Illamasqua 3D Aztec Nails

Hello!!!!

It's been a while, I'm terrible at this. But last night I tried out the "3D Aztec" nails that Illamasqua is using as a part of their beautiful Human Fundamentalism collection.

I don't have any of the polishes from that collection, but used contrasting colors from my own collection and followed the tutorial for this look they posted on their website.

Check 'em out! I think they came out pretty good!

The above pictures were taken in fluorescent lighting, no flash.

The above photos were taken in low indoor lighting with flash. They are most accurate in color.

For this look, my base nail color was Sephora + Pantone's Tangerine Tango Cream (which I actually think is more of a jelly - there is still some visible nail line after two coats), which was very nice. The set was too pretty to start using these polishes, but I couldn't resist!

The purple used on both my nails and the triangles is OPI's Grape, Set, Match from the Serena duo. Two coats were used for the triangles on my real nails, and three were used on the acrylic extensions. I love how orange and purple look together. Finally, the mini orange triangle sandwiched on the acrylics is three coats of Wet'n'Wild Craze Scratchitti, which is a very pretty bright orange (though not neon).

Scratchitti isn't nearly as forgiving with ridges as is Tangerine Tango, though, which is why I opted for it as my base color. I recently had UV gels on my nails and the buffing caused some ridges that are growing out ssssssslllllloooooooooowwwlllyyyyyyy.

I LOVE how this turned out! I used nail glue and assembled the pieces of the acrylics together before adhering them to my nail. Everything was topped with a good heaping helping of Seche Vite to smooth things out and make them shiny.

I hope you like this look as much as I do! It took a while, but with some prep can be done relatively quickly.

Thanks for checkin' 'em out!

YEESSSSS

I know it's been a while. I'm a terrible blogger. I'm sorry. BUT - I got my hands on some of the Wet'n'Wild Be Jeweled collection today (swiped up the last two bottles in the store) and was so excited I wanted to share.

L - The Crown Is Mine || R - Born Into Privilege

Woo! I can't wait to use these. 

Expect a lot of picture SPAM coming SOON!!

Winter is Coming... GAME OF THRONES Concept Nails

Last night, around 9PM, I should have gone to bed. But I was feeling inspired due to the very cold weather and book I'm reading - "A Feast For Crows", which is the fourth book of the Song of Fire & Ice series by George R. R. Martin.

This is more commonly known as part of the "Game of Thrones" book series, which was awesomely adapted into a TV show in 2011 by HBO, and will be starting its second season this coming April. So excited!

One of the first families the reader/viewer is introduced to in Game of Thrones is the Stark family. Their family sigil is a gray direwolf on a white field. Their family words are "Winter is Coming".

See more of my inspiration and pictures of how the concept manicure came out after the jump!

Toxic Shore

Being that I had a few days off, I was able to indulge in some experiments! Check 'em out after the jump.

Sludgy.

My sludgy eye of the day. Forgive the quality of these pictures, they were taken with my phone but show the colors relatively accurately.

My inspiration today was just looking at the "Comfort Zone" wet'n'wild palette. Besides the fact that I have very warm toned skin, browns and greens bring out the color of my eyes nicely. I thought of sludge and smog and thought it would be cool to try shading the crease area only.

For this look, I used the wet'n'wild Comfort Zone palette for my lid and crease. I will update this post with the exact colors when Im at a computer. Sephora's Peachy Bronze eyeshadow is the brow highlight, and Sephora's black waterproof retractible liner on my upper lid, smudged out. For my lower lid, I used Wet'n'Wild Olive pencil liner. Mascara is LORAC 3D lashes in black.

Pictures are with and without flash, respectively.