Days of Stripes and Roses

This, right here, made me feel like the bombdiggity. Yes, that is still part of my vocabulary. I am so thrilled that I had a concept in mind and pulled it off! My inspiration was from the bouquet of roses my husband got me (awww). They were red, pink, peach, and yellow, and I wanted to find a way to represent it. Of course doing literal roses would do the trick, and I knew it was something I wanted to try out. I didn't think I had the skills yet, and thought it might end up in a total mess. I was so surprised how well I did (both hands too!), and how much I liked the overall design on my nails.

The tutorial I followed for the roses is from The Nailasaurus. The rose buds themselves were surprisingly easy. It was the leaves that I struggled with more because it had become a little crowded. For the other nails I started with a peach base color. Then I applied the pink stripes with a striping brush from my nail art brush set. My brushes have been so much fun to play with, and they are really cheap from Amazon.

What I used:
OPI A Dozen Rosas- pink stripe
Jenna Hipp Hashtag- peach base
Jenna Hipp Tweet Me- yellow base
Essie Naughty Nautical- green

Roses: American Apparel Downtown LA-red dot, OPI A Dozen Rosas- pink dot, Jenna Hipp Damage Control- pastel pink. For the other shades on the roses I mixed together a few more colors.

So, what do you think? Is it as neat as I think it is? Would you wear this on your nails?

Red Matte and Glossy

I've been wanting to try this look for so long. I bought American Apparel Downtown LA a couple weeks ago and thought this would be a good color to try it out on. It's a great classic red, but after the matte coat I felt a little meh about it. It's always trial and error finding out which colors look good matte and which ones don't. I don't think this one does. But I will try again and have some good polishes in mind.

I know if I just used a matte polish this would have been much simpler. Since I don't own any I started with two coats of Downtown LA, followed by Seche Vite top coat. Once it was all dry I taped off the tips. I wanted to make sure I got a really crisp line so I used striping tape. You can see I got a little confused with the process on my pinky nail. Then I painted on China Glaze Matte Magic from cuticle to the tape. With that extra coat it made the polish get a little thick where it met the tape. 

I had debated whether I should do it this way or just start with the matte coat over the whole nail and then paint the tips next. I'm pretty sure I should have done the latter. I just thought the Seche Vite would dry it really well so that the tape wouldn't mess it up. I'll try it the other way next time and will let you know how it turns out!

Nude and Neon Leopard

I am in love with this manicure! I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to do, even on my right hand. I've never been really big into animal print. I don't think I could pull off wearing leggings with this print (but I know some of you could!). There is something though, in being able to wear it on such a small area as my nails, that has made me a big fan. As soon as I did my zebra mani I knew I had to try leopard next. I especially love that there are endless possibilities for colors.
I had bought an Urban Decay mini set of six colors from Nordstrom Rack a few days before. I wanted to see them on, and thought this design was a perfect way to test them all out!

What I used:
Essie Mamba- nude base
Urban Decay Fishnet- purple
UD Showboat- orange
UD Radium- blue
UD Covet- green
UD Woodstock- pink
UD Perversion- black

What is your favorite kind of animal print? Do you feel like you can actually wear it? Which print should I try next?

Desert Sunset Gradient

This is my first gradient using the sponge method. With my previous gradient seen here, I just brushed the colors straight on the nail trying to blend them together. It was fun experimenting with a new tool.
I was looking for something to incorporate Essie DJ Play That Song because I love it so much and want to use it more often. I felt like the end result looked like a desert sunset in Colorado, with the ambient light turning the red rocks purple. Do you see it too?

As you can see, I had better luck with some of the nails than others. I had a little accident with the middle one and tried to patch it up, so it ended up with the darkest tip. I absolutely love the gradient look. I plan to practice the technique more so I can incorporate it often in future designs!

The tutorial I followed most closely was from Chalkboard Nails and can be found here. It was from her Beauty and the Beach Nail Art which is pure AWESOMENESS! It features a few different techniques, and the sponge gradient part is at the beginning of the video. Eventually I want to try the entire tutorial, but I think I need some more practice first.

What I used:
Essie DJ Play That Song- purple
Essie Madison Ave-hue- bright mauve pink
Essie .....??- Unfortunately I have a number of polishes with their labels missing :(. I have a couple of Label Monsters at home that delight in taking them off. So the color closest to the cuticle is a light pink, with slight peach tones. I wish I could remember the name!

What do you think? Do you love this trend as much as I do?

Happy 10th (Wedding) Anniversary to Me!

I did a simple little mani to celebrate my 10th! wedding anniversary. I wanted it to look kind of wedding-ish, so I chose a pretty white and added some gold on top.

What I used:

OPI At First Sight- pearly white

Sephora by OPI Wild About Shimmer- gold/pinkish shimmer

DS OPI Ruby- red

OPI French Quarter For Your Thoughts- grey

I can never hear the phrase "happy anniversary" without getting the song from the movie,"So I Married an Axe Murderer" stuck in my head. If you're not familiar with this hilarious movie, there's a scene where they sing the phrase over and over to the tune of William Tell Overture. It's ridiculous and I love it. I always sing it to other people and then can't get it out of my head!

Yay for us!

Bikini So Teeny Ombre

The ombre look was one that was at the top of my to do list. This trend was one of the main inspirations for me to try experimenting with nail art. I love that it's so simple yet has interest to it. I also appreciate that it doesn't take much skill at all to accomplish. Always a bonus, right?

Here is a looksy at my first ombre attempt:

I started with Essie Bikini So Teeny on my middle nail. Next I mixed some of the color with a couple drops of white polish on a palette. I painted that color on my ring finger with a brush from a bottle I had emptied and cleaned out. Then I added a couple more drops of white to the mixture for my pinky, and painted it. Before I started with the darker colors I cleaned off the brush in acetone. I put some more base color on the palette and added some black polish, mixed, and applied to my pointer finger. I repeated the process on last time for my thumb, adding just a little more black. Then I finished it off with topcoat! Ta-da!

If you haven't tried this before but think it looks fun, go try it! My variation is fairly subtle (my husband said he didn't think anyone would notice it), but I still got compliments. More importantly, I really loved it myself.

Important Tips :

1. I made sure to paint each color on both hands before moving on the the next color.

2. If you know anything about painting you probably know that a little black changes the color much quicker than a little bit of white. Well, I'm not a painter. I added WAY too much black to the mixture on my first try. So just go easy with it and add in much smaller amounts.

For my second time I think I'll make it more dramatic to see which I like better. Any suggestions for the color?

Bubble Gum Zebra

I finally got my nail art brushes in the mail!! Oh happy day! So now.. what to do, what to do? I was already wearing Clinique Different Nail Enamel Pinkini, and I thought I could just add to it. I decided to christen my brushes with a zebra print. I was surprised by how easy it was! At least,  it started easy. For some reason by the time I got to my ring and pinky fingers, I started to struggle a little more. Regardless, I was so excited by the result! Obviously there is room for improvement (isn't there always?), but you can still tell it's zebra print, right?

The next day I tried it with a matte top coat. It smeared it a little and shrunk it too, but I liked the finish. I used China Glaze Matte Magic.

I was still in the mood for experimenting, so I added a glitter coat. I struggled with the hex glitter, getting it both on the nail and then in the right place. It ended up pretty goopy. Still, I liked the contrast and the color of the glitter. I wish I was able to photograph it better because it looked better than this. This is Jenna Hipp After Party.

What colors should I use for my next zebra print?