Leopard Stripes

When I got OPI's Shrek Forever After collection, I lost my mind. It's all I wanted to use for weeks, and when I first got the collection I wanted to try every color immediately... so I did!

Hooray for non-webcam pictures! Please excuse the rough-looking cuticles! OPI's Ogre-the-Top Blue (dark blue), What's with the Cattitude? (light blue), topped with CM Nail Art's black for stripe and leopard (Konad m57). I used regular Scotch Tape to get the lines for the tip, which convinced me to do my next mani because I didn't like how the tip didn't follow my natural nail line...

OPI's Ogre-the-Top Blue (dark blue), What's with the Cattitude? (light blue), Who the Shrek Are You? (lime), topped with CM Nail Art's black for stripe and leopard (Konad m57). I added the lime stripe over the previous mani (using Scotch Tape,still) and added the Konad over the existing blue.

Fruits, No Veg

I've been wanting to use Fimo fruit slices for a while so I broke down and eBayed some which turned out to be a great decision. I love 3D nail art, and this is no exception.

OPI's Rumples Wiggin' with Seche Vite top coat. Piled somewhat on top of each other are grapefruit (half), dragon fruit (half), strawberry, and apple slices. Later, I added half an orange slice to each of the ring fingers (top corner closets to the finger with the fruit) to tie it all together.

Apply the fruit the same way you would rhinestones. For larger slices it would be best to bend them in the shape of your nail so they lie flat.

Strawberries! Nicole by OPI's Really Really Red with CM Nail Art's yellow and metallic green as the seeds and leaves (Seche Vite top coat).

Konad m57: Leopard

Earlier, I complained about Konad's m57 plate because the images are only large enough to cover smaller, narrow nails, but you can continue the print with another round of stamping or by using the leftover spots that didn't stick to the nail.

CM Nail Art's metallic gold over OPI's Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow (España collection, Fall 2009) with Seche Vite top coat. This color combination is so awesome in person!

Stripes

No real intro for this post except that I went through a stripes phase, and knocked both of these out in about a week.

OPI's Ogre-the-Top Blue (dark blue), What's with the Cattitude? (light blue), Who the Shrek Are You? (lime), and Fiercely Fiona (light lime)--all from the Shrek Forever After collection. I did freehand stripes, which seems kind of hard to pull off, but all you have to do is have enough polish on the brush and paint confidently with one quick stroke. Practice makes perfect!

Not sure what I used for the base, I think one coat of OPI's It's a Girl!. The blue and lime are the same as above (OPI's Ogre-the-Top Blue & Who the Shrek Are You?), the purple is OPI's Funky Dunkey, the pink is China Glaze's Sugar High. The black edge is by CM Nail Art. As usual, I used the hole-punch reinforcement stickers as a guide.

Hello Kitty

Everyone who knows me know that I am pretty much obsessed with Hello Kitty. I love the pop art style that every HK variation has, but for this manicure I stuck with the traditional Hello Kitty.

MAC's Vestral White (from the Hello Kitty collection, of course), with CM Nail Art's black and yellow for the mouth, whiskers, and eyes and Swarovski #5 rhinestones in Rose (Seche Vite top coat).


To apply the rhinestones, wait until your last coat of your base color is about halfway dry (still tacky) and push them into it until the edges of the bottom of the rhinestone is no longer exposed. Apply a topcoat to seal it in.

A common problem with HK manicures I've seen in the past is the shape of the eyes and nose and placement of the whiskers. Often you just seen round dots for both, and therefore they look wonky and generic. In reality, the eyes are vertical ovals and the nose is a horizontal oval. The top whisker is placed near the top of the eye line or even above it sometimes. Hello Kitty does not have the face of a typical cat--she's a work of art, folks!

Half-Moon Manicure

Retro-chic is the theme for this Dita Von Teese-inspired mani. Most people (Dita included) usually do this style on longer, rounded nails, but I opted for shorter nails for a more functional look.

OPI's Not Really a Waitress as the red, CM Nail Art's pearly white for the moon, and Seche Vite top coat. I start with the red as a base and freehand the white over. Another way to go about this is to paint the whole nail white and freehand the red, but since the red covers the majority of the nail I wanted to make sure it looked acceptable, so I started with that. You can use hole-punch reinforcement stickers to guide this too, but to me it's more convenient to freehand.

Konad m57: Fishnet

I LOVE the fishnet design on Konad's m57 plate. Everyone always double-takes when they see it because it's intricate, yet simple. Lady Gaga made her debut in "Just Dance" with Minx's fishnet, and I'm pretty sure it's safe to say it made waves in the nail art world and spawned many copy-cats.

http://www.ladygaga.com/photos/

My only complaint about this Konad plate is that I wish it was bigger. It fits fine on short to medium length, skinny nails, but on really long nails or wide nails (like thumbs) you don't get full coverage. This wouldn't be bad if you could expand it on your own, like with some crafty use of the leopard print, but it's almost impossible to match up the lines to extend the fishnet.

My first attempt at this Konad, the yellow base is Lemon Fizz and the fishnet is Grape Pop, both by China Glaze (Spring 2010, "Up & Away"). Grape Pop was probably not the best choice for the fishnet because it isn't thick enough to get consistent lines.

This is probably one of my favorite manicures I've ever done. EVER. The base is Tickle My France-y by OPI, and the fishnet is CM Nail Art's black. I love the combination of nude and black, it's so subtle and unusually gorgeous. The use of a nail art specific polish was a much better choice for the fishnet because it resulted in smooth and consistent lines due to the thickness of this type of polish.

First Post, French Tips

Since this is my first venture into the nail blogging world, how about we start with older, poor quality, webcam pictures of my early nail art experiments?

(Yes, the pictures will suck for a while, but I've since switched to using my digital camera so stay tuned!)

Scene Stealer used as the pink base, Black to the Future as the black tips, both are Nicole by OPI with Seche Vite topcoat. You can't tell in this picture, but Black to the Future has purple and green microglitter that's super spacey. 

I use hole-punch reinforcement stickers (cut in half) as a guide for painting the tips. Sometimes you have to stretch them to make them match your natural nail line, but they're still highly effective. If you do use the stickers, pull them off about 30 seconds after you apply the polish so that the polish retains its shape, yet doesn't form a raised edge where the sticker was. Pull up and towards the tip to avoid smearing into the base color.