Cutting-room floor

Melty black hearts- I guess I'm feeling emo?

My hand and nails look pretty terrible in this picture. I failed a couple of other designs before settling on this one and it didn't clean up all the way..... BTW, tape on nails does not work, unless there is some magical secret I'm missing.


To make up for lateness, I'll post another!

Fluttershy - From last month

Dot Dot Dot

If you get yourself a dotting tool, you'll never have boring nails again, except by choice :-p. Dots can make a border on the base of french tipped nails or cover it like polka-dots. I had to cut all of my nails short because I chipped one :-/ ... but dots still look good on short nails, unlike some other designs that really need that extended surface.

Here's why I like dot designs:
1. Easy - it's just poke the paint, then poke your nail
2. Fast - dots use little paint
3. Versatile - you can make flowers, borders, abstract art, patterns... there are many options when playing with dots.

Featured Design this week is High Contrast Black on White

Here are some other designs you may want to try with dots:

 Ombre Dots

 

 Yellow to green to teal on grey :) Try smaller or larger dots.

Porcelain Motif 

 

Do a blue french tip on white. Use the large dotter on the bottom edge 

of the french tip to make the lacy pattern.

Strawberry and Watermelon

Up for a picnic?

Polka-dot French Tip, Waiting, Dot Border and Bow, Diagnal Polka-tip, Mustache

For Mustache, do two large dots next to each other and then drag the paint with the small dotter to create the shape.

Experiment with patterns. I'd love to hear and see what you come up with :)

Show your WILD side

This week, it's time to let your wild side show with animal print nails.

I always thought that cheetah print looked awesome on nails, but it looked too good to be easy. I was so wrong! Cheetah print is one of the simplest ways I've found to accent nails and it's hard to choose wrong colors. I'll be showing you a tutorial on my lovely 12-year-old hand model. (You know it must be a fast and easy session if a 12-year-old sits through it!)

 

I used Sinful Colors (SC) "Tempest," SC "Back on Black," and Sally Hansen Salon "Fairy Teal."

My recommendation is to have a neutral base and bright colors for the print.

Essential Tools: 100% acetone polish remover, filbert tip paint brush (it's rounded), embossing tool. There are "official" nail tools like this embosser and people look at me funny when I tell them I got a nail tool at Michaels... but I like my embossing tool as a dotter because it is much smaller tipped than the ones I've found in beauty supply stores.





Steps:
1. Create a base for your design. I painted the top half of the nail in Tempest. Don't worry about the bottom line being straight yet. Apply two coats and let them dry well (2 min).

 

2. Sculpt your french tip by saturating your filbert paintbrush in acetone (pour a little bit into the cap to use as a stock) and gently brushing along where you want the bottom line. I also take this time to clean up places along the nail where I got "too excited" with the paint.

3. To make the cheetah print, scatter dots across the french tip area using the larger dotter side. 4-5  dots of various sizes and oblong shapes. They don't need to be perfect circles. It actually looks more natural if they are not. Add the occasional base dot off the edge of the french tip for artistic effect.

 

4. Create the real cheetah look by dotting around the outside edges with black polish on your small dotter. I've found that three dots around the edges looks best. Also add stray black dots in empty spaces.



 5. Let dry thoroughly and coat with clear polish or sparkle.

Additional Ideas!
- add a dot of sparkle polish in the center of random spots
- paint your ring fingers in the inverted color scheme (here it would be purple spots on teal)
- use multiple colors for your spots

Other Pictures

 

 

I did mine with lime and coral on brown. (SC Soul Mate, SC Innocent, and SC Nirvana)

 

 

SC Soul Mate on Essie's Mint Candy Apple with pink glitter accents.

 

Welcome to my blog.

I love creating designs and experimenting on my nails, so I got the idea that I should start up a blog. (This is my first time blogging, so bear with me.) I will be posting some of my designs and tutorials, as well as some reviews of nail tutorials I've found. I welcome all kinds of comments especially recommendations of techniques to try out and review. First design post will be coming soon! :)