Chuck Hughes

Chuck Hughes... AKA my favourite chef EVER. I've met him 3 years in a row, with last August being that third time. He's always a super cool guy, and so last year, I decided to paint some nails for our meeting.

So Chuck is a big fan of lobsters, and has a tattoo of one, as well as a sugar skull. His restaurants are in Montreal, so I added in the Montreal Canadiens logo, as well as checkered nails (Vans) and his autograph.

The checkered nails started with a base of Sure Thing from Revlon. I then used a black striper to make the checkered pattern, cleaning up any mistakes with white acrylic. The Chuck nail and the Montreal Canadiens nails both started with a base of Black Taxi from Nails Inc. I painted on Chuck with white acrylic, and the Canadiens logo using blue, red, and white acrylic. The sugar skull nails were a base of Revlon Red from Revlon, and I painted the skulls using black, white, and red acrylic. The lobster nails, as well as my thumb (the CNE logo) were a base of Sure Thing. I then painted the lobsters using red, black, and white acrylic. Finally, I painted the CNE logo on my thumb with purple, green, yellow, pink, red, and white acrylic.

Some lobsters close up.

Chuck was pretty impressed, and I ended up holding up the line up to meet him due to him checking out my nails.

This might be the first year I don't meet Chuck in 3 years, and I'm pretty sad, but here's to hopefully meeting him next year again!

"Eye" See All

Or at least my nails see all. I mean there are four eyes there. That's got to be pretty good vision. This mani was inspired, once again by the genius Spifster. 

The base for all nails was Surfing Paradise from Island Girl Hawaii. On my left pinkie and right middle finger, I painted the stars using a black striper from It's So Easy. My ring fingers and index fingers were a mix of Mellow Yellow from Sally Hansen, Blue Away from Sally Hansen, Let's Get Lost from Essence and Under The Boardwalk from China Glaze. I then painted on the drips using my black striper. Finally, on my left middle finger and right pinkie, I painted the eyes with white acrylic, then painted the irises with blue acrylic and the pupils with black acrylic. I finished it off by lining the eyes with a black striper. 

Hope you guys enjoy! 

Stay Gold, Ponyboy

From the first moment I ever read The Outsiders, I knew I was in love with it. This book also introduced me to my favourite poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost. That was the inspiration for this design, as well as the work of Spifster Sutton.

My pinkies and thumbs were Dreamer from Revlon. On my ring fingers and index fingers, I started with a base of Plum Seduction from Revlon, Blazed from Wet 'N' Wild, Mellow Yellow from Sally Hansen and Dreamer. On my ring fingers, I painted drips on using a black striper, then splattered on black acrylic with a toothbrush. Finally, I painted "stay gold" using white acrylic on my left ring finger and "golden" in black acrylic on top of a white acrylic banner on my right ring finger. To finish my index fingers, I used a black striper to paint the jagged lines, then splattered more black acrylic on top. My middle fingers were a custom grey I created using Sure Thing from Revlon and Black Leather from China Glaze. I then used black acrylic to paint the rose and the leaves, and added highlights using white acrylic.

Have any of you read The Outsiders? What did you think? 

Hope you guys enjoy! And remember, stay gold.

Read Or Die

Over the years, I've come to realize, I'm a lot less "ride or die" and a lot more "read or die". I just really like books.

On my left hand pinkie and right hand ring finger, I painted the word "no" using a black and white striper. Next, on my left ring finger and right middle finger, I started with a base of French Quarter For Your Thoughts from OPI, then painted Blue Away from Sally Hansen, Baker Street from Nails Inc., Blazed from Wet 'N' Wild, Lightening from Sally Hansen, Surfing Paradise from Island Girl Hawaii, Khaki from Joe, and Suzi Loves Cowboys from OPI. Then I added on some black and white using stripers, and painted on "ride or die" using a black striper. Finally, I painted "read" using a white striper. My left middle finger and right pointer finger were a base of Sure Thing from Revlon, followed by 3 layers of hairspray water marbling using Black Leather from China Glaze, Finally, my left pointer finger and right pinkie were Baker Street.

Do you guys like to read too? What's your favourite book?

Hope you guys enjoy! 

Tribal Eyes

Hey guys! After about a day of wear with the tribal accent nail, I decided to add some art to my other nails.

The tribal accent nail is left unchanged from last week. Then, the nude base on my pinkie and middle finger is Sheer Nude from Orly, then on the middle finger, I painted an eye using a white striper. I outlined the eye with a black striper, then painted the iris and pupil using blue and black acrylic. Finally, my pointer finger is a base of Sure Thing from Revlon, with a sort of chevron pattern painted using a black striper.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Tribal Vibes

Hey guys! Here's a quick accent nail design I did base on nails that NinaNailedIt did!

I used a base of Blue Away from Sally Hansen, then hairspray water marbled (look this up if you haven't heard of it before, it's so cool!) using Black Leather from China Glaze and then again with Golden Eye from OPI. Finally, I thinly outlined the nail using a black striper and painted the tribal design using a white striper.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Floral Fancy

When I first painted this design, I really wasn't a fan of it. But, the longer it's on my nails, the more I like it. So here it is: some stripes and abstract flowers inspired by a design I saw in Nail It! magazine.

The base colour is White On from Sally Hansen, and the stripes were made with a black striper. Then I started making the flowers. The blue is a mix of White On and Dreamer from Revlon. The pink is St. James Park from Nails Inc., and the darker purple is a mix of Charming, Plum Seduction and Dreamer, all from Revlon. The lighter purple is a mix of Hello Marshmallow from Essence and Plum Seduction. Finally, the leaves are High Line Green from NYC and Sassy from Revlon.

This design is really easy. The stripes don't need to be perfect, and the flowers are pretty much just layering blobs of different coloured nail polish.

So what do you guys think? Abstract flowers: good or bad?

Is it summer yet?

Well, Southern Ontario has been hit with one seriously horrible winter. Tons of snow, freezing cold temperatures, and a lack of sunshine. I am not enjoying this. I know, I know, I live in Canada. I should expect this, but I hate it. I am a fan of summer, and seeing that it doesn't seem to be coming weather wise, I decided to bring some summer to my nails by putting on some bright colours.

I started with a base of Spirit by Revlon. Then, I striped on Pool Party by China Glaze, L.O.L by Essence, and Let's Get Lost by Essence. I finished off the look with striping on black acrylic. It's a super simple look, but I really love how it turned out.

Here's a super closeup to see all the colours.

Hope you guys like it!

Mini Manicures: Halloween

With Halloween just a few days away, here are a couple of mini manis for you guys to check out! The first of course, is my spiderweb nails. This is the third year of done them, and you can see them here from last year.

It's the exact same tutorial as last year. 

1. Start with your base polish. I used Reveal Everything Red from ASP, which is a gel polish (more on that soon!).

2. Using a white polish or striper, draw your web shape and fill it in.

3. Use a black striper to draw in the web.

4. Finish drawing in the web, top coat and you're done!

I love this manicure because it's pretty simple, and most people can do it. Plus, people tend to be amazed by the spiderwebs, so get ready for lots of compliments! 

This second mini manicure is a vampire mouth, but you can change it to be any monster mouth.

1. Start with a base coat of red or pink for the lips. Once again, this is Reveal Everything Red.

2. Using black (I used acrylic paint), paint the inside of the mouth.

3. Add in the teeth in white. The teeth can be for whatever monster you'd like. I went for the pointy canines and made it a vampire, but try all sharp teeth for a werewolf, or all flat teeth for a Frankenstein look. Top coat and you're done!

Hope you guys enjoy! Stay tuned for more Halloween manicures!

Aloha!

Aloha guys! I just returned from Hawaii a few days ago, which is why I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I wanted to show you guys my nails from the vacation, as well as some photos of Hawaii.

I started off with my nails like this. My ring finger is a gradient of Pool Party from China Glaze and Watermelon from Essie for the sunset and Blue-Away from Sally Hansen and Ogre-the-Top Blue From OPI for the water. The sand of the island is real sand from the beach near my house here in Canada. I made the palm tree with a black striper. The rest of my nails were a gradient of Pool Party and Watermelon.

A sort of foggy looking photo underwater at Waikiki beach in Oahu.

After about 5 days in Hawaii, I changed up my design. I used Pool Party and Watermelon, as well as adding in some black and white stripers. On my thumb I wrote "aloha", which has three meanings: hello; goodbye; and I love you. I was going for "hello". On my ring finger, I wrote "shaka". Shaka means "hang loose" or "good vibes". 

This is a catamaran on Waikiki beach.

This is surfboard rentals on Waikiki beach. 

And a sunset at the Polynesian Cultural Centre. 

And finally, a photo from snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

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!

By The Sea...

Hey guys! Back again. Two days in a row posting! Woo! Here's my current manicure.

I've been wanting to do nautical nails for a while, and I just haven't gotten around to it until now. The red is Gypsy Queen from Misa along with one coat of Wocka Wocka from OPI. The blue is Yoga-Ta Get This Blue from OPI and the white is a white striper. It was actually a super simple mani, but it looks really cute! Enjoy!

Aztec Nails

For this design, I started with a base of Club Prive from L'Oréal. Then I use a white striper for the white lines. The black is acrylic, as are the white dots.

Just a Little Bit of Random

Hey guys. I feel so bad lately. I'm barely painting my nails and blogging, so I am now promising to bring a bunch of new designs and tutorials to you guys starting today. So, without further ado, the nail art.

It's a more summery design, which I seriously needed, since winter has been hitting hard in Ontario lately. My bright design just made me think of the summer (and spring!) that are sort of almost here. :p Anyways, the orange is Sunkissed from Sally Hansen, and the green is Lime Up! from Essence. The dots are Ogre-the-Top Blue from OPI and white acrylic. I used a striper brush to make the pink lines, which is Watermelon from Essie, and then a yellow striper from Stripe Rite.

What do you guys think? Is this a good summer design? And while I'm blogging, I may as well ask. Any spring or Easter tutorials you guys would like to see? Let me know!

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!

Halloween Tutorials --- Spiderwebs

This is one of my favourite nail designs. I painted it last year for Halloween too, so I was excited to paint it again. It's much less creepy than the zombie nails and it has a sort of pop art feel.

Alright, here's the step-by-step tutorial.

1. Paint your nail with an orange nail polish. I used Papaya from JOE.

2. Using a white striper, outline the background for the spider web. Fill this in with white polish. I used White On from Sally Hansen.

3. Use a black striper to make the lines on the web. Top coat.

And that's it! You're done! Simple, right? 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"?