A-Z Weekly Challenge - O is for Old

Hello again lovelies! You saw New yesterday and what's New without Old? You may recognize this from a long ago post. Seriously, the design I'm redoing today is such an old, old design. I did it the year I started my blog so my nails and my style of art have really changed since then.

Not only is it an old design redone ... it's a vintage design!!! Double the old!

I think the matte mani has a more victorian feel to it but it's really pretty shiny!

Between 2012 and now I seem to have forgotten how to draw roses. I struggled like crazy to get them to look even this nice. And I've discovered a terrible horror with my polish collection - I don't have a minty mint!!! I actually had to custom mix the color I used and it's far too blue for my minty tastes. But overall I'm actually very happy with this design.

Oh how very far I've come in 3 years. Here is the original design and my new ... and improved design? I don't know. Which is your favorite?

Until next time,
Ashley

An InLinkz Link-up

Vintage Valentine Nail Art

Woohoo, more V-Day nail art! Today's mani is by far one of my all time favorites. I just love vintage-y nail art for Valentine's Day... anytime really. This mani is just so simple but still so elegant. :)

This mani was done with polishes from my Valentine's Day collection (Victorian Romance) and a little help from Born Pretty Store rose decals. I started with a base of My Own Sweet Valentine with an accent nail of Parchment & Lace. Once MOSV was dry I sponged on some Cheeks Tinted Red and a little more MOSV to really blend it together. The shimmer on this gradient was insane! I used top coat on Parchment and Lace and then used a Born Pretty Store water decal. (These decals are only $0.88 right now! Plus if you use the code BPS2014 you'll get 15% off sitewide! I say these are more than worth every penny!!!)

The decal was so easy to use. Just cut it out, dunk it into water (warm water if it's winter) for 10-15 seconds and the decal will slip right off the paper and be easy to position on your nail. I lightly wet the nail and placed the rose. I used a paper towel to blot the excess water and then gently used a finger to press the decal down, getting rid of wrinkles and bubbles until the decal dried completely. Then I topped it with more top coat and it was perfect!!

I couldn't resist trying the glitter of Love & Devotion over the gradient. It's nice, but I found I preferred the simplicity of the gradient alone.

What's your go-to nail art for Valentine's Day?

Spellbound Nails does Valentine's Day with the Victorian Romance Collection (PIC HEAVY)

Hello lovelies! I bring you Valentine's Day polishes!! Being a polish maker means I have to be thinking much further into the future than I ever wanted to ... I sometimes forget what month it is lol.

But right now I know it's January but when speaking in terms of mixing and shipping polish, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. So take a moment and look at the pretties!!

This collection will be available for pre-sales 1/10 - 1/17. This means you'll be able to buy this collection in full and mini bottles (at pre-sale discount prices) starting tomorrow. The full release, meaning the ability to buy singular bottles, will start 1/22. As always, you can buy all Spellbound Nails polishes from my Etsy shop or my Storenvy shop.

I love having some kind of inspiration for my collections; not only do my polishes turn out better but I love being able to point to something and say "look, look, that right there - that inspired me so much that I had to make something awesome!"

Vintage Valentine © Victorian Traditions

This time, that inspiration came from the old timey Victorian Valentine's Day cards and postcards. You know those ones that are all yellowing parchment, lace, and soft and bright watercolors.

First up is Cheeks Tinted Red. This is a stunning bright red holographic.

 This polish has double the amount of holo that I put in my normal holos however I quickly found red eats holo. It adds a lot of depth and shimmer and has more of a lightly scattered holo effect.

And a close up of the bottle in the little amount of sunlight we're getting around here right now.

*There has been a slight increase in the pricing of my holographics. I have started buying a much better holographic pigment, however this does mean an increase in price for me which I sadly have to pass on to you. Holographic polishes using this new pigment will now sell for $9 in my shops. Prices will change on already released holos (only those using this new pigment) February 1st. This was a very hard decision for me since I pride myself on being affordable, and I believe I have managed to keep to my brand even with the price increase.

Next up is Parchment and Lace. This was the base of this collection - the very first polish mixed up and the one everything else was built around. I think the name of this one says it all. It's everything this collection was inspired by. Yellowing parchment, lace, and beautiful watercolors.

I've been told that this is a very flexible polish and would also work well for Easter and summer too.

This is the only glitter topper of the collection. Love & Devotion is a wonderfully romantic glitter in my opinion with it's white, pink and red glitter with lots of rainbow shimmer.

I'm All Aflutter is a gorgeous baby blue with purple and pastel pink glitter.

And last but not least is My Own Sweet Valentine. This is a girly, pearly pink with a delicate golden shimmer that acts almost duo-chrome-y in person.

Did I mention My Own Sweet Valentine also glows in the dark?? There are three different glow pigments hidden behind this girly pink - blue, green, and peach. Together they combine to glow an icy white with just a hint of blue and green. The blue and green show up a lot better in pictures. In person it really is an icy white with just a hint of blue and green. And with so much glow pigment the glow is pretty insane!

You can see a few hints and specks of the peach glow in this picture along with the blue and green. This is a picture of Love & Devotion over My Own Sweet Valentine.

I hope you enjoy these polishes as much as I do and remember pre-sales start tomorrow! :)

Until next time,
- Ashley

Purple Cameo

Hello girlies. I was set not to post today as I was supposed to be in Connecticut by way of New York and the Statue of Liberty but those plans have been put off to a later time. So, I bring you what I think of as Vintage Inspired: Take Two.

I bought Sally Hansen's Lacey Lilac for my Mother's Day nails, but I've become pretty taken with it. It's such a great shade of light purple, exactly the shade I reach for when I go for a lilac. Everything loses its shine after a time, so using NYC's matte top coat, Matte Me Crazy, really turns these nails vintage.

The cameo is hand-painted using the 'DIY nail art stickers' method. It's something I found on Youtube a year or more ago but only used a few times. I prefer hand-painting straight onto my nails but with something like this that needs a lot of precision it's a good fallback. I definitely recommend it if you have trouble painting your non-dominant hand or even if you're not too artistic, because you can print out a small design and trace it with this method.

The peals used in this mani come from the Born Pretty store. This is where I buy most of my nail art 'pretties': things like pearls, beads, studs, and rhinestones. My very first order through the store included these pearls. They are great because they come in three sizes: 4mm, 3mm, and 1.5mm. The pearls used in this design are the 1.5mm pearls. You can also buy a wheel of 1.5mm pearls in various colors. I have yet to try them, but they look so pretty! The Born Pretty store doesn't just carry nail art decorations or even just things dealing with nail art either. You can find cosmetics, really awesome contact lenses that I intend to buy at some point, hair decorations, jewelry, and much more. The prices are stunning and all with free shipping!!! If you haven't checked them out yet I definitely recommend taking a browse through. I'm sure you'll find something you just have to have. I know I do! So much that I keep a list of things I want between orders so I don't forget something.


Be sure to check out their specials for sales. Also, look into their Rewards Program. You earn points for each order, posting reviews, and uploading photos. These points translate to money that you can use in your orders. Use up to 1000 points ($10.00) with each order. Depending on your order you might just get it completely free!!

Vintage Inspired

Can I just say thank you for all the wonderfully sweet comments on my Spring mani? I know I don't answer the comments as often as I should, but I just want you guys to know that you really know how to turn a bad day around and make a girl happy!! I treasure each and every comment.


I decided to stick to the theme and do something with flowers again. I know this has been done a thousand times before by others but this is a mani I haven't tried before.  So, I figured, why not give it a try? Vintage inspired, here I come!

Natural Evening Light

I tried to keep everything soft without bright sunlight. It just felt right with these nails.

Yep, that's a broken nail. Both index nails broke yesterday and contributed to my very bad day. Sadly, this hand, my left, is by far the worst. And it just grew out from the last break too!! :(

I did a Google search for vintage and came up with this vintage floral wallpaper. That and the tons of other vintage floral nails are where this idea comes from. With this design, I really don't think I can claim anything as mine since it's all been done before. So I give credit to all the nailers out there who have done this design before me!!

I think I'm finally getting the hang of swirled roses. It only took two days of near non-stop practice.

Is there anything you guys would like to see me do on this blog? I'm open to suggestions. :)

Polish Used

• Borghese - Brillante
• Sinful Colors - Beautiful Girl
• Wet n Wild - French White Creme
• Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet
• Sally Hansen - Green With Envy
• OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window
• Hard Candy - Matte-ly In Love