Tropical Watercolour

This design came about during the freezing cold (and what felt like never ending) winter here in Canada. I was missing summer like crazy, so I decided to bring the tropics to my nails. 

The gold nails are Golden Eye from OPI. My other three nails all started with a base of Sure Thing from Revlon. For my ring finger and pointer finger, I used blue, pink, and yellow sharpies diluted with rubbing alcohol compound to create the sunset effect. I then added on the palm trees and palm fronds using black acrylic.

I'm happy to say the weather is nice here now, but a couple months ago, these nails were the closest thing I had to warmth.

See ya later!

Tropical Watercolour... Again

Before I painted the nails on the previous post, I had these tropical babies on. When I say the winter was bad here, I mean bad. Every time it seemed like it was ending, it started snowing again. In fact, it snowed one day last month... Yeah, not fun. So tropical vibes on my nails were really needed.

The base on all nails was Sure Thing from Revlon. As with the last post, I created the watercolour effect on these nails using Sharpies, and rubbing alcohol compound. To achieve this, I scribbled the Sharpies on a plastic container lid, then dipped a brush in rubbing alcohol and applied it to the nail. I'm going to do a tutorial on this technique soon, so keep your eyes peeled! Finally, the fine details were added with black acrylic.

Close up time.

One more shot of all the nails. 

Hoping the weather is nice wherever you are!

Flamingos & Palm Trees

Well, it's finally starting to get warm here in Southern Ontario, so it's about time to start breaking out all the summery designs. These ones happen to be inspired by Nina Park, AKA, Nina Nailed It.

For the palm tree nails, I created a gradient using Electrified and Hey Girl! from Quo by Orly. Then, using black acrylic, I painted the palm trees. For the flamingo nails, I mixed together Blue Away from Sally Hansen and That's What I Mint from Essence for the base coat. I then painted the flamingos using pink, gold and black acrylic. I topped everything off with a matte top coat and voila! Simple and cute summery nails.

Hope you guys enjoy!

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!

Summer, Come Back!

I miss summer. And palm trees... although we don't have those here in Canada, other than maybe some little palm tree house plants. So that's what inspired this design: summer and palm trees.

My pinkie was a base of Sheer Nude from Orly, which I then outlined with a white striper from Stripe Rite. I created a blue gradient using Blue Away from Sally Hansen on my ring finger, then painted palm trees with a black striper, also from Stripe Rite. On my middle finger, I placed studs onto a base of Sheer Nude. Then for my pointer finger, I painted 3/4 of the nail with Blue Away, then painted a palm leaf with the black striper. Finally, I painted stripes using the white striper on a base of Sheer Nude on my thumb.

Anyone else missing summer right now?

Back To The Beach

I know. The two themes that I always come back to for manicures are Mickey Mouse and tropical. So here's another tropical, island themed design.

I started with a base of White Matter from Formula X. Then I randomly dry brushed Pool Party by China Glaze, Sunkissed by Sally Hansen, L.O.L. by Essence, Turned Up Turquoise by China Glaze and Let's Get Lost by Essence on my nails. On my ring fingers and thumbs, I added white acrylic on the "water" to create reflection, and then added a black acrylic palm tree. On my pointer fingers, I added a heart using black and white acrylic.

I'm actually really happy with this manicure, and I've gotten a ton of compliments. The bright colours make it super summery, and brighten my day (which is great considering it's been rainy and overcast for several weeks now). And it's a semi-abstract but still realistic design too.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Sunset Palm

And here's another summery, tropical themed manicure. This time, a sunset with a palm tree.

The base was White On from Sally Hansen, and then I sponged on Tomorrow Never Dies by OPI, Frostbite by China Glaze, Blazed by Wet 'N' Wild and Sun Kissed by Sally Hansen to create the sunset gradient. I then painted the palm tree with black acrylic. Super simple, but very summery.

Hope you guys enjoy!

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!