Happy (Belated) Vday!

Happy belated Vday!

Here was my Valentine's Day mani.

Super cute heart leopard print!

Colors used for this mani:

- Sinful Colors "Fusion Neon" 

- Love, Charlotte "Bright Purple"

Heart Shaped Ikat for V-Day!

I decided to do some heart ikat nails to get in the Valentine's Day spirit!

These are done just like the regular ikat design, except in a heart shape instead of the typical oval!

Colors used:

OPI - "Pink Friday" (base color)

Black & white nail art stripers

Sinful Colors - "Fusion Neon" (pink inside of the hearts)

Essie - Luxe Effects glitter topcoat "A Cut Above"

What are you doing to get into the Valentine's Day spirit? :)

Tutorial: Leopard Print

This week's tutorial is easy & simple Leopard Print nails!

How To Choose Colors For This Design:

You can use any colors you'd like!  I chose 2 bright contrasting colors and then a black for the outside borders of the spots.

Suggested Materials:

ANY brand is fine, listed below are the ones used for this particular mani

- Base coat - Seche Clear

- Fast dry top coat - Seche Vite

- China Glaze "Turned Up Turquoise"
- Sinful Colors "Fusion Neon" (pink)
- Spoiled "Visually Slimming" (black)

- Nail dotting tool, such as the ones pictured above.  (image via)

- A clean, small paintbrush or cotton swabs, for cleaning the cuticles afterwards (optional)

- Nail polish remover (optional)

Before You Begin Painting Your Design:

These steps are optional, but definitely recommended!

- Put down some paper towels in your work area, in case of any spills.

- Be sure to remove any old nail polish.

- Gently file nails into desired shape and remove any ridges with a buffer.

- Push back cuticles with a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick and trim if desired.

- Apply a base coat to protect from potential staining from color polish; wait for it to dry completely.

 **- If you have never worked with a dotting tool before, you might want to practice by putting some drops of polish on a piece of wax paper, and do a few test dots on the paper before moving on to your nails!!**

Step 1:

Apply 2 coats of base color & allow to dry 

 Step 2:

Using the largest nail dotting tool you have, create large spots on your nail with the second color.

You can do the entire nail or just part of the nail, that is up to you!

Step 3:

Using the smallest dotting tool you have, use the black polish to create borders around the color spots.

The best way to do this is to do a bunch of small overlapping dots right next to each other, forming a curved line down each side of the large spot.

Step 4:

Using the small dotting tool still, fill in any blank areas with tiny black dots.

This works best if you do almost a triangle of small overlapping dots.

 

Step 5:

If necessary, carefully clean up cuticles using polish remover & a small paint brush or cotton swabs.

Top it all off with your favorite top coat!

Here's the final product!

I simply alternated the base color and spot colors :)

Fashion Inspired: "Neon & Nude"

 I typically hate nude colors on myself but..

I was inspired by a recent post by my BFF Cassi over at the fashion blog The Granny Treatment!

She was discussing the fashion trend of mixing nudes and neons, and it just so happens to be a fabulous combination!

image via

She also mentioned that if you don't want to dedicate your entire outfit to this trend, it could me really cute as a mani!

Well here is what I came up with.

Colors used:

Nude - "Sand Tropez" by Essie

Purple - "Dream On" by Sinful Colors

Yellow - "Yell-Oh!" by Color Club 

Blue - "Aquamarine" by Sinful Colors

Pink - "Fusion Neon" by Sinful Colors

Orange - "Orange Knockout (Neon)" by China Glaze

Tried to do it as a tape mani but it was not cooperating so I ended up hand painting the chevron -_-

I absolutely LOVE this color combo!

 It's totally perfect to get into the mood of springtime :)

Would you rock nude & neons?

Theme: Super Kawaii!

Here are some more kawaii nails :)

 

I entered these into an instagram contest.

It's a Hello Kitty sushi, cupcake, burger, ice cream and swirly rainbow lollipop!!

I love them so much, I'll be sad when it's time to take it off!

Here is a close up of the "sushi" nail!

I stuck sea salt grains to the wet topcoat to make it look like rice texture!

Tutorial Tuesday: Zebra Print

This week's featured tutorial, by popular request, is zebra print.

How To Choose Colors For This Design:

Typically bright or lighter colors work best as the base.  Anything that the black stripes will show up well against.  I also chose to do an accent nail with silver sparkles, but that's totally optional!

Suggested Materials:

ANY brand is fine, listed below are the ones used for this particular mani

- Base coat - Seche Clear

- Top coat - Seche Vite

- Base color - Sinful Colors "Fusion Neon"

- Any brand of black nail art striping brush
- Accent nail color - Opi "Crown Me Already!" (optional)

- A clean, small paintbrush or cotton swabs, for cleaning the cuticles afterwards (optional)

- Nail polish remover (optional)

Before You Begin Painting Your Design:

These steps are optional, but definitely recommended!

- Put down some paper towels in your work area, in case of any spills.

- Be sure to remove any old nail polish.

- Gently file nails into desired shape and remove any ridges with a buffer.

- Push back cuticles with a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick and trim if desired.

- Apply a base coat to protect from potential staining from color polish; wait for it to dry completely.

 Step 1:

Apply 2 coats of base color and allow to dry.

 Step 2:

Using the nail art striping brush, start from the outer edge of the nail and pull a line inwards.

The line should be thicker on the outer edge and thinner towards the middle.

I also find it easier to start in the middle of the nail and work outwards, this way you don't run out of room quickly.

 Step 3:

Using alternating directions, begin to pull lines above and below the first stripe.

If you want to, you can just repeat these steps until the nail is done.

If you are comfortable working with the striping brush, proceed to the next step. 

 Step 4:

To make your zebra print look a little more realistic, you can start varying your stripes.

You can do some imperfect sideways V or Y stripes, or pull some stripes completely across the nail.

 Step 5:

Continue working towards the top and bottom edges, using slightly smaller and shorter lines, until the nail is full.

 Step 6:

This final step is completely optional, but it will really help to achieve a neat & clean looking mani.

You can use either a small paintbrush or cotton swab, dip it in nail polish remover, and use it to remove any excess polish on your cuticles and skin.

Be careful not to use too much remover, otherwise you will risk ruining your design.

 Finish off with a top coat, and you're done!

For all past Tutorials click here