Valentine's Day Design #2

As the title states, this is the second design I have for Valentine's Day 2015. More of a mix n' match this time around.

Colours used:

"Sheer Pink" by Kleancolor
"Love is in the Air" by Kleancolor

"Don't Touch My Tutu!" by O.P.I.

Little Mermaid

This one is really nice and clean, and simple.

I also wanted another excuse to draw scales. So these remind me of mermaid tails with the pastel shades sponged randomly onto the accent nails. I like the cute scalloped french tips on the other nails too. It's a very clean, and simple looking manicure.

I sponged "Pastel Teal", and  "Pastel Blue" (by Kleancolor) and "Lacey Lilac" (Sally Hansen) onto the ring finger, and went over top of it with "Age of Aquarius" (Color Club) for the scales. The base I used was "French White Creme" by Wet n' Wild. This one was really cute and easy to do.

Cheshire Cat

These remind me vaguely of the Cheshire Cat from Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland.

I can't recall when these were done.

Allow me to start off by saying, I attempted my own home made matte top coat, using corn starch and clear polish, as you can see it worked, although that big white splotch is some corn starch that didn't quite get mixed in enough.

The base is "Va Va Voom" by Orly, with the stripes done in "Twilight" by L.A. Girl.

I like my homemade matter top coat, I just need to remember to shake it really well hahah.

Dress Nails (Feet Warning)

So a client of mine asked for nail art that resembled the dress she was wearing to an event.

March 06 2013

The pattern on the dress was very brushstroke-like using a magenta, hot pink and black. The colours I used were "Ahoy!" and "Flying Dragon(Neon)" by China Glaze and "Black Creme" by Wet n' Wild. This was a very quick and easy design to do and the client loved it.

Orly "Va Va Voom"; Swatch

I like neon pinks, seeing as I have a few in my stash.

This is "Va Va Voom" by Orly. It's blindingly bright in person, and it was tough getting a decent photo of these. As you can see it dries to a rubbery matter finish. It wears well, no major chips or sudden chunks missing. It is a bit sheer though, so I used about 3 thickish coats. The formula was quite nice and it dried fairly quickly too. Overall a wonderful neon pink, for when you feel like having loud nails.

House Baratheon

If you're one of my peeps on Facebook, you may have already heard that I'm dedicating this months manicures to Game of Thrones, in honour of Season 3 (airing March 31st, 2013).

The first house up is Baratheon!

Whole Hand.

The house sigil for Baratheon is the deer, so antlers were a definite must, as you can see the french on my index and ring fingers are outlined by black antlers, while I have the main deer in the center, even though it's just a close up of the head. 

Main Four.

The deer was done using, believe it or not, regular India ink by Speedball and a nib pen. You can see little crackle marks which appeared after I top-coated, but I love the way it did that. I found that it was a lot easier getting the fine details in using this method than using a brush and paint/polish.

Thumb detail.

I originally wanted to do another deer head on the thumb, but I came across an alternate symbol when I searched Baratheon on Google, it was an image of symmetrical antlers on a yellow-gold background; although my antlers are not symmetrical, I think I came as close as I'm going to.

So now on to the polishes, the base colour I used for my thumb and middle finger is "Fast Track" by China Glaze, from their Hunger Games collection. On the other nails is "Expresso 58" by Kleancolor, a nice rich metallic chocolate brown.

If you would like a set of these, be it false nails or nail decals, feel free to contact me at my email: ayeshaskhan27@yahoo.ca. Please put a subject in, so that I don't accidentally mistake it for spam.

Have an awesome week!

China Glaze "Sex on the Beach"; Swatch

I'm still wracking my brain for a design, so in the meantime here's a swatch:

2 coats of China Glaze's "Sex on the Beach" a nice neutral shade, it's base is a warm dusty rose colour with shimmer which changes the colours depending on the lighting. It's sheer as you can see my free edge on a couple of nails. Overall a nice shade, with reasonable wear and tear, although I noticed a chip on my right hand's index finger after the first day, oh well.

Have a Happy Monday!

Kleancolor "Pastel Blue"; Swatch

The colour I have for you today is "Pastel Blue" by Kleancolor.

Indoors.

 So, for those of you familiar with Kleancolor, you already know they are not Big 3 Free, so they do contain Fromaldehyde, Toluene and  DBP. Personally, as much as I like to avoid toxins, for a wide variety of shades at roughly $1-$2 per bottle, I do quite like them.

Natural Sunlight.

On to the actual colour now. "Pastel Blue" is just that, a nice pastel blue, very much like baby blue. It's a very clean looking shade, and is great for Easter manicures, if you do those. This was with 2 coats, and you can see it's quite opaque, I did not have any trouble with streaking with this colour which was really nice. The wear on these are nice too, I find that they don't chip very often, unless the base coat I use sucks. It also dries with a nice gloss to it, you can see it better in the first photo, so you don't need top coat with this unless you want to. A thing to keep in mind though, I notice these tend to dry slower than other polishes, so try to use thin coats and give them plenty of drying time. So to end off, this is a nice fairly inexpensive polish if you don't mind it containing the Big 3. 

Newspapers

    A bit late, but yesterday was Family Day (a public holiday) so I took the day off from posting.

Feb/17/2013

The colours used are "White French Creme" and "Black Creme" by Wet n' Wild. On top of that I did a newsprint transfer, which did not turn out very well, and added some silver striping tape to finish it off. Overall not a bad design, but next time I'll use fresher newspapers to get a better transfer.

China Glaze "Naked"; Swatch

Today's swatch is China Glaze's "Naked". A nice barbie pink with very subtle shimmer.

Naked by China Glaze

Firstly, pardon my index finger, I managed to dent it. Now then, this is a very nice sort of Barbie Pink shade with a subtle silver shimmer to it. This was with 3 coats as it's a bit sheer, but 2 thick coats and it would go on opaque. It dries quickly which is usual for China Glaze lacquers. It wears well, as you can see this photo was taken 2 days after regular work wear, and only a little tip wear is seen. This one dries to a satiny finish.  All in all, Naked is a very pretty pink. 

Also, Happy Valentine's Day!

Border Love

I have my final Valentine's Day nail art of this year for you.

From the side.

Frontal View.

The base colour for these is "Ahoy!" by China Glaze, with a champagne coloured paint used for the little hearts everywhere. I had the idea to do a vertical border on one side and I think it turned out nicely.

I hope you enjoy and have a good week!

OCC Inky; Swatch

I've got another swatch for you today, this time it's
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics' "Inky".

"Inky" by OCC

Inky, is a very dark shade of blue, it's almost black it's so dark. It wears wear, but will stain if you go without a basecoat. I used 2 coats here, but with 1 thick coat it would be just as opaque, one of the reason's I'm loving OCC's Nail lacquers lately.

Have a Good Weekend!

Red and Gold Hearts

Here's a  pretty Valentine's design:

Feb/04/2013

Thumb Close up.

So the base colour I used for these is "You Callin' Me a Lyre" by OPI, with a glitter gradient created in "Syngery" (Gold) and "Animate" (Red) by L.A. Girl Glitter. The hearts were done using acrylic paint in red and gold, but you can substitute for red/gold nail polishes if you don't have paint. Excuse the blue stain on my thumb nail, I managed to get some ink there. I hope you enjoy these nails, and remember they work well on any nail shape!

Happy Monday!

Swatch: China Glaze Lemon Fizz

So today right when we were leaving work, we got hit with a blizzard. White-outs and black outs in some places in my city. Pretty scary driving home today.

But, I have a cheery yellow swatch for you:

January/30/2013

This is China Glaze's "Lemon Fizz" a nice pale, pastel, yellow creme. Took 3 coats, and I found some minimal streaking. This is a great colour for Easter nails. It's wearing pretty well, I've had very little wear on the tips, and the colour is very nice and soft. You might be wondering about the pinky finger. I got anxious and picked it off, also I apologize for the state of my cuticles, winter is being tough.

Soft Flowers

This isn't an official Valentine's Day design but it is really soft, girly and romantic looking, so it could work well for a Valentine's manicure.

Jan/27/2013

The base used is 3 coats of "Glints and Glam" by Sation, with Konad "White" stamped in plates M26 and BM221 (ring finger). Really simple, really quick and very delicate but still pretty.

More official Valentine's Day nail art will be starting up next week, but in the meant time check out last year's ideas under the Valentines tag in the right side bar.

Have a Happy Monday!

Flashback Friday: Blue Snowflakes

Nov/29/2010

This is another acrylic set I did for myself from waaayy back when. I made my own blue glitter acrylic and then stamped over them some white snowflakes which you can barely see. Ahh well, lesson learned.

Robert Best Inspired

I've got a sort of special one for you all today. I recently saw some of Robert Best's amazing Barbie

fashion drawings. And became smitten with his amazing style and his ability to render such beautiful images using watercolour. So naturally, I had to do something nail related.

These nails were inspired by this photo:

Artwork (C) Robert Best

This was one of my more favourite images by him, and it went on to inspire the birth of this nail design:

Upsidedown thumb.

I wanted it to look soft and watercolour-y like his works, but I feel like I missed it by a long shot. I'm also displeased with the shakey lines, but seeing as this is the FIRST portrait I've done on my nails, I shall still wear it proudly. The base colour is "Don't Touch My Tutu" from O.P.I.'s NYC Ballet Collection, with one coat of "Pirouette My Whistle" from the same collection.

As always, the actual design was done using acrylic craft paint. Hopefully the next portrait I do will turn out better. But I hope you still enjoyed!

Peachy Keen Swatch

This is one of the items I bought using my "Birthday $10 off Sally Coupon".

This is "Peachy Keen" from China Glaze. In the bottle it's paler, so it dries darker (which is fairly obvious despite my brain fart in buying it). I was hoping it would be more like the bottle colour which looks like a pale pastel orange. It is, it's just not as pale as I'd like, but no matter, I can add a drop of white nail polish to make it paler. 

It is a pretty shade nonetheless. I shall have to come up with something to do with it one day.

Glittery Hearts

I love this ombre design. The reason is probably not why you think. I'll fill you in on how I did it down below :)

Close up of the thumb nail.

So, I know that last mani was also an ombre, but the technique I used this time was a tad different. I didn't try sponging it on, no no, I used acrylic paint on these paws. Yes, that's right, there is no actual nail polish here except for the Base Coat, and the Top Coat. All the rest is regular craft store acrylic paint, blended to create a beautiful gradient effect. So the paints I used were a basic green mixed with white to get the mint, and red, yellow and white for the pastel orange. The little glitter paillets came out of my bottle of "Synergy" from L.A. Girl.

I hope you enjoy this different take on an ombre mani!

Birthday Paws

This past April 7th was my birthday. As of now I'm 22 -_-'

Obviously, birthday nails were a must:

Instead of doing something fancy, I broke out the brilliant, blinding colours of "Sun Worshipper"(orange) and "Purple Panic(Neon)" by China Glaze and just did a simple ombre using a make up sponge. Enjoy!