Acid Wash

I decided that I wanted to try creating an acid wash design on my nails.  When I searched acid wash nails, I found that most people used the same strategy.  They applied different coloured layers of nail polish and used nail polish remover to remove the top layer.  This just wasn't something that I was interested in doing.  For a while I've been wanting to give sprayed water marble a try (see tutorial by Nail Pop here).  Basically you place a drop of nail polish into a cup of water, let it spread out, spray it with rubbing alcohol, and stick your finger through the dispersed polish.  It's obviously messy but acetone easily cleans up your skin and nail edges when you're done.  I thought that if I used the white and two shades of blue, I could get an acid wash effect.  Spoiler alert...it worked!

So for this design I used "Blanc" by Essie, "West Coast Cool" by Morgan Taylor, and "Midnight Blue" by Rimmel.  I started with a white base then applied each blue one at a time using the sprayed water marble strategy.  I found that the blues were just a little too bright so I added a layer of sprayed white over top.  It gave it the perfect washed out/faded effect.  Check it out!

EEEK! I just love how these turned out and can't wait to try other colours.  Black, white, and orange for Halloween?  Maybe!

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

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

 

Colourful French Manicure

I'm a big fan of two-toned french manicures.  I love that it is the complete opposite of a traditional french manicure.  Earlier in the week I did a grey and red/orange design.  I used "Warm Red" by Barelements and "Grey Matter" by Rimmel.

I used the grey as my base.

To do the tips I used the strips that come with any french manicure kit.  Here is the final result!  I love the look and I think most colours would look good against the grey.

On Friday, I bought three new polishes.  I immediately decided that 2 of the colours would be perfect together for this type of design.  So of course I had to give it a try! (I'll show off the third polish soon!).  I used "Please See Me" and "Blue My Mind" by Sally Hansen.  I love how smooth these polishes go on.

 This time I decided to do my ring finger as an accent nail and flipped the colours.

Again, I used french manicure strips to do the tips.  Here's the final result!  These colours are seriously gorgeous (on their own and together)!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Accent Nail: Dots, Dots, Dots

You know that moment right before you fall asleep when you are super relaxed and your mind wanders? During that moment last night, the idea for these nails popped into my head.  I forced myself to wake up enough so that I would remember the design in the morning.  I continued to think about it all day today, considering various background colours and dot arrangements.  I kept coming back to the grey background.  Black or white felt too harsh for what I was envisioning.  But the only way to really decide was to just go ahead with my initial idea.

I started with a base of "Grey Matter" by Rimmel London.  I haven't used this colour in a while and forgot how much I love it!  However, contrary to what the bottle says, it does not dry in 60 seconds but what nail polish does?

Next I decided on the colours I wanted to use for the dots.  I ended up going with turquoise, orange, and lime green.  My "dotting tool" is simply a pencil with a straight pin pushed into the eraser.

 

I knew for sure that I wanted dots of my ring finger (accent nail) but was still undecided on whether or not to put dots on the other nails.  I started with the ring finger and tried a few different things on my other nails.  I ended up painting over the other fingers and kept just the ring finger.  I think in this case less is more.  Here's the final product!

All in all, I really like the pop of colour while still being able to show off the gorgeous grey colour.  I hope you like this simple design!

Love, Kate xo