Fish tail braid

Hey there!

This week's mani looks really intricate but is actually quite simple once you get the rhythm of the pattern down. You don't even need any fancy tools for this one, just nail polish. I will admit, it was time consuming doing this pattern on every nail. For a quicker version, you could do just your thumbs and ring fingers and keep the rest a solid color. Well, get's into it!

I began as always with a base coat of OPI Start to Finish Formaldehyde Free formula. I then followed with a coat of ORLY Buried Treasure. Once dry, I drew a diagonal line, starting at the right corner base of the nail and going left towards the other side of the nail, with ORLY Liquid Vinyl. Then once that black line was partly dry, I made another diagonal line starting at the opposite corner at the base of the nail and going right, making an x as I overlapped the black line I had previously done, in Sei Bella Violet Storm. I continued this pattern of overlapping in diagonal lines and alternating the three colors of polish until I reached the desired amount of lines and achieved the "braided" look. Once completely dry, I topped it with a fast drying top coat of INM Out the Door.

ORLY Buried Treasure

Diagonal line of ORLY Liquid Vinyl

Diagonal line of Sei Bella Violet Storm

Diagonal line of ORLY Buried Treasure

Diagonal line of ORLY Liquid Vinyl

Finished product

This was such a fun mani!! I loved the finished look. It looks so hard, but really it's not too bad. I think the hardest part is starting the first two diagonal lines. Once you do the first two, then you can decide how thick or thin the lines will be depending at what point you decide to do the next overlapping diagonal lines. I hope it makes sense with the pictures! It is somewhat forgiving too, because you will always be painting over at least part of what you already painted when you go in with the next color. So I guess just be careful to not put really thick layers of polish, since you have to use quite a bit before you get to the bottom of your nail. Please feel free to ask questions if you have any! Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week! 

Black french tip

Hello again to all my nail art friends!

Today I am sharing with you a very simple manicure. I've noticed that when I go one week with a dark, bold manicure, I usually want to do something totally opposite the following week and that was true this week, as I decided to do a simple twist on the traditional french mani and do the tips black instead of white.

I started off with a base coat of OPI Start to Finish Formaldehyde Free formula. I then followed with two coats of OPI Passion. Once completely dry, I used nail tape as a guide for my french tips. Using ORLY Liquid Vinyl, I painted my tips and promptly removed the tape. I finished my mani as always with a fast drying top coat of INM Out the Door.

OPI Passion

Nail tape guide 

Paint above tape

Remove tape and voila! 

Finished Product

This mani is perfect for beginners who want something fast and easy or for those who don't like too much going on on their nails. Change up this look by choosing different colors as your base and tip. I've seen tons of variations of this mani, the possibilities are endless! See you next time! 

Black and White Stripes

Hello, Hello!!

Today I am so pumped to share with you another great mani!  With it being mid October, I thought I would use black and white in the spirit of Halloween.

This manicure involved the use of nail striping tape. I purchased mine very cheap online through Amazon. You can find this tape in beauty stores, but they cost more. Anyway let's get into the process of how this look was accomplished!

First, I started with a base coat of OPI Start to Finish Formaldehyde Free Formula. I then followed with two coats of OPI Alpine Snow. Once completely dry, I applied the striping tape in a diagonal pattern and covered that with one coat of ORLY Liquid Vinyl. Then I carefully removed the tape and once it was completely dry to the touch, I sealed it with INM Out the Door Fast Drying Top Coat.

Striping tape over white base

Black over striping tape

Pull off tape and voila!



Here is the finished product:

 

You can play around a LOT with the striping tape and add variation to this look. You can change the thickness of the stripes by putting several pieces of tape side by side or change the direction of your stripes by changing the angle in which they face. I was going for a zebra look, but I think I can achieve that better with an actual striper nail polish instead of using tape. Another thing to be careful about is once your design is dry and it's time to apply top coat, to make sure you use a generous amount and not drag the nail polish brush because it can smudge it. Your brush should easily glide over nail because it's sitting on the actual polish and not your nail. 

I hope you enjoyed this mani! Feel free to ask questions or comment. See you next week! 

Dot Accents

Hello!! I am VERY excited to share with you my very first manicure on this blog!

Before I begin, I want to let you all know that I am NOT a professional nail artist. I DO NOT claim any of these designs to be my own. Everything on this blog is my personal opinion.

For this look, I started with a base coat of OPI Start to Finish Formaldehyde Free formula. I followed with two coats of Sei Bella Crushed Berries. Using OPI Alpine Snow and a medium sized dotting tool, I placed four dots at the base of my nail to create this look. Once dry, I finished it off with a coat of INM Out the Door fast drying top coat.

I usually don't go for reds, but this berry color is beautiful, especially for Fall. I could have gotten away with one coat since it is so opaque, but I almost always do two coats for my base color. My placement of the dots wasn't spot on. Ha Ha. I think my pinky finger best represents what the design is supposed to look like. Overall, this was a very simple manicure, great for beginners.