Stripes and Simple Florals

Hello friends! I have a fun and bold nail design for this week. Pairing simple vertical stripes with some summery florals makes these nails stand out! This eye-catching design may look intricate, but is actually very easy to do.

This design is also extremely versatile, and I can see it working well with a variety of Different colour combinations.  A pastel pink in lace of the blue would give the nails a much more chic and make it look much softer; whilst a bold red would make this design look very fierce. Another thing I really love about this design is the mix & match look that it has. Mix & match designs have always been a favourite of mine because of how fun and eye-catching they are. Each nail has its own unique look, yet they all fit together very well; plus, every nail is an accent nail.

Continue reading to see my tips and tricks on creating this manicure...

Quick NOTW: Sunglass Nails on my Cinderella Hand

Hello friends! This is just a quick NOTW update as I will be uploading another one very shortly. I actually did two different designs this week, and I am wearing very different designs on my two hands. The contrast in the designs and the quality of the art on my hands makes me feel very strange since I've always had very similar art on both hands.

I can't say I feel great about the finished product on my cinderella hand today, but after a shift at work and completing a more detailed design on my left hand, I got lazy and sort of just winged it. I do still really like this design, but the way and the techniques that were used to execute it could've probably been done a lot better. This makes for a very cute summer nail design and I'll definitely be looking forward to doing this design again!

Quick Post: Beach Inspired Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello friends, I hope you're all enjoying your summer! It's been so hot here in the past few weeks with barely any rain, so it just feels dry all the time. I really wish I could spend a day sitting by a beach. A day off from work would be so nice, but that's not happening anytime soon, so my nails will have to do. These beach nails I'm wearing right now are for the beach prompt for SNCjuly2016. 

For these nails, I finally used the fan brush that has just been sitting around in my storage bin been the past year. I avoided using the fan brush because I just didn't know how, and none of my designs really required the techniques that could be executed with the brush. I really like how it turned out though, the ripples in the water looks more realistic. From this experience with my fan brush, I know that I definitely want to try doing more designs with it!

Continue reading to see how I created my beach nails...

Tutti Frutti Nails + BornPrettyStore Item Review!

Hello friends, and Happy July! The year's half over already, can you believe that?! This month, I was asked by _nailaddiction on Instagram to join in her summer weekly challenge; the prompts looked so fun that I had participate! The first prompt of this month is "fruity" nails, so I did some mix & match of different kinds of fruits. Last year, at around this time, I did a bunch of fruit inspired nails nails as well; if you wish to see those, click here.

A couple of months ago, I received a mini palette ring from bornprettystore. I've use it quite a few times to create various looks, but I finally got around to actually taking some pictures of the process! The ring is one of the cutest nail art tools I have ever seen! They're super easy to use and makes clean-up so much faster. Prior to getting this palette, I would regularly use yellow sticky notes, tiny pieces of wax paper or tin foil to mix my paints/polishes. Though such materials were easy to find, they were messy as I would always mistakenly place my brushes on them by accident and make a mess of my tools. With this ring on my hands at all times, there is little to no chance of me leaving my nail tools around and having them roll into the palette. This palette is also reusable and reduces the amount of paper and foil waste I produce each time I do my nails.

To use this cute nail palette, simply dab a small amount of polish or paint in one of the tiny wells and use as you would any other palette. The medium used may dry up a quickly due to the shallowness of the well, but water, nail polish thinner or acetone may be mixed in to get it to return to a workable consistency. The palette ring does come with a tiny cup that you can use to hold the thinning liquids but I did not find it very helpful since tilting my fingers around to draw the designs would prompt it to spill out. However, you can choose to use the cup to hold a larger amount of acrylic paint, such as black paint when outlining. Once done with the palette, simple wipe off the polish with some nail polish remover or the acrylic paint with water. It's as easy as that! I'd honestly give this cute ring a 5/5 because it makes my life so much easier and is way more environmentally friendly than using tin foil or paper! Not only is this ring super cute, but it is also practical.

Now, without further ado, here are my tips and tricks and a pictorial on how to create these super fun nails...

Sunset Walk on the Beach (For WNAC 2016)

Hello friends! It's been such a lovely week down here in the GTA though it is pretty hot today. My nails this week follow the third prompt for WNAC2016, which is "palm trees".  This is super strange, but I can honestly say that I am jealous of my nails. I could really go for a long walk on a beach right now! I just started training for my second job today (which I am super excited about), but I am just so tired. Growing up is hard, I'm barely an adult but I'm already reminiscing the summers where I'd spend my days just chillin' out and drawing all day. Those were the good days, ah. 

This week, I decided to film yet another design tutorial.  I've also been working with various video editing software to test out which one works best for me (and my computer). Normally, I'd use Sony Vegas, but the video playback lags so much that i's difficult to preform even the simplest of tasks like trimming a clip! Now, this may be a sign that I need a computer upgrade, but since I mostly use my computer for school work, I don't really need an upgrade just yet; unless I do decide that I'm serious about making these videos. 

Anyway, I'll be working on the video for the next week and will try to have it up before next week;, depending on my work schedule ( & how tired my jobs will make me). Until next time, goodbye friends and happy polishing!

Simple Nautical Themed Nails

Hello lovely people! I've just spent the last week packing up all of my things and I moved back to school yesterday. I don't keep my manicures for long while I pack because they tend to chip and break so much, so my nails are currently naked. Thus, I thought that it would be the perfect time to share my nautical themed nails (that I did a couple weeks ago) because they're so simple easy do... Plus, it's almost the end of summer so the timing is perfect.

This was actually my first attempt at nautical nails, I see them everywhere and I've always been a fan of them. I honestly do not think that this attempt was very successful, I know i could've made it look much better, but it's a start. I would definitely like to redo this manicure again one day. Free handing the waves and trying to make every peak even and identical was definitely the most difficult part of it.

Keep reading to find out my tips and tricks on how to create this simple manicure:

Lilac Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello world! This is the design I've chosen to do with the weekly nail polish challenge (#WNAC2015) for the week of August 21st. This week's colour theme is mint and lilac, so I chose to do lilac floral nails, with little mint-green coloured leaves. I love lilac flowers, they always smell so amazing! They're actually one of the things I look forward to the most during spring time. It's really too bad that these nails don't smell as great as the real thing.

The picture just doesn't do these nails and justice! The colours are just so much more dull in the pictures

For the past few weeks I've been working exclusively with nail polish instead of my usual acrylic paints, and I don't think I've adjusted to it quite yet. I find that acrylic paints are just so much more versatile because the globs of nail polish just dry out way too fast for my liking. On the other hand though, using nail polish gives you nicer colours because using acrylic pain tends to give a very dull finish (even with a shiny top coat). Maybe I'll write a blog post comparing acrylic paint to nail polish after I give nail polish some more tries.

Here are my tips and tricks on how to create your very own lilac nails:

Navy and Magenta Floral Nails (with Pictorial)

Hello to you all! Here is official debut for my new nail shape! I have not have almond shaped nails in a really long time; mostly due to the fact that I have injured myself several times while my nails were sharp. I once jabbed myself near the nostril whilst washing my face once and it would not stop bleeding. But I've had these nails for a couple of days and nothing bad has happened thus far, so I've got my fingers crossed (carefully of course). 

I actually had a whole load of other nail art prepped and ready to share, but I wanted to get in on the Weekly Nail Art Challenge 2015 hosted under the hashtag #WNAC2015 on instagram. The theme for this week was magenta and purple so here is my entry. These florals were actually inspired by a print pattern I saw on the internet, but unfortunately I didn't save the picture. It was actually a lot of fun to stray away from my usual rose-floral nails (not that I have any ideas of what flowers these are). This is a relatively easy design to create, but the finished product looks way more intricate than it is.

Keep reading to find some tips and tricks on how to create you very own version of this nail design:

Vintage Cherry Nails (with pictorial)

Well, hello all! Here's the latest installment in my Fruity Nail Art collection... Cherry Nails! This will probably be the second last set of nails I will add to my fruit crazed 'collection', I have just one more idea that I want to paint. Honestly, doing a collection of nails with a relative theme is such a great idea! It provided me with a baseline of what I wanted to do but still had lot of wriggle room for creativity. It's just so great because a lot of the time (I say around 80%) I'll just be sitting at my desk and scrolling through the internet for inspiration and ideas; plus, I got to work a lot on different painting techniques. I'll definitely look into doing another 'collection' soon.

So this week's theme is cherries, and the colour palette this week gives off such a vintage and warm feeling.  The warm toned nude base just compliments the warm wine-red perfectly! As I am typing this, I am getting the biggest craving for cherries. I've yet to have any this summer, and it doesn't look like I'll be going cherry picking this year either, but at least I'll have my nals to look at for the time being... I'll probably go pick up some cherries at the grocery store later.

Anyway, enough blabbering from me. Here are some tips and tricks on how to create your very own vintage cherry nails (pictorial included):

Strawberry Nails

Hello everybody! Can you believe that it's almost the end of July? Where does the time go? It's been such a fun and relaxing summer that I really do not want it to end. I have so much more time to do my nails during the summer, and my nails are grow three time stronger than they do in the cold Canadian winters.

Anyway, I did some cute strawberry nails for my 'fruit themed nail collection' (I honestly don't know what to call it... Haha). To be honest, these nails did not turn out exactly as I hoped they would, but I wouldn't call them a complete nail fail because I love the big strawberries on my accent fingers. Plus, I really enjoy the colour scheme of these nails! They remind me of strawberry yogurt or strawberry milk; and it makes for a very sweet and cute manicure. If I were to recreate these nails again, I would definitely just paint the big strawberries on every nail.

Now, without further ado, here are my tip and tricks on how to create your very own strawberry nails:

When Life Gives You Lemons....

Hello world, I give my sincerest apologies for not posting yesterday! I'm trying really hard to try an post every Friday but I got preoccupied with some crafting. I got really frustrated with the project, and I cracked the thumbnail on my right hand (the side is chipped and a layer of my nail came off the free edge). 

Anyway, this is my third piece of fruit inspired nails; and I must say, I just love how these turned out! They're so colourful and fun.

So, without further ado, here are my tips and tricks on how you can create your own lemon inspired nails:

Watermelon Gradient Nails

Hello, hello! I've finally decided to celebrate/embrace summer time by doing these super cute looking watermelon inspire nails. Unfortunately, I have a watermelon intolerance (sad, I know) and I cannot eat any watermelon; which is really unfortunate because my family consumes an unfathomable amount of it during the summer, so I'm always surrounded by them. Plus, watermelons have such nice and bright colours that make a very eye-catching manicure!

Alright, let's get down to some tips and tricks (with pictures!!) on how to create your very own watermelon gradient nail art: