Spring is just a few weeks away and I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic about bringing back my Moody Manicure series and nail art posts. Nail art was one of the very first topics that I covered on Naturally Stellar when I began almost 5 years ago. If you’ve been a follower of mine for that long, then you know that I’m a nail biter. It’s my #1 beauty vice that I struggle with the most. I’m currently nursing my nails back to health again. But while my nails are in recovery, I thought I’d hit you all with a throwback post from 2012 of some Spring time nail inspiration to get you ready for the upcoming season.

My newest Moody Manicure is Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby #369. Today’s mood is HOT with the nails to match. As you probably can already tell, I am really impressed with the Sinful Colors Professional line of polishes. The quality is unbelievable compared to the price. I can’t say that I love every one of their polishes that I’ve purchased, but out of the 15 or so colors that I have so far, I really only have issue with 2 or 3. My main issue being that those few are too opaque for my personal taste. I tend to like really vibrant colors & unique enhancements or textures. But if you’re into opaques, they have some of the best that I’ve seen in a long while.

Now back to what you all came here for.
I absolutely love this color! Ruby Ruby is an extremely vibrant classic red. I personally think red is ultra feminine & uber sexy when it’s not overdone & worn properly. This particular red reminds me so much of the 80’s, when big hair & long bright nails was a “gotta have”. My mom used to occasionally rock long red acrylic nails when I was a kid and I always thought they looked so classy & grown up. The color really complimented her pretty dark skintone.
So if you’re one of those people (like I used to be) that tends to shy away from bold color because of frowned upon ethnic beauty faux pas or concerns about color matches to skin undertones…no worries. This is one of those colors that is gonna highlight that beautiful skin tone!

I wanted to make sure to give you a view of what my process looked like while I was doing it so you could see the application before I do my final clean up and everything looks “perfect”. This is how the color looks applied over my base coat with just 1 coat of color.
When I applied my first coat I noticed the shine in this polish is off the chain! I chose to only apply 2 coats, but in retrospect, I probably should have applied either a primer or added a 3rd coat. Because my natural nail tips are very dense & white they tend to show through the polish in daylight.
I also chose to dabble a little bit with some nail art this time, since I came across some cool colored nail beads at my local Dollar Tree. You can’t beat a buck!

I’m am not a nail artist by any means, but I love dabbling with creative mani’s. Plus, this turned out to be a lot of fun. Applying the beads wasn’t difficult at all. You just apply them to your final coat of color while it’s still wet. If you want to create a specific design like I did, apply a final coat of colored polish to the desired section only and sprinkle your beads over it. Once they are stuck to the polish try not to touch the beads so you won’t mess up your manicure. When the final color layer is almost dry, you can clean up the beaded area a little by taking off beads along the perimeter. You can also lightly tap the top of the bead surface with the pad of your finger to set them more firmly & help remove any extras.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s the wonderful thing about budget beauty. You can afford to mess up. Even if you totally screw up applying the beads for the first time, your nails will probably still look great. I applied beads to only 2 of my nails as a trial this time and I think I did a pretty good job, don’t you?
So here’s what I used in case you’d like to try this out for yourself.
- Base: Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat, $3.99 Target
- Color: Sinful Colors Professional, Ruby Ruby #369, $1.99 Target
- Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Clearly Clear, $3.59 Target
- Enhancements: Denna Michelle Salon Basics Nail Beads, $1 Dollar Tree
Here are the beautiful results!

What kind of mani’s are you into lately? Do you do your own or prefer to be pampered at the salon?
6 comments
I love this mani! Very pretty! 🙂
Thank you! This one was a lot of fun for me. Thanks for reading!!
I love this! I actuaally (Like a goof) tried to create a similiar look. I crushed small arts and crafts beads thinking i would get this effect. It didn’t work at all. I was trying to avoid the high priced bottle from Sephora lol! All that came out was dust when I was done hammering the beads lol! smh! o wells! maybe I’lll try this instead. Great Look!
Thanks. Too Funny. LOL on crushing beads! You know it is 2012 and we dont have to crush our own beads anymore Haa Haa! Yeah this was pretty easy to do. Glad you like it. Next time you try something, post so I can check it out.
I know right lol I don’t know what I was thinking when I was smashing beads but hey it was a crafty idea at the time lol I tried newspaper nails and the words only came out on my thumb. I’ll post a pic when I’m a little more successful.