Day 151) Nail art Graffiti

When I was a teenager my wish was to master the art of graffiti.
I was always jealous of the people who could do those awesome graffiti letters.
And I too wanted to secretly paint some graffiti on a wall.
It never happened...
I can still appreciate the art of graffiti, especially the big colorful drawings. Those really color the world!

For today's nail art I tried to translate a graffiti to my nails.
I've used an image for example because I'm still not good at painting graffiti.

Here is the image I've used:

Source: http://kids.flevoland.to/kleuren/valentijn/graffiti-love.shtml

And this is the nail art I've done:

I really like them! Do you?

See you tomorrow. I will announce the winner of my 'remake' give-away!

Day 150) Crackle nail polish

Blogging for a few months and never showed a crackle nail polish.
The big hype is over and it's on its return.
However, this is probably one of the easiest nail art that exists.
Today we went to an amusement park (called the Efteling).
And I'm tired and just want to go to bed.
Perfect day for a blogpost about crackle nail polish I think.

Crackle nail polish is available in many colors and from many different brands.
When you think about it, it is a brilliant concept. You paint it on, it cracks and you see the color that's underneath.
Crackle nail polish is perfect to use for the easy and fast nail art but what I especially like about it: You have to go out, but are wearing chipped nails...HELP...
NO! Just paint some crackle nail polish over it and...You're good to go!

I only own a silver crackle nail polish and I think this needs a dark background.
Yesterday I did some black nails, so I wanted something different for today.
I took my favourite colour and topcoated it matte:

W.I.C. by Herome Limited Edition Magical India - Jaipur + Miss Sporty - Check matte

When this dried, I simply applied the crackle nail polish:

Essence nail art cracking top coat - 04 Crack me! silver

I'm not really a fan. Are you?

Day 149) Nail art crosses

I've had a request for nails with spikes today.
Only webshops provide these. So, that's an upcoming nail art.
However, I did immediately think about rock nails.
And there are always crosses on rock themed nails.
Today's nail art is only about crosses.

First I painted my nails with a gold and black nail polish. I finished them with a matte topcoat.

Thumb: Max & More (Action store) nail stickers
Index finger: Square studs and pearl
Middle finger: Rhinestones and black beads (on the picture the gold gives the beads an orange look)
Ring finger: An outline of golden beads and a cross made of pearls
Pinky: Striper brush design. I made the outer lines of the cross with a black nail polish. Then colored it with a dark grey. The snaky thing is in silver. (In real life there's a big difference between the grey and silver, but this doesn't show well on the picture)

Hope you like them!

Day 148) Summer nails (watercolor technique)

Yes, we finally had two days of summer weather and now we're back at rain again.
But for today it felt like summer.
So, here is an idea for summer nails.

Step-by-step:

Step 1:
After the basecoat apply a light colour. I used a light yellow one because of its coverage (only 1 coat!)

Catrice Soft Nail Lacquer Limited Edition Candy Shock - C04 Vanilla Love

For the next steps...first a pic of the material used:

• Tape
• Konad stamping promotion kit
• Grip seal bag/ zipper bag
• Scissors
• Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer - 02 Pimp My Shrimp
• Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer - 27 The Pinky And The Brain

Step 2:

While your base colour is drying, use the tape for covering cuticles and fingers.

Step 3:

Take the scissors and cut the grip seal bag into pieces (bigger than nailsize)

Step 4:

Apply some drops of nail polish (mentioned at material) on to the nail

Step 5:

Take a piece of plastic (from your grip seal bag) and gently place it on your nail. Give it a little push without moving it around. Then remove it again by carefully lifting it up from the nail.

 Step 6:
Remove the tape from your fingers and clean up any mess.

Step 7:
To add some extra 'summer' detail I used the Konad stamping kit for stamping the two butterflies on to the nails.

Bright and lovely, what do you think?

Day 147) Fast Foil Fun

Didn't get much sleep last night.
With 4 kids is a miracle if we get one full night of sleep per week.
Aches, illness and dreaming are our nighttly challenges.

I wanted to do an easy and fast nail art for today.
And...I found it!

Material I used:

From left to right:
*Essence Colour & Go - 141 Icy Princess
*Transfer foil glue
*Fan brush
*Transfer foil purple
-Something you can use as a palette
-Scissors

Step-by-step:
1) After the basecoat apply the silver glitter nail polish (Essence). I applied two thin coats.

2) Take the transfer foil glue and put some on your palette

3) Then take the fan brush and get some glue on it

4) Gently paint your nails with the fan brush and glue
For the thumb I did a vertical brush stripe. For the other fingers I brushed horizontal.

5) Because it's such a thin coat of glue you put on. You can almost immediately put the transfer foil on.
Cut a piece of transfer foil (nail size) and put it on your nail (shiny side up). Gently rob it and remove the transfer foil.

6) If there is any foil on your cuticles, this is easy to remove with some remover.
Finish it with a topcoat. Done!

In real it looks like a painting made by an artist who randomly gave it some brush stripes.

I love this easy and fast nail art! Do you?

Day 146) Sparkling love

Today I was looking at some wallpapers for my new laptop.
I think I am in desperate need of some nice weather because I could only look at colorful wallpapers with a lot of neons.
In my search for the 'perfect' wallpaper I found this image:

Source: http://www.freegreatpicture.com/celebrity-symphony/fantasy-wallpapers-509

Not 'perfect' for me as a wallpaper, but it is 'perfect' for today's nail art.
I didn't want to make an exact copy. So I gave it my own touch.

1) As base colour I used a dark blue, sparkling nail polish
Maybelline Forever Strong Pro - 650 Midnight Blue
2) Then I made the outer lines of the hands with a striper brush. I used a neon pink and neon green for this.
3) Because I wanted to paint the heart neon yellow. I had to make a white heart first (My neon yellow is very watery and doesn't show that well on darker backgrounds).
4) From the hands I started to paint some kind of laser beam. I used a sparkly purple nail polish for this.
5) I gave the heart it's neon yellow colour and added some gold fine glitter. Still the heart wasn't oustanding enough (in my opinion). I chose to give it a base colour (dark blue) outline.
6) For the thumb and pinky I simply applied some glitter.

Some sparkling love for my dear followers!
Thank you!

Day 145) Nail art Buddhism

One of my followers requested a nail art with Buddha on it.
I'm terrible at painting human beings, so this was a big challenge.
After 20 attempts of painting Buddha with detail I gave up.
Because I didn't want to disappoint my follower I chose to do a Buddhism nail art instead.
This way I have more images to choose from.
There is a Buddha on there, but it's a more schematical one. If you love Buddhism and you're also bad in painting Buddha...There are great decals on the market!

Day 144) Nail art mosaic

Besides the nail polish racks I own, I also have a drawer unit for my nail art related stuff.
Once in a while I have to reorganize these drawers because I don't even know what I've got anymore...and they won't close ;D
When I was reorganizing today I found my crushed shell again and immediately decided I had to do a nail art with this.
But what? I looked at the little pieces and they reminded me of mosaic tiles.

So, mosaic it is!

Materials I used:
- Crushed shell (different colors)
- (Pearly) white nail polish
- Rhinestone picker (I have one with a sticky ball at the end. So you can pick up anything you like with it, as long as it isn't too heavy)
- Small dottingtool

Step 1) After the basecoat I applied some white nail polish on just a little part of the nail. A little part, because this is going to be your glue and when you paint your whole nail it will be dry once you get there. I used a small dottingtool for applying, but you can also use a small brush or something.
Step 2) Pick up a little piece of crushed shell with the rhinestone picker and place it on the desired spot. For a nice and longlasting outcome, I recommend you use the flattest pieces of crushed shell. I used the other side of my rhinestone picker to give the pieces an extra push into the nail polish.
Step 3) Make any design you like. I'll have to say it's very time-consuming, but so is a 'real' mosaic.

I was afraid a topcoat might ruin it, so I used KOH DRY DROPS! instead. One drop and your nail polish is dry within the minute. It also contains Aloë Vera and Vitamin E for the cuticles. My hands were really dry and they LOVE the Koh drops. I did put another drop on the hands as well, that's why my hand is oily.

Here is another picture without the oil ;D

Thumb: mix of colors (not so interesting)
Index finger: swirl
Middle finger: 3 flowers
Ring finger: rings, circles
Pinky: horizontal lines

Day 143) Simple elegance in greens

Tired and low on inspiration.
So, today's nail art is a simple one.

1) After the basecoat I painted my nails with 2 thin coats of Bourjois 1 Seconde - No. 27 Green fizz

2) Then I used a striper brush and a light green colour to make a wavy stripe (picture 1)
I repeated this step with a little darker green underneath the light one. Again a wavy stripe (picture 2)

1)

2)

3) Then I did a last wavy stripe with dark green underneath the second wavy stripe, only this time I made a swirl at the end

4) To give the nail art some more elegance I placed half pearls in the centre of the swirls. As glue I used my topcoat

For sure not my best nail art. But everybody has an off-day once in a while...today is mine.
I do like the colors though; great for summer!

Day 142) Nail art leaded glass

"Where do you get your ideas from?" Is a question asked many times.
My secret...
When I have nothing to do I'm just looking through images on Google images. Sometimes of nail arts, but most of the times I'm looking at not nail related images.
When I see an image that I like I immediately try to see this on my nails and decide if it is within my reach.
For today's nail art my theme is leaded glass.
I think this nail art is more for the advanced nail arter and it also is time-consuming, so keep that in mind.

Step-by-step:
 Step 1) Choose an image of leaded glass that you like and use it as your model

Step 2) I started by painting the color areas and left some space between them where the lines have to come. Of course you can also start with the lines if this is easier for you.

Step 3) My reason for not starting with the lines is that I want the color areas to look like stained glass.

In this step I applied a matte topcoat to achieve this effect.

Unfortunately it didn't show well in the picture (so there is no picture of this step), but believe me when I say there's a big difference between the glossy and the matte in real life.

Step 4) Now that you have a matte finish I applied black glossy lines to accomplish the 'lead' look. Silver is another great option, but I was afraid it wouldn't show well in the picture. By the way, the black presents a nice contrast to the other colors.

Done!

I love them!

Day 141) Nail art circuit board

I've got my late Mother's Day gift; a too expensive new laptop.
After a day of many frustrations I finally have all my software installed, files copied and pictures imported.
Only positive thing: I didn't even have to think about today's theme. My nail art had to be something with computers I thought.
I did some Googling and found an image of a circuit board:

This had to be my inspiration.

Step-by-step:

Step 1) After the basecoat apply a dark green colour

>Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer Limited Edition Neo Geisha - C05 Planet Tokyo

Step 2) Use a striper brush and a light green colour to paint the circuit lines
(I didn't have a light green only a neon green, so I chose to the lines in white first and then paint them neon green)

Step 3) Use studs and beads for the components and soldering work. I used my topcoat for glue

Not your average nail art.
But I'm glad my husband and son appreciate this one LOL
Would you put this on your nails?

 

Day 140) You're a star in Heaven

I'm not sure if it has been worldwide news, but it sure was national news.
On May 7th a father killed himself and a few hours before that he had picked up his two sons 'Ruben and Julian'.
After somebody had found the father's body the two boys were missing without a trace.
Hundreds of volunteers, the army and police looked for these boys for almost two weeks and yesterday they were finally found...dead
Today's nail art is dedicated to Ruben and Julian.
And I hope they finally have some peace in which turned out to be a huge family drama.

Dear Ruben and Julian
You're a star in Heaven!

Day 139) Fancy a picnic?

Untill this afternoon I had no inspiration for today's nail art.
Sitting in the back yard I saw some ants on their journey towards my daughter's drink which she placed thoughtlessly on the ground.
And there it was! Today's nail art has to be an ants nail art.

Step 1) After the basecoat I applied a white nail polish
Step 2) With a black nail art pen I made the body's of the ants
Step 3) With a black striper I made the legs and the ants trace
Step 4) To make the picnic cloth I used striping tape. For each stripe I placed two pieces of striping tape together.
Step 5) Then I painted my thumb nail wit a red nail polish and removed the striping tape.
Step 6) After that I made the ants on the cloth the same way as on the other finger nails.
Step 7) Let it dry and aplly topcoat.
DONE!

Day 138) Nail art with Max & More Nail stickers

I'm not a big fan of nail stickers.
My nails are pretty round and nail stickers are flat which in most cases means that they don't fit very well.
But I only had 15 minutes for today's nail art so nail stickers are the easiest thing.
I do have a way of using them without the worry of fitting and the outcome is even better than using them in the way that you are supposed to use them (in my opinion).

The nail stickers of today are from the brand Max & More which is the house brand of the Action store (a discount store).

The package contains 14 pieces and 7 different nail sizes.
It's a transparent sticker with shiny gradient dots on it. The stickers aren't smooth but do have some texture on it - a little like snakeskin.

In today's nail art I want to show you how you can take advantage of the transparency and texture of these nailstickers.

Thumb:

Pink nail polish as background.
Cut nail sticker.











Index finger:

Silver glitter nail polish as background.
Cut nail sticker.











Middle finger:

Purple nail polish as background.
Cut nail sticker into heart shape.











On the nails I used nail polish colors simular to the ones on the nailstickers.

Ring finger:

On the ring finger I used the nailsticker the way you're supposed to. The arrows indicate where the gabs are. After trying really hard, this was the best outcome with only two gabs. One nail - no problem! Ten nails - Arggg!

Pinky:

On the pinky I used the texture in my advantage. I cut a piece of nail sticker and placed it on the nail. Then I painted one coat of a pink nail polish (I chose a nail polish which only needs one coat for good covering). The picture doesn't show that well but in real life you still have a little colour changing on there and the texture gives it a really snakeskin look.

And this is the total look:

Nail art nail stickers

I think they turned out great in less than 15 minutes!

Time for a night out!

Day 137) Nail art matte with pearls (white and colored)

Today was a day of many other commitments.
Not much time for a nail art or writing my blog.
So, today is a simple and easy one.

Here is the step-by-step:
1) After the basecoat, paint your nails black

2) Apply a matte topcoat

3) Put on another layer of matte topcoat and use this as a glue for your pearls

Too bad the colors on the pictures aren't the same as in real life. A matte black background with white pearls looks really classy! But the picture doesn't do it justice.

The nail of the ring finger is going to be my accent nail.
Some time ago I came around this idea and of course I'll have to share it with you too (credits for this person!)
Here is the step-by-step of my accent nail:
1) Get a piece of tape (picture 1) and make a circle with it, sticky side on the outside (picture 2)

2) Put the tape flat on a piece of a paper (picture 1) and place some pearls on the sticky tape (picture 2)

3) Paint the pearls with nail polish (different colors)

Let them dry and remove them from the tape. They are ready for use now!

4) Give the accent nail another layer of matte topcoat and use this as a glue for the colored pearls

Done!
Easy, simple and very nice for a party. Have fun!