty.com. They have all the collections and hundreds if not thousands of different polishes not only from this brand but other brands as well. If I am not mistaken, they ship internationally as well but I am not sure how much is the shipping. And honestly, they have the best price for China Glaze I have found on the current market.

Thursday - My family, What I am thankful for and Home + Throw Back Thursday (mani crated two years ago)

OMG, look at those nails!!! I can't believe my nails and cuticles used to look like this. As a former nail biter I was struggling to get rid of this annoying habit. It is not nice neither healthy or natural. I know it now but at that time it was just something my mum and my brother did as well.

I did this manicure when I got into stamping about two years ago. I was trying to find ways to stop biting my nails and when I saw a commercial on TV for the stamping plates, I went on my own little hunt to find them in a local store. However; I learned you cannot really find them in stores so I turned to YouTube and Amazon and found out about so many companies that actually make these plates...lucky me!!! ;)

My first tries with stamping. I was still biting my nails around this time but was getting much better.

That year I got this home gel nail art kit from my husband and of course I was thrilled to try it out. This might have been my very first try with gel nail polish and stamping over it and I feel it turned out quite nice considering I had no or little experience with gel nail polishes and stamping. I remember after I applied the image, the nail was still sticky so I ended up applying a regular top coat to get rid of the stickiness. Until today I do not know if the gel manicures suppose to be a bit tacky or if I did something wrong and did not cure them right. These days though my gel manicures are neglected ;(. I should maybe try to pull out the system from its box (when we moved a year ago I never pulled it out again from its box).

Ordered my gel nail polish set from Amazon. Stamping was done using Sally Hansen White On and a black Konad stamping polish.

How about you? Do you prefer regular nail polish or do you favor gel manicures? I think at this point of my life I prefer regular nail polish mostly because I am focusing on nail art and it is much easier and quicker then playing around with gel nail polishes. Maybe one day, when I am tired of changing my manicures every single day, I will get back to it.

Friday - Favorite Side Dish (Fruit Salad? lol)

To be honest, my favorite side dish is Mash Potatoes...but the truth is I had no idea how to create a manicure looking like mash potatoes...lol. When going through my nail art drawers I ran into these fruit femos and got the idea of creating a "Fruit Salad" manicure for this theme. As a base I used again OPI polish from the Germany collection. This is such a pretty orange red color great for Thanksgiving manicures.

I do not wear femos on a daily basis but they are really great for nail art.

The funny thing is that I do like fruits too much so even coming up with this idea was not typical for me. But maybe when I eat strawberries or see an orange next time, they will remind me of this manicure and how much fun I had creating something crazy like this.

OPI - Don't You Want Me Baby; stunning orange red nail polish. Completely opaque in 2 coats.

Generally I am not a big OPI nail polish lover because I do not find the colors too exciting or anything I haven't seen before. But unlike China Glaze, OPI polishes tend to stay on my nails for 5-6 without any chipping with some nail tip wear. And it really does not matter what base and top coat I used for them.

Do you have similar experience with OPI polishes? Where do you usually get your OPI polishes and what do you think about their color range and collections?

Saturday - Pilgrim and Native American

I had so much fun creating this manicure. When I read the theme for the day I knew I wanted to somehow combine both; the Pilgrims and Native Americans. When I was done with the manicure, I realized, that I see a short story behind it. Pilgrims coming to America on their ships, meeting with the Native Americans and ending with a war and almost extinction of an entire race (there is an axe at the bottom of my pinky). The original idea I had was definitely creating a gradient and stamping images using Bundle Monster stamping plates.

Story behind the Pilgrims and Native Americans. I never thought you can tell a story with your manicure.

OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons; stunning nude from the Germany collection. This is 2 coats. Gradient was done by using OPI polish from the previous capture and Konad in black.

As a base I used another nail polish from OPI's Germany collection. As you can see I was quite obsessed with this collection this week. But all the colors are so pretty and opaque in 1-2 layers. The nail polish dries quickly and does not leave any streaks. I think this nude color would also look great on any skin type.

Hope you likes this short review and to see you all soon again. Please leave me your comments if you would like to see certain manicures or what topics you would like me to hear talk about. For now have a great and stay warm. It is freezing here today.