Spring Splotches & Geometric Lines

Happy Monday Lovelies! Today is a super exciting day for me because I’m officially starting at my new job after my week away training, which is both nerve wracking & a brand new adventure for me. Also exciting is today’s manicure which was inspired by a few make up cases I stumbled across at Superstore while grocery shopping.

I love when I find inspiration when I’m not looking for it. This pattern just screams nail art, so obviously I had to snap a picture for future nail designs. I loved the imperfect splotches of colour against the white background & loved how well it paired with the other make up back.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Quo by ORLYBreathable Kiss Me, I’m Kind
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard To Get
  • Essie Flowerista
  • Essie Too Too Hot
  • Essie Garden Party
  • Essie All the Waves
  • L’Oréal Feeling Kilty
  • Quo by ORLY Nail Art Striper in Black
  • Medium size nail art brush

I just love love love how these turned out! The pretty spring colours, the splotches of colour with the geometric lines. It just turned out as perfect on the nail as I pictured in my head. I feel like I don’t do my freehand lines as often as I used to, so I’ve been trying to practice more!

What do you think of this design… do you think I stuck close enough to my inspiration? Where do you get your nail art inspiration from? Let me know your favourite place to find inspiration (or who inspires you) down in the comments below!

Happy Monday everyone 🌸

5 Cute Valentine’s Day Designs (inspired by Pinterest)

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Are we getting excited for Valentine’s Day? T-minus one week until the big day! & even if you’re not a fan of the holiday itself, it’s always fun to have an excuse for cute nails. I decided it would be fun to browse my nail art inspiration folder on Pinterest for some fun Valentine’s Day nails. I decided to pick 5 relatively easy nail art designs & recreate them for you, just in case you need a little last minute inspiration.

DOTTICURE HEART — original design (by @majikbeenz) pinned here

First design I picked to recreate is this adorable dotticure heart design that was originally done by @magikbeenz. I’ve actually recreate this design before (pre-this blog & instagram) but I loved it so much I wanted to give it another attempt. All you need for this design is a couple of polishes (pink, white, red, coral) & a dotting tool. It looks super complicated, but it really isn’t. If you weren’t sure if you can get the heart shape right, you could always use a heart stencil & fill the dots inside.

My main pink is Essence Perfect Match.

TIC TAC TOE HEART ACCENT NAIL — original design (by @nailstorming) pinned here

The next design I attempted was this tic tac toe heart design originally done by @nailstorming. I thought this design was super cute & a little bit more challenging. Your best bet for you accent nail is to use acrylic paint, so that if you make a mistake you can wash it away easily. For this design you’ll want a striper brush, detail brush & small dotting tool. I have this set from Bundle Monster, which was actually a Valentine’s Day gift from my hubby a few years ago.

Main pink is L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses & main red is L’Oreal Carmin Parisien.

PINK HEART & POLKA DOT ACCENT NAIL — original design pinned here

I found this cute simple heart nail design on Pinterest & loved how girlie it was. I wish there was a proper Instagram account to link to, but sadly I couldn’t find one. (I guess my Veronica Mars sleuthing skills aren’t as up to par as I thought). This is a great design for a nail art beginner to wear on their nails! I created my heart using a larger dotting tool & a small detail brush (you can see how I create hearts by checking out my tutorial here) but again if you’re not comfortable with freehanding, a nail stencil also works!

Main pink is L’Oreal Jardin Des Roses.

VALENTINE’S DAY LEOPARD PRINT — original design (by @mayasnailart) pinned here

If you’re not in the mood for a super obvious Valentine’s Day design, but still want to feel festive, this design originally done by @mayasnailart is a super cute option! Again this is a design that is not super complicated to do, even though it looks super complicated! I like the contrast of the leopard hearts against the neutral base colour. All I used for my leopard print was a red & black nail art pen (Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art)  & it was just as easy as drawing on paper. You just have to make sure your base is dry.

My main beige is OPI You’re So Vanilla.

BLUE VALENTINE NAILS –originaldesign (by @karrisabianco) pinned here

Not everyone is a fan of pink or red, so this is a great Valentine’s Day nail art option. This design was originally done by @karissabianco & what drew me to it was the fact it wasn’t your typical colour scheme. For this design, I also used a Sally Hansen Nail Art pen (this time in Silver) but for your heart you could use a stamping plate or nail stencil, & create your polka dots using a dotting tool.

Main Blue colour is Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in Beatnik

So that’s 5 cute Valentine’s Day designs inspired by Pinterest! I hope I’m not the only one who can spend hours on pinterest saving nail art design (& style idea, & home ideas & food ideas). Do you have any fun nail art designs you’re planning on creating for Valentine’s Day? Share your favourite designs in the comments below!

If you’re interested in checking out my favourite saved manicure designs on Pinterest, my username is xcoffeeandnails.