A Long Overdue Update

So I think I might need to take a short break from blogging. It's been at least a month since my last post. I am still painting, but not like I used to be. It's just hard to find the time!

   Here's what I've done since I last posted.

   It's not much, I know. I hardly have time any more for painting detailed designs, and when I do, I'm often too tired to think clearly about a pretty design. :(

   I'll try to post at least a photo update every now and then.

   In the meantime,  I should be able to keep my instagram fairly up-to-date, if you want to check there periodically.

  Hopefully I'll have more time soon!

  I hope you all have a great week/month/year!

On the Grid

   I am behind again... But, this week was busy with Derby Day and going home over the weekend, that I don't have a design on my nails this week anyway.

   Last week I was inspired by a super cute dress sold by Simplicity Is Bliss Vintage on Etsy (@sibvintage on Instagram). I love the pattern! It's so simple, yet cute.

   My design is cute, but I personally think that the dress is way cuter.

   I started with a base of Essie Mademoiselle, a nice sheer nude. Then I drew the lines and X's on with black polish and my favorite super thin brush. The glitter was from China Glaze Silver of Sorts.

   I hope you all gave a fantastic week!

Client Flowers

    I've had my first nail art client! It's so exciting to be coming closer and closer to what I want to do with my career.

   She loved the flower nails from my last post, so I painted a variation of it on her nails. Like mine, I had not base color. Hers were made with a gel base. The pink flowers were made with an OPI color almost the same shade as Revlon Colorstay Cardshark (I forgot to write down the name for you guys). After adding the glitter, I added two coats of the gel topcoat, to make sure all of the glitter texture was smoothed out.

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!


  (If you're in the Louisville area, come see me! I work at Classique Nails and Spa on Westport Rd.)

Spring Flowers

    Now that we are officially out of winter (the season and the weather!), be prepared to see a lot flowers from me. Probably every other week... :D

   This was inspired by babynail_nagoya on Instagram. I loved the look!

    I didn't really have a base color. I painted one layer of Essie Mademoiselle to give it a very slight tint so that any lines or imperfections on my nail bed were evened out.

   The flowers were painted using thinned out white polish. I added a slight pink tint to the centers to make it a little more interesting. The pink was a very thinned out Revlon Colorstay Card Shark. Then I ended with a bit of gold glitter, concentrating it in the center, but spreading it out a tiny bit.

   I have my first client photo for you next! I had my first nail art client today; it was so exciting.


  I hope you all have a fantastic week!

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!

1950's Dress

   This design was very short-lived. I liked it once I figured out the best way to paint it, but then I only had two nails I liked. So I took it off after a couple days. It was inspired by this really cute vintage dress on Etsy.

   I started with a cream base, Relvon Colorstay Embody. Only two coats this time to keep it a little sheer. The design was made with white polish.

   To make the design, I eventually found that the easiest way was to paint vertical lines first, and then the horizontal lines. I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out, but it did.

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Spring Daisies

   I'm working in a salon now!! If you're in the Louisville area, I'm working at Calssique Nails and Spa. Come see me! I'm not doing everything yet; I'm still in training since I'm freshly out of school (there's a lot that is done differently in salons that isn't done in school). I'm sure it won't be long before I am a full fledged technician though.


   Anyways, on to nails! Last week I had some cute daisies on my fingers.

   I started with a pink base. OPI something-another, I think (it was from work and I forgot to write down the name). Then I painted on the daisies; starting with black, and then painting white over top to get the outlined look.

   I originally didn't have any polka dots in the background. This design evolved oddly; I thought I was only going to paint an accent nail, so the daisies on my ring finger are much closer together than the other nails. Then the next day, I looked at it and it cried out for dots and a matte coat.

   I hope you have a fantastic week!

Pastel Watercolor

    In my last post, I reviewed some pretty gold stickers. I didn't tell you much about the base, so I thought I'd revisit it.
   The great thing about this design is that it doesn't need to be neat, so it's something you can more easily recreate on your right hand.

   Ignore my dry fingers; I soaked them in acetone to get rid of some glitter polish and forgot to put lotion on them before I took this picture!

   To make this 'base' I started with two coats of a thinner cream base (I used Revlon Colorstay Embody). You can also use white or a more opaque cream (or no base). Once that dried, I thinned out pastel pink, blue, and purple. With a smallish brush, I dabbed on the three colors in random patterns until I had the coverage that I wanted.

   I started with pink, then moved to purple, and ended with blue. You can also put drops of all three on at once and then swirl them together. Use whatever method works best for you! 
   If I have time, I'd love to make a tutorial for you guys. I haven't made one in ages...

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Review: Gold Stickers

   I have another review for you all! This week it is some cute gold floral stickers. You can find them here from Born Pretty.

   I forgot to take a picture before I used them.... Sorry!

   Pros: It is super cute and goes with just about anything. It's also easy to cut out whatever portion you want (the design isn't so close that you can't cut out just a flower, like I did), as well as easy to remove from the backing, even when you cut out a small portion. 

   Cons: Overall, it sticks to your fingers very well. However, there is a tiny bit of lifting on the edges, especially if you have a more curved nail. Luckily, this can easily be fixed with a tiny dab of nail glue.

   Consensus: This is a great product! It's a super easy way to quickly add a design to your nails. If you have some nail glue handy, it ought to last as long as your polish. Even if you don't, it will still last for a few days. Plus, the sheet is big, so you can reapply as often as you want!

   I'll go into more detail about the base in my next post. Suffice to say that it is basically a pastel watercolor. I'm ready for Spring!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

  

Flower Pillows

   No, this isn't a post about pillows. Not really. My inspiration this week was a cute embroidered floral pillow I found on Etsy.

   Aren't they cute?

   I started with a cream base, China Glaze Oxygen. To make the flowers, I used a light and dark shade of pink, purple, and blue. The leaves and vines were made with Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir and L'Oreal New Money, layered on top of each other.

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Diamond Glitter Placement

   This one is a first for me. I've done a glitter placement before, but nothing like this one; this one has edges that actually had to match up. ...And my perfectionist side might have decided that this would be a great time to show itself. Of course.

   I like the end result, but don't be too disappointed if I never do this again. :D
   It kind of reminds me of a Jester, for some reason. I guess it's the diamonds, who knows!

   My base polish was Liquid Sky Lacquer What Was Your Name Again. Then I used diamond shaped glitter to create the accent nail. In this case, the glitter was from Wildflowers Nail Academy. I watched a lot of Fixer Upper episodes while making this design!

 
   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Review: Art Deco Studs

   I have a new review for you all! I feel like it's been ages since I've done a review. This one is for some really neat Art Deco-esque studs from Born Pretty. You can find them here.

   These are pretty large for my tiny fingers, but not too bad.

   Pros: They are a beautiful color (that's always the most important, you know). The shape of the stud is such that it fits nicely on your nail; there is a tiny bit of a gap on the edges, but nothing that would cause a major problem with getting it caught on things. Another huge plus is that it is very re-usable. The color does not come off if you soak your finger in acetone to remove the stud, which is great!

   Cons: The size is really the only con, and that's only if you have tiny nails.

   Overall this is a really great product! It looks cute, and would work really as a stand alone or with an art deco design.

   I finally bought some of the gorgeous ILNP polish. I've been eyeing them for a very long time, and I finally broke down and bought some early last month. I purchased Black Orchid and Juliette. The base for this design was Black Orchid. It's a beautiful holo that really sparkles in the sun.

   Isn't it pretty?

   Well, I'll leave you with that dazzling shade. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Zoya Glitter Gradient

   I''m almost caught up! Hooray!
   While I was in Alabama, I bought myself some new polish (I just can't resist). It's not a new shade; cheap-o me bought it on clearance. :D I bought Zoya Pixie Dust Arlo. I love the pixie dust collection; it looks so pretty by itself, but it also is a great polish for layering.

   This is a terrible picture (I didn't get a good one before it came peeled off), but you get the idea. I used Essie Bahama Mama as my base and -- for the glitter, of course.


   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Flower Wreaths

   This design was inspired by this cute design painted by @mananails (Instagram).

   Back in February, even in Alabama, I was ready for Spring!

   I modified the design a bit, and it ended up looking a lot more wreath-like than I wanted. But it still looks close enough to what I planned. I started with a nude base, Essie Back in the Limo. The leaves were made with Revlon Parefumerie Balsam Fir and L'Oreal New Money.

   The flowers were made with 2 shades of red, purple, blue, and pink.
   The thumb and pinky nails were my favorite, I'll definitely have to come back and revisit this design sometime!

   I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hearts

   Happy super super late Valentine's Day! Ha!

   When I was in high school, I was in color guard (marching band). I like to think that I had the best guard instructor. He was an excellent teacher, wrote excellent routines, squeezed in an occasional life lesson, and secretly liked us all, not matter how crazy we got. He also designed all of our show flags. And they were all so beautiful! (You can see some of them in an old DeviantArt post here.) This design was inspired by one of them (that took a while to get to the point!).

   This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea.

   I think Girly Bits Cosmetics January Morning is my new favorite base... It goes with everything, and it is subtly sparkly. To make the heart, I started by making a basic heart shape with red acrylic paint, and then refining it to the shape I wanted. Then I added the gold accent with gold acrylic paint. The outline and scroll work were made with black acrylic paint.

   I hope you all have a fantastic day!

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!

XOXO

   I have a new set up in my shop! And I must say, I really love it. I keep hoping I'll find time to paint it on my own nails this Valentine's Day. (I haven't been posting much recently because I'm down south helping my mom clean out her parents' house this month and last month.)

   I started with a white base, and then added a layer of Girly Bits January Morning. I just love that polish!

   I used a new black water-based paint that I bought from ?. I really like it so far; it's nice and thin, but not too thin. I used my favorite super thin brush from Born Pretty Store.

   For the thumbs, I outlined the heart, and then placed red glitter inside of it.

 
   This set is up in my shop, so check it out! I don't have time to deliver to you by this Valentine's Day, but you can always keep it in mind for the next! :)

   You can find it here in my shop.


   I hope you all have a fantastic week!