A "Re-fresh"ing Konad

Two coats China Glaze Re-freshmint with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover Konad, wih flash

Since it is actually spring now, I decided I should finally break out some of my spring polishes! For today's Konad, I started out with two coats of China Glaze Re-freshmint (see it alone here).

Then I picked China Glaze Four Leaf Clover for my stamping polish. This created a cool, kind of subtle Konad. I've been doing contrasting colors for Konad-ing, but I like this look of the light and dark as well. I used the fishnet image on the m57 plate. This image is a little tricky because of all the small lines in it. It's very easy for one of them to get out of place. I'm still working on preventing this with this image, but I think it works best to place your nail on the stamper, instead of the stamper on your nail. It seemed to come out cleaner that way.

Two coats China Glaze Re-freshmint with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover Konad, wih flash

These pictures are before I did my real clean-up, but it was about to get dark out, so I wanted to take them before clean-up. You can imagine this would look cute without the little green edges LOL.

Two coats China Glaze Re-freshmint with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover Konad, wih flash

China Glaze Re-freshmint and Four Leaf Clover are available online at 8ty8 Beauty. Konad stamping kits and image plates are available online at OC Nail Art.

Hot For Spring: Zoya Malia

Several fashion magazines and blogs, including Lucky magazine, have reported that lilac is a trendy nail color this spring.

Zoya Malia, two coats, with flash

My favorite lilac polish is Zoya Malia. This is a fabulous color for spring! It looks so fresh and ladylike, while also still having a cool trendiness to it. Zoya Malia works well for me because it is not overly cool-toned. It doesn't lean blue, so my hands avoid the red lobster claw syndrome. Malia also looks good on my mom, whose skin is much cooler-toned than mine. I imagine that Zoya Malia would work well on most nail fanatics!

Of course I had to do a few Konads over this polish!! I knew that white would look amazing over Zoya Malia, so I tried that first, using the Konad white special polish and the leopard print from the m57 plate. White Konad designs over this polish make an incredible Easter look. It made me feel like my nails were a beautifully decorated Easter egg!

Two coats Zoya Malia with Konad Special Polish

Then I decided to try this odd color combination by using a berry polish, Zoya Moxie, as the stamping color. The color combo is weird and I also used the fishnet stamp for this. The fishnet stamp is a big pain. All those little lines make for difficult stamping. But I'm working on it because I love the idea of fishnet print nails!

Two coats Zoya Malia with Zoya Moxie

Zoya Malia and Zoya Moxie are available online at Art of Beauty. Konad supplies are available online at OC Nail Art.

Zoya Malia and Zoya Moxie were sent to me by a PR rep for Art of Beauty. For more details, see our Disclosure Policy.

Side note- EK and I are going to Glasgow, Scotland for the World Irish Dance Championships!!! If you notice things are slow around here, that's why! Everything will be back to normal when we return. We'll have pictures from Scotland, and hopefully some cool polishes to show you! I hope we'll also have medals to show you LOL!

My Best Konad Yet!!!

Zoya Jo plus Konad Special Polish, with flash

My m57 plate finally came!!!!! First of all, this plate is totally me. It has zebra print, leopard print, a fishnet-like print, and lace with leopard print! Just perfect for my animal print-lovin' self.

Now, when I say that this is my "best Konad yet", that is a relative phrase LOL. So, this is still not great, but I'm definitely getting better. Shown is the same two coats of Zoya Jo from this post and the Konad special polish for the image.

My only problem with this is the smudging of the white polish. I hear that is a problem with the Konad special polishes, so next time I think I will try stamping with a different polish.

Zoya Jo plus Konad Special Polish, no flash

I do think this is a great look for spring!! The cornflower blue with white zebra=LOVE! I can see myself wearing this several more times this season. I like the m57 plate so much. You can expect to see lots more looks from that plate in the coming weeks.

Zoya Jo is available online at Art of Beauty. The Konad m57 plate and other Konad accessories are available online at OC Nail Art.

Remember to enter our FABULOUS giveaway of the entire Zoya Reverie collection!

Spring Polish I LOVE: Zoya Jo

Zoya Jo, three coats, with flash

To sum up this post if you're in a hurry: Zoya Jo is gorgeous and my boyfriend is better at Konad-ing than I am.

Zoya Jo is a beautiful cornflower blue shimmer polish that I think is PERFECT for spring. It just screams spring to me! In the first picture, it looks kind of sky blue, but it is definitely more what I would call cornflower, as it has a touch of dusty purple/gray to it. I did three coats for the camera, but it looked great with two coats as well. The formula of this polish was great, just like every other Zoya polish I've ever tried. Zoya polish is a little thin, but in a good way that makes it easy to apply.

Zoya Jo, three coats, no flash

This second picture of Jo is much more color accurate than the first one. However you can't see the shimmer in this picture, so imagine the shimmer in the first picture with the color in the second. I will definitely be wearing this color a TON this spring, it makes me happy!

What makes me unhappy is my Konad-ing skills, or lack thereof. I tried to Konad over Zoya Jo, because I thought the Konad white polish would look really nice with the cornflower blue. But I obviously need a lot more practice Konad-ing. I only ended up with two nails that were decent enough to show you.

Boyfriend Wins

Sadly, these two nails were my boyfriend's first and second attempts at Konad-ing. The first attempt is the perfect hearts with the word "love". Perfect. The second attempt was the cross-hatch pattern on a diagonal which is also perfect. I didn't fully clean up the edges of the cross-hatch nail, but if I had, it would be perfect. Sooooo, basically, my boyfriend is better at Konad-ing than I am.

I'm going to go practice Konad-ing now and watch some Law and Order: SVU.

Zoya Jo is available online at Art of Beauty.

Zoya Jo was sent to me for consideration by an Art of Beauty PR representative. For more information, see our Disclosure Policy.

St. Patrick's Day Mani + Konad Fail!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!!
I guess my first Konad was just beginner's luck. I tried to do a Konad for my St. Patrick's Day mani and totally failed. I think I have realized the problem though.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City, two coats, with flash

I started out with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City. Gorgeous color!! So Far so good!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City, two coats, no flash

Then I tried to do the polka dots from the m45 Konad plate. The m45 plate has designs meant for the tips of your nails, but I have seen people use them all over their nails. Sadly, I just haven't figured out how to do that yet, as you can see. I did some of the nails with the Konad white special polish. I thought it would be cute to do the rest of the nails with an orange polish (the Irish flag is green, white, and orange, f.y.i.). I attempted to use OPI Tangerine Scene as my stamping color. However, I forgot that Tangerine Scene is a jelly and takes about 4 coats to look even vaguely opaque. So it kind of looks like a bottle of puke-orange polish threw up on my nails. Note to self: Use pigmented polishes for stamping!

Hot Mess of Konad

I also tried kind of mixing the Konad white polish with Tangerine Scene. This turned out better, but it really wasn't what I had in mind.

Hot Mess of Konad on the other hand!

Two coats Zoya Suvi, plus one coat Zoya Manhattan, with flash

So, I removed all of this and did what I do best- layer a glitter polish over a regular polish! My final St. Patrick's Day mani consisted of two coats of Zoya Suvi with one coat of Zoya Manhattan on top. It makes this really cool sparkly olive color that I like much better than my Konad fails LOL.

Two coats Zoya Suvi, plus one coat Zoya Manhattan, no flash

What are your plans for St. Patrick's Day? Anything fun? I have a bunch of shows, so I'll be out all day, dancing away. What kind of green polish are you sporting today? We all know today is a great excuse to wear green polish! Even my mom joined in- she's rocking Emerald City!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City is available in a Target store near you. Konad kits and image plates are available at OC Nail Art. Zoya Suvi and Zoya Manhattan are available at Art Of Beauty.

Polish of the Week: OPI Green-wich Village, plus First Konad!!

OPI Green-wich Village, three coats, with flash

This is a really quick post. As it's almost next week, I thought I'd finally give you the Polish of the Week- OPI Green-wich Village! I love this color, it's a medium green jelly. The jelly finish is great, although it causes a little visible nail line even with three coats. Love this color by itself!!!

Konad Starter Kit from OC Nail Art

Got my Konad starter kit yesterday and messed around with it tonight. I was watching a movie while doing this, so it's pretty rough. I couldn't resist checking out all the stamps on the starter kit plate, plus one stamp on the m45 plate I ordered. My m57 plate is backordered, boooooooo! So here's my horrible, off-center attempts at my first Konad!!!

OPI Green-wich Village, three coats, plus stamps with Konad Special Polish, with flash


OPI Green-wich Village, three coats, plus stamps with Konad Special Polish, with flash

The Konad Starter Kit and plates are available online at OC Nail Art.