It's time for Day 5 of Theme Week! This time the theme is "Follow a Tutorial." I'm getting together with some of my blogger friends so be sure and check out the other great theme week manis at the end!
Today I have my version of the cutest froggy nail art from Jacki over at Adventures in Acetone for you! I tried to copy this one exactly but you know that old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men. But it's not too bad.
I used Zoya Veruschka as my base and acrylic paints for the rest (except the eyes - I usually use Wet n Wild WildShine Black Creme and Salon Perfect Sugar Cube as I did here.) I'd definitely check out Jacki's Tutorial if you want to try this - she does the best tutorials!
Be sure and check out the other great theme week manis below!
♥
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It's time for Day 4 of Theme Week! This time the theme is "Follow a Tutorial." I'm getting together with some of my blogger friends so be sure and check out the other great theme week manis at the end!
Today I have one of my favorite patterns of all time - houndstooth. I have a couple of stamping plates with houndstooth but I really suck at stamping, so I thought I would see if I could find a tutorial to follow for today's mani.
I found a pretty good one from Nail Nerd that I sort of followed. I didn't do it exactly the same, but it's close. Go check hers out here!
And this is how it turned out. I only did it on an accent nail over my current mani (Kiko 291) so it's sort of an Extend-A-Mani too! You can see that it's not perfect in this close up of course - I need new brushes for sure. I touched up around the edges of some of the pattern with the Kiko 291 and you can tell LOL! But at arm's length it looks awesome!
Because I was doing this over an existing mani and only wanted to use one color (black) I freehanded the little squares instead of doing the stripe method like in the tutorial. Also, I added the second line to mine just because that says houndstooth to me. So I put together a quick and dirty one-photo tutorial on just the houndstooth. I've done it larger here so you can see. But for the full tutorial using the stripe method for the squares, please refer to Nail Nerd's tutorial.
What do you think? I just love houndstooth. And you can do it in any colors of course - even alternate the colors of each "tooth" if you want! Don't forget to check out the other great manis for this theme week below!
♥
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It's time for Day 3 of Theme Week! This time the theme is "Follow a Tutorial." I'm getting together with some of my blogger friends so be sure and check out the other great theme week manis at the end!
Today I've chosen my all-time favorite mani from Chalkboard Nails. I don't even know WHAT I was thinking. There's just no way to do her Radiant Orchid mani justice.
I mean REALLY. (Click on the photo to see her post and awesome photos)
But nevertheless, I gave it the good old college try! I have no idea how she got her orchids so perfect. GAH! Anyway, here's my "homage" to the most gorgeous mani she's ever done (IMO) and that's saying something!
Pantone Color of the Year 2014
Radiant Orchid Mani
I mean I still love it...for me. But I've got a LOT of practicing ahead of me! What do you think?
Don't forget to check out the other great manis for this theme week below!
♥
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The Bold Retro Wallpaper mani I'll be showing you today was inspired by Arcadia Nail Art aka +IndigoNova1 - so let me tell you the story.
When I saw the theme for January's Theme Week, I googled "nail art tutorials" and just scrolled through until I found one I liked and felt like doing right now (since I'm battling some sort of crud at the moment, it needed to be quick and easy). I'd never heard of Arcadia or IndigoNova1. So I go to the video, which is on her old YouTube channel (the indigonova1 one instead of the +ArcadiaNailArt one) and started reading comments. Apparently, this is one of the many designs stolen by a certain someone. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can see my post about it here.
So I'm even happier to be showing you this "follow a tutorial" mani today! I get to show you a cool design AND I get to link you to the one who originally did this mani...the one who inspired me. I did a retro mani using a similar color palette (Elevation Polish Jengish Chokusu and Haba Xueshan) that I just loved - reminded me of mid-century modern and I think that's why this one grabbed my eye.
And since I'm getting together with some other blogger friends for Theme Week, you can check out their great manis at the bottom in the link-up!
Bold Retro Wallpaper
And matte using butter LONDON Matte Finish Top Coat...
Here's the YouTube video tutorial I used as a guide. Of course my mani isn't exactly the same, but it's the same idea in a similar color palette. My dots are smaller because I used a dotting tool. And of course it's messier than hers. I love it both ways actually.
I used a-England Galahad as my base color. The black and white polishes are Wet n Wild WildShine Black Creme and Salon Perfect Sugar Cube. I have acrylic paints, but I enjoy using polish when I can.
This is a really quick and easy mani that gives a great bold pop of color in a retro design - anyone can do it on any sort of nail shape or length...just adapt it to your own nails.
You can also do versions of this using different colors as the base. Different look altogether. But still totally cute!
So head on over to Arcadia Nail Designs and check her out. She has lots of great tutorials.
And THAT is how you give credit. And I defy you to tell me how sharing the link love and giving credit where credit is due is anything but beneficial to ALL parties involved. It's not. The only thing it's detrimental to is an ego.
♥
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Today is day 5, the last day, of December's Nail Art Theme Week I'm participating in with a few blogger friends of mine and I actually really enjoyed this week's theme! At first I was going to hunt down whoever thought of Japanese because I couldn't think of what I could possibly do and it ended up being my favorite so far! You just never know until you try I guess.
Today I have Hello Kitty and argyle...
For this mani I used Wet n Wild Wild Shine French White and Black Creme as usual and Milani Yellow Whiz for the nose. The silver is Milani Flashy Silver and the 2 pinks are Kiko 288 and 290.
I have had a few requests for a tutorial on argyle nails since the last one I did so I'll be putting something together on that soon.
Thanks for checking out all the theme week manicures! Have a look below to see all the others we've done this week! ♥
Have a GREAT WEEKEND!
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One week a month, I team up with a few other blogger friends for a theme week. This week the theme is Japanese. Today I've done a Geisha mani for you. ♥
Red: Chanel Lotus Rouge Pink: Zoya Shelby Tan: China Glaze Kalahari Kiss Yellow: Milani Yellow Whiz (yes, that's the real name lol) Aqua: Chanel Nouvelle Vague Grey: (for the lines in the fan) Essence Movie Star (mixed with a little white - because yes I was too lazy to get up and go get a lighter grey LOL) I use Wet n Wild Wild Shine Black Creme and French White nearly every time I need a black or white. I used a long, thin striping brush and dotting tools and I'm pretty sure I held my tongue just right - you know, sticking out of the left corner of my mouth.
Be sure and check out the other great manis from my blogger friends below!
♥
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It's time for Nail Art Theme Week for December! One week a month, I team up with a few other blogger friends for a theme week. This week the theme is Japanese.
I must admit, when I heard the theme, I was stumped for nail art ideas - and I found out that, ashamedly, I know very little about Japanese culture. Thanks to some great programming on the History Channel, I know more about Japan and their contributions to society from an historical viewpoint, but nothing about NOW! I really need to visit Japan. I know I would love it.
So anyway, here's my first entry...
I was actually pretty proud of this one! Of course I had my friend in Japan make sure that the characters do, in fact, say Japan - as opposed to, you know, soup.
I used Wet n Wild Shine French White and Black Creme along with Essence Do You Speak Love for the red.
Be sure and check out the other great manis from my blogger friends below!
♥
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I wanted to do opal-inspired nails for this week. But I wasn't sure how to go about it. So I have a couple of opal-inspired manis for you for the last day of Rock/Mineral Theme Week I'm doing with a few of my blogger friends.
Opal Nail Art
First up, a saran wrap mani that was inspired by the base my friend Jacki over at Adventures in Acetone used for her butterfly nails. I really thought her base looked like opals and I loved it, so here's my version...
For this mani, I used a base of Sinful Colors SinfulShine Alfresco and followed Jacki's tutorial using SinfulShine Rendezvous, Sinful Colors 24/7 and Color Club Pucci-Licious.
Of course we all know opals come in all shades with all sorts of striations, so here's another version using a flaky polish...
For this mani, I used a base of Elevation Polish Mountain Air and layered over Ruby Wing Sweet Shimmer (sheer shimmer) and Ruby Wing Chocolate Mousse (the flaky polish) and finished up with a coat of butter LONDON Bread and Butter Pudding (a very sheer nude) to tone it down a bit.
That concludes Rock/Mineral Theme Week! Next theme week is the first week in December and the theme is Japanese. Hope to see you then!
Don't forget to have a look at the other great theme manis in the links below!
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Today marks Day 4 of Rock and Mineral Nail Art Theme Week I'm doing with a few nail polish buddies and I must admit I really took the easy way out today. Me? Take the easy way out? What a surprise. NOT!
I love star sapphires and with the magnetic polish trend that happened mainly last year, of course I ended up with a blue magnetic polish and a star magnet.
Star Sapphire Nail Art
I'm actually sort of ashamed at myself for calling this nail art, but hey, it fits with the theme! I used one coat of Pure Ice Magnetic Attraction Collide With Me and the star magnet from China Glaze.
Took about 5 minutes for all 10 nails. Who doesn't have time for that? What do you think about magnetic polishes? Are you over it? It appears that a few brands are just discovering it like it's a new thing. *cough Dior cough*
Be sure and check out all the other great manis this week in the links below!
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