40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Teal

The needle drag technique. When it works, it can look pretty amazing. For me it was a whole new experience, so new I had to look up how to do it properly. I attempted a few times with white bases, coloured bases, a needle, a toothpick. None of it really worked. Then I decided to create the needle drag on a clear base, just in case it turned into a scrape rather than drag, and cheated a little and used a stripping brush to create the dragging effect, needles weren't just doing it for me. So I came up with this.

I started with a Ulta3's Clear as it's a fairly slow drying polish then dropped three dots of L.A. Girl's 3D Effect in Teal Dimension, a beautiful glittery teal, and dragged the stripping brush over every dot to make 'petals'. I had the idea on my head of making flowers and I didn't end up to far from it. To create a better flower shape, I added a little rhinestone to the place where petals met and topcoated the whole lot with HK Girl Fast Drying Top Coat. Not happy leaving it at that, I added three gold beads to balance the symmetry on the finger. I didn't topcoat those and I probably should have, considering I lost a bead while photographing these nails. 

I'm a bit bummed about the photos. Since I have moved and my old photo set up (i.e. my parents' backyard) is no longer readily accessible, I have to find a new place and lighting to make nails look good. The colour temperature and background in my bathroom turned out awesome but there is not enough lighting and my lamp casts funny shadows behind my hands, as you guys can see. I might have to go out to the street to make sure I get good photos . Who cares if I look like a random taking photos of my hands when everyone can see. Haha!

Till next time, 

Laura

Attempting to Curb My Thermal Lemming

I've loved the look of thermal polishes ever since looking at the beautiful photos from this post but wherever I looked they were sold out or about $15 per 10 ml bottle. It took a few months, a heap of unused/unblogged polishes and a low budget to realise that I would have to settle with a simple gradient to recreate that glittering polish. In December last year I acquired some most of the L.A. Girl 3D Effects polishes that are all jellies with scattered holo flakies, perfect for duplicate the look of the thermal polish I had seen.

Ok, maybe it's not an exact copy but it's inspired. I started with two coats of Dazzling Pink, a very sheer bright pink, and let that dry and then sponged on three coats of Dazzling Pink and Sparkle Ruby. I finished it all off with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

The sun was nice to show the holo but it was too bright to show the gradient properly. It looks a little too dark on these pictures.

The  gradient is a little  more visible on the photos below. Kind of... I didn't take photos in the lightbox before stamping over it but it still is noticeable, right?

I used Essie's Penny Talk to stamp what-I-think-may-be a vine motif from Moyou's Fairytale 02 plate. I like how the negative space of the stamping almost reflects the pattern in gold. It's the little things...

Did this mani fully satisfy my lemming? Yes, for a while. I'm still planning to get my hands in some thermals when the right time comes.

Till next time, 

Laura

Sunny Holographic Mani

Hello, hello! I was feeling inspired outside the GOT challenge and the Revlon Parfumarie range; this stimulus arose by looking at some pretty holographic polishes in the sun and let's face it, who doesn't like holo on their nails?

I started with two coats of Union Jack Black by Butter London in all but ring fingers, let it dry and applied on two dabbed coats of L.A. Girl in Supernova on the prepped fingers. While that was drying, which btw took forever, I applied two coats of the silvery holographic goodness that Ozotic 509 is and let it dry. I then stamped what I would like to call the stained window pattern from MoYou's Suki 04 plate with Konad's Black Special Polish. I topped all fingers off with one coat of HK Girl topcoat that helped the drying time of Supernova.

I ended up getting a lot of shrinkage on the black nails and usually I would point the finger at Seche Vite for that terrible trait, but this time I'm pretty sure it was Supernova's clear base and my piling of it on the nail. It ended up looking very thick and I actually had  a couple of the black nails pop off in one piece in the shower. :(

It was really pretty while it lasted and very rainbow-y. Blurred photo for effect.

And some  photo spam because you can never have enough holo!

Yeah, that's it from me. I'm just hoping more inspiration comes my way.

Till next time,

Laura

Simple Summery Mani

South East Queensland is being hit by ex-cyclone Oswald and as you can imagine the weather is dreadful. Don't get me wrong, it's very good to get the rain considering how dry everything was, I just wasn't expecting to all come down in one day.

Anyway, this mani came about because I wanted something bright compared to this gloomy day. 

Base polish:         L.A. Girl Matte Flat Finish in Matte Raspberry
Stamping polish:  Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Antique Bronze
Top coat:            essence XXXL Gel-Look Top Coat

*EDIT* I forgot to put the stamping plate I used. Oops! Bundle Monster's BM-225, by the way... 


I know it's nothing too flashy but I like the fact that it is bright yet subtle.

Til next time, 

Laura

Welcome... To me?

Well, first of all hello.

For as long as I can remember I have always been a fan of makeup. Stealing my mother's lipstick. Done it. Making a mess with powder in the bathroom. Check. Pretended to go to a party with all that make up on. Yes. It didn't help that my mother used to send me to kindergarten with lipstick on (only for special occasions and always very sheer). I had a definite moment with nail polish in grade six, though. It was sort of love at first brush and the story goes something like this... 

The monthly magazine, that I could afford at the tender age of 12 with my then-non-existent pocket money, featured an article about simple nail art and included a cut-out section of tiny little pictures and letters to stick on your nails. It showed techniques like using sticky tape to create geometric shapes and how to get simple stencils like love hearts, stars, etc. I was in awe, I wanted to do all of it, immediately!!! My sister tried the sticky tape technique while I stuck the tiny letters spelling my name (lucky both my first and middle names have five letters each) on my hands. I stuck them with a very cheap, clear polish and I enjoyed them for my weekend.

The one that enlightened me, just think 1998 version 

When I got to school the following Monday, I got so many compliments, even from the boys!!! I'm sure it was my charming personality that went so well with my fashion forward nails that caused such an impact, however, from that moment on, I learnt a little effort could bring on big rewards when trying to create something pretty (for myself mostly).

For the next 13 years, I experienced with lots of colours, textures, glitters, qualities but it was mostly only one colour/texture at the time. 

The last five months, due to the fact that I can enjoy the post-paid internet and great quantities of it, I have been enjoying the wonders of the many nail art blogs on the web. It is incredibly to see all the designs and translations of trends that women (and I'm sure there are men too, I just haven't found them) have come up with. Also, the variety of nail polishes that exist on the market has left me wanting them all!! Too bad my budget is limited (or is that good?).

So thanks Tasha for coming up with this awesome idea of creating your own nail art blog and thank you further for inviting me to write on it. This is giving a reason to create pretty things at least once a week and test (what I thought was limited) creativity.

SO... After all that banter, here's my first nail creation. 

The first step for this design was for me to learn to paint my nails properly. I used to paint them with heaps of strokes and whatever was left on my skin, I would scratch off after I had a shower. It looked good but I probably wasted a lot of water trying to get my skin soft enough to just scratch it off. I have learnt three strokes will only paint your nail, not your skin, and will also give you a more even coverage with less coats.

After a week of trying (and finally succeeding!) to paint my nails within the lines, I started with two coats of Bloom in Adriana, a bright pink with very fine blue shimmer and a suede finish. It is super quick to dry, so after five minutes I applied L.A. Girl Rock Star in Supernova. This one took a little longer to dry and left it for half a day before applying the next coat. When the glitter finally dried (to the no smudge point), I put sticky tape to 

on half my nail to apply essence Colour & Go in Hard To Resist. Finished it with Cutex Top Coat and done. 

This look reminded a bit of the title card of Saved By The Bell (remember that show?) but after looking it up in wonderful Google, it looked nothing like I had recalled. I'll just say it reminds me of the 80's. The hairy glitter is very 80's, isn't it? 

On one last note, I discover the glitter nail polish though this post. It looks amazing in the photo and was  so happy to know that I could get it at Groove Chermside for $2.50. I could not believe my luck! It looks really good when the light hits it at a good angle but it takes too long to dry and more than two coats are needed to get a good coverage of it. I guess if you have the time, patience and drying drops, this is a perfect. 




I think this first post has pretty much covered everything . A bit of personal information, the actual nail "art" (I'm not sure I should call it that yet) and even a small review.


Looking forward to sharing lots of designs, pretty colours, glitters, tips and all things nails with you.


Till next time.