Nail-Art-A-Go-Go - Day 22 - Surrealism
- Saturday, February 22, 2014
- By Missy
- 0 Comments
So today starts the REALLY challenging (not to mention FINAL) part of the Nail-Art-A-Go-Go Challenge. I'm EXCITED! And nervous! But these were ALOT of fun, and hopefully everyone else participating thinks so, too.
Today is Surrealism, which is just about my favorite art movement. I didn't realize until after I did these that I mixed up my art movements! This should actually go under Abstract...but oh well. I'm not doing another one!
Today is Surrealism, which is just about my favorite art movement. I didn't realize until after I did these that I mixed up my art movements! This should actually go under Abstract...but oh well. I'm not doing another one!
Welcome to Day 2 of Ab Fab Week - today features Gran - aka Mother - aka June Monsoon.
Gran is Saffy's grandmother and Edina's mother.
She is also another total opposite to Edina, much more like Saffy in her demeanor, dress and overall persona.
Whenever I think of Gran, I am reminded of old lady cardigans and her always sitting at the kitchen table reading a magazine or doing some sort of puzzle in a book.
Gran is Saffy's grandmother and Edina's mother.
She is also another total opposite to Edina, much more like Saffy in her demeanor, dress and overall persona.
Whenever I think of Gran, I am reminded of old lady cardigans and her always sitting at the kitchen table reading a magazine or doing some sort of puzzle in a book.
The Digit-al Dozen DOES Black & White - Day 2 - Dainty
- Tuesday, November 12, 2013
- By Missy
- 0 Comments
Here it is, Day 2 of Digit-al Dozen Black and White week.
This isn't exactly how I intended this mani to go...but sometimes when I have ideas for stamping in my head, they get changed when I see a different plate than the one I was after and the light bulbs start turning on.
I have this awesome MoYou plate that has random borders on it, it seems weird but the minute I saw it, I had to buy it. And then it sat in waiting...when I dug through my plates looking for a floral design, I saw this plate and decided this was the direction I was meant to be going in.
This isn't exactly how I intended this mani to go...but sometimes when I have ideas for stamping in my head, they get changed when I see a different plate than the one I was after and the light bulbs start turning on.
I have this awesome MoYou plate that has random borders on it, it seems weird but the minute I saw it, I had to buy it. And then it sat in waiting...when I dug through my plates looking for a floral design, I saw this plate and decided this was the direction I was meant to be going in.
 | This one is interesting - 33DC today with the prompt 'Pattern in your home' Well...geez I don't have many patterns. I dont like a lot of crazy design patterns everywhere, I tend to like bold solids mixed in with leopard print, but who wants to see another leopard print from me, right? So..instead I decided to pattern after the art in my home. |
Hey loves!
I got the tutorial for this mani done sooner than expected, I know some of you were super excited for it, so here it is!!!
And it's LOADED with pics!
I've kept them small to save load time, but you can click any pic to enlarge it.
Items you will need for this mani:
White Polish
Black Polish
Bright Pink or any neon or contrasting color polish (green, red, orange, etc...)
Base Coat
Matte Topcoat
Wax Paper/Freezer Bag/Sheet Protector/Heavy Plastic
Striping Brush or Striper Polish
Makeup Sponge
Optional Items:
Stamping Plate with Rose design
Stamping Accessories
Striping Tape
Now for MY tutorial, I have used all of the above. The reason I list a few items as optional is because you COULD freehand the rose and you COULD make stripes with white polish instead of using tape. But tape in this mani is very easy to use, it doesn't have to be precise and it doesn't have to stick completely down!
I got the tutorial for this mani done sooner than expected, I know some of you were super excited for it, so here it is!!!
And it's LOADED with pics!
I've kept them small to save load time, but you can click any pic to enlarge it.
Items you will need for this mani:
White Polish
Black Polish
Bright Pink or any neon or contrasting color polish (green, red, orange, etc...)
Base Coat
Matte Topcoat
Wax Paper/Freezer Bag/Sheet Protector/Heavy Plastic
Striping Brush or Striper Polish
Makeup Sponge
Optional Items:
Stamping Plate with Rose design
Stamping Accessories
Striping Tape
Now for MY tutorial, I have used all of the above. The reason I list a few items as optional is because you COULD freehand the rose and you COULD make stripes with white polish instead of using tape. But tape in this mani is very easy to use, it doesn't have to be precise and it doesn't have to stick completely down!
Wax Paper. Anything as listed above will work here. It's so that your polish can easily peel off of the surface. So this, or plastic freezer bags or sheet protectors...something like parchment/wax paper or heavy plastic essentially.
Base coat. I use CND Stickey, but any base will do. Or topcoat if you don't have basecoat (but you should always have basecoat!)
Apply a rather thickish layer of the clear polish to your wax paper. Allow to dry (basically, about 30 minutes you should be good on a thick layer)
Here are some of the items I've used for this mani.
And here are some more!
While your clear polish on wax paper is drying, paint your nails with 2 coats of white polish. Here I'm using OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.
After you have painted your nails and your clear polish on wax paper is dry, you can begin the next step - here I have layed out everything to get started doing my stamping.
I've got my rose on my stamper, using Konad Special Black polish.
Stamp on top of your clear polish. I did single roses for the fingers and I did a double rose for the thumbs by just stamping the roses closer together. You could always do single roses and apply two to the thumb, or whatever you feel like!
THIS IS STAMP RA-116 from Red Angel
Next I took my striper brush and hot pink polish - here it's China Glaze Beauty Within
And I filled in all of the areas that were clear on the polish/stamp decal.
Once this has dried you are guaranteed that your white polish should be sufficiently dry as well.
Peel the clear polish/rose decal from your wax paper
Cut to size
Get your striping tape pieces ready to go! If you opt to paint your stripes on, skip this step.
Sponge and decal, ready to rock.
Place the decal lightly on your nail to get an idea of where its going and the space left open around it.
Apply your tape accordingly so that they lead up to where the image will be. Like I mentioned before, they don't have to be exact or perfect and they don't have to stick entirely down.
Doublecheck your decal and make sure everything is working for you.
Paint black polish on your sponge and lightly sponge excess off. You want a LIGHT coating that you can go back over, not a big black blob.
Begin your sponging, a little at a time and be sure and reapply polish to the sponge regularly or your sponge will start to come off on your nail.
I like to paint polish on the very edge of the sponge and dig in the corners and get it super black there, so it fades out to lighter/grittier black as it comes in toward the middle of the nail.
When you are happy with your sponging, remove your tapes! If you didn't use tape, you would have sponged directly on the nail in the same shape, but then here you would go in with a striping brush and white polish and draw in your lines/stripes
It's coming together now, isn't it!?
Next, in the circled area, apply a quick dry topcoat
Your nail (aside from the topcoat) is basically dry at this point (sponging dries FAST!) so place your decal on and press it down good. You may or may not have pieces sticking off the nail - no worries Just make sure its down and there aren't any parts on the nail sticking up.
Get some nippers or nail clippers/scissors
Cut off any excess of the decal. Any teeny tiny pieces can be folded under if need be.
Get your matte topcoat ready! This is my favorite right now!!
Apply matte topcoat to entire nail! As you can see, any lines from the decal edges are now invisible from the topcoat!
With a cleanup brush and acetone, now it's time for cleanup!!
Clean clean!! Get that polish off those cuticles!
And we are DONE!
So...while this may seem like a totally long and painful process, here is the deal.
It's not!
It's a mani you can do while you are doing other things.
It's like prepping one meal for another night while you make tonights dinner!
You can do it all at once, or you can prep the decals and use them later!
They will dry out after about a week if you don't put them in a piece of folded up paper or something, though!
I hope you enjoyed!
And if you decide to take on the challenge - I would LOVE to see what you do!
Todays mani, is my favorite. Possibly my favoritest mani in a long long time, in fact.
Instead of doing my usual play by play during the photos, I'm just going to do a little monologue now and let you enjoy the pics.
This was one of those mani's that seems like a lot of work, but was really quite easy, if you are patient and have minimal aptitude with striping tape.
So do you like it?
Would you like to know how I did it?
If so, let me know in the comments...if enough people are interested I am thinking of making this my next tutorial.
EDIT - Awwww you guys. The response to this mani was greater than any other nail post ever on my blog. I am going to shoot for having this tutorial up by next weekend (approx 4/13/13)
Check out my girls doing their thang with florals this week!
Debbie at The Crumpet
Emma at Manicurity
Kerrie at Pish Posh & Polish
Ashley at Smashley Sparkles
Digit-al Dozen Halloween Week Day 3
- Wednesday, October 10, 2012
- By Missy
- 7 Comments
Happy Happy Wednesday!
Here we are at Day 3 of our Digit-al Dozen Halloween Week!
I took my base of A Rhyming Dictionary's Tollydiggle from yesterday and added to it to bring you today's installment - TOMBSTONES!!
Here we are at Day 3 of our Digit-al Dozen Halloween Week!
I took my base of A Rhyming Dictionary's Tollydiggle from yesterday and added to it to bring you today's installment - TOMBSTONES!!
 |
| So, I took the sparkly base of Tollydiggle and pretty much totally obscured it. But it was the perfect foundation for an old and decaying cement tombstone - where it's dark and shows just the slightest sign of that new sparkle it once had. |
