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.

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.

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.