Friday, May 27, 2011

Monarch Wings

I've had this one on my radar for a while now, and finally gave it a go!  I looked at several designs online from several blogs I watch, and decided to try it for myself.  Everyone does theirs slightly different, so I sketched it out to figure out just how I wanted to do it.  Then I practiced painting them on paper using my polishes to see if it would actually work the way I had in mind.  And I am ecstatic to share with you that I LOVE THESE NAILS!  




I started with a single coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed.  Then, I painted over the top of that with Pure Ice Hot Tamale.  I LOVE the color that resulted from that layering!  To paint eh black lines I used Kiss Nail Art Paint in black and the dots were done with Kiss Nail Art Paint in white.  I hope you ENJOY these as much as I do!  Let me know if you try them for yourself!

Law School Hooding Nails

My husband graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law last weekend!  So to honor the occasion, I painted my nails like his doctoral hood!



Doctoral Hoods, like most graduation regalia, are steeped in tradition.  Each color is significant.  The purple on the tips signifies that the doctoral candidate is in the field of Law.  The crimson and blue chevron pattern is for the University of Kansas.  

I started with a single coat of Pure Ice Celestial (blue), then added the crimson chevrons in Pure Ice Crimson.  I finished the design with Pure Ice No Means No (purple).

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Kiwi!

I just LOVE how these turned out!  I was looking for ideas for using some really fun and bright new colors I have when I ran across this idea.....and I just love them!
(Coincidentally, my brother and his fiance' just got a new puppy named, [what else...] KIWI!)




I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy.  Then I used Kiss Nail Art Paint in white to make a sort of star shape that I filled in to make the middle.  Then I added "seeds" using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out and my smallest dotting tool.  

Maybe I'll have to do a series of fruity nails....

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Nautical Nails

I'm almost caught-up on posting my nail art designs!  YAY!!


Early in the week, we had some decidedly SUMMERY weather.  So, to celebrate, I did these "Nautical Nails"......both fingers AND toes!




I started with a single coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On on all fingers.  Then added a second coat on all but my thumbs.  On the thumbs, I added a single coat of Pure Ice Celestial.  For the stripes, I used Celestial and a small, thin, long-ish brush.  The tips are Pure Ice Crimson.  The Anchor and Helm on the thumbs were done with White On and a very small, short brush.

Then I did my toes to match....complete with anchor and helm to match the thumbs!


Orange Creamsicle

This Nail Art Design was inspired by the "Obnoxious Orange" tie-dyed shirts that our youth group softball team wears.  For our first game of the season, I used water-marbling to mimic the tie-dye pattern on the shirts.  (I was kind of in a hurry to get this design done and photographed before the game, so sorry they arent' more cleaned-up!)




I started this one with my usual base-coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, then used that along with Pure Ice Hot Tamale for the Water-Marbling.  Kinda looks like tie-dye, doesn't it?

Pure Ice Water-Marbling

It's no big secret that I like doing different combinations of colors in Water-Marbling!  (You can check out my How-To Tutorial to try it for yourself!)

Here's a Water-Marbling design using all "Pure Ice" brand polishes.



Usually when I do water-marbling, I start with a base coat (usually white).  This time, I put the swirls on bare nails so the colors would be shimmery and slightly see-through.

I used Pure Ice:
Crimson (red)
Splash (pink)
Hot Tamale (orange)
Excuse Me (yellow)
Celestial (blue)
No Means No (purple)

Barbed Wire

While I was painting Prom Nails, a friend of the two gals (who came along just for fun) asked to have hers done, too.  And why not?  So here are those nails, too.....



"H"'s barbed-wire manicure used Kiss Nail Art Paint in white for the tips and then in black for the barbs.  A great, country-girl nail art design!

Prom Nails #2

As promised....here are Prom Nails #2...



"D" was also going ot be wearing a purple dress.  For her nails, I started with two coats of Pure Ice No Means No, then for the angles tips, I used Kiss Nail Art Paint in white and accented it with Kiss Nail Art Paint in Silver Glitter.

Prom Nails #1

I had the pleasure of painting nails for TWO wonderful young ladies for the Prom Night!  Below is a picture of the first of those designs. 



For "M"'s nails, I used two coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Deep Purple.  Then added detailing with Kiss Nail Art Paint in black.

Prom Nails #2 coming next....

Saturday, May 14, 2011

New Designs coming SOON!

Wow....I am way behind posting designs!  I have several nail art designs that I've done in the last few weeks that I'll post pictures of soon!


Designs to look forward to include:
* Prom Nails #1
* Prom Nails #2
* Barbed Wire
* Pure Ice Swirls
* Orange Creamsicle
* Nautical Nails (fingers AND toes!)


Keep an eye out for these!  They're coming SOON!!