#31DC2013 Day 8: Metallic Nails- Gilded in A England

(**Press Samples**)

Happy Tuesday!! 

  Today I have day Eight of the #31DC2013. The prompt for day Eight is Metallic nails. I wanted to do something very ornate and "gilded". I went for a cling-wrapped marble using Two gorgeous shades by the fantastic A England. 

 For my metallic nails I started with a base of A England Lady of Shalott. This shade is a stunning shade of Blackened Sapphire Blue shimmer. Once my base was relatively dry I painted over it with A England Excalibur (version 2.0) and then used crumpled up cling wrap to create the marbled effect. I finished the look off with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top to bring out shine and smooth the surface. 

 Tomorrow is one of my favorite days in the challenge; Rainbow Nails! I hope I can come up with something fun and awesome. I hope you guys enjoyed this simple look. I ended up really liking the tarnished Gold look of these. Bonus: they are SO easy to do :D! 

Thanks for stopping by my beauties! 

Celebrating International Nail Art Day #INAD in Essie's Naughty Nauticals

(**Press Samples**)

Happy Caturday!!! 

  Today is the first ever International Nail Art Day (#INAD). I remember seeing a post about this on the NAILgasm Documentary Facebook page a few weeks ago, and I thought it was an awesome thing. Of course I have to participate. Although LTHP features a lot of swatches and beauty posts, this bloggity-blog actually has its roots in nail art. I started this blog as a way to share my adventures in nail art and it eventually evolved into something much bigger. 

 To this day though, one of my favorite things to do is to sit down with a ton of color and just have some fun with my nails. For this special day I went with a look that features the shades in Essie's Naughty Nauticals collection. These shades were perfect for the "theme" I had in mind. Yes, there is a theme here haha. I wanted to do a colorful mish-mash of some of my favorite nail art techniques and this is what I came up with. Ten nails, ten different combinations= One awesome mani :D.

 To make things easier I will break this look down by finger :D. 

Thumb: starts with a base of Naughty Nautical and then splattered with The More the Merrier and Full Steam Ahead. 

Index: starts with a base of Rock the Boat then I did some saran-wrap marbling with The More the Merrier and Naughty Nautical.

Middle: starts with a base of The Girls are Out then was dotted with The More the Merrier, Naughty Nautical and  Full Steam Ahead. 

Ring: starts with a base of The More the Merrier. Once it was fully dry I carefully placed my striping tape then went back over my nail with Naughty Nautical to create a neat striped look. 

Pinkie: starts with a base of Full Steam Ahead then I did some saran wrap marbling with The Girls are Out and The More the Merrier. 

 I finished off all of my nails with a coat of Seche Vite followed by a coat of INM Northern Lights for some added sparkly goodness. 

 Here is a shot of my Naughty Nautical skittle bases before I went to town on 'em :D.

From Thumb to Pinkie: Naughty Nautical, Rock the Boat, The Girls are Out, The More the Merrier and Full Steam Ahead. All of these had fantastic formulas, I did Three thin coats of each. I really tried to get a good photo of my right hand, but I simply cannot pose with my right hand lolol. My  right hand truly is my Cinderella-hand. 

On my right hand I used the same techniques but switched the colors around as well as the pattern of the dots and tape. I had so much fun working with these colors. I didn't really set out with a plan. I just knew I wanted lots of color, I think I achieved my goal hee hee. 

 Here are my, rarely seen, thumbs :D. These colors are just too much fun. I love how there is a mix of vibrant and soft that comes together perfectly.  

 Happy first International Nail Art Day everyone!! I hope to see some awesome looks! Make sure to use the hashtag #INAD when sharing your looks on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.. etc. I'm looking forward to seeing every one's looks!! 

Happy Caturday and thanks for stopping by! 

31 Day Challenge 2012! Day Thirteen: Animal Print

It's November! 

 WHAT?! Anyways today Sam, Rie and I are taking on the 13th prompt in the 31 Day Challenge. These nails are inspired by, and in honor of, my beloved bearded dragon. Her name was Amelia, she recently passed. She had a long, happy and healthy life. I got her as a little baby and later on she was "adopted" by my mom and brother later on. They loved her very much too. It only made sense to do some nails in her memory ♥.

  I started with a base of Julie G nail polish in 9 to 5. I then cling-wrapped some Bettina Sunrise. You cannot really see the contrast of the cling-wrapping but it looked really cool in person. To give it some flash I sponged the tips with Julie G in Metallic Heels. The stamping was done with Bundle Monster plate BM224 and Bettina Orange. I topped it all off with some Seche Vite. 

 Here are two of my favorite pictures of Amelia. She had the prettiest peach, orange and red color scheme. She was a sweet little lizard. Beardies are great pets! 

             

Now don't forget to stop by my challenge partners Rie and Sam's to see their Red looks for day One!

31 Day Challenge 2012! Day One: Red Nails

Hi hello!! 

  Oh yeah... That's right.. You may have read on my challenge partners blogs yesterday that we are taking on the 31 Nail Art Challenge once again. Last year we started on this exact same date. This year we will only be doing a challenge prompt Four times a week. I am so excited to take this challenge on once again with Sam of The Nailasaurus and Rie of Nails and Noms. It has been exactly one year today! I am so excited to see how much we all have improved! Last year we all did amazing and had a blast so this year should be even better and even more fun! 

  The prompt for Day One is Red Nails. Red is not a color that inspires me, at all. So, in true LTHP fashion I waited until the last minute to work on my Day One nails... I ended up with Three different "Red" looks and loved none of them. So I figured, why not show all Three? It's not that they were bad, it's just.... Red..... Can you tell I'm not into Red? Anyway's I've whined enough lol! Onto the nail looks! 

Indecision 2012! LOLOL!!! 

Red Look One: Sunset Clouds

 For this look I started with a base of The Balm's (Hot Ticket) That's Rediculous. To create the clouds I used The Balm's Pink or Swim and Coral Reef-ined. Pink or Swim (in the middle of the cloud) turned out to be a little more jelly like than I was hoping but still opaque enough for the cloud technique. That's Rediculous and Coral Reef-ined  have a really nice, opaque and dense(not thick) formula. And there you have look one, Sunset Clouds :D. 

Red Look Two: Kissy Face!

For this look I started with a base of Twee & Honey's Hallow (LOOOOOVEEEE) which is just lovely and I will cover later on. For the kisses I used Bundle Monster Plate BM02 and Konad Red Special Polish. On my pinkie I used an ebay plate, Chinese brand QA, plate QA28. I topped it all off with some Seche Vite, followed by Twee & Honey's This is Matteness, matte top coat (new fave matte top coat!!!). This is a cute look, but not really my style. I wanted to try something different though. 

Red Look Three: Ornate Steampunk

 For this look I started with a base of O.P.I Danke- Shiny Red. I followed the Red base with the cling wrap technique with O.P.I Mourning Glory. For the stamp I used Konad plate M83 and China Glaze Passion. This look was pretty severe and eye-catching, but again, not my thing. My stamping is SO sloppy! It's been a while since I've stamped o.O.

 And there you have Day One of the 31 Day Challenge! I can't believe we are doing this again! I believe we shall be back on Saturday with Day Two of the challenge which I am looking forward to more so than this one. ANYTHING but Red!!! 

  Here is a list of the prompts we will be following! 

 Now don't forget to stop by my challenge partners Rie and Sam's to see their Red looks for day One! Hopefully they are doing better than I am lolol!!! I can't wait to see what they came up with!! 

(**Some products provided for consideration**)

#AwesomeNailsAreAwesome Guest Week! Featuring Marta of Chit Chat Nails

Good Evening!! 

  Yeah.. I have A LOT of awesome posts lined up for you. I really wanted to make sure you were kept really good company while I was away. As always these girls DELIVERED! I scheduled Miss Marta of Chit Chat Nails on the same day as Carolina of Colores de Carol because these girls are SUPA close and they always do all these cute twin posts so I figured, why not pair them on LTHP?

**EDIT** Both Marta and Carolina have been with me since, pretty much, the beginning. This guest week would not be complete without them.
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Hello Lovely Ladies!!!
HOLY BANANAS!!!!
I have been asked to do a guest post by one my very first nail-art gurus whom I started to follow when I first learned about nail art/nail stamping; back in the day when I first started my little blog!  This is unreal!!!! *jumps up and down to relieve just a little bit of tension and nervous excitement*
My name is Marta, and I run a little Canadian blog called ChitChat Nails.  When Cristina asked me to do a guest post for her, I nearly fell off my rocker (and having just turned 31 years old, it is not so unfeasible to imagine me on a rocker ;) ).  I asked Cristina if there was anything she would request/like for this guest post, and - with her good sense of humour (we spell humour with an "ou" in Canada ;) - she joked "do a manicure that reminds you of me".  Well, joke it may have been but I do not turn down a challenge ;)  

Cristina's designs continue to be bright and playful and many of her manicure have made me want to embrace shades other than my comfort-zone nudes ;).  At the risk of sounding overly cheesy (though who doesn't like cheese,... really!) I will stand firm and say that many of Cristina's manicures helped me discover the wonders of nail-art/nail-stamping, gave me inspiration AND  helped me build my own 'wings' to fly in this wonderful realm of nail-art.  These butterfly wings are symbolic of that :D Thank you Cristina... I hope you, and your Lovely Readers, like this look.

I started out with two coats of NFUG "Fantastica" over an aqua base.  I wore this manicure for two days and when the tips started to show wear I added onto it ;)

Using the saran-wrap method I added  Color Club "Edie" and Revlon "Sassy"

I then stamped using Mash Nail Art Black and Nail Craze plate NC-1.

For the final touch I added some green glequins (as dubbed by the Nailasaurus) from the Born Pretty Store... because who doesn't like a little bit of glitter ;)

I then stamped using Mash Nail Art Black and Nail Craze plate NC-1. For the final touch I added some green glequins (as dubbed by the Nailasaurus) from the Born Pretty Store... because who doesn't like a little bit of glitter ;)

I hope you all liked this look.  I am happy to have met so many wonderful Ladies (and sources of inspiration) in this blogging community.  Cristina continues to be one of them!

THANK YOU FOR READING! 

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Marta is fearless when it comes to trying nail art techniques and I cannot get enough of her amazing photo spreads. Not only can this girl bust out some amazing nail art, she juggles Three little ones, a hubby and some UH-AMAZING style! You can clearly see that in her amazing photo spreads. I love her aesthetic and her writing style. Marta is just awesome!! Thank you so much for this beautiful nail art!!! 

Milani Fall Fashion Nail Trends Project and an Update

Hi everyone! 

  I'm back for just a quick post to update you all on the happenings of the past week. The surgery went fine. They found some weirdness and addressed it. Not gonna get into details but basically I am still recovering. I still have a bunch more doctors appointments coming up this week and I still need tons of rest. This coming week, I've asked some of my personal favorite bloggers to guest post for me, and you guys are in for a real treat. I am so excited to share the awesome nail art these ladies have done for us!! 

  Today's post is a recap (I've beens haring these on my Instagram Account) of a project a few bloggers and I paired up with Milani on. It is the Fall Fashion Trends . They created Four different Pinterest Boards, one for each trend, where they share all of our nail art designs. The trends we were to be inspired by were Glamazon, Colorblock, Gilded Rebel and Haute Rod. 

 To see close up's up each look continue reading :D!

LTHP's First Cling- Wrap Skittle Mani!

Good Afternoon loves!! 

  

  I hope everyone had a great weekend and a good start to their week. I had an absolutely fab weekend. Saturday I got to go to a little photo shoot/ party for the new Cult Nails Deceptive Collection. Maria hosted a little get together for a few of us #FLbeautybloggers at the Cult Nails HQ and we had SO much fun playing with the new colors and posing for photos. I will have about this day post soon :D! 

  Today's post features my first try at the cling-wrap mani. I'm not sure who originated this technique, but it is SO easy and so much fun.

  My base colors from thumb to pinkie were: China Glaze Orange you Hot, Sation Loudest Color, Kiss my A's, Let's make Lemonade and Shock me Twice Pink. This looks features mostly Sation colors. For the cling wrap accents from thumb to pinkie I used: Bettina Pink Bikini, China Glaze Ride the Waves, Sation Tardy Tart, Oh My Oceania and Miss Emo Shun All. To add some contrast I cling- wrapped with O.P.I My Boyfriend Scales Walls over all my nails and then topped it all off with some Finger Paints Twisted. These looked AMAZING in person but the flakes and brightness of the neons were pretty much impossible to capture in my photos.
  There are many different ways to use cling- wrap for nail art. Just do a Google search for "Cling Wrap Manicure Tutorial". It is crazy the many different looks you can achieve with cling-wrap and some polish. I basically sponged, but with cling wrap.

 Everyone should try this technique! It's an easy way to get some really cool nails! I can't wait to try this again with as many different color combos as possible.

  Have you tried this look yet? Thoughts?

(**Some products provided for review**)