Update

Hey guys,

So sorry I haven't posted in almost a month!  My work schedule is a little redic right now and my kiddo has just gone back to school so I have been super busy.  I am hoping to get a few posts up early next week, one being the fan brush watercolor tutorial.  But for now I can post a couple phone pics I have taken of some recent mani's.  Sorry the quality is not awesome on these, I really wish I had taken the time to get proper pics of them!


First up is a mani I got from this tutorial by MrCandiipants on YouTube.  I used Maybelline Canary Cool as my base, my watercolor colors are Essie Tart Deco, Finger Paints Lemon Sour, Sinful Colors Orange Cream, Orly Terracotta and my orange pastel neon franken, and the dots are also Canary Cool

Second is Wet N Wild I Need a Refresh-mint (new version I will do a comp soon) and Revlon Whimsical, this is pretty similar to several mani's I have done before but I am a sucker for Whimsical over pastel mints and blues!

Tie Dye Nails Tutorial

Hey guys,

I have a tutorial finally!  A couple of weeks ago I posted my Neon Sponging mani and I decided to do a tutorial on it.  I ended up calling them tie dye nails, that is what this technique I think looks like when it is finished and neon sponging was just not such a great name. This is also almost identical to the technique I used for my Thunderstorm Nails the only difference is that in the thunderstorm one I made sure to leave some of my base color showing.  


Products used
Base: OPI My Vampire is Buff
Tie Dye Colors: Color Club Volt of Light, Color Club Pure Energy, and Finger Paints 15 Minutes of Frame
Glitter Top Coat: Is a franken I made with a couple of glitters from Sallys Girl but it is very similar to Sinful Colors Hottie

Step One: You will need 3 different colors, I used neons but any 3 colors will work.  I would recommend colors that will blend together well though. So choosing something like two primary colors and then their secondary color like I did with the yellow, blue and green.  Pink, yellow and orange is another example that would work beautifully.  Next cut up a sponge (really any sponge will work I used the one from my China Glaze Ombre set for this one) make sure the pieces are fairly small so you don't cover your whole nail with one color.  I also would advise using tweezers to hold the sponge since the pieces are so small it makes the job way less messy!

Step Two: Apply a base coat, I just used an off-white for my base because it would really allow the neon colors to pop against it.

Step Three: Begin applying your tie dye colors onto the nail.  As you can see I just pounced the sponge onto random spots on my nails.  Make sure you leave enough room for your other colors!

Step Four: Continue applying your other colors onto the nail, as you can see I made sure to leave enough room to lay down my third color.

Step Five: Finish applying your tie dye colors, you can go back over the colors to get the right opacity and to make sure that none of your base is showing through.  Leave the desing to dry for a minute or two and then top it with a glitter top coat of your choice and then a fast drying top coat over that and you are done!

Toothbrush Nail Art

Hey guys,

So The Nailasaurus posted a tutorial using a toothbrush the other day and really liked the idea of it so I decided to give it a try.  It is really easy and you literally need a few nail polishes and a cheap toothbrush to do this!  A few tips that The Nailasaurus also metions, make sure your base is completely dry before starting this and really load the toothbrush up with polish to get it to transfer on your nails.

I used Orly Lollipop, China Glaze Aquadelic, Orly Skinny Dip and Finger Paints 15 Minutes of Frame

 

 

 

Creamsicle Gradient

Hey guys,

I finally did another gradient!  It feels like I haven't done one in forever, I love doing gradients I think they are so pretty.  I wanted something girly for this one so I went with pink and coral.  I used OPI Pink Friday and Finger Paints Gimme Some Sugar then topped the gradient off with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter.

 

 

 

 

Holiday Polka Dots

Hey guys,

Here is yet another holiday look from me.  Sorry I love my themed mani's and I thought this one would be cute but really simple too.  I love the color combo and I really like throwing a pretty minty/aqua color in to a holiday themed mani. 

I used Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter and Orly Torrid

 

 

 

 

Christmas Sweater Nails

I found this video by ArcadiaNailArt on YouTube.  I thought it was so cute I just had to try and recreate it.  This was my first time trying out acrylic paint for nail art as well so I will apologize if these are not the best.  My thoughts on acrylic so far, it is was easier to work with than nail polish.  I will have to practice more to get the hang of it but so far I think I will definitely be using it more for nail art.

I used Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter and white and red acrylic paint sealed with topcoat.

Pastel Galaxy

I wanted to try something a different today, I got the idea to try out pastel galaxy nails.  I am not sure how much I like this one though.  I think I should have done a different color combo or a different base for them.

I used Orly Pure Porcelain for the base, and sponged on Orly Skinny Dip, Color Club Electro Candy, Finger Paints Lemon Sour, Finger Paints 15 Minutes of Frame, Wet N Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer and topped it all with Cover Girl City Lights.

Tiffany Imposter

I think I have an addiction to Tiffany blue colored polishes.  I grabbed this one by Finger Paints the other day and I got it home and realized I had at least two others that were almost exactly the same!  In my defense this one is more blue toned than the other two but still...

I used Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter, Nina Ultra Pro Holographic Top Coat, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Set The Stage and Cover Girl Gold Rush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ugh I hate how glitter photographs w/ flash it makes it look really sparse which is not how it appears in real life at all!

 

 

Blood Splatter

Here is another Halloween mani, I love doing blood splatter nails for Halloween!  This is probably my favorite nail look for this time of year.  I did a different base color than I would usually choose.  Mainly because the color kind of washes my hands out and I thought that may give a nice effect.

I used China Glaze Fast Track (really pretty but does not go well at all with my skintone) and Finger Paints Signed In Wine, in real life this color splattered looks a lot like the color of dried blood.

 

 

 

 

A Sort of Fall Mani

Now that the 31 Day Challenge is over I am a little lost on what to do with my nails.  I have a few Halloween mani's that I plan on doing but I would like to come up with a few more.  I had done a very "Halloween" looking mani but it chipped like crazy before I could take pics of it.  So I decided to try out this combo and I personally am loving it like crazy.  The color combo might not be everyones cup of tea, but I think it is awesome.


I used China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and Finger Paints Fall of Surprises

 

 

Also Four Leaf Clover would not photograph accurate at all, it is darker and has way more green in it than what these pics show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

31 Day Challenge, Day 29 Inspired by the Supernatural

This was another hard one for me I couldn't think of what to do.  Really because I have a bunch of ideas for Halloween and I kind of didn't want to use one of those for this haha.  In the end I went with a vampiric inspiration, I love how this mani turned out.  To me it looks like a mani a vampire would wear on their nails!

I used Finger Paints Signed In Wine and Color Club Red Velvet

31 Day Challenge, Day 25 Inspired by Fashion

I was actually inspired by the nails at the Lucian Matis Spring 2012 fashion show.  They did these watercolor nails and I this is where I found the tutorial and pics for this on BeautyGeeks it is pretty easy to do and the video is a great tutorial for them.

I used Revlon Top Speed Cloud for my base and the "watercolors" are Finger Paints Scarlet's Paint, China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic, and Ulta Blue Streak.

 

 

 

 

31 Day Challenge, Day 24 Inspired by a Book

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days!  Work has been taking over a little and I have been getting a tiny bit "stuck" with my mani's for this challenge.  This was inspired by Harry Potter, I know it is probably overdone blah, blah, blah.  But honestly the Harry Potter series is one of my favorite and I saw a tutorial on Nailside for this lightening bolt and it screamed to be used as a HP mani design. 

I used Finger Paints Magnetic Hipnotic and Orly Luxe

31 Day Challenge, Day 22 Inspired by a Song

I used Prince's Purple Rain as my inspiration for this mani.  I really love how this one turned out and I have been wearing it for 5 days!  That is a record for me haha.

I used Finger Paints Amethyst Atelier and Orly Oui. I sponged Orly Oui with a eyeshadow sponge applicator to get the gradient effect.

 

 

 

31 Day Challenge, Day 9 Rainbow

At first I figured I would just do skittles for this one but I decided to try something different.  I have seen this mani on either Pinterest or Beautylish and loved it so I figured it would be perfect for this challenge.  This is what is nice about doing this challenge to, it has made me try new things!


I used LA Colors Color Craze Live, Zoya Maura, China Glaze Papaya Punch, Finger Paints Lemon Sour, Color Club Twiggie, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue.

 

Sorry for the reflection of the flash in this one, metallics are so hard to photograph with flash or in direct sunlight

 

 

 

 

 

31 Day Challenge, Day 3 Yellow

I think after purging my nail polish this is the only yellow nail polish I have!  I feel like most of the pale yellow polishes out there are pretty similar and even though I love pretty much every color of nail polish possible yellow is kind of my only exception.  For me a more true canary yellow is just not something I personally would wear nor does it look good on me but I do love paler yellows I just cannot seem to find one with a formula that is easy to work with.  Anyways sorry for the rambling, I used Finger Paints Lemon Sour, which is the best formula I have found in a yellow so far if you use thicker coats I can usually get away with only 2 coats of this one. 

Finger Paints Lemon Sour and OPI Glow Up Already

 

 

 

Modern Grace

I did a simple mani today!  I used Revlon Top Speed Modern Grace and Finger Paints Motley, which is a blue/green flakie polish.  I loved that Finger Paints came out with a bunch of different flakie polish but they need a lot of coats to get the look of something similar like Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure.  Anyways I like the end result and I used 2 coats of Motley for this it is really subtle but so pretty especially in the right light.

Fall of Surprises!

I picked up one of the new Finger Paints fall nail polishes , Fall of Surprises!, the other day.  I had seen some promo shots of them and I knew that I needed this one.  It is a copper glitter that has small round and larger hexagonal glitter in it.  It is packed with glitter and would probably be opaque on its own with two coats.

I decided to do a glitter gradient with this one and my base is Revlon Top Speed Royal.

Splattered Gradient

Oh my goodness I am sort of obsessed with this mani!  I did a gradient and then splattered over it, the finished look is so cool. 

I did a white base (Orly Dayglow), then sponged with FingerPaints 15 Minutes of Frame, Sinful Colors Why Not, Color Club Pucci-Licious, and an unamed neon pink from Cosmetic Arts.  I then splattered with China Glaze Electric Pineapple.  I alternated which way I applied the gradient on the nail alternating between starting at the cuticle with the pink then flipping the sponge and starting with the green at the cuticle on the next nail.

Strawberry Nails

Sorry I haven't posted a tutorial yet!  I have been super busy with work and home life.  I do have some really cute nails to show you guys today though.  I had put one of Essie's new neon polishes Bazooka on, which is a neon orange red with coral tones to it???  Haha it is a hard color to describe it changes colors depending on the lighting sometime it looks really orange and then kind of red orange or a really red coral color.  Anyways I wanted something fun so I decided to do some strawberries on my nails.

This is really easy to do I used a dotting tool that has a little tiny brush on one end and a dotting tool on the other.  I painted the "leaves" first with Color Club Twiggie using the little brush, you can use the dotting tool to make the leaves but I find it easier to use the little brush.  Then I used Finger Paints Lemon Sour for the "seeds"  just randomly dotting it on.  I put a top coat on to seal everything and make the neon leaves shiny. 

Also if you don't have a dotting tool you can use the end of a bobby pin or toothpick.