Itty Bitty Kitties

 Well, I'm not the best at trying to make cute cartoons on my own - every time I try it never turns out as cutesy as I hope since my instincts run toward realism. Case in point, I think I did too much shading/texture on these and they lose some of the cartoony feel. They're not based on anything, just did some preliminary sketches until I had a layout I liked, and went from there! Of course I had to include an orange kitten to represent my Sam-kitty.

 Since I was going to be going crazy with colors I decided to try this on top of a neutral base. I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Stocking Nude. When that dried it was time to start doodling some kittens! I started with my thumb nail, which ended up being a black and white cat playing with a ball of yarn. I blocked out his general shape in Wet n Wild Black Creme. His muzzle, paws, and tail tip were done in Wet n Wild French White Creme. The yarn ball was a combination of China Glaze Life Preserver and Sinful Colors Poudre. That same color pair was used to give him his nose and his paw pads. I did his eyes with Color Club Twiggie and a touch of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, and of course using the Wet n Wild black and white polishes for pupils and highlights.

 For my index finger I decided to do a siamese kitten. Her fur was an amalgamation of Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison, Sinful Colors Coffee, and Sally Hansen Stocking Nude. Her eye was colored with NYC Blue Rush (and a touch of black and white).

My middle nail is a gray tabby. His fur is ORLY Mirror Mirror striped in more Wet n Wild Black Creme. His eyes are China Glaze Life Preserver.

Sam the orange fuzzy kitten got to sit on my ring nail. I repeated the use of China Glaze Life Preserver and Sinful Colors Poudre, with a hint of Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow for his fur. White muzzle and chest was added with Wet n Wild French White Creme. Hints of stripes were done in watered-down Sinful Colors Coffee.

Last but not least, the leaping calico kitten is a patchwork of polishes previously mentioned! She also has heterochromatic eyes, because it's cute.

 I then outlined each kitten with a thin line of white to help them pop out a bit more. And just because I think butterflies are cute with kitties, I added a blue sparkly butterfly to each nail. First, I roughed in the shape with black, then filled in with ORLY Sweet Peacock and dotted each wingtip with small white dots.

 For my dominant hand, I decided to be silly! I can't replicate the detailed kittens, but I can do minimalistic kittens. They're the same base color, with tips done in Wet n Wild French White Creme and lined with ORLY Sweet Peacock.

 I then used a small brush to rough in the shape of the butterflies, and then I worked in the general shape of the kittens. They're reeeeeally minimalistic, but it's fun in its own way.

 Colors Used:

Sally Hansen Stocking Nude

Wet n Wild Black Creme

Wet n Wild French White Creme

China Glaze Life Preserver  

Sinful Colors Poudre

 Color Club Twiggie

Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison

Sinful Colors Coffee

NYC Blue Rush

ORLY Mirror Mirror

ORLY Sweet Peacock