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

Flirty Florals

Summer is FINALLY here so I just had to do a bright, flowery design in celebration.  For this design I used "Mellow Yellow" by Sally Hansen, "White On" by Sally Hansen, "Bikini Pink" by Kiss, "Neon Orange" by Kiss, "One-Time Lime" by Nicole by OPI, "Blue Me Away" by Sally Hansen, and "Play Date" by Essie.

I started with yellow as my base.

I then used my dotting tool (straight pin stuck into a pencil eraser) and began making different coloured flowers on my nails.  I placed 5 dots in a circle and did an accent colour in the middle of each flower.  I then added white dots to fill in the spaces between the flowers.  Here is the final product!!

These nails make me so happy! They are bright, colourful, and fun.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Textured Polish from Sally Hansen

I picked up two new polishes yesterday and had to try them both out right away! Sally Hansen has come out with a collection of textured polishes: Sugar Coat and Fuzzy Coat.  I decided to give Sugar Coat a try.  I chose "Bubble Plum" because it is beautiful purple/pink shade.  I also bought a new Xtreme Wear polish from Sally Hansen called "Perfect Pear-ing".  It is a gorgeous shade of green that I am absolutely in love with.

I started with a base coat of "Perfect Pear-ing".  I tried my best to photograph the colour exactly how it is in person but I didn't quite get it.  So you'll have to take my word that it's even more beautiful in person.

 I then used page hole protectors to tape off the bottom "half moon" of each nail.  I cut each circle in half to get them to stick to my nails better.

I then added a layer of Sugar Coat over top of the green.  After letting it dry for 30 seconds or so, I removed the stickers.

I wasn't a big fan of the raw edge that was left behind.  It just felt unfinished.  I decided to add small white dots (Sally Hansen's "White On") along the edge.  I like the Sugar Coat polish because it's a simple way to add interest to your nails with a simple stroke of the brush (easy peasy!).

Overall, I'm really happy with the colour combination and my new polishes.  I just feel like the design is still missing something.  What do you guys think?

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

New Essie Polish!

I bought 4 new Essie polishes on Friday and just had to use them all at once.  I'm a big fan of the colours that Essie has.  I bought "Turquoise and Caicos", "Play Date", "Cute As a Button", and "Lapiz of Luxury".  I ended up using Sally Hansen's "White On" as an accent.

 

I started by randomly applying all the colours (mint, purple, coral, blue).

 I then used the brushes that come with the polishes to add curves of colours to the tips of my nails.  I saw this design on the Essie website in "Essie Looks" section (http://www.essie.com/essie-looks.aspx).

I felt like the design needed a little something extra.  I really liked the pop of white that was on the Essie bottles.  I chose to do white dots along the curves of each colour and I am in LOVE with the final product.  I don't know about you guys, but the colours on my pinky nail immediately make me think of the Little Mermaid (Kelsey, you will know what I'm talking about).

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Neon Dots

I was feeling rather uninspired and overwhelmed tonight.  Sometimes there are so many designs that I want to try that I just can't settle on one and I get discouraged.  I decided to do my "go-to" design of dots.  For this design I used "White On" by Sally Hansen, "Funky Limelight" by Essie, "Bikini Pink" by Kiss, "Beach Green" by Kiss, and "Neon Orange" by Kiss.

 

Whenever using neon colours, they will be brightest if they are on a white base.

Next, I used my dotting tool (pencil with a straight pin in the eraser) and went to town making dots.  I alternated the centre colour so that each nail was slightly different but kept the same colour pattern.  The final product is a fun, vibrant design that is perfect for summer.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Double Post: A New Polish and Dotted Toes

I was missing a really vibrant blue in my nail polish collection and spotted the perfect colour when I was out running errands on the weekend.  I'm absolutely in love with it.  It is Blue Me Away by Sally Hansen (Hard as Nails).

 I wore this colour for a day before I started fiddling.  I started with doing a simple top coat of Matte About You by Essie. 

I love the smooth, velvety look of a matte top coat on this blue but I wanted to take it one step further.  I used Special Effects by Nails Inc. and then added Matte About You over top.  I think it has an underwater, mermaid feel to it.  My camera didn't quite capture all of the colours in the Special Effects polish (I'll add a "sunlight" shot soon).

As promised in my last post, I've done my toes (sandal season! woohoo!).  I knew I wanted to do something colourful but easy.  So why not cover my toes in dots?  I used Fuchsia by Pupa, Orange by Pupa, Hit the Lights (yellow) by Nicole by OPI, One Time Lime by Nicole by OPI, Blue Me Away by Sally Hansen, and Cherry, Cherry, Bang, Bang (purple) by Sally Hansen.  All the polishes photographed true to colour except for the blue.  As you can see in the first picture, the blue slightly darker.

 I took my dotting tool (pencil with a straight pin stuck in the eraser) and just went to town adding dots.  It's a fun and easy design that can be touched up just by adding more dots!  I think next time I might try lining up the dots for a "fish scale" effect.

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