Watercolor Wash with Splattered Accents

Watercolor Wash with Splattered Accents || Recently, I had the very exciting opportunity to do an interview with our local CW station here in Phoenix, CW6! I knew they would be filming an up-close view of me doing some nail art, so I knew I had to do something jazzy on my own nails, too. I adapted this look from a Neiru lesson called "Fuchsia Swirl" by Mariko Shida.

It's super easy to get this look, especially if you're working with gel. I'm sure many of you guys have seen the drag marble looks with nail polish, right? Well this is the same, but in gel, you aren't working against the evaporating solvents and drying nail polish!

After prepping and applying your base coat, start with one coat of your main base color and cure. I'm using Presto Sordino.

Apply a second coat of your base color, but don't cure just yet! Add some swipes of your additional colors, as well as some thin lines of black gel. Clean off a striper brush, and use it to drag through the wet gel. This look is more of a "long, swoopy lines" type of marble, but you can draw whatever pattern you want. Cure your marbling.

Finally, add some splattered details. I actually used Gelish Pinch of Pepper for this particular manicure, but you could hand paint on some black and white as well.

Full product list:
Gelish Foundation and Top It Off
Presto Sordino (grey)
Presto Bis (mustard)
Presto Garante (blue)
Presto Con Amore (neon yellow)
Gelish Carnaval Hangover (purple)
Gelish Pinch of Pepper (black and white glitter)
Gelish Matte Top It Off

If you're curious, you can also check out my interview with the CW! Here is the manicure I was working on for the segment (shoutout to my friend Kristi for stepping up as a last minute model).

Bejeweled Galaxy Nail Art

IT HAS ARRIVED! Galaxy day of the 31 Day Challenge! I love this day because I never do galaxies, even though I should, and they're so easy to do, and they always turn out lovely, and the sparkles are overwhelming, and yeah. Galaxies are the best.

As with all my galaxy manicures, I started with a base of black polish.

Then, I tore off tiny pieces of a makeup sponge, and used it to create layers of the following shades:
LVX Cameo
LVX Viola
Girly Bits Hoop There It Is
Color Club Peace Love and Polish

Next I added the bitty stars! I always use China Glaze Fairy Dust for my stars. The key is to swipe it on randomly, instead of covering the entire nail!

The final step was to add the individual stars. I used a pinpoint dotting tool and Polish My Life's Saint, then added some lensflares on a couple of the stars.

I totally love how these came out and honestly they took me maybe 30 minutes to do. A win all around!



Check out my galaxy nails from years before:

• Maroon and yellow galaxy nails
• Hyperspace jump nail art
• The Pleiades Star Cluster galaxy nails
• The Pelican Nebula galaxy nails

Nude and Mauve Ombre with Lacy Glitter

I recently received a package of some current Color Club shades. As I pulled the bottles out of the box, fate took control and lined up four of the shades from lightest to darkest. They looked gorgeous in an ombre together, and I had to oblige the universe's wishes.

Of course, I was still missing a fifth shade, and while I was searching for the perfect polish, I figured it couldn't hurt to add some glitter, either.

So, the four fated Color Clubs that I was destined to use are:
Color Club Blank Canvas (white)
Color Club Barely There (light tan)
Color Club Get a Mauve On It (mauve)
Color Club Midnight Mulberry (plum)

Then, I grabbed A England Elaine for the thumb, and added a layer of Sally Hansen Eyelet from the Luxe Lace line on all the nails. The glitter density was good, but I ended up with a lot of bubbles on the nails. Not sure what happened there.

I haven't done an ombre in a while, but I totally should wear them more often. They're really gorgeous and chic, especially in shades of nudes/neutrals like this. Big thanks to the universe and to Color Club for setting me up to hit one out of the ombre park (IMO)!

Ruby Red Japanese Floral Print

One of the most flexible prompts in the 31 Day Challenge is today's prompt, "inspired by a pattern." I once again enlisted the help of my friend Kristi for brainstorming, and she suggested a gorgeous Japanese bookplate floral print from designer Tory Burch. I loved seeing a floral done entirely with shades of red; it really stood out to me.

Nail polishes used:
OPI Steady As She Rose
OPI Coca Cola Red
American Apparel Port
Shimmer Polish Cindy

I love the contrast of the soft, neural base, with the bold, sumptuous burgundy. I painted the floral print freehand, and layered a red glitter over the dark cabernet as an accent on my thumb. Overall, I am so happy with these nails. Another winning idea from Kristi! Maybe I should start paying her...?

Previously, on "inspired by a pattern":

• Dark, matte, and dotted
• Partial checkerboards
• Pretty paisley

Purple Galaxy Nails, Inspired by the Pelican Nebula

Galaxy nails day for the 31 Day Challenge! I don't do galaxy nails nearly enough. They create such a stunning effect for so little effort. For this year's nail art, I was inspired by a photo of the Pelican Nebula that I found on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). I didn't end up using enough pink in for the look to match exactly, but that's okay. I love the depth in these.

Nail polishes and supplies used:
OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!? (black)
Zoya Sailor (navy)
LVX Orchid (orchid)
Misa Loveliest of Lilacs (medium purple)
Nicole by OPI American As Apple Pie (red)
Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt (white)
China Glaze Lotus Begin (light purple)
Formula X Freaky Like Freud (holographic glitter)
Triangle makeup wedges
Edinburgh Realism #4 nail art brush

I started by painting my nails black. Then, I used a torn piece of the makeup sponge to apply a bit of navy on my nails -- admittedly, that part doesn't really show as well as I was hoping it did. Using new bits of sponge for each color, I sponged on streaks of red, then medium purple, medium orchid, and light purple.

I mixed a bit of white polish with acetone for a thinned out, watercolor effect, and used it to do a bit of freehanding inside of the light purple sponging (you can see it in the middle of the large purple nebula sections). A holographic glitter, used sparingly, gave the effect of distant stars, while white polish and a pinpoint dotting tool created some closer objects. The final step was to freehand a handful of stars with cross lensflare.

Go where one girl has gone before:

• Maroon and yellow galaxy nails
• Hyperspace jump nail art
• The Pleiades Star Cluster galaxy nails

Glittery Skull Cameos

I always take the opportunity to use "glitter" day of the 31 Day Challenge to do some hand placed glitter nail art. I don't have the strength of mind to attempt it most other times. This time, I had some new triangle glitter I wanted to play around with, so I grabbed that and some glitter skull decals and went to town. I ended up with these pretty kickass skull cameo nails!

And you know what? The placement wasn't even that bad or time consuming!

Nail polish and products used:
Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt (white base)
Orly Glowstick (neon yellow)
Black holographic triangle glitter (use code CHALKBOARD15 for 15% off!)
Joby glittery skull decals
White wax rhinestone picker pencil

I started off by painting my nails with two coats of white, and then two coats of neon yellow. The white base helps the neon pop! I did my topcoating strategy a little differently (read: poorly), but if I had it to do over again, I would have done a layer of quick dry topcoat next.

Then, using a slow drying clear polish as the glue, I stuck on the pieces of triangle glitter one by one. I basically worked in edges, painting a thin stripe of clear along one side of my nail, placing the glitter using the wax pencil, and repeating until the outline was complete. I used tweezers to attach the skull decals. At this point, if you were following my ideal topcoat strategy, you'd apply a final coat of topcoat to seal in the glitter and the decals.

There's no such thing as too much glitter, so be sure to check out my glitter manicures from years past!

• Wet N Wild Correction Tape
• Hand placed glitter party nails
• Midnight Mermaid glitter placement