Spring Ikat Chevron

My ikat chevron nails (see here) have surpassed 400 repins on Pinterest!! So in celebration, I have recreated the design just in time for Spring. 

For this design I used "Blanc" by Essie, "Appletini" by Covergirl, and "Stand by Your Manny" by Nicole by OPI.  Remember, the key to this design is the slooowly applied top coat which results in the perfect smeared look.

 Ikat chevron is definitely one of my favourite looks.  I'll be experimenting with more ikat looks in the not to distant future!

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