Sweaters

   Last week I had this cute sweater design on my nails. I had tried this a few weeks before with gels, but I didn't know what I was doing and it looked awful. So this time I tried something different and got a much better result!

   For the sweaters, I started with a base of Orly Matte FX Purple Velvet. To make the raised designs, I used Purple Velvet again. I put a drop of the polish on a plate and let it sit for a tiny bit to let it thicken up ever so slightly. Then I used my tiny brush and painted on the designs. I found I liked it better with two layers, to make the design a little more raised.

   If I still had access to a UV/LED light (I don't own my own), I would have applied my matte gel top coat, and then painted on two-three layers of the design to give it a raised appearance. The first time I did, I painted it in reverse order, so it all ended up blending together and looking like I couln't paint a solid color.

   On my index and pinky fingers, I used Noodles Nails Berries and Cream. I love this color for winter! And I love it even better with a matte top coat.


   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Merry Christmas!

   Merry Christmas Eve!

   This year, as usual, I couldn't pick just one thing to paint. So I made a Christmas collage, Cotton Coney style.

   I started with a base of Girly Bits Cosmetics January Morning. Then I added on stockings, candy canes, presents, and a tree.

   To make the tree, I used some striping tape to mark off the space for the tree. (I used a great tape dispenser that I'll have to tell you all about soon...) The green I used was Finger Paints Sketch N Etch, and I added a very thin layer of Zoya Pixie Dust Vega over top to give it some sparkle. I topped the tree off (literally, ha!) with a tiny gold stud.

   The candy canes, stockings, and presents were all made with either my red striper or Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir. The white stripes and stocking tops were made with my white striper, and the gold ribbon on the presents was some polish I got as a gift (Love brand, with no color name).
   I also added some tiny iridescent hexagon glitters in the empty spaces ...so it didn't look so empty. And to make it glittery.  (Man, I am excelling at writing today....) Then I topped it off with a matte coat!

   I hope you all have a good time this Christmas, but I know it's not always as fun for some as it is for others. :/

   Merry Christmas!

3D Acrylic Flowers

   My friend at school wanted me to give her some pretty nails before I left, so I gave her some 3D acrylic nails.

   We found a pretty picture on Instagram that she wanted on her nails. (I won't show you the original, mine looks nothing like it!)
   I'd love to explain the process to you, but it would probably take too long, and I'm not sure if I'd be able to!

   I started with a base of black polish, and then put the acrylic flowers on top of the polish. I used blue and white premixed acrylics. I've mixed my own, but it's a lot of work to get the color just right!


   Have a fantastic week!

All Blinged Out

   Last week I had a client who wanted nothing but rhinestones on her nails. This isn't something I usually do, so it was both a challenge and a lot of fun.

   I used a combination of rhinestones, caviar beads, and glass glitter. The polishes I used were Orly Matte FX Purple Velvet, Finger Paints Plum Perspective, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Resurrection, and Absolute New York Turquoise.

   She wanted one nail completely covered in rhinestones. The other has become one of my favorites. I made a line of rhinestones and then wove lines of pink and blue caviar beads around them. I love how it turned out!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Review: Starfish Studs

   As you know, I was at my best friend's wedding last weekend! It was a destination wedding - Myrtle Beach - and it was tons of fun. We got our nails done, which was a new experience for me; I never can justify paying for it when I can do it (and more) on my own! But she wanted it, and it was fun. It was nice letting someone do all the work!
   Anyways, it was weird having just one solid color on my nails. And since it was a beach wedding, I added some bling to my nails and the other bridesmaid's to spice it up. In my last package from Born Pretty, I received some pretty starfish studs. Once again, I forgot to take a picture before I used them... Oops!

   I really like how the studs look, they are perfect for the beach or a beachy design! I have tiny fingers, so it does look large-ish on me, but they really aren't that big. They stayed on me much longer than I anticipated. I am notorious for catching 3D decorations on everything and picking at them, so they hardly ever last me more than 3 days. But these were on for a week! I guess I was extra careful or something, I don't know.
   My only complaint is that they didn't form to my fingers perfectly. The starfish are curved, but my ring fingers are extra curved, for some reason. Because of this, the stuck out a little on the edges. It wasn't a huge deal, and probably because of my extra curved fingers.
   Overall, I really liked them! They turned out to be the perfect addition to some beach wedding bridesmaids.

   I'm going on vacation again (I guess I'm making up for not traveling much the past few years!), so I won't have too many new designs the next two or three weeks. But I will have some more posts, I've been working on updating a lot of my listings in my shop.

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Review: Nail Art Pen

   I've been super slow about reviewing lately... I get too distracted!
   This week I'm reviewing the last product in my most recent goody bag from Born Pretty. (You can see all my past reviews here.) This last review is on a very neat little nail art pen.

   I've been a beach kick recently, what with my starfish and flamingo nails these past weeks. And I'm still on it! Can you tell I'm ready to go to the beach this summer? :)

   This week I drew a coral pattern on my nails with the nail art pen. The pen is fantastic! It is super easy to use and the polish flows out of it very evenly and easily. It creates very smooth lines and is very similar to using a real pen or pencil (which works great for me, since I started my drawing career with pencils instead of brushes; it was quite the transition for me!).

    In my design, I dotted the lines instead of making one smooth motion, to give the coral more of the correct texture. Don't let that deceive you though, the pen is very capable of pretty, smooth lines.

(Sorry this picture is so dark, Blogger kept darkening my image! Hopefully I can fix it later.)

   Overall, I love it! I will definitely be using it in future designs, and maybe even getting some more colors. I love how thin a line it makes!

   For my design, I started with a base of OPI That's Hula-rious. It's part of their new Hawai'i collection. ...Which I might or might not be in love with; the colors are so pretty! I hardly ever buy OPI because I'm a poor college kid, but I've already bought two from that collection...
   Anyway, after applying my base, I used the nail art pen to draw on the coral. As I mentioned earlier, I dotted the lines to give it a more coral-like texture. Then I added on a few gold caviar beads.

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

New Sets!

   In continuation of sorting through old posts and old designs, I came across some new sets I had painted throughout the past month.

   This first one is a design that I painted as a custom set for a customer through Etsy.

   I like this one, the glitter is really pretty! I think I'll have to make an option for all nails to have the glitter, I think it would look really nice.
   For the glitter I used a combination of fine glitter, Finger Paints Wrapped in Ribbon, and a slight bit of a chunkier glitter, Wet 'N Wild Fergie Glamorous. Then I painted on a matte coat.


   This next set was also a custom set for a customer on Etsy.

   I really liked this one too. It's different and I've never used almond nails before, but I think it looks nice!
   I used Finger Paints Wrapped in Ribbon  for the glitter lines. The blue I used was one one layer of Orly Teal Unreal. It's a thinner polish, so one layer gave it a watercolor effect. I made the black lines with my black striper, and my base color was Orly French Manicure Pink Nude.
   The studs I used were from a neat little set from Walmart, Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art Studs. I came with a tube of the studs here, as well as a tube each of clear and black rhinestones. The black ones look nice, but I'm not impressed by the clear. I guess I'm spoiled by more realistic ones? Or I'm just picky...

   I'm officially caught up! Sort of. I painted my nails again two days ago, but I don't think that counts!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Christmas Plaid and Nail Stud Review

   Expect to see a lot of winter/Christmas designs this month, I'm still super excited!
   I also have a new bag of goodies from Born Pretty! This week I have a review on some triangle nail studs. I'm really into plaids at the moment, so I paired the studs with a cute Christmas-colored plaid!

   You might already know, but I'm not a big 3D nail art wearer. I like how it looks, but the 3D-ness of it kills me! I'm always knocking or catching them on something and they rarely last for more than a a couple days.
   These studs though are something I can get along with! They're a whole lot flatter so they don't get in the way and they don't catch on things near as much. I do have to put on two layers of my top coat so that the corners are fully covered and smoothed over (so they don't catch on things), but that's no big deal! They were pretty easy to apply too, so that's always great.
   Overall, I really liked them! They look nice and are a great way to spice up your nails.

   To make the plaid, I started with a red base, Revlon Colorstay Red Carpet. Next I used my white striper to lay down a lighter base for my green stripes (to help the color pop). The green I used was a mix of Studio M On the Field and a little bit of Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir. Next I used my black striper to add double lines over top the green, then I added some gold glitter lines with Finger Paints Wrapped In Ribbon.

   I have some new sets in my shop! I've put this design up, as well as my brown plaid design from a couple weeks ago. I'll probably add some color options for it eventually.
   You can find them here:
          Brown Plaid
          Christmas Plaid

   I have finals Wednesday and Thursday next week, so I might or might not get another design painted before then. I have a bunch of orders to paint too, so we'll see...

   I hope you all have a great weekend!

   You can use coupon code AIBW10 to get 10% off your order at Born Pretty!