Disney Princess French - Belle Inspired

A random throw back to my Disney Princess Inspired french tip nail art design series. 

I wanted to try out Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

I started with Duri Rejuvacote as my base coat.

Then applied Barielle Lemondrops as a french tip. Freehand or use tape, whatever you prefer.

Then I mixed up some acrylic paint to be just a little darker yellow. I painted this on like the draping of her ball gown. Overlapping the french tip a bit.

Then I used Konad white polish and Mash-36. It has a rose image with a long stem, but I just used the bud portion of the image. 

I wanted to make it a red rose to fit the movie better, but it didn't turn out. It just looked like red blobs and not roses, so white roses it is!

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Inspired by Young Wild and Polished

Another look inspired from a Pinterest find. This manicure from Young Wild and Polished.

I thought it was gorgeous and I just adore the color combination. 

 I don't have the exact polishes she used, so I used China Glaze Dance Baby, & For Audrey. Then Milani Orchida for the purple.

 3 color gradient sponge, and 2 different sizes of a dotting tool. Simple to recreate!

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Basic Polish Application Video

Frequently Asked Questions-

"How do you apply nail polish & it look so perfect?"

"What base coat/ topcoat do you use?"

"How do you grow strong nails?"

 It's been a good while since I recorded a video, so I thought this would be the best way to address all of these issues. If you already are confident in how to apply nail polish, and want to skip watching the video, that's fine! Here's the shortcut: I use Duri Rejuvacote as my base coat. I use Seche Vite quick drying top coat faithfully. I buy Seche Vite at my local Sally's Beauty Supply, but I buy Duri Rejuvacote from the girls over at Ninja Polish. (Here for $8) I've heard rumor that  it's going to be available at Walmart soon, so I'm excited to see if that's true or not.

Aaaaaaaaand the video:

 

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Candy Conversation Hearts Tutorial

 The popular candy hearts image plate is back around! The first manicure I did like this (here) is well circulated on Pinterest and I often get questions on how to recreate it. So I'm visiting it again and I made sure to take pictures along the way to share with you.

Here are 2 different collage images that you can click on to enlarge and see each step, but I'll also outline it.

1. Base polish is China Glaze Agent Lavender, 2 coats.

2. Then I used the Nail Art Diva "From the Heart 1" image plate to stamp the various heart shapes. This plate is no longer available on Amazon, but here is a link to "From the Heart 2" which will give you a similar outcome. I used the following polishes: China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Spontaneous, Dance Baby, Re-fresh Mint, Color Club Get a Clue, & Essence Bad Girl.

3. As you can see it is difficult to get a solid heart to transfer. The outline is at least defined, so then I took a small nail art brush and filled in the hearts with polish.

4. I applied a coat of Seche Vite topcoat to thoroughly dry all of the layers, so that I could stamp again without smudging all of the hard work up to now.

5. Then I used Nail Art Diva Heartfelt Red to stamp the different quotes. I sort of like that the wording doesn't transfer perfectly clean.... Because the real conversation hearts are actually like that too!

6. Finished it off with a matte topcoat to give it the chalky appearance. I used Essie Matte About You.

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Zoya - Ziv

A recent purchase from Zoya's promo. I wanted a good gold foil, and this fits the bill.

Pictured is 3 thin coats. 

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Baseball Nails

Here was my second attempt at sports themed nails. I'm not as thrilled with them, but figured some of you might like them anyway.

 I painted my nails with Sinful Colors Snow Me White, then freehanded the stitching with Sally Hansen Rapid Red & a skinny striper brush.

 Here it is step by step:

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Basketball Nails

I get a lot of different requests for nail art, and frequently sports or cheerleading has been suggested by my school age followers. So here is a basketball design. I was greatly inspired by The Daily Nail. I remember when she first posted them in 2011 and I thought it was brilliant. To leave the dots without topcoating them. It saves the texture! 

And of course a hoop & net for the accent nail.

Step by step:

Base coat only on the accent nail. 2 coats of Essie Very Structured for the others.

Apply dots of Very Structured mixed with some brown polish.

I used half of a hole reinforcement sticker to mask off my half moon and then stamped the rest with BM-209 & Konad Special White Polish.

Then remove the sticker and apply Sally Hansen Celeb City to the dividing line. Use a black nail art striper to apply the basketball lines.

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Studded Holly

This was my other idea for the Marquise studs from Born Pretty. I see that Katy from Nailed It had the same idea, so check out her's too.

Zoya Holly was the base color. Here it is before the studs were applied.

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Cloudy Day Tutorial

 Here is a gradient + stamping nail art design. 

I started with Zoya Kristen, painting my nails with one coat. 

Then I sponged on a gradient of Zoya Kristen, China Glaze Electric Beat, Sinful Colors Rainstorm, & Barielle Berry Blue. Cleaned up the cuticle areas, then stamped BM-312 with Konad Special White Polish.

Then Seche Vite topcoat.

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Zoya - Daul, Holly, & Zara

I recently placed an order from Zoya to use the coupon code to Try 3 Free. I excitedly opened up my package as soon as it arrived and much to my surprise it was totally wrong! The packing slip and 3 polishes were not my order but it had my address on the outside! I felt bad for "Robert" from WA because they didn't get their polishes. I contacted Zoya Customer Service and they straightened it out. Said my invoice was still prepping to ship out, but I could keep these polishes and they would get "Robert" another shipment.

So hooray for 3 additional free polishes! They are not necessarily colors I would have picked, but I will love them none the less. 

Daul - pictured is 3 thin coats. 

It's a purple base with intense gold glassfleck.

 

And guess what? It's a dupe for a polish I bought just recently...

Pure Ice Royal Flush

 Perfect dupe in my opinion.

 

Holly - 2 coats

A metallic emerald green.

 

 

 

Zara - 2 coats

This one is a delicate pink/purple with gold shimmer

5 stars for Zoya Customer Service!

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Pshiiit Inspired Ikat Pattern

I've never tried the "Ikat" pattern for nail art, but these from Pshiiit really stood out and I just had to. 

The polishes I used were China Glaze For Audrey & Sinful Colors 24/7. The black and white were both acrylic paint.

 Click to enlarge for a step by step if you're looking to recreate them for yourself.

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Green Gradient

Another gradient with a simple accent nail stamp. My stamp didn't transfer terribly well, but I liked that it added an antique/aged feel. I used OPI Jade is the New Black and AEngland Dragon, then Color Club Gingerbread Man and BM02.

 It's been gray and raining for days, I wish the sun had come out so I could take pictures of the holo goodness!

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Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Breezy Blue

I'm a sucker for any blue polish and I found this beauty on a new SH display at Walgreens. Too bad the formula sucks...... :(

Pictured is 3 coats and it went on streaky. Then it took a ridiculous amount of time for it to dry. Even applying Seche Vite, my nails were still dent-able an hour later.

It's got a nice subtle shimmer to it and it reminds me of Hard Candy Sky, but I have similar formula issues with that polish.

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