Dior Inspired Tile Nails

As if you haven't noticed, I love recreating prints from fashion.  I loved the print of this Dior dress and it made for some interesting nails!

On these nails, I started with a base coat of Venus and then randomly started placing free-handed rounded squares in Sunny Side Up, Coco-a-go-go, White On, and Blue Lagoon in a checkerboard format making sure that Venus peeked through the edges.  For the blue tiles, I first did a base of white to help the color show true.  I didn't stick with the even, square design because its not easy to keep all the tile uniform.  I like how these turned out and had it not been for this print I doubt I would have ever put any of these colors together on my own.  The only thing I wish to do differently is to find some off white yellowish polish to use for the white tiles.  I think it would make the pattern look closer to the one on the dress.

Anna Sui Print Inspired Nails

I was cruising through Elle.com and saw pics from Anna Sui's 2012 Spring show.  I loved the pattern in the picture below.  Click on it and it takes you to Elle's Spring fashion pics including Anna Sui!

Betsey Johnson Inspired Roses Nails

I love Betsey Johnson, as seen by Betsey Johnson Leopard and Roses Nails and Betsey Johnson State Fair Print Nails!  Her prints are so bright and cool.  Betsey frequently does rose prints with a velvet burnout feel and that is what these nails are inspired by.

First, I painted my nails with two coats of Cream Pink over a base coat. 

Next, I did random uneven splotches of Planks A Lot with a nail art brush leaving room for the other color of roses.

I, then did more random, uneven splotches of Why Not with a nail art brush in the leftover room on each nail.

I used Metallic Purple and Metallic Aqua polishes to accent the blue and purple roses.  I then used Limestone and Metallic Green to make leaves. 

I topped my nails off with the very important, protective top coat from Pro FX Complete 3. 

I love pattern nails but I'm going to start changing them up so that every nail, while contributing to the pattern theme, is different from the other.  These nails are super cute and bright and have my favorite colors in them.   I'm loving how they turned out!

McQueen Inspired Shattered Turquoise Nails

Alexander McQueen's designs always pushed the envelope and I was so sad to hear that he took his own life in 2010.  I do hope Sarah Burton and her team will continue to design in the spirit of Alexander McQueen and pull off gravity defying, fashion forward creations to inspire me in my nail art. 

The nail art below was inspired by a pair of shoes from McQueen's Spring 2010 collection which were tan, bootie-like heels, encrusted with gold tipped turquoise in an almost broken glass pattern. 

I think on longer nails you could almost pull off a reverse french tip effect and add pieces to the bottom of the nail like the bottom of this shoe but I have short nails so I stuck with the pattern at the top of the shoe.

These nails were a process.  After putting a protective, clear base coat with Pro FX Complete 3, I quickly applied dots of For Audrey, Tokyo Pearl, and Iceberg Lotus.  I used a toothpick to do some waterless marbling and pulled the colors into one another.  After the nails were mostly dry, I lightly sponged on Metallic Yellow on random parts of each nail.  Next, using a nail art brush I drew in gold lines to look like a shattered or stained glass pattern.  Last, I dabbed Warm & Fozzie into some corners of the gold lines to add darker shadows to parts of the shatter effect. 

I am loving the way these nails turned out and, ladies, remember: When fashion is too expensive, too painful, or just plain out there....try it out on your nails!

*Tips*  I think this look could have easily been created with sponging the same colors but as you can tell I'm kinda in a "marbling" phase.  For longer nails, I would start with nude tips so you can recreate the entire shoe's pattern.   Also, a smaller brush would work for more intricate shatter pattern but I like how bold the gold lines are on these nails.  You coul also try accenting the shadows with a heavier copper polish but remember less is more!  Last, be sure you have time to do these nails and you won't be disappointed!

Betsey Johnson State Fair Print Nails

I love Betsey Johnson's wild and crazy prints and her State Fair print is no exception.  I'm not sure I would ever spend $178 on a one-piece swimsuit nor does any of Betsey's designs come in my size.   However, I can wear her prints on my nails with a little bit of work and some polish!

 Click on the State Fair swimsuit below to be sent to Betsey's website where she sales all of her fabulous clothing and accessories!

 

On these nails, I started with two coats of Raven as my base color.  I then drew in all the print elements such as the four differently shaped flowers, leaves, stems, and bows in Snow Me White.  After the white polish dried, I applied For Audrey, Let's Meet, and Lavender Creme to their respective flowers.  I used a white base for any design on a darker color so that the polish will show true color.  I used Happy Ending to color the leaves and stems and used more Raven to draw back in line detail for the white bows and flowers.  I then took a very small dotting tool to put in the black dots on the large white flowers and bows.  I colored the center of each flower with the colors shown in the print: black for the blue flowers, pink for the yellow flowers, and yellow for the pink flowers.  I also used the same small dotting tool to dot in the white dots on the black background.  Last, I drew in shadow accents on the flowers with complimentary colors and finished these nails with a quick swish of Fast Drying Topcoat.

While these nails are a bit time consuming, they turned out even better than I had hoped and rank in my favorites!

Alexander McQueen Rhinestone Skull Nails with Marbling

While surfing the fashion web, I couldn't help but notice and covet these awesome ballet flats from Alexander McQueen.  Isn't the rhinestone skull pretty insane?

Since I can't afford $545 shoes no matter how spectacular they are, I decided I needed to do some golden skull nails with rhinestone eyes and teeth.  I thought it would be overkill to do a skull on every nail so I also took this opportunity to try waterless marbling with black and gold polish on the rest of my nails.  I think I did pretty good for a first try!

Polishes Used:

Wet N' Wild Black Creme

Revlon Gold Coin

Julep Fast Drying Topcoat

After prepping my nails with a clear base coat, I applied one coat of Black Creme to each thumb nail.  I then quickly applied a diagonal slash of thick, black polish across the next nail and next to it I applied Gold Coin.  I took a toothpick and merged the polishes with a swirling motion.  As you can tell my first finger is a little muddier than I would like but the rest of my fingers turned out nice!  Next, once my thumb nails dried, I freehanded a gold skull on each nail.  I applied two black dots of polish to the skull and then applied a black rhinestone into each dot and then drew in a nose shape in black polish.  Last I added three, clear rhinestones for the teeth and applied a topcoat to each nail.

These nails would probably pop even more with a gold chrome polish but I haven't any of that kind of polish yet!  "Yet" being the opperative word.  Also, smaller rhinestones for the teeth might be in order or even specks of glitter?  Who knows.  These work for me & I hope you like them!

Betsey Johnson Leopard and Roses Inspiration Nails

Yet another set of nails inspired by fashion.  Who doesn't love Betsey Johnson's designs?  I love how she mixes patterns and makes women look their best.  I saw the dress below and leopard print nails are sooo in right now.  I had to break out an image plate and a dotting tool to prep for these awesome nails.

The Betsey Johnson dress: 

Polishes Used:

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Klean Color's Metallic Yellow

Wet N Wild Black

Julep's Drew

Sinful Color's Soul Mate

Julep's Diane

Wet N Wild's Lavender Creme

Wet N Wild's Burgundy Frost

Insta-Dri's Lickety Split Lime

To get these nails, I started with a clear basecoat.  If you look closely at the dress print, the undercolors of the leopard print range from white to a yellowy gold.  I thought the best way to accomplish this was by a sort of gradient of white and metallic yellow.  First, I sponged on Snow Me White down the middle of each nail.  I then sponged Metallic Yellow around the edges of the nail leaving the tips white. 

Next, using Konad Image Plate M57, I applied Wet N Wild's Black to the leopard print stamp and applied it to each nail.  I used a swab to clean up any stray spots from the skin around my nails.

Now, I think these nails look GREAT like this but since we are doing Betsey's kickass print, I couldn't stop!   I then chose my largest dotting tool and dipped it into Snow Me White.  I applied one to two large dots at random corners of each nail.  Trust me, the design looks better if the roses are placed at differnt spots on each nail.  I then used a smaller dotting tool to put in one to two smaller dots in Snow Me White.  After the dots dried, I applied two different shades of pink to the white dots, using Drew and Lavendar Creme.  I then applied swishes of Drew, Lavendar Creme, Burgundy Frost, and Snow Me White to each rose to simulate petals.  Using Diane, I applied several leaves to each set of roses.  Diane is a very dark green so to bring out the leaves, I also highlighted them with Lickety-Split Lime.  Last, I applied a protective topcoat to save the design.

These nails turned out soooo cute.  Thanks, Betsey, for amazing fashion that keeps your fellow ladies looking sexy and fun.  XOXO!

Louboutin Peep Toe Inspiration Nails

I was basically doing a very long fashion surf today and ran into these Louboutin heels:

Aren't they HOT?!  I decided that since I can't afford $200 shoes that I could atleast have the design on my nails.  Ultimately, I'm not thrilled with the results the first time around but I think I caught the soul (pun intended) of this design.

I suppose I need an even smaller brush for this design or one of those nail pens with a very fine tip because those loopty loops were tough!  I also took some creative license with the loops because I added colors to the inside loops rather than rhinestones. 

Polishes Used:

Julep's Drew as a base

Sinful Colors Snow Me White as the loops

Sinful Colors Why not as the blue string

Sinful Colors Dream On for small and large dots

Sinful Colors Let's Talk for small dots and teardrop jewel

KleanColor's Metallic Yellow for the middle jewel base

Insta-Dri's Lickety Split Lime for small dots

I finished with a clear top coat and that was that!  Also, take a look at the black Louboutins similar to these.  I love the design on those as well.  Let me know if you see these for sale online and where so I can go there and drool over them!