Wednesday, September 25, 2013

TUTORIAL: How to do Splatter Nails WITHOUT Blowing Through a Straw!

I really wanted to rock a splatter mani, but every time I try the blowing through a straw method my nails just look like a hot mess. I tested two methods to see if there was another way to do splatter nails.

Here's my best result:


I used Revlon Minted as the base and black and white acrylic paint for the splatter. I did this using an old toothbrush:


First, I put Vaseline all over my hands so the splatter wouldn't make a mess all over my fingers. Then, I dipped an old toothbrush in some paint (I used black first) and ran my thumb over the bristles to produce "splatter." I would def recommend wearing gloves when you do this, even though I didn't in this picture:

(Here, I was running my thumb from the right to the left on the toothbrush, and I produced the black splatter shown on the paper below.)

After letting the black splatter dry, I repeated the process with the white acrylic paint. After that dried, I sealed everything with top coat and wiped the Vaseline off my fingers. I tried doing this method with black and white nail polish instead of acrylic paint, but I couldn't get a good splatter.

I also tried to make splatter by dabbing a mascara wand into some polish and tapping the wand on my nails:


This doesn't look like splatter, but I still think it ended up interesting.

Have you had success with splatter? If you have any tips, please share! 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Green

Ok, so I kind of cheated today. I've been in love with Rimmel Mintilicious, and so I really wanted to use it today, even though it's a minty-blue. It always comes out very blue in my pictures:


I sponged on Essie Stylenomics on my ring finger to make the gradient. (There's a good tutorial here on sponge gradients.) I then topped all my fingers with Revlon Stunning and NYC's matte top coat.

Unfortunately, as you can probably see, NYC's matte top coat doesn't work too well with lighter colors.

Check out what the other girls did this week:


Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Guest Post: Nail of the Day - Ombre and Stripes

I'm super excited today for two reasons: first, I'm halfway to my goal of 30 followers!!! Remember to enter my Stila Lip Glaze giveaway; I'll pick a winner once this blog reaches 30 followers on Bloglovin or GFC. Second, I have a GREAT guest post today from Steph of Fun Sized Beauty:

I know Anna is a huge fan of nail polish and nail art, so I thought I'd try my hand at something interesting! This nail look is a combination of a rainbow ombre and striping tape. 



Products Used: 

  • Maybelline - Porcelain Party 
  • Born Pretty Store -Striping Tape
  • Quo - Makeup Sponges
  • Julep - Renee
  • Forever 21 - Baby Blue
  • Cheeky Monkey - Tramp Stamp
How to get the look:
  1. Use a 2 coats of your favourite white polish. Make sure to let it dry completely before moving on to the next step.
  2. Place striping tape randomly criss-crossing over the nails.
  3. Paint one stripe of each Blue, Pink, and Purple over the sponge and pat the sponge over the nail. Apply more polish as needed and do the same patting motion on the other nails. For more detailed instruction on the ombre sponging see here.
  4. Quickly remove the striping tape with a pair of tweezers. Removing the striping tape will reveal crisp white lines underneath. 
Ta-da! Your striped ombre pastel nails are complete! 

Will you try out this nail look?

Aren't these great?! Thank you so much Steph for doing a guest post!! This is a great tutorial!!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

ARTSY WEDNESDAY: Three colors

Today's theme was three colors:


I used Rimmel 60 Second Nail Polish in Mintilicious as the base, and Kiss Brush-on Nail Art Polish in White and Wet 'n Wild Tickled Pink on top. After letting my base coat dry, I dipped a wand in some white polish, and then brushed the wand against my nail from my finger tips back to the middle of my nail. Then, after the white dried, I did the same thing with Tickled Pink. For my ring finger, I just dipped the mascara wand in white polish and then randomly brushed it against my nail. I think it ended up looking interesting; I want to try it with light colors on a dark background and see if the design will pop more.

Check out what the other girls did this week: