Guest post from Indie500 Nails

Hi everyone! For my last day of guest posts I have the wonderful Amy from Indie500 nails! Amy and I met on Instagram and became fast friends. (well, I became fast friends.... I have a tendency to be a bit of a creep when it comes to my beloved Amy's.... aka Indie500 and McPolish. ;) ) 

Check out this fantastic mani! 

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Well hello, people of the internet! A big thanks to Casey for asking me to guest post while she is off in the wilds of Colorado living it up. Despite forgetting the submission deadline and having an overwhelming fear of being too awkward for the bigtime (i.e. this blog!), I really am excited to be here. Casey is one of the best banterers I know on IG and it's a pleasure to hijack her little corner of the interweb for today. Let's dive in, shall we?

Casey gave no requirements for this post, which was a veritable invitation to run absolutely amok. However, due to the aforementioned nearly forgotten deadline, I have a fairly sedate fall mani to share. As a Texan, it's a little tricky for me to get excited about the changing of the seasons as there is rarely if ever an appreciable difference in the Lone Star state. But all the cool kids seem excited about it, so I'm hopping on the bandwagon and trying to at least swatch the fall collection polishes I just *had* to have prior to ordering the holiday collections that I will likewise need :)

For this fall skittlette mani, I used Zoya Hunter as my base. Formula was exactly what you'd expect from a Zoya creme and beautiful coverage and opacity were obtained in two easy coats. For the glitter gradient on the middle finger and thumb, I used a copper glitter topper sent to me by an IG friend, one of the Face of Australia Glitterati Nail Enamels. Upon researching for this very post, I discovered it is unnamed. This sort of conundrum probably explains why I am a guest blogger as opposed to a regular blogger :) The ring finger was stamped using the leaf image from Winstonia plate 119 with Mentality Nail Polish Proper.

Well, we've made it to the end together. If you weren't deterred by my awkward, stream of consciousness rambling, er *blogging* up to this point, I'd love to have you stop by my semi-defunct blog over at indie500nails.com. And if you'd like to actually see semi regular posts, please follow me on Instagram! 

Happy Fall Y'all!
Peave, Love and Polish!

Amy aka @indie500nails

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Ok, first of all, can we agree that Amy is hilarious? This post had me giggling the entire time. Second of all, I'm big time? Really? Dude, you've got like a for real blog and over 4,000 followers on Instagram. If that's not big time I don't know what is. ;)

Amy thank you so much for helping me out and doing this mani for me! 

Everyone I hope you have enjoyed my 10 days of guest posters! I wanted to share some of my favorites with you!!! And hopefully they'll be some of your favorites now too! 

I should be back on a regular posting schedule very soon, as soon as things settle down from our vacation. 

Thanks for reading!

~casey

Guest post from McPolish

Good morning everyone! So today's guest post is from the wonderful Amy McPolish!!! Amy and I have been creeping on each other on Instagram for a while. Go check her out, her nails are amazing! 

Lets see what kind of awesomeness she came up with for my little blog. 

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Hi! I'm Amy McG aka McPolish!  I was so honored when my favorite stalker, Casey, asked me to write a guest blog post for her.  Well, a little about me.  I started painting my nails in October 2012.  It all started with a Sally Hansen magnetic polish I saw at Wal-Mart.  I was so intrigued about this crazy concept that I googled it and fell upon a nail polish blog.  Wow!  I was hooked!  I started buying up all the polish (like we all did).  Then in March 2013, I started my Instagram account (www.instagram.com/mcpolish) and got sucked into the nail art and indie polish world.  And down the rabbit hole I went...deeper and deeper.  But I love nail art and indie polish, so I wanted to share them both with you today.

For this guest post, I decided to share a skittlette mani using one of my favorite indie polish makers (and Casey's too!) Pipe Dream Polish!  These two polishes are from April's new fall line.  The gorgeous brown glitter is called "Fall Again" and I layered it over Zoya Flynn on my thumb and pointer finger.  The green polish with gold and brown glitter is called "Time in a Tapestry".  I used two coats alone over my pinky and then punched tiny heart shapes out of it to use over Flynn on my middle and ring finger.  Of course we must matte all the mani's :)

I have used homemade polish decals before by painting polish on a plastic bag then cutting out shapes and strips once it dries.  Well this time I had worn "Time in a Tapestry" with a base coat of Nail Pattern Boldness "Glitter-a-peel", which is an epic peel off base coat.  When I decided to change my mani and popped off my polish, I didn't want to waste that gorgeous glitter!  So I decided to punch some hearts out of the old polish.  Now I can wear my glitter mani's more than once!  Reduce...Recycle...Reuse! Lol!

You can find both Pipe Dream Polish and Nail Pattern Boldness on Etsy!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/pipedreampolish

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nailpatternboldness

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Amy I love this! Anyone who has followed me on here or on Instagram knows how much I love Pipe Dream Polish, so this is perfect. And I love the idea of punching shapes out of peeled off manis! Thank you so much for helping me out with a guest post! 

~casey

Guest Post from Ecklipsed By Color

Good morning everyone! I hope you're having a great week! Today's guest post is from my sweet friend Elena from Ecklipsed by Color. Elena and I met through this wonderful nail community and have become great friends. She is super sweet, funny, supportive, and always encouraging. And she sent me nail mail for my birthday! Doesn't get much better than that.

Now, on to her post. :)

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Border manis, pinstripes, and weekend living

Hello lovelies, it's been a while...
This is Elena from ecklipsed by color and I have been graciously asked by Miss Case herself to watch the blog while she is off causing chaos.

I wanted to take a bit of a departure from my vast world of indies. I am currently participating along side many of you in the 31 Day Nail Challenge.
I have vowed to use indies, artisan, or small batch lacquers in every mani. This is a great way to test your untrieds, brush up on your nail art, and expose people to independent brands.

Today's mani is a inspired by one of my other loves- fashion. Color, texture, pattern, and contrast draw us to develop our own style independent but yet inclusive of what's on trend. Classic cuts and silhouettes are appearing not only in many designers pret-a-porter (ready to wear) lines but also their couture and runway lines. I am a lover of color and splash, but crisp graphic contrast will always have a hold on me. I have said it on my blog, but it bares repeating- there's nothing like a pinstripe. It's an arresting pattern on the nails. It can convey a lovely statement on an accent nail or a bold takeover as a full manicure.

As a tribute to not only the pinstripe, but also a nod to Chanel, whatever it was that JT was wearing at the MTV music awards, my new Tahari black and white silk shift, and the deity of your choice I present this look...
Using Essie's Licorice and Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in White Out (a 2012 New York Fashion Week Limited Edition shade), I constructed a border mani with a twist. This look was all the rage last year when Chanel debuted this look on their models. I find this look a sexy alternative to the standard French. It is easy to accomplish with the specially curved brush on the Complete Salon Manicures. Though I am featuring black and white, this is a look that can kill as we enter Fall and the holidays. Pair metallics, cremes, textures, and crellies- the possibilities are endless. I promise to grab a picture while sipping on a Black Russian or a glass of Pinot Noir tonight, it makes me feel so fancy...

Thank you to Casey for her support of my blog, Instagram feed, and most of all me.
It has been a pleasure to assist while she is away, now to get back to my poor neglected blog.

Remember lovelies, share the love...


xoxo, Elena

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Elena this mani is beautiful! And you have a serious gift with words. ;) 

Everyone you need to go check out Elena's blog and Instagram. Just check her out. She's fantastic!

Elena thank you for your help!

~casey

Guest post from Krista

Good morning everyone! Today's guest poster is Krista, 1/2 of KandA Nail Art on Instagram. Krista and I go way back, back to the days when I had a Tumblr. We met on there through a completely different mutual issue/interest and I noticed immediately how sweet she is. And then I found out that she can do some fabulous nails too!

On to her post!

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Hi everyone! I'm Krista and I am half of @kandanailart on Instagram! The other person who runs it with me is Amanda. She's been my best friend pretty much forever. We live several hundred miles away from each other and thought this was a good way to be able to do something fun together!

A little bit about myself, I am 22, a registered nurse, and engaged to a wonderful man. I'm not currently working because the need for nurses in Texas is quite low, but hopefully I'll find a job soon. My fiancé has a full time job, but on the side has his own NASCAR journalism website and co-hosts a radio show. I've always loved nail polish and painting my nails, but I'd never tried any nail art until recently. Casey is the reason that I decided to try it out!

On to this manicure. The polishes used are Sinful Colors 24/7 and a white Kiss Nail Art striper. I didn't know I had this polish until I was switching purses and I put one down and it clunked really loud. The neon pink polish just happened to show up! It seemed like a sign, along with being one of my favorite nail polish colors, so I knew I just had to use it! 

I started with two coats of 24/7. I then used the striper to make 4 sections on my thumb. I took each of those and just decided which way I wanted the lines to go in the section.

If you've kept reading this far, THANK YOU! This is really exciting for me. Huge thank you to Casey for giving me this opportunity!

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Thank you so much for this post Krista! I love these nails!!! You all really need to go check out her co-Instagram for sure. She doesn't great manis and she's so sweet. 

AND, I have an update that I'm happy to announce. Since she wrote this up Krista got a job! Her dream job, Labor & Delivery Nurse!!! How exciting is that? Congratulations Krista! 

~casey

Guest Post from Polish Frolic

Good morning everyone! Today's guest post is from a lovely girl named Anna. She runs an Instagram account called Polish Frolic. I originally followed Anna on her first Instagram (omgnannerz... love that name) and then she created a mostly nail account.... So of course I had to follow it too. I love her nails and we even did some Bestie Twin Nails a couple of weeks ago. If you didn't get a chance to see that post, you should go check it out here. :) 

So lets see what Anna has in store for us today! 

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Hello to Casey's lovely fans! Welcome to my blog debut (cue the music). Seriously though, When Casey asked me to do a guest post for her blog I was so thrilled. I love Casey's work on Instagram, and hers is the only nail blog I've ever read so this is all very exciting for me. I decided to go with some nail art for the post, so I will give you a little window into me and my nail art . I have been into doing nail art since I found out it was even a thing. Fortunately, that was also before I knew Instagram was a thing, so my earliest and most cringe-worthy manis can stay buried on my hard drive. When I did get on Instagram I realized there was this big, wonderful nail art community and I made friends. I also learned, a LOT! I learned how to take care of my hands, tons of amazing techniques, and I have been having a blast. I have been a polishing fool for about 2 years now and I'm still learning. In fact, the mani I've created for this post was the first time I've painted roses. I wanted to put together something that was a nice summer-to-fall transition. What I landed on was a tape mani with accent nails on either side. Enjoy!

Colors Used:
The base for the colorblocking is Color Club- French Tip. Colors used are: China Glaze- Heart of Africa, OPI- My Vampire is Buff, Sally Hansen- Soy Latte, and Wet n Wild Megalast- Wet Cement (one of my all time favorite polishes, by the way). 

The base for the roses is OPI- My Vampire is Buff. My roses are three different reds: Wet n Wild Megalast- Undercover (lightest), China Glaze- Heart of Africa (darkest), and Milani- Ruby Jewels (glitter). The leaves on the roses are Essie- Sew Psyched. 


That super glittery pinky nail is Milani- Gold Glitz.

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Anna I love this!!!! You know how I have a weakness for roses. :) 

You should all go check out Anna's Instagram, now. Hurry, go follow her right now. I insist! :) 

Thank you so much for your help Anna! 

~casey

Guest Post from Ermahgerd Perlish

Good morning everyone! Today I have a fantastic guest poster named Kristin, aka Ermahgerd Perlish. I'm not gonna lie, that name is what first caught my eye about Kristin. Then I saw her nails. OMG.

Lets just move right on to see what kind of awesome mani she created for us to enjoy today. 

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Hi everyone! *waves*  My name is Kristin and I run a little blog called Ermahgerd Perlish!  I'll admit that, at the moment, my poor blog is slightly neglected due to computer issues and life, etc.  Boo!  Anywho, I adore Casey so when she asked me to guest post on her blog, I was delighted!  This is my first guest post ever!  I "met" Casey through Instagram and I'm sure glad I did!  She is funny, sweet & passionate about polish like me. :)

Now, on to the mani!  I chose to do a mashup of two nail art techniques that I really enjoy.  On my index and pinky, I did a gradient using Essie Blanc, Wet n Wild Black Creme & OPI What's With the Cattitude.  I topped the gradient with Hard Candy Candy Coated.

For the middle & ring fingers, I did a splatter using the straw method and the same colors as the gradient, over a base of Essie Blanc.  I was pretty happy with the result!

I hope you enjoyed my mani and I hope that Casey is enjoying her vacation!  :D

Feel free to say hello on Facebook or Instagram, I love following new people!  I'm @ermahgerdperlish!

Thanks for reading!

Kristin

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I love this so much! I suck at spatter manis, I really need to remedy this! 

Thank you so much for this guest post Kristin! It's perfect!!!

~casey

Guest Post from A Painted Nail

Good morning everyone! Today's guest poster is the LOVELY Bridget from A Painted Nail! I met Bridget on Instagram and fell in love right away. She is super funny, sweet, and does great nails. Lets see what kind of fun mani she came up with for me today!

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Swirls, and Stars, and Glitter! Oh My!

Hello friends of Casey Lane! My name is Bridget, and I have a blog called A Painted Nail. I am so pleased to have a guest post for you all while Miss Casey is away on vacation! I did a little nail art design to share, something inspired by the lovely Casey, herself!
I met Casey on IG after her original account was deleted (boo!) and I am so glad I did. She is a wonderful person and always manages to bring a smile to my face. I wanted to do a mani that reminds me of her, bright and fun, and shiny!

Used:
Essie - Beyond Cozy
Color Club - Coral Cascade
Julep - Lexie
Essie - Mint Candy Apple
Essie - Play Date
Born Pretty Star Studs
Nail Art brush

The inspiration for this came from So Nailicious (http://sonailicious.com/swirl-nails/), which is an amazing website for lots of amazing nail art designs. I changed it up a little to suit my taste, but kept the concept pretty much the same. 

I love star studs! And the swirls! They are kinda tricky to keep evenly spaced, but I’m sure it is something that gets easier with practice.


I hope you guys liked what I came up with, and I hope Casey and her hubby have a fantastic vacation!

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I LOVE that bright and shiny and fun manicures make you think of me Bridget! :) This is incredible! I LOVE this style, I've gotta try it someday. 

Thank you again for doing this for me friend! 

~casey

Guest Post from The Little Canvas

Good morning everyone! Today's guest post is from Alaina over at The Little Canvas. Alaina was one of my first blogger friends, and she's really helped me a lot through this whole process. She's always been really patient with my questions and I just can't thank her enough! Plus, she does some great nails! 

So, lets check them out. 

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Hello there!  Alaina here from The Little Canvas!  I am so happy that I am taking over Miss Casey Lane's blog today!  I met Casey on Twitter earlier this year, and was quite impressed with how neat and perfect her nails always looked.  Due to this, I named Casey my first ever Nail Artist of the Month back in May.  If you haven't seen that post, you must click here and see it!  After she did the guest post, I started pestering her that she needed to start a blog.  Literally, I think I tweeted or sent her a text daily with a "where's your blog" or "you need to start blogging."  Thankfully, she finally listened and now is sharing her work here on Blogger.  Great decision, right??

After being asked to do a guest post here on Casey's blog, I started to think what I could possibly do.  I'm always inspired by Casey's kitchen sink manicures, especially the one she did for my blog and Tuxarina.  I decided to build off of that inspiration and create a kitchen sink manicure for this post.  The problem: I had no idea what colors to use.  This is the only reason I dislike having so many bottles of nail polish, picking out colors can take a looong time.  Casey came to my rescue though and picked out teal and pink!

Once I had my teal, pink, white, and black polishes picked out, I got to work.  Let's take a look.

Colors Used:

INM - Bikini

OPI - Can't Find My Czechbook

Hard Candy - Black Tie Optional

Orly - Liquid Vinyl

OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Kind of funky, right?  I started off with a base OPI My Boyfriend Scales walls on my ring and thumb.  No matter how this kitchen sink manicure was going to go, I knew I wanted those nails to both be white based.  I then added a black nail on my middle finger because it just looks sharp that way in my opinion.  That left my two main colors which I just slapped on the pointer and pinkie.

Then, I glared at my nails.  I had no idea what designs I was going to do where.  My mind started going crazy.  Was I going to use tape?  What nails were going to be dotted?  Could I put art on the colored nails?!  Goodness gracious, what did I get myself involved with with this manicure?!  Since I had the black and white nail, I remembered the awesome black and white matte glitter that is Black Tie Optional by Hard Candy.  I figured that this would be the best tie in with the plain colored nails.  Added the glitter, and sat back happily.

Then I got out my tape and started taping up my ring finger.  I figured you can never go wrong with a unique checkerboard.  I'm rather pleased with that nail.  No kitchen sink manicure though is complete unless there is some form of polka dots.  I first did the black nail with pink, teal, and white, and loved how it looked.  I thought it would look really neat to do the same thing on the white nail with black dots instead...kind of like a reverse nail (if that makes any sense).  To be honest, these polka dot nails were my favorite of the whole manicure.  I really feel that they both tied the manicure together.

What do you think?  Fan of the kitchen sink?  Liking the colors?

I hope that you, as well as Casey, enjoyed this manicure!  If you want to see more of my random nail art, head on over to my blog and check them out!!!  Hope to see you all soon! 

<3

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Alaina I love this!!!! Kitchen sink manis are one of my favorites, so one in my favorite colors is PERFECT! 

Thank you so much for this post! It's great!

~casey

Guest post from Tuxarina

Good morning everyone! Today's guest post is from the lovely Kelly over at Tuxarina! Kelly was the very first "nail friend" that I made. She was one of the first people to encourage me to start my own nail Instagram and then nail blog. She is super sweet and does AMAZING nails! Lets take a look!!!

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Hey guys!  I'm Kelly from Tuxarina .  I am so excited that Casey asked me to do a guest post for her.  I have gotten pretty busy lately with the 31 Day Challenge and school starting back up, but I didn't want to let Casey down as she's been such a good blogger friend!  I recently put in an order for some new Fall KB Shimmer polishes.  I loved her newest collection!  

This is Teal Another Tail.  This polish is AMAZING.  Simple as that.  I was on the fence about ordering this one, and I am so glad I did.  Its a Teal polish with a duochrome pink/purple shift to it.  There's some awesome flakies in this and a touch of holographic sparkle.  Mermaid nails.  I used two coats and it went on flawlessly.  You will get some residual shimmer, but nothing too crazy.  I added some square studs on my accent nail.  Its a look I've been loving lately.  I love that these studs are lavender, they really pop the polish out.  I purchased them from Born Pretty.  They spiced up a manicure that was amazing all on its own!

You can purchase KB Shimmer here.  A big thank you to Casey for having me on her blog today!  Shes awesome!
-Kelly 

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Ugh. I have GOT to get my hands on some KB Shimmer Polishes!!!! 

Thank you so much for this guest post Kelly! You are pretty awesome yourself! 

Everybody you need to go check out Kelly's blog and Instagram. Do you see how gorgeous her pictures are? They are always absolutely amazing!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying my week of guest posters! 

Guest post from Alysia (ahleeeshah)

Good morning everyone! So for day 1 of my 10 days of guest posts I have someone very special for you. Well, all of the guest posters I have picked out are very special. But Alysia is a very special friend to me. After I was able to find the Salon Perfect neon glitters for her she became my first nail mail buddy and has turned into a very dear friend. I just love her to bits and her nails are always amazing. You should go check out her Instagram ASAP, her glitter macros will make you drool. I promise.

So lets see what kind of amazingness she came up with for this spot.

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Hello everyone! I am Alysia (@ahleeeshah on IG) and the lovely Casey asked me to do a guest post for her. I am not nearly as good at nail art as most of the amazingly talented people (like Casey!) you see around, so I look for techniques that allow me to look impressive with the least amount of effort possible. A few years ago, someone on MakeupAlley posted a nail art technique that used rub-on scrapbooking decals that looked amazing. I've done this a few times now, and for my post I wanted to share the process with you guys because it is such an amazing way to get a great manicure while barely trying!

First off, you're going to want to paint your base color. I've chosen Essie Lilacism. With most decals, you're going to want a lighter color to really show them off. If you're painting a fresh mani for this, be sure to use a quick-dry top coat so you don't smudge anything when you rub the decals on.

For step 1, you'll need to find rub-on scrapbooking decals. You can buy them from some craft stores like Hobby Lobby, but the best selection I've found is actually on Amazon. The one warning I have with this technique is that not all rub-ons work as well as others. Unfortunately some of the prettier ones, the "glitter butterfly wings" types for example, end up being too thick to work well. The brand in the picture above tends to work the best. For step 2 you need to cut out sections roughly the size of your nails. I like to cut all 10 at once to save myself some time and to plan out what will go on which nail. In step 3 you can see that I've cut one to the right size and I've checked how it looks on the nail. In step 4, you need to peel away the backing piece of plastic from the decal. Once you've done that, you're ready to put it on the nail!

For step 5, press the decal on to your nail. You do not need to press too hard, but you'll want to rock back and forth a bit with another finger just to make sure it's fully sticking to the nail. Make sure the whole section of design comes off the plastic and on to your nail. Step 6 might look a little terrifying, but I'm just using those clippers to trim off the excess from the design. You can use whatever tool you'd like! Once you're done trimming the excess off, step 7 is to top coat it to seal everything in and make it shiny.

Here's the finished mani! I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I can do the decal application in about 15 minutes. Care to see a few of the images up close?

I am a sucker for macro pictures, guys!

I hope you all enjoyed my tutorial! Please feel free to find me on Instagram @ahleeeshah and ask me questions if you have any. If you end up trying out the technique, tag me in your pics so I can see!

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See!!! I told you guys she's good! And those macros!!!! Ugh, she kills me. She is super sweet and very talented, she really shouldn't sell herself short saying she's not good at nail art. If that isn't good nail art I don't know what is!

Thank you for this post Alysia! Love it!!!

I'm excited to show you all the other guests I have lined up and hopefully introduce you to some nail folks you might not know about.

~casey

10 days of guest posts!

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I'm sorry I've been kind of out of the loop lately. We are getting ready to go on a little road trip.

So, in order to keep my blog going I asked some of my very favorite bloggers and Instagrammers to write up guest posts for me! I wanted to share them with all of you. Some of these girls you've probably heard of, some you maybe haven't. But you should check them all out.

To all of you that helped me, thank you so so much! I really appreciate this!

I hope you all enjoy these posts! I should be back to semi-normal posting sometime after the 6th when we get back.

Thank you all for sticking with me!

~casey