Holographic stars and strawberries

When the sun is shining, it's time for the holo polishes to come out and play! I bought my first holo polish from Urban Outfitters as a pick-me-up present to myself. Wasn't expecting much, but OH MAN when I brought this baby out in the sun, I was completely floored. I mean, LOOK AT THIS!

I freehanded on some cascading stars with black acrylic paint. Indoors, you can still see some of the rainbow effect. I'm just sorry I didn't get a picture in the sun with the stars.

After this first wonderful experience with a holo, I was craving more. I picked up Color Club "Miss Bliss" and "Over the Moon". I used Miss Bliss for some holographic strawberries over "Bossy Boots" from butter London, a really gorgeous, pistachio green. The strawberry leaves were painted with Essie "Mojito Madness".

Holographic strawberries have magical properties, you know. If you eat one, you will gain enough strength to defeat the evil Dark Wizard Mage King.

Pastel leopard print

Spring is officially here! Can't quite break out the shorts yet with all the SNOW on the ground, but at least I can start rocking some pretty pastel colours. I'm recently seeing a lot of mint paired together with light purple, and I think the combo is gorgeous, so today's featured colours are American Apparel Office (mint) and L'Esprit (purple) in the form of leopard print!

Look how pretty! I saw these items in stores, and I fell in love. Not really my style to wear these, but I can gaze from afar. The socks are from Club Monaco (which inspired the nails), and the bracelet is from Banana Republic.

I started with two coats of Office, then used the brush from China Glaze "Kalahari Kiss" to make some random splodges. Then I used a bobby pin and L'Esprit to make some more random splodges around the Kalahari Kiss ones. For a finishing touch, I dotted China Glaze "I'm Not Lion" on random spots.

The colours freaked out my camera pretty badly, and I actually had to end up using my iPhone to take these pictures as opposed to my usual digital camera - which is five years old, and its age is showing. Hoping to get a new one in the near future!

I like this picture in natural light the best (even though the colours look very blue). There's actually still daylight after I get off work now! Just waiting for the weather to warm up. Happy weekend, friends!

If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it

Haha, classic. Today I have a Baroque-inspired pattern - I say inspired because I didn't do too much research before painting. I kind of just went for it. A random swirl here, dot there, leaf over here. I think they still turned out pretty (and probably took less time than if I had tried to painstakingly recreate a pattern), but they say more just vines to me than Baroque.

I started out with two coats of Essie Going Incognito. I CANNOT believe that this is only the second time I've ever used this colour. I mean, I remember liking it the first time, but I didn't remember it being such an amazingly rich and glossy and all-around gorgeous green! I am now seriously considering buying a backup bottle, I love it that much. I'd show you a swatch on its own, but I did these at a friend's house, so I didn't have my camera handy then. Next time!

The gold pattern is painted on with Zoya Ziv, another great polish. I used my regular medium length brush to draw the main path/shape of the swirl, then built onto it by thickening some parts and adding leafy extensions. I used a tiny dotting tool for the dots. Lesson learned: don't overdot. Too many dots makes it look cluttered.

Look, I was not lazy and actually did both hands this time!

What do you think, are these Baroque-y enough for you? You can really tell how much I know about the style, huh. Also, is it just me, or does gold look amazing with everything? I thought I loved turquoise and gold, but this combination is definitely giving some competition. Until next time!

Who needs silver and gold

When you have turquoise and gold! If there were any colours that were made for each other, it would be these two. What? Complimentary colours, you say? Nope, turquoise and gold trumps all.

This was my first attempt with striping tape, and honestly, I don't know if I'd use it again. This tape was so thin and fiddly, it took me forever to position and stick it down. Having said that, I don't think there's any other way to get such thin, clean lines. I was channeling a necklace that I recently bought from Forever 21.

Polishes:

Left to right: Joe Fresh "Sun Kissed", Essie "As Gold As It Gets", Essie "Turquoise and Caicos", American Apparel "Pacific Beach"

I did two coats of Sun Kissed, then one coat of As Gold As It Gets for a bit of extra sparkle (though it doesn't show up well). I worked one nail at a time, placing the tape down, one coat of Turquoise and Caicos, then two generous coats of Pacific Beach, and finally removing the tape while the polish was still wet for cleaner lines.    

 

Turquoise and gold bonus! You can tell this is an old picture because I didn't have proper lighting back then and I took all my pictures sitting at my desk. Now I take pictures in the bathroom. Progress.

This is three coats of Turquoise and Caicos, followed by one coat of Deborah Lippmann "Boom Boom Pow", then another coat of Boom Boom Pow, focusing on the tips. It reminded me of gold jewelery in a Tiffany box!

What do you think of these? Have you had any experience with striping tape? What is YOUR favourite colour combination? Thanks for reading! Until next time, friends!

Nail Art: Calvin and Hobbes

Hello friends, long time no see. I've been pretty busy for the past week, hence the lack of posting, but I happily had time to sit down yesterday and paint something.

I've been wanting to do Calvin and Hobbes themed nails for a while now. I bought several Calvin and Hobbes comic books at an amazingly inexpensive bookstore in Toronto, and they quickly became my favourite thing to read for a quick pick-me-up. Makes me think how much less boring it would be being an adult if I just had a stuffed tiger.

The hard part was making a design that would show their friendship; something the comics express so plainly. I settled on this simple design with a simple message in mind: where some may see a stuffed tiger, Calvin sees his best friend.

Polishes:

Left to right: Illamasqua "Nomad", Zoya "Arizona", Sally Hansen "White On" and "Black Out", Folk Art acrylic paint #949 "Skintone" and #509 "Sunny Yellow"

Directions:

Finished!

I love how these turned out and I get happy when I look down at my fingers. These are probably not the last Calvin and Hobbes themed nails from me. Hoped you enjoyed this! 

Nail Art: Breaking Bad

Hello friends, hope you are having a fine Sunday. I've been catching myself up with Breaking Bad, and I think the new season is off to a great start. Can't wait to see where it goes! Today's nail art is tribute to this amazing series. To anyone who hasn't seen it, I'd highly recommend Breaking Bad if you like a good drama with gripping suspense, tension, and top notch acting.

Also, this was my first attempt at water marbling. And it was not awful! It went much easier and smoother than I expected. I'll make a proper tutorial for it once I've got the technique down, more or less. I'm quite happy with how well the green swirls emulate the title credits.

Polishes:

Left to right: OPI "Jade is the New Black", Orly "Meet Me Under the Mistletoe", Sally Hansen "Grass Slipper", Sally Hansen "White On", Sally Hansen "Black Out"

Directions:

This was my formula for the water marbling, in this order:
1 drop of OPI "Jade is the New Black" + 1 drop of Orly "Meet Me Under the Mistletoe" + 1 drop of Sally Hansen "Grass Slipper" + 1 more drop of  OPI

The gold shimmer in Orly didn't show up in the marbling, but it might have affected the way the polish spread over the water. I found I didn't need as many drops of polish as I thought, but I'll have to experiment a little to be sure.

Finished!

If you already watch Breaking Bad, how do you like it? If not, do you think you'll check it out? How was your first attempt at water marbling?

Thanks for reading, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Saran Wrap Nails with Border

Happy Monday, friends! I decided to take a little break from the cartoon-y scenes and illustration manis I've been doing for the past couple weeks, and do something completely different. I've been wanting to try out saran wrap nails, as it seems easy to do, and easy to get really pretty results! Here's how my first attempt turned out:

I wouldn't say they turned out exactly as I'd hoped, but I still think they look pretty, especially with a bit of glitter. I also added a border with a silver striping polish, and I quite like the outcome! I was always kind of on the fence about border nails - it can look awesome, but I feel it can be a bit harsh for me. The silver is subtle enough to overcome that concern.

Polishes:

Left to right: Sally Hansen "White On", "Sally Hansen "Green Tea", Sally Hansen "First Kiss", China Glaze "For Audrey", Wet n Wild "Kaleidoscope", Jordana "Star Designer"

Materials:

• saran wrap or a plastic sandwich bag

Directions:

1. Paint a white base onto your nails.
2. Work on one nail at a time. Drop on spots of your colours, making sure most of your nail is covered.
3. While the polish is wet, gently press the saran wrap or plastic bag against it. The colours will be marbled together.

Easy right? I'll definitely try this again with different colours. Have you tried saran wrap nails yet? Do you like the border nails look?

Thanks for reading!

Nail Art: Sherman's Lagoon for Shark Week

After nearly a week of pointy teeth, blood, and chomp, chomped everything, I'm celebrating Shark Week by painting my favourite shark from Jim Toomey's Sherman's Lagoon. For friends who haven't heard of Shark Week, it is essentially a week on the Discovery Channel featuring the om nom nom-ing power of sharks. 

It's so fun playing with these nails. *cue Jaws theme*

Da da...

DA DA...

Sorry, a bit anti-climatic there.

Sherman is the cuddliest-looking shark out there. He still eats people though.

Directions:

Left to right: Essie "Who Is the Boss?", China Glaze "For Audrey", Orly "Green With Envy", Joe Fresh "Teal"

If you need help with sponging a gradient, I have a tutorial here.

For my other hand, I used the same method: gradient background, black outline, then colour fill. You might even choose to skip the black outlines - I used them to keep the look of the comic. Have fun and be creative with your underwater scene! Paint different types of fish, colourful coral and rocks.

Looking forward to the last two days of this Jaws fest. Hope you enjoyed this and have a good weekend!

Nail Art: The Giving Tree

Once, there was a tree…
And she loved a little boy.
And every day the boy would come
And he would gather her leaves
And make them into crowns and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
And swing from her branches
And eat apples
And they would play hide-and-go-seek.
And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree… very much…
And the tree was happy.

-Shel Silverstein, "The Giving Tree"

  

I read "The Giving Tree" as a kid, and even now, this sad, but sweet little story has not lost its charm for me. While there are many interpretations to the story, what I relate to most is the process of growing up - from a child's carefree play, to an adult's wants and responsibilities. What I find most beautiful is the idea that with love, you always have a place to come back to and rest.

Polishes:

Left to right: American Apparel "Crescent Heights", OPI "Jade is the New Black", American Apparel "Malibu Green", American Apparel "Poppy" (not pictured - black and white polish)

Materials:

• nail art brush

Directions:

Base: Paint your nails a lime green.

Tip: When painting the tree trunk, just use the brush from the bottle.

Finished!

What do you think of "The Giving Tree"? Any other Shel Silverstein stories you enjoy?

Thanks for reading!