I'm Back!!/Christmas Sweater Nails

The past couple months have been much busier than usual.  Between school, an online course, Christmas, and the arrival of my niece, nails have kind of been put on the back burner.  When I did get a chance to do my nails, they were unsuccessful design or didn't photograph well.  Perhaps one day I'll post some of my nail art failures!

So now that my course is done and Christmas is over, I expect to be back posting on a weekly basis.  You'll notice I've switched things up a little on the blog.  I thought it could use a new background.  What do you think?

Ok, now let's get back to some nails designs.  I know that Christmas was technically 2 days ago but I don't think it's too late to post a Christmas design.  For Christmas I got a set of nail art brushes from Amazon (thanks mom!).  The brushes are by Bundle Monster and based on my initial use of them, I really like them.  A proper striping has seriously been missing from my life!

At Christmas time, I'm always drawn towards Christmas sweater nails.  For this design, I used Blanc by Essie (base colour), dark green acrylic paint, and crimson red acrylic paint.  I used a striping brush, a small detailing brush, and a dotting tool (a real one!).

 I then used the acrylic paints and brushes to create my design.  I chose to keep each nail similar with an accent nail (Christmas tree).  Here is the final product!

I LOVE how they turned out!  

I can never get enough of a good Christmas sweater design.  Here is the sweater design I did last Christmas.

I'm very happy to be back and can't wait to create some fun designs with my new brushes and striping tape (still in the mail).

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Black and White Chevron

So my plans to do a second Halloween design went out the window because on Oct. 30 I became an aunt!! Baby Bailey had us all wrapped around her finger from the moment she was born.  You can guarantee that her auntie will be doing her nails when she is old enough ;)

For my nails this week, I was kind of inspired by the Ikat Chevron nails I did a while ago.  Within the last few days, they have been re-pinned several times on Pinterest and it reminded me of how much I liked them.

For this design, I used "Blanc" by Essie, "Black Satin" by Rimmel,  and "Black" by Kiss.  I started with a base of "Black Satin" with "Blanc" on my accent nail (ring finger).  

I then used the fine brush from my Kiss polish to make the design.  I found that I made my stripes too far apart so I filled in the space with white dots.  Here is the final product!

It would be a fun design to try with different colours.  The original Ikat Chevron I did is still my favourite. :)

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Halloween Patchwork

I always love when there is a theme that I can work my design around.  With Halloween coming up, it seemed very appropriate to do a Halloween themed design.  I'm trying to get an early start so that I can do another Halloween design next week.  When searching Pinterest for ideas, I came across a Halloween Patchwork design by Sam at nailasaurus.com.  I loved the colours that she used but I didn't want to make mine exactly the same.  So I started thinking about what other colours Halloween brings to mind.  I immediately thought of Candy Corn (white, yellow, orange).  For this design I used "Blanc" by Essie, "Orange Oasis" by Covergirl, and "Hit the Lights" by Nicole by OPI.  I used black acrylic paint and a thin paint brush for the stitch detail.

 

I started with a base of "Blanc" by Essie.  I had a bit of a brain fart and forgot to take a picture of just the base. Oops!!

I used tape to make the "patches" (Sam's tutorial is great).  The key is to do thin coats of polish so you get nice straight edges and faster drying times.  If you have a steady hand, you can always hand paint the patches without tape.  I then used my acrylic paint to make the stitches.  I wanted to use a black Sharpie but none of the ones I own have a pointy enough tip.  Remember that if you do use Sharpie, spray a thin coat of hairspray on your nails to prevent the marker from smudging when you apply your top coat.

Here is the final product!

It would be fun to try different colours for different seasons!  

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Falling Leaves

For the last couple weeks I've been trying to decide how to incorporate leaves or falling leaves into a nail design.  I really wanted to keep it simple with no actual leaves or trees. 

For this design I used, "Pur White" by Maybelline, "The Spy Who Loved Me" (red) by OPI, "Orange Oasis" by Covergirl, and "Hit the Lights" (yellow) by Nicole by OPI.

I started with a base of "Pur White".  I wanted the base to be really soft and felt that a straight up white polish would be too harsh.

I then used my dotting tool (pencil with a straight pin) to add dots to my nails starting at the tips.  I tried to spread the dots out as I moved down my nails to give a falling/fading effect.  Here is the final result!

I am in LOVE with how these turned out.  

The possibilities are endless with this design.  

To name a few ideas:

- blue, silver, and white for Winter (falling snow?)

- red, green, and gold for Christmas

- multi-coloured for New Years (confetti)

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Thanksgiving Plaid

Since it is Thanksgiving this weekend in Canada, I figured I should do a Thanksgiving themed design.  I'm kind of in love with the plaid trend in fashion right now and have been wanting to do plaid nails for a while.  So instead of doing a traditional turkey on my nails, I went with a plaid design in Fall colours.

For this design I used "Black Orchid" by Sally Hansen, "Blanc" by Essie, "Orange" by Pupa, and "Goldeneye" by O.P.I.  

I started with a base of "Black Orchid".

I got my inspiration from a tutorial created by The Beauty Department.  I painted Scotch Tape and cut it into different sized strips.

I then placed the strips on my ring finger in a plaid design.  On my other nails I added metal stud stickers by Kiss.

Here is the final product!

I hope all my Canadian friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Galaxy Nails

I've been wanting to do galaxy nails for a while now.  Ever since I saw the beautiful ones that Cristina at Let Them Have Polish did, I felt inspired.  For these nails I used "Midnight in NY" by Sally Hansen, "Eccentric Violet" by Pupa, "Pina Colada" by Covergirl, "Cherry, Cherry, Bang, Bang" by Sally Hansen, "Please See Me" by Sally Hansen, "Funky Limelight" by Essie, "Blanc" by Essie, and "The Donmar" by Nails Inc.

I started with a base of "Midnight in NY".  It's a nice black with multi-coloured glitter mixed in.

I then ripped small pieces off a make-up sponge and used tweezers to dip the pieces in the various colours.  I placed my polishes on a piece of parchment paper.  It makes for easy clean-up.  This is what my set up looked like. 

I dabbed the different colours onto each nail and tried to make them all look a little different.  When I was done, I found that they were missing a little something.  I decided to use my Nails Inc Special effects nail polish to add little holographic flakes.  I think it was the perfect addition.  Here is the final product!

I love how they turned out.  It ended up being kind of a psychedelic galaxy look!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Autumn Zebra

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a bit of an obsession with zebra print.  You can find splashes of zebra all over my house from my duvet to my shower curtain to the accent pillows on the couch (just to name a few).  When it comes to my nails, zebra is kind of a go-to when I'm not feeling overly creative or motivated.

I know it's technically still Summer but the weather is changing and our local Fall Fair is this weekend.  The Fall season kind of inspired my colour selection.  I used "Fedora" by Sally Hansen, "Warm & Fozzie" by OPI, and "Blanc" by Essie (I got a new white polish!). 

"Fedora" kind of reminds me of burlap (which reminds me of scarecrows) and "Warm & Fozzie" has flecks of gold, bronze, red, and green (all Fall colours).  I started with a base of "Fedora" on all my nails.

I then used a fine paint brush with "Blanc" to free-hand a zebra design onto each nail.  I then used "Warm & Fozzie" as an accent on my ring finger.  Here is the final result!

I'm happy with how these turned out.  I would usually use my white Kiss Nail Art Paint to do a zebra design, but the polish has gotten thick.  A nail polish thinner is on the list of nail art supplies that I want/need.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Dream Catcher Nails Made with Sharpies

This week I decided to create a design using Sharpies.  Not everyone has nail art brushes or thin paint brushes around to do detailed designs.  Sharpies are a great alternative and easier to use.  The major problem that people complain of when they use Sharpies on their nails, is that their design gets smudged when they add their top coat.  I did a little searching and someone suggested lightly spraying a coat of hairspray over top of the design before adding the top coat.  This creates a barrier between the Sharpie and the top coat.  I did this and didn't have any problems with smudging!

For this design, I used "Alex by the Books" by Nicole By OPI and 3 Sharpies (pink, purple, and turquoise).

I then began adding my dream catchers to each nail with just a feather on my ring finger as an accent nail.  I had originally planned on using black for the main part of the dream catchers but couldn't find a black Sharpie with a tip that wasn't worn down.  I'm glad I ended up using turquoise.  Here's the final product!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Purplicious Triangles

Lately I feel like I've been doing a lot of designs that require a white base.  I've also be doing a lot of blue.  My goal this week was to do neither of those things.  I decided to go with a purple theme.  I used "Am I Making Myself Claire?" by Nicole By OPI, "Play Date" by Essie, "Red Purple" by Pupa, and "Silver Glitter" by Kiss.

I started with a base of "Play Date" by Essie. This is one of my favourite colours (I have a lot of favourites).

I cut small triangles of painters taped and taped off each nail.  I painted "Am I Making Myself Claire?" at the base of my nail and "Red Purple" at the tip of my nail.

I really like this look but the spots where the paint bled through the tape drives me nuts.  I wanted to use white dots to cover the lines but I really need a new white.  I decided to use silver to make dots, but the polish was a little too runny so it ended up making lines instead of dots.  It's not quite what I was going for but I don't mind the look. 

I still wasn't completely happy with the way it looked so I tried adding a matte top coat (by Essie).  I definitely think that the matte finish is better than the glossy finish but I kinda wish I had just touched up the spots that bled and left it alone.  It's all about trial and error! 

Which way do you guys like best?

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Blue Tribal Nails

This week I decided to go with a tribal design inspired by the tutorial by Nailed It!.  The nice thing about a tribal design is that it doesn't need to have perfectly straight lines.  It should have that hand drawn look so don't worry about making it perfect. 

I started with a base of "White On" by Sally Hansen.  Using white as a base always makes the colours you use that much brighter. 

I was going for an ombre look so I selected 3 shades of blue.  Starting at my cuticles, I used "Blue My Mind" by Sally Hansen, "Please Sea Me" by Sally Hansen, and "Alex by the Books" by Nicole by OPI.  The top stripe was my white base coat that I started with.  When you do your stripes, don't worry about making them perfect.  These imperfections will be covered with your tribal designs.

 

For my tribal design I used "Pure Black" acrylic paint by Folk Art and a fine paint brush. Here's the final product!

  I REALLY like how they turned out!  I'm glad I chose to go with an ombre look when choosing my colours.  You could easily follow the same strategy to create Easter egg nails using pastel colours.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Ikat Chevron

As you can tell from the background on my blog, I'm a HUGE fan of chevron patterns.  I've been wanting to do a chevron design on my nails for a while but I didn't want to take the time to tape off each line.  I knew I wouldn't be happy with the lines if I did it free hand (I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my nails).  I was watching The Marilyn Dennis Show the other day and they were creating their own Ikat pillows.  Ikat is a fabric dying technique which results in a pattern that looks like the dye has bled through the fabric.  I started looking at Ikat patterns in google and came across my inspiration.

 

I remembered coming across a tutorial on Pinterest.  Concrete and Nail Polish created a great, easy to follow tutorial.

I started with a base of "White On" by Sally Hansen.

 I then used a small polish brush that comes in the Kiss Nail Paint bottles to begin creating my design.  I love the grey and yellow look so I chose "Grey Matter" by Rimmel and "Hit the Lights" by Nicole by OPI.

Here is the final product! I'm so happy with it.

 This design could easily be changed for any season or holiday:

• pastels for Easter/Spring
• red, white, and green for Christmas
• blues and silvers for Winter

The possibilities are endless!  Not just with this design, but Ikat in general.  Here is an Ikat design I did before I started blogging.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo