Summery Hearts

I have finally had some inspiration for nail art. I was in a bit of a rut when it came to thinking of ideas for nail art, but today I was really in the mood and ideas were coming to me! Yay! Before I show you what I have done, I want to tell you a teeny bit about nail files again. A few posts ago I told you about my nail care routine and I showed you that "Ruby Stone" crystal nail file. Well, that thing turned out to not be so great. It was so "gentle" on my nails that it didn't really do anything and the texture just gave me chills. So, I got a super nice crystal nail file from Amazon! It is by OPI and it was only a little over $5. It works wonderfully! All the nail art girls online rave about these types of crystal or glass files and I really know why now! It is gentle on the nails, but it also files very quickly! It doesn't leave other layers of nail sticking out where you just filed and it leaves your nails nice and smooth at the edges, instead of sharp.

Okay! On with the manicure!

I started with a coat of Essie Protein Base Coat and then painted on two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, which is the best white polish I have used. I then applied one coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly to all my nails because I was going to be taping and sponging. Before I even started the manicure, I took masking tape and cut out hearts to stick to my nails. Here is what I used to create the hearts:

So, when the top coat had dried, I applied two small hearts made out of masking tape to my ring fingers and one large heart to my thumbs. I chose to use masking tape because it is thick and I figured it would be easy to grab with tweezers when I needed to remove it from my nails. I used a square of tape with a heart shape cut out of it on both my pointers so I could achieve a small colorful heart on those nails. Here is what my gradient sponge looked like:

The teal is Sally Hansen Jazzy Jade; the tan is Rimmel Caramel Cupcake; and the coral is Sally Hansen Coral Reef. On my middles and pinkies I did plain gradients. After I sponged over the other nails, though, I used my tweezers to remove the masking tape hearts. This was very easy because they didn't completely adhere to my nails, so the edges were easy to grip with tweezers. It didn't matter that they were not totally stuck to my nails because you do not use a sweeping motion when sponging; you use a stippling, dabbing motion. Also, the paint is contained in the sponge and is not runny, so nothing could seep underneath the tape. After removing all the tape, I applied two coats of Dries Instantly to finish off the manicure.

Multicolored Striping

So, since I have been done with college for the summer for a week, I have been able to do my nails a little more often and am enjoying posting more. I have seen multiple manicures like the one I have done, but usually black is the color that goes over everything since it is so opaque. I wanted my design to look more bright and springy, though. First I applied a coat of Essie Protein Base Coat. I am really liking this. (I have noticed that my nails are still peeling, so I think Sally Hansen Double Duty is fine. They are probably still recovering from a dry winter. They are better than they were.) After the base coat, I applied a stroke of Sally Hansen Coral Reef down one side of my nails and Sally Hansen Jazzy Jade down the other:

After that was dry, I applied a stroke of Rimmel Wild Orchid down the center of each nail.

After that was dry, I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly so the striping tape wouldn't pull up my base color. I then applied striping tape in random patterns on my nails. I made sure most of the tape was going in some horizontal or diagonal direction on my nails because vertical striping tape wouldn't show off the tricolored base. I then painted over the striping tape with China Glaze Designer Satin and immediately removed the tape. (Remember to remove the tape in the opposite order you applied it in. You don't want to be pulling a piece that is under another piece and ruin your work.) This isn't completely opaque, so the base colors show through a bit. I like the effect, though:

I applied a coat of Dries Instantly at the end and then a coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy. Matte polishes always remind me of wax. I actually messed up my ring fingernail a little because I bumped it on my paper towel right after removing the striping tape. I always get very aggravated when I mess up a nail, but I have learned to be calmer about it. You will probably be able to fix small mistakes. Just relax. I touched up the smudges with a nail art brush with the appropriate colors on it to go over my mistakes to make the lines clear again. Also, people do not notice little mistakes in your manicure. They generally look at the entire effect. So, don't sweat the little mistakes!!! =)

Homemade Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!  I got over two feet of snow yesterday and last night and I am currently having my second snow day in a row!  My nails came out a little less neat than I expected, but the effect totally reminded me of paper Valentine hearts made by kids!

Before I painted anything on my nails, I took ten squares of masking tape, pressed them on the back of my hand to take off some of the stickiness, folded them in half, cut out a half heart shape, and then unfolded them.  This created a heart shaped hole in the centers that I used as my heart stencils.  This was a lot harder to do than I expected.  Later I realized that it may have been easier if I had folded the tape with the sticky side out.  Haha!  Oh well.  Here is roughly what each piece of tape looked like:

For my manicure, I started out with one coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty, which I was happy with for my last manicure.  (That manicure lasted for five days without chips!!)  Then I painted on two coats of Sally Hansen Coral Reef as my base color.  After that was all dry, I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly so the tape wouldn't pull up my base color.  When that was dry, I applied the heart stencils.  I painted over them with Confetti Cherries Jubilee on my pinky and middle fingers and thumbs.  On my ring and pointer fingers, I painted the heart with Nicole Glitter in my Stocking.  The glitter hearts worked well, but the thinner polish leaked under the tape, even when I thought it was pressed down nicely.  I cleaned up the edges of the reddish hearts by lightly sweeping them with a nail art brush in acetone.  Doing this works because the acetone cannot take off all the other layers of polish underneath because you are not sweeping with force and going over the spots repeatedly.  I actually sort of like the rougher effect since it looks like homemade Valentine's Day cards!  I finished off the manicure with two coats of Dries Instantly.  

Pearl Necklaces

A couple weeks ago while I was at church I noticed a couple elderly ladies sitting together.  They both had on bright sweaters and long necklaces.  That made me think of nail art that I could do:

On my ring fingers and thumbs I used two coats of Rimmel Mintilicious.  On my other nails I used two coats of Sally Hansen Coral Reef.  When that was dry, I used a dotting tool dipped in Sally Hansen Hard To Get to make the necklaces on my coral nails.  Then I used a dotting tool dipped in Sally Hansen Dries Instantly to dot on spots to stick the 1.5 mm half pearls on my ring fingers and thumbs to add more texture to the manicure.  I like to add a 3-D touch to a mainly 2-D manicure to make it look more interesting.  

The way I pick up the pearls (or studs) is by dipping a dotting tool in top coat to make it sticky and then I just touch the pearls with it to pick them up.  

When the manicure was done, I put two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly on top of everything.