Valentine’s Kiss Nail Art

I had a different idea for my nails this week, but after trying and failing at them twice, I decided to go for something a little less complicated. Very simple, but I still really like them.

For my all of my nails except my ring fingers, I used LA Colors – BCC 575 as my base, the added OPI – Which is Witch?. The base of my accent nail is Sinful Colors – Easy Going. For the lips, I used OPI – Pink-ing of You, and added a bit of shimmer to the corners using Nicole by OPI – Kim-pletely In Love.

At first, I wasn’t too fond of my non accent nails (mainly the LA Colors foil polish), but I now realized I really like them! Kind of blingy, but not too much whatsoever :)

How do you feel about foil polishes?

Thanks for reading!!

Mix and Match School Nail Art

Hey all, I hope you’re enjoying your weekend! I’m soaking up the last bit of summer vacation before high school starts on Tuesday. Blah.
I. Hate. High. School.
Cosmo all the way!!

I also painted my neighbors’ nails for their first days of school. They look tooooo cuuuuute! One got tie dye and peace signs and the other got ladybugs because the dress she’s wearing on the first day has ladybugs on it. I hope their nails last for a few days (at least for the first day!)!

So, these are my nails for my first day of school. I’ve been loving mix match nails lately. I went for something simple that wouldn’t bother me if it got messed up when doing other things. This week in cosmetology, I believe we’re doing pedicures and hair washing, so my nails are bound to chip and/or peel. Plus, the weather will soon be colder, which will make my nails on the brittle side.

I’m not sure how I feel about these nails.. I like them, but wish I would have done some of them differently. I do know that I love the polka dot nail!! I think the polka dots and colours really lengthen my nails.

Index: I used Nina Ultra Pro – Gladiator for my base, then used Nina Ultra Pro – Black to add some polka dots.
Middle: I used Orly – Decades Of Dysfunction as my base and Sally Hansen – Set The Stage to top it off.
Ring: I used Finger Paints – Don’t Make A Scene as my base with two coats of Orly – Pink Flakie Topcoat (very hard to see). I used Nina Ultra Pro – Black and Sinful Colors – Hazard to make a bow.
Pinky: Nina Ultra Pro – Black with gold striping tape.
Thumb: Finger Paints – Don’t Make A Scene  with two coats of Orly – Pink Flakie Topcoat.

Thanks for reading!!

Ziggy Nail Art

Today’s post is pretty special. Today is my mom’s birthday, and I NEVER know what to get her. She’s one of those people that if you ask what she wants, she’ll tell you that she doesn’t want or need anything. I do believe I nailed it this year, though. If there’s one thing I know she loves, it’s our dog, Ziggy. I decided to buy a canvas and some child safe (dog safe) finger paints, and let Ziggy take care of the rest.

That painting and the little artist was the inspiration for my nails.

I attempted to recreate his masterpiece by painting all of my nails white, then diluted some polish and went at it with a detail brush. The polishes used include: NYC – French White Tip, Finger Paints – Scenery Greenery, Pure Ice – French Kiss, Sinful Colors – Unicorn, Sinful Colors – Boogie Nights, and Wet N Wild – Black Crème. To recreate the matte effect of a canvas, I topped my non-accent nails off with two coats of Hard Candy – Matte-ly In Love (this polish is kind of streaky).

For my ring finger, I used NYC – French White Tip as my base, and then I used acrylic paint for his face.

This is the picture I used for reference (and yes- he does always have his tongue sticking out! haha!:

It wasn’t until now did I realize why I had taken this photo- For cosmetology, we had to create a portfolio, and one of the requirements was that we needed a “creative hair colour.” My friend that offered to let me temporarily colour his hair bailed on me, so my mom let me do hers. As a joke, I also put this photo of Ziggy in there too and labeled it “creative fur colour.” My teacher had a good laugh! And before anyone goes and says I abuse animals, just know that I don’t. He was/is perfectly fine :)

This was his work of art:

My mom didn’t expect me to get her anything, so she was stunned when I pulled out a wrapped box. She gave me a disapproving look, saying I shouldn’t have gotten her anything, but once she opened it, she was delighted. She loves it, and the only complaint she has is it’s too small. haha! She thinks it would make a great wall mural. haha!

Thanks for reading as always!

Third In Line Nail Art

It’s a boy! The third in line is a boy!

I'm not one of those people that held onto my seat every second while Kate was in the hospital, but I do think the birth of her son is worthy of some nail art.

I had an idea in mind of what I wanted the flag to look like- I wanted a baby blue background, but I actually do not own any true baby blue polishes! I worked with what I had, though.

For my ring finger I used a base of China Glaze – Electric Beat, then used a white Stripe Rite striper and a striping brush dipped in a red Lacura Polish to create the Image of a flag.

For the rest of my nails I used a base of OPI – So Many Clowns…So Little Time. For my pinky, middle, and thumb nails I used two coats of OPI – Which Is Witch?. For my index finger created a dot gradient (can we call it that?) using China Glaze – Electric Beat, my red Lacura polish, Julie G – My Private Palace, L.A. Colors – Live, Sinful Colors – All About You, and Orly – Au Champagne.

Thanks for reading!! Have a great day!

Pastel Rainbow Tie Dye Nail Art

Since you all now know that I go to cosmetology, it can easily be understood that I  have to know the colour wheel. We learned about hair colour and the colour wheel a while back, but once it got nice enough outside, we made tie dye shirts using only the primary colours- red, yellow, and blue. We had to create the other colours we wanted using only those three colours. I, of course, being the colourful person I am, wanted a rainbow shirt.

Although I own many tie dye shirts, this was my first time actually making one. Once the dye set in for 24 hours, we rinsed them and brought them home. I was so pleased with mine that I wanted matching nails!

To create these nails, I started with a white base and then put some polish on a piece of paper, diluted it with nail polish remover, and dabbed it around with at small brush, creating a swirl. I also used this diluted, dabbing method in these tie dye nails.

I’m not 100% sure (considering these nails have been on my camera for a while now), but I believe the polishes I used are as follows: L'Oreal – Pink Me Up!, New York Color – Peaches ‘N Cream, Sinful Colors – Unicorn, Nina Ultra Pro – Leaf Me Alone, Revlon – Coastal Surf, and Julie G – Dream In Pretty.

This was the shirt I made:

The colours dulled a lot upon rinsing the excess dye out :( No problem though- I like that it makes it look vintage :)

On a side note- what do you think of the new layout? I was having some difficulties with the other- no matter what colour I changed the background to, it automatically created a red line outlining my posts. I’ve noticed this quite some time ago, but it hasn’t always been like this. …Not sure why it just started…

 

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!!!

Movember Mustache Nails 2012

I’ve never fallen into the whole “mustache phase” where everyone obsessed over mustaches, but I decided to go for mustache nails for the sake of Movember. I love doing nails that have a purpose behind them.

I wanted something somewhat subtle, yet not nude nor pink, so I decided on e.l.f. – Blue Mist. I believe I needed 3 or 4 coats. Then, (although since the sun was hiding today, so you can’t really tell) I added one coat of Sinful Colors – You Just Wait. You Just Wait makes Blue Mist look amazing, and like a whole new polish!

The day after I painted my nails I went shopping and found this:

The color match is incredible! I couldn’t NOT buy it! It made for some excellent pictures :)

Do you know any guy growing a moustache out this month? Will you be painting one on your nails?

Abstract Breast Cancer Awareness Nails 2012

I had an inner conflict with myself this weekend: should I paint my nails with at Halloween theme, or a breast cancer theme? I went for breast cancer because I figured I would be painting Halloween nails next week- given next week is Halloween.

I used 3 coats of Jesse’s Girl – JulieG*  as my base, and then made white ribbons using a  white Stripe Rite striper. To add a subtle sparkle, I added small dots around random areas of the ribbons using Sinful Colors – Glass Pink.

Also, you may have been able to notice a little bit of unevenness in my index finger. It broke down to the meat, leaving me no other choice than to cut them and fix it with nail glue and a tea bag.

*I am seriously in love with JulieG! The color is so pretty! Definitely on of my favorite pinks/corals. I don’t wear it enough! Every  single time I wear it I think “This polish is GORGOUS!!” I’m not sure about a lot of polishes I have, but I know I would repurchase this one if when I run out!

What kind of nails are you currently sporting? Halloween, breast cancer awareness, or neither?

Breast Cancer Awareness Bra and Ribbon Nails

I wasn’t going to include “bra” in the title because I wanted to see if anyone could tell that what I painted was a bra, because I was shocked that the people I showed my nails to needed a lot of hints and guesses to tell that it was a bra on my index finger. I ultimately decided to include it in the title because what if someone was searching “Bra Nails” (very unlikely, but possible :) )? They need some key words to help them get here, right? You’re welcome to those of you who were, indeed, searching for bra nails :)

For my index and ring fingers, I used one coat of Wet n Wild – Black Crème as my base.

For my index finger I used Rimmel London – French Tip White Tip Liner to make my bra. I then used a nameless Funky Fingers mini bright pink polish to make the polka dots.

As for my ring finger- I made a basic ribbon using the nameless Funky Fingers, and then outlined it with my Rimmel London White Tip Liner to make it look like one side was crossing over the other.

For the rest of my nails, I used 2-3 coats of Sinful Colors – Easy Going, and one coat of Kleancolor – Take A Hint to complete my mani.

Have a great day!

Egypt Inspired Nails

Today was the 24th day of the 31 Day Challenge, and the challenge was to create nails inspired by a book. My nails for today were inspired by “Year of the Hyenas,” and the sequel, “Day of the False King,” by Brad Geagley. I haven’t actually had time to finish the second book, but once things slow down a bit, I will be able to pick it back up. The books aren’t very long, but super good! They’re both about a murder in ancient Egypt and Babylon. So, I guess you could say these nails were more inspired by, “Year of the Hyenas.” Anyway, let’s get back to the nails for today:

I wanted to create nails more inspired by Egypt than book related. Otherwise, I would have painted some wine, and a lion… and well, I don’t want to say anything else in case you happen to read the books (which I definitely recommend!) :)

I used L.A. Colors- Sea Siren for my base, then used one coat of Sinful Colors- All About You on each nail, I then painted the ankh and Eye of Horus with acrylic paint on my index and ring fingers. I thought I was done, but decided it was missing something, so I added a line of small gold hexagon glitters onto the rest of my nails.

Tomorrow’s nails will be inspired by a fashion. Uh oh- I don’t follow fashion (only nail fashion :) ), so it looks like I have some googleing to do!

Oh, and if you do happen to be interested in the books I mentioned- you may have to order them; I called bookstores and searched their websites, but they didn’t have anything by the author. Luckily, I bought, “Day of the False King,” for a cheap price once I searched in in Google.

Water Marbled Nails

Today’s challenge for day 20 was water marbled nails. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve only tried a water marbled mani once. So, since I’m not very familiar with them, I was quite nervous going into it. I actually did it twice today. This was my second attempt (that I like best):

For my purple, I used New York Color- 239, and for my yellow, I used L.A. Colors- BCC 570.

This was my first attempt:

For my purple I used Sinful Colors- Let’s Talk. For my green, I used Wet n Wild- Jade, and I used China Glaze- Light My Tiki for my pink.

I am clearly not an expert on water marbled nails. I obviously had a lot of trouble with air bubbles on both manis, especially my first try. Nevertheless, I think they are really fun and different. I would like to do them a bit more in the future, and hopefully become better.

Today was the last day of the patterns category. I am going into the inspiration category tomorrow. The theme for tomorrow is “inspired by a color.”

Half Moon Manicure (Sinful Colors- Easy Going, Elf- Purple Pleaser, L.A. Colors Art Deco- Silver)

Today was day 18 of the 31 Day Challenge. I was feeling pretty confident going into this challenge because it seemed simple and fun. Well, it is, but since I had never tried it before, I did not know what method to use. I tried using the hole reinforcements method. They worked pretty well aside from them not laying well at the sides due to the nail walls. I fixed the missing polish at the sides by using a detail brush dipped into polish. Another problem I ran into was some sticky residue once I had taken it off (I think the reason for that is they must have been old). I tried removing the residue with a Q-Tip dipped in some rubbing alcohol, which helped a bit, but not enough to save this mani:

I mean, I guess you don’t see all of the flaws in the picture(s), because of I used an Art Deco striper in Silver to cover the areas where the tape didn’t work so well. I think a thick topcoat also helped to hide the residue.

The polish I used for my base/moon is Sinful Colors- Easy Going. The deep purple polish I used is Elf- Purple Pleaser, and I used L.A. Colors Art Deco- Silver for the silver line separating the moon from the rest.

I really liked the combination of the polishes; a light color for the moon looks nice with at darker polish for the rest. I will probably try to recreate this mani some other time and hope it turns out a little better.

Tomorrow’s nails are to the theme of galaxies. Yet again, I have never tried a galaxy manicure, so this shall be interesting!

Watermelon Inspired Flower Nails

Today is day 14 of the 31 Day Challenge, and the theme was flowers. I wasn’t completely sure of what I wanted to actually paint on my nails, so I just painted my nails green, then went with it…


They remind me a bit of watermelons because of the colors used.
I used Finger Paints’ Go Van Gogh! for my green base, then I painted the flowers with Jesse’s Girl’s JulieG, and finally added the yellow centers with Sinful Color’s Unicorn.

Chicken nails

I might as well say these nails are for Easter… (but they’re not). It is actually a strange story:

My friend just bought six chicks and she somehow came up with the conclusion that I am after them and I am going to eat them. I had to prove to her that I will not eat her chickens, so I decided to show some love the best way I know- nails!

Thumb – brown eggs, Index finger – chicks, Middle finger – white eggs, Ring finger – chicken, Pinky finger – chicken footprints

It is a little hard to see the chicks, and I’m actually kind of glad because they didn’t come out the way I had hoped.

Yet again, I wasn’t having a good picture day, and most of them came out blurry, so my apologies for that.

On my thumb I used Nina Ultra Pro – Leaf Me Alone and I also added a green shimmer on top of it. On my middle finger I used Sinful Colors – Mint Apple.

I used OPI – Italian Love Affair on my index finger. On my ring finger I used China Glaze – Solar Power. On my pinky I used Rimmel – Magnetise.     

Tiger Tips

I love any animal print. Tiger isn’t as common as leopard or zebra, but it is still just as beautiful!

Unfortunately, my camera and I didn’t agree with all of these photos.

My stripes didn’t come out perfect, but real tiger’s stripes aren’t perfect either.

I used Sinful Color’s Hazard along with a Stripe Rite striper in black.

P.S. RAWR! Yes, I did need to put that in here :)