He Flies Through The Air

Hey y'all!   I just wanted to make a quick post to share my NOTW and a little project I've been working on in my free time.

First, my nails!  My base is Gelish Caution and art done with acrylic paints and topped with Gelish Top it Off.

This is my latest project.  i am super proud of how it turned out.  It's now framed and sitting on my table at work. 

This set is kind of a throw back to my Charlie Brown Nails that I did a few years ago.   Except these are much better lol  You can check my old ones out HERE.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  Xoxo

Good Grief Charlie Brown

Hey y'all!   Happy Sunday!   I am certainly enjoying my day off and loving the bit of Fall we've been having in the morn. gs this week.  It still gets hot during the day but at this point I'll take what I can get in regards to cool weather.

Anyhoo, today I wanted to share some cute Charlie Brown nail art I did this week using OPI Good Grief from the new Peanuts collection.  I am so not a yellow person but I LOVE this one.  Charlie's face is OPI My Vampire is Buff.

The nail art was freehanded using black acrylic paint.  Thanks for stopping by today, hope you have a great week!  Xoxo

I'm all in, Royal Flush

Hey y'all!   I just wanted to share a quick post today of some client nails I did last week.  Shw wanted a playing card theme.  I'm super proud of how these turned out.

This was a gel manicure done with OPI GelColor in Red Hot Rio and Alpine Snow.  The art was hand painted with acrylic paints and a black glitter gradient on the red.

Thanks for taking the time to check out my post today.  Have a great day! XOXO

OPI GelColor Coca Cola Collection

Press Samples 

Hey y'all!   Today I have swatches of some of the OPI GelColor Coca Cola Collection to share.  I absolutely love this collection especially the silver foil, My Signature is "DC".  They go on so smoothly and the coverage is perfect in two coats.  I am super impressed.

I have to share my favorite first.  

My Signature is "DC"

Beautiful silver metallic.  The coverage on this is outstanding. 

Coca Cola Red

Red cream

Get Cherried Away

Plum cream

Green On The Runway

Green metallic.  

This one has a great duo chrome characteristic That I coulcouldn't get in photos :( 

Sorry I'm Fizzy Today

Coral/Pink Cream

Today I'm Accomplished Zero

Black jelly with red multi sized glitters

For more information about GelColor by OPI, please visit pro.opi.com. 

The products in this post were sent by a company representaive in return for my honest review.  

Monochromatic Gel Polish Nail Art

Hey y'all!  I feel like I start all of my posts lately with saying I'm sorry for not posting in so long.GelColorELCOLOR Life happens sometimes, right?  So does laziness but I'm not saying thats why I havent posted, I'm just saying it is a possibility lol.

I just thought I'd do a quick little post to share my nails of the moment.  I pretty much only wear gel polish with work because regular polish gets ruined in no time.  Gel polish gives me freedom to do my job without worrying about smudges or chips.

For this mani I used Gelish Sheek White, Gelish Black Shadow, Gelish Lets Hit The Bunny Slopes, and OPI GelColor My Signature is DC.

I have been loving this design and the colors used together.

Thanks so much for reading today.  Have a good week! Xoxo 

Nails Magazine Mural Contest

Hey y'all!   Today I thought Id share some nail art I did for Nails Magazine's Mural Contest.  I actually did these last November and the winners were announced in the March issue of Nails Magazine.  Better late than never right?  I didnt win BUT I did get an Honorable Mention in the magazine.  Which is still pretty much like winning ;).

The theme for the contest was mural nails, which is nail art that spans across 5 to 10 nail tips.  I chose to do a more literal theme of a graffiti mural.  I am really proud of how it turned out.

I started out by sketching out my idea on paper.  I had a basic idea of what I wanted when I sketched it out and I really think I transferred it well into the actual project.  Heres a collage of my sketch at the beginning and the finished sketch. 

When I began the nails I started by painting the brick background and then painted the graffiti like any graffiti artist would (except legally and I didnt use spray paint of course lol) 

My favorite part of this whole project was making the little 3D spray paint can lady.  She turned out so much better than I expected.  I sculpted her out of clear acrylic from Young Nails and then I painted her with acrylic craft paints and added a gel top coat to make her so shiny.  

This was so much fun to create from beginning to end.  Even though I didnt place in the contest its still a HUGE honor for me to even be mentioned in the magazine.  

There I am on page 120. :)  

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog today.  I hope you have a great week!  Xoxo  

OPI GelColor Brazil Collection

Press Sample

Hey y'all!  Today I have the awesome OPI GelColor Brazil Collection to share.  I did these swatches a while back but my computer died so I haven't been able to post them :(.  I'm actually posting from my parent's house now. 

This is a gorgeous collection to say the least. Bright and summery and definitely has the beautiful colors of Brazil down to an art.  These colors were released in the regular OPI polish line as well as the OPI GelColor which is a professional only product.  To find a salon near you that offers OPI products, go to OPI.com and click on "Where to find OPI" in the right hand corner.

I am very impressed with the quality of these GelColor polishes.  They went on very smooth and covered nicely in two coats.  The key to applying gel polish is THIN coats, you get too thick and you get running and shrinking and nobody wants that.  

My favorites in this collection are Red Hot Rio and Kiss Me I'm Brazilian. 

Red Hot Rio

Next Stop...The Bikini Zone

Don't Bossa Nova Me Around

Taupe-Less Beach

I Sāo Paulo Over There 

AmazON...AmazOFF

Kiss Me I'm Brazilian 

 

OPI Scores A Goal  

For more information about the OPI GelColor Brazil Collection as well as other professional OPI products visit Pro.Opi.com.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great day! XOXO

The products in this post were sent by a company representative in return for an honest and unbiased review.  

 

Client nails

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while.  My desktop bit the dust and it just dawned on me that I could post from phone.   I hope this works lol.

Here's some of my favorite client nails from the last few weeks or so. 

Kiss Me, I'm Irish.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Just wanted to do a quick post to share my St. Patty Day nails.  I don't own any green clothing so my nails are going to have to do.  I DARE somebody to pinch me. ;)

For this mani I used green acrylic paint, China Glaze Grass Is Lime Greener, Pure Ice Vegas Strip, Cuccio A Kiss in Paris, and butter London Matte topcoat. 

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Hey y'all!  Just thought I'd do a quick post and share some of my favorite client nails I've done recently.  Kind of getting myself ready for the new work week.  My Mondays are actually Tuesdays.  :) 

These pretties are an overlay over her natural nails, no tips or added length, just her.  I loved doing these.  I took down a good bit of length and reshaped. She came in with a very round tip and wanted a pointy almond shape. I loved doing these.  I believe the red is Gelish Good Gossip.  The holo glitter is a loose glitter by Supernail "Silver Rush". 

These are natural nails with Gelish "Caution" with a loose glitter gradient. 

This is a full set with tips with Gelish.  (I don't remember the names of these).  The silver is loose glitter.  

Hope everyone is having a great week! XOXO

Humility is the ladder to divine understanding

Hey y'all!  I'm going to do something a wee bit different today.  No pretty pictures, no polish love, just....me.  It's been a little over a year since I started this journey to becoming a nail professional.  It's been a GREAT year.  I've been out of school for about 8 months and I'm still constantly learning.  It's really never ending.  I have a true passion for this industry and I have big dreams for my career. 

Believe me, I have NEVER thought I was the best by any means.  Like I said, I'm still learning, I'm a newbie and I know this.  But I still (ashamedly) will say that there have been moments when my ego got a little too big.  This week however, put me right back in my place. 

I got my first real taste of the unhappy client this week.  To be honest, I feel a little defeated.  Knowing someone left my chair and didn't like what they paid for really bothers me.  I mean, REALLY bothers me.  I'm a people pleaser, it's just who I am and if I can't fix it, it drives me crazy.  But...as the saying goes, you can't please everyone. 

I needed this experience though.   Like I said, it put me back in my place.  Just because I've been in magazines and major media websites does not make me the best and does not mean that everyone that sits in my chair is going to be impressed by it and think I'm awesome. 

I remember when I thought it was going to be soooo fun and "easy" and thought about how awesome it would be to get to do nails all day long.  It is fun, don't get me wrong, but easy?  No way in hell!  It's not as stressful or hard as some other jobs but it's not a walk in the park either.  Having someone sit in your chair and pay you good money to do a job that they expect to love is a lot pressure though.  Not everyone likes the same things.  Sometimes even if you do the best job ever in your life some people won't be happy.  I think that's the hardest thing for me to come to grips with right now.  Again, you can't please everyone.  

I basically just had an off week and I'd like to kind of blame it on that.  Ive been in a foul mood and I just wasn't in the right frame of mind.  A bit of burn out maybe? I don't know.  Did I do the best job I could possibly do?  Looking back, I can say with 100% certainty that it probably wasn't my best.  I have put myself out there to fix the problem but I can't fix it if I'm not given the opportunity.  So for now I'm just going to use this as a learning experience and move on. 

I love doing what I do but it's not always sunshine and rainbows.  I let the negativity get the best of me. I have today and tomorrow off so I'm going to rejuvenate and get my head back in the game and hopefully this week will be better.  Get up, dust myself off and get back to doing my thang!  ;)

Anyhoo, I know this is a little different but I just wanted to share and get it off my chest.  Thanks for "listening".  XOXO

Mardi Gras Nails Extravaganza

Hey y'all!  If you know anything about Louisiana, you know we love us some Mardi Gras.  After today it's officially over though.   It's been going on here for about a month now.  It's been all about the Mardi Gras balls and parades and king cake and of course....NAILS.  I've done a lot of Mardi Gras nail art in the last month or so so I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

These are actually mine, my poor little nubs :(

Pink and White full set with Mardi Gras Chevron accent.  The chevron matched my clients awesome scarf she was wearing that day. 

 

I had a lot of fun doing this full set.  I love when clients let me have creative freedom.  "Do what you want" can be dangerous words sometimes though ;) 

This mardi gras gradient was a pretty popular design. 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a fun Mardi Gras!  Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Paisley, Bows and Chevrons...oh my!

Hey y'all!  Long time no...blog?!?  I haven't posted here in over a month. I suck at blogging lately, I'm sorry.  Just been busy with life and work, what can I say?  I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things though.  At work we are officially deep into our busy season.  Valentines weekend was craaaazy busy at the spa.  I do love it though.  I am so very thankful that I have the job I have, I could not ask for a better place to work.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to do a quick post of some nails I did a while back.  These were done for my January Nails Magazine article.  (You can check out my post about that HERE.)

I love, love, love this whole design.  The paisley, the acrylic bow, and the chevron just came together so nicely I think.

The pastels on black almost give it a chalkboard feel.  It probably would have looked awesome matted.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.  Have a great day!  XOXO

P.S.  I don't get to post much here but I am always posting my work on instagram, you can follow me at www.instagram.com/amberdidit

My Feature in the Jan. issue of Nails Magazine

Hey y'all.  I can't believe I forgot to post about this here.  I'm ashamed of myself actually.  I've known about this for a few months and I've been holding it in until it came out.  I was one of 5 featured blogger nail professionals in the January issue of Nails Magazine.  It is such a HUGE honor for me.  Especially being among some of my favorite nail bloggers.  You can view the whole article online HERE. 

This is such a huge deal for me.  I cried a little when my copy came in the mail lol.  I got a WHOLE PAGE!!!!  I mean really, how freaking amazing is this?  I feel so proud and so humbled at the same time.  Me, little old me, no body special, in a major trade publication.  Ahhhh, I can't even begin to describe it lol. It's just awesome! 

The 2014 January Issue is named "The Reader Written Issue".  The cover was picked from a contest they did.  The nail tech that won with this puzzle piece mani is Miki Nakano from Tokyo.  She did an amazing job don't you think? 

Ahhh, here's my page.  I'm on page 173.  Honestly, I really expected a short little blurb about me.  I died when I saw it lol.  My kids probably thought I had lost my mind.  I can't wait to get it framed.  My hubby is taking on that task, he's really good at that kind of thing. 

A screen shot of my blog even made it on the table contents.  A minor thing but still, that's MINE and it's pretty stinkin' exciting. 

It's hard to believe that just a year ago I hadn't even started my nail course yet.  Goodness, time really does fly when you're having fun huh?  ;) 

Thanks so much for reading today.  XOXO  :) 

Teal and Gold geometric nail art

Hey y'all! I know been a terrible blogger lately.  I'm going to try to do better I promise.  Sometimes life just gets in the way I guess. 

I've had this post drafted since like September I think and I thought I'd go ahead and post it. This is just a random geometric pattern I did.  There's really no rhyme or reason to it, I just sat down and drew.

Have a great day! XOXO 

P.S.  I may not post on here much but I do post on Instagram quite a bit.  You can see what I'm up to and see some of my client nails.  You can follow me HERE.