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!

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!

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!

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.