ice cream cone nails! + tutorial

If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember the ice cream nail tutorial I did! I slaved over it because I wanted so badly not only to grow my nails long enough to do it but also to compose a little IG video tutorial (my first ever!) and holy cannoli, video tutorials are not easy!
I managed to get it done and I was super proud of it! But somehow neglected to make a post here about it. Yeah, I'm the worst. (Let's not talk about how this is my first post in November, okay? It's been a busy month. I was gonna talk about it but I'll save ya!)

Anyway! Here's the tutorial again and some more words about my ice cream nails.

A video posted by Rebecca Likes Nails (@rebeccalikesnails) on Jul 7, 2014 at 6:53am PDT

Press play!
I started with a base of Essie - Topless and Barefoot for the nice cone color. I did the waffled details using Essie - Mink Muffs and a striper brush.
The ice cream colors are all from Lime Crime:
Lime Crime - Pastelchio
Lime Crime - Milky Ways
Lime Crime - Parfait Day
Lime Crime - Lavendairy
Adding the dots of the color along the line between the ice cream and the cone really helps with the cutesy ice creamy feel by making definition in the scoops.

I added a red pearl rhinestone as the cherry on top, but be careful because those can smear if you drag the topcoat over them. So make sure to do that carefully.
I added little sprinkles with tiny caviar beads, which again can bleed their color, so swipe quickly with the topcoat!

I can't believe I actually grew my nails that long just because I wanted ice cream nails so badly!
Sadly I didn't get many nice photos of them on my camera, just on my phone. So there's no pic spam for you, but you get the point!

A photo posted by Rebecca Likes Nails (@rebeccalikesnails) on Nov 11, 2014 at 6:43pm PST

Looking good with MAC's Betty Bright lipstick!
I think I would wear these nails 24/7 if I could. So cute and good enough to eat!!

What do you guys think? They may be a bit too summery for right now, but lemme know if you try it out!

31DC2014: Day 31

Today is the final day for the 31 Day Challenge! OMG, I am always so happy when today rolls around. I get super excited to do a nice manicure and leave it on for an entire week. Actually, I think I'll leave this manicure on for an entire week.
The final theme is one of my favorites - Honor Nails You Love!

Usually by the end of the challenge, my fellow challenge participant and bestie Sarah of Chalkboard Nails will do something so amazing I feel the need to instantly put it on my nails. Cue her dripping chevron manicure. I didn't get to do it instantly, but I did get to do it today!

Tada! UGH I'm so in love with these. Totally patting myself on the back for the effort I put into these to finish the challenge strong. Also do you like my strategically placed ring to cover my worsening booboo?

I switched up the colors from Sarah's original look to make it more me. Basically I can't stop using these colors so therefore can't stop won't stop the sunsational manis.
Here's what I used:
Color Club - Wicker Park (the lightest pink, used as a base and left peeking out for some stripes)
Color Club - Peppermint Fusion (brighter pink)
China Glaze - Too Yacht To Handle (blue)
China Glaze - That's Shore Bright (purple)
OPI - Golden Waves (This color is one of the weird mystery OPI shades that have been popping up at Winners or TJ Maxx, etc, that are legit OPI but not from any OPI collection, thus they are mostly renamed exclusives from other stores or rebottled Nicole shades, yadda yadda. This one is lovely.)
I did a coat of Seche Vite first and then added a coat of Butter London's matte topcoat which I found today of course after using a failure of a matte topcoat yesterday. Sarah adores matte everything and I think I might be a convert now also.

UNF I love these soooooo much. Maybe I'll just never take them off. (If that were possible.)

Thank you so much to those of you who have been following me along this journey once again! And congrats to those of you who've completed it as well.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the round up post where me and blogger will have our annual fight about photo alignment and then call it a day on the challenge for another year.

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 31 designs:

• 2013: Sunsational Mix'n'Match
• 2012: Glitter Leopard
• 2011: Half Moon Leopard

31DC2014: Day 30

Today's theme is Inspired by a Tutorial and I had noooooooo idea what to do, so I had to last-minute spook Instagram for something cute! I spent the whole day doing two assignments for school and then I worked for eight hours unpacking beautiful new Toms and had just enough time left to do my nails. Phew! Assignments done, nails done, post almost done. Here we go!

I chose these nails by Bad Girl Nails on IG to recreate. I saw her tutorial for the chains the other day and I thought they were stamping at first, but they're actually freehand so I wanted to try them out myself too!

The only crappy part about my recreation is that my matte topcoat has ~apparently~ become too good for me and refuses to dry fully matte. UGH. I swear I had like three different ones at one point but I must have given some away.

Excuse my fresh Toms shoebox wound there on my knuckle... Is there anything worse than a cardboard paper cut?!
Here are the polishes I used:
OPI - Black Onyx
OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls (I should have used a more nudey shade but I couldn't think of one light enough for what I wanted so I grabbed this go-to shade.) 
Urban Decay - Mrs. Mia Wallace
China Glaze - Mingle With Kringle

If nothing else, I am super pumped that I did these nails because I had totally forgotten about the CG polish and now I am excited to use it in more nail art!

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 30 designs:

• 2013: Cartoon Nails
• 2012: Herringbone
• 2011: Cherry Blossoms

31DC2014: Day 29

Today's theme is Inspired by the Supernatural, AKA (for me) it is inspired by the wonderful and amazing and beautiful Supernatural TV show. I've done SPN nails 2/3 years so far in the challenge and today will make it 3/4, and these are definitely the best so far.

The new season starts next week and I am already giddy with anticipation. I decided to go for a design that is definitely appropriate for what's to come in the next season.

Dean Winchester, a man marked by both heaven and hell. 

If you're not a Supernatural fan, you may not recognize the symbols. The hand print is the mark left by Castiel on Dean's chest, and the other symbol is the Mark of Cain. I wanted to make it look like they were drawn in blood, and I think I did a really good job! I'm especially impressed with the hand.
I accented the symbols with some blood smears, you know, for effect. Ha!
I decided not to add topcoat because I liked the texture of the brush strokes and splatters.

The nude base is (surprise) OPI - Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?
The blood red is Color Club - Killer Curves. 

OMG I'm totally geeking out over these. Please tell me you are too!!!

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 29 designs:

• 2013: Supernatural Shirt
• 2012: Goosebumps
• 2011: Supernatural Title Screen

31DC2014: Day 28

As you can tell, we have now reached the point in the challenge where I am doing buzzer-beater nail designs every night at 11:30. Haha! I have a lot of homework this week so I haven't really had much time for nails. Just three more to go now though!!

Today's theme is Inspired by a Flag which is kinda dumb but here we are. I have seen this cute design going around and I decided to do it myself!

Bunting flags. The cutest flags!

This manicure started with a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, a lovely off-white.
I used three Color Club pastels from the Paris In Love collection for the flags:
Color Club - La Petite Mint-sieur (mint)
Color Club - Je T'aime (pink)
Color Club - Holy Chic! (purple)
I did the outlines with black acrylic paint.

Let me take this time to say that the name of the mint one is messed up because if we're talking about a monsieur as the mint-pun suggests, that would be a masculine French word, meaning it would be "le petit" and not the feminine version "la petite." That's your French lesson for today, friends.

I think these turned out super cute! Even despite the rushing. How about you?

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 28 designs:

• 2013: TOMS
• 2012: Germany
• 2011: Republic of Newfoundland

31DC2014: Day 27

Hi! The theme for today is Inspired by Art. I've done Warhol-inspired nails twice before for this challenge prompt and today I decided to make it three times. (Actually I think this is four times technically now including the bananas I did for a yellow theme day.)
I chose one of my favorite Warhol prints to emulate and I am super pumped with how it turned out!

Warhol's iconic dollar sign prints are very recognizable, and the fun colors always stand out to me. I chose this version's color palette to work with because it's basically all of my favorite colors.

I would love to have this exact painting hanging on my wall, but the original print was sold at auction for over $339,000. That's definitely above my pay grade. So I did it on my nails!

I started with a base of OPI - Steady As She Rose.
I did the dollar sign using a small brush and the following polishes:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - S-teal A Base (teal)
OPI - Vant To Bite My Neck? (purple)
China Glaze - Dance Baby (pink)
The rest of my nails I just covered with some abstract dry-brushing and the same three colors.

What do you guys think of this look? Hope you like it as much as I do!
Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 27 designs:

• 2013: Watercolor Tattoo
• 2012: Warhol Flowers
• 2011: Warhol Bows

31DC2014: Day 25

Hey guys! Today's theme is Inspired By Fashion.
I actually did these like 2 weeks ago when inspiration hit me immediately after seeing some hella cute shoes.

I'm not usually into Kate Spade but holy crap those are cute! So I did nails to match.

Tada! I used Sephora by OPI - It's My Pink and I painted the tip on freehand and used a dotting tool to do the dots. I didn't even wear basecoat. Look how nice and non-stained my nails are! I mean, were. I stained them this week but can't remember what polish did it.

How do you guys like this take on a classic french? I think it's pretty fun!

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 25 designs:

• 2013: Volcom
• 2012: Kristen Stewart
• 2011: Betsey Johnson

31DC2014: Day 24 + giveaway winner!

Hey everyone! Today we're doing the Inspired by a Book theme and as promised earlier in the month, I've done nails inspired by the new Ellen Hopkins book, Rumble!
Plus, head to the end of the post to find out who won the Ellen Hopkins giveaway! 

Tada! Once again I am really pleased with the end result of my book nails.
At first I wasn't sure if I was going to get the right effect but after I kept layering colors, it came out looking so close that they could almost blend right in!

I started with a base of China Glaze - Bahamian Blues.
I used various sponges and stuff to make different textures using dark blue (Zoya - Sailor) medium blue (China Glaze - Splish Splash) and white (Color Club - French Tip.) 
I used a black striper to create some jagged lines to mimic the cover even more.

And now... Without further ado... The winner of the giveaway is Mandy L!
I've contacted the winner and will redraw in the event of non-response.


What do you guys think of my Rumble nails?
Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 24 designs:

• 2013: Impulse
• 2012: Glass
• 2011: Perfect

31DC2014: Day 23

Hey everyone! Happy Autumn... Even though it makes me sad because it means winter is on its way. I'm just not built for the cold. Remind me again why I don't live in Florida?

The theme for today is Inspired by a Movie. A couple weeks ago I got the new Pulp Fiction nail polish from Urban Decay so I knew I'd have to use that and do Pulp Fiction nails!

I was inspired by Mrs. Mia Wallace and the smoke always billowing out of her lush lips!

I added a bandaid on the thumb for Mr. Wallace, which definitely brings the look together.

Here's the polish on its own:

Urban Decay - Mrs. Mia Wallace
This is a beautiful red with tonal shimmer, and the formula is dreamy. It takes 2 thin coats for full coverage, and as always the UD formula is so easy to work with.

I did the smoke with Color Club - French Tip using the watercolor technique. I have a (slightly old) tutorial for that technique here, and I was inspired by these nails by Chalkboard Nails to turn that technique into smoke!

The bandaid was painted with OPI - San-Tan Tonio and OPI - Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

The lip print stamp is from Bundle Monster plate BM-303 and Konad Black special polish.

Still in love with the Urban Decay bottles. I've got all of these new polishes now... Haha. Oh and good news for Canadians, the Shoppers Drugmart locations that carry UD stocked this collection, including the polish! They never had any of the polishes before so I was really surprised to see it there.

What do you guys think of these nails? Can you see the Mrs. Mia Wallace inspiration in them? I'm really pleased with how they turned out!

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 23 designs:

• 2013: Legally Blonde
• 2012: Juno
• 2011: The Little Mermaid

31DC2014: Day 21

We are into the third and final section of the 31 Day Challenge! Lemme tell you, I love when it gets to the final stretch but it also brings some of the most challenging days. It's good and bad. Haha!

Today's theme is Inspired by a Color. I always choose a polish color (and usually name) to take inspiration from, because we all know that polishes can have some fun and/or weird names.

I read through basically all of my polish spreadsheet to find a name and mani idea, and here's what came to me.

Butter London - Cake Hole
I know a cake hole is technically your mouth, but donuts are basically little cakes with holes. A cake hole. So I did donut nails!

The base color is China Glaze - Something Sweet which is appropriate because donuts are sweet. The dough color is OPI - San Tan-Tonio, the icing is the aforementioned Cake Hole, and I did the sprinkles with acrylic paint.

I'm really liking these! I wanna do them again with more colors. What do you guys think?

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 21 designs:

• 2013: Pink Yet Lavendar 
• 2012: Russian Navy Nautical
• 2011: Hello Kitty Candy

31DC2014: Day 14

Hey everyone! I am the saddest panda today because this day last year I was seeing my favorite band in my favorite city with my oldest friend on my birthday weekend and it was just greeeeeat and I wish I was there again!! :(
Maybe next year. 

Day 14's theme is Floral! I wanted to do some kind of stamping decal and make a big pretty flower, but it turns out I don't have a nice big flower image like I wanted. So I decided to do a little simple freehand daisy design and it turned out ultra cute.

The base color is Essie - Topless and Barefoot which is a beautiful nude. It takes three coats to be flawless but it dries quick and doesn't drag.
I did the white with a nail art pen/striper from Simply Spoiled Beauty, and the centers of the flowers are OPI - I Just Can't Cope-acabana. 

It didn't take long to create this look and it is definitely pleasing to wear! I just wish I could have worn it longer because I bet it would have gotten loads of compliments.

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous day 14 designs:

• 2013: Floral Nail Strips
• 2012: Floral Toms
• 2011: Purple Pansies

31DC2014: Day 13

It'ssssss my birthdaaaaaay!! The big 24. And once again, the theme for the 31 Day Challenge happens to be Animal Print and it's great.
Every year I do leopard which is kinda predictable I guess but it's my favorite nail look to wear so why not? It's my birthday after all! 

This year I was inspired by my favorite birthday gift...

OMG this watch gives me life. And so do the nails!!

I had to use the perfect polish for a manicure inspired by the Betsey Johnson leopard print.
Sephora by OPI - It's My Pink from the Betsey collection. And it's even scented like her perfume! I can totally smell it even through my smelly Seche Vite.

I did the leopard a bit different from what I usually do to more closely mimic the Betsey pattern, and it takes a bit longer thanks to the added attention to the detail however I reallyyyy like the look it produces and I will probably do it more often now.
I used a small nail art brush to do the choppy black spots. The pink on the insides is an unnamed Art Club striper polish.

Now take a walk down memory lane and check out my previous Day 13 designs:

• 2013: Gradient Leopard
• 2012: I'm Feelin' 22
• 2011: Poptastic Leopard

The Lacquer Legion: On Holiday

This month, us fine folks at The Lacquer Legion decided to use summer vacation as inspiration and take our nails on holiday.

This theme can be interpreted so many ways because everyone has a favorite way to kick back and relax while on holiday (or maybe not relax and just shop,) so I am looking forward to seeing all the nails today!

I recently picked up a mini set of Orly's summer collection, Baked, and the colors were already arranged in a perfect sunset gradient and I just had to translate it onto my nails ASAP. Bonus points for it coincidentally being at the right time for this LL prompt!

The four colors in the set are: 

Orly - Tropical Pop (yellow)

Orly - Ablaze (orange)

Orly - Hot Tropics (fuchsia)

Orly - Saturated (purple)

The two middle colors have a really heavy gold shimmer that was a bit of a pain to deal with in the gradient because if you dabbed too much, all the shimmer would come to the surface and overpower the gradient. It took more effort than I am used to to get the perfect effect, but I worked it out! 

I decided that I wanted to add the sunglasses stamp from Cheeky CH37 to make it a bit different from a typical sunset-and-palm-tree mani. Buuuut I also had to add a palm tree just because. It was too pretty not to.

I freehanded the lil' tree with acrylic paint and a super small brush.

Hope you guys like this mani! Can't wait to go stalk Instagram and Facebook for all the great manicures from you lovely folks. Don't forget to use the hashtag #LLonholiday so everyone can see your masterpieces! 

The Lacquer Legion: Adoration

Hello and welcome to the second Lacquer Legion monthly manicure! Social media is already blowin' up with fantastic manis from all you lovely people, and now I'm here to throw in my design.

I had originally planned to do a look inspired by my new Jeffrey Campbell Litas... But my nail art spikes did not arrive in time! So it was back to the drawing board.

What else do I adore? Crochet... Hockey...Cupcakes... Urban Decay... WAIT. 
"Self, why have you not done UD nails before?!"
Now's the time. 

Tada! I'm sure you UD junkies like me already know where this look came from.

Considering I am totally in love with my Vice 2 palette (both the product and the packaging,) obviously it needed to go on my nails.

I started this manicure with a base of none other than Urban Decay - Vice. Yes, the polish matches the palette.
To get the Vice look, I used the watercolor technique, which I have a tutorial for here. Instead of using a big brush to get a very watery look, I used a small one to make it a bit more distressed looking.

I wanted to include some more UD polishes in the design, so I dug out my Rollergirl Nail Kit from the beginnings of my UD addiction, and used the pink shades to start the watercolor:
Urban Decay - Woodstock
Urban Decay - Miss T

Even though the look is overall dark purple, using lighter shades of purple plus a red and a blue really brought the look together. Here's what I used, in order:
China Glaze - That's Shore Bright
OPI - Do You Lilac It?
OPI - Paint My Moji-toes Red
China Glaze -  Sky High-Top

I finished off my ring finger with two tear-shaped rhinestones to mimic the bejeweled UD logo on Vice 2.

And then I got even more adventurous. I painted the Urban Decay logo on my thumb! Totally freehand. Sometimes I'm boss.

I am so so so ridiculously pleased with how these turned out. Already the Lacquer Legion has pushed me to create what I think is one of my best designs ever! That's totally what this nail art initiative was meant for.
BRB, gonna share these nails all over Urban Decay's social media in hopes they might see it and I can have a fangirl moment.

________________________________

Have you done a Lacquer Legion manicure yet? It's not too late! Be sure to tag your posts on social media with #LLadoration so we can see them! And share 'em on our Facebook page.

Influenster + Sally Hansen Total Knockout VoxBox #CSMTKO

Hey guys! I've got a pretty cool post today for you! I received a VoxBox to review from Influenster, and it just so happened to be a Sally Hansen review box!

However I kinda have quite a few complaints about the box, but I did make one kick ass mani with the polishes. So take what you will from this review.



I was really looking forward to this box but I have to say I was a little disappointed upon opening my box. First of all, the blue polish had leaked all over itself and the other polishes. This seemed to be a common complaint on Instagram from other people posting photos of blue messes. And there was also some complaints about the way the polishes were bubbled wrapped, or the lack thereof. Mine were all together in one small piece of bubble wrap, which wasn't great, but some people had none at all! I think this was a pretty big blunder for a review box being sent to a lot of big polish fanatics like me.

Besides the packaging problems, my other complaint is about the colors they picked for the box. Based on the teaser emails and stuff they were sending, I was expecting greatness! New colors, new collections! Something exciting! But inside my box I found three of the most common colors you'd find in anyone's polish stash. Red jelly and tiffany blue? REALLY?
I know that the Complete Salon Manicure line has some fun colors (especially the new glitters!) and some excellent formulas. But the chosen colors were lackluster and the formulas were completely mediocre.

Jaded, the tiffany blue/turquoise, is extremely sheer. (And looks just like China Glaze's For Audrey, color-wise, not to mention the 4,000 dupes.)
Red My Lips, the red jelly, isn't horrible but it isn't spectacular. (And it's just like every other red jelly ever.)
Pat On The Black, the blackened-purple, is a nice color but it is not as opaque as it should be. Two coats should be enough for a color this dark but that is not so. (And it's just like OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark among many others.)

That being said, I have a couple other CSM polishes that I adore! So I don't wanna just hate on the brand entirely. They have some with amazing formulas and fun colors. Plus I do seriously love their brush and find it super easy to paint with. I think with better color choices, this box could have had far better reception.

Buuuuut like I said, I made a great manicure with the polishes!

I chose to do a messy-gradient with Jaded and Red My Lips, and then accent it with some basket weave striping done with Pat On The Black.

I'm actually really in love with the results so overall I am happy with this VoxBox because it allowed me to create a really fun manicure! I've always wanted to try the basket weave look.

I used a medium striper brush to do the detail and I had to go over the lines twice to get them opaque enough. I did the gradient using a sponge but I didn't want to blend them seamlessly, I wanted it to be rough. Not sure why but that is what I was feeling! Haha.

I feel kinda mean to be making so many complaints but hey, that's the nature of honest reviews right?
And it all turned out okay because it made a nice manicure!




Watch the Instagram video I posted with the manicure above!

Hope you guys liked this post! Did you guys get this VoxBox? Lemme know what you thought!

Product provided for honest review.