Punk Floral Nail Art

Today's NOTD is a cool combo of girly and grunge! I was in the mood for some floral, but not too much pink. After Valentine's Day I tend to be recovering from pink overload, so I incorporated some edgier elements into this manicure. 

I started off with my base coat (Essie Fill the Gap) and then painted all my nails but the ring finger with two coats of Sally Hansen Satin Glam in Silk Onyx. This is a very dark charcoal with subtle glints of rainbow specks that dries to a satiny matte finish. For my ring finger, I painted two coats of OPI Alpine Snow, my new favorite white polish! Once that dried, I stroked OPI Alpine Snow down one half of my middle fingernail and allowed it to dry. I then used Sally Hansen Tickled Pink and a large dotting tool to make a big light pink circle in the corner of my ring fingernail. I did the same on the white half of the middle nail. Once that dried, I used a toothpick dipped into Nicole by OPI Something About Spring to make darker pink lines on and around the light pink circles. This creates an effortless rose! I then made leaves by dabbing a toothpick next to each rose, dipped into Color Club London Calling, a light green, and OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid, a medium seafoam jade green. I then added topcoat (NYC Grand Central Station) to the floral half of the middle nail and to the ring nail, but not the matte nails, as I wanted to preserve the different finishes. To finish, I added a stripe of topcoat down the center of my middle nail and put a line of Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art rhinestones where the two sections met to jazz it up.

I love this mani! Maybe because it's the perfect balance of punk and feminine, or because of the different finishes... Either way, this is one of my favorite manis I've ever done! 

Thanks so much for reading!

Mermaid Scales Nail Art (Christabell Nails Recreation)

Hi guys! So today I was browsing around YouTube while sporting bare nails, a dangerous combination, and I happened to stumble upon a glorious video by Christabell Nails. She is a fantastic nail artist with a flair for freehand, and she's talented too. So when I found her video on Mermaid/Fish Scale nails, of course I had to try it out! She used a Rica polish that I would love to have, but unfortunately do not have, so I subbed another polish from my stash: Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, a gorgeous dark blue jelly with emerald green and sky blue glitters (though I wish it had the bubbly effervescent circle glitters in Rica's polish). I simply followed Christabell's tutorial and it turned out great! This is three coats of Across the Universe with one coat of topcoat, followed by the design painted with my Hot Designs Nail Art Pen in white, sealed in with one more coat of topcoat.

My pinkie did get a little wonky... Oh well :P

These nails were pretty easy, and they look absolutely beautiful! 

Here's a link to Christabell's video, if you'd like to recreate it http://youtu.be/ALKPzA3BuBQ

...........................................................................................................................................................

XOXO

Is

 

NOTD: Diagonal Nail Art

Hi guys! Today I have a NOTD to share with you.

This is the mani! I'll give a little how-to on it now. First, I applied my base coats (I use two for my needs, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener and Essie Grow Stronger) and let them dry COMPLETELY. Like, for two to three hours. However, if you don't have a lot of time or are impatient, skip the base coat. Next, I taped off the section of my nails that appears bare in the picture above with Scotch tape. I then painted the open section of my nail with Sally Hansen Sun Kissed (the orange polish) and removed the tape immediately. I let that dry COMPLETELY (like one hour) before moving on to the next step. I then taped off the bare section of my nails again, but this time I INCLUDED a small stripe of orange under the tape. Then, I used Essie In the Cab-ana and painted the open section and removed the tape immediately. I let that dry for a little while and then used my dotting tool to add small white polka dots to the orange stripe, to add some pizazz. I finished with Essie's Good To Go topcoat, and voila!

This is a nice mani to sport if you want to use two contrasting colors. Some cool color combos would be green and pink, yellow and purple, coral and mint, etc., which are all opposites on the color wheel. 

But experiment and be creative!

Like I said before, part of the reason why I was so excited to do this mani for the first time in months was because it was one of my first nail arts! So now I'll show you the picture of that first mani, the humble beginning. Brace yourself, because admittedly my nails are cuticles weren't in great shape. I was a nail-biter for years, and the cutes weren't in great shape either. So here it is!

Yup. That was months ago, way back when I had no base or top coat, no cuticle oil, and hadn't completely beat the habit yet. But I have a soft spot for this mani, and I did an awesome job for this first attempt, I must say.

This is in of the reasons why I like taking pictures of my manicures. I see all of the colors and designs I liked and executed, but I also see how I have improved.

So that's it for this post! I hope it has inspired you to recreate one of these manis.

What was your first attempt at a nail design, and how'd it go over?

..........................................................……………………………………………….……

XOXO

Is

NOTD: Plain Old White (With Added Pizazz!) Sally Hansen Disco Ball

Hi guys! I have today's mani to share with you. It's not much, but I was in the springy mood yesterday (temperatures are rising!) and wanted to do something clean and light.

That turned out to be plain old white (Spoiled Correction Tape) with some fine glitter on top (Sally Hansen Disco Ball from the Xtreme Wear collection).

Generally, I reserve white for summer, but it was so warm yesterday I couldn't help it!

I rather like it! The glitter doesn't show up that well in the photo (my apologies) but it adds a nice bit of sparkle and fun to the plain white polish. Disco Ball is very versatile that way... it adds pizazz to any color. I tried it with black as well...

You can see how the glitter really pops against the black.

So there ya go! A quickie little NOTD post. I'm so excited for the warmer weather! I really love Disco Ball as it can be used with any creme, and is fun without being to over-the-top.

What polishes do you use to jazz up plain colors?

...........................................................................................................................................

XOXO

Is