Here's a pretty self-explanatory nail design, the Swedish flag. I took some liberties with my interpretation, but I think it's recognizable for what it's meant to be. I did large flags on a couple nails and then small flags sort of scattered over a couple and the pinky, hell, I have no idea what that's supposed to be. I love the colors together on the nail, especially with the white!
Products used:
The new watercolor trend is so pretty, and I wanted to give it a try since the weather is becoming so beautiful in my region right now. The basic technique is to paint the nails a base color, and then with several colors one after the other you dot a small amount on the nail and sort of blot it out with a larger brush with a little acetone in it. The beauty of this technique is that the less "perfect" it is, the better, so the expertise level on this would probably be at "Novice." I think there are videos on how to do this on YouTube, so search for "Watercolor Nails" and you should find something. The only trick is to use *just* the right amount of acetone to dab the paint around, and not to dab too much or it will get muddy. Paint a few nails white and give it a little practice to see what you come up with. I think it's really pretty, and with just a couple colors blotted on, it would also make a pretty background for other art on top, or even some metal studs.
Products used:
I have to tell you, doing this series is so much fun so far. It's a fun challenge for myself. Though there's very little information in the books about some of the districts, which will make it a little challenging, I think it's fun to come up with something for each one. I plan on making my way through the districts in order and then I have some other designs based on The Hunger Games I'll be adding to the series. In the end, the series will hopefully be pretty sizeable. In the meantime, it's a lot of fun. On to the description!
District 4 in The Hunger Games is home to a ocean-based society. They make fish hooks, they use nets and tridents to fish, and overall it's a somewhat wealthy district. To reflect this rich ocean culture I painted the nails with sea greens, coral red for the, um, red coral, and gave it some gilded accents to reflect the fact that this district is a bit more rich.
Products used:
Products used:
If you haven't noticed, I'm in a bit of a floral period right now. I think it's this nonexistant winter that isn't providing the quaint excitement of snowy afternoons full of hot chocolate and a good book, or maybe a snowball fight, nor is it warm enough to be expecting buds to pop up and leaves to begin to appear. it's all the crappy things about Winter without any of the good things. So I'm boycotting Winter, and I'm living in denial. It's Spring for me right now. I did this manicure for two reasons; 1) I saw this manicure by BlogNailedIt and was inspired, and I still have one living, albeit beleaguered, flower out in front of the house right now that just won't give up, and it's a pansy. I've got a couple pics from last Spring of a pot o' pansies after the jump from directly after potting them last Spring. They got rather huge over the summer, and all have died but one really determined little guy in the middle. le sigh.
For this design I used China Glaze Sweet Hook as the base, then I used China Glaze Gothic Lolita, Holly-Day and Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud for the flower and the random dotting.
Hey guys, I'm back from the ether. I've been MIA a lot lately because it seems like a lot of stuff is going on. I'm trying to get Christmas shopping under control and decorating, and to top it off I've had a string of seasonal colds that just pile one on the other and I've been dead tired and lazy. Hopefully it's almost over and I can share lots of fun manicures and products with you through the holidays. Today I'm showing you a manicure I did last week, (and that I'm still wearing... I'm so lazy lately) that I really liked. It's inspired by Wah Nails, which is one of my favorite sources for inspiration. It's a play on this pointy-nailed tribal-type manicure, but my nails are obviously squared and I added my favorite leopard. It looks badass on the pointy nails, and on me it's sort of manifested itself as a chevron French manicure.
I used Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, Wet n Wild Black Magic and Migi Nail Art Pen in Black on all nails, then for the colored stripe I used Color Club Puccilicious for the thumb, Essie Shorty Pants for the index fingers, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue for the middles, China Glaze Pool Party for the ring fingers, and for the pinkies I used Essie Pretty Edgy.
I don't always have the energy or creative juices to take a stock Konad design and make it something unique. Hell, most of my "designs" are straight up Konad patterns. You can play with base colors and embellishments, but honestly I'm not the most creative when it comes to Konad; it just looks so cool by itself that you hate to mess with it. I'm using plate m73 here which has a full-nail plate with these lines of music and is topped off by a piano keyboard. I've always liked that pattern but the piano on the same nail takes something away in my opinion, so I took the opportunity of having teeny nubbins to use just the lines of music. I applied the pattern with Konad Special Polish in Black (my new jam) over Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Lavender Cloud because over straight-up white it was a little stark and boring. The slightly off shade of Lavender Cloud made it a lot more wearable. I can't believe I'd never worn the music notes pattern before, so I'm glad I at least gave it a try. I tend to keep using my favorite plates over and over, and I'm trying to branch out and use the others more.
I am a WAH-nnabe
You guys know I'm a huge fan of nail art. Duh, right? I love wild and crazy nail art, I just don't have the chops to do it myself. All the freehand awesomeness I see round the blogosphere boggles my mind and I just bow down in worship to you ladies who can do it. I'm practicing more, and trying to get the hang of it. I even purchased a big set of nail art brushes to try to hone my skills. Hopefully I'll be able to show you some of those efforts soon, but for now I'm still using Konad to assist me with my nail art. I've used Konad and freehand together before, here in this palm tree mani. I find it a lot easier to get good results right now when I use Konad stamps as a sort of template. In the palm tree one, I used Konad for the clouds, then the tree itself, and then painted over it to make it look like complete freehand, and here I've done the same with the cupcakes, and more obviously so with the zebra stripes.
This manicure was inspired by one of my favorite sources of inspiration for nail art; a London-based nail art boutique that specializes in crazy and fun nails, and I am obsessed with their designs! This post of a manicure with "everything" is what inspired this particular manicure. I love WAH Nails use of off-the-wall designs, and the way they randomly seem to mix and match them. Four fingers with cupcakes and one with a carrot and a pea with faces; how amazing is that?! They are nail deities in my handbook.
Want to see more pictures and the breakdown for this manicure? Keep Reading!
Index to pinkie (top to bottom): Illamasqua Rampage, Claire's Kelly Green, Sally Hansen Going Green, OPI Jade is the New Black
Illamasqua Rampage: This obviously isn't kelly green, but the application of Claire's Kelly Green reminded me of the jelly deliciousness of Rampage. One coat of Rampage equals two coats of Kelly Green, so if you like that one-coat color but not the streaky look, Kelly Green is a nice choice.
Claire's Kelly Green: This is a true kelly green in my book. It's got a jelly texture that reaches full saturation at about two moderate (three thin) coats. It dries fairly matte, but with a topcoat it's genius.
Sally Hansen Going Green: Before Kelly Green I thought this was the closest thing to kelly green I'd find, but now against the Claire's polish, I see that it's somewhat soft and washed out in comparison. The shimmer is very beautiful, and I liked the polish fine till Claire's Kelly Green came along, now I'm not sure I care.
OPI Jade is the New Black: Another that isn't a Kelly Green, but I threw it in for comparisons sake. It's a muted rich green, and it's gorgeous. I've reviewed it more in detail here.
Index to Pinkie (top to bottom): Sally Hansen Wet Cement, Petites Color Fever VIntage Gray, Color Club High Society, Barielle Belly Dance
I wanted to see which polishes were closest to the new Petites Color Fever in Vintage Gray that I got the other day. So I pulled out the closest polishes in my stash, and swatched them together. Hope this helps someone out!
Sally Hansen Wet Cement: This obviously isn't taupe, but I thought it might be similar to Vintage Gray since it's got that white-based grey thing going on. It's on the neutral side when worn alone, but here among taupes it's cool as a cucumber.
Petites Color Fever Vintage Gray: I think this is my favorite of the bunch. It's both grey and taupe, and it's got a very creamy base that makes it delicate and ladylike. I don't like the bottle or the price, but alas...
Color Club High Society: This was my favorite lighter taupe till Vintage Gray, and it still holds a special place in my heart because it's beautiful, applies well, and is cheap and long-wearing. As you can see, it's very similar to Vintage Gray, but darkened slightly. Otherwise the tone and the grey-to-brown ratio is much the same.
Barielle Belly Dance: This is the darkest and warmest of the bunch, and it's got shimmer! It's very pretty, I'll give it that, but the lack of grey makes it appear almost wishy-washy against my skin when compared with the others because it doesn't give as much of a flattering contrast, instead just blending into my skin a bit.
Click to Join - Referral Link
Code - FREEBOX
to get your first month free
