Valentine’s Day Nail Art

Some Polishes Provided for Review

Hello All my Lovely Readers! Today I’m using my stash to create a fun Valentine’s Day inspired mani. But, because I didn’t go all heart crazy it will work for just about any time! I used a fun and easy nail art technique that can be used with any combination of polishes.

I used three polishes for this nail art look. MOD Lacquer – Baby Flamingo, Northern Star – Protego Totalum, and Crows Toes – Edgy Ocean Blue. I’ve reviewed all of these before so I won’t go into that in this post.

Crows Toes – Edgy Ocean Blue, Northern Star – Protego Totalum, MOD Lacquer – Baby Flamingo (Left to Right)

The first step was the base color. For the base of my mani I used MOD Lacquer – Baby Flamingo. I used two coats to give it a nice base for my upcoming nail art:

MOD Lacquer – Baby Flamingo

Next I used a latex barrier around my cuticles because I knew things were going to get messy. I used Digital Nails – Questionable Browser History, though I do not think that it’s available any longer. Latex barriers are pretty easy to find these days though and there are a lot of good ones on the market!

Nail Art Preparation

Then using a fan brush I started adding the detail. I got this brush for a set off Amazon, you can find them pretty easily and they don’t cost a lot of money:

Fan Brush

To create my art I started by putting a several drops of Northern Star – Protego Totalum on my silicone mat and I dipped the tip of the fan brush in it. I then swiped it across my nails to create stripes. After I did all of my nails with Protego Totalum I went back and cleaned the brush in acetone and then put several drops of Crows Toes – Edgy Ocean Blue on my silicone mat and followed the same process right over the stripes I made earlier:

Valentine’s Nail Art Progress

I was glad I did use the latex barrier, reds and blues are particularly hard to clean up off of skin. This way all I had to do was peel most of it away and then touch up just a tiny bit around the edges!

I topped everything off with Ciate Gelology Top Coat that I got in my Ipsy Bag last month. I thought I would try it out because it’s supposed to be super shiny, squishy, and hard wearing. It doesn’t dry as fast as a quick dry top coat but it does dry super shiny! I don’t know about the wear yet but if it doesn’t provide at least several days wear I will update this post!

Valentine’s Day Nail Art

There you have it a quick, fun, and EASY nail art look that is perfect for Valentine’s day or any time!

Valentine’s Day Nail Art

Wednesday We Wear Pink – Featuring Crows Toes

Jun10

Nothing to Disclose

So it’s been awhile since I did a Wednesday We Wear Pink post but I thought that I have a couple of Crows Toes Polishes that fit the bill and who doesn’t love Crows Toes? I know that they are definitely one of my top ten favorite indies so I love sharing them with you!

First up is Tequila Sunrise:

Crows Toes – Tequila Sunrise (over China Glaze – You Drive Me Coconuts)

Tequila Sunrise is a stunning hot pink to golden duochrome topper that transforms ordinary polishes to EXTRAORDINARY! I paired this with a mainstream (*gasp* I know I know!) hot pink jelly at someone’s suggestion (I’m so sorry I can’t remember who suggested it!) and it just worked so well. Totally loved this one it was so much fun to wear!

Crows Toes – Tequila Sunrise (over China Glaze – You Drive Me Coconuts)

This is definitely an effect topper and could not be worn on its own. However that’s ok with me I plan to try it over a couple more things to see what kind of effects I can get with different colors. But this bright pink with the golden shift just really makes me feel like summertime and tropical drinks. The formulation for an effect topper is perfect. It didn’t streak or look patchy over the base color. Photos show one coat over undies.

Polishes Used: Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; China Glaze – You Drive Me Coconuts; Crows Toes – Tequila Sunrise; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Next up is the hottest hot pink I’ve ever seen and the name was suggested by my bestie, The Glamour Granny. Without further introduction here is Hooker at Heart:

Crows Toes – Hooker at Heart

Oh yeah. This is the perfect hot hot hot pink for summer. It was actually part of her Valencrows collection from this year but I’ve been saving it for summer! It’s an utterly gorgeous highlighter pink textured polish! There are some additional little holographic microglitter sparklies in there as well!

Crows Toes – Hooker at Heart

The texture is not overwhelming and the application was fantastic. I didn’t even find it hard to clean up even though it is crazy pigmented. Pictures show two coats sans topcoat!

I do have a couple of topcoat shots so that you can see that it can be smoothed out to make a gorgeous shiny polish:

Crows Toes – Hooker at Heart (with topcoat)

To be honest I think I prefer it textured but I know that some folks are not a fan of texture but still want that amazing color!

Polishes used: Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Crows Toes – Hooker at Heart; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

You can follow Crows Toes on Facebook and Instagram. They are offered for sale at various stockists such as Llarowe in the US and Internationally.

Crows Toes – Swatches and Review!

Aug26

Nothing to Disclose

Now, I’ve had some Crows Toes in the past and currently have some but somehow I haven’t managed to get them on the blog. Why?? What is wrong with me? Crows Toes are awesome! Today I bring you what I consider a perfect pair of Crows Toes polishes!

First up: Lil’ Miss Cyanide

Crows Toes – Lil’ Miss Cyanide

Aaaaah I love this one so much! This is a sheer but very buildable lavender polish with an acid green duochrome shimmer. It’s a stunning yet unexpected color combination! It was so flattering on my skin tone and I’m sure that I’ll be wearing it a lot!

Crows Toes – Lil’ Miss Cyanide

I actually really liked the formula on this – you could use it over a base color or you can build it up to full opacity. These pictures show three coats with topcoat. I love how pronounced the shimmer is in this polish. It can be slightly brushstroky (word? No definitely not but it’s staying) so you will want to use a careful hand when applying but the payoff is so worth it.

Polishes used: Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Crows Toes – Lil’ Miss Cyanide; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Next up is a glitter topper that must have been made for Lil’ Miss Cyanide because it is a perfect match. I can’t imagine using this topper on anything else (though my polish bestie – The Glamour Granny, says I need to acquire Lil’ Miss Sunshine as that one makes awesome undies for this topper as well). Without further ado here is Boat Drinks:

Crows Toes – Boat Drinks

Boat drinks is a lavender and gold glitter topper. There are also some green glitters in there as well. It’s an amalgam of awesome dots, micro glitters, and other goodness and it’s all in a metallic or holographic finish (my favorite!) so it’s super sparkly! I layered the full nail on my ring finger and did a reverse gradient on the other three nails and you can see how it is so perfectly awesome with Lil’ Miss Cyanide!

Crows Toes – Boat Drinks

This is a chunky glitter topper but I did not have to fish even for the big gorgeous dots. It does need a glitter smoothing topcoat if you want a glass smooth finish. Again to me the payoff is so worth it!

Polishes used: Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Crows Toes – Lil’ Miss Cyanide, Boat Drinks; Nail Pattern Boldness – Glitter Food; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Crows Toes is available at several online stockists around the world. You can get your own Crows Toes at Overall Beauty or Llarowe as well as some other fine stockists. You can follow Crows Toes on Facebook or Instagram to get all the news and updates on new collections!

Boom Shaka Lacquer

For Indie Nail Polish Addicts, by an Indie Nail Polish Addict

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Valentine’s Day Nail Art

Wednesday We Wear Pink – Featuring Crows Toes

Crows Toes – Swatches and Review!