Water Marble

 Hey!!

I am so excited to share with you this week's manicure! I apologize in advance for not having step by step photos of the process of this mani, but there are TONS of videos you can find on YouTube just by typing in the words water marble manicure. For this mani you will need a cup of water, preferably in a plastic disposable cup, toothpicks, paper towels, nail polish remover and of course nail polish! This was my very first time trying out this look and it was way fun!

First I started with a base coat of OPI start to finish formaldehyde free formula. Then I put one drop of Julep Margaret (blue) into my cup of water, then I put a drop of Julep Charlotte (purple) and finally one drop of Sei Bella Purple Taupe (gray) and the three colors formed a bullseye. Then I grabbed a toothpick and drew lines into the bullseye, like creating a spider web design. I learned that I could have put even more drops of polish into the water to make more lines and get a better design. Once I found a spot that I liked for a design, I placed my nail on top of that and submerged it completely into the water. I grabbed my toothpick and removed the remaining nail polish that sat on the water. I then took my finger out of the water and that was it! I then used nail polish remover to get rid of the stains on my fingers. Once the design was dry, I sealed it with a fast drying top coat of INM Out the Door.

Right after the water

Right hand 

Left hand 

Thumb (more traditional looking water marble design)

Finished!

To be honest, the designs didn't turn out the way I expected them to, but I still liked the end result. The hardest part about this was trying to figure out where to place my nail in the water after making the lines, which is why my designs turned out so random, but that's the purpose of this look. Don't let the nail polish sit on the water too long either, you need to do it right away so it doesn't harden. The designs I liked best are the ones that ended up on my thumbs. I think that happened because I had more practice by the time I did my thumbs, (my thumbs are always last). I do like how the nail polish glides onto your nail so well and it looks like a sticker when you are done! The most annoying part about this is removing the stains from your fingers. Hope you enjoyed this look and I will see you next time!

Striped Tip

Hey!

This week it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do for a manicure. I was feeling very lazy and wanted something very neutral and simple. I stared at my nail polish stash and every color I looked at, I did not want. So I went with the "natural" color of nails and a gold accent on the tips. I couldn't decide between two gold polishes I had, so I used both, but ended up liking the yellow gold much better, so on my left hand I did only that gold color, haha. For this mani, you will need striping tape and two colors of nail polish.

I started with a base coat of OPI start to finish formaldehyde free formula. I then did two coats of OPI Passion. Once dry, I put three pieces of striping tape horizontally at the tip of the nail. I used Julep Savoy on my pinky and middle and Julep Sienna on my index and ring fingernails to paint over the striping tape and removed the tape right after. Once completely dry, I sealed it with a fast drying top coat of INM Out the Door.

OPI Passion

Striping Tape 

Julep Sienna over tape

Finished!

A fun variation of this mani could be done by doing a different color on every finger for the tips. Since the base color is that "flesh" color, you could easily do whatever color you want for the stripes or you could do a really dark color as your base color and do a brighter color for your stripes. Pretty simple! I hope you enjoyed this look and I will see you next time!

Animal Print

Hello!!

I am SO excited to share with you this very beautiful manicure! With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I knew I would be using the color pink as my inspiration. I then remembered how much I loved doing animal print but I hadn't featured it on my blog yet! So I combined the two ideas together and came up with this mani. For this look you will need three colors of nail polish, some aluminum foil (for dipping dotting tools into polish placed on the foil), a medium sized and small dotting tool and lots of patience.

I started with a base coat of OPI start to finish formaldehyde free formula. I then did two coats of Sei Bella Pink Sherbet. Once dry, I used a medium sized dotting tool and Sei Bella Coral Fantasy to make four dots, one on each corner of the nail. Then I used Orly Liquid Vinyl and a very small dotting tool to create a C shape around the dots, so that they aren't completely enclosed with the black, almost like a parentheses (   ) and you can place them either horizontally or vertically. I then placed several black spots around the animal print to complete the look. Once completely dry to the touch, I sealed it with a fast drying top coat of INM Out the Door.

Sei Bella Pink Sherbet 

Dots in Sei Bella Coral Fantasy 

Orly Liquid Vinyl ( ) surrounding the dots 

Orly Liquid Vinyl spots 

Finished!

I absolutely LOVE this look!! So fun and flirty, perfect for Valentine's Day! If you want to change up the colors, just use a light color as the base and use a contrasting color for the dots, and then of course use black just like I used it here. Hope you enjoyed this mani and I'll see you next week!

Checkerboard

Hey!

This week I wanted to play with some nail striping tape. This look involves cutting lots of nail striping tape and it will take at least an hour of your time if not more.

I started with a base coat of OPI start to finish formaldehyde free formula. I then did two coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl. Once dry, I used three pieces of nail striping tape vertically and three pieces horizontally (you could use four pieces of tape, depending on the spacing of the tape) to form a checkerboard on the nail. I then used Sei Bella Crushed Berries and painted over the entire nail with the tape in place and removed the tape right after. Once completely dry, I sealed it with a fast drying top coat of INM Out the Door.

Orly Liquid Vinyl

Nail Striping Tape over Orly Liquid Vinyl

Sei Bella Crushed Berries over nail striping tape

Finished!

Be sure to wait at least 10 minutes before applying the nail striping tape to avoid lifting up the polish when removing the tape. Other than that, what makes this look so time consuming is cutting the pieces of tape you need to make the checkerboard. Once you apply that top coat though, it makes it look like a sticker and its so cool!! I love patterns. Well, hope you enjoyed this look and I will see you next time!

Tips

I received a request from a follower to do a post about what I use to do my manicures (brands of nail polish, tools, etc.)

I'll begin with nail polish. To be honest, I don't have a "brand" that I prefer over another. It really depends on what I am looking for in a particular nail polish. You really just have to be open and try everything out there.

I am a firm believer in using a nail strengthener as a base coat to keep your nails strong and the one I used and loved is OPI Nail Envy. I would be using that one now as my base coat, but I tried OPI Start to Finish to see how it compares and I like Nail Envy better, but I have to finish the bottle before buying another Nail Envy.

I think the reason I am not so particular about what brand nail polish I use is because I am all about using a really good top coat. If my top coat is good, then it doesn't matter what nail polish is underneath it, it's going to stay put. If you don't use top coat, then it is going to make a difference and the life of the nail polish will depend on the formula you choose.

 I have tried Seche Vite top coat and while it is very good, very fast drying and does it's job, it gets goopy halfway through the bottle and you have to thin it out with another product called Seche Restore. I didn't want to do that, so I never bought another bottle. I found INM Out the Door top coat and have never looked back. My current manicure which was painted on last Wednesday has only one small chip and tomorrow is the day I take off my nail polish so I can paint again on Wednesday. That is awesome.

You have to realize that I take very good care of my nails. I always wear rubber gloves when doing the dishes or any other type of cleaning involving water and cleaning agents. I apply hand cream every night before I go to bed and I massage my cuticles. The only time I don't have nail polish on my nails is the night before my manicure day which happens to be Tuesday nights. Every Tuesday night I remove my nail polish, shape my nails and buff if I need to. Then I apply a very thick emollient cream on my hands and massage my nails and hands and then do a hand scrub to rinse it all off. Then I massage my nails with hand cream. The day of my manicure I push back my cuticles with a plastic cuticle pusher. I then proceed to do my manicure.

The striping tape and dotting tools that I use to make lines and dots I purchased online through Amazon. You can also find them at Sally's, but they cost more. I have seen nail stripers at the dollar store but I have never tried them. I like to buy my nail polish remover at Sally's, because I can buy a really huge bottle of it for $5. That's also where I buy my INM top coat. Really you can find nail polish and tools lots of places, just be sure you do your research before you buy. If you have any more specific questions about this topic feel free to comment.