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!

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Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Nail Art

While rewatching Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I was inspired to come up with some nail art.  I have to say that the graphics, effects, costuming, and colors in the film are stunning.  I absolutely love Johnny Depp as the Hatter and the Cheshire Cat's image.  I simply had to put them on nails with a favorite quote from the movie, "We're All Mad Here."

Polishes Used:

Sinful Colors Why Not-Base nail color

Kiss Nail Art Black-All outlines and letters

Sinful Colors Secret Admirer-Hatter hat

Sinful Colors Snow Me White-image bases, hare ears, Hatter hat label, Cat teeth

Sinful Colors Cloud 9-Hatter hair

Insta-Dri's Pronto Purple-Hatter hat sash

Sinful Colors San Francisco-Cat eyes

China Glaze's Recycle-Mouse color

Petite's French Pink-Mouse inner ear

Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby-Queen's lips

Sephora by OPI's Sparktacular Top Coat-dabbed in and around design

I wish I could give detailed instructions on how to do these nails but really, it was all freehand.  Just have an idea about what shape you want and keep a steady hand.  A tiny nail art brush also helps tremendously.   The main tip I offer is to use white as a base color for images, even on lighter colors so your polish colors show true.  I did an outline of the mouse ears in white first and then applied the grey and pink polishes.  Had I not, the mouse ears would not have shown up as well.   Anyway, I love how these turned out and plan to do some more nail art in the future involving those Cheshire Cat features.  We ARE all mad here...about nail art and polishes!



Fun with Argyle and Paisley Nail Art Stamps

Two of my favorite stamps are an argyle print and a paisley print from Konad Image Plate M60.  I love and use both of these images on tons of designs!

The first set of nails I did using the following polishes:

Wet N Wild Pink-base color
Insta-Dri's Lickety Split Lime
Insta-Dri's Brisk Blue
Konad White Stamping Polish
Xtremewear's Real Teal
Wet N Wild Black

For the second set of nails I used Xtremewear's Real Teal as my base color and Wet N Wild Black for my stamps.

Plaid, Rock Star nails

I was looking to add a little something to the plaid design Ive been doing lately and saw some bedding online that inspired me to do some hot pink and black plaid, rocker style nails. 

Polishes Used:

Sinful Colors Secret Admirer-base color all nails

Wet N Wild Pink-plaid stripes

Insta-Dri's Whirlwind White-white lettering, star base, heart n crossbone's base

Revlon's Gold Coin-star and heart color

Kiss Nail Art Black-star and heart outline

Xtremewear's Celeb City-studs on white letters



Pretty good for a first try.  I may work to perfect this design but overall, I love it.

Halloween French Tips

Despite having short nails, I still love french tips so I broke out several stamping plates for some Halloween nails

Polished Used:

Wet N Wild Black

Konad White Stamping Polish

Sinful Color's Sugar Sugar

Insta-Dri's Whirlwind White

After putting on a clear basecoat, I used Konad's French tip M19 plate to stamp on french tips using Wet N' Wild's Black.  Then using Bundle Monster plate BM 13, I stamped on the spider web image on each nail but in different places, even over the french tip on some nails.   Last, using the spider image on Konad image plate M28, I stamped spiders on each thumb nail and filled in the design with black.  I then put a dot of white polish on the back of the spider and let it dry.  I covered the white dot with red polish to make the spider look black widow-ish.  Last, I applied a clear topcoat.  Fun, easy nails for Halloween.



More Gaga Inspired Nail Art: Marry the Night

I was finally able to catch Lady Gaga's Official video "Marry the Night" on Perez Hilton's website.  Gaga never disappoints and I worked out a nail art design inspired by the video.  Warning: the video is long but worth it!

Polishes Used:

Sinful Colors Secret Admirer-thumb nail base

Sinful Colors Snow Me White-ring nail base, used to write "Marry the Night", ballet slipper

Sinful Colors Nirvana-shadow on cherrios

Sinful Colors Soul Mate-mixed with French Pink for ballet slipper's pink color
Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter-used on top of ballet slipper's pink color
Petite's French Pink-mixed with Soul Mate for ballet slipper's pink color
Revlon's Grey Suede-mixed with Snow me white to make cherrios color
Revlon's Gold Coin-used on thumb nail to simulate stars
Xtremewear's Celeb City-used on pinky to simulate sparklies
Xtremewear's Black Out-all black accents and middle nail base
China Glaze's For Audrey-index finger nail
BonBon's Shimmery Baby Blue-on pinky, simulating old denim
SallyGirl's Gold Glitter-accented ballet slipper nail

On these nails, I started with the name of the video on my thumb nail and accented it with gold stars.  On my index finger I put the design Gaga has on her pillow at the clinic.  On my middle finger, I freehanded a ballet slipper and ribbons.  This is just to symbolize leaving ballet from the video.  She had on some crazy ballet slippers but I couldn't get a good look at them to draw!  On my ring finger nail, I dotted on cherrios because Gaga has a bit of a melt down eating them in the video.  Last on the pinky nail, I loved her "old jeans and bedazzler" line plus the top she wears with the torn black leggings in the first dance scene so I painted my nail a faded blue, drew some lines to form a sparkly circle and added four clear rhinestones for extra sparkle. 

I have to say that Gaga looks so sexy splashing around naked in that tub.  I also love the "V" shape of her bangs at one point in the video.  Be on the lookout for my nail art elements in the video.  Gaga also mentions that she thinks "Mint" will be a huge color in fashion next year.   Note to self:  Buy that Sinful Colors Mint Apple you've been eying!

Can't wait for more Music Video Nails to come...

Nail Art Vocabulary

So since Ive really delved into the nail art world on the net, I have come to realize that beauty bloggers have developed a different language. 

Stash:  Anything you keep on hand and constantly add to in order to beautify yourself or others.  My stash is my polishes which will one day require their own room.

Frankening/Frankenpolish:  There are dedicated people out there that mix up their own polishes.  I'm not in that deep, yet.  I will occasionally mix a dot of this and that polish to get a shade Im looking for but I don't make a whole bottle of the stuff. 

Haul:  You'll see all kinds of youtube vids on hauls for fashion.  Its basically everything they bought in a shopping session or several shopping sessions close together.  I might start sharing my polish hauls but only in conjuction with how I plan to or have used the new polish in my nail art.

Nail Art Fail/ Nail Fail:  Basically nail art gone seriously awry.  I love seeing these posted because it makes me feel better about my nail art.  Sometimes nail art takes time and practice to come together nicely!   Not sure when Ill be posting nail fails because if I hate it, I skip the picture taking, take the polish off and do something else!

Stamping/ Stamping plates:  There are a few brands of these out there but Konad and Bundle Monster are the ones I own.   Essentially, stamps are impressions in small, metal plates that you fill in with polish, transfer to a stamper, and stamp on to your nails.   They are what caused me to get so interested in nail art.  I love the full nail designs.  Keep tuned in for more Stamping nail art from this stamping addict.  For now, check out my category, Stamping, to see some examples of stamped nail art.

Dotting/Dotting tools:   I would say that these are essential to my nail art and I didnt know what I was missing until I finally started using dotting tools.  You can make your own using the plastic-coated ends of bobby pins or the ends of toothpicks.  Ive even seen someone using a ballpoint pen that was out of ink.   Obviously, dotting tools make different sized dots.  Who doesn't love dots?  I also dunk my smallest dotting tool into clear polish and use it to pick up and place rhinestones on the nail.  Very versatile, dotting tools.

Class dismissed!

New Polish + Excitement = New Nail Art

Don't you love when you finally find polish you have been drooling over and pining about for weeks?  The other day I finally found Revlon's new polish, Scandalous, at Walgreens for $4.99!

One can never tell from pictures exactly what the glitter polish consist of so I am happy to report that yes, Scandalous does have an inky black base.  Still, I wasn't taking any chances because the swatch I made on white paper was pretty sheer.  I painted all basecoated nails with Xtremewear's Black Out as a base color.  I then applied several swipes of Scandalous on each nail once the base color dried.  Not to be outdone, I also added a coat of Sally Girl Gold glitter.  Last, I pulled out my rhinestones and decorated each ring finger nail with black rhinestones on one hand and fuchsia rhinestones on the other.  Black polish, glitter polish, and rhinestones:  three favs in one nail art session!