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!

Fall Trees

   One of my fellow students found a pin that she wanted me to replicate. It was a cute gradient with a fall tree accent.

   To make the gradient, I used OPI A Woman's Prague-ative and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out. The leaf was made with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch.
   The tree was made by sponging on a bit of Prague-ative and then painting on Branch Out for the trunk. Then it all was topped off with a matte topcoat.


   Have a great week!

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!

Ocean Glitter

   I found the prettiest glitter at Micheal's the other day. It's a pretty sea green, and I have fun mermaid/sea plans for it in the future....

   This isn't the best color-accurate picture. Here's a better version.

   I started with a base of Revlon Colorstay Shell. While the top layer of polish on my ring finger was still wet, I poured some glitter on that nail. To make the gradient on the other nails, I painted a coat of polish, and while it was still wet, applied glitter where desired with a brush.

   Another short post. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Black Matte Glitter Gradient

   So, it's official - this semester is nuts! I've had so much going on the past few months it's been hard to keep up. It's looking like things will be getting back to normal, but we'll see... I hope it does!
   This design (from about three weeks ago) is based off a custom order I had a few months ago.

   The original design had the glitter on just the ring finger, but for me, I liked it better with all the nails glittered. For the glitter gradient I mainly used Finger Paints Wrapped in Ribbon (a fine glitter) and a little bit of Wet 'N Wild Fergie Glamorous (large glitter). My base was a black polish, I used Finger Paints Black Expressionism. Then I topped it all with a matte top coat!

   This one is available in my shop, you can find it here.

   I hope you all have a great 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!

New Sets

   As promised last week, I have the rest of the evidence of my super-productiveness last week. I had planned to post them right after the first batch, but I was too excited about those cute foxes!

   I think this one will be a good summer design. Tribal things always seem to be at their height during the summer. I started with a base of L'Oreal Walk on the Beach and then used a small brush to paint on the teal triangle (Studio M Blue Ming). Then I just used my striper for all the black.
   You can find this here in my shop.

   I don't know what I think of this one yet. I like it, but at the same time I don't. I started with the same base, Walk on the Beach. Then I made three black lines with my striper, the top and bottom lines, and then one in the middle. Then I made diagonal black lines and filled the spaces with varying shades of brown (I used 3 shades). After that I went back over the black lines and then sealed it with a topcoat.
   You can find this here in my shop.

   This design is currently on my toes! I need to take a picture of them before I take it off. I forgot to get last months, so I 'll have to do better this time! This design is a simple glitter gradient. My base is Finger Paints Masterpiece of Minimalism and the glitter I used is Orly Glam FX Watch It Glitter.
   You can find it here in my shop.

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Lost Nails.. :(

   So I was cleaning out my folders on my desktop and found some designs I had completely forgotten about! They aren't super old, just a few months late. Oh well. You're seeing them now, so that's all that matters, right?

   This first one was made back when I painted my watercolor ombre toes. I really liked how it looked so I made it into an Etsy set. I'm not sure why I didn't post about it when I wrote about my toes, but I didn't!

   You can find this set here in shop.  As usual, I have to offer some options. I currently have it to where you can order blue, pink, purple or grey/white. I think the blue is my favorite though. It all goes back to that love of the ocean...

   This next set was made right after my Elsa set. I have a ton of glitter sets in my shop, but after making the glitter tips for Elsa, I thought that would be a good addition to my glitter cache.

   You can find the set here in my shop. As of right now it's just available in this icy blue. There might be more color options later, you never know!

   I absolutely love this next set! It was a custom order from a few weeks back that just got lost in all my Disney craziness. It is super cute though, and I can't wait to put it in my shop.

   I didn't think I would like the roses at first, but I ended up really liking them. You can't look at them too closely, or else they look like a jumbled mess, but other than that I think they turned out pretty cute. They're pretty good at-a-distance-roses. So many of the roses I make that look halfway decent up close look like nothing but a red blob from far away. They're definitely something on my Picky-Sarah-To-Do List.

   This next set isn't technically lost. I painted it last week on my cousin! She wanted some pineapple nails so we found a couple cute designs and mashed them together. This isn't the best picture, but oh well.

   I really like this one! I think I'm going to eventually get it up in my shop. It would be a cute summer/beach set. It was inspired by this pin and this pin. It was a lot of fun to paint. Pineapples are pretty easy to make!

   That's all for tonight. I know I've gotten kind of irregular again, but the past two weeks have been kind of crazy between VBS, work, and entertaining my cousin! I should a have a new post soon though. I just painted my Tiana design on my fingers and I finally painted my toes again!
   Have an awesome week!

Faux Watercolor

   I have a new design on my toes, and this one is share-worthy (unlike my last one!). I was inspired by a tutorial from The Nailasaurus. It was super easy, and turned out a lot nicer than I thought! Now I can do two types of gradients! Sponged gradients are still a mystery to me though...

   It reminds me of the ocean. Its really made me want to go to the beach! I haven't been in ages and I miss it. After going at least once a year (if not more) during your childhood, you really miss it after not being able to go for almost three years.

   This was so easy to make! I thought I would need my polish thinner, but you really don't need it. It made it easier to use one slightly goopy polish, but this is definitely something anybody could do, as long as you have a smallish brush. I used the largest of my small brushes:

   It's the size 0 of my three Wistonia brushes.
   I only used three shades for this instead of 4 like in the tutorial. I didn't have three blues that went together well enough. I don't think you can really tell though.
   I also made this into an Etsy set! I have three colors available - blue, pink, and purple. I think the blue is still my favorite though, followed by purple, probably. I did have four colors for the pink and purple, so they're more like the tutorial in that sense.

   I don't have a link yet though, I'm going to be on vacation for a week so my shop is on hold - no one can purchase anything at the moment. So it would be silly to post a new listing when no one can see it! When I get back I'll post a picture of the full set and a link to the listing.

   I'll see you all in a week! Maybe sooner, who knows! I plan on painting my nails before the trip, but I'm not sure I'll have time. This is a hectic week!
   Have a wonderful week guys!