Lacquer Legion: Glam

Each month, The Lacquer Legion puts out a theme and anyone is welcome to participate.  They are welcome to pick and choose which themes they want to participate in.  This month, I am participating for the first time.  

The theme: Glam.  First thing that came to mind was sparkles.  What's more glamorous than a little bling?  I really wanted to go for a classic glam look. 

For this design, I used "Sugar Daddy" by Essie and loose, silver, nail glitter.  To apply the glitter, I mixed it with a clear polish and used a makeup sponge to apply it to the tips of my nails.  My goal was to create falling glitter effect.  Here's the final product!

I'm so happy that I decided to participate in the Lacquer Legion challenge this month because I LOVE the way my nails turned out.

I encourage all to participate in the next challenge! You can find the Lacquer Legion on Facebook at facebook.com/thelacquerlegion.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Happy Easter!

Since it's Easter, I knew I had to do a decorated egg design for my nails.  I used "Blanc" by Essie, "Play Date" (purple) by Essie, and "Simply Divine" (pink) by Sally Hansen.  I started with a base of "Blanc" before sponging the pink and purple on in an ombre design.  I used white acrylic paint to create the final design.  I like to use acrylic paint for detailed work because it doesn't dry as fast as nail polish so you have a little more breathing room when creating your design.  I kept most of my nails simple with straight up polka dots.  On my ring fingers, I added straight and zigzag lines to make them look more like a decorated egg.  Here is the final product!

Originally I was going to use 4 colours (pink, purple, green, and yellow) but the pink and purple stood out much more than the yellow and green so I stuck with just the two colours.  I'm really happy with how they turned out!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

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

Nude Animal Print

I've become a really big fan of using Sharpies to draw designs on my nails.  It is such a quick and easy way to add some pizazz to your nails.  Just remember to spray a thin layer of aerosol hairspray over your nails (from a distance) before adding your top coat to prevent smudging.  You still need to make sure you apply your top coat quickly.  

For this design, I used the base colour from "Celestial Shine" by Revlon Sun Candy and a black Sharpie.  It's important to make sure your nails are completely dry before drawing with the Sharpie otherwise the marker won't apply smoothly.

Originally, I was going to apply the sparkly top coat over the leopard design, but I liked the way it looked without it.

I'm really happy with how these turned out.  The colours are subtle but the design is fierce!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Crazy for Polka Dots

Ok Winter, I'm done with you!  Spring, you can make your appearance anytime! I really needed a pop of colour on my nails to brighten my mood.  For this design, I used "Licorice" by Essie, "Hit the Lights" by Nicole by OPI, "Orange Oasis" by Covergirl, "Cherry, Cherry, Bang, Bang" by Sally Hansen, "Shrimply Devine" by Sally Hansen, "One Time Lime" by Nicole by OPI, and "Blue Me Away!" by Sally Hansen.  I used dotting tools of various sizes for my dots.  Here is the final product!

 

 

Originally I had another idea in mind for the other 3 nails, but I didn't like the way it looked.  I'm happy I decided to paint those nails black because it really makes the colours pop.  

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! 

Just a quick post today with my Valentine's nails.  I wanted to do a design that was relatively quick so I chose to do a Sharpie mani for this day of love.  I started with a base of "Sugar Daddy" by Essie.  This is a fantastic everyday colour because it's a soft pink which gives your nails a healthy, pink glow.  I then used pink and red Sharpies to create a waterfall design on all my nails except my ring finger.  I then used "Polka Dots" by Maybelline (Colour Show) as a top coats.  On my ring finger I created a quick heart patchwork design.  Here is the final product!

 I'm really happy with how they turned out! I hope you LOVE them as much as I do.

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Nail Design Mash-Up

This week I decided to take two designs that I admire and mash them together to create my own.  I absolutely love the waterfall designs that Sammy does at TheNailasaurus.com (really, I love everything that Sammy does and you should totally check her out!).  This waterfall design is the basis for my design this week.  The second part of the mash-up is my colour inspiration for my design.  Robin Moses created a neon splatter design with a black base and bright colours over top.  You can find tons of great tutorials on her Youtube page.  

For this design, I started with a base of "Licorice" by Essie.  

I then used acrylic paint in a variety of colours to create my waterfall design.  I had to do some mixing in order to get the colours just right.  To get some of the colours to show up well over the black, I had to add a touch of white.  Here is my "palette".

I used a thin nail art brush to paint of my design.  Here is the final product!

The green and blue combo is definitely my favourite!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo