Marbled Marbles Manicure (say that 5 times fast!)

A young lady I follow on Instagram (cherry_does_nails) posted a super cute manicure a couple days ago. The manicure,I believe was called "cartoon" nails. I loved the way they looked!

Right away I thought of the marbled marbles manicure.

Now, this pictorial starts off with already marbled nails. If your interested in learning how to marble,I do have a youtube video that explains in detail how to marble your nails. Keep in mind the video is long because I cover every aspect of nail art marbling. Click here for that video. 

Lets get started.

For the outlined black I used my stripwrite. You could also use a fine art brush and black polish or acrylic paint to achieve this same outcome.

When starting your lines, take it very slow.Try to move your finger rather then your brush. Work your way from out to in and create a half circle first. Then another half circle on the other side of the nail. Rest your hand on the table to get stability for your lines.

Once your happy with the shape, fill in the rest with the same black.

Next with a dotting tool or tooth pick, dip in to white polish and create the light reflection. Curve the line in a half moon shape to follow the curve of the circle shape.Add another dot below that.

This design really comes to life when you add the glossy top coat. Wait a good five minutes before doing so.

We all (my family) have one of these personal marbles. We are big fans of the game. My son Julian wanted to play right away. He kept asking if my nails were dry. He knows me so well.

Thanks for stopping!

New Years Manicures!!!

This last week I had the pleasure to give out awesome manicures to family when visiting for the holiday. So, here are some of those manicures along with one of my own.


This first one was done on my cousin Krystal. She also blogged about this design. You can find her awesome post about it thru this link.beautybykrystal

This manicure started out very simple and 2 hours later we had this! It was so much fun playing around with stamps and different techniques. We got a little carried away. But the outcome is fantastic!
For all products used for this manicure click on the link to Krystal's blog.

 

Next is my sister in laws nails. She new she wanted to use Finger Paints Santa's Magic. So that went on all fingers but the ring and thumb. On those we put Orly in Miss Conduct. I then stamped a kiss on the ring fingers from a konad plate and added 2013 with my stripe write in black.

 

 

The blurred picture on the right shows just how holographic and sparkly the nails are.

 

And finally I did this design a few weeks back for a contest on Istagram. The theme was celebration. I was voted first place! It was so cool! They are great for New Years as well.

I just used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in white for the base. Black and white acrylic paint and fine art brush to create the champagne bottle and glasses. Then added some glitter accents.

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

Holiday Caviar Manicures (Micro Beads)

These are two designs I did this month. I love the way they turned out!
Now, if you decide to do these designs, keep in mind that they are time consuming.


Lets start with this one. Snow flake caviar. The base color is from Orly called Sweet Peacock. I then went in with white acrylic paint and added a snow flake on the ring finger. To see the step by step howto for the snow flake click here.
Add a top coat to seal in the snowflake and color. I then took silver micro beads and one by one,with a dotting tool and a very little bit of clear coat on the tool, placed the beads on the snowflake as seen in the picture. If the clear coat starts to dry making it difficult for the beads to stick, add a little more clear to the snowflake with a tooth pick or dotting tool. And don't forget random beads on the other nails to look like falling snow.
Because I used silver beads for this design,I was able to add a fast drying top coat to seal this design in. But, depending on the micro beads, some colors tend to bleed when doing so.

 

Now, onto the Peppermint Caviar Manicure

The base for these are Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in White. Then A coat of Frosty from China Glaze.

I also used acrylic paint and fine art brush to create the red swirl. Very simple,just a red color. I added a top coat to all the nails to seal in the swirl.

Now, this one is more time consuming then the snowflake. I took my dotting tool and one stripe at a time, added non fast drying clear coat, then added the beads in that area. White beads in the white swirl and red beads in the red swirl. Pushing lightly down when finished to ensure they are secure.

DO NOT add a top coat to the beads if they bleed. I happened to have beads that do bleed.

 

Hope you try these out! Completely worth the time and effort. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments below. Thanks for looking!

 

Mistletoe Manicure (Pucker Up!)

Who will you be kissing under the mistletoe? Well, with this design you can kiss anyone you wish!
For these I used acrylic paint,and a fine art brush. Both can be purchased at any craft store for a very good price. No need to get expensive paint.

 

If you don't have the right color you would like, just do some mixing on your pallet.

 

 

The base is a basic red with a little glitter on the thumb and ring finger. If your fingers don't line up like mine do, feel free to pick another finger your thumb lines up with or just do the whole design on your ring finger.

 

With your basic green, create the mistletoe. The lighter the stroke the better.

 

 

Next go back into your pallet and create a dark green for some shadowing and depth. Outline the mistletoe with the dark green.

 

Then with a dotting tool and white polish or acrylic paint, create the cluster of flowers.

 

 

Then with gold polish make a thick line where the twine would be around the mistletoe stems.

 

 

Go back into the black paint and outline the gold to resemble twine like the picture.

 

 

I added micro beads to the flowers,but this is not necessary.

 

On the remaining fingers I used white base and some glitter as well. Then, stamped then with kiss designs.

 

 

Seal in your design with a nice thick top coat. My goto top coat for nail art is SecheVite.

 

 

Now go kiss someone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stamped Snowflakes Manicure (Cheeky Plate)

I have been a little obsessed with my new holiday Cheeky plate.Specifically the snowflakes. I would say that only about 75% of the stamps on this plate are use able. I am pretty sure this plate is one of there first made. I love Cheeky plates! I wanted this only for the snowflakes anyway. And at least they stamp beautifully. So here are some manicures with the snowflake stamp. Each snowflake is one stamp.Some are my nails and some are family or clients.

 

Which one is your favorite?

Nail of the Day

Base is elf in Violet Velvet. This color is from the holiday cube out last month. For swatches of all the polishes in that collection click  here
Stamped with Cheeky plate (Holiday Plate) with Copper and Gold

Natural light on the left. But, the right is closer to the correct color of this beautiful purple.

Rudolph Abstract Manicure

Just a quick Howto. I did these last weekend and posted them on instagram. Now I am sharing the tutorial with you all!
The base is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails.
The I used black acrylic paint and a fine art brush.
I added the red gem with clear coat.
And last, sealed it in with a nice thick top coat.