Category: Manicure

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Stripes make your nails look longer, right?

With my new short stubs, I wasn’t feeling very inspired for nail art. =( But I wanted to do something, as I just can’t deal with naked nails. They make me even sadder than short nails. I tried doing a bright gradient but it just didn’t work the way I wanted. I haven’t played much with my striping polishes lately, excluding my unlucky outline nails, so I decided to pull a bunch of them out and do some stripes. (Truthfully I was hoping maybe the stripes would give me the optical illusion of longer nails.)

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • ACO by Ardene in Sugar Champagne.
  • Art Club striping polish in Paisley Paradise.
  • Art Club Nail Art Duo in Baby Blue.
  • Stripe Rite striping polish in black.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

I always rely on my striping polish for creating lines. I’m not very good when it comes to striping tape… I’ve used it a couple times but I much prefer drawing the lines myself. I find that with most manicures it’s much easier, and saves on time because I don’t have to wait for my base color to dry completely before creating my stripes.

Also I must share my excitement over how my lines are becoming much smoother and steadier. When I got my first striping polishes a couple years ago, my freehand lines definitely did not look like that! Now if only I could find a way for my nails to never break. =(

Oh, I created a little before-and-after comparison just to show the difference. =( Stupid table.

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Perfect Polka Dots.

After yesterday’s nail art fail, I wanted to do something I couldn’t screw up. Last week, I bought quite a few new polishes including a Zoya polish I found at my local shoppers on clearance at Lawton’s (my favorite place to get polish–the selection is unbelievable, and they always have amazing deals!) So I decided to grab that gorgeous Zoya and my dotting tool set, and play around a little bit.

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The polishes I used for this manicure are:

  • Zoya Piaf — my soft and sparkly yellow base color.
  • Unnamed Mariposa purple polish.
  • Unnamed Maripose pink polish.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.
  • Icing It’s a Matte World matte top coat.

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I really like how these turned out. I’m really, really loving my dotting tools right now, and doing all the dots on my nails. I’ve been practicing really hard to get my polka dots perfect, and I definitely think I’ve improved a lot since my first attempts at polka dots. It was quick to do, but made my nails feel pretty instantly. The only thing I would change is using a bigger size of dotting tool–I feel like there is a lot of space between my dots.

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“You’re the boss, applesauce.” Andy Warhol inspired nails.

I’ve been all about the floral lately. I found these Andy Warhol inspired nails on Pinterest, and knew I had to recreate them. A few years ago, I was completely obsessed with everything Warhol related–I even had a pair of Levi’s from their Warhol collection. So I knew I had to create my own version of those flower nails.

Surprisingly, they were really easy to create.

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First, I painted my nails with a base color of green. I used Sinful Colors Strapped. It’s a dark Forrest green, which dries to a Matte finish.

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Next, I created my “grass” using the dry brush technique with a collection of other green colors: ACO by Ardene in Sour Apple, ACO by Ardene in Green Peace and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Kiwi Bikini.

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After my grass was complete, I created my floral using a medium sized dotting tool and my four colors: Essence Love Letter’s collection in Rosy in Love (light pink flowers), China Glaze in Metro Pollen-tin (yellow flowers), ACO by Ardene in Lollipop Queen (purple flowers), and Revlon in Siren (orange flowers).

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Finally, I finished off with a layer of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash (yey! I finally have a new bottle and am so happy) and tada! Andy Warhol inspired floral nail art.

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And in the sunshine. =)

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So what do you think of these Andy Warhol nails? Did I do justice to my original inspiration?

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Forgotten Polishes: Drops of Jade.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with new polishes, and completely forget about the older polishes in my stash. The other day, I was looking for something quick but pretty for my nails. I didn’t have time for nail art, but I didn’t just want to wear a basic color.

Looking through my stash, I found my bottle of Maybelline Color Show in Drops of Jade from the polka dot collection. I bought it last Summer, and remember being so obsessed with it when I first bought it. Then it got lost in my stash, and I forgot I had it! Which is sad, because this is the perfect polish for nails on the go–it’s like nail art in a bottle. I applied 2 coats of polish for this manicure, but if I had more time I would have went with three just for a little more coverage. Thankfully, because of the glitters, you can’t really see any bald spots.

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So what do you think of the Maybelline Color Show Polka Dot polishes?

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Mother’s Day Mani.

Yesterday, as I said in my previous post, was Mother’s Day. I worked all day, but afterwards we headed to my parent’s house for a Mother’s Day barbecue, so I wanted to paint my nails for the occasion.

I haven’t been doing a lot of nail art lately–a combination of being busy with work, and tired, and also wanting to re-wear old polishes I haven’t worn in a while. But I couldn’t pass up a chance to do something fun for Mother’s Day–that’s my favorite part of holidays… all the nail art possibilities.

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For this manicure I used:

  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear in Coral Reef — my base color.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Brush in White — my lettering.
  • OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls — polka dots.
  • Sally Hansen X-treme Wear in Mellow Yellow — polka dots.
  • Kozmic Colors nameless blue — polka dots.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat!

I hope all the Mom’s out there had a wonderful day! I made sure to spoil my Mom as much as possible. ❤

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(This is a super old picture–taken on my 25th birthday, but it’s okay because we both look fabulous!)