World Autism Awareness Day mani

Today is World Autism Awareness Day (April 2nd).

 

As I said in my previous post I'll be trying to do as much blue nails as I possibly can.

So, I really hope that you're loving blue :D

 

For today a mani that besides the blue has another link to Autism; puzzle pieces.

The puzzle piece symbolizes the mystery and complexity of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). And as every puzzle piece is different in some way, it represents the diversity of the individuals affected.

 

First a swatch of my main polish

China Glaze Crinkled Chrome 1266 Iron out the details

 

 

Blue silver chrome polish with sand and bars which gives the whole crinkled look.

Application is a little tricky because of the sand and bars and it dries very quickly (even on the brush if you wait too long).

Give the bottle a good shake and try to apply an even coat.

Big plus is that it only needed 1 coat!

Picture above is without topcoat but the next nail art is with topcoat...no problems there!

 

I like that it is different from other textured polishes.

 

For the nail art I've used this image as my inspiration:

 

 

Nail art

 

 

Polishes used:

- China Glaze Crinkled Chrome 1266 Iron out the details

- China Glaze 818 Snow

- China Glaze 553 Sexy in the city

- Maybelline Forever Strong Pro 650 Midnight Blue

 

Butterfly nails

This week's challenge on the Nail Polish Queens community is "Butterfly".

 

I've been requested to make butterfly nails so this challenge kinda comes as a gift :D

 

I've started by randomly sponging 4 holo polishes on the nails.

Polishes used:

- BeYu Holographic Nail Lacquer 993

- Catrice Luxury Lacquers Limited Edition HOLOMANIA C03 Holo in One

- Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish 07 Ocean Rush

- Color Club 999 Eternal Beauty

 

Then I used my detail brush, a trimmed striper brush and dottingtool to make the different butterfly designs.

Polishes used:

- China Glaze 818 Snow

- China Glaze 544 Liquid Leather

 

As inspiration I've used the Monarch butterfly.

 

Unfortunately there was so much holo going on there that my camera couldn't catch it while I took about 90 pictures and not one of them showed the true beauty of it all :(

 

But at least I can enjoy it! ;-P

 

 

And this is design I have on my thumb

 

 

 



Spring nails

 

Spring nails

 

Although we're back at rain again.

We've had some Spring days in the past week.

 

 

Time for a Spring nail art!

It's sun I'm wishing for :D

 

Polishes used:
- China Glaze 818 Snow
- Bourjois 26 Blue no blues
- Kiko 268
- Kiko 311
- Maybelline 250 Deep Violet
 

Day 247) Butterfly and flower nail art

Catrice has a new limited edition: Eve in Bloom
A fall collection with an ode to flowers.

I love the colors!
Single and also in combination with eachother.
And look how cute the lid is!





Let's swatch shall we:

Catrice Eve in Bloom - C01 Bloomynous

(Has a little shimmer)

Catrice Eve in Bloom - C02 Floralilac

(Has a little shimmer)

Catrice Eve in Bloom - C03 Bed of flowers

Catrice Eve in Bloom - C04 Rosebuddy

Catrice Eve in Bloom - C05 Blossom you, blossom me










As always brush and nail polish make it easy to apply.
Two coats is enough for a good coverage.
My favorites are #1 Bloomynous and #5 Blossom you, blossom me;
The off-white with the golden shimmer gives it a very classy look. Perfect color for weddingnails or a classy going-to-work color.
Blossom you, blossom me is a beautiful pinky peach. Not as out there as red or pink but a color to be seen. Gorgeous!

My nail art had to contain some kind of flower...of course.
After removing ten attempts of making something beautiful I had to acknowledge that this is that kind of day again; nothing works. And well...
This is what I ended up with:

Nevertheless, I've got to say that this is a beautiful limited edition. Perfect for the transition of summer to fall.

Day 166) Gradient with holographic designs (elegant nails)

Hi lovelies,

In addition to the black&white and ombre/gradient nails of the past days I came up with today's nail art.
I really like this nail art and keep looking at it; it's elegant, feminine and a little mysterious because of the holo.
Interested?!
There is a short step-by-step:

Step 1: Make a gradient 
I chose for greys and white
Material:

*Essence Vintage District - 04 Get arty
*Catrice Natural Nail Lacquer
  Limited Edition NEONaturals -
  C05 Have A Good Day
*ICI Paris XL - Only You - White French
*Sponge









You can apply a white polish first to get opacity at once, but I don't think this is really necessary.
Put the sponge onto your nail to estimate the size of your nails; you do want all 3 of the colors on your nail and not just 2 or even empty spaces.
Now apply, with the size of your nails in mind, the 3 nail polishes onto the sponge.
The sponge might absorb some nail polish in the beginning, so keep this in mind while applying and repeat if you don't think it's enough.

Now, place the sponge onto your nail (white on the tip) and roll it over the surface of the nail (horizontal).
At least a few times so that the colors nicely blend.
Repeat this step for the other nails. Depending on the absorption of the sponge you'll have to apply the 3 nail polishes again. Not happy with the opacity? Sponge the nails again.

As you can see, you'll have some cleaning to do.

Putting tape on fingers and cuticles can help!

After cleaning I applied a topcoat.

Step 2: Make designs of your choice on the gradiënt nails (use a popping color like red, purple)

Material:



*Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer - 39 Black To The Routes
*China Glaze Holographic - 1171 Infra Red 81159
*Striper brush

I chose to do more elegant designs: flower, butterfly, heart, bow and feather.

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 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 113) Konad stamping

Day 95) Bridal nails

Day 78) Water decals

Day 55) Nail art tattoo design

Day 26) Max Nails Action store

           Apple

          Flower

Hearts swirl

      Palm tree

    Butterfly

   Starfish

Day 14) Nail art butterfly