Breathe... and Take Me Somewhere Warm

For those of you lucky enough to live somewhere warm, well... you're reaaaaaally lucky. The temperatures here have been around -20 Celsius, and lower, for a couple months now. Everything is frozen. I can't actually escape the cold right now, so I did the next best thing; I painted the tropics on my nails.

Bear with me guys; there were a lot of colours used for this design.

Pinkie: I started with a base of Sure Thing from Revlon, then sponged on Blue Away from Sally Hansen, Let's Get Lost from Essence and Yoga-Ta Get This Blue from OPI. I finished of the sponging with a little bit more of Sure Thing to create some clouds and highlights in the water. Finally, using green, black, white and yellow acrylic, I painted on the palm leaf. 

Ring Finger: I started this nail with a base of Sure Thing as well. Next, I sponged on Let's Get Lost, Plum Seduction from Revlon, Yoga-Ta Get This Blue and Blue Away for the sky. I also sponged on Electrified from Quo by Orly, Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen and Hot Tamale from Sally Hansen to create part of the sky and the setting sun. I added in some clouds using black acrylic, and Hot Tamale. Next, for the water, I painted on black acrylic, then sponged Let's Get Lost and Sure Thing on top. I also sponged a tiny bit of Hot Tamale on to be the reflection of the sun. Finally, I painted in the palm tree using black acrylic.

Middle Finger: Like the other nails, this was a base of Sure Thing. I started by painting the tree trunks using Surfing Paradise from Island Girl Hawaii, then added detail to them using black acrylic. I then added in some of Surfing Paradise for the ground. Next, I added the plants into the design using black, white, yellow, and green acrylic, as well as High Line Green from NYC. Using white acrylic, I painted the surf board, then added the details using black and blue acrylic. I touched up the leaves and this nail was done.

Index Finger: Sure Thing was the base for this nail as well. I then sponged on Yoga-Ta Get This Blue, Let's Get Lost, Plum Seduction, Blue Away and Electrified for the sky. I then used black acrylic to paint the silhouettes of the buildings and palm trees.

Now I can have a mini vacation on my nails.

I hope you guys enjoy!

Rotting Away

I know. That's a morbid title, but hey, tis the season... The season for creepy, morbid and sometimes gross stuff. By that I mean, it's Halloween time!!

Anyways, some of you may remember my zombie nails from a couple years ago. As much as it was kind of disturbing to have that design on my nails, it was really fun to wear. And seeing as zombies seem to be here to stay for a while, I give you Zombie Nails, Version 2.0.

1. Paint your nails a flesh tone. When I say flesh tone, I mean use a colour that is very similar to your skin colour. For me, this was Sheer Nude from Orly. Also, using the same flesh colour, paint a couple layers of it on a plastic baggy to create your own nail stickers. Do this about an 1-2 hours before the rest of the manicure.

2. Once the polish on the plastic bag has dried for an hour or a bit more, start tearing off or cutting pieces and placing them onto your nails. Wrinkle, fold, and tear the peeled off polish to make it look like rotting flesh... just like a zombie. Kinda gross, but it makes a cool (and creepy) effect.

3. To make the skin look like it's rotting, you want to give it a grey tone, like there isn't blood getting to the surface. To achieve this look, I sponged on French Quarter for Your Thoughts from OPI. Then, I added a khaki green, Khaki from Joe, to give a sort of mossy, moldy look. If you'd like, you can also add a bit off a purple polish for bruising. Make sure if you use purple, you use a purple with a blue undertone (more indigo coloured), since this will look more like real bruising. I used Fig from Joe. Finally, sponge on (very lightly) some black polish, focusing on folds and the edges of tears. I used Black Taxi from Nails Inc. *At this point, you can sponge or dab on some clear matte polish as well to create more of a dead skin look. I used Sally Hansen's Big Matte Top Coat.

4. Now add blood. I used a mix of Revlon Red from Revlon and Black Taxi, and globbed this onto parts of the nail where I had created tears. Then, using either your finger or a sponge, dab, sponge and smudge more red polish onto the nails to look like smeared blood.

A few tips:

1. Use cream or matte polishes for this look. Metallic or glitter polishes will take away from the "real" look of this.

2. Use cool colours. Any colour with a warm look (pink, magenta, lime green) will make it look like healthy skin, instead of zombie skin.

3. Make sure you either use a dark red for the blood or mix it with black. This will give a more realistic look.

4. Don't make this look perfect. You're trying to make gross zombie nails. They should look some what messy. The "torn skin" should look torn. The "blood" should be smeared or splattered. They should look like they're dirty, just like rotting zombies.

And there you have it. Some gory zombie nails. If you plan on being a zombie for Halloween, this can take your look to the next level.

I hope you guys enjoy this slightly disgusting and disturbing Halloween look!

Aurora Borealis Tutorial

I got a request to make a tutorial on this a while ago (sorry it took so long Nicky!) I honestly forgot this post existed!

The final picture in the collage should be your final product. For some reason, my camera decided to not capture the Aurora Borealis very well for the tutorial. The photo above gives you a better idea of the shade of blue to use.

1. Start with a dark blue base, preferably with some sparkle to it. I used one coat of Black Satin from Rimmel, followed by one coat of Yoga-Ta Get this Blue from OPI.

2. Next, sponge on various colours. In my case, I'm making a blue and purple galaxy. I sponged on (near the centre of my nail) Frostbite by China Glaze, Grey-t to Be Here by Essence, Curaçao by Sephora, Stars In Her Eyes by Ceramic Glaze, Plum Seduction by Revlon, Hello Marshmallow by Essence and Miss Universe by Essence. You don't have to use this many colours. I only did to get the glittery night sky effect I was going for. Basically, you want to lighten the centre of the nail, and add sparkle. 

3. Using a white nail polish thinned with polish remover/thinner or watered down white acrylic, start painting the Aurora Borealis. To do this, make an "s" shape from near your cuticle up to the tip of your nail. Go over this shape in certain places to make parts of the Northern Lights pop. In other spots, fade out the white to make more of a glowing look. Just as with galaxy nails, reference photos to make your design more realistic. 

4. Finally, using black polish or acrylic, paint a silhouette of trees. 

And there you go. An Aurora Borealis manicure!

Out of This World

I LOVE galaxy nails. Ever since I first tried them, I have. I don't really paint galaxy nails that often though, so I thought it was about time for some more. As well as an updated galaxy tutorial.

1. Start with a black base. I used Black Satin from Rimmel.

2. Choose two colours at this point that work well together. For example, green and blue or blue and purple. In my case, I chose blue and purple, which are generally seen it actually galaxies. Starting with the first colour (blue, Frostbite by China Glaze), sponge onto the nail. Make the colour more concentrated in certain areas. 

3. Using your second colour (purple, Back in My Gloria Days by Nicole (OPI) and Tomorrow Never Dies by OPI, sponge onto the nail. Overlap with the other colour in certain spots. 

4. [Optional] Taking a lighter shade of your first colour (Let's Get Lost by Essence), sponge onto spots of the galaxy that you want to be lighter. At this point, take a white polish or white acrylic, and lighten certain spots of the galaxy. 

5. Now that you have the white on the nail, take this time to add any more of the colours you chose, overlapping some of the white. 

6. Add stars using white. And add lots of them. Focus on clustering the stars. Wherever the galaxy is the lightest, that's where you should put more stars. Finally, top coat.

And here are some of my old tips, and some new ones. 

Tips:

i) Rip the makeup sponge; don't cut it, for a more natural, organic and realistic look when sponging. 

ii) Reference photos of galaxies to produce a more realistic design. I can't stress this enough. Looking at photos will really help you to get a more realistic look. 

iii) Don't be perfect. Galaxies are irregular in shape since they naturally occur. 

iv) Each nail doesn't need to be the same, since once again, galaxies are natural and don't all look the same. Make each galaxy unique!! Remember, there are spiral, elliptical and irregular shaped galaxies (plus more).

v) Wherever you make the galaxy the brightest should be where you put the most stars. 

vi) Make stars of various sizes for a more realistic look. 

vii) By using mainly metallic or glittery polishes, you'll achieve more of a space feel with your design.

Alright guys, I hope you enjoy and good luck!

But wait! There's more! A ton of underwater photos to capture the colours of the galaxy!

Alright, spamming of underwater photos done. I'll be posting again soon. Probably tomorrow... :D

Life's a Beach

I love the beach. Absolutely adore it. No matter where said beach is, I like it. And I also love summer. And tropical places; all of which inspired this design.

For my ring finger, I sponged on a gradient using Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen, Pool Party from China Glaze and Watermelon from Essie. The other nails are painted with Pool Party. The palm trees are done with a black striper. 

I hope you guys enjoy!

Arrrrrrrr!!

If the title didn't clue you in, today's manicure is a pirate treasure map.

I started with a base of White On from Sally Hansen. Then I sponged on Bare Necessity from Avon with a makeup sponge, and at the tips and around the edges I sponged with a bit of brown acrylic. The map design is done in brown and black acrylic. Also, to get the lines seen on a few of the nails (thumb, ring finger, pinkie), I dipped some thread into a bit of brown paint, then pressed it onto the nails.

Hope you guys like it!

Love is...

Hey guys! I've got a couple quick Valentine's Day designs to show you.

So, as you can see, they're a couple of famous love quotes. First, Love is Sweet, Love is Kind, and then, quoted from the famous Beatles' song, Love is All You Need. I started with a base of White On from Sally Hansen. Then I sponged on Watermelon from Essie to create a gradient. Finally, using black India ink and a calligraphy pen, I wrote on the words. 

I hope you guys enjoy! And I've got another post for you tomorrow, that's sort of inspired by the... um... un-dead.

Halloween Tutorials --- Zombies

So, seeing as Halloween is coming up, I have decided to put my 31 Day Nail Art Challenge on hold for some Halloween tutorials. Yes, I am aware that I am already onto month three of my challenge, but I'm back a school now, and since it's senior year, things are hectic. Anyways, let's get to the tutorial!

Today's tutorial was inspired by the un-dead, as in zombies. I'm not a fan of the whole "zombie movement", but it's near Halloween and zombies and Halloween go hand in hand.

I came up with this design when I was searching the internet for Halloween nail inspirations. I kept coming across zombie nail, but they were basically all on fake nails where people cut them up. This got me thinking, "hey, aren't there some people who want to dress up as zombies without tearing their nails to bits?" :p Anyways, here's the [gross] tutorial.

1. Prep the nail and apply a polish onto your nail which matches your skin tone. At this same time, apply the same colour onto a plastic baggy. Use two coats on the bag. I used Sheer Nude from Orly.

2. Once the polish on the baggy is dry enough, peel some off. Using a exacto knife or scissors, tear a jagged hole in the DIY nail sticker. 

3. Apply the sticker to your nail. *You don't have to be perfect in the application. You want the "skin" to be lifting and puckered. 

4. Take a makeup sponge and sponge on some brown and an olive/camo green. I used Bare Necessity from Avon and Khaki from JOE.

5. Next, where the "skin" is lifting, gently sponge on some black (I used Black Satin from Rimmel). You can also sponge some black onto the rest of the nail, focusing on parts which are lifting or puckered. 

6. Fill in any gaps where the skin is lifting with red to symbolize blood. I used a mix of Wocka Wocka from OPI and Gypsy Queen from Misa.

7. Finally, splatter on some more red to look like blood. 

Remember, these don't need to be perfect! They just need to look...dirty. 

Enjoy!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 19, Galaxies

Day 19 of the challenge is galaxy nails. I've never tried galaxy nails before, so I was excited to try, and I'm super happy with my results. So happy, in fact, that I made a tutorial to go with them.

1. Start with a black base. I used Black Satin from Rimmel.

2. Using white (I used White On from Sally Hansen), lightly sponge on a thick line. This should not be perfectly straight and should be quite light. Focus more white on the center of the galaxy. 

3/4. Next, using a makeup sponge, slightly mix a darker and lighter blue (or a lighter and darker shade of your chosen colour) together and sponge around the outer edges of the white. I used Ogre-the-Top Blue and Yoga-Ta Get This Blue from OPI.

5. Repeat step 3/4., this time with purple (or your second chosen colour). However, sponge slightly onto the white this time. I used Midnight Plum from Avon and Fig from JOE Fresh. 

6. Lightly sponge glitter over the whole nail. I used Grey to Be Here from Essence. Then, focusing on the center of the galaxy, lightly sponge a coarser glitter over the white. I used a glitter striper from It's So Easy Stripe Rite. 

7. Finally, (this is what really makes the galaxy look) add some little dots for stars. You can also paint some twinkling stars on. Top coat. 

Tips:

i) Rip the makeup sponge; don't cut it, for a more natural, organic and realistic look when sponging. 

ii) Reference photos of galaxies to produce a more realistic design.

iii) Don't be perfect. Galaxies are irregular in shape since they naturally occur. 

iv) Each nail doesn't need to be the same, since once again, galaxies are natural and don't all look the same.

v) Make the center of the galaxy a slightly brighter white to look more realistic. 

vi) Make stars tiny to be more realistic. 

I hope any of you who haven't tried galaxy nails will give them a try! Now, one question. What do you guys think? Are my nails "Outta this World"?

Elvis Presley was a model citizen...

I'm sure most of you are sitting here, reading this title and thinking, "Huh?" Well, for those of you who know Lilo and Stitch, you'd know that Lilo (and eventually Stitch) idolize Elvis Presley. So when Lilo is "training" Stitch, she uses Elvis Presley as an example of a good citizen.

Anyways, since I loved the gradient I just did, as well as the Lilo and Stitch nails from a few months ago, I decided to paint some Stitch nails. 

alt="Lilo and Stitch nails" title="Lilo and Stitch nails">

The gradient is made with Ogre-the-Top Blue from OPI and You Belong to Me from Essence. The base for the Stitch nails is also Ogre-the-Top Blue. All the details are in acrylics.