Bird Locket

   This week was inspired by a pretty vintage locket. I loved with white and red look. Having some quirky little bird helped too.

   I changed it up a little and used a holo base, Girly Bits January Morning. Have I ever mentioned that I love this color? The red was OPI Got The Blues For Red.

   I used my thinnest brush for this design - Born Pretty's striping brush - and my smallest dotter. Then I added some gold glitter dots using ?????

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Butterfly

   I almost don't know where to start, it's been so long! As you might or might not know, I've been in Alabama the past two months helping my mom clean out her parents' house. On top of all that unexpected craziness, my computer died, meaning I couldn't blog. :(  But, my computer was fixed two weeks ago, and I've finally made it home. Be prepared for a flood of posts!

  I was thinking of Spring when I made this design. Even in Alabama, January was still a bit chilly and things hadn't greened up again yet.

   You might recognize this design, I painted one very similar several months ago. As with that design, the base for this butterfly is Girly Bits Cosmetics January Morning.

   To make the butterfly, I used my thinnest brush and black acrylic paint. Once I got a pattern I liked, I filled in the wings with Girly Bits Cosmetics Downtown Funk. The spots were made with gold acrylic paint.

   That was pretty short and sweet, compared to my usual posts! After so many months though, there's only so much that you remember you wanted to say...

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Butterfly Wings

   I am in love with this set!

   I've never painted butterfly wings before, but I have always wanted to try. A friend at school and I have been trying to get her nails painted for months, and we finally fit it in on her last day.

   Isn't it so pretty and sparkly?! I used all holos for this design. We couldn't resist their shiny-ness! And they were all Girly Bits Cosmetics polishes... I guess she could be a walking ad for them. :)
   I used Downtown Funk for the wings. January Morning is the pretty white holo behind the half butterfly. Well Isn't That Special is the purple in the wings of the half butterfly.
   For the outlines and dots I used black and white acrylic paints and my favorite super tin brush.

   I just can't stop looking at this one! Partly because I like how the design turned out, but also because of the sparkle....

   Anyway, I sculpted these out (they are acrylic nails, which I don't think I mentioned). Looking at the pictures, I'd love to go back and reshape a couple; some of them look a little fatter than the others. But it's not too bad. Picky Sarah strikes again!


   Well, that was a super distracted post. If you can get past all the "I love holos" it might be an intelligible post!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Thanksgiving Turkey

   I'm still behind, but only by a week this time! Here's a Thanksgiving design I painted on a fellow student.

   Aren't they cute? We even gave them crazy eyes.

   The majority of her nails were painted with OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. The turkey was made using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out. His tail feathers were painted with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch, L'Oreal He Red My Mind, and L'Oreal Orange You Jealous.

  I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving (those that celebrate it, of course). Have a fantastic week!

Halloween Part III

   The final installment! These are manikin hands and nail wheels.

   I made a werewolf! Isn't it cool?? There are a couple things I would fix (aren't there always?), but overall I'm satisfied.
   I used my manikin hand to make this one. I applied various shades of brown to the skin to darken it up (it was a very pale hand, completely wrong for a werewolf). I used hair from some curly hair extensions to make the furry hands.
   The nails were made with a cream base and a white crackle layer over top. I thought that gave it a nice bone-like texture. Then I sponged on various shades of brown and a bit of black at the base of the nails and the surrounding skin. One of the girls at school had some fake blood, so to complete the effect, I gave it some bloody nails.

   This is my Halloween-themed nail wheel. Some of them glow in the dark! I wish I had a picture for you... I'll need to bring it home, take one, and update this soon. The cemetery has ghosts that show up in the dark. The glowing forest glows in the dark, as well as the green part of the Evil Queen's poison apple. Oh, and the skull/ghoul faces!
   I think the Snoopys are my favorites though. I've always liked Charlie Brown so I had to try and paint some characters. They'll probably be back for Christmas too....

  That's all of my Halloween designs this year.

   Have a great weekend!

Antler Tree

   I recently made the mistake of looking at a Pier 1 catalog. I could easily waste so much money there. I love pretty dishes and furniture! They are definitely one of my biggest weaknesses. Especially dishes...

   I love this plate! I really like how the antlers are trees and have little birds on them. I thought it was so cute!

   I wasn't about to try and paint the actual deer, but I had to paint the rest. I started with my favorite cream base, China Glaze Oxygen. To make the antlers, I used a thinned out brown (Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out), and added a bit of highlighting with a lighter brown (OPI A-Piers To Be Tan).

  To make the birds, I started by drawing out their basic shapes with white acrylic paint. Then I painted their coats (color markings? feather patterns?) with whatever colors fit the breed I wanted. But I probably made up a breed or two... Who knows! I kind of just painted... But I do have a cardinal! And maybe some sort of chickadee?

   Then I painted some green leaves with a thinned out Revlon Colorstay Spanish Moss. On my thumb, pinky, and right hand, I used Orly FX Starburst.

   Have a great weekend!

Roses, Owls, Forests

   One of the things I've learned it that I really, really like sculpting with acrylics. It is just so fun to make 3D things that I could never do with polish. Granted, I could never wear the sculpts because I'd catch it on things and pick at it, but they sure do look cool!
   A fellow student had a wedding this weekend, so she commissioned me to make her some roses for the occasion. I've really been wanting to learn how to make the roses that are really 3D and just pop out of the nail. They look really pretty. I haven't quite perfected the method to make them quite how I want, but we were both satisfied for the moment!

   For me, it worked easiest to make a few individual petals at a time (starting from the inside), attach them, then make a few more, attach them, and so forth until I had the look and size I wanted. I still haven't figured out how to curl the edges, but I'll get there....

   The one on the left was my first one. It was huge! Way to big for a nail. We were joking saying that she could make it into an earring. And then I got to thinking that maybe I needed some new products in my shop.....


   Last week, the same girl had me paint this cute fall mani on her nails. She fell in love this neat forest design by narmai on Instagram. She also wanted an owl accent, and to make it not so spooky and halloween-ish, we left out the eyes and made the sky more normal.

   To make the sky, I used the same ombre method as The Nailasaurus. I made the trees with my black striper. To make the owls, I started with a base of China Glaze Oxygen. Then using a dark brown, Saslly Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out, I painted two half moon shapes and filled in the space between them. A small one on the cuticle end of the nail, and a more dramatically curved one on the other end. I used OPI ??? to make the belly feathers and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed for the beak. The eyes were made with black and white paint, applied with a dotter.

  Have a great week!

African Inspiration

   My Aunt recently went to Zimbabwe and brought me back the prettiest little painted tile.

   I loved the design and had to paint it on my nails!

   I started with a base of Finger Paints Far Out Fuschsia. For my right hand, I simply used white and black acrylic paint.
   For the branches, I started with a grey, China Glaze Pelican Grey.  Then I painted a streaky layer of brown, Nina Ultra Pro Beige A-Vu. For the leaves I used a mix of green, L'Oreal New Money, and yellow, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch. Then I outlined it all in black acrylic paint.

   To make the quails, I started with black acrylic paint and a dotting tool. Next I drew out the shape of the neck and head with white acrylic paint, and then used blue, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away. Then I used various amounts of red, yellow, and white polish, I painted the beak and wattle, as well as the spots and eyes. Then I outlined the quails in black as well.

   To make it more like the tile, here are the two designs together!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Picnic

   This week I have a cute red plaid to show you all. I really loved my brown plaid I painted near Christmas, so I wanted to try it in some different colors.

   It doesn't look quite as nice as the brown (I forgot my red turned funny colors on me when it gets thinned out), but I'm still happy enough with it.

   I started with a white base, Revlon Colorstay Sure Thing. Next I thinned out my red, Revlon Colorstay Red Carpet, and used a medium brush to draw the diagonal lines. To make the dark square where the lines cross, I used a very thinned out dark red, Covergirl Plum Pudding. Then I finished it off with a top coat.

   I even painted my left hand! Sort of. There was no way I was going to paint plaid on all my fingers on my right hand. So I painted some cute little tickle ants. They want to join in on the picnic fun too!


   I might be a little silent for a while (nothing new, I know, sorry!). My best friend is getting married next week so I have a ton to do to help her get ready and get me ready.

   I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Starfish

   This weekend I painted the cutest little flamingos on my fingers. This weekend was also my brother's graduation from Auburn (which is about 8 hours away from where I live). This week is finals week, so I had to rush down Friday and come back home right after the ceremony on Sunday (who has graduation on a Sunday?) so I could make it to my final on Monday. Talk about a crazy weekend!
   After I had taken off the flamingos and started painting this week's design, I realized... I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE FLAMINGOS!!! I was so mad, I was really looking forward to showing them to you guys!  :(

   So you get to look at a modification of last week's design instead. After I painted and blogged about the starfish, I decided to paint the rest of my fingers with starfish.

   Here's a close up:

   I'm so mad about those flamingos.... I'll just have to paint them again sometime soon!

   I hope you all have a great week!

Pysanka Deer

   I know I'm a little irregular again. Finals are approaching, so all my professors are assigning last-minute projects and papers!
   This week I was trying out my fancy new striping brush. I received it in my latest package from Born Pretty. Let me just say, I love it! It isn't crazy long like most striping brushes, so it's a lot easier for me to use for things other than a straight line.

   On to the design! Remember last Easter when I made a design based off of Pysanky (Ukranian Eggs)? Well I found another egg that I absolutely fell in love with!

   I absolutely love the style of it, it's so pretty. And the deer has leafy antlers!

   I started with a base of Orly Teal Unreal. To give it the "marbled" look, I thinned out some of Studio M Blue Ming and sort of globbed it on, making sure it wasn't too heavy in spots and spread out.

   I started by drawing out the basic shapes of everything with white acrylic paint. I used thinned out OPI A-Piers to Be Tan for the deer, and L'Oreal Walk On the Beach for his spots.

   For his antlers and the other vines, I started by using L'Oreal New Money for the leaves and then going over it lightly with a thinned out Studio M On the Field. Next I used Revlon Colorstay Buttercup for the stem. Buttercup was also used for the dots around the vines. Then I topped it off with a matte topcoat.

   What do you all think?

  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

French Fairy Tales

   In addition to loving calligraphy, I also love fairy tales! I might have mentioned this once or twice before... This week's mani was inspired by a fairy tale in one of my old fairy tale books, simply titled, French Fairy Tales. It has three or four longer tales, more like a chapter book.

   The first story, called Blondine, Bonne-Biche, and Beau-Minon, is about a princess who tricked into wondering into the enchanted forest by a boy who was overcome with a love for bonbons. There's a lot more to the story than that, but it would take a while to tell. You can read the story here.

   I took my inspiration from her carriage and the forbidden lilac woods. This passage: "
The garden in which Blondine drove in her little carriage, drawn by ostriches and guided by her little coachman, Gourmandinet, was separated by a grating from an immense and magnificent forest, called the Forest of Lilacs because during the whole year these lilacs were always covered with superb flowers. No one, however, entered these woods. It was well known that it was enchanted ground and that if you once entered there you could never hope to escape."
  I thought an ostrich-pulled carriage was just too funny!

   I also really liked the idea of lilac woods, it sounded really pretty. After doing some research, it seemed a little hard to draw, so I went with some wisteria instead. It's still purple, right? Besides, wisteria is just so darn pretty! I love how it hangs down. If I could ever grow some, I would! I'm not too thrilled about how the ostrich came out, but I'm pleased with the rest of it.

   To make the lilac/wisteria woods, I started with a cream base. Then I drew on some trunks using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out. For the purple I used three different shades of purple; China Glaze Sweet Hook, Nina Ultra Pro Lilac-ing Discipline, and OPI I Vant to Bite Your Neck. For the grass, two greens; Revlon Colorstay Spainsh Moss and L'Oreal New Money. To get the dappled look in the grass and wisteria, I thinned out the polishes and dabbed them on somewhat haphazardly.
   The carriage was made with white, black, and Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold. The ostrich with China Glaze Pelican Grey, Maybelline Color Show Neutral Statement, white, and black.

   I think I wold have loved this design if it looked more like my left hand - all wisteria woods and no carriage! The carriage and ostrich aren't bad, but (as always) it looked a bit different in my head. Not too terrible though for my first real attempt at an full animal. I didn't know what to expect!

   I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! 

Peacock Stamp Review

   Last week I finally got around to my final review from my bag of goodies from Born Pretty! I'm desperately hoping things will quiet down again soon. This first week of class hasn't gone as anyone planned, and we all hope it never happens again!
   This review is on a really pretty peacock stamping plate, #BP-04. You can use code AIBW10 to get 10% off your order at Born Pretty.

  It's full of really pretty peacock prints. The main, largest design is really pretty. It's what first caught my eye. Then as I started thinking about my design and another smaller design caught my attention. I liked the shape of this one, and the three distinct feathers. It was really easy to apply, which is great! Like my last stamped design, I used reverse stamping. To get the stamp on two fingers, I just cut the design in half before placing it on my fingers.

   For the stamped fingers, I started out with a base of Orly French Manicure Pink Nude. I painted Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Jungle Gem. It is a little dark in places; when I went to put the design on my finger, I pushed on it too hard so I smudged it and had to go back in and fix it. The green I used was Pure Ice Saddle Me Up, and the yellow was Pure Ice Excuse Me. For my other fingers I used Zoya Pixie Dust Vega again. I just love that glitter! And I thought it was appropriate to have flashy polish with a flashy bird.

   (Fogrive the chipping. Like I said, it's been crazy here.)
   I also tried out a new top coat with this design, Revlon Transforming Effects Matte Pearl  Glaze. It's so pretty! I don't know if you can really see it, it was really hard to get a picture of it. I put a gloss coat over top of it because I thought gloss was better with this design than the matte.

   I hope your all's week was better than mine. Here's for a better week!

Fall Fox

   I am super in love with these foxes! They're so cute!

   I originally found it on Pinterest, and I knew I had to paint it! It was just so cute! I started with my favorite cream base, Orly French Manicure Softest White. To make the fox, I started with L'Oreal He Red My Mind. I used a white striper for all of the white on him, and black on a dotter for his feet, eyes, and nose. His ear shadowing was made with a thinned out brown (Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out).

   For the leaves I used orange (L'Oreal He Red My Mind), green (Revlon Colorstay Spanish Moss), yellow (Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch), and brown (Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out), all slightly thinned.

   I also made this in to an Etsy set, so you can buy it! You can find it here in my shop. I made the fake set first, so of course it looks slightly better.

   I hope you guys had a fantastic weekend! I'm on my fall break, so I know I will! My mom went to the Biltmore mansion for the weekend. I'll have to show you some pictures when I get back.