I was just looking for another excuse to wear neons, and did this design which incorporates really simple elements like dots and stripes, along with just a touch of Konad stamping. I painted my nails white and then with the different China Glaze and Essie neons I painted strokes on different areas of each nail, then lined the edges of the color with a black striper polish. Within the remaining empty areas, I randomly added stripes going in different directions and dots, and on a couple I used a Konad stamper for the houndstooth. It's not perfect by any means when viewed close up, but I think it looks pretty cool at a normal distance. It wasn't too awfully time consuming and I think it's a great look for the horribly hot weather we've been having!
Click for more photos and to see the products used!
Today's post is the product of my attempt to recreate the awesomeness of this manicure by IndigoNova1 on YouTube; meticulously copied and conveyed to you here as a subpar iPhone photo, as I forgot to take a proper photo before removing this design in favor of the retina-searing Essie Punchy Pink which I'm now sporting on my tips. Wow, run-on sentence, much? At any rate, I strongly suggest you check the video tutorial out, as it's ingenious and simple as can be. For this manicure, I personally used Misa Dirty Sexy Money as the base and then I used ArtDeco striping polishes in black and white to make the stripes, then black and white polish on two different sizes of dotting tools for the polka dots. After watching this video, I found myself really surprised at the simplicity of such an interesting and involved looking design. Props to IndigoNova1, wonderful design.
Here's another link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGRjlMjeTdw
Sorry I've been MIA for a few days... I haven't really mentioned it on the blog, but I'm getting married in two weeks! We've been so busy that I haven't had a lot of time for nail-related stuff. Besides there being a million wedding things to do, the whole family has been sick on and off for a few weeks, our kiddo has had lots of soccer stuff going on and there just seems to be tons and tons of stuff to do. I'm also a worrier. Something is wrong if I don't have something to worry about, but luckily there's plenty to be anxious about in the near future... Just for a quick FYI if you're interested, my fiancé and I have been together for almost 9 years (on and off, lol) and we have a 6-year-old little girl, and we're finally ready to tie the knot. It's going to be a lot of fun and I promise to post some photos after I get them. So think about me and wish me luck on 10-10-10!
Anyway, here's a manicure I did tonight because I just felt it was time to some fun nail art after this hellish week. I used an awesome Essence polish from the Surfer Girl collection as the base. It was sent to me in a swap from the lovely Michelle from The Lacquer Files (one of a ton of amazing polishes she sent that I'll be sharing with you over the next couple weeks). Over it I did dot's in varying colors:
From bottom to top:
Color Club Pretty in Platinum ($2.49)
Mix of Color Club Pretty in Platinum and OPI Who The Shrek Are You? ($5.24)
OPI Who the Shrek Are You?
Mix of OPI Who the Shrek Are You? and CND Urban Oasis ($10 as part of Night Factory set)
CND Urban Oasis
Wet n Wild Black ($.99)
I used a small dotting tool and applied the dots diagonally all the way up. It's far from perfect and I think it looks more graduated and pretty in person, but oh well. I love the look of it on grey and how it almost looks textured. I've been wanting to do a gradation manicure, but I figured I'd give this a try first. Honestly I'm really afraid of failure on the straight-up gradation... I'm sort of confused on how to do it to be honest. I've tried it with a sponge and didn't love it. Perhaps I need to use different polishes or try another method. Have you ever tried a gradation on your nails? What's you favorite gradation method?
