Ikat Print Nail Art

Good Morning! How are you doing on this first day of Spring!? Here in southern Ontario you wouldn't know it's Spring today. We have a wall of fog so thick that I can't quite see out of the window from my desk!

I have some ikat nails to show you today in a St. Patrick's themed colours. Ikat has been all the rage in fashion and its been popping up everywhere on various nails in a variety of colours and patterns. I chose to do mine in a chevron pattern.

I started with a base of China Glaze White on White. Then took a striper brush and created a chevron in quick short strokes with Ardene's Neon Green. Then I did the same with Essie's Vermillionaire, then again with Neon Green and finished off the tip with Vermillionaire. Then I took Wet and Wild's Black Creme and created two more chevrons to give the pattern a little more definition.





with flash

  



I really like how this turned out! I got a lot of compliments on it, or maybe it was just the neon colours :)

What do you think of the ikat print?

Sincerely Stephanie

St. Patrick's Green Machine!

Morning dears! 

YAY it's Friday! And it's St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! Are you getting excited? St. Patty's has always been something a little special to me. I started Irish dancing when I was small and for many many many years St. Patty's would mean getting up early, hopping on a bus and going from pub to pub dancing for rather intoxicated people lol. It was awesome we ate candy on the bus all day and after 12 hours of dancing we collapsed. I loved it when I was little. Well onto my mani! 

I tried the watercolour technique, but with ALL GREEN! 

I started with OPI's Stranger Tides which is a light dusty green. Then I used the following polishes in order:

Revlon's Posh

China Glaze Gaga For Green

Revlon's Emerald City

Essie's Mint Candy Apple

Essence Lime Up! 

There are a couple great tutorials out there especially this one on Beauty Geeks. All you have to do is paint your nails a base colour and seal that with top coat. Then do little drops of colour onto your nail and take a brush dipped in acetone and dab at your dots. This will spread the colour making it look like watercolour paints. You can do it in any colour combination and it gives a really interesting effect!

After I had done the watercolour I thought it could use a little more St. Patty's bling. Since Essence's Space Queen was sitting on my desk I did one coat of that on both my ring finger and thumb. Then I took a large dotting tool and used China Glaze White on White to create a four leaf clover. Then took a slightly smaller dotting tool and Posh and made a clover inside the white one.

I really like Space Queen on top of the watercolour and wish I had done that one all my nails and left the clover alone, but overall I'm a fan. It kind of reminds me of army print.

Have you ever tried the watercolour method? What colours did you use?

Sincerely Stephanie

White Orange and Green Oh My!

Today I have another St. Patrick's day themed mani to show you. For this one I took my inspiration from just Irish things, but mainly the flag. I wanted to only use white, orange and green.

I started with China Glaze White on White on all my nails except my thumb, which has a base coat of Revlon's Posh. Then I used my smallest nail art brush to write "Kiss Me I'm Irish" on my thumb. I used a large dotting tool and Essie's Vermillionaire and Posh to create the lips on my index nail. I used Posh and a large dotting tool to create the four leaf clover on my middle nail. On my ring finger I used a striping brush and Posh and Vermillionaire. My pinky was a complete accident. I had originally done a Celtic knot in orange and green, and I think it actually looked really good! Then as I was trying to fill in one area my hand slipped and I had a giant streak through my knot! So I just grabbed a fan brush and tried to blend the colours together to make a flag that was just turned the other way. 

What do you think of my flag inspired design? Do you have any big plans for St. Patrick's Day?

Sincerely Stephanie

Magically Delicious!

Today I have some nails to show you that are getting into the St. Patrick's Day spirit. My boyfriend and I were chatting about what I could do and he said, "You should do the marshmallows of Lucky Charms!" So I of course had to oblige.

I used 2 coats China Glaze Gaga for Green as my base coat. This polish was awesome to work with! It really seemed like the perfect Irish kelly green to be a base for my mani. Then I picked 5 of the marshmallows and used various dotting tools to create them. I'll list the polishes used on each finger at the end.

I accidentally did the pot of gold on my pinky upside down. Oops lol but it was late and I didn't have time to go back and redo the nail. So one upside down marshmallow is ok right? ;)

Thumb - Essence Lime Up! (light green), Revlon Posh (darker green)

Index- Essence Let's Get Lost (blue), Essie Knockout Pout (pink), Essence Wanna be Your Sunshine (yellow) 

Middle - China Glaze White on White (white), Essie Vermillionaire (orange)

Ring - China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Pinky - Essence Wanna be Your Sunshine (yellow), Mix of Vermillionaire and Wanna be your Sunshine (light orange)

Do you like my Magically Delicious nails?!

Sincerely Stephanie