Parrot Nails

Hello all! I have an interesting design for you today. Initially, today’s post was going to be about the fan brush method but it ended up evolving into something completely different. I had purchased nail art brushes from Bundle Monster, a while back, which included a couple of fan brushes. I have never used this type of brush before and thought It would be fun to give it a try. So I used two colors and dipped the end of the brush into the polishes and applied to the nail with a couple of brush strokes. I wasn’t to happy with the brush because it decided to clump instead of remaining fanned out. Perhaps I should have used acrylic paints instead of polish but hey, that’s what experimenting is for.

After the polish dried, I realized the strokes looked like feathers, so I decided to add on my feather pattern from BM 214. I choose to use a red color for the stamp because I knew it would stand out more (the whole green and red are contrasting colors thing.) Plus when I think of parrots, I see the color red.

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie ridge filling base coat
• Base color: Clear Polish
• Polishes used for fanning: essence Lime Up! and Color Club Age of Aquarius
• Fan brush
• Stamp: BM 214
• Stamping polish: Ulta Non-stop Red
• Top Coat: Seche Vite

Have you tried the fan brush method? Would you? I plan to try this method once again but instead of using polish, I think I’m going to use acrylic paint. I hope you enjoyed my post.

Until next time,
Erin

4th of July

Hello my lovely readers! Happy 4th of July to those of you in the States! I am proud to be an American, so to show my patriotic spirit, I have two designs for you today. I decide to do two different ones, since Blake kept saying that the blue I used for the first design looked black and not blue. I swear the boy is color blind. I hope you all enjoy my post for today.

So here is the first design that I did. I love how it came out, expect for the big stars. I need to get a better star stamp. The blue polish I used is dark but the color on the flag is a navy blue and this was the darkest blue I had. In the sunlight you could see the blue highlights of the polish better but I was unable to take photos outside. 

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Base color: essence Hard to Resist, Ulta Non-stop Red 
• Stamps: BM 14, BM 20
• Stamping color: Konad White, Princess 
• Top coat: Seche Vite 

As for my second design, I used a lighter blue (which made Blake happier) and the little image of stars that I had. I also slanted some of the strips to try and create a rippling effect of a moving flag. I was a little disappointed in my stamping skills here, I think the stripes look a little bit sloppy. 

What I used:

• Base coat: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat
• Base color: OPI Suzi says Feng Shui, Ulta Non-stop Red
• Stamps: BM 14, BM 20
• Stamping color: Konad white, Princess
• Top coat: Seche Vite 

Have you tried patriotic nails? I used the flag as my inspiration, but where do you find inspiration for patriotic nails? I think next year I am going to try to do a water marble or something with fireworks. I'm very proud of where I live and who I am, and I plain to spend the night munching away of classic American fair. I hope you all have a lovely evening. Spend it with the ones you love! 

Until next time, 

☮Erin

Game of Thrones

Hello fine readers! Today's post is bond to be long. I never intend to write long posts, it just happens. It doesn't help that today's post is about my latest obsession; the book series/ TV show, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, better known as Game of Thrones on HBO. I am currently enjoying the third installment of the book series, A Storm of Swords, and with the second season of the series just wrapping up, I wanted to do a nail art design in celebration of the awesomeness of the books and show.

If you have not seen the show nor read the books than I would like to warn you of SPOILERS! I'm going to explain my design and I would hate to ruin anything for anyone, so here is your warning.

The setting for my design is book 2/season 2. I wanted to do a nail art design for every "King" (despite my feelings for some of them *cough Joffery cough*) and I also wanted to represent most of my favorite characters. Sadly I had to leave out the onion knight, but I'm sure to do more designs later.

Tattoo Nails

Hello everyone! Today's post is tattoo nails! What that means is that I used temporary tattoos on my nails. I got the one's I used from a quarter machine, so this is a relatively inexpensive design. I never thought to try this technique until I saw this Cute Polish video. It's a very simple and cute idea! I plan to do many more in the future for those days where I am feeling lazy but still want something pretty to look at. 

 So all you need to do is paint you nails a base color, preferably a light color or white so that the tattoo can show through. I went with essence A Lovely Secret. It's a beautiful light purple color, with little flakes of purple glitter in it. I would have used white, but I really hate white nail polish. It just doesn't apply well to my nails. I used a color that was light and present within in all of the tattoos that I used.

Once you have your base color is dry, cut out the image you want to put on your nail and remove the cover that protects the tattoo. Place the tattoo down on to your nail like you would your skin. Dip a Q-tip or cotton ball in water and place onto the back on that tattoo. Hold for 30 seconds, at least. The tattoo should come off easy. Seal with a top coat and you are done! Easy peasy. 

What I used:

Base coat: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat

Base color: essence A Lovely Secret 

Temporary tattoos

Water

Q-tips

Top coat: Seche Vite

Cute polish also did another video where you uses temporary tattoo paper and creates her own tattoos. I was so excited by this! Next time I got to Michaels or any craft store I am going to look for this paper and I'll price it for you guys. I doubt it's horribly expensive. How cool is that? To be able to create your own tattoos, how awesome. It's really cool what people come up with.


Until next time,
☮Erin