Seaside Nails Tutorial

Today's post is a simple one. I've been rekindling my love for nail art and starting to explore more possibilities, methods and techniques. One major source of inspiration for me has been bornprettystore.com which is an online store which sells a lot of accessories and small stuff and their range of nail art items is massive! A lot of nail artists, bloggers and regular people like me who love nail art can find whatever their hearts desire on bornprettystore.com.

Lately, I've been spending my weekends getting zen with my nails and it's something I haven't done in a while. Last weekend I was inspired to do seaside themed nails because I wanted to try the new seaside themed embellishment wheel I got from bornprettystore.com. I combined it with the latest glass nails trend using Mylar pieces to create ripple effects on the water part.

Below I have added a picture tutorial on how I got my nails! I am quite happy with how they turned out but I reckon it would have been better (and lasted longer) with gel polish, despite using a gel system to attach the embellishments, the first one fell out 2 days later and by yesterday (Wednesday), by sheer force of bad habit, I had picked my nails apart.

1. Lay out everything you will need. For these nails I used a combination of colors from LAKA and essie. On the side, one will need acetone and cotton for cleaning, a sponge for the gradient effect, a brush for clean up, a gem picker, some nail art gel/glue as adhesive and the embellishments themselves. 

2. After your base coat, apply 2 layers of white polish which will help bring out the colors of your gradient sponging. 

3. Apply the gradient colors that you wish to use on to the sponge and slowly dab it on, 2 coats is preferable. (I used one application on to the sponge for 2 finger nails)

4. I used micro glitters to accentuate between the colors but you can barely see it and I used a bit of top coat on the blue to adhere the mylar for the ripple effect in the "water".

5. Use top coat.

6. After dry, use a nail embellishment glue to attach the embellishments as you please. I used a clear gel for embellishments and cured.

You're done!

The most frequently asked question when people saw my nails was 1) where did you get them done? and 2) how long did it take you? The answer is 2 hours and 45 minutes. However, a lot of time was spent on waiting for the layers to dry more than anything else. I could have definitely halved the time had I done it with the gel systems.

Anyways, have fun trying and I'd be happy if you could share your pictures with me in the comments below.

Christmas Themed Nails

'Tis the season to be...exhausted!!! Oh my goodness, I am sitting here and typing this out and its taking me twice as long and my ability to focus is fading away! Just had an amazing company year end dinner last night and the whole of last week was spent preparing for the event and now I am just coming down from the high of a successful night.

It seems whenever times get busy or focus gets low, my go-to posts seem to be about nails! Perhaps its because its easy, I find it therapeutic and my little canvases make me happy!

Last Sunday, I wanted to do something that was Christmas-y and fun yet I didn't want to do anything 3-D or with too many embellishments because I would die if someone had turkey stuffing and bit into a diamante I had lost! So I decided to draw! I started with my left hand because it's always easier and faster. Then my right hand, so I could use the left hand as a reference point.

I used the following items: 

- Base coat (I use OPI Nail Envy)
- Red nail polish (OPI Red Flare)

- White nail polish (OPI Alpine Snow)
- Black nail polish (Sally Hansen Black Out)
- Brownish nail polish (for Rudolph, Orly Coco Beach)
- Nude nail polish (for Santa's nose, Essie Topless and Barefoot. You could also mix a spot of red and a blob of white)

- Top coat (Seche Vite)

- Dotting tools and stripping brush 

- Toothpicks
- Foil (to place the dots of polish)

1. Start with a layer of base coat.
2. I then painted the red nails (pinkie and thumb) and allowed it to dry. I also painted my Santa's hat which is like a half moon with a tail, close to the cuticle but finishing imperfectly at the end.

3. For Rudolph, I painted a half circle and using a toothpick, I dotted and pulled the dot to give it the pointy ear effect.
4. Do a double layer of steps 2-3 and wait for it to dry.
5. Use different sizes of dotting tool to dot the Snowman, Santa's beard and hat and Rudolph's eye with white, then dot the necessary places with the black. and finally a red dot for Rudolph's nose. I used the toothpick to draw a white line on the nose for authenticity. And the antlers were drawn very carefully with a toothpick and black nail polish.
6. Finally, paint the stripes on the pinkie to give it a candy cane effect. I would have done a white base and red stripes to give it a more candy cane look. And, the ribbon on the "gift" finger.

7. Once dry (make sure its really dry because you don't want your colors to streak), paint over with a quick dry top coat. 

8. Repeat on the other hand. 

It looks intricate, but its actually very doable. You just need to be slightly ambidextrous for the other hand.

Have fun trying! I'd love to see pictures too...

Simple Nail Design with Studs

Simple post today as I have just got to Hong Kong and am running around trying to eat everything in sight for the next 3 days, posts will follow! 

Finished results!

My nail design of the week is inspired by fun neon colors and a bit of an edge using studs as opposed to nail polish color.  

Items used

This simple design took me 1 hour to do and only required the following items: 

- Base coat (I use OPI Nail Envy)

- White nail polish (or any color you fancy)

- Top coat (Always Seche Vite)

- Gem picker

- Selection of studs (I used Vivcat Odyssey Neon series) 

1. Start with a layer of base coat.

2. Paint on the white polish on all 10 fingers, don't worry about the streaks.  When you do the second layer, paint quickly and lightly with enough paint on the brush to cover the entire nail. 

3. On one hand, start applying the studs with a gem picker. 

4. Once done, paint over with a quick dry top coat. 

5. Repeat on the other hand. 

Unfortunately, because I was using nail polish instead of gel, the design was only able to last 2 days before the studs started falling off. Well, gives me a chance to try more new designs. 

Comment and add photos if you have tried the design or a variation. 

Good luck and have fun!