And the Winner Is....

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thank you to everyone who entered and submitted some really great nails!! I'm already assembling a fall giveaway & Seche Vite will be part of it thanks to the poll results and everyone who supplied their input. Again thanks for visiting & Congrats again Gabbby!

Braid Manicure

Nubar "Hieroglyphics"

NYC "Lincoln Square"

Sally Hansen "Golden"

I saw I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous' fishtail braid manicure and thought it was the CUTEST thing.  She linked the Lucy's Stash blog with a really neat tutorial.  Once I saw how easy the tutorial looked, I had to try it for myself.  I stuck with 3 colors since it was my first time.  It took a while to complete both hands & I had to use Seche Vite (which I despise) because it was pretty well layered once I finished.  But overall I was pleased with the outcome.  And please excuse my scraggly cuticles.  The summer weather is killing them and it seems like no amount of cream is helping.  As I type this, I have slathered on the lanolin to help them heal up.  Working in an office where I shuffle paper all day doesn't help either.  I'd like to ask a favor of anyone who may be reading, if you can please fill out my survey on the front page regarding the quick dry top coat that works best for you.  I want to know what people like most so when I do my giveaways, I know what people prefer.  Thanks for visiting!!

Fourth of July Nails!

OPI "Swimsuit...Nailed It"

    Santee "White"   

Santee "Blood"

Sally Hansen "Golden"

Milani "Gold"

This manicure was fun but took forever.  It's so basic, no real technique besides the striping on my middle finger which is a bit smeared.  I used a different top coat this time and I think I like it.  I want to use it a couple more times before I can really say.  It's Orly's "Sec 'n' Dry".  It doesn't dry as fast as Seche Vite and you can't apply it too quickly after you paint your nails as you can see above, but it doesn't shrink.  I can't take SecheVite's shrinkage anymore.  My manicures look awful after a day because the shrinking gets so bad.  Anyhow this manicure was really fun, I think my best one yet.  Anyway peek back tomorrow - I'm posting the Summer Giveaway.  Thanks for visiting!!

Giraffe Watch Inspiration

    Spot Sinful Colors Nirvana          
 Base Yellow: Color Club's "Almost Famous"
   Top Coat Yellow: Orly's "Live Wire" 

 

 

My sister is a watch fanatic so when I saw this cute watch I ordered it for her.  Then the more I looked at it, the more I thought how cute the pattern would look on my nails.  I didn't go with the same color scheme as the watch.  I wanted to go brighter for summer and because it stood out more.  I applied 2 coats of Almost Famous and added 1 coat of Live Wire on top to add the pretty shimmer which these pictures don't catch at all.  I tried to get different lighting for each picture but neither do it justice.  I did this manicure late so no sun and the next morning was muggy so no sun then either.  It's really pretty in person. All I used was a dotting tool which can easily be substituted with a bobby pin or even pen or pencil.  I tried to keep the pattern semi-squarish.  The Seche Vite really pulled this up so I had to do major touch ups once it was completely dry.  If anyone has a good fast drying top coat out there they can recommend please do. I don't know how much longer I can work with Seche Vite.  It shrinks just way too much for me.  I'm posting my SUMMER GIVEAWAY  this week so peek back for that.  Thanks for visiting!!

Madden Girl Inspiration

I've been wanting to do this manicure ever since I bought these sandals.  They remind me of an old Mexican blanket.  I used a small nail art striper brush and 12 or so polishes with pink as a base color.  It was the easiest manicure, just time consuming.  I'm gathering the items for my next giveaway.  I found another HUGE nail supply shop by my house so I'm excited to make it down there this weekend.  This giveaway is going to be a Summer design contest.  So stay tuned! Thanks for visiting!!

And the Winner Is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway Congratulations Natalie!! And THANK YOU everyone who entered!! This was fun! I thought that I would do the next giveaway at 25 followers and that is just a few people away so I'll post the pictures for that this weekend! It's another good one! Thanks for visiting!!

Giveaway Open to All - National & International

Finally! So here is the giveaway.  Please again excuse my pictures.  I need to Youtube some basic photography lessons. Again this giveaway is my "New Blog Member Giveaway".  It includes:

 - 1 brand new Glass Nail File
 - 1 brand new bottle of Seche Vite Quick Dry Topcoat
 - 1 brand new bottle of OPI's "Do You Think I'm Tex-y"
 - 1 brand new bottle of OPI's "It's My Year"

The only thing required for this giveaway is that you become a member of my blog.  You can do this by finding and clicking the "Join This Site" link on the left hand side of my page.  That is all! Very simple.  The giveaway will last 1 week and will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter.  You can add entry chances by liking the Myprettypaints Facebook page, or following @myprettypaints on Twitter. It really is that simple.Good Luck!! And thanks for visiting!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway Update

 Hello everyone! Sorry for being M.I.A. this last week.  I signed my son up for school and had to prepare for a wedding on Friday.  The main reason I haven't posted pictures of the giveaway is that I had purchased some glass nail files as part of the giveaway, and my son lost them.  They are somewhere in my home but I've looked all week so I can finally take the photos to post up the giveaway and nothing.  He's 3 1/2 so trying to get him to tell me where they are is pointless.  Although it's cute when he tries :)  My husband just let me know the replacement files arrived today in the mail so the giveaway pictures will be up tonight.  It's a really great giveaway!! The 2 OPI nail polishes are gorgeous.  So gorgeous in fact that I bought double of each so that I can have one as well.  Again the giveaway includes, 2 OPI polishes that I will reveal tonight, 1 bottle of Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat and a really cute glass nail file.  This giveaway is open to anyone who becomes a member in my blog forum.  To do this and become eligible for the giveaway all you have to is go to my page, on the left hand side click the blue "join this site" link and join.  That is all. So stop by tonight to take a peek at the OPI polishes.  I'm excited!!  Thanks for visiting!!

Summer Manicure

I saw this manicure on The Nailasaurus' blog and thought it was so cute and interesting looking.  It was surprisingly very simple.  I bought Sinful Color's - Aquamarine but had yet to use it so when I saw this manicure, I thought I can incorporate the pretty blue color and had the perfect jelly pink - Sally Hansen's Love Rocks to go with it.  When I began I started using a thin short painting brush from Michael's craft store.  That was a mistake.  The lines were way too thick and messy looking.  So since I don't own an actual nail art brush, I used a striper polish brush that I clean well with acetone.  That made a huge difference.  My lines are no way exactly straight and my right hand is not very neat since I'm right handed, but I was happy with the way it turned out.  It was my first attempt at a manicure of this type and my first time using a nail art brush in this way.  Tonight I will work on getting up the pictures of the giveaway for next week.  Thanks for visiting!!

Gradient Nails

Jordana - Cabaret, ELF's - Berry Pink & NYC's - Lincoln Square

I'm a little mad that I can only put up one picture of my first time doing the gradient manicure.  I just couldn't get a good photo at all.  I think it was okay for my first time but I will definitely try again.  The gradient look is really easy to achieve, it's the prep that is time consuming.  After doing a couple of nails I realized that I really have to tape up the others because cuticle and finger cleanup was a nightmare.  I used 3 colors here and after researching a few other blogs I decided to go with Waky Laki's gradient method which is to paint directly on the sponge.  This I found to be easiest at the time because by moving the sponge up and down I can control the color distribution pretty well BUT I will definitely be trying another method.  It seems that after going over the same spot a couple of times to get the tip a deeper color, the sponge will dry up a bit and either begin to leave small pieces on the nail or take of small chunks of the already applied polish.  Next time I've decided to follow the tutorial that the Nailasaurus posted.  It looks like her method won't allow for the sponge to dry. Thanks for visiting!!

UPDATE:  I will be working on taking the photos of the new member giveaway prize this week.  It's a good one!!

Member Giveaway

Hello to anyone who may be reading this :)  I have only a few members on my blog and wanted to try and create a nice community of nail lovers.  I was thinking about having a giveaway.  I have a bottle of Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat, 2 OPI Summer collection polishes, and a glass nail file that I wanted to give away as a gift to one of the members on my blog.  Only problem is I only have 3.  So if you  happen to be reading and would like to try and win, just join my blog.  I will be posting the pics of the giveaway once I take the photos this weekend.  I wanted to post this first to maybe get some feedback on my giveaway idea.  Let me know what you think.  I'd like to start a bi-monthly giveaway but we'll see how this works out.  And by the way, should there be an international winner, I have no problem shipping internationally. Thanks for visiting!!!