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!

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.)

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Pumpkins

   Still a week late, but oh well. I'll get there! These are my Thanksgiving week nails.

   They were inspired by Cotton Coney. She creates some of the most detailed and intricate designs. It's crazy what she can do!

  It's very detailed and I used lots of polishes, so I won't go into a lot of detail. I'd have a super long post!

   Suffice to say, I started with the pumpkins and went out from there. Pumpkin shape, detail, grassy stuff, detail, flower, etc. You get the idea! If you ever have questions about a design, you can always email me.

   My Thanksgiving this year was busier than years past. I learned what it was like to be a responsible adult that had to help prepare the house and food before everyone came over! It was still fun though. Seeing and visiting with the family is always good.

   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!

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!

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!

Gold Leaf

   This client really wanted something green. I had a gold that looked really pretty on top of it, so we painted a geometric design similar to leaf veins. I really liked the simplicity of the design.

   I started with a base of Studio M On The Field. Then I used Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold and applied it with a small, thin brush.

  Have a great week!

Chalkboard Sunflowers

I found a really cute pin of some sunflowers a few weeks ago. I loved the chalkboard feel of it.

   I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out. Then I sponged on varying amounts of China Glaze Recycle.

   To make the sunflowers, I started with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch to make the petals. Then I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out for the sunflower centers. To make the stems I used L'Oreal New Money.

   I topped it off with a matte topcoat.

   I hope you all 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!

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!

Happy [Belated] Halloween!

  Still behind... Nothing new!

   I hope you all had a great Halloween! We dressed up at school and had kids come in to trick or treat, it was lots of fun!

   I was Dorothy! I'm all about being cheap and using stuff I already have. I had recently bought this dress online and it worked perfectly!

   And of course, I had nails to match.

   I started with a white base, Revlon Colorstay Sure Thing. To make the blue plaid nails, I used some thinned out Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away. I made the darker shadowed squares with Revlon Colorstay Indigo Night.

   To paint the poppies, I started with a bit of red, Revlon Colorstay Red Carpet. I used some thinned out OPI Midnight in Moscow to create the darker interior on the poppy petals, and then finished the flower out with some small dots of Revlon Colortay Buttercup.
   The stems and leaves were made with Studio M On the Field.

   And, despite not being able to find cheap red glitter shoes ANYWHERE (they are always in abundance at Walmart the years I don't need them...), I did put red glitter on my right hand. My feet just had to make do with plain, boring, un-glittery, red heels. :)


   I painted some other Halloween-themed desgins, I'll try to get them up soon. I might just have to go out of order for a week so my Halloween designs are posted at least near Halloween...  I really need to get my blogging life together!


   I hope you all have a fantastic week!