glitter tips

for the first time in years i bought a revlon nail polish. i am currently obsessed with the color mint, if you can't already tell from the colors i used for this blog. i bought revlon nail enamel in 'minted'. the color doesn't seem to last as long as essie does so i opted to do a gradient glitter on the tips.

step 1: for the base i painted 2 coats of essie's lilacism and on the ring and middle fingers i painted revlon's minted. 

step 2: after letting the base completely dry, i painted a strip of clear nailpolish on the nail tip. directly below, i painted another clear strip and dabbed my finger on it smearing the polish so that there was less clear polish below the highest clear strip which would hence produce the gradient affect.

step 3: i dipped my finger nail in a loose silver glitter pod.

step 4: after about a minute or two i let cold water run on my hands to remove the excess glitter and cleaned up with a flat q-tip dipped in nail polish remover.

bridal bouquet

this week i focused on a good friend of mine priscilla ines, the blogger for priskypaws.com. she is newly engaged and it being mother's day week i decided to do something floral.

a view of both hand's below.. 

step 1: for the base i painted 2 coats of essie's fiesta and lapiz of luxury. 

step 2: after letting the base completely dry, using a white striping pen, i made white lines on the blue nails.

step 3: after letting the white stripes dry (about 5 minutes) i dotted essie's fiesta to create the base of the flower. i allowed that to dry about 5 minutes as well, then using the white striping pen i drew half circles and dots on the pink dots to create an impression of a flower. 

step 4: to complete the vintage flower nails, using a dotting tool, i used essie's mojito madness and painted 2 small "v" shapes alongside the flower for the leaves. 

for a step-by-step video of the vintage floral nails, check out chelsea's get nailed tutorial.

the ari

this gray and yellow manicure was inspired by a facebook friend, ari zapata. ari is one half of the duo of erikmotta.com. she is a photographer and especially loves wedding photography. what's her favorite wedding colors you might ask? yellow and gray! being an august baby like myself, she is fierce and knows what she wants and so "the ari" manicure was created.

step 1: apply the base coat, orly's lemonade.

step 2: once the base has dried completely, rip off a piece of sotch tape. using the corner of the tape, point the tip towards the center of the nail, leaving room for the next color. push down all sides of the tape, so there’s no bleeding then paint the top part of the nail using essie's chinchilly. for the black leopard  i used a black  '2 way nail art brush pen' from ebay (please see my "leopard' post for the link).

step 3: peel off the tape IMMEDIATELY after painting the nail, pulling from the center upwards

step 4: for the additional accents i lined the "v" of the chevron with a silver glitter nail polish and topped it off with a small black rhinestone (see the link on my "leopard" post). 

i love how scotch tape can be easily used to create a nail design. the only downside is the wait time. i recommend to paint the base one day and the design the day after or if you have the time, wait an hour or two before applying the tape so that you don't ruin your base color.

bling, bling!

do you fancy my nails? i bedazzled my nails using rhinestones that i bought from ebay (link here > nail art rhinestones ). for this manicure i used essie's 'a crewed interest' and 'lapiz of luxury' for the base. i then used yellow, light blue and light pink rhinestones to complete the look. to apply the rhinestones, you first apply one coat of clear nail polish then almost immediately after, using a dotting tool or toothpick, wet the tip, with clear nail polish to pick up the rhinestone and apply it to the nail. wait about 30 seconds for the nail polish to dry a bit then firmly press the stone down into the nail to make sure it sticks. voila! you have blinged out your nails.

leopard

my first attempt at leopard print was a success! i was inspired by chelseasgetnailed.com/ tutorial on leopard print nails. for this look i used essie's 'canyon coral' and new york color in a new york minute in 'mint macaroon'. for the actual leopard print i used a '2 way nail art brush pen' which can be found on ebay for .99 cents a bottle depending on the brand. to achieve the leopard print i used the black '2 way nail art brush pen' (using the dotting side) and drew 'C' shapes. then using a silver '2 way nail art brush pen' (using the dotting side) i colored the the center of the c's. for chelsea's video watch here: leopard print!

this picture below is of my sisters's nails to match her game boy. colors used: essie's play date and new york color in a new york minute in 'mint macaroon'.

this picture (below) was also featured on lifebooker.com's facebook's page! https://www.facebook.com/lifebooker