Day 364) Funny 2014 nails

When I came across this image:

 

I think it's needless to say that I wanted to recreate this to a nail art.

 

 

 



Day 363) 2014 Glitter nails

Can't end the year without some glitter/bling!
This week's challenge on NPQ is "Sparkle 2014 nails".

Well, I thought that's a nice challenge to do some 'easy' New Year nails right?
WRONG!

I started with two coats of Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer Limited Edition Feathers & Pearls C05 Running Wild.
It's a black polish with silver glitter. The silver glitter is VERY subtle...kinda hard to see!
However, I used the second coat as glue for Catrice Limited Edition Feathers & Pearls C02 Nail Sequins.
This is a mix of black micro glitter and black hexagons.
I just put my wet nail in the small container.
First trouble: The hexagons are bigger than micro glitter and it just doesn't perfectly fit the nail. To get a cleaner look you'll have to remove some hexagons or push them back on the nail...not hard, just annoying :D
I wanted to put on a topcoat for a somewhat more even surface...that's a NO! It smoothed out the whole thing as a subtle texture polish.
Luckily I only had to redo one nail.
The Nail Sequins however are perfect for any party!
To put extra attention to the 'sparkle' and '2014' part I wanted to add my favo purple holo glitter. Using a topcoat for glue.
This is where the other troubles came:
- The sequins are too textured to be able to paint on them (at least it's hard to paint clean which is kinda my thing)
- It's hard to see the topcoat on the black, textured base so you don't really see what you are doing.
I had to paint the numbers by parts in spite of the complete number as I would usually do.

Nevertheless, not quite so easy, not quite so clean but they do SPARKLE :D

Artificial light



Natural light

Day 362) Fireworks nail art

Not so unique but it is beautiful and quite easy to achieve.

Use a dark background (black, dark blue, matte, glossy, sand, glitter)
Use bright colors to paint the fireworks.
The fireworks look can be achieved with dots and lines placed in a circle, umbrella shape, opening flower shape or like rain.
It doesn't really matter what you do. This time a year using a dark background+bright colors makes everyone think about fireworks immediately. So, just have fun with it!

Here are some swatches of my background color.
Rimmel London Space dust 005 Total Eclipse

"Total Eclipse" is a black based polish with teal glitters that light up in artificial light (pictures above).
It dries quick and like a textured polish. Two coats is enough for good coverage.
In natural light the polish looks like this:

 

To make the bright colors of fireworks pop extra I've used a white polish first.

Here is my nail art without and with topcoat. In the picture without looks better I think but in real life the topcoat made the colors more bright and therefore prettier.

 



Day 361) New Year nails champagne

New Year has to start with a popping bottle of champagne!
I'm not really a fan of expensive champagne but I do love sparkling wine (the cheaper version) and some have a cork so we can still pop it ;D

Here are my champagne nails.
All free handed except for the ring finger nail; this is a water decal.

Day 360) 2014 Fireworks rockets

I'm planning to do a fireworks nail art later.
So fo today I chose to do a more abstract versio of rockets (fireworks).

I started with a nail art brush and white polish to make the outlines of the arrows.
This doesn't need to be perfect yet. But this way you can make sure the arrows run nice over all the nails.
Then I colored the arrows in with the same white.
After this I took a black polish to paint the rest of the nail.
Black goes easy over white so the black is used to make the arrows perfect.
Last I gave the arrows some different colors.
The white background makes them pop even more and if there is still some white on the outsides it gives the arrows a NEON lights effect.

Polishes used:
- Only You White French
- Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer 39 Black To The Routes
- Bourjois 06 Adora-bleu
- Casuelle Neon nailpolish yellow
- Casuelle Neon nailpolish pink
- Bourjois 27 Green fizz

Day 359) 2014 Christmas ornaments

Today I've started with the New Year nails.
I didn't want the transition between Christmas and New Year being too big.
The Netherlands still has a second Christmas Day (Dec. 26th).
Therefore my first 2014 nail art consists of Christmas ornaments saying 2014.
This kind of design can be found on many Christmas cards as well wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

I've started with applying transfer foil (silver, different designs) on my nails.
Then I took a dark red polish to paint my nails, leaving 4 open circles (the ornaments).
After that I took a gold polish for the top of the ornaments and ribbon).
I finished by painting some pine branches with a dark green polish.
I didn't put on a topcoat because I didn't want to ruin the transfer foil and I liked the texture of the branches.