New Animated Nail Art Tutorial- Tropical Garden

Oops. I completely forgot to share my latest animated tutorial from YouTube. I'm starting a series of these, since people seem to be enjoying them. They're fast and easy to follow, and fun for times I haven't got something more complex recorded.

So tell me what your feelings are on these animated tutorials: Do you like them? Would you like to see more? Do they need music or a voice-over? Tell me what else you'd like to see!

Some polishes were provided by Jessica Cosmetics. I used them because they're gorgeous!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Martini Summer- A Simple But Striking Nail Art Design

I'm not quite sure how I came up with this one. I wanted something with varying sizes of dots, and then I remembered the hole reinforcements I used to use in grade school. They weren't that great for their purpose, but they might be just what I needed for this look.

I dug through my polish boxes trying to decide what colors to use, and somehow picked out these four colors. I wasn't sure they'd work together, but I was willing to give it a try. I think it turned out nicely...

And since I didn't film a video of this experimentation, I put together an animated gif showing how I did this. The background is a bit backwards, because instead of painting a white nail and adding yellow dots, I did the opposite- I painted the nail yellow, then added my reinforcements and painted around the outside of them. Everything else was pretty straightforward.

Hope you enjoy it!

I so love lime green!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Halloween Nail Art

Halloween is coming, and I wanted to share some nail art designs with everyone! I've been experimenting with some nail tips, and I've come up with a variety of designs. I'll be sharing these designs over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully these will give people some more ideas for Halloween.

This more traditional design uses black, orange, and gold in a nod toward the holiday. It's simple to do: paint the nail with a shimmery orange, then add stripes in black and gold. I finished with some black hexagon glitter pieces as an accent.

I've got a doctor's appointment today, so I'm going to cut this short and try and sleep a bit. Wheee!

Halloween is my favorite holiday!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

A fun floral look

While using the camera flash, the colors
are washed out but you can see the depth
of the blue background.

Whew, I just woke up from sleeping almost 24 hours! I'm not exaggerating, either. My husband was in the hospital over the weekend, thankfully for a false alarm. But I spent 3 days "not sleeping" on the awful pull-out loveseat, being worried sick and waking up every time something beeped. In short, I didn't really sleep for 3 days.

I'm super-thankful, though, because my husband is ok! All the tests showed that his heart is strong and healthy, so now we get to follow up with the primary care physician and go from there. We can do that. I just want to keep him around. 20 years together is a good start, but he can't go anywhere yet. :D

The good news is that while we were waiting (and waiting and waiting!), we came up with a TON of great blog ideas! Since it's going to take me a while to get them started though, you get to see this older nail doodle I did and then forgot to post. Oops!

This is actually a very simple look to create. Let me list the polishes I used before I get started, just to make it easier.

1. Nutra Nail Gel Perfect in Two-Step
2. Jessica Strawberry Shake It from the Gelato Mio! collection
3. Jessica Tangerine Dreamz from the Gelato Mio! collection
4. Jessica Lime Cooler from the Gelato Mio! collection
5. Zoya Evvie from the Designer collection
6. Orange loose glitter

Natural light shows the actual colors of
the polishes I used.

I know, it looks like a lot. It's easier than it seems, though, I promise! I started with Two-Step (1) to create a gorgeous background with a lot of depth. I then put down a drop of both Lime Cooler (4) and Evvie (5) next to each other, then
dipped my brush into both. This let me slightly mix the two, but still get striations of both colors through the leaves and stems. I think this gives an interesting look to them.

For the flowers, I put down a large drop of Strawberry Shake It (2) on my palette, then used my large dotting tool to make 5 dots in a circle around the top of each stem. I went back with a bamboo skewer and drew from the center of each dot to the center of the circle the dots made. This gave me a five-petaled flower at the top of each stem!

To complete my flower, I put down a dot of Tangerine Dreamz (3) in each flower center. After that dried, I realized I wanted a bit more sparkle there, so I put a dot of clear polish on each flower center, then put a bit of loose orange glitter on top of the clear polish. Unfortunately, it went everywhere, and I didn't notice that until after I'd put a coat of Seche Vite over everything. That's why there are bits of glitter on the petals and the stems.

Overall, I like this. It's fairly simple to do once you get started, and it's a fun happy design! You could use any background and flower color you like!

As for what's coming up? Stick around, it could get fun in here!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.
I make no money from the links provided. They're just for your convenience.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Nail Art Doodling Summer 2012- Glitter Madness

It's been a while, but I've finally got some new nail art to share with you! I've gotten several new collections recently that seemed like they would play very nicely together. So one day I pulled them all out, grabbed some full coverage nail tips and started playing.

The image to the right gives you a hint of what's coming up. I had so much fun making these, and I've got some designs I'm absolutely in love with! So, first we've got a design I called Glitter Madness!

I started out with Zoya's Diva collection. This set has some absolutely gorgeous metallic jewel tones that I really needed to see together. I chose a very long nail tip for this one so I'd have lots of room to play. From top to bottom I used: Elisa (red), Suri (purple), Song (blue), and Ray (green). I then added dots of a greyed-out blue, but realized I wanted more oomph for the nail

Enter the Jordana Glitter Specialty Nail Polishes. I'm a bit late to the party with these, but holy WOW are these polishes amazing. The day I got the collection I ended up painting all my nails with a different glitter and just watching them sparkle. This collection was basically made for me, and I am so in love with it!

Getting back to the Glitter Madness, I went over each section with a corresponding glitter. I added Red Flash over Elisa, Magenta Magic over Suri, Blue Bash over Song, and Green Glitz over Ray. This took the nail from gorgeous to magically glam. I still wanted some definition between the colors, though.

Thankfully, Jessica Custom Nail Colour had just the color I wanted. I didn't want white, because that seemed like it would be too stark against the deep rich colors I had going. Instead, I went with Barely Blueberry from the Gelato Mio Collection. This color is a very pale, very cool blue, just barely blue but still with enough color to not seem shockingly out of place with the rest of what was happening on the nail.

With the separating dots, I didn't want a precise line of equally-spaced, evenly sized dots. Instead, I wanted a slightly meandering, wobbly line. You know, if a leprechaun with a peg leg got drunk, stepped in paint, then staggered all over my nail!

Wait. That just sounds wrong. Forget I said that. :D

I then added a coat of ProFX Quick Dry Top Coat to protect everything and smooth things out. I have to say, I am in LOVE with this look. I just wish my nails were long enough to wear it! The various glitter polishes have multiple sizes of glitter in them so there's a ton of sparkle, and the deeper toned base colors show through underneath.

It's just a crazy sparkly, intensely colorful look that makes me giggle when I think about it! This satisfies my inner magpie, and makes me want more more more. It's definitely my style of nail art...

But my question is this- what do you think of it? Is this something you'd wear? Would you tweak this to fit your own style, or does this design call to your inner diva? Let me know in the comments!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Finally- a successful water marble!

Holy COW I am so excited! I've been wanting to water marble for ... well, ever since before I started this blog. I've tried and tried, and failed and failed... until NOW!

Granted, this is a crappy photo of a not-so-inspiring water marble, but the exciting part is that it worked for me!! I used (gee, wait for it...) the China Glaze Electropop polishes and they spread like a dream!

So, once I remove the manicure I'm wearing (probably tomorrow or the day after) I'm going to try and do a water marble. Maybe a RAINBOW water marble!! I'm so excited I could just pop.

Also, once I saw how cute this was, I wanted to embellish it a bit. So, I added to it just a bit. You know I can't leave anything alone...

I added some dots and a tiny little heart in the corner because apparently valentine's day affected me more than I realized. Either that, or I'm still love-struck by my husband. :D

Ok, it's 5am and I still haven't slept. I've been working on a surprise that I might get to show you tomorrow... so cross your fingers for me!

EEEE! Water marble EEEEEE!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Monochromatic Medly

Hi again. It's still all kinds of pukey at my house, so we'll look at another blast from the past. Anything to distract me, yes?

This design is another monochromatic look. I was again looking to show that you don't need a ton of colors or tools to make pretty nail art. I think it worked decently!

The steps for this one are simple, and could be switched up easily based on whatever you have on hand. You don't need a lot to do this.

Supplies needed:

• base coat
• three shades of nail polish: a dark shade, a medium shade, and a light shade.
• accent pieces
• top coat
• something to make blobs with

For accent pieces, you could use just about anything: glitter polish, glitter in various sizes or shapes, striping tape, rhinestones, flat-backed pearls, or stickers. This would be gorgeous with a line of tiny swarovski crystals accenting the line, or with little flower rhinestones. You could also accent a few of the light-colored blobs with glitter polish for a bit more shine. What can I say, I'm all about the glitter!

It breaks down something like this:

1. Paint your nails with your base coat.
2. Paint your nails with your darkest color. For this design I used black.
3. Paint one corner with your midtone color. I used silver.
4. Paint splotches of your lightest color over the darkest color. I used white.
5. Add a line of accent pieces along the midtone color. I used silver holographic rhombus glitter from Born Pretty.
6. Add topcoat.

A design like this can also be tweaked to fit different situations. You could replace the spotches with little hearts for valentine's day, use purple green and gold for Mardi Gras, use earth tones for fall or pastels for spring. You could use tiny flower stickers in place of the white blobs, or shiny hearts.

It really is up to you, and can be silly, bright or elegant. I worked up quite a few variations, just to give you an idea of just how versatile this type of design is!

 

 

 

So again, I feel like I can't say this often enough: experiment! Play with your polishes, try things out together. Try different colors together to see if they work, and if you like it, go for it! It's only nail polish, and no mistakes are permanent!

Til next time!

Rhombus glitter was provided by Born Pretty for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

The Dotted Line- an experiment in black and white nail art...

Man oh man, was last night rough. I think I should be sleeping right now, but I'm too tired to think about it. I was up all night with nausea and praying to the porcelain god, and I didn't even have the fun of getting drunk first! Oh body, why do you have to be so eager to host such disgusting viruses?

As a result, the fun nail designs I've been working on are stuck in a holding pattern while I get over this ick. Good thing I've got some stuff in the archives I hadn't posted yet! Today I'm showing a look I did with black, white, and silver holographic glitter. I mean hey, glitter is good for everything, right?

Don't answer that... :D

This is a super-easy design and you don't need that much to do it with! I used my Wet n Wild white polish, a silver from a Sally Hansen gift set I grabbed a couple of years ago on sale, a black striping polish, silver holographic rhombus glitter from Born Pretty, and a black stone from Viva la Nails.

It's super simple to do, too. I'll list the steps in order...

1. Base coat. Always always always use a base coat to protect your nails and make your manicure last longer!
2. Paint entire nail white. Use 2-3 coats to ensure opaque coverage.
3. Paint one side of nail silver. I painted around 1/3 of the nail silver.
4. Paint black stripe dividing white and silver. This can be as wide or as narrow as you want.
5. Add white dots down the black stripe. I used a dotting tool, but you can use a bobby pin, a toothpick, a ball point pen... use what you've got!
6. Add silver glitter pieces in the shape of a flower. If you don't have the glitter, you can paint flower petals on.
7. Place a black stone in the center of the flower shape.  Again, if you don't have the stone, you can paint a dot, or use a drop of glitter polish, or a piece of glitter from a glitter polish. Do what you like, make it your own!

Of course, this could be done in any colors you like- pink and blue, red and black, green and yellow... That's one thing I love about nail art... you're free to pull inspiration from anywhere, and tweak it til you like it. Have fun with it, it's only nail polish!

Til next time!

The glitter and stone were provided by the shops listed in exchange for an honest review.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

An Easy Floral Nail Art Design

I hate to admit this, but I'm not sure if I posted this nail or not yet. If I have, then I apologize for the repost. If I haven't? Wheee, fun nail art!

I was going through nails I'd painted before I got so sick, and found this one.  I really do like this, it's fun and would be easy to adapt with different colors. If it weren't for that pesky bubble, I'd love it!

It's a very simple technique, although as always, I'd be glad to post a tutorial if you'd like to see one. I simply painted a few 5-stroke flowers, added a yellow/orange dot for the center, then put a yellow rhinestone from my Born Pretty rhinestone wheel for the center of the main flower. I then filled in the empty spaces with varying-sized yellow dots.

I'm pretty sure that yellow is Hard Candy Splendid, although I have no idea on the other colors. My memory is not so great these days. I should start keeping a nail art journal with samples and a description of the colors I used. Add that to the list of things to do... :D

This could be fun in lots of color combinations... I can imagine lots of variations, but you won't have to! I mocked up 5 different varieties quickly, as an idea of just how different you can make this design look by using different colors.

 

As I hope you can see, even changing the color of the flowers and their centers can make a huge difference, even on the same background color! You can change it up using holos, duochromes, glitters... it's all up to you!

Also, if you haven't already, why not stop by my giveaway and enter! I'm adding fun things to it, just to make it more fun for the winners!

Til next time!

Some polishes may have been provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Scrapbook Punch Nail Decals

This Studio G punch cost
$0.97 at WalMart!

I've done a post about this before, but I'm doing it again because I found the most adorable punch while walking! I love being able to customize my nail art, so the idea of punching decals from whatever polish combinations I choose makes me super happy. As you can see, it make four tiny little hearts with each punch!

I had to test it out as soon as I got home. Sure enough, it made absolutely adorable decals that are the perfect size for nails. Seriously, these things are adorable!

So- how would you go about making these? It's seriously simple. You need a few items to start with...

• The punch(es) of your choice
• Nail polish- can be nail art polish, colored, or clear
• Any other items for decorating the nail polish sheets:
• glitter
• nail art pens
• brushes or dotting tools
• Plastic zipper sandwich bags

I painted strips a bit wider than the punch.

It's a very simple process. First, you paint strips of your choice of nail polishes across the zipper bag. I'm using a small bag used for packaging jewelry, but lots of smooth plastics will work. Do a test spot first, though, to make sure the polish will come off once it's dried.

I find it helps to do two or three coats of polish, to make sure the resulting sheet is strong enough to hold together. This is a perfect opportunity to use cheap clear polish just to build up the thickness.

Also, this is a great time to play with wet marbling. On the bottom row, you can see where I experimented with marbling different colors together. You can also do stripes, dots, wavy lines... whatever you like!

The next step is the hardest for me- waiting. The polish needs to be completely dry before you remove it from the plastic, otherwise it can bunch and tear, wasting your polish and your time. You can give it a day to dry, or even a week or more. The longer you wait, the easier it is to remove from the plastic as well.

Eek! I'd been wiping the tip of my
skewer on my thumbnail while
marbling the bottom row. Sorry!

Once it's thoroughly dry, removal is a snap. I fold back the corner of the bag under the polish and sort of roll it away from the polish. The polish lifts away easily, leaving you with a sheet that's entirely polish.

The benefit of using these instead of nail stickers is that they're so easy to remove! Because they're nail polish, they meld into your background polish, and easily dissolve in nail polish remover.

Unfortunately, that's the same reason they can't be used as glitter in nail polish- they'll melt back into the liquid polish. Such a shame... =/

An interesting thing about the polish strips: I noticed that the various polishes have much different textures and qualities. I applied basically the same thickness of polish for all of the strips. However, they had very different textures once they were dry. The neon polish (middle of the top row) was very thin, had dried very quickly, and was very brittle. The glass fleck polish on the top right was flexible and sturdy, and the black on the bottom right seemed almost like latex- very pliable and sticking to itself easily.

It would seem that the brittle polishes wouldn't wear as well as the pliable ones. I'm not sure if that's the case... it would be interesting to experiment with!

Ah well, I digress. Back to the tutorial... the next thing is pretty much the last thing- punching the hearts. I find it much easier to use the punch upside down, because I can see exactly where I'm lining up the punch on the polish surface. This is especially useful when punching patterned polish strips.

Unfortunately, when you punch upside down, you often get little hearts everywhere. I found hearts in interesting places after doing this. It's amazing how those little things can fly!

Now I'll share some pic spam showing the finished results. It's really cute!! I'm thinking you could also use the leftover polish bits as well... trip them to fit your nail and apply them in a band. It's an idea!

Four marbled harts in a row. Black on red is striking!

Hearts, hearts everywhere!

Stored in a plastic bag, you can see the variety of hearts I made. What, me obsessive? Noooooo..... :D

So, the next thing to do is to use some of these in a manicure! Sounds like a plan, eh? But first, I've got another tutorial I shot last night to use for sponge painting your nails! I'm all about frugal...

Til next time!

Some polishes were provided for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Nontraditional Valentine Nails

I'm not all that into Valentine's day. I've never been a fan of pink, and I think people should tell their loved ones how they feel more often than once a year. I'd much rather get a bouquet of flowers to celebrate Thursday, or slow dance in the rain just because we can.

However, I know I'm probably in the minority there, so I figured I'd try some nail designs to celebrate all things hearts and flowers. Then there were these designs, which have the right colors but seem to be missing the hearts. (They're also missing skill, but hopefully you guys can forgive me for that...)

I fully intended to write down all the polishes I used for these, but ended up using WAY too many polishes while I was working. Seriously, my husband came in while I was painting, shook his head at seeing the bed covered in polish bottles and nails on skewers stuck in styrofoam to dry, and walked back out. He might have said something about me making a giant mess, or how stinky the polish was, or maybe how crazy I am.

It's ok, he knows how artists are. He's one too!

I have to admit, I'm really liking the dotted nail. Those colors really make me happy! Maybe pink isn't so bad...

Polishes may have been provided by manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.