Day 21: Scaled Gradient

 I've seen multi-gradients like this around the web and always loved the effect, so I had to try it for myself. It's so fun, and definitely eye-catching!

 I began on a white base of China Glaze White on White. On three nails I decided on a green China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and yellow OPI I just Can't Cope-acabana combination. The other two were done in purple China Glaze Plur-ple and neon pink China Glaze Pool Party.

 I used a sponge to apply the first gradient to the base of each nail. Once that was completely dry, I used a chevron nail guide sticker to block off the edge. I haven't got my hands on nail vinyls yet, but I hope to get some soon! In the meanwhile, nail guide stickers seem to do the trick. I repeated twice to space the design across the nail.  Next time I'll have to do alternating colors for something different, but I do love the effect of repeating the same colors!

Colors Used:

China Glaze White on White

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover

OPI I just Can't Cope-acabana

China Glaze Plur-ple 

China Glaze Pool Party

Day 9: Sketchy Floral Scrubs

 I love doing my nails to perfectly mimic my scrubs for work. It might be silly, but I don't care! This time, I chose a bright white-purple-pink top with a nifty sketchy flower and leaf design

 This began with two coats of China Glaze White on White. I then added loose shapes in purple Wet n Wild On A Trip and pink Spoiled Fuzzy Dice. I so rarely use pink!

 Once that was completely dry, I used a tiny 0.2mm black Micron pen to sketch in the flower shapes. The shapes were filled in with white acrylic paint where they overlapped the colored zones. I used a brush and a small amount of Fuzzy Dice pink to add spots of shading to the flowers where it looked approriate. Lastly, I drew in the details on the sketched elements. I was so happy when the lines didn't drag or distort when I added topcoat!

 Colors Used:

China Glaze White on White

 Wet n Wild On A Trip

 Spoiled Fuzzy Dice

Sunset Timelapse

 I love gradients, and I love painting skies! That said, this didn't turn out as good as I hoped, but it's still fun. The idea I had was to paint a progressive time lapse of a sunset. Gotta love excuses to paint clouds and gradients!

 I laid down the base gradients as follows:
Thumb: Morgan Taylor Don't Touch Me I'm Radioactive to Julep Bess to Tea Beauty Mint Leaf
Index: Julep Bess to Tea Beauty Mint Leaf to ORLY Flawless Flush
Middle:Tea Beauty Mint Leaf to ORLY Flawless Flush to Julep Cassie
Ring: China Glaze One Track Mind to Morgan Taylor Don't Touch Me I'm Radioactive to Salon Perfect Bellini
Pinky: China Glaze Liquid Leather to China Glaze One Track Mind to Essie Fear or Desire

 I then used a small brush to brush on some clouds on each nail. I used a mix of the base colors to get the appropriate shading on each cloud. On the brighter nails the clouds are shaded in blue, where the later clouds take on a pinkish hue. I used a toothpick and some acrylic white paint to add highlights to the clouds as well as stars to my nighttime pinky.

On my middle finger I added a sun glow in OPI I just Can't Cope-acabana. I also used more Essie Fear or Desire to add a bit more color to my ring nail. Lastly, the horizon was added to each nail tip in China Glaze Liquid Leather.

Colors Used:

Morgan Taylor Don't Touch Me I'm Radioactive

Julep Bess

Tea Beauty Mint Leaf

 ORLY Flawless Flush

 Julep Cassie

 China Glaze One Track Mind

Salon Perfect Bellini

China Glaze Liquid Leather

Essie Fear or Desire

OPI I just Can't Cope-acabana

Vintage Flowers

 I decided to try my hand at a pretty vintage pattern that caught my eye, and it was a moderate success. I even managed to dust off some pinks and put them to use!

 I began with a base of Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison. Next, I drew in the border using a thin brush and Sephora by OPI Neutral Beauty, a light honey brown. I followed that by doting along the lines with Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day, a dark brown. I thought about making the pattern a standard size, but decided to just fit it to each nail separately. That way, it doesn't get randomly cut at strange points.

 I started the flowers by using Seche Delicate, a soft pink, to make four dots clustered together on each nail. I then added the darker petal details with a thin brush and OPI Dark Red, followed by a few touches of China Glaze White on White.

The leaves were made using Sinful Colors Garden Party with highlights of Color Club Twiggie. I was in a bit of a hurry so I rushed the leaves, but it really didn't turn out too badly! I do rather like how the colors look together.

Colors Used:

Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison

Sephora by OPI Neutral Beauty

Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day

Seche Delicate

OPI Dark Red

China Glaze White on White

Sinful Colors Garden Party

Color Club Twiggie

Watermelons

 I really like how these turned out! Watermelons have such a fun color scheme. I even managed to wear pink without feeling too girly today.

 I began with the perfect watermelon-y color, ORLY Butterflies. It is an amazing jelly polish, very pigmented while still having that translucent squishy jelly appearance. I added teeny black microbeads and layered a little more jelly over the top to give it a fun 3D seeded look. I took a porous sponge and a teeny amount of NYC Pinstripe White to add a little texture to the appearance of the watermelon.

 On my index and pinkie nail, I used Sinful Colors Curry Up and Revlon Emerald City to paint watermelon rinds. I then added a hint of white to the tip of each pink nail, followed by a line of greens to represent the edge of the rind.

Colors Used:

ORLY Butterflies

 NYC Pinstripe White

 Sinful Colors Curry Up

Revlon Emerald City

Dotted Rings

 I find it strangely satisfying to match my nails to my work scrubs. I think it's because scrubs tend to have cute and quirky patterns.  Check the bottom of this post to see the scrubs!

 I started with a base of Essie Bikini So Teeny. Next, I watered down my brush with acetone and added patches of color to random locations across each nail. I used CQ Pink, Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing (teal), Color Club Pucci-licious (darker purple), and Color Club Hydrangea Kiss (Lighter purple).

 Next, I used a small dotting tool to add dotted rings in OPI Alpine Snow and Sinful Colors Cold Leather. For a few rings I followed that with small dots of Bikini So Teeny to create a dot outline.

 Colors Used:

Essie Bikini So Teeny

 CQ Pink

  Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing

Color Club Pucci-licious

 Color Club Hydrangea Kiss

 OPI Alpine Snow

Sinful Colors Cold Leather

Aquarium Fishies

 Itty bitty fishies! Garnet of The Nail Rainbow challenged me to do something based on her new little little danio fish. I decided to do an aquarium painting on my thumb, middle, and ring nails, then do a stylized representation of the fishes on my index and ring. Not the most successful nail art I've ever done, but I think it's fun!

 I started out by painting my thumb, middle, and ring fingers with a coat of SpaRitual Undercurrent. After that dried completely, I sponged a gradient onto my blue nails with some Sinful Colors Fly Away. Next, I added the aquarium sand using Sally Hansen Stocking Nude, dotted with some China Glaze White on White for some texture. I used Pure Ice Free Spirit to add some aquarium plants, and Sally Hansen Forbidden Fudge to add a log to my middle nail.

For the little fishies, I used a small brush, some Sinful Colors Island Coral, and Maybelline Pacific Blues. The blue fish is harder to see in the photos, but in person he's visible. For the fins, I used Sally Hansen Lite. I then added some little bubbles with China Glaze White on White.

 On my index and pinky I used one coat of Sally Hansen Lite, which is a thin shimmery yellow. When that was dry, I blocked off a triangle on the base of each nail, then painted my pinky with Sinful Colors Island Coral and my index with Maybelline Pacific Blues. I then added one layer of Icing Falling for You, which is a shimmery pink/gold. To add some scale effect, I used Sally Hansen Lite and stamping plate PUEEN25 with a little diamond pattern. I didn't have a good fish scale stamp, but it still works as is.

I did try with freehanding in the little yellow stripes the danios have, but it looked too busy so I reverted to just scales.

Colors Used:

SpaRitual Undercurrent

Sinful Colors Fly Away

Sally Hansen Stocking Nude

China Glaze White on White

Pure Ice Free Spirit

Sally Hansen Forbidden Fudge

Sinful Colors Island Coral

Maybelline Pacific Blues

Sally Hansen Lite

Icing Falling for You

PUEEN25

Colorful Kitties

 I work at a veterinary clinic, and when I first started doing nail art I had fun trying to make nails matching the patterns of my work scrubs. Since it really has been about a year since I started doing nail art, I wanted to revisit that idea again! I actually did do matching nails to this same top before, but this time I wanted to do a more literal interpretation of the kitties.

 Rather than painting directly onto the nails, I wanted to rise to the challenge of trying to make decals. I also did this early in my nail polish experimentation to make some leaves last fall. I started by laying down two coats of LA Colors Basecoat/Topcoat in small blobs on a sandwich bag. I let that dry for about two hours. Then, using a variety of colors, I painted small stars and the kitties! I painted my nails with Sinful Colors Black on Black.

 The stars were done in Sinful Colors Jolt, Spoiled Correction Tape, and Color Club Twiggie. The cats were a full rainbow of colors!
Yellow cat: SpaRitual Enlightened Soul, tail and paws in Sally Hansen Orange Impulse, belly in Spoiled Correction Tape, stripes in Sinful Colors Black on Black.
Blue Cat: Wet n Wild Teal Slowly and See, Sinful Colors Jolt,  Spoiled Correction Tape.
Pink Cat: CQ Pink, Color Club Blushing Rose, and an unnamed magenta Color Zone polish
Purple Cat: Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac, Color Club Pucci-licious, Spoiled Correction Tape
Orange Cat: Sally Hansen Orange Impulse, Sinful Colors Gogo Girl, SpaRitual Enlightened Soul

Eyes were added using  my smallest dotting tool and Spoiled Correction tape. I then added noses in Sinful Colors Black on Black with the same tool, followed by adding pupils with the tip of a needle. After the decals were fully dry I peeled them off the sandwich bag and stuck them on my nails. One coat of Seche Vite later, and the edges of the decals aren't visible! Unfortunately, the shine made it really hard to take good photos. I mattified slightly with the Fantasy Makers Glow in the Dark polish to see if that would help.

Colors Used;

Sinful Colors Black on Black

 Spoiled Correction Tape

Sinful Colors Jolt

Color Club Twiggie

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul

Sally Hansen Orange Impulse

Wet n Wild Teal Slowly and See

CQ Pink

 Color Club Blushing Rose

  Color Zone Magenta

 Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

 Color Club Pucci-licious

Sinful Colors Gogo Girl

 

Watermelon

 This past Friday Garnet from The Nail Rainbow and her friend paid me a visit, so of course we had to have a nail party! She surprised me with two lovely polishes and two nail pens, because she's awesome. Of course I had to use them right then and there, and the color combination made me think of watermelons!

 This ended up being a quick and fun design to do. I started with a coat of Zoya Kat (Hehe! Love the name!) and let it dry for a moment. I then used my other new polish, Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus, across the tips. Then, using a small brush, I added a vertical stripes in Sinful Colors Mint Apple. I then added a white line using Milani Nail Art White Canvas, and little seeds in Milani Nail Art Black Sketch.

Colors Used:

Zoya Kat

  Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus

Sinful Colors Mint Apple

Milani Nail Art White Canvas

Milani Nail Art Black Sketch

Day 1: Pink

 

And thus the month begins with me using a color I rarely if ever use, PINK. Pink is my arch-nemesis of colors. However, I had tons of fun with it today! 

I decided that if I was going to base an entire manicure around the color pink, I might as well just go for it and make it as pink as possible. This is also my first experiment with a fan brush! 

I started out with a base of Wet n Wild A Blank Canvas. Once that was dry, I dipped my fan brush in a blindingly-bright pink, Sinful Colors 24/7. I then dragged that over each nail horizontally. The next polish I used was Color Club Warhol, which is an insane pink neon. The third polish I brushed on the top of all that was Color Club Blushing Rose, which is a very nice soft light pink. 

 

 I topped the crazy cotton candy striped nails with some Seche Vite and let everything dry. Once all was set, I used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Sugar Fix to create textured hearts in white. Because if you're going to go for super-girly nails, might as well go all the way, right?! Haha!

 Colors Used:

Wet n Wild A Blank Canvas

Sinful Colors 24/7

Color Club Warhol

Color Club Blushing Rose

Sally Hansen Sugar Fix

Musical Mayhem!

 I was in the mood to play around with newspaper transfer again, but I love doing it with sheet music. I knew I'd mess up a few times, so I just used my right hand as practice first. It's still passable...ish. Heh!

 I started out with three coats of Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison  on my thumb, index, and pinky nails. On my middle and ring fingers I used ORLY Rock the World, which is a very awesome shimmery polish that shifts from purple to mauve to gold. Once the cream was super dry, I pulled out the sheet music and some rubbing alcohol. It takes a lot of pressure to transfer the design correctly, but when it works it is so worth it!

Once the transfer step was complete, I used ORLY Platinum across the tips of those three fingers. I traced the border in a dark gray Shany nail art polish and a gold Sinful Colors nail art polish. I then brushed a diagonal line of Platinum across my middle and ring nails, then also bordered that in dark gray and gold. I actually thought I was finished for a while, but at the last moment I added on some Icing Milky Way across those bands, since it kind of looks like notes! As a final touch, I added a gold treble clef to my thumb nail.

Colors Used:

Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison

ORLY Rock the World

ORLY Platinum

Icing Milky Way

Shany Nail Art 17 (dark gray)

Sinful Colors Nail Art Gold