Diamond Head Nails

Oops, forgot to blog for a month! Not sure who really looks at this anyway, but I'm gonna try to be better about blogging. Check me out on Instagram (@jmgnails) to see all of my work :)

Anyway, I wanted to share these landscape nails I did the other day inspired by @amylovesnewwave on IG, such a super talented lady! Her inspiration came from Diamond Head in Hawaii :)

I started with a white base and did all of the rest of the details in acrylic paint. Like I've probably mentioned before, acrylic paint is 20000% easier to work with than nail polish. Its super cheap, and if you just buy some basic colors along with black and white you can pretty much create any color that you like. I guess you could say I'm pretty pleased with how these came out :)

Meow!

Hey guys! So I'm officially on summer break so that means more time for nails. Yay!!!

 

The other day I was at Forever 21 and I came across these adorable cat nail stickers. I just had to buy them! I rarely use nail stickers, but I have in the past. These went on nicely and they filed off really cleanly as well, where some of the ones I've used in the past are super hard to file off the edges. They also lasted me an entire day at work with no peeling!

 

 

On my other hands I used the oh-so-appropriately named Pussy Galore from the OPI Bond Girls collection :)

Pastel Sponging

Hey guys!

For today's manicure I wanted to do something bright, so pastel sponging was what I decided on. Its a plus because of how easy and quick it is too ;) I definitely wasn't the first to come up with this technique or try these, but they are super easy to do yourself, even if you wouldn't consider yourself good at nail art!

To begin, I painted the nails I was going to sponge over with a white base. When the base is dry, I then took a moistened makeup sponge and randomly dabbed light blue, yellow, and pink polishes on, and just lightly sponged them over the white. I cleaned up my cuticles with a small nail art brush, applied top coat, and done! My pinky and index finger are painted with Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo, and I added two Swarovski crystals over the pastels because I just can't help myself ;)

 

Glam Glaze

Hey guys! So continuing with my swatching lately.. I have a Glam Glaze thermal swatch today!

 

Glam Glaze is an indie polish brand and Jessica specializes in thermals and custom polishes :) The one I swatched today is called 'Warm Me Up' and its a cold temperature thermal that changes from a medium pink (with almost a hint of coral) to a dark purple when cold. All pictures shown are three thin coats with topcoat :)

 Shown at room temperature

 

Macro shot of room temperature color

 

Transition shot

After cold water...

...and lastly, macro after cold water!

 

If you are interested in thermals or are just looking for a new awesome indie maker, I highly suggest you check Glam Glaze out! Jessica is super nice and I'd much rather support an indie maker than some big brand CEO.

 

For swatches and polish info, you can check her out on Instagram (@glamglaze) or check her store out, www.glamglaze.storenvy.com!

 

Grumpy Cat Nails

Hey guys!

 

So its finals season...and grumpy can best describe how I feel about all this studying! So I just had to take a painting break :) The grumpy cat was inspired by @madamluck who did some Grumpy Cat nail art a couple weeks ago, except for the rest of my fingers I used Zoya 'Godiva' which was my first Zoya and my first textured polish ever. It has a beige base with silver glitter and in person it just looks like sparkly sand on your fingers. The Grumpy Cat was painted with acrylic paint, as most of my more detailed designs are :)

 

 

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Happy finals season!

Purple Textured Swatches

Hey guys!

 

So I have a huge collection of nail polish, but tons of it is textured polish (which is my absolute favorite) and there are so many different colors! So I'm gonna start doing a comparison between my textured polishes, and I'll start with the purples!

 

On my index finger is OPI 'Can't Let Go' which is a dark royal purple with larger chunks of glitter. The textured finish on this is a little rougher than the others I swatched. This bothers some people, but I love the textured feel. I only used two thin coats of polish here, but if you wanted it to be more textured, you could do three.

 

On my middle finger is Nicole by OPI 'I Lilac Gumdrops' which is a light lavender color with tiny silver glitter that adds a finer texture when dried. Three thin coats is all you need!

 

On my ring finger is one of my favorites, which is Zoya 'Stevie' from the Pixie Dust collection. This is just a bit lighter than 'I Lilac Gumdrops' and is a bit more textured as well. It also contains silver glitter that gives it a sparkly finish in sunlight. I used three thin coats to fully cover my nail.

 

Last but not least, on my pinky is Zoya 'Carter'. This definitely is one of my favorite Pixie Dust shades and I always get compliments when I wear it. The shade is a really bold royal purple but what really makes it stand out is the magenta glitter that makes it sparkle in any light. I only used two thin coats in the photo below.

 

 

Smiley Face Nails

Hey guys!

I saw +madamluck do a doodle on her thumb the other day just messing around with brush sizes, and I thought that it would make the perfect accent nail for this mani. So here is the usually elusive thumb shot :)

 

 

 

I started with a white base, and did all the black details with acrylic paint. I used Zoya 'Solange' for the yellow in the smileys, Zoya 'Miranda' for the tongue, and Zoya 'Chyna' for the heart eyes :)

 

I hope everyone has a very happy day today! :)