Zen Nails

I was surfing the net and a number of things inspired me to do these Zen nails.  When drawing it out I had the idea to write out the words "Zen in the Art of Nails" like the old book title, "Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig.  Nail art, like many of my previous hobbies, has a distinct way to bring peace to my life...even in times of chaos.  The tiny canvases that are my nails force me to focus and be very deliberate in my actions.  Even the disasters of nail art are an enjoyable experience:)

 The black unfinished circle is a symbol I found all over the internet as the symbol for zen.

Sorry, I'm so zen right now that I'm not even gonna post polish pics along with this so I'll list them!

OPI Planks a Lot
SC Snow Me White
WnW Ebony Hates Chris
SC Nirvana

On the ring finger, I used the pebble design from BM plate 211 and dotted the image with Nirvana and Ebony Hates Chris for a multicolor look to the stones.

Hope you like:)

Vivid Lacquer Polishes and Plates

Vivid Lacquer is a indie polish maker for me.  I added her on Facebook and saw that she was sending mini polishes out for bloggers to review for free.  Score!  After some back and forth, she sent me the polishes below to review!  

What strikes me about her polishes is the color combinations.

 Daisy is a milky white base with tiny green glitter, yellow hex glitters, and white diamond glitters.
It applies smoothly and covers completely in two coats. The pic below also has a top coat.

Don't Forget the Rum is a smoky grey base with rose and pink hex glitters, small white and black glitters, white and black bar glitters,  and black and white square glitters.  Below is three coats plus a top coat.  I only did three because I wanted a little better variety of glitter.  I can't wait to sport this polish for Fall!

Moonlit Cheshire is violet base with silver and black micro glitters, fuchsia hex glitters, and silver shard glitters.   It applies evenly and every brush stroke is full of glitter.  Below is two coats of Moonlit Cheshire plus a top coat. 


Out of all of the polishes sent, Moonlit Cheshire is my favorite. 

Vivid Lacquer glitter polishes are very unique and they are chalk full of glitter goodness.  On top of that, I see no bleeding, no curling, and no separation or settling.  Very good quality!




In addition, Vivid Lacquer also has designed her own nail stamping plates.  I purchsed VL 001 and VL002 from her Etsy store.  From her Facebook page Vivid Lacquer has announced that she will soon have a 3rd plate up for sale.  I also tested a couple of full nail art images from each plate.  The designs stamp on easily and clearly.  Love these images!  Tetris?  Jolly Roger print?  Honey combs?  Awesome and something you don't see every day!

* Vivid Lacquer sent me the mini polishes for review purposes at no cost.  I have not been and will not be compensated in any way for my review and my opinions of these polishes are my own. 

Metallic Fish Scale Nails

Since getting these Red Angel image plates, I have been wanting to use the scalloped design on my nails.  I was finally able to get around to using it and love the results. 

On top of a base coat, I painted one coat of Metallic Green and then sponged on Metallic Purple, Metallic Aqua, and Metallic Yellow.   Once dry, I used Black Creme on  RA plate 111 scale/scallop full nail image and stamped the image on each nail.

I am so in love with this image plate series and next time I might try a blue sparkly base instead since the aqua did not show up well on top of the green.  I also plan to make some Koi nails using this stamp with some oranges and whites:)  Stay tuned!

Image Plate Organization

I thought I would show you all how I organize my nail art stamping plates.  Many stamping enthusiasts keep their plates arranged by brands but just like polishes (which I arrange by color, not brand) I arrange my plates by types.  Image plates come in three types: full nail stamps, picture stamps, and french tip stamps so I made some tabs dividing the sheets by type.    The sheets I use are 40 cent baseball card sheets from a local hobby shop and hold 8 image plates per sheet.

Should I buy a few more of these large plates I will probably by some heavy duty page protectors or dividers with pockets to keep them in the binder.

Just a quick note about the image plate types.  To me a full nail stamp covers all or most of the nail.  A picture stamp is just that, a tiny picture to place on some part of the nail like a flower or star.  The french tip stamps are those designed to go on the end of the nail.  One last type of image plate that Ive noticed is image plates with lacy or scrolling bar designs.  If I get more of those, I'll probably make new category called bar stamps.

I love organization!

Stamped Paisley Nails

I had to try out my new paisley stamps from my Cheeky image plate.  

I love, love, love how well these stamps come out.  Some image plates do not transfer the intricate detail but as you can see, these do!