Illamasqua Gradient Stamped Houndstooth Mani

In this mani I used Illamasqua Muse as the base, stamped with a gradient houndstooth.  I love how this looks on the nail, and will definitely be experimenting with it more in the future!  The black and white used are Wet N Wild Black Creme and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Plate used was Cheeky CH13 with the variation of a houndstooth.

To get a gradient to use as the stamped image instead of the base image, you add 2 colors to the stamping plate on opposite ends letting the two colors touch in the middle.  From there you take you old gift card and scrape directly across where the two colors meet, in order to mix the two colors in the middle without moving one color to the opposite side and to spread the color evenly across the image plate. where the two colors meet is where the color has mixed, and in this case, Black and white create grey in the middle. I hope that makes sense!

What do you think? I love it!

XOX Caitlin  
* All products in this post purchased by me*

Day 17: Creative Lacquer Challenge Gradient Ombre

I loved my nails so much yesterday, and today's challenge is gradient/ombre, so I did another today. :)

Today's ombre is Pink. :)

I started with a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White
The pinks used are:
Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream
Color Club Trippie Hippie
Zoya Renee
China Glaze Traffic Jam

Then I stamped with Red Angel plate RA112
with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Silver Sweep

XOX Caitlin

Day 16: Creative Lacquer Challenge: Rainbow

Today's challenge is Rainbows.  I did one mani earlier, that was an EPIC fail, so I had to re-do it to something that was decent to post. :P  This turned out AMAZING.  I absolutely love the way this turned out! Lets just get on to the pictures!

 Isn't that a beauty!

So here is how I created this mani: I used a cosmetic sponge to paint the polish on my nails.  it is as simple as that.

 Here is a photo of the sponge next to my thumb so you can see how the gradient worked itself out.  I literally just put paint lines on the cosmetic sponge and it soaked it all up and when I dabbed it on my nails the colors magically blended together.

and a photo of all the fingers for good measure. :)

I started out with a base polish of white, I used Sinful Colors Snow me White

The colors I used for the gradient are(from base to tip):
Color Club: Pucci-licious
Color Club: Chelcea Girl
Color Club: Twiggie
Color Club: Almost Famous
OPI: Orange mini from the Spookette set
Color Club: Cadillac Red

Stamping: Wet N Wild Black Creme
Cheeky CH5

I love this manicure! What do you think?

XOX Caitlin

Hunger Games: Effie Trinket Reaping Nails

The Midnight premier of The Hunger Games was awesome!

Last night I went with my family and friends, we got there really early to get good seats, and we watched the midnight premier of The Hunger Games. While watching the movie, of course I payed attention  to the nails when they were shown... and one in particular stood out to me.  Effie Trinket's nails from the Reaping looked like something I could easily re-create, so I hope you can see the similarities!

 I used Zoya Tru as the base, then used a makeup sponge to dab on Piggy Polish Gold for it! on the tips, then I added NYX Girls Gilded Glitter for a little bit bigger chunks of glitter. :)


 Here are some photos of her nails at the reaping:

I think I did pretty well recreating the look. :)

What do you think?

XOX Caitlin