Nail Art

June 12, 2013

Colorful Stiletto Half Moon Nail Art 1

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , ,

affiliate linkspress sample
I saw this manicure over on Peace, Love, and Polish recently (which is actually a guest post by Nicole Gets Nailed), and I knew I had to try this with my Gelish All About the Glow colors.  I love the stiletto shape of her nails, though I’m not brave enough to try to shape mine like that so I stuck with my standard square shape.

I started with three coats of different colors from the All About the Glow Collection:  You Glare, I Glow (purple), Radiance is My Middle Name (blue), Sometimes A Girl’s Gotta Glow (green), I’m Brighter Than You (orange/peach) and Brights Have More Fun (pink).  I topped each nail off with one thin coat of Gelish Top It Off, and wiped off the tacky layer.  Then I used nail art striping tape to create the triangle shapes and I painted them in with Cult Nevermore.  After Nevermore dried, I applied another thin coat of TIO and then I dotted the Gelish Foundation onto my nails where I wanted to place the gems.  I put the gems in place, cured in my LED lamp and then applied one more thin coat of TIO over it all.  It sounds like a lot of coats of polish, but I applied very thin layers and my nails don’t feel thick at all.

Chickettes.com Stiletto Half Moon Nail Art

Chickettes.com Stiletto Half Moon ManicureChickettes.com Stiletto Half Moon Manicure

And guess where I wore this fancy mani… to the NKOTB concert!  LOL  I went to “The Package” tour and saw Boys II Men, 98 Degrees and NKOTB.  I LOVED them back in middle school and I was offered a free ticket to attend the concert in a suite with lots of food and drinks.  It was a good time, though I only knew the original songs from way back in the day.

You Might Also Be Interested In:

June 9, 2013

Guest Post: Gel Nail Art with Swarovski Crystals 5

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , ,

I have a treat for you today!! I have long been admiring Kim Baker’s gorgeous gel polish manicures in some online forums. She creates elaborate designs with crystals, beads and gems that awe and inspire. I asked if she would be interested in writing a guest post to share her technique, and thankfully she accepted. Enjoy! ~ Andrea

Chickettes.com - gel polish with Swarovski crystal embellishments

Gel II Sky Blue, stamped with Sally Hansen rnp Gone Grey

Hello everyone, Andrea has invited me to let you know how I do my crystal manicures. I get a lot of my inspiration from some of the gorgeous Japanese nail art I’ve seen on the internet. I’ll have ideas rolling around in my head sometimes for days so the first thing I will do is swatch my designs to see if what’s in my head will translate nicely to the nail. Once I settle on a design, I gather all the gems and embellishments I plan to use and any tools like the Magical Pick and dotting tool or toothpick. I then do my gel polish mani as normal except for the top coat. I remove the sticky layer from the color coat with alcohol.

Chickettes.com - gel polish with Swarovski crystal embellishments

TruGel Boysenberry (purple) , IBD Hot Springs (green) Ink Diamond Snow (golden shimmer) stamped with rnp Sally Hansen Commander in Chic

Now I’m ready to apply the gems. One great tip is to use Gelish Foundation as the “glue” to place the gems and other embellishments in, using the gel also allows you to reposition any of your design if you need to. I swear Gelish Foundation is better than Super Glue, lol. Since using it I have not lost any crystals. You can use Super Glue but in my experience I did lose some gems using it. I will place a little Foundation gel on a small piece of foil and then using the dotting tool I place the gel on the nail where I want my crystals. Using the Magical Pick I pick the gems up and place them into the gel I laid down. Once I get the design where I want it I will cure for 30 seconds in an LED lamp to lock the gems in place. Now it’s time to top coat, I usually apply 2 coats over EVERYTHING, this helps to further secure the design. With normal wear the topcoat will wear off the tops of the stones but they should remain secure.

I get a lot questions about what crystals I use and what colors and sizes. I prefer Swarovski stones because they really can’t be beat for the sparkle and color selection but there are some other economical alternatives like Korean DMC (diamond machine cut) glass stones. I prefer to buy from places that sell by the single stone so I can get more colors and sizes without breaking the bank. I will usually get 25-30 stones in a pack for about $1.75 – $2.50. If you are careful with your soak off you can reuse the stones. Good sizes to start with are SS5 – SS8, when I first starting using crystals I wouldn’t use anything bigger than SS6 but I have found that combining both smaller and larger (up to SS10) stones can make for much more interesting designs. As far as colors, I started with about 6-7 basic colors: clear, red, blue, green, yellow, pink and purple. Some of my favorite stones are the Swarovski opals, they really do look like opals on the nail and the AB (aurora borealis) stones, these have a special coating that make them flash a rainbow of colors.

With some many colors and sizes there really is no limit to what you can create, let you imagination go wild!

Chickettes.com - gel polish with Swarovski crystal embellishments

Mild East #69 (green, Ebay) stamped with Sally Hansen rnp Flashy Fuchsia. I would not recommend this gel brand because the soak off was a nightmare. Took over an hour to get it all off!

Swarovski Crystals:

Magical Pick:

You Might Also Be Interested In:

May 27, 2013

Yellow & Grey Feather Skittlette Manicure 2

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , , , , , ,

affiliate linkspress samplepurchased by me
I was inspired to create some nail art this weekend to compliment a dress that I wore to a wedding. I wore a light grey and white floral dress from The Limited that has a little yellow ribbon around the waist.  The pop of yellow really made me want to do something fun with that color.  I was at the craft store last week and saw a bag of spotted craft feathers, and the yellow caught my eye and gave me the idea to attempt a feather accent.  I ended up with a skittlette of stripes, stamps, feathers, and glitter!

The colors used in this manicure are Couture Tres Chic, Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal and Gelish Emerald Dust.

  • My index finger has three coats of Tres Chic, and I used nail art striping tape and Cashmere Kind of Gal to create some diagonal stripes.
  • My middle finger has two coats of Cashmere Kind of Gal, and a stamped design using Bundle Monster plate BM314 and Konad white stamping polish.  I topped it off with one coat of Emerald Dust for some sparkle.
  • My ring finger also has two coats of Cashmere Kind of Gal, and then I applied a feather on top.  To do this I applied a layer of Gelish Top It Off, and then stuck the feather on top and pressed it down so that it was flush with my nail.  I cured it in my LED light for 45 seconds then used scissors to trim off the bulk of the excess feather and a nail file to clean up the edges.  I applied one more coat of Top It Off and cured again.
  • My pinky finger just has three coats of Tres Chic and one coat of Emerald Dust, and my thumb has two coats of Cashmere Kind of Gal and one coat of Emerald Dust.

Chickettes.com yellow & grey feather skittlette mani Chickettes.com yellow & grey feather skittlette mani

Here is a quick shot of my dress pattern and the ribbon.yellow-feather-inspiration

You Might Also Be Interested In:

May 20, 2013

NCLA Nail Wraps Review 7

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: ,

press sample
ncla-nail-strips

Nail Polish Canada sent me some NCLA Designer Nail Wraps to try.  The two designs that I chose are called It Doesn’t Matter and So L.A.  You can view all of the different designs on the Nail Polish Canada website.  Each package includes 44 nail wraps of various sizes.  I think the concept of nail wraps is great because they allow anyone to add intricate art to their nails with minimal time and skill.

Today I decided to try out the random black and white patterns in the It Doesn’t Matter set.  This was only my second time trying nail wraps, so I’m still an amateur.  I consulted the instructions and it certainly sounded easy…

ncla-instructions

… and it was! These strips were great to work with!   I cleaned my nails with an alcohol wipe and then applied a clear base coat and let it dry.  I studied the wraps to determine which sizes might work best with each of my nails.  My nails are a bit narrow, but there was such a wide variety of sizes that I was able to find a wrap to fit each of them without having to do any trimming around the edges.  BONUS… NO TRIMMING!!!  I applied the wraps to each nail, carefully smoothing them out to eliminate any air bubbles.  (In the photos you can see some bubbling on my index finger, but it’s not noticeable in person unless you look very closely.) My nails are also very curvy, and these wraps stuck from edge to edge without any lifting.  The wraps are also long enough to accommodate pretty long nails. I had a lot of excess hanging off the tip, which I filed off with the nail file that came in the package.  And finally, I topped each nail off with a clear top coat.

I’m very pleased with the final result… what do you think?

ncla-nail-strips-2

ncla-nail-strips-3

 

You Might Also Be Interested In:

May 16, 2013

Gelish All About the Glow – Rainbow French Nail Art 0

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , , ,

I was going to leave my nails alone for a week to give them a break, but I caved!  I’ve been trying to think of ways to use the entire Gelish All About the Glow collection in some nail art and I have so many ideas running through my head.  My first thought was to do a colorful french manicure using a different color for each finger, but I only have 5 fingers and there are 6 colors… that won’t work.  So I decided to do a few French tips, and two rainbow nails using every color in the collection!

On my ring finger and thumb I started with two coats of Sheek White and used a dotting tool to draw on the different colored stripes (only one coat for the stripes).  For the French tips, I applied two coats of white, but only on the tips this time.  I applied two coats of color to the tips leaving some space to give the appearance of a white outline.  I applied one coat of Emerald Dust to each nail, and used a dotting tool to draw on a couple of small hearts.  I applied one thin coat of Gelish Top It Off, and viola!

I really love how this turned out… they’re bright and fun, and sparkly too!  The official Gelish FB page announced that they are having a “Summer Brights” nail art challenge.  Post your best “bright” manicure using Gelish polish to their FB feed by May 21st and they will feature their top 5 picks!  I’m definitely going to submit this one, and I can’t wait to see what other creations people come up with.

Gelish All About the Glow Rainbow French Nail Art Gelish All About the Glow Rainbow French Nail Art Gelish All About the Glow Rainbow French Nail Art

You Might Also Be Interested In:

May 7, 2013

Couture Tres Chic & Color Blocked Nail Art 3

by Andrea • Nail Art, Other Gel (SOG) Swatches • Tags: , , ,

press sample
I never thought I would wear yellow nail polish, but in the past month or so I have tried a few shades of yellow and the one I have to show you today is my favorite of all so far.  This is Tres Chic from Couture… a buttery yellow with a creme finish. I wore this for a day or so before deciding to add some nail art to it.  I did some color blocking with nail art striping tape, and made a short video to demonstrate the technique (below).  The colors used for the accents are Couture High Maintenance, Million $ Tweet, Teal the Show and Glam Squad.  I love how this turned out and can’t wait to use these Couture colors again.

Chickettes.com Color Blocking Nail Art

Couture Gel Polish - Tres Chic

Couture Gel Polish - Tres Chic

You Might Also Be Interested In:

May 2, 2013

Gelish Rio Neon Rainbow Nail Art 2

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , ,

affiliate links purchased by me
I posted the Gelish Rio Neon swatches earlier today, but forgot to post the nail art that I did with these colors! :) The pink seen here is actually Daisy Classy Pink instead of Shake It Til You Samba because I hadn’t received that color yet when I did this. I started with a base of Sheek White, and applied the neons over top to give the colors more pop! I created a striped rainbow effect on the ring finger and added a stamp on top. Vegas Nights was also applied on top for some sparkle!

neon-rainbow-nail-art

You Might Also Be Interested In:

April 25, 2013

Ink Calypso Swatch & More Shade Shifter Fun 2

by Andrea • Ink Soak Off Gel Swatches, Nail Art • Tags: , , , ,

I’ve been wearing Ink Calypso for a couple of days, and today I decided to play with Orly Shade Shifter again and turn my teal mani into some cool color changing nail art.  I started with 2 coats of Calypso, then applied 2 coats of Orly Shade Shifter.  I applied one thin coat of Gelish Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Busy for a blue/purple duochrome glitter effect.  Next, I used a dotting tool to add some flowers and dots on top, and then topped everything off with my Gelish top coat.  What do you think???

You can view my video demo of Orly Shade Shifter here.  To use it, you apply two coats of Shade Shifter over your base color (curing after each coat), and then apply your top coat.  It makes your nails black when they are cold and goes clear when they are warm to show the color underneath.  And sometimes you can see the transition as seen in the photo below.

Chickettes.com Color Changing Nail Art with Orly Shade Shifter

Chickettes.com Color Changing Nail Art with Orly Shade Shifter

And here are my photos of Ink Calypso before I applied Shade Shifter.

Chickettes.com Ink Calypso Swatch

Chickettes.com Ink Calypso Swatch

You Might Also Be Interested In:

April 20, 2013

Gold Leopard Print Nail Art 4

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , , ,

affiliate links purchased by me
I’m attending a fundraiser this evening for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the theme is “Boots & Bling”.  I’ve been stressing about this for the last two weeks trying to find the perfect outfit and of course I knew I had to “bling” my nails to match!  I didn’t own a pair of cowboy (cowgirl?) boots, so that was the first item I had to search for.  I didn’t want to spend a fortune because it’s highly unlikely that I will wear them again, except maybe on Halloween.  So I headed over to a resale shop called Plato’s Closet and ended up finding my entire getup for the event for just $20!  I bought a pair of boots, a leopard print dress, and a small gold purse to match.  Score!

Chickettes.com Gold & Leopard Print Inspired Nail Art

The nail art was all done with Gelish.  The leopard print nails started with a base of Medieval Madness, and one coat of Twinkle for some gold sparkle.  Then I used a dotting tool and drew on the leopard spots using Sweet Chocolate and Meet the King.  The “bling” finger has a base of Meet the King, and I brushed on some loose gold glitter into the tacky layer before applying the top coat.  I wasn’t able to get the glitter perfectly smooth, so there are some small imperfections.  On my thumb and pinky, I applied two coats of Sweet Chocolate and then used nail art striping tape to create the triangle shapes that I filled in using Meet the King.  And finally I applied some gold stud accents that were purchased at Michael’s craft store.   Whew!  This took some time.  :)

Chickettes.com Gold & Leopard Print Inspired Nail Art

I also found a cute little leopard print ring at Charming Charlies.

Chickettes.com Gold & Leopard Print Inspired Nail Art

Chickettes.com Gold & Leopard Print Inspired Nail Art

Chickettes.com Gold & Leopard Print Inspired Nail Art

Here is a closer look at the pattern of the dress and the belt that I’m going to wear with it.  You can see where I got the inspiration for the thumb and pinky with the round gold studs.

gold-leopard-inspiration

You Might Also Be Interested In:

April 16, 2013

Geometric Nail Art & Gelish You’re Such a Sweet-Tart 2

by Andrea • Gelish Swatches, Nail Art • Tags: , , ,

affiliate links purchased by me
It’s actually starting to feel like spring outside… ahhhhh.  The warm air inspired me to play with some bright colors. This manicure started with a base of Gelish You’re Such a Sweet Tart and then I used nail art striping tape to apply some additional geometric shapes on top of it. The other colors used are Gelish My Favorite Accessory and Carnival Hangover. I added the dots with a dotting tool and my Konad white polish.  I really had no plan and just randomly added shapes, but I think it turned out kind of cool.

Chickettes.com Geometric Nail Art with Gelish

This is Gelish You’re Such a Sweet-Tart from the Candy Land Collection. It’s a fun, bright green with a subtle shimmer.  This is a great spring/summer color.

Gelish You're Such a Sweet-Tart

Gelish You're Such a Sweet-Tart

You Might Also Be Interested In:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7