Independence Day Grunge

I was kind of bored with the same ol' stars 'n stripes theme I normally do for holidays like this, so I decided to try something different. I think it turned out more as a tribute to the early 90's grunge period, but interesting, nonetheless. It looks completely different matte vs. shiny - I think the matte is what really gives it the grunge-like look...

Obviously I needed a red, white & blue color scheme, so I went with China Glaze "White Out" and "Red Pearl" for white and red, and Zoya's "Indigo" for the blue. I really like these three together - they blend rather well. I started off with two coats of White Out:

 And then sponged on Red Pearl at the base of my nails. It took two coats before it looked more red than bright reddish pink:

 Then I sponged Indigo on the tips - again, two coats. One just wasn't quite enough...two made a nice "dark denim" look:

 I think I should have sponged another layer of white over the center, just to blend the colors better. Next time, eh? Then I added two coats of China Glaze "Matte Magic" over the top, just to see what it would do. the red ran together, so I lost that spongy look - if I were doing it over, I think I'd put a coat of normal Seche Vite top coat on first, and *then* matte it down, to keep the sponged look better:

 A little clean up, and voila! Grunge nails for the 4th of July. :-)

For those in the US, I hope you all have a very safe and happy holiday. For everyone else, happy Wednesday...

Until next week, happy polishing... 

Memorial Day 2012

I have a new camera - yay! I was going to try out a video for this week, but then I caught my husband's head cold, and just didn't have the energy. So a straight photo tutorial today, and perhaps I can get video done next week.

Yesterday was Memorial Day in the US, so I decided a bit of patriotism was in order...

Polishes used: Zoya "Indigo", Sinful Colors "Ruby, Ruby" and a white StripeRite striper polish.

 I started with two coats of "Ruby, Ruby" (before you go commenting on my messy process, please read this - thanks).

 Next, I painted vertical stripes down each nail in white, all flag-like. This really works best with the long, narrow brush in a striper bottle, but you can use a toothpick or a very thin paintbrush too, if you're careful.

 After that, I used two coats of Zoya "Indigo" for the tips, and decided at the last minute to outline them lightly with a silver glitter striper polish.

 Finally, I used one coat of Seche Vite top coat to set white pearl beads into to represent stars on the blue tips. I sealed them with one more coat of topcoat over everything.

After clean-up, all done! This would be great for the 4th of July as well, methinks...

Until next week, happy polishing!

Peppermint Stripes

I was going to do a gift wrap design this week, but decided to go all strip-y instead. I really should clean out my nail polish drawer too, considering how long it took me to find my white striper bottle, but that's beside the point, eh?

Very simple colors for this one - China Glaze "White Out" and "Red Pearl" and then two art polishes with long, thin striper brushes. The red striper was provided to me by SparklyNails sometime *last* year, and the formula is still very nice to work with. Impressive, for a striper polish!

I decided to alternate colors, so I started with Seche Vite base coat, followed by two coats of red & white on alternating nails.

Then I striped the red nails with white...

And then the white with red (painfully simple, eh?). 

A couple coats of Seche Vite top coat, cuticle clean-up, and voila! Guaranteed to make everyone's eyes go buggy.  ;-) 

Next year, I need to make my cuticles more of a priority, I think. They're horrible, poor things, and I should take better care of them. 

Also, I'm curious, so if you have a minute to leave a comment, please help me decide where to take this blog in 2012. Would you like to see: 

- Don't change anything

- More video

- Less tutorials (I get a lot of complaints about how messy my process is - would you rather just see the finished product?)

- More color swatching

- Anything else you'd like to suggest (politely, please!)

Until next week, have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday!

Sparkly Green

This week's photos are a bit blurry - sorry! The Christmas tree is pretty, but it sucks more light out of my space and while I should have just moved...I was too lazy.

I'm all about the glitter this month...this is actually last week's manicure, and I've got something similar going on this week. It's a nice way to sparkle without spending a lot of time - handy since both of these last two manicures happened between 1am and 3am. Busy busy!

For this one, I started with a base coat of the Sally Hanson Triple Strong formula, because that middle nail is still not quite long enough to cut off. Once that was epoxied together, I put on two coats of my favorite white, Finger Paints "Well-Cultured Pearl".

Then I started at the tip, and brushed on a thin layer of Sinful's "Call You Later", a lovely green & gold glitter I got on sale at the drugstore awhile ago. 

Then one more layer of the glitter, just not quite as far down on the nail for a nice gradient.

Then a couple coats of Seche Vite to top it off, and clean up in the shower the next morning. Easy peasy.

You'll have to excuse my super-dry skin...I can't seem to get enough lotion this time of year. Dry, cold air will do that...

Next week, gift wrap. :-) Until then, happy polishing!

Split Personality

It's been a very busy few weeks, but our big Halloween bash went off without a hitch. Last week was a whirlwind of activity around here, cleaning, new carpet, new entertainment center, and much less decorating than I would have liked (but still quite a lot). The theme this year was Heaven & Hell, and naturally, the two sides of my personality were allowed out for an evening - including my nails, of course. My only regret is that I broke several nails moving furniture, and didn't have enough length left to do stilettos for my right hand. *sigh*

Above on my right hand, China Glaze "Ruby Slippers" tipped with CG "Liquid Leather" and a fine line of a matte cement color by Nubar (I forget the exact name, and am too lazy to go look at the moment - sorry!). Obviously, this was my "devil" side, so I didn't mind the tip pull or chipping on my thumb. Just added character to the costume, I think.

Below, my "angel" hand on the left. I used one coat of my favorite pearl white from Finger Paints (also forgot the name), topped with two coats of The Painted Nail by Nubar's "Silver Screened". More pearl on the tip, with CG "Tinsel" along the smile line.

I have to say, it's kind of fun wearing two completely different manicures...and I actually got a few compliments, believe it or not. Perhaps I should try this more often? More nail art opportunities...

Next week, a webby manicure I've been waiting *all month* to do. Got Halloween art of your own? Post a link in the comments so we can all have a gander! :-)

Halloween Meltdown

As you may have noticed, I'm having trouble keeping up with October posts this year. We're having a big Halloween bash here at the house in 11 days, getting new carpet in 6 days, and trying to get everything ready on time. Needless to say, my head hasn't exactly been on nail pictures. 
So I'll repost this manicure from last year for your viewing pleasure this week, and next week I'll post my split personality manicure to go with my costume. Enjoy these purple nails - I sure did! :-) 

******

 I decided to go purple, orange and silver for this week's Halloween nail colors. I was a little apprehensive about whether the China Glaze "Spellbound" glitter would go with the Urban Decay "Meltdown" royal purple. After some reassurance from hubby that it would work just fine, I started with two coats of Meltdown over base coat. I can't say this polish was my fave to work with. It's thicker than I'm used to, and harder to control. I just adore this color though - isn't it gorgeous? Then I added one coat of Spellbound from the cuticle just half way up the nail for some glitter. I have horrible light at night, but wait for the "finished" photos. Spellbound is...spellbinding! I was going to use silver bouillon beads for the letters, but decided that they'd "get lost" in the silver glitter. So I used the white Migi pen instead to write "Eek!" on one hand, and "Boo!" on the other. A little top coat, some clean-up and a little outdoor lighting - voila! Another festive (and very easy) Halloween manicure! I've already gotten a compliment at work for these...Halloween nails seem popular this year! More Halloween next week...

Nail Love

Hello there, neglected little nail art blog. Did you miss me? I've been doing my nails, but most of January was spent getting my latest book, Desert Heat up for sale, and writing up a storm on new books. And I'll admit that this month, I've been incredibly lazy about photo editing. But no more!

To get back into things, a simple Valentine's Day manicure...

 I started with a base of Avon's "Pink Radiance", just 2 coats over Seche Vite base coat.

 

Then I used my handy-dandy dotting tool from Born Pretty Store to dot a big heart on each nail in white. 

And that's it - two coats of Seche Vite top coat, and clean up. Unfortunately I've got a little tip-pull going on, but it's my own fault for not doing the undersides of my nails. Voila! Simple, casual Valentine's Day nails. 

Until next week (no, really!), happy polishing...

Catchin' Up

Apologies for disappearing in December - the holidays sort of got away from me. So today I have a couple finished manicures from Christmas and the first week in January to show you, and then next week I'll have a new tutorial to post.

For Christmas this year, I used these cute decals from Born Pretty. Speaking of which, Born Pretty has offered Nail Art Tuesday shoppers 10% off your order when you use code: SQUOVAL15 at checkout.

The fun part about the Christmas mani (aside from those lovely water decals) was that my silver polish was way too thick. It was hard to work with, but it also made a 3-D, almost "fuzzy" line at the tips.

Last week I got some fun new Finger Paints polishes that I can't recall the names of just now (don't worry, you'll see them again). I decided to do a gradient with China Glaze "Tinsel" between the white and purple. I love how it turned out, very "winter whimsical", I think.

So that's what I've been up to polish-wise - next week, China Glaze "Dorthy Who?" and full nail stickers.

Until then - happy polishing!

Sparkly Ornaments

This week, I needed something to help me get in the mood for Christmas, and I needed a quick design. So I got out these huge rhinestones that the Born Pretty store sent for review. I think they look very much like shiny glass ornaments, don't you?

I started with one of my favorite Christmas glitters, China Glaze "Emerald Sparkle". Two coats over CG base coat makes a nice "tree" layer.

Then I added a thick diagonal stripe in China Glaze "Tinsel", another of my favorite CG polishes. Just one, somewhat thick coat worked fine for setting the stones.

I added three stones to each nail, using red and yellow...

And switched the colors on my index fingers for just a little variety.

Two coats China Glaze quick dry top coat, some clean up, and voila! Sparkly ornaments telling me it's time to get moving on the holiday stuff.

**Edited to add - Born Pretty Store is offering a 10% discount until December 31st, 2010 - use coupon code OPENTENOFF. I may just do that myself, actually. :-)

I'm kind of itching to try a peppermint swirl water marble thing - perhaps I'll do that next week. Until then, happy polishing!

Red, White and Bling

Apologies for posting late this week - but I wanted to have a patriotic design to share in honor of our July 4th Independence Day celebration here in the states. Not just any red, white and blue though...I decided to get a bit more creative this year. I like 'em. :-)

I started with three coats of China Glaze "Snow Me White" - it took that many coats to get it smooth.

Then I did red stripes in Urban Decay's "Fbomb" - which is both ironic and kind of irreverent, but it was the perfect color, I think.

After that, a thicker stripe of blue straight down the center. Two coats of Zoya's "Kotori", one of my favorite sparkly blues.

Obviously, my edges leave a lot to be desired. To straighten them out and add some definition, I used my silver glitter Art Club striper to line the blue.

But wait, there's more! Finally, I put clear rhinestones down the blue, loosely representative of the stars on our flag. I set them in a coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

Then I added two more light coats of Seche Vite to seal, and cleaned 'em up the next morning. I think they're kind of edgy and fun, and they're definitely different than my normal 4th of July designs.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend - stay safe. Next week, it's all about the green, and stencils!

Until then, Happy Polishing...