Posts Tagged ‘nail polish’

NAILED IT!

No Comments

photos + post by Kristin Ess

If you’re a fan of pretty shiny things, you’re going to love our first spring mani of the season. We all know everything looks better dipped in gold, so we thought this should do the trick. I decided to use gold leafing sheets to accent the corners of these turquoise nails. Here’s how you do it:

TOOLS: Turquoise nail polish, gold leafing sheets (available at your local art supply stores or see link below), clear top coat, nail file, q-tip (regular or pointed).

STEPS:

  1. Select a good turquoise polish. I used this one, but to be honest you can use any color that you think goes well with gold. (It’s really pretty with white + coral!)
  2. Paint all of your nails with the base color you choose.
  3. Gold leaf sheets (I used these) are VERY delicate so make sure your hands are clean + dry before handling. They tear so easily! Use scissors to cut small triangle shapes that will fit the corners of your nails. You want to cover about 1/3 of your nail, so make your triangles about that size.
  4. Wet a q-tip and use that to pick up your gold triangle. Don’t try to pick them up with your fingers– you’ll crumble them and that’s a bummer!
  5. Lay the gold leaf triangle on the corner of the nail. You want to work quickly so the leafing sticks to the polish. The polish should be dry but still slightly tacky. If it’s too dry, put a very thin layer of clear top coat down before laying the leaf on the nail.
  6. Smooth over the gold leaf with a clean dry q-tip to remove wrinkles/bubbles. If you mess up and chip off a piece of gold, it’s totally fine! Gold leafing is so thin that you can just lay another piece over the messed up part and it blends right in.
  7. Use a nail file to gently file off the excess just like you would with nail stickers!
  8. Finish with a quick drying clear coat to lock the gold leafing down!

FANCY FINGERS!

No Comments

photos + post by Kristin Ess

By now you all know how much we love bows around here. This little mani is so spring-y + girly and we simply couldn’t wait til mani monday to share it. Here’s how it’s done!

(more…)

MANI MONDAY

No Comments

photos + post by Kristin Ess

This Mani Monday is all about clean up! When you work hard to make your nails look beeeeautiful, you must go that extra mile. I’m sure a lot of you already do this, but we see plenty of photos from people who either don’t know or just don’t do it. And let me tell you, it makes a HUGE difference! Your nails look great, but it just doesn’t look as polished (ha!) without the finishing touches. Here’s how we recommend you perfect those pretty fingers:

(more…)

MANI MONDAY (DOUBLE FEATURE!!)

No Comments

Hot date this Valentine’s day? Perhaps you want to try this mani! And even if you’re flying solo or hanging with friends, this manicure is bestie approved and the combination is really fun. Fully inspired by a pair of Louboutins– it’s like looking at them from the bottom. The subtle hint of animal print + rich red = a fun, flirty vibe!

TOOLS: cheetah print nail stickers (used OPI + Sephora in this tutorial), reinforcement stickers, red nail polish, clear top coat.

Steps

1. Read the instructions on how to apply the nail strips because the directions vary from brand to brand.

2. Apply the cheetah print nail strips on all fingers as your base.

3. Apply the reinforcement stickers on each finger. You can put them where ever you want, but I like to follow the “moons” of the nails.

4. Now paint your nails red. Start at the edge of the sticker and paint to the tip of your nail. Do a second coat if neccessary!

5. Last but not least, add a quick drying top coat!

AND… Next up is the sweeter side of the Valentine mani. This was done by our super talented friend Jenna Day! Of course you’ll remember her from THIS metallic mani. She won our guest blogger contest last year and her tutorial was a big hit!! We “heart” her and all of this cuteness… Thanks Jenna!

TOOLS: base & top coat, dark pink, medium pink, light pink, reinforcement stickers.

Steps

1. Start with either your darkest pink or lightest pink.  Try to use colors that have good coverage with just one coat because you want this layer to dry completely before the next step.

2. Put 2 reinforcement stickers together (should look like an “8”) and place them towards the bottom of your nails. You are going to do this twice so look at your nail and cover 1/3 each time. You want to make room for all 3 of the colors for the final look.

3. Paint your medium color. If possible just paint 1 coat, you will also want this to dry completely before placing stickers on your nails again. Use quick drying nail polish for the first and middle layers.

4. Remove the stickers when the paint has dried with your medium shade. Waiting for it to dry is important because removing the sticker too soon will cause the nail polish to smear and not have clean lines!

5. Now repeat steps 2 & 3 this time using either your darkest pink or lightest pink.

6. Remove the stickers once that layer has dried and check out those nails!!! At first they may look choppy and layered but once your apply your top coat it will even out and complete the look on your nails. Plus putting stickers on your nails can dull your color some so this also helps your colors be bright and shiny again.