Frankenstein Nails

I hope everyone is having a great fall.  Here in New Jersey the weather is wonderful these past couple days which make hiking, running, and just being outside great.  It would be amazing if this weather lasts.  I think these are and will be one of my favorite designs I did this year!!! I love how cute they came out.  The colors really pop which adds to the quirky-ness.

For this mani I used a bunch of bright colors.  This was the first time I used polish from L'Oreal and I really liked it.  The colors used are: Cover Girl Vio-Last, L'Oreal New Money, Cover Girl Go-Go Mango, Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush, Cover Girl Snow Storm. I didn't intend to use all Cover Girl, but I have bought so many of their polishes in the past because they usually have the bright colors.  

To start paint all four nails in the green (leave the thumb blank; we'll get there later).  To make it easy, we'll go design by design.  First, we'll discuss the patches.

Start by doing a diagonal swipe in orange on both the pinky and pointer fingers.  If you do not feel comfortable doing this freehand, feel free to use scotch tape as a guide.  Take the tape off while the polish is still wet.  Once the orange has dried add another diagonal swipe in purple.  Make sure the orange is REALLY dry if you are using tape.

Using a striping brush, outline the lines of the colors in black.  Then using the brush or a skinny dotting tool, add little stitch marks.  Easy enough.  Next comes the Bride of Frankenstein...

Start by painting the top half of the nail black.  I did a jagged line on purpose by waving the polish brush for her hair.

Using a large dotting tool, add two white dots for her eyes.  Using the dotting tool (the same one, or slightly smaller one) make 5 dots and blend them together to make  white streak in her hair.  Then using a small dotting tool, add black pupils to her eyes.

Frankenstein has two parts: his head and body.  For his head do a similar jagged line as his bride, however it should be higher along the nail. Using the large dotting tool, add two white dots for his eyes.

Using a small dotting tool, add black pupils in his eyes.  You can use the dotting tool or striping brush to make a small mouth and stitch lines.

Now we get to the thumb.  Start by painting it purple.  

I used scotch tape to make my lines so clean, but add a white V as his shirt.

Once the white is dry, grab the striping brush.  I started by outlining the white shirt and adding a middle line down the purple.  Next, outline the jacket collar and bring it down to outline his arms.  As final touches, grab the small dotting tool to add buttons and the large dotting tool to add two green fists. 

And now you have the cutest Frankenstein ever!!!

I hope you enjoy!

Spider Web Nails

I love Halloween and all the fun stuff around it.  Dressing up is one of my favorite things to do, even as an adult.  I have these fun nails and some others to post on the blog.  I tried these a few ways before I found the way I like it the best. 

For the nails, except the pinky I used Nail Tek Intensive Therapy II as a base coat, Cover Girl Snow Storm, Sally Hansen Black Out, Maybelline Color Show (Jewel Collection) Gleaming Graphite- only used on pointer finger, and Essie Good to Go as a top coat.

For the pinky I used the new Push and Shove from OPI Gwen Stefani Collection. This came with Lay Down that Base Coat.

For the spider webs I started with a white base coat.  

Using a make-up sponge I dropped black and white on the edge.  Then dabbed the nail to get a nice spongy look.

One the paint dries, it is time to paint the web.  Using a skinny striping brush, I painted diagonal lines on the nail.  Don't paint them parallel to each other, it will look more like a web if the lines are fanned out.  join each line with little swooping lines.

For the first time ever I used jewels in my nails; I have to say I kinda liked it.  To do this put the top coat on; while the paint is still wet use tweezers to place the jewels on.  I put another top coat to help the nails feel smoother.

For the pointer finger, I did a basecoat of the black.  When that dried I did two coats of the glitter polish.  The pinky is the base coat and then two coats of the chrome polish.

Look forward to Frankenstein nails next!!!  Happy October!

Pumpkin Patch Nails

Welcome to my how to for pumpkin patch nails.  When I think of fall I think of...

I took this picture last Monday while apple picking on my day off! So why not celebrate that on my nails???

For this mani I used these colors.  Nail Tek Intensive Therpay II as a basecoat, OPI- You're so Vain-illa, China Glaze- Stoked to be Soaked, Ulta- Sun of a Gun, Revlon- POSH, Ulta- Soho Pretty, and Essie Good to Go Top Coat.

To start, I painted all of my nails with the You're so Vain-illa, but I changed my mind throughout this process.  You can leave the ring finger without it and just paint it with the green.

On the middle finger and thumb I did a pumpkin.  For this you take the polish brush and paint the lighter orange on the bottom half of the nail. With the brown, add a stem.  I just used the polish brush for this as well, nothing fancy.  For all of the details on this mani I used a toothpick.  So use the small end of the tooth pick for the details.  I added darker orange to out line the pumpkin and went over the stem in the same brown.  I also added a little leaf with the green that you can see in the first picture.

On the pinky and pointer finger I did some nice lines.  For this I thought it would be better to not do lines on the whole nail.  I used skinny nail tape, you can buy it on amazon or eBay for ridiculously cheap.  I thin k I got 10 rolls of nail tape for like $2. Place it on your nails to make 3 or 4 stripes.  I put a think line at the top as a buffer, because I tend to get messy.

Paint the stripes green.  While the polish is still wet take the tape off.  If you wait til it dries the paint will peel up, you can see this happened to my nail a little.  That's what I get when I am taking pictures in the sun, they dry too fast. 

Again take the small side of the toothpick and add dots with the darker orange. 

Once you paint your ring finger nail green, you are good to go!!!

Happy Fall!  The next couple posts will be Halloweeny, I'm excited.

Football Nails

For most people this is football season until February.  For me, football season lasts until October and then Hockey starts.  So expect a lot of hockey nails, especially for the Devils.  But I do love football and the Minnesota Vikings are my team, so I think a purple and gold mani will be next!!!

These are cute, generic football nails that can be used for any team or game and people will love them.  I am also toying with the idea of doing designs for most of the teams, although I do not know if I can feel good about myself wearing Giants or Eagles colors ;P

I'll go through each design separately to make it easy.  All of the designs have Nail Tek Intensive Therapy II for the basecoat and Essie Good to Go for the top coat as always.  Any of the designs would be good accent nails for team specific manicures.  The football first...

I used China Glaze White on White and Ulta SoHo Pretty.

Start out with a white base.  Then take skinny nail tape or nail vinyls to make two stripes; one at the top and one at the bottom.  I used nail vinyls from http://nailvinyls.com/ I've been pretty obsessed with them lately.  

Paint the whole nail brown.  This brown needs multiple coats, but the finish color is great.  When the polish is still wet, peel off the nail vinyls.  This prevents any pulling of the polish.

Lastly, add the laces.  Take a skinny striping brush and paint a white vertical line with horizontal 

laces.  I could only fit three, but 

if your nails are longer do more.

Next the goalpost...

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For this I used China Glaze White on White, Essie Borrowed and Blue, Black Poppy Jade, OPI You're so Vain-illa, and China Glaze Stoaked to be Soaked.

First, sorry the pictures for these will be upside-down at first, but you'll get it.  I did a basecoat of white to make the blue a little brighter.  Then made the tip green for the football field.

Then what's behind the end zone, but the stands full of crazy fans.  For this I took multiple colors (brighter/darker work best for this technique).  Make a few random dots with each color then dab it with a sponge, I use a make-up sponge. This gives off a faded look of each color.

Continue to repeat with multiple colors, dabbing after each color is applied.  The sponge will look like this towards the end.  

To get an idea, I used all of these colors.  Like I said brighter and darker work best, so the white and tans did not show up too well. 

Lastly paint on a goalpost.  I mixed together the tan and orange to tone down the brightness of it, but use whatever color you want for this part; maybe the color of your team can go here.

Lastly, the field...

I used Revlon Posh, Black Poppy Jade, Sally Hansen Fuzzy Fantasy (from the Fuzzy Coat Collection), and China Glaze White on White.

Start off with a dark green basecoat.  Cover it lightly with the Jade, but you want the dark green to show.

Apply at least two coats of the Fuzzy Fantasy.  This is the best grass ever for nails.  The last step, but certainly not least is to take a skinny striping brush and add little lines down the sides of the nails.  I hope you enjoy and Goooo Vikings!!!!!!!