Freehand, and sort of abstract, chevrons/zigzags.

After my successful chevron moon manicure last week, I wanted to try another chevron manicure as I haven’t done very many in the past. I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest, and figured with my new small detail nail art brush, I could make a good attempt at freehand chevrons.

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Left hand.

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Right hand.

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.
  • ACO by Ardene Neon Pink.
  • Maybelline Sapphire Siren.
  • Sinful Colors Be Happy.
  • China Glaze What a Pansy.
  • Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top Coat.

I’m calling these abstract because… well… they’re not the cleanest lines. Surprisingly, my right hand turned out better than my left, which is funny because it was done using my none dominant hand! Never the less, I’m proud of how they look! When I first started doing nail art, I never would have been able to create something like this without it turning into a big blobby mess. It’s nice to remember that on days when I see others nail art and feel envious that I’m not that good… all it takes is lots practice.

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Seeing these, I feel so proud of being able to create these freehand. For real first attempt, I think I did pretty good. And the colors just look so great together! This is also giving me an urge to do a “then and now” nail art post, just to show myself how far I’ve come from my first days of doing my nails, to now. It would be fun to recreate my first nail art attempts, just for a personal comparison. Maybe that’s what I’ll dedicate next week to. =)

 

In love with Spring, Coral and Floral.

Happy first day of June!

Oh how happy am I that Spring is in full bloom. Summer has always been my favorite season–I love the heat. So in honor of Summer being all that much closer, I did a pretty floral manicure. There are so many floral/rose and polka dot manis floating around I felt inspired. I’ve been working on perfecting my roses and with my new tiny nail art brushes I got not that long ago, I feel like my technique has definitely improved.

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The polishes I used to create this floral manicure was:

  • Sinful Colors in Island Coral –pinky coral on my nail art free nails.
  • ACO by Ardene in Bridezilla — off white/nude background color of my nail art.
  • Claire’s Neon Purple –roses
  • Unnamed Claire’s Pink shimmer polish –roses
  • Bourjois Paris in 1938 Mais Oui —roses
  • Boujois Paris in 2002 Effect 3D Lip Gloss — roses.
  • ACO by Ardene in Green Peace — darker green of leaves.
  • And another brighter lime green I can’t remember the name of.
  • Nutra Nail Top Speed Top Coat (with green tea.)

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As you can see from the close up of my flowers, they actually (kind of?) resemble roses–or at least I think so. Thanks to my new, and much smaller, nail art brushes creating the swoops of different colors really makes a big difference in how these flowers turned out. I also really like the color combination of the pinks and purples and this Sinful Colors coral. It all makes for a wonderful Spring-soon-to-be-Summer manicure.

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My nails are so happy to soak up the sunshine and increasingly warm weather. I have a feeling that I’ll be creating a lot of floral manicures. Now I just have to find the perfect complimentary spring dress to match, and I’ll be all set for the day.

Back to Bright.

One slightly subdued manicure, and I’m already back to the bright colors. I just can’t escape them. The calender says it’s almost Summer–even if the weather won’t agree–and my mind instantly craves anything bright.

Today’s mani came as a result of having no idea what I wanted to wear on my nails. After spending 20 minutes going through my stash, plagued with indecision, I finally decided on China Glaze’s Metro Pollen-tin from the Spring collection, with ACO by Ardene in Hot Tamale on my pinky. Originally I was just going to do a simple polka dot accent nail, but as you can see once I started with the dots…. I just couldn’t stop! They even spread to my thumb!

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Unfortunately I used way too many polishes on my accent nails to remember them off the top of my head. However, the main polishes I used were China Glaze’s Metro Pollen-tin and ACO by Ardene Hot Tamale which has to be one of my favorite pinky-corals. In person, it is much more neon but still manages to apply in two slightly thick coats. It was my go-to color last Summer, and I have a feeling this Summer will be no different.

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So many colors!

Color block — take two.

As you’ve kind of noticed, I’ve been killing color block manicures lately. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding on just one bright color, so I have to used them all. (Haha, maybe not all. I own 300 polishes so that would be quite a time consuming manicure.)

Today’s bright and colorful manicure is a combination of some fun Summer colors. It took me a little while to get done, but I love the finished product. I painted everything completely free hand, so my lines are not perfectly straight–but I find that adds to the charm.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors in Be Happy.
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Coral Reef.
  • Art Club Striping Polish in Paisley Paradise.
  • Essence Color & Go  in Let’s Get Lost!
  • Art Club Nail Art Duo in Baby Blue.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in white.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in orange.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in black.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

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I really, really love the look of these. They’re just really fun! And the best part about a manicure with this many colors is that I can pretty much match it to any outfit. =) We’ve still got some serious grey skies happening right now, so at least my nails are spring-like.

Crayon Nails.

Just a quick manicure post today.

I did these nails last night, as I was trying to come up with something pretty to put on my nails. My original inspiration came from pinterest,  although I used a different color scheme and used striping polish instead of tape. I was going off what I had remembered seeing, so it didn’t turn out exactly how I was hoping. In all honesty, these nails really remind me of crayons haha.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors in Be Happy — base color.
  • Stripe Rite striping polish in black.
  • Art Club striping polish in Paisley Paradise.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.