Au Revoir 2012!

So, seeing as 2012 comes to its close tonight, I figure I better post my last design for the year.

Some old school Mickey Mouse nails. The base colour is Designer... de Better from OPI's Muppets collection and the details are done with acrylic and pen and ink. I love Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse, and Pluto and Disney (if you haven't figured that out yet :p). And if you haven't noticed my love for Mickey and Minnie, you can see one manicure here, another one here, another here (along with my Mickey Mouse purse), and one more here. Yup. That's it. For now anyways. :p

Have a Happy New Year everyone! See you guys next year!

2012: A Year in Review, of Nail Art

Seeing as the year is coming to a close, I decided it's time to look back at some of my favourite manicures of 2012.

My "Girl on Fire" nails for the release of The Hunger Games.

Spiderman nails I just felt like painting since he's my favourite super hero.

"Starfish on the beach" nails.

Doodle nails done with pen and ink.

"The Evolution of Pluto" nails, painted for no reason at all. 

Rolling Stones nails that I painted for the 50th anniversary of the band.

My "Ohana Means Family" nails I painted just cause I happen to love Stitch.

Day 3 of my 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, which is the Yellow Submarine. 

Harry Potter inspired nail art. 

 Dìa de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) sugar skull nail art (definitely in my top three).

And finally, my "Starry Night" recreation. 

It's Snowing!... On my nails at least...

Not sure about wherever you guys are, but here in Southern Ontario, we've yet to get snow that stays on the ground. It's looking like we'll be having yet another green Christmas. But, to avoid having no snow, I went for a snowy nail design, complete with tutorial.

1. Start by painting three triangles at the tip of your nail, using a white striper. Then, add in three light blue diamonds; one in each triangle. 

2. Using the striper, make a white line between the right triangle and the centre triangle. Repeat on the opposite side. 

3. Add in two small chevrons at the end of each line.

4. Using a dotting tool, add "snow" dots cascading down the side of the nail.

For the other nails, start with a simple french manicure and add in the "snow". I used White On from Sally Hansen for the french, along with French Rose from Rimmel. The striper was an It's So Easy Stripe Rite in white. 

Once again, Happy Holidays everyone!

Holly Tutorial

Hey everyone! I've got a quick Christmas-y tutorial for you!

1. Start with a basic white french. I used White On from Sally Hansen and French Rose from Rimmel. 

2. Next, using a green striper, paint on two holly leaves; one horizontal to the french and one vertical to the french. Press down the striper brush against the nail, then pull and lift for the points of the leaves. I used Show Me the Greens from Misa.

3. Finally, using a dotter, add three holly berries in red. I used Wocka Wocka from OPI.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 31, Recreate Your Favourite

So, here it is; the final day of the challenge. And it only took me four months. :p I went for a half moon manicure, because they're just so pretty and simple.

I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps and then gold glitter to make the design.

OPI Contest Results

Hey everybody. So, if you've been keeping track of the OPI James Bond contest, you'll know what my good news is. I was one of ten winners of the ENTIRE OPI Skyfall collection, along with the Man with the Golden Gun, 18K gold flake polish! That's 13 polishes! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who voted for me! And if you haven't seen the nail design, check out the previous post!

Bond... James Bond... Inspired

My latest manicure, is, as the title of this post says, James Bond inspired. It also happens to be my entry for the OPI nail art contest to win the OPI Skyfall collection. You guys can vote for my design at http://apps.facebook.com/offerpop/Contest.psp?c=257006&u=59387&a=254553244581393&p=118289031531592&rest=0&v=View and then search for Christina or you can just search for OPI on Facebook, then go to the James Bond contest. Thanks guys!

On my thumb is [a hand-painted] Sean Connery as James Bond. The base is White On from Sally Hansen. On my pointer finger is a tuxedo, with a base of Black Satin. I used Essie's Matte About You to make the collar and acrylic for the white shirt and black bow tie/buttons. My middle finger is a silhouette of Bond holding a gun. The base is White On with Wocka Wocka from OPI. My ring finger is the 007 logo, with a base of Amazon's Flash from L'Oreal. Finally, my pinkie is the Union Jack. The base is a blue Migi Nail Art pen. The red and white are acrylic. Enjoy and don't forget to vote for me! :p

I WON!! :) 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 30, Tutorial (Finally)

So, I've only got one more day now for the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, and yes, I know it is way passed 31 days. But, I've had things to do. :p Anyways, it took me a while to figure out which tutorial I would follow for my design.

I finally chose the feather tutorial from the Nailasaurus. I used Flirt from Revlon as my base, then followed the tutorial to add an accent finger with the feather.Only one more day left of the challenge and I'm done! Although, to be honest, I'm not sure when it'll get done, since I need to do some holiday manicures... :p

Hakuna Matata

I've got a quick Lion King manicure to show you guys.

Simba has a base colour of Mellow Yellow from Sally Hansen, and the details are acrylic. The Hakuna Matata writing is in white acrylic. To get the effect on the other nails, I first started with a base of Mellow Yellow. I then layered on (one at a time) Watermelon from Essie, Papaya from JOE, Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen, Lime Up! from Essence and Blue-Away from Sally Hansen. After each colour, I would used the saran wrap technique to remove some colour. I think I might do a tutorial on this, since I did it quite differently than most of the saran wrap tutorials I've seen. Anyways, hope you guys like it! :)

Peter Pan Collar Tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial for you guys!

1. Start with a black half-moon manicure. I used Black Satin from Rimmel.

2. Add the two rounded flaps of the collar in white.

3. Finally, add to white dots for buttons.

And you're done! Simple, eh?

Minnie Mouse

I've got a quick half-moon manicure of Minnie Mouse.

The white is White On from Sally Hansen. The black is Black Satin from Rimmel and all details are acrylic.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 29, Supernatural

Here we are. Nearing the end of my never-ending "31" day nail art challenge. For day 29, I have my supernatural inspired manicure. It took me forever to come up with an idea. I didn't just want to paint ghosts or aliens and then it hit me. Egyptian mythology. If that's not supernatural, I don't know what is.

I started with a base of Black Satin from Rimmel and gold shatter from OPI. On my pointer finger, I painted the ankh, also known as the symbol of life, in black acrylic. The red "jewel" is Ruby Pumps from China Glaze and Wocka Wocka from OPI. On my ring finger is the Eye of Horus (the God of Upper Egypt), later known as the Eye of Ra (or Re, depending on what you like to call the Egyptian sun God). The eye is painted with black acrylic and the iris is Yoga-Ta Get this Blue from OPI and Frostbite from China Glaze.

Now, only two more days of my challenge left!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 28, Flag

I'll keep this one brief. It's just a quick, one fingered design to get this specific challenge done.

The red is Ruby Pumps from China Glaze and the white is acrylic. If you can't tell, it's inspired by the Canadian flag.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 27, Artwork and Mini Masterpieces

Art is my life. No, seriously. I LOVE art. I draw all the time (you should see my binders and any other blank paper I find!), and I paint my nails like crazy. I love painting, and working with clay. So, when I got to this challenge, I was super excited! And since the challenge was inspired by art, I had to paint one of the most iconic art pieces ever made: Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. Did you know that Van Gogh only sold one piece of art when he was alive, and it was to his brother?! Okay, okay! I'll get to the nail art. :p

The base colour is Frostbite from China Glaze. All of the detail work is many, many layers of acrylic.  And all this talk of famous art has given me an idea. Once, possibly twice a month, I'll recreate a famous piece of art on my nails, and call it the "Mini Masterpiece". So, this will be my first installment in that collection. Enjoy!

I'm Saved by the Bell

Hey guys! Here's another random 3 nail manicure, since I've been to lazy to fix my ever breaking pointer finger nail. :p Anyways, for those of you who love the show Saved by the Bell, these nails are for you!

My pinkie is painted with Dreamer from Revlon and Blue-Away from Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. The spots, colour blocks and swirl are acrylic. My ring finger; the Saved by the Bell logo, has a base coat of Bizarre Blurple from the China Glaze Wicked collection, with Fig from JOE sponged on top. Once again the detail is acrylic. Finally, my middle finger has a base of Via Airmail from the Essence Ready for Boarding collection, and detail in acrylic. 

All the designs are from the opening theme of Saved by the Bell. I've been super happy lately, since Saved by the Bell is back on TV on Much Music. :)

Feliz Día de los Muertos and 31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 26, Pattern

Hey guys! So, officially, Day of the Dead is tomorrow, however the festivities kick off on Halloween.The basic idea of Día de los Muertos is to honour dead ancestors. It's similar to Halloween, except it's more of a happy celebration, rather than about scaring people. Sugar skulls are popular art connected to the Day of the Dead. They aren't your typical creepy looking skull, but rather elaborately decorated skulls which look quite beautiful. Anyways, enough background; here are the nails. 

Here's my right hand thumb.

And my left hand thumb.

My right hand.

 

And my left hand with the two horribly short (for me) nails. :p

I figure that the skulls are sort of a pattern, so therefore, they are my 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, Day 26 design. The black background is Black Satin by Rimmel and the skulls are the Migi nail art white pen. The detail is acrylic. 

Happy Halloween!

Hey guys! I just wanted to shout out a Happy Halloween and Feliz Dìa de los Muertos (Day of the Dead kicks off today!)! I was planning on putting my Day of the Dead manicure up today, but unfortunately I just got home, and the lighting has been horrible for days. I know, I know. I can take photos with a lamp or flash, but they just don't look the same as with natural lighting. Anyways, hopefully the pictures will be up tomorrow!

Halloween Tutorials --- Friday the 13th

Channel your inner Jason Voorhees with these Friday the 13th inspired nails.

1. Start with a white base. I used White On from Sally Hansen.

2. Sponge on some brown polish to age Jason's mask. I used Bare Necessity from Avon.

3. Paint on the eye openings of the mask in black. Add the red, triangular designs onto the mask.

4. Add four black dots above the triangle over the eye opening, and one dot over the last dot on either side on top of the triangle. Ad three dots on the "cheeks".

5. Paint a black dot for the hole for the nose. Paint 4 dots in an arc below the "nose". And two dots beneath both of the center dots out of the four.

6. Finally, shade around the nose in brown to make it look three dimensional. Add silver dots beneath the red triangles on each side as screws for the mask.

For the other nails, thin some red nail polish with nail polish thinner. Place drops at the tips of white nails. The blow at the red, so that it goes towards your cuticle. There you go. Some "blood" covered nails.

Halloween Tutorials --- Monster Mash, Part 2

Here's part 2 of the Monster Mash tutorials.

1. Start with an orange base. I used Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen.

2. Paint a green leaf for the Jack-O-Lantern's "hair".

3. Add some black eyes.

4. Paint on the nose.

5. Finally, give your Jack-O-Lantern a toothy grin!

1. Start with a white base. I used White On from Sally Hansen. *Optional: Add a glow in the dark polish over the white. I used U Glow Girl from Sally Girl.

2. Paint on the black eyes for the skeleton.

3. Add the nose by making to thin lines.

4. Shade in some cheekbones with grey.

5. Finally, paint on teeth with black.

1. Paint your nails with a colour which matches your skin tone. I used Sheer Nude from Orly.

2. Take a make up sponge and sponge on some green, black and brown. I used Khaki from JOE, Black Satin from Rimmel and Bare Necessity from Avon.

3. Use black to give the zombie some hair.

4. Using a dotter, make two black eyes. Add a red pupil.

5. Finally, give your zombie a black nose and smile.

1. Start with a white base. I used White On followed with U Glow Girl.

2. Add two long, black eyes.

3. Add white to the eyes.

4. Finally, give the ghost a shocked looking mouth. 

And here are some glow in the dark shots. 

The ghost.

The skeleton.

I've got one more Halloween tutorial coming to you guys tomorrow. Let's just say this one will be creepier than the Monster Mash nails. 

Halloween Tutorials --- Monster Mash (Part 1)

Here's another (or rather four more) tutorials for you guys!

1. Paint your nail with a brown nail polish. I used Bare Necessity from Avon.

2. Using a large dotter (I used the end of a paint brush), make to white circles for eyes.

3. Give the werewolf some lime green irises and black pupils. Give him a big black nose.

4. Add some white fangs for the werewolf.

5. Finally, add some fur.

Grrrrr!

1. Start with a pale nude base. I used Sheer Nude from Orly.

2. Using black, paint the vampire's hair.

3. Add two white circles, followed by red dots for the eyes.

4. Add a nose for the vampire with brown. Paint on a mouth, along with two white fangs.

5. Finally, give the vampire some arched black eyebrows to look menacing. :p

And there you have it; your blood sucker.

1. Paint your nail with a green nail polish. I used High Line from NYC.

2. Add Frankenstein's triangular hair using black.

3. Next, using a dotter, make some white circles for the eyes. Follow with black pupils. 

4. Give Frankenstein a black nose and smile.

5. Finally, add Frankenstein's trademark stitches with a black striper.

There you go. Once misunderstood monster!

1. Start with a white base. I used White On from Sally Hansen.

2. Sponge on some brown and black to "age" the mummy. I sued Bare Necessity and Black Satin from Rimmel.

3. Use a dotter and make one eye. Add an orange iris and black pupil.

4. Finally, use a black striper to make the mummy's bandages.

I want my mummy!

There you go! Monster Mash nails! Enjoy!