I'm Seeing Stars

I've got another Halloween nail design for you! I wanted to do something with a bit sparkle to it for this design, but at the same time I didn't want it to be too complex. I think I hit just the right balance with this one!

Instead of trying to paint stars and keep the glitter in the spots I want it, I went the opposite direction. I started this nail out with a bright, deep orange. Once that was opaque I topped it with a golden-coppery glitter and added a coat of quick-dry topcoat.

I then let things dry for half an hour or so. Once things were dry, I took a piece of masking tape and punched little star holes from it. Those stars are the key to this manicure!

A quick tip: Make sure the sticky side of the tape is facing the opening of the punch instead of toward the die-cutting part. This way you can use tweezers or a dotting tool to remove the star cutouts.

While I was punching my stars, I stuck them to the edge of an Altoids tin to keep them organized and sticky. Once I had them punched, I applied them to the nail in a simple pattern. I tried to leave enough space between them to make sure they would show up as stars in a black background. It also helps with removal to have a piece of the star hanging off your nail.

Once my stars were in place, I topped things with a coat of black nail polish. I used an opaque black so I would only need one coat. Before the polish dried, I peeled the stars off leaving the bright orange sparkly stars behind. I let this dry for a minute or two, but I should have waited longer because I did smear the edges of my stars on one side.

Once your top coat is on, you're done! You could do this with any shapes you want- even round dots from a traditional hole punch would look adorable!

Leave me a comment if you like this one. I'm really enjoying it right now!

Some polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

It's finally here- a tutorial on how to do laser print nail transfers!

Some of you may remember that a while back I posted a pretty photo of colorful nail art, saying I was working on a technique to share with everyone. I finally figured it out, and then the world blew up, so to speak. However, a few people gently reminded me they were still anxiously awaiting this technique, so I finally got off my butt and finished editing the video that's been waiting all this time. I'm so happy to finally share this technique with all of you!

As you may have noticed from the title of today's blog, these nails were done using color laser prints. That's right- no special tools needed, no store-bought decals or fancy papers or anything. The supplies to create these nails are very basic, aside from the laser prints themselves.

You'll need:

• Color laser prints - inkjet prints will not work for this project.
• Acetone or nail polish remover
• A soft paintbrush
• White or very-light nail polish
• Base coat and top coat as usual

The process to apply these transfers is simple, but it can be fiddly at times. It took me over two weeks of playing with this daily to achieve what you see in the top image of this post. But if you take your time and make sure your image is actually transferring to your nail before you lift the paper you can come out with a fantastic finished image.

Once your transfers are done, you can finish your nails off any way you like. You can add glitters, stones, stickers or even additional nail polish. The only real limit here is your imagination!

So what are you waiting for? Watch the video!



That's it! You can use your own scanned-in images, things you've drawn or photographed, images from the internet... anything you can print can go on your nails!

Remember, if you do your nails with something inspired by my blog, leave me a comment and a photo. I love seeing what you come up with, and I love knowing I've inspired someone!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

See my disclosure statement for more information.

How to clean up your manicure to make it look fantastic

Hiya! Today I've got a tutorial that I've had lots of questions about- how I make my nails look like they're "perfectly polished." Friends have told me that I must have incredibly steady hands to polish  my nails so neatly, and yet nothing could be farther from the truth!

Instead, I've got a pretty noticeable tremor. My hands shake most of the time, and there's not really anything I can do about it. This means when I paint my nails, I get polish on the skin surrounding my nails as well. This makes it look like my nails were painted by a distracted toddler!

Thankfully, I learned how to fix it from several blogs, and I'm going to share the technique with you. It's fast and easy, and gives me that fresh-from-the-salon look. Have a look:



See? You can do this too, and with a bit of practice it won't take you long at all! Here are the details you'll need:

Supplies:
Acetone or nail polish remover
A paintbrush of your choice

I use a brush that came with a cream eyeliner from Black Radiance. It's almost the same brush that came with my Wet n Wild cream eyeliner, which isn't surprising the same parent company owns both Black Radiance and Wet n Wild! My brush looks weird because I taped it to a length of wooden dowel to make it longer.

I like this brush because it's nice and firm, and the angled tip lets me get into spaces I can't quite reach with a square brush. Still, brush preference is a very personal thing, and you might not like this brush. Try out several to see what you prefer!

You don't need a special nail art brush for this, either. You can use any brush you like. I've gotten brushes from art supplies and from WalMart, and they all work equally well for this.

Unfortunately, brushes don't last forever. As you can see, the fibers of the older (silver) Wet n Wild brush are kind of splayed out and going every-which-way. This doesn't work well when I'm trying to clean up my nails. The newer Black Radiance (gold) brush is also thinner, but that hasn't made much difference in my cleanup.

Unfortunately, the fibers in the newer brush are starting to get a bit wonky as well. I think it's time for a new one. Still, I think the eyeliner cost a whopping $3, so I'm not breaking the bank whenever I need a new one!

I hope this helps you, and that you can get neat nails too! Leave me a comment if you find this helpful.

Have a great day!

Polishes were provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.