Day 181) Nail art Portuguese rooster

Today a nail art with the Rooster of Barcelos. One of the most common emblems of Portugal.

Day 180) Nail art holo rose see through

After a very nice flight we've landed safely at Lisbon Airport.
We are staying at my parents place in Batalha.

We left The Netherlands with rain, wind and cold and now we are at a very sunny and hot Portugal.
Quite a change I think...but for the better of course ;D

At the last moment I changed my mind (about not taking any nail polish with me) and rapidly threw two holo's in my suitcase.

So, that's what you're getting today!

Step 1:
After the basecoat I applied a glitter holo (about 4 coats):
Kleancolor Nail Lacquer - 234 Chunky Holo Purple
Step 2:
Topcoat:
Essie - Good to go
Step 3:
With a striper brush and silver holo I made accents on the nails:
KOH Colours! - Platinum Silver! 133

On 4 nails I did a kind of diagonal French manicure with tiger stripes.
On the ring finger I did an accent nail with a rose see through.

That's it for today. Hopefully I can get some nail polish tomorrow!

Day 179) Featuring rhinestones (2)

This is going to be a very short post.
The next three weeks I'll be posting from Portugal ;D
I'm not sure what these weeks will bring...blogwise that is.
I don't know if my Internet connection will be good enough.
I don't know if I will post 'single nail' nail arts.
But I do know that this is going to be very challenging period.
I have limited materials with me (base- and topcoat, striper brush, remover).
And I just want to enjoy my vacation and finally have some me (us)-time again.

Lovely readers...
Meet you again from Sunny Portugal!

Day 178) Featuring rhinestones (1)

Today and tomorrow will be all about rhinestones.
Tomorrow will be the last day before we leave for our 3 week vacation and there is still a lot to do.
Rhinestones are easy and quick to use and therefore perfect for these two days.

And to be honest...they are so easily forgotten.
Ages ago I bought a big nail art wheel with about 2500 rhinestones in different shapes.
I maybe used 10 of them and then forgot all about it.

And I am not sure why...
Rhinestones can be so pretty and just give a nail art the elegant touch.

Before I show you my nail art, I have some swatches of China Glaze Holographic - 1171 Infra Red 81159 (which I used as my base color):

The next pictures were taken under a bright light

 

 

Although it's a pretty holo, I've seen better. Outside I had to twist my hand again and again to find the holo. But maybe direct sunlight will do a better job...

 

Now, for the nail art. I will not just apply some rhinestones, but try to do some elegant painting as well. I hope you like the ideas!

Thumb: Abstract with rectangular rhinestone in the middle

Index: Butterfly with rectangular, rain-drop and teardrop rhinestones

Middle: Frame with rectangular and square rhinestones

Ring: Snaky design with round rhinestone

Pinky: Leaf with a flower rhinestone

 

Day 177) O·P·I Couture de Minnie

I finally got it!

O·P·I Disney Couture de Minnie - Runway minnies



 

 



The 4 mini polishes are:

• A Definite Moust-Have: This fantastic fuchsia is at the top of my shopping list.
• Magazine Cover Mouse (liquid sand): This headline-making strawberry has sparkling texture.
• Chic from Ears to Tail: This pop of bubblegum pink is totally fabulous!
• Innie Minnie Mightie Bow: Catch this crimson by the toe!

Although O·P·I is quite expensive for my budget, I seem to forget all about it when I see sets like this ;P

 







Time to show you!

From left to right: Innie Minnie Mightie Bow, Magazine Cover Mouse, A definite Moust-Have and Chic from Ears to Tail.

Such a beautiful colors!
Application is smoothly and accurate and the polishes dry very quickly.
When you are in hurry you could get away with just one coat (except for the light pink), but I recommend applying two coats and three for the light pink (see pictures).

But the main reason I've wanted to have this set is the liquid sand mini.
I had seen a swatch of this polish and immediately fell in love with it.
A sweet pink with a subtile glitter and sand texture...very pretty!

Totally happy with this set I still had to make a nail art with it.
I already had an idea in mind and was almost starting, when my eye catched the cover of this set.
"Doesn't that couture Minnie Mouse look cute?" Indeed it does!
So, why not try to replicate this on my nail...

 

Not exactly the same, but I think it turned out quite good.

Day 176) Nail art "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"

I'm busy getting ready for the holidays.
Three weeks Portugal, I'm so looking forward to this!

Today's nail art is inspired by a wall painting I did for my daughters bedroom.

 Besides Cinderella (of course), I chose to do a "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".
Making a wall painting is very time consuming and I thought this would be something timeless...didn't want the risk of her wanting something else in a few weeks ;D

For today's nail art I tried to paint the images above onto my nails...and this is how it turned out:

Day 175) Abstract circles and stripes

For today's nail art I used this image as inspiration:

I like how the circles stand out on their own but also take part in the complete look.
Time to translate this to my nails I think...
Here is my step-by-step:

Step 1: The circles

Material:
- Tape
- Perforator

Take a piece of tape and fold it in two (sticky sides onto each other)

Perforate the piece of tape.
Unfold the tape and there you have two perfect circle stencils (that is...if your perforator is still sharp enough to perforate through tape)

Stick your DIY circle stencils on the desired place on your nail.
Then paint some horizontal colorful stripes on them.
I chose to do this design as accent nails on my index and ring finger.
Remove the tape.







Step 2: Fill up the rest of your nail(s) with vertical colorful stripes (I used the same colors from the circles). Topcoat and done!

Day 174) Nail art Yoga

I got a request for Yoga nails.
She sent me some pictures of Yoga poses which she would like to see on my nails.
I'm always happy with requests, that way I have some inspiration when I'm out of it.
It took me quite some time to make these...I'm not that good at drawing people and animals.
I chose to do shadows, this way it shows less failures ;-D

Me and my striper brush and some black and white nail polish...here is my nail art:

Day 173) Colored stamping

Not new, nor mine.
But sometimes you see things that you just have to try for yourself and share if it works.
Before I discovered Konad stamping I really hated stamping.
I only had low-budget stamping stuff and it was already difficult to get the design good on the stamp. What a frustration!
With Konad I discovered it was easy and fun and there are beautiful designs which are almost impossible to do by hand (especially the ones that fully cover the nail).
I still have trouble stamping bigger designs (my nails are quite round) and also using my left hand is sometimes a real challenge.
Today's nail art comes in really handy for those disadvantages.

So, let's get to it!

Step 1: Preparation

Material:
-Tape
-Paper on which you draw some rectangles (bigger than nail size)
-Zipper bag
-Scissors

Take the scissors and cut your zipper bag.
End up with two rectangular pieces of plastic.

Place a piece of plastic on top of your paper.
Hold it with tape and make sure the plastic is pulled.







Step 2: Topcoat

Topcoat used: Seche Vite


Apply topcoat (fill in the rectangular shapes).

I found these rectangular shapes very handy because it is hard to see where you've put the topcoat.

Let it dry for a bit.




Step 3: Stamping

Used material:
-Mash stamping polish (black)
-Konad stamping polish (white)
-Konad scraper
-Essence stamp
-Image plates:
 *Mash-08
 *Mash-10
 *Konad (promotion)

Choose your desired design and make sure you got it right on the stamp.

Stamp on your topcoated rectangular shape.

Repeat for the other topcoated rectangular shapes.








Step 4: Coloring

Use a nail art brush and different colors of nail polish to color your designs.








Step 5: Application

Carefully remove the topcoat with your design from the plastic.

Apply a base-/topcoat or any desired nail polish onto your nails.
Use this as glue for your topcoated designs.
Place your topcoated design on your nail and gently push and smooth it on the surface.
Apply another coat of topcoat and remove excess. You can also use a cotton tip with some remover.







And here is my final look (done with my lefty):

Day 172) Nail art inspired by crayons art

Like I've said before, I get my inspiration everywhere.
Pinterest has proven to be a great medium for this.
Today I came along this picture of crayons art:

I really love it and so do many other people because after this one I found like a thousand other simular ones.
I love the colors and the little twist with the umbrella. Again credits for the one who came up with this idea!
In short: Glue the crayons on top of a canvas. Use a blow dryer to melt the wax of the crayons and let it drip.

The canvas above is today's inspiration for my nail art.

Of course I'm not going to use real crayons...don't want to burn my skin.
Nail polish thinned with remover will probably work. But I didn't want to ruin my base, so I chose to use a very watery acrylic paint, which could be very fast removed with some water.

Here is my step-by-step:

Step 1: After the basecoat apply a white nail polish

Step 2: Put some pieces of tape on the nail (leaving the sides and 1/3 of the top tape-free)

Step 3: Use the acrylic paint (picture 1) and a brush to make colorful stripes on the nails (picture 2)

Step 4: Remove the tape and clean the cuticles (if a little paint got under the tape, retouch the white)

Step 5: Use a nail art brush and black nail polish to paint an umbrella at the top of your white section (and if you like, paint some people underneath it)

That's it!

Day 171) Back to the roots

When I was younger I always wanted to be a little different from the crowd.
Very soon after applying my first nail polish I tried to experiment with it.
My first different nails were nails devided by half (vertical) with 2 different colors.

At this time I had never heard about basecoats, topcoats or nail art.
I didn't know about brushes, so I used the regular nail polish brushes.

It took quite some time to get a straight line in the middle, especially because I couldn't apply them on top of each other because then one half would be a lot thicker. If I had only known about tape and topcoats (...why didn't I think of that!).

I was so focused on getting that straight line in the middle that my cuticles were a mess. With a cotton tip and remover I had to clean it and of course it would only take a little time before my cotton tip had touched the nail and it was all ruined again (aaaarggggghhhh).

Then, a few years later I went to some kind of "Black Market". Chinese and Korean people were doing nails there. I was fascinated by the nail art they were doing. I wanted to be able to do that!

On this market I found a set of stripers with a tutorial video tape.
I had to spend all my saved pocket-money (and some more) to buy this set.

I think I saw this video tape like a billion times; instructions went too fast and it all looked so easy...
I already had trouble painting a stripe with these stripers!

After a lot of attempts to paint the designs shown on the video tape I realised that it all starts with these stripes.
If you are able to make straight stripes, starting thicker and ending thinner, you're already coming a long way.

So this is what I practised and today's nail art I will show you what kind of design I made back then.
It looked less pretty at that time and took ages to make, now it takes seconds and looks so much better.

Now, to the nail art.
After the basecoat I painted my nails with a nail polish I got from Ici Paris (beautyshop where you can buy perfume, cosmetics and skin care products):

*Only You - 526 Shooting Star

Then paint the stripes by using a striper. Start at one side of the nail (from the middle) and almost use the entire surface of your nail for your stripes. Let them start thick and endig thinner.
This is what it looks like:

Of course I remember my first times. Here are some tips for the beginners:
-don't try to make it too perfect (people never look so closely that they will see one stripe not ending so thin)
-don't trouble yourself with the possible mess at your starting point. Use this point for a nice rhinestone...and nobody will see!
-Don't pull your hair out when it is not going well, keep trying and you will soon get better.

For all the beginners out there:
I've started like this and I am now able to make all my other designs...without workshops, without trainings, without schooling/education, just by doing it again and again and again...
GOOD LUCK!!!

Day 170) Nail art mixing styles

The title of my post suggest I thought about this nail art and that it has been intentionally.
Not true... ;D

I had a very busy day after a too short night and Í was really exhausted.
No inspiration, no motivation.
Just wanted it to be done.

Don't ask me how I came up with this...it just happened...

Here it is:

It has a little bit of everything of me in it:
*Natural nude
*Sexy lace
*Wild animal print
*Classic red
At the end it turned out to be a quite trendy nail art I think...great to show the man you love what you've got ;D
And even greater for those (like me) who can't make up their mind :P

Day 169) Nail art inspired by summer bracelets

I bought these bracelets a few days ago:

They are light green and light orange.
Nice for summer, but I especially like the combi of light green, light orange and silver.
So, why not use these bracelets as today's inspiration...?!

Step 1:
For this step I copied the colors of the bracelets. I painted my nails in a light orange, except for the ring finger, this nail got a light green color

* Catrice Soft Nail Lacquer Limited Edition Candy Shock - C03 Bring Me Peach
* Essence Floral Grunge nail polish (The Suede) - 03 Grunge me tender!
(The colors don't show well on this picture (darker). The last picture of this blogpost will show them better!)
Step 2:
For step 2 I tried to copy the look of a knotted bracelet.
I used a striper brush and nail polish, slightly darker than the light orange and green.

Nail polish used:
* Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer - 02 Pimp My Shrimp
* Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer Limited Edition Hip Trip - C02 Green Days
When you look closely to the picture, you'll see that I've painted diamonds with straight lines between them. These straight lines I'm going to use in the next step.
Step 3:
Now that we've copied the colors and the knotting there's still something left; the silver beads.
So, in this step I also used silver beads.
On each straight line I placed two silver beads. Except for the thumb; on the tip I didn't use only beads but I also used some half Pearls (to make it even more cute ;-P).

So, now I have matching nails with my bracelets ;-D

Day 168) Nail art with colored sand

Nails with texture are hot.
There are nail polishes that contain texture within themselves, for example Liquid Sand by OPI

But there are also brands like PUPA which have a nail art kit for texture; Pupa - Crazy Crystals.
This kit contains:
- Lasting color nail polish
- Crazy Crystals
- Mini brush
- Tray

Both the textured nail polish and the texture kit are rather expensive.
At least too expensive for me...for I only use it ones or twice.
I like to think outside the box and look for cheaper alternatives.
And...I think I've found it!

At the local drug store, but I think you have better luck at a craft or toy store, I found this kit:

Grafix - Sand Bracelets







 

This kit contains:

- Plastic bracelets which can be filled

- Colored sand

- Mini funnel

 

Of course I'm not interested in the bracelets, but I do have interest in the colored sand. Especially for the price of €1,49 (1,99 USD).

For today's nail art I've used the colored sand from this bracelet kit.
I only did two nails, for I don't like the removing of this textured nails (and my middle finger nail broke aaarggggghhhhh).
The other nails I painted purple; Essence Colour & Go - Oh my glitter!

The sand nail art is pretty simple too.
I used a striper brush and basecoat to make stripes on the nails (one by one and alternately starting from different sides of the nail, like a tigerprint).
Then I applied the sand, shaked some excess off and gave it a blow.
...Next stripe, sand, shake it off, blow...
...Next...and so on

The colors are bright and you can see the sand texture very well. Of course this is easily damaged because of the texture. So, if you want it to last, you'll have to apply a topcoat:

The sand texture is less visible and the colors are less bright, but it does look more like the liquid sand nail polishes.
To give it a little extra, I added some tiger stripes to the sand nails. I used a black striper for this:

I'm very pleased with this sand. I think it's a great, cheap alternative to the more expensive liquid sand and textured kits!