Pure Ice My City

Hey everyone

I really enjoy the dynamic of Instagram. It's very easy to do my nails and then post the photo quickly. As you can see I have random spurts of blogging where I blog for a week straight and then not for another month. It's on Instagram where I post my nails everyday. I try to keep the blog up to date, but I have a 9 month old and work full time in management at a bank. My time is obviously limited, so what I propose is that everyone uses Instagram! If you want to follow my nail art and I'm just not updating this blog fast enough for you, then please follow me! My name is Tara825c! Now I will forewarn you, it's not just nail art. I also post my baby, my family, and my life. I hope you do follow me on Instagram.

It honestly seems like every week there is a new contest on Instagram. I saw Pure Ice's Pure Ice Your City contest there first. All you had to do was design your nails based on your city. I live in Bowling Green, KY. Here we have Western Kentucky University and The National Corvette Museum. So I couldn't resist drawing them on my nails. WKU has the best mascot ever and that's Big Red. Here's what he looks like:

Isn't he adorable? When I was little at all of the basketball games the cheerleaders would throw red towels into the crowd and you would spin them shouting Go Big Red! So I had to draw the towels. 

The Corvette Museum is the strangest building I've ever seen. I've never understood why it looks the way it does, granted I've never asked, but still.

Yeah that's it. Don't know why it looks like it does. They also have the logo.

Lastly, we have shirts and buttons and stickers, everything that says, I <3 BG. So what kind of Bowling Green nails would they be without that on them? Here are my nails!

I am so unbelievably proud of these nails. It took me forever to finish. But I thought they were fantastic. 

Sadly I didn't win, but a lot of really talented people were in the contest and they did fantastic work. I am just really happy with my results. And I hope you like them too. 

Princess Pearls

Hey everyone

Today I have a new design to show you. I've never glued things to my nails other than well false nails. But I'd been seeing a lot of pearls and glequin designs that looked fabulous  So when I saw a wheel full of different color pearls and rhinestones I couldn't resist. I was actually in the middle of making my newest collection when I bought the wheel. So imagine my surprise when I got them home and realized they matched 2 of my colors. I knew I had to use them immediately. 

The pink polish you are seeing is Mulan. The blue polish is Pocahontas  Both are from my polish line, Tara's Nail Polish and from the "No Ordinary Princess" collection. They are both jelly finishes with gold and blue shimmer respectively. Both polishes are shown at 2 regular coats and a very thin 3rd coat.

I added the pearls by sticking them on the wet polish. Then I covered the nails with a top coat to ensure they would stay. And they really didn't. I had no issues with them coming off. This was a really cute and easy manicure. I recommend trying out pearls and starting off simple. 

Sugar Spins

Hey everyone

Today's mani is a technique that I like a lot, but would really like to figure out an easier way to do it. Sugar Spins! They take me forever. I'd done them before for my Ugly Christmas sweater nails and this time I wanted to try it a different way.

I started off painting my nails black with Wet & Wild's Ebony Hates Chris. Then I started with my neon colors. One at a time I dripped some onto a lid and started spinning with a small dotter. I occasionally blew on it as well so it would turn goopy faster. Then I draped the strings over the black.

As you can see some of it was pretty messy. I used China Glaze's Rose Among Thorns, Color Club's Yell-Oh, Feelin' Groovy, and Chelsea Girl, and Mrs. Robinson. I put a top coat on it so it wouldn't smug as bad, but going to bed with thick sugar spins was not a good idea. Needless to say this didn't last long. Sugar spins look better without the top coat though. 

Tattoos like Rebecca

Hey everyone

It's not really a secret that Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails is my favorite nail blogger. I've followed her for a few years now. I only wish I was as talented as she is. A while back Rebecca did this design featuring tattoos. I didn't have all of the same stamps that she did, but I made due with what I had.

I started off with Love & Beauty in Camel. 

It's a perfect nude for me. I'm fairly certain they have discontinued this color, so when I run out I will be heartbroken. I have a hard time with nudes because I'm so pale that I practically reflect. Yet my hands are typically red around my fingers so I have to watch out for lobster claws. 

To achieve this look I used Wet N Wild's Black Cream and a few Stamping Plates:

• BM 05: Stars on Thumb
• BM 21: Smaller stars on Index
• BM 08: Anchor on Index
• RA 116: Rose on Middle
• SE 19: Butterflies on Middle
• RA 115: Wings on Ring
• BM 13: Cross on Pinky

The wings and cross are a little strange looking to me. But I really enjoy the other fingers. I finished of the design with a few extra stars and some dots all over. I hope you guys like this design. Check out Rebecca's fantastic work as well!

Buried Alive by Orly

Hey everyone

A while back I made a post showing off a few of the Dark Shadows collection from Orly. I eventually went back and bought Buried Alive. Over all the collection was somewhat disappointing. But this polish was a very nice surprise.

And yes these are old photos, can't you tell by my watermark? :) This was a little streaky at first but with an additional coat the patches were covered. I love how it's a dark brown with the gold shimmer. It's a lot prettier than I thought it would be. 

I found this one on the same clearance as the others, I actually went back to get this one. I doubt it's still at Sally's now, but it's worth a look. This polish was certainly hit from a miss of a collection.