The Nail Art Guild: February 28

Welcome back!

Today I did the prompt again for the bi-weekly Nail Art Guild challenge. This one was never technically posted, but it was posted months ago in their plan for the next year. I went ahead and did it, though, because I really wanted to try this design!

The prompt was seasons, so I made each nail represent a different season, with a different tree on each.

Spring:
Blue: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Breezy Blue
Green: China Glaze Be More Pacific
Pink: China Glaze Feel the Breeze

Summer:
Blue: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away!
Green: China Glaze Shore Enuff

Fall:
Orange: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pumpkin Queen
Yellow: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Sizzlin' Saffron
Red: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Pucker Up

Winter:
Blue: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue
White: Nicole by OPI Yoga-Then-Yogurt

On all nails, I used Essie Partner in Crime for the brown of the tree trunk and branches. To add the leaves, snow and flowers to the trees, I used a medium sized dotting tool. Before I painted the brown on the nail, I used a white striping polish to paint the same outline, that way the brown showed up better and more true to color.

Thanks for reading <3

Winterized Galaxy Nails

Welcome back!

It's snowing today! It's really funny that it is, too, since I did these nails. I always do my nails at night before I go to bed, because it is a good time, and I don't have to worry about smudging or chipping them right away. I planned on doing these last night before I knew it was even going to snow!

I loved my Valentine galaxy nails so much, I decided to do more with another spin on it: snow/winter! It was easy to do, really. All I had to do was use blues for the sponging portion, and anything that looked like snow/snowflakes for the "stars!"

Black: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Fright

White: Nicole by OPI Yoga-Then-Yogurt

Dark Blue: OPI Feeling Treemedous

Blue: China Glaze Splish Splash

Light Blue: Essie Bikini So Teeny

Fine Glitter: Maybelline The Veils Crystal Disguise

White Glitter: China Glaze Chillin' With My Snow-Mies

Striper: Salon Perfect Nail Art Striper White Out

I did these just like any other galaxy nails. I started by painting my nail all black, and once it was dry, I sponged on some white with a piece of a latex-free cosmetic wedge. Along one edge of the white, I sponged on the dark blue. I really liked the way this made it fade a little differently. Next, on top of the white, I sponged on the blue and light blue.

I painted on the glitter next to make it look like a million little stars. I then hand placed the white glitter so it looked like stars, just like is often done with galaxy nails, but this glitter was the perfect choice. It still kind of looks like stars, or typical galaxy nails, but also kind of like snowflakes!  The last step was to paint a few snowflakes, instead of the typical stars. To make sure they were obviously snowflakes, and not just looking like stars, I added dots to the ends of them!

Thanks for reading <3

Pink & Gray Mix and Match

Welcome back!

This manicure was 100% inspired by Nailstorming. You can find her on her website or her Youtube channel. She does designs like this a lot and I just really wanted to try it...and I loved it!

Pink: China Glaze Pinking Out the Window
Gray: Zoya Carey
White: Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt
Glitter: China Glaze Dancing & Prancing

The chevrons were made using Nail Vinyls. I used a dotting tool from Amazon for the polka dots, and the sponging method to apply the glitter.

Thanks for reading <3

Red and White Dotticure

Welcome back!

Today's nails were a simple dotticure, because I haven't really done one in a while! They're also quick and easy, and I was out of town when I did them, so I needed to do some easy nail art!

The only colors I used were Essie Jump in My Jumpsuit and Blanc. The dots were super easy, including the middle nail. I just used two sized dotting tools for the dots, making bigger ones in white, then smaller ones inside in red.

Thanks for reading <3

Pink and Silver with Glitter Gradient

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My mani for today was very simple, but I love it. I used Essie Pink Happy and Set in Stones. Two nails we'd solid pink, and two nails were solid glitter.

For the glitter nails, I have found that I am tired of painting literally 5+ coats on at times, and still having sparse areas. I have seen several people who sponge it on, and I love that method now. I don't think I'll ever go back. It is so much quicker, easier, and it leaves your nail thin, instead of it getting gunked up and thick from having that many coats on it. Plus, I find that it has a faster dry time because of this.

On the accent nail with the glitter gradient, I started by painting a base of Pink Happy. Once that was dry, I started about 1/3 of the way down my nail from my cuticle, and made some strokes with the glitter. This kept it thin and didn't leave a lot of glitter behind, but left some of the smaller piece. Then, I painted some of the glitter on the tip of a makeup sponge, and dabbed it on the very bottom of the nail.

Thanks for reading<3

Valentine's Day: French Manicure with Accent

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This manicure is the actual manicure that I wore on Friday and on Valentine's Day!!

I wanted to highlight the glitter that I used on my ring finger, so I paired it with a simple French manicure. My nails are pretty stained, so I knew I needed more than a sheer cost of a barely there nude. To help my nails look better colored, I first put down a layer of Nicole by OPI nail strengthener. The next layer was a brightener by Nicole by OPI.

After these two, I finally out down a coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Barely There. Once it was dry, I used HK Girl quick dry topcoat, and waited about 10 minutes before I put down the French manicure Nail Vinyls, and painted the white with Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt.

The accent nail was done using Sinful Colors Love Sprinkles. I sponged it on to make it thicker and more opaque without doing a million coats.

Thanks for reading! <3

The Nail Art Guild: February 14

Welcome back!

Time for another bi-weekly Nail Art Guild prompt today! The prompt was "out of this world."

I was trying to think of a good, creative idea, but all I could think of was galaxy nails. I'd set my heart on that, but decided I would try different colors and maybe different effects than the last time or two I'd done them. Then it hit me: Valentine galaxies. It was simple, really. All I had to do was trade out all of the usual designs and colors for pinks and hearts! You can find my classic galaxy nails here.

Black: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Fright
White: Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt
Pink: L'Oreal Acid Watermelon
Purple: Maybelline The Color Show Bleached Neons Ultra Violet
Fine Glitter: Finger Paints He-Art Auction
Chunky Glitter: Essie Pinking About You

I did this just like any other galaxy nails, starting by painting my nails black, then topping with a quick dry top coat. After that, I took pieces of sponge and sponged on white, then pink, and finally a little bit of purple. The next common step would be to take fine glitter and paint it to look like little stars, so I did this, just with fine pink glitter! I also used chunky glitter to look like big stars, and of course it was somewhat pink. The final step would be to draw larger stars with white polish, but I drew hearts!

I'm so happy with the outcome of these nails! When I thought of it, I immediately tried it out on a nail wheel, and could not wait to do it again on my actual nails!

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day: Kisses and Lipstick

Welcome back!

Today I did some lips with lipstick to go with it! I've seen both of these done by many people, so I'm not sure of the original creator, or who to credit as my inspiration even.

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Red: Salon Perfect striper Laser Beam

Silver: Salon Perfect striper Silver Pleated

Black: Salon Perfect striper Black Ink

Thanks for reading! <3

Valentine's Day: Love Letters

Welcome back!

Today I did some cute love letters for Valentine's Day!

I was inspired to do the large letters by Nailstorming and The Nail Trail. They both did cute manicures like them, and it reminded me of something I did last year, but bigger! The smaller letters were based off a nail I did last year, which I do not remember seeing anyone else do just like that. Finally, my mailbox was based off of a clip art image I found on Google. I thought it would be fun to bring in a mailbox for this, because where else would we put all those letters?!

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Pink: Essie I Pink I Can

The details were all Salon Perfect stripers in White Out, Black Ink, Silver Pleated and Red Laser.

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day: No Tools Dotticure

Welcome back!

The other day when I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw the Chalkboard Nails had posted a new quick video tutorial. It was kind of like a dotticure, but she didn't use any tools! All this takes is the polish brush! I thought it looked awesome, so I decided to try it with Valentine's Day colors.

She taped off half of the nail for all of her fingers, but in only did it on some, just to make it more fun. Plus, if your tape accidentally peels up some of the polish, (like it did on my thumb and index finger) you can just cover the mistake or smudge by adding dots to the other half of the nail!

Base: Essie Tuck It In My Tux

Light Pink: Essie Back in the Limo

Dark Pink: Essie Bump Up the Pump

If you want to see a tutorial, check out Chalkboard Nails on Instagram!

Thanks for reading <3

Superbowl XLIV Nails: Patriots

Welcome back!

I created nails for both teams this year, because I am not a huge sports fan in general. I do enjoy the Superbowl, though, which is why I still made nails for it!

These nails were similar to my Seahawks nails. You can find the details about those here.

My thumb was done the exact same, using Zoya Pixie Dust Chita, for the field, and the Salon Perfect Nail Art striper in white. My accent nail with the Patriots logo was done with Nicole by OPI in Yoga Then Yogurt for the base, and then Sally Hansen nail art pens for the details!

My red and blue nails were Wet 'n Wild Megalast in Echo Dark and Rouge 66. These were both from their fall 2014 collection. For the football nail, I used Essie Partner in Crime as the base, and Salon Perfect striper in white. This time, I used OPI Ice-Bergers and Fries for some dots on the football. I felt like this made the football look more realistic, and fun!

Thanks for reading <3

Valentine's Day: Mini Matte Multi-Colored Hearts

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Today's mani was brought to you by the letter "m!" These actually originally started out as going to be conversation hearts, which is why I chose the colors that I did, and had them multi-colored. Once I got into them, though, I realized that they were way to small to have to go in and write letters on.

I really liked the end result, though, especially once I added the matte top coat on top. Mattifying it did give more of a conversation heart feel, but it still was not exactly what I wanted for that effect. These were super simple though, and did not take as long as I feared they would. I worked fairly quickly, though, because I put all polish colors on my palette at once, and I wanted to be able to layer them. That meant working with some speed, or else the polishes would goop up on the palette.

My colors were:

White: Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt

Orange/Peach: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Bleached in Peach

Green: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Lime Accent

Blue: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Day Glow Teal

Purple: Maybelline Color Show Bleached Neons Ultra Violet

Pink: L'Oreal Acid Watermelon

Thanks for reading <3

Superbowl XLIV Nails: Seahawks

Welcome back!

Congratulations to the Patriots on their big win on Sunday!

I painted my nails for both teams this weekend, because I'm not a big football person, so I was indifferent on who won. I enjoyed doing them both!

First up is the Seattle Seahawks! For the blue polish, I used Revlon Urban, and the green was Finger Paints Silkscreen Green. The white base for the logo nail was Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt, and for the design I used Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in silver and blue.

The football was done using Essie Partner in Crime, and the football field base was Zoya Pixie Dust in Chita. For both nails, the details were Salon Perfect striper in white. I put matte top coat on all but the football field, using OPI Matte Top Coat.

Thanks for reading <3