Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Happy Halloween


Happy Halloween!! So, tomorrow is Halloween. I am going share a design which is simply called "Happy Halloween". I know I am too lazy on the naming thing. To achieve this look, you will need a white creme polish, orange creme polish, a yellow texture polish (of course, yellow creme works too), a black glitter polish, a black creme polish, dotting tools or toothpicks and some Scotch tape.

Happy Halloween Nail
Happy Halloween Nail

1. First, apply base coat to all your nails.
2. Apply black glitter to the thumb, index and pinky. Apply white polish to the middle finger. Apply yellow textured polish to the ring finger.

Happy Halloween Nail base color
Happy Halloween Nail base color

3. Put Scotch tape around your nail of the ring finger. Apply orange polish in the middle of your nail. Paint from left to right to get a straight edge.

On the ring finger of Happy Halloween Nail
On the ring finger

4. After it dries, apply white polish on the top part of your nail. Carefully remove the tape.

Happy Halloween Nail ring finger
Ring finger finished

5. Put scotch tape around your nail of the middle finger. Apply black glitter polish to make the stripes. Carefully remove the tape.

Happy Halloween Nail middle finger
Use Scotch tape around your nail on the middle finger
Happy Halloween Nail middle finger
Middle finger finished

6. Take a piece of Scotch tape and fold it in half with the sticky sides out. Use a pair of scissors to cut out half a circle on the folded side. Unfold the tape and you will have a small hole in the middle. It will be the head of the boo. Continue to cut out the bottom part and both hands.
7. Stick the tape on your thumb and apply white polish on it.

Happy Halloween Nail thumb
Apply white polish on your thumb

8. Carefully remove the tape.

Happy Halloween Nail thumb
Scotch tape removed

9. Use a dotting tool or a toothpick to draw the eyes and mouth with black polish.

Happy Halloween Nail thumb
Thumb finished

10. Apply top coat to all of your nails.

Happy Halloween Nail
Happy Halloween Nail finished

Remember to let the polishes dry completely before putting tapes on them. You can apply a thin coat of fast drying top coat before taping if you like. Before taping, stick the Scotch tape to your hand several times to reduce the stickiness of it. If you make mistakes, use a nail art pen to fix it. It doesn't matter if the surface is uneven. A good top coat will smooth it out.

Some alternatives:
Yellow texture polish: You can use a regular yellow creme polish. I chose the texture polish just because I think it might be fun to make a gumdrop candy corn.
Black glitter polish: The black glitter polish used here is actually a black base with green fine glitter in it. It is not very obvious but I think it looks very "Halloween" so I chose it instead of a regular black polish. You can use a regular black creme or a black glitter of your choice.

Things used:
White polish: wet n wild Wild Shine French White 449C
Orange polish: Essie fear or desire 921
Yellow polish: Nicole by OPI Gumdrop Lemon Lolly NI 427
Black glitter polish: china glaze Smoke and Ashes 1127
Black polish: china glaze Liquid Leather 544

Happy Halloween Nail polishes
Polishes used in Happy Halloween Nail
 
Below is a graphic version of this tutorial. Hope you will like it.

Happy Halloween Nail tutorial
Happy Halloween Nail tutorial

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow my blog. Also on pinterest and instagram. Thank you and Happy Halloween!!

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Simple yet Chic


Today I am going to share a very simple design. A pale pink mixed with dark brown with a champagne gold accent. To achieve this look, you will need a pale pink polish, a dark brown polish, a champagne gold glitter polish, some Scotch tape and some gold studs. Alternatives will be mentioned below.

Simple yet Chic nails
Simple yet Chic nails

1. First, apply base coat to all your nails.
2. Apply pink polish to the thumb, index and middle finger. Apply champagne glitter to the ring finger. Apply brown polish to pinky.

Base color of the Simple yet Chic nails
Base color of the Simple yet Chic nails

3. Put several strips of Scotch tape on your index finger as shown below. Apply brown polish on it. Remove the tapes carefully.

Scotch tape on index finger
Scotch tape on index finger

Scotch tape removed
Scotch tape removed

4. Use a stick and some clear polish to set the studs on your middle finger to form a straight line on the left side of your nail as shown below.

Set gold studs on middle finger
Set gold studs on middle finger

5. Apply top coat to all of your nails and you are done.

Finished Simple yet Chic nails
Finished Simple yet Chic nails

Remember to let the polishes dry completely before putting tapes on them. You can apply a thin coat of fast drying top coat before taping if you like. Before taping, stick the Scotch tape to your hand several times to reduce the stickiness of it. If you make mistakes like I did, use a nail art pen to fix it. It doesn't matter if the surface is uneven. A good top coat will smooth it out.

Some alternatives:
No champagne gold glitter and dark brown polish? Use a regular gold glitter and Black polish.
No gold studs? Use a dotting tool or a bobby pin with some gold polish.
No Scotch tape? Use a nail art pen to draw the border line. I do recommend using Scotch tape because it is so much easier.

Things used:
Pink polish: Sally Hansen insta-dri Petal Pusher 150
Brown polish: Essie little brown dress 728
Champagne glitter polish: china glaze champagne kisses 1114
2mm round gold studs

Things used in the Simple yet Chic nails
Things used in the Simple yet Chic nails

Below is a graphic version of this tutorial. Hope you will like it.

Simple yet Chic nails tutorial
Simple yet Chic nails tutorial

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow my blog. Also on pinterest and instagram. Thank you.

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Fall nail design: Purple and Teal French Tip


Sorry for not updating for a while. In fact, I have been busy with some remodeling of my house. Now I am done with painting the walls. It's time for me to go back with painting my nails. ^^

About a month ago, I bought 2 nail polishes from the China Glaze Fall 2013 Autumn Nights Collection. One of them is a dark blue creme called Queen B. The other one is this dark purple creme called charmed, I'm sure. I like the color very much. It's deep and dark and is the perfect color for fall. So I decided to do a nail design with it and came up with this Purple and Teal French Tip I am going to share with you today. A color contrast between purple and teal with a little bit of sparkles. I chose to do a French Tip twist because I wanted to keep it simple and let the colors be the focus. I hope you will like it.

Purple and Teal French Tip
Purple and Teal French Tip
 
To achieve this look, you will need a dark purple creme polish, a teal polish, a silver polish (optional), a silver glitter polish and some Scotch tapes. It is always hard to get a even coat of glitter polish especially those with the larger flakes. Putting a coat of silver polish underneath will make it look more even and opaque.

1. First, apply base coat to all your nails.
2. Apply teal polish to the thumb, middle finger and pinky. Apply purple polish to the index finger. Apply silver polish to the ring finger.
3. Apply silver glitter on the ring finger on top of the silver polish.
4. On your thumb, put a piece of Scotch tape on your nail leaving the bottom 1/4 of your nail uncovered. Paint the uncovered part with teal polish. Carefully remove the tape.
5. On your index finger, put a piece of Scotch tape on your nail leaving the tip uncovered. Paint the tip with teal polish. Carefully remove the tape.
6. On your middle finger, put a piece of Scotch tape on your nail diagonally. Paint the uncovered part with purple polish. Carefully remove the tape.
7. On your ring finger and pinky, put a piece of Scotch tape on your nail leaving the tip uncovered. Paint the tip with purple polish. Carefully remove the tape.
8. Go back to your middle finger, use a piece of Scotch tape on your nail leaving the tip uncovered. Paint the tip with silver polish. Carefully remove the tape. Apply silver glitter on top of the silver polish.
9. Apply top coat to all of your nails.

Purple and Teal French Tip
Purple and Teal French Tip

Remember to let the polishes dry completely before putting tapes on them. You can apply a thin coat of fast drying top coat before taping if you like. Before taping, stick the Scotch tape to your hand several times to reduce the stickiness of it. Don't bother about getting a super clean edge. A good layer of top coats will fix it.

Things used:
Purple polish: china glaze charmed, I'm sure 1232
Teal polish: Sephora by OPI Ocean Love Potion SE 283
Silver polish: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep 230
Silver glitter polish: Essie luxeffects set in stones 958

Polishes used in the Purple and Teal French Tip

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow my blog. Also on pinterest and instagram. Thank you.

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Japanese Style Rabbits


Last Thursday was the Mid-Autumn festival. I wanted to do something related to it so I did this Japanese style rabbits nail design. This design again requires some free hand techniques that I am so bad at. Please excuse me for my ugly drawings. And I kind of cheated by using the Sally Hansen Nail Art pen to draw. The result wasn't very good. It looks like I used correction pen to draw. You can see the rabbit I drew with it cracked after I put on the matte top coat. So, I recommend using the traditional method, a nail art pen and a white polish. :( No shortcut this time.

Japanese style rabbits nail
Japanese Style Rabbits Nail

To achieve this look, you will need a pink polish, a white polish, a red polish, a gold glitter polish, a matte top coat (optional) and some nail art pens. I found out I don't have a pink creme polish, so I used a pink jelly instead. I did several coats to make it opaque and it turned out pretty good.

1. First, apply base coat to all your nails.
2. Apply pink polish to the thumb, index finger and pinky. Apply red polish to the middle finger. Apply white polish to the ring finger.

Base colors of the Japanese style rabbits
Base colors of the Japanese style rabbits

3. Apply gold glitter polish sparingly to the thumb and middle finger.
4. Use a nail art pen and a dotting tool to draw some sakuras and rabbits on your nails with red and white polish.
Japaneses Style Rabbits nail tutorial
(click the image to enlarge)

5. Draw a sakura on your thumb similar to your pinky and add an extra petal.
Japaneses Style Rabbits nail
finished drawings without top coats

6. Apply top coat to all of your nails except the middle one.
7. Apply matte top coat to your middle finger (optional). It is totally OK to use normal glossy top coat.


Because my free hand drawing was too bad, I didn't do a step by step tutorial with my nails. Instead, I made a tutorial with computer drawings. I think it will be easier to understand. 

Japanese style rabbits nail tutorial
step by step tutorial of the Japanese Style Rabbits

Things used:
Pink polish: Loreal bubble trouble 605
Red polish: wet n wild Wild Shine red red 414A
White polish: Essie marshmallow 63
Gold glitter polish: Milani gold 531
Matte top coat: Essie Matte about you

Polishes used in the Japanese style rabbits
Polishes used in the Japanese style rabbits

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow my blog. Also on pinterest and instagram. Thank you.

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)

Friday, September 20, 2013

Rilakkuma love


I am a super big fan of the Japanese character Rilakkuma by San-X. Last week I did a Rilakkuma nail. I will post a tutorial a few days later.



Thank you for reading.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Icy blue


This week I don't have a theme for my nails. So, I just randomly picked some colors and create this nail design. This is a very simple design and doesn't require much skills and tools. To achieve this look, you will need a sheer white polish, three different shades of mint blue polishes and a silver white textured polish.

icy blue with opi liquid sand solitaire

1. Apply base coats to all your nails.
2. Apply sheer white polish on your thumb and ring finger.
3. Apply one of the mint blue polish on your index finger.
4. Apply another mint blue polish on your middle finger.
5. Apply silver white texture polish on your pinky.
6. Use a dotting tool to put some dots on your ring finger with all three of the mint blue polish to create a heart shape.
7. Apply top coats to all your nails except your pinky which has the textured polish.

icy blue with opi liquid sand solitaire


Some alternatives:
1. If you don't have three different shades of mint blue, you can use two or even one. When drawing the dotted heart, use different sizes of dots instead of different colors.
2. Use the round end of a toothpick or a bobby pin if you don't have a dotting tool.
3. Use a white shimmer polish if you don't have a textured polish. Or apply a thin coat of silver glitter over white polish.
4. I chose a sheer white instead of a white creme because I think a sheer white gives a more icy feeling than an opaque white creme. However, the sheer white I used here is quite opaque. It is described as cloudy sheer white on its website. If you don't have a cloudy sheer white, use a white creme instead.

Things used:
Mint blue polish no.1 (used to draw dots only): Sephora by OPI Cartwheels On the Catwalk SE 325
Mint blue polish no.2 (on index finger): China glaze re-fresh mint 867
Mint blue polish no.3 (on middle finger): Essie Absolutely shore 758
Sheer white polish: Essie marshmallow 63
Silver white textured polish: OPI liquid sand solitaire NL M49

icy blue with opi liquid sand solitaire


Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow me on pinterest and instagram to keep you updated. Thank you. ❤

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Nude peach with colors and hearts


This time I did a nail design based on a nude peach creme polish. I added some white, some black, some mint, some glitter and gold. I got a lot of complements on these. I hope you will like it also. This design does require a little bit of free hand technique which I am so bad at. Please excuse me for my not so perfect drawings. And I made a mistake by putting on top coats before the polishes dried. You can see my black heart is bleeding... Remember to let them dry thoroughly before putting on top coats.


Nude Peach with Colors and Hearts 



To achieve this look, you will need a nude peach creme polish, a mint creme polish, a white creme polish, a black creme polish, a black nail art liner or nail art pen with black polish, a silver or gold glitter, a silver or gold stud and some striping tapes or some more nail art pens.

Nude Peach with Colors and Hearts tutorial


First, apply base coat to all your nails.
1 & 2. Apply nude peach polish the thumb, index finger and pinky. Apply mint polish on the middle finger. Apply white polish to the ring finger.
3. Paint the upper left corner of the index finger white. Draw two curves at the edge as shown in the photo. Use a dotting tool to draw polka dots on the middle finger with white polish. Use striping tape on the ring finger. Skip the striping tape if you are using nail art pen instead.
4. Fill in the gaps with mint polish, nude peach polish and glitter polish. Or you can simply use nail art pen to draw thin lines on the ring finger.
5. Draw a heart with black polish on the thumb.
6. Put a tiny drop of clear polish in the center of the pinky. Use a stick or tooth pick to set the stud on it.
7. Use a nail art liner or nail art pen with black polish to draw a loop with a heart on the index finger.
8. Finish with top coats.

Nude Peach with Colors and Hearts





The most difficult part is drawing the loop, especially with your left hand. I used a very fine point dotting tool to help when I did my right hand. And I found it easier to use a liner to draw lines than using striping tapes. If executed perfectly, the striping tape method gives you clean and striaght lines. However, it requires more work and time, and you have to work fast because it is hard to cleanly remove the tapes after the polishes dry. So, I think it might be better to draw the lines directly on the nail with some nail art pens. When I was choosing the color palatte of this design, I couldn't decide on gold or silver glitter. They both look good with other colors. So, I chose this sparklicious by Loreal which has both gold and silver glitter in it. That is why I said you need a gold or silver glitter polish. This is really up to you. Remember to use a matching stud on your pinky.

Thing used:
Nude peach polish: Essie a crewed interest 790
Black polish: wet n wild Wild Shine black creme 424A
Black nail art liner (optional): Sinful Colors black
Mint polish: china glaze re-fresh mint 867
White polish: wet n wild Wild Shine 449C
Glitter polish: Loreal sparklicious 605
5mm heart shaped gold studs

Essie a crewed interest nail polish


Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow me on pinterest and instagram to keep you updated. Thank you.

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Multi color with DIY velvet

This is just a random multi color nail design I did last week. I made a DIY velvet on my middle finger. I love to put different colors and textures together. To create this look, you will need a white creme polish, a sandy beige creme polish, a light blue polish, a dark brown creme polish, a gray creme polish, a gold shimmer polish, a stamper and a plate or nail art pen, a gold stud and some white velvet powder. I know it looks like a lot, but you can always have alternatives. Sorry for the super low quality of the photos. In these photos, the large white flower on my index finger doesn't really show because i used a wrong white polish to stamp. I actually got a better result with another white polish on my right hand which I should have taken photos of but I didn't.


1. Apply base coat to all fingers.
2. Apply beige polish to your thumb.
3. Apply light blue polish to you index finger.
4. Apply white polish to your middle and ring finger.
5. Apply gold shimmer polish to your pinky.
6. Put a tiny drop of clear polish on your thumb where you want your stud at. Use a stick or toothpick to set a gold stud on it.
7. Use a Konad stamper to stamp a flower on your index finger with white polish. Then, stamp a smaller flower with dark brown polish, overlapping part of the white flower.
8. On the ring finger, use striping tape to make a pattern of your choice. Use a dotting tool to fill in the gaps with all four colors, beige, dark brown, gray and gold. Remove the stripping tapes carefully.
9. Apply top coat to all your fingers except your middle.
10. Apply a coat of white polish on your middle finger. Before it dries, use a tong to pick up the white velvet powder and release them right on your nail. Repeat for any bald spots. You can gently tap your finger to shake off the excess but do not touch it until it dries. After it dries, use a brush to brush off the excess. Do not apply top coat because it will ruin the fluffy velvet texture.



The velvet nail will only last for a day or two. Just like other textured nails, I prefer doing them on ring finger or pinky. Avoid using your ring finger and pinky is so much easier than your other three fingers. This time I did the middle ones though. Don't worry about washing your hands because it doesn't affect the result that much. Of course, you will lose some velvet powders but you will lose them eventually no matter if you wash your hands or not. 

For the alternatives:
No velvet powder? Paint your middle finger with white creme polish. Add a gold stud on it.
No gold stud? Use a dotting tool to put a tiny drop of gold shimmer polish instead.
No Konad stamper? Use nail art pen to draw the flowers on your nail.
No striping tape? Use scotch tape and cut them into very thin strips.

Things used:
Sandy beige polish: Essie yogaga 949
Light blue polish: Essie borrowed & blue 746
White polish (also used for stamping): Sally Hansen Xtreme wear white on 300
Dark brown polish: Essie little brown dress 728
Gray polish: Ulta concrete evidence
Gold shimmer polish: Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Golden-I 485
Stamping plate: Konad m60 (sorry, I forgot to include this one in the picture)
White velvet powder, 5mm heart shaped gold studs



Thank you very much for reading. I hope you like my post and find it useful. Please follow me on pinterest or instagram to keep you updated. Thank you.

(I am not paid and all the materials I used in this post were bought using my own money.)