Green and Brown Water Marble!

Hi folks!

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I hope that all of my US readers had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and that all of my Jewish readers are having a fantastic Hannukah! The holiday season is all about bringing family and friends together in celebration, and it was wonderful seeing my extended family last night. I’m so thankful for all of the wonderful people I have in my life, and I’m most certainly thankful for the support I’ve gotten since starting The Polish Influenza. You all are amazing, and I can’t thank you enough for the amazing feedback I’ve gotten. I hope you’ll continue to enjoy my nail reviews and designs through the holiday season and into the new year!

For Thanksgiving weekend, I wanted to do a water marble in order to bring some festivity to my hands. I recently picked up Essie’s Shake Your $$ Maker, a bright green, from Walgreens for $4 (a bargain for Essie, I know), so I knew I wanted to incorporate it into the design. I thought that a dark, coffee brown would go well with the green, so I settled on Rue Beauté 063. Unfortunately, I soon found out that Shake Your $$ Maker would not spread in the water. I still wanted to use it, though, so I devised a plan.

I painted my nails with a base of Ulta’s Snow White, and then painted two coats of Shake Your $$ Maker overtop. Once that dried, I marbled 063 and OPI Topcoat in the water, so that the clear part of the marble would show the green. It worked wonderfully, and I’m super happy with the result! Pictures below are with OPI topcoat sealing the design.

Sunlight

Sunlight

I am so happy with this design, I especially love the green! What do you think of the design? And what are you doing this holiday weekend? Taking advantage of any of the nail polish Black Friday sales (Zoya has some AMAZING deals on their website!)? Let me know in the comments below!

~Beth~

Hunger Games Nail Art!

Hello tributes!

Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor! In honor of tonight’s release of the new Hunger Games trilogy movie, Catching Fire, I decided to pay homage to the popular series with a little nail art! The Hunger Games is honestly one of my favorite book series of all times. I read all three books while I was recovering from surgery last spring and it kept me engaged and distracted from the pain. I’ve heard good things about the second movie, and I love Jennifer Lawrence (such a classy lady), so I can’t wait to see it sometime soon!

The most well known symbols of the Hunger Games series are the mockingjay and fire, since Katniss is “The Girl on Fire”. On all my fingers except for my ring finger, I painted two coats of China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, a smoky black with a subtle blue and green duochrome, and is appropriately part of last year’s Capitol Colors Collection (the District 12 shade!). On my thumb, I used a toothpick and a small dotting tool to freehand Katniss’s iconic mockingjay pin using Body Central Gold. On my ring finger (which I painted with 1 coat of e.l.f. Sunflower), I created a flame inspired gradient, using Ulta Ruby Slipper (the red), OPI A Woman’s Prague-ative (the orange-y gold) and e.l.f. Sunflower (the yellow). On the rest of my nails, I used a medium sized dotting tool with Gold to create a line of dots across the sides of my black nails. I’m super happy with how this turned out! Pictures below are with OPI topcoat.

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

I’m getting so much better at freehanding things these days, I’m quite pleased with myself. I hope I get to wear this to the movies- I always take off manicures so quickly in order to blog. Guess I’ll just have to go see it tomorrow! What do you think of my Katniss Everdeen nail art tribute? Let me know in the comments!

~Beth~

Diabetes Awareness Month Nail Art!

Hi everyone!

Though the arrival of November to most people means Thanksgiving and the holiday season, for many, it also signifies the start of National Diabetes awareness month. 8.3% of the population of the USA has diabetes: that’s 25.8 million people. And quite honestly, that’s 25.8 people too many. Though I myself am lucky enough to not have the disease, one of my best friends in the world, Tory, has type one diabetes, and has struggled with it since her diagnosis at age 7. Though she has every reason in the world to be bitter and depressed about her disease, she’s one of the most optimistic, positive, uplifting people I know. And today’s nail art is dedicated to her ❤

JDRF’s (Junior Diabetes Relief Fund) color to represent diabetes is blue, so I knew I had to incorporate it into the design. I decided to make a blue and white water marble on my pinky, middle, and pointer fingers using Ulta’s Snow White and Wet n’ Wild Fastdry Saved by the Blue. To create the water marble design, I alternated between the white and the blue, then drew random lines with a toothpick in the bullseye to create a random marbled look. On the pinky finger, I created a red ribbon on a black background, to represent the colors of National Diabetes Awareness Month. I used Love and Beauty Black for the background and Markwin Red for the ribbon. And finally, on the thumb, I painted a red background with Markwin Red, a black heart in Love and Beauty Black, and in Rue Beauté 009, I wrote Tory’s name over the heart, to represent her fight against diabetes. Pictures below are without topcoat!

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

If anyone who reads this blog is diabetic, has a family member or friend who is diabetic, or just supports the cause, please let me know in the comments below. Diabetes needs to be stopped, and I know a cure is going to be found. Also, make sure to leave some loving for Tory below, I know she’ll appreciate it 🙂 Make sure to wear blue for diabetes this month! I know I will be.

~Beth~

Nail Art- Fall Stamping!

Hi guys!

Finally Friday. It couldn’t come soon enough, this week has been insane. I can’t wait to finally get some sleep! I’m going out to a (post) Halloween party tonight, so my post today will be brief. But hopefully, what it lacks in length it will make for in creativity! So let’s get started!

Remember when I reviewed the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure fall 2013 trios a little while back? I commented that I couldn’t wait to stamp with Gold Roses, that delicious coppery shade I swooned over. Well, that time to stamp is now. I started by painting my nails with Rue Beauté 063, a lovely dark brown that screams hot chocolate and warmth. It’s amazing on its own, but it was just begging for more. So I took Konad Stamping plate M-60 and used the paisley design (shown below) to create the design.

 

I painted the plate with Gold Roses, scraped off the excess, picked it up on the stamper, and BAM instant nail art. I’m so pleased with how the design turned out! Pictures below are without topcoat.

Shade

Shade

I love this color combination. It looks vintage to me. The pattern came out so well! I actually did this design on one of my best friends, Tory, recently as well, with a color combo of Aeropostale Live Love Dream in Key Lime Pie and Essie’s For the Twill of it. Here’s her design!

Artificial, indoor light

Isn’t she a great hand model, too?! Which of these color combos was your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

~Beth~

 

Happy Halloween From The Polish Influenza!!

Hi everyone!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Hope everyone is having a spooktacular day! We got to wear parts of our costumes to school today (pictures at the end of the post) and there were some pretty creative ones! Of course, to celebrate the day, I did my nails up all special. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed for the orange, Love and Beauty Black for my ring finger and thumb, Ulta Little Black Dress for the writing, Sinful  Colors’ Snow Me White for the ghosts, and Rue 21 Glow in the Dark over the ghosts for a boo-tiful glow! Pics are without topcoat!

Artificial, indoor light

Artificial, indoor light

I tried to get a shot with the glowing ghosts for you guys, except, this is what happened…

I considered water marking this, just for the lols, but opted against it. Too much work!

And of course, I can’t leave without showing you my Halloween costume! While I didn’t go trick or treating (I’m a little too old for that now- I just take candy from our own candy bowl!) I still wanted to get all dressed up. You’re never too old for that! I saw an amazing makeup tutorial to transform yourself into a doe from a makeup guru called From Head to Toe. She’s got some great wearable makeup too. I followed her instructions, stuck on a pair of antlers, and voila! I have become a deer! Here’s a pic.

Doe-n’t I look cute? (Deer pun lol)

So that’s it for me today. I hope you all had a great day full of tricks and treats! Stay boo-tiful!

~Beth~

 

Friday Fun Nail Art- Cotton Candy Water Marble!

Hi all!

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday… sorry for that, I’m just so glad this week is over! SUCH a relief! I hope you all have fun plans for this weekend, I have a 6 hour rehearsal for my school’s fall play tomorrow! Long, but I love the cast, so it’ll be a great time!

It’s been awhile since I’ve done nail art, so I decided to get back in the swing of things today and try my hand at a water marble design! I knew I wanted some brighter colors to counteract how gray it has been outside this week, and Essie’s The Lace is On from the fall 2013 “For the Twill of it” collection seemed like a great polish to start with! One of my favorite color combinations of all time is pinks/purples and blues/turquoises, so I decided to pair the beautiful purple sparkle of The Lace is On with Zoya’s Giovanna, which is from their fall 2013 “Satins” collection, and is a deep, rich green-based teal. I decided to mellow out the sparkles of both of those polishes with a minty creme, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear’s Mint Creme was the perfect color to complete the trio. I swirled them around in lukewarm tap water and got the design you see below! Pictures below are with NYC’s In a NYC Minute topcoat.

Shade

What do you think of this color combination? Are you a fan of water marbling? Let me know in the comments below!

I love creating nail art like this, it’s easy and fun, and it impresses everyone who sees your nails! If you need an easy show stopper, this is the technique for you! Just make sure you tape your cuticles before dipping your fingers in the water, or you’ll get polish EVERYWHERE! Tape will help reduce the mess.

I’m currently taking suggestions- what would you like to see me do for nail art in the future? Please give me feedback so I can give all of you amazing readers what you want. I strive to make this blog enjoyable to a large audience, so don’t hesitate to let me know what I’m doing right and wrong (in a nice way, of course!). Once again (I say this ALL THE TIME), I love you all, and thank you for your continued support!

~Beth~

#ManicureMonday- The Stamping Trend Continues!

Hi everyone!

Monday, back to the old grind. At least it’s spirit week at my school for homecoming! This week, our senior prank is “anything but a backpack” week. We’re ditching our backpacks and putting our books in random objects. Highlights include a trashcan, suitcase, toaster oven, shopping cart, baby seat, and a griddle (mine!). It really got the energy up today, which definitely helped the typical Monday blues.

After trying my new Konad stamping kit yesterday, I’ve gotten completely hooked. So um… yeah… expect a LOT of stamping in the near future! It really does make your nails look sophisticated and super professional. Today I wanted to get the color pay off that I was expecting (instead of the white to lavender fail of yesterday!) so I picked two very contrasting colors- a rich raspberry perfect for autumn and a bold metallic gold. It’s a gorgeous fall color combo that will put you in the height of fashion!

To create the manicure, I started by painting my nails 2 coats of a deep, vampy raspberry color. It’s called Dark Plum from a brand called Markwin. My amazing friend Naa (over at Adolescent Chic) gave me three of these polishes, a red, a purple, and a raspberry, for my birthday, and I couldn’t wait to try them out! A warning though, this raspberry smells VERY strong, so if you’re sensitive, beware. It didn’t really bother me. I know very little about the brand, so if you want to know more, ask Naa! It’s a little streaky, but evened out in 3 coats, and delivered a GORGEOUS cranberry/red wine color. Once that dried, I used an unnamed Beauty Central Gold color to paint over the swirly design on the Konad M64 plate (shown below):

From brooketysonblog.com

I then scraped off the excess gold polish, picked up the design on my stamper, and rolled it over all of my nails. I LOVE THIS. The filigree is amazing looks, almost an oriental look. I’m super excited that it’s already turning out a lot better than yesterday with just one day of practice! I’ll be a pro in no time! Pictures below are without topcoat.

Shade

Shade

Are you a fan of this Arabian manicure? Do you like the color combo as much as I do? Let me know in the comments!

~Beth~

Nail Art- My First Attempt at Konad Stamping!

Hi everyone!

Happy Sunday! AND THERE’S FINALLY SUN. I seriously haven’t seen the sun in a week, the sight is just too beautiful. How has your weekend been? I’m still coming off a birthday high, lol!

And speaking of birthdays, my friend got me something I’ve been dying to get my hands on for-EVAH, a Konad Stamping set with 3 stamp plates!!!! You don’t understand how excited I am to finally get to try this out! For today’s design, I decided to try out the M-60 Konad plate, with the argyle design.

 

To create the design, I started with two coats of Ulta Salon Formula Nail Lacquer in Ultraviolet Femme, a gorgeous blue-based purple. I then painted Sinful Colors Snow Me White over the argyle design, and scraped off the excess with the Konad scraper. I picked up the design using a rolling motion with my stamper, and rolled it over the nail. Not going to lie, it took me about 4 tries to get the design you see, and it’s still nowhere near perfect, but with practice, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it! I then put OPI topcoat over my design, and the purple must have bled into the white, because it now looks like the stamp polish color is lavender. I don’t mind, but I kinda wanted it to be white… I guess next time I’ll wait longer for it to dry. Pictures are below!

Artificial, indoor light

Indoor, artificial light

Overall, I’m really excited about having this Konad stamper, and will definitely be doing more designs in the future! What are your thoughts on Konad, or other similar stamping systems? Let me know in the comments below!

If you want to purchase your own Konad stamper, they’re available on Amazon for as little as $5, or you can purchase them off of Konad’s own website, here.

~Beth~

 

 

Nail Art- Homecoming Nails!

Hello ladies!

So, today is my birthday! I’ve had a great day so far spending time with my family (I got an Oracle Team USA America’s Cup t-shirt!!!), and to top it all off, tonight is my school’s homecoming dance! Of course, I can’t go out with naked nails, so I’ve put together a really fun, sophisticated and EASY design that you too can use for your school dances!

To create this design, you’re going to need nail art (also known as bullion) beads. They generally come in a little wheel like this:

I bought mine from Dollish Polish, but you can get them from most beauty/nail supply retailers.

I started by painting my nails a base color of red, except for my accent nail (ring finger), which I painted a shimmery black. The red I used was OPI’s The Spy Who Loved Me from the Winter 2012 James Bond collection, and the black was Ulta Salon Formula nail lacquer in Little Black Dress. Once that dried, I used my old, thick bottle of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nail Lacquer in Flawless as a glue for the beads. I used a damp toothpick to pick up one bead at a time, and arrange them in the pattern I wanted. I used black beads on my red nails, and red beads on my black nail (alternate colors).You could create anything you want with the beads, it’s all up to interpretation. Once the “glue” is dried, apply a heavy layer of topcoat (I used OPI topcoat) to seal in the design. Without that topcoat, the beads fall off. Expect some beads to fall off anyway if you’re going to be dancing, but the topcoat reduces the bead “shedding”. Pics are below!

Shade

Shade

I also did my sister’s nails in the same design, but with navy and gold instead to match her dress! The navy I used was Rue Beauté in 043 and the gold was an unnamed Body Central color. Her pics are below!

Shade

I hope you guys like the design- it took almost 2 hours to do both of us! The process of patterning the beads is extremely painstaking, but worth it if you have the time, because it isn’t difficult to achieve. I even was able to copy it on my right hand, which I usually can’t do because I’m right handed!

So what will you be wearing on your nails this homecoming? Will you be using my design? Let me know in the comments below! I had a great birthday, and it was made even better by you guys. Thanks so much for reading, I love you all 😀

~Beth~

31DC2013 (The Last Post) Day 31- Honor Nails You Love <3 Part 2

And now for the continuation of this week’s episode of 31DC2013…

15 more challenge manis I ❤ with all my ❤

16) Favorite tribal nails: Nail Polish Society

 

Don’t the dots make it look like a cute little mosaic design? Love!

17) Favorite glitter nails: ErinZi’s Nails

 

This glitter really packs a sparkly punch! And sparkly punches are the one kind of punch I like (except fruit punch, that’s good too…)

18) Favorite half-moon nails: Cambridge Nails

 

She didn’t do half moon nails, oh no. She did half earth nails. And saturn. and mars. SO COOL.

19) Favorite galaxy nails: Colorful Cupcake Cat

 

I love her color choice combined with the glitter, I love the pastels!

20) Favorite water marble nails: Brijit’s Digits

 

I’m a huge fan of simplistic water marbles, and this totally hits the spot for me! And those long nails *jealous*

21) Favorite inspired by a color nails: Cajón de los Esmaltes

 

Los brillos son fabulosos, y azul es mi color favorito! Ella sabe como pintar muy bien!

22) Favorite song inspired nails: Dani’s Manis

How true to life are these nails? This girl has free-handing talent!

23) Favorite movie inspired nails: ALIQUID

 

Just take a moment to appreciate that the Lion King is on her nails. That pretty much says it all!!

24) Favorite book inspired nails: Bling Finger

They’re inspired by the ancient language of Sanskrit, and they’re so beautifully done!

25) Favorite fashion inspired nails: More Nail Polish

Ingenious use of flocking powder and beads, all at once. So elegant indeed!

26) Favorite pattern inspired nails: Nail Polish In My Eyes

This beautifully captures the essence of wicker. And it’s freehanded! So beautiful!

27) Favorite art inspired nails: Drawn to Nails

 

Can you believe this is HAND PAINTED ON A NAIL? No, ok. Good, because neither can I!

28) Favorite flag inspired nails: Chalkboard Nails

 

I’m in love with the use of textures here!

29) Favorite supernatural inspired nails: Nail Polish In My Eyes

 

These angel wings are so delicate they look like they could fly off the nail!

30) Favorite tutorial inspired nails: The Polish Influenza

Indoor, artificial light

Ok, so they’re my nails… I’m just really proud of these ones! 🙂

And there you have it, folks. The conclusion of the 31DC2013. It’s been a blast, and I can’t wait to do it all again next year! Many thanks to all who have supported me through it, I hope you will continue to follow my blog going forward! Regularly scheduled posting will resume tomorrow! It’s been a LONG time since I’ve done a MOTD! Until next year!

~Beth~