Neon Leopard

Along with my cool new nail plates my MIL also brought me some new Barry M polishes. I really like Barry M but they aren't available in Canada (at least not on the west coast). She got me nine polishes and I'm featuring two of them here Key Lime and Mango.

I started with a base of Mango on all nails except the ring finger which has Key Lime. I then blobbed on the alternate colour in different sizes for the start of the leopard print. I then used my black nail art pen to add the accents to the leopard print.

I love love love how this turned out! It's so bright and fun. Maybe not entirely office appropriate but definitely cool for a fun night out.

Happy painting friends!

Ahoy Matey

I got a new sweater on the Boxing Day sales that is a light beige with orange anchors all over it and I thought it might be cute to recreate on my nails.

I started with a base of Zoya Jacqueline, a really beautiful nude colour from Zoya's Lovely Collection. I then went in with the end of a skewer (because I didn't have my dotting tools to hand) and added on the polka dots in OPI Jinx a very vibrant orange texture from the Bond Girls collection.

I attempted to do a small anchor on my index finger.

I really like the colours but I wish my work was a bit cleaner. I know you shouldn't blame your tools but I wish I'd had my proper ones so my work would have been more exact.

Look how gorgeous this orange texture is though! I'm in love with it and I'm sure I'll use it a lot in the future.

What inspires you?

Happy painting friends!

More Snowflakes but so Tiny!

Today is day two of my nail art featuring my friend Carrie and her daughter. Today is focused specifically on her daugher Mina. She is five years old, cute as a button and very smart! I had such a good time visiting with her and doing her nails. She loves pink (of course) but is also really drawn to bright orange! She wanted snowflakes just like her mom so I had to give her what she wanted :)

I started with a base of Orly Mayhem Mentality and then drew on the snowflakes with a silver nail pen. The glitter accent nail is by Color Club.

The thing I love the most about this is she chose everything herself. All the colours, where the accent finger was, everything! She had very definite opinions of what she wanted.

She was very happy with the result:

How cute is she?!?

I then invited her to do my nails and she was very excited to choose my colours and design. She was even brave and tried using the nail art pens!

Needless to say there was a lot of glitter involved! She was so invested in doing my nails and I loved it. There were a lot of colours involved and I won't list them all here but I will say that the end result reminded me of a birthday party so we called them "birthday nails".

Thanks Mina!

Happy painting friends!

Happy Thanksgiving My American Friends

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA so I thought I would give a shout out to my American friends and do some nail art for the holiday. Thanksgiving here in Canada is in October but the majority of the shows we watch are American so we get inundated with Thanksgiving images around now. I decided to do something that we consider goes hand in hand with the holiday...turkey!

I started with a base of a glittery brown from Kozmic Colours and then painted on the turkey using a nail art pen and Rimmel Sunny Days and Golden Hour and No. 7 Salsa for the feathers.
On my thumb and pinkie I did an accent of a gold glitter from Color Club.

He's so cute! But the funny thing is that I'm mostly vegan so turkey is not on my dinner plate. I choose to believe that this turkey survived :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy painting friends!

Last of the Zoya Days, Dhara

This is the last of my Zoya polishes that I got (although I KNOW I'll get more!). This one is a bright orange and is called Dhara. It's another textured polish and this one went on in two coats (Sunshine was one and Tomoko was three).

It's quite a beautifully warm shade of burnt orange. I really like it and think it is very fall appropriate (although I believe it was part of Zoya's summer collection). It went on easily and dried to the beautiful texture I've come to like with the PixieDust collection.

I know what you're thinking. This is just screaming for some nail art! I must apologize though as I do not have any with this beauty. I did a pumpkin design which got smooshed at the last moment so it didn't get photographed. I'm on a bit of a tight timeline right now so didn't have time to redo it.

I promise that I have some great nail art coming up though! So watch this space ;)

Happy painting friends!

Tape it Off Baby! (tutorial)

It's time for a tutorial! I know it's been a long time since I've done one so I apologize for that but I've got a killer look for you today and all it requires is nail polish, scotch tape and patience!

Here is the finished look:

For this look I used Vernis classique by Cherimoya Light Red and two coats of L'Oreal Satin Sheets to get a kind of rose gold colour for the base.

I then taped off random sections and painted on L'Oreal Boozy Brunch (orange), Sephora X Control Freak (maroon) and OPI  Magazine Cover Mouse (textured red).

Here is a step by step breakdown of how I achieved the look:

Step 1: after prepping your nail (I usually use a cuticle oil and then a base coat) paint on your first colour. In this example I am using Essie Good as Gold. Then comes the hardest part; you need to wait for it to dry really well! If you go on to the next part to soon, you will pull up your base coat and will need to start again.

Step 2: using scotch tape, section off a part of your nail. Make sure the tape is really stuck down so you don't get bleeding under the tape.

Step 3: use your second colour (I used China Glaze Turned up Turquoise) and paint over your nail. No need to paint in the lines as that is what the tape is for.

Step 4: remove the scotch tape. As you can see I was a little eager and applied the tape too soon and got some damage on the tip. If I was doing this for real I would have redone it but I'm glad I can show you and you can learn from my mistake, lol.

Step 5: the same as Step 2. It's so important to make sure your polish is fully dry before you apply the tape. If you want to speed the process up, you can add a fast drying topcoat before putting the tape on.

Step 6: paint on your next colour.

Steps 7-9: repeating steps 4-6 (I used a green glitter from Color Club for my last colour).

Once you've finished all your sections you can top it off with a top coat and Blam! you have some beautiful and easy nail art. The most important part is just being patient and allowing your polish to dry before going on to the next step.

As you can see from my first pics, no two nails are the same. It's a really versatile design so just have fun with it!

Happy painting friends!

It's a Mickey Birthday Party!

Today is my dear mother-in-law's 60th birthday! I wanted to celebrate by doing some nail art for her since I can't be physically with her (for those of you who don't know she lives in England). When I think of my mother-in-law I think of bright happy colours and Disney, lol. My husband's family, like me, are Disney fanatics so I really wanted to incorporate the Mouse into the design.

Here's my Mickey Mouse birthday party nail art. On each nail there is a different base colour (listed later in the post), some polka dots, Mickey heads (some with birthday hats), and then random other dots and streamers.

I think this design is really fun and pretty much what I was going for. My mother-in-law is an extremely vibrant person and that is reflected in the design.

I hope she enjoys the design and has a fantastic birthday!

I used one coat of Sally Hansen White On for all my fingers (to make the next colour pop) and then painted on the colours as follows to form the base:

Thumb=Joe Fresh Lime Juice (green)
Index=Orly Mayhem Mentality (orange)
Middle=Orly Harmonious Mess (purple)
Ring=Orly Choreographed Chaos (pink)
Pinkie=Orly Pretty Ugly (blue)

(Mickey heads, birthday hats, dots and streamers were done with nail pens)

Happy painting friends!