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!

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!

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!

Snowmen

   This week I have some cute snowmen with crazy hats for you all!

   I love the accent. And the base color of the tiny snowmen. And the tiny snowmen. It's just so cute!
   For the accent snowman, I started with a white base, and then added one layer of Girly Bits January Morning to give it a bit of snow shimmer. I used my dotter for the eyes, mouth, and carrot nose. His hat was made with my green nail art pen (which somehow turned teal-ish), and two shades of grey for the fur.

   To make the tiny snowmen, I started with a base of January Morning (two coats to leave it sheer). Then I placed some really pretty iridescent glitter on top. I used my dotter to make the snowmen, and my tiny brish to make their hats and arms.

   I finished them all off with a matte top coat.

   I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

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!

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!

Blueberries

   I ordered some new polish, and they are both holos! I'm telling you, I'm officially addicted to them like the rest of you. I don't know what took me so long...

   This is Girly Bits Cosmetics Downtown Funk in bright sunlight and indoor light. It's such a pretty holo!

   (This isn't a very color correct image for Downtown Funk, but you've already seen some in the first two images.)
 
   I made some vines with berries (blueberries?) on this design. It ended up looking kind of wintery.... I started by painting the vines with thinned out OPI A-Piers to Be Tan and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out. To make the berries, I used Aurora Gel Effect Inky Dinky, and highlighted them with L'Oreal Royally Reinvented. The leaves were made with Studio M On the Field and Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir.


   I hope you all have a great 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!

Halloween Part II

   To continue with my belated Halloween designs... (Eventually I will post them on Halloween if not before!)

   Here are a few designs I created at school on fellow students and clients.

   First up: Saw-themed nails. This student was dressing up as Jigsaw for Halloween, complete with the tricycle. I've never seen any of the Saw movies (I like to sleep at night), so I had to do a little research for this one.
  For the accent nails, I used Revlon Colortsay Sure Thing as my base, and red acrylic paint for the hand print and swirl. The other nails were painted with OPI Midnight in Moscow, a neat seemingly black base with a red shimmer when it's in the light.

   Sugar skulls and spider webs! This girl was dressing in a skeleton/sugar skull/Day of the Dead themed costume. To make this set, I started with a white base for the sugar skulls. Then I used a combination of red and black acrylic paint, as well as a green nail art pen. The webs were made with OPI Midnight in Moscow and white acrylic paint. The set was topped off with a matte topcoat.

   I'm a little bit proud of this one... I've always loved calligraphy, so it was really fun to combine my love of letters and my love of polish for this design! I'm not sure what the costume idea was for this one, but I'm just happy I got to paint pretty letters.
   I started with a black base, and then used acrylic paint for the letters. It was topped off with a matte topcoat as well. She had broken a couple of nails, so I sculpted those out. All in all, I think it took about 3 hours, including a quick smoke break for her and a wiggle break for me. :)

   I have one more installment and then I'm done with Halloween and back to trying to catch up.. I think I'm only 1 week behind. Surely I can catch up from that! :D

   Have a fantastic week!

Halloween in... Disney World!

  ...Unfortunately, I'm not the lucky lady who gets to go. Somehow, my parents have neglected to ever take me there... Which I might or might not be slightly upset about. But hey, it's not like I didn't get to go to lots of other really cool places most people don't get to visit. So I guess it evens out.
   Anyways, I had a customer contact me about creating a couple custom sets for her trip to Disney World around Halloween. Super cool, right? It's got to be so much fun to go there on any holiday, but especially Halloween.

  The first set was a Hocus Pocus themed set. I've never really been a huge fan of that movie (I know, blasphemy!), but it was still really fun to create. She wanted four accents; the black flame candle, Thackery Binx (in cat form), the spell book, and Billy Butcherson.

   To keep it short, the main colors I used were purple with a glitter top coat (OPI I Vant to Bite Your Neck and Finger Paints Glitter Top Coat), green (L'Oreal New Money), and a really neat black with a slight red shimmer (OPI Midnight in Moscow).

   The other set she requested was a Mickey Mouse inspired set. For the thumbs, I used a base of CND Vinylux Grommet and my red striper. The black glitter is Nina Ultra Pro Glam Rock. The red glitter is Wet 'N Wild Fergie No Place Like Home (and one of my favorites!).


   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Geometric Gels

   I'll start out by saying: school is awesome! For those of you that don't know, I started school to become a nail technician this month. We spent the whole first week giving each other manicures, so I never had polish on long enough to bother with. We started working with acrylics today. ...I think I'm in love! There is so much you can do with them.

   We ended the week with gels, so I'll have a pretty pink on for the next few weeks. This week I painted a geometric design on top of the gel.

   The gel polish used was OPI Pink Flamingo, I think. Something about flamingos, anyway! To make the geometric design, I used China Glaze Princess Grace and my favorite thin striping brush from Born Pretty. To make the dots, I used my smallest dotter.

   I'm not sure when I 'll have something new, but it shouldn't be too long now that we're not changing our polish every day. Maybe I'll have some acryilcs soon once I get more practice!


   I hope you all have a fantastic 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!

Vintage Roses

   Sorry I've been so silent, I've been of vacationing and then working on a boat load of orders. Hopefully now that I'm done with summer vacations and getting ready for school, things will quiet down and I'll be posting and painting more regularly.

   This week I painted an old Etsy set.

   I wasn't a fan of this set originally - I like my flowers and things to be more realistic usually. But after painting it recently for an order, it started to grow on me.

   I started with a base of OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid and Revlon Colorstay Sure Thing. I used a white striper to make the dots and stripes. To make the roses, I started with Finger Paints Far Out Fuchsia. Then I swirled on various amounts of Revlon Colorstay Card Shark and Finger Paints Plum Perspective.


   Have a great week!

Review: Blue Rose Decals

   I received another package in the mail from Born Pretty a few weeks ago! I got a bunch of cute stuff that I can't wait to show you guys. First up: these beautiful blue rose water decals. It came in a pack of four different designs, but it was the blue one that caught my eye first.

   These were super easy to apply, like always. There was no sliding at all on these decals, so that was great! They lasted for a really long time too (for me), with no peeling. I work at JoAnn Fabrics, so I'm constantly knocking my nails around on bolts of fabric and counters. Most of my manicures only last about two or three days before they chip. These decals held up really well though and lasted for about four days or so. On any normal person that doesn't treat their nails horribly at work, I'd guess the decals could last a really long time for them.

   They were thin, so I did need to apply a base color before applying. I used my favorite cream base, Orly French Manicure Pink Nude. On my other nails I added some tiny light blue dots. They're really hard to see, but they are there! You can see them a little better in the first picture.

   I hope you all have a great week!

Memorial Day

   I'm going to go a tiny bit out of order this week, so that Memorial Day's design is still somewhat close to Memorial Day. I know I've been quiet recently; I've been moving out of my apartment, unpacking, working, making a quick weekend trip to see family... Hopefully things will quiet down after this week!

   Anyway, I didn't plan on having a Memorial Day design, it just happened that what I painted ended up looking patriotic!

   I was really struggling this weekend with making a design work. I was in one of those fidgety moods where nothing turns out right.

   Using one of my favorite bases, Orly French Manicure Pink Nude, I painted some stripes with varying widths using OPI Aloha From Hawaii and Orly Teal Unreal. After staring at it and thinking it looked a little plain, I added some white dots to the widest of the stripes.

   There was no way I was going to attempt this on my right hand, so I used Aloha as my base and used my dotter to add on some white dots down one side of each nail.

   I hope you all have a great week!