Grumpy Cat Nails

Hey guys!

 

So its finals season...and grumpy can best describe how I feel about all this studying! So I just had to take a painting break :) The grumpy cat was inspired by @madamluck who did some Grumpy Cat nail art a couple weeks ago, except for the rest of my fingers I used Zoya 'Godiva' which was my first Zoya and my first textured polish ever. It has a beige base with silver glitter and in person it just looks like sparkly sand on your fingers. The Grumpy Cat was painted with acrylic paint, as most of my more detailed designs are :)

 

 

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Happy finals season!

Purple Textured Swatches

Hey guys!

 

So I have a huge collection of nail polish, but tons of it is textured polish (which is my absolute favorite) and there are so many different colors! So I'm gonna start doing a comparison between my textured polishes, and I'll start with the purples!

 

On my index finger is OPI 'Can't Let Go' which is a dark royal purple with larger chunks of glitter. The textured finish on this is a little rougher than the others I swatched. This bothers some people, but I love the textured feel. I only used two thin coats of polish here, but if you wanted it to be more textured, you could do three.

 

On my middle finger is Nicole by OPI 'I Lilac Gumdrops' which is a light lavender color with tiny silver glitter that adds a finer texture when dried. Three thin coats is all you need!

 

On my ring finger is one of my favorites, which is Zoya 'Stevie' from the Pixie Dust collection. This is just a bit lighter than 'I Lilac Gumdrops' and is a bit more textured as well. It also contains silver glitter that gives it a sparkly finish in sunlight. I used three thin coats to fully cover my nail.

 

Last but not least, on my pinky is Zoya 'Carter'. This definitely is one of my favorite Pixie Dust shades and I always get compliments when I wear it. The shade is a really bold royal purple but what really makes it stand out is the magenta glitter that makes it sparkle in any light. I only used two thin coats in the photo below.

 

 

Smiley Face Nails

Hey guys!

I saw +madamluck do a doodle on her thumb the other day just messing around with brush sizes, and I thought that it would make the perfect accent nail for this mani. So here is the usually elusive thumb shot :)

 

 

 

I started with a white base, and did all the black details with acrylic paint. I used Zoya 'Solange' for the yellow in the smileys, Zoya 'Miranda' for the tongue, and Zoya 'Chyna' for the heart eyes :)

 

I hope everyone has a very happy day today! :)

 

Watermarble Chesire Cat Nails

Hey guys! So recently I was messing around with watermarbling, and I came up with this happy mistake! When I was working with these colors they reminded me of Chesire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, so I saved one nail to paint his grin on (I used acrylic paint). The colors I used to marble were Fresh Paint 'Guava' and Wet n' Wild Megalast 'On a Trip'.

 

 

 

 

When watermarbling, I use room temperature filtered water in a Dixie cup. Some people use tap water, so its really trial and error to see what works best for you. The same goes with knowing which brands spread easier in the water, you kind of just have to try and see. Generally, thinner polishes work better. And I always paint my nails with a white base to make the colors stand out even more. I ended up with a few bubbles but that's okay because they still look cool and 3 AM is way too late to start all over ;)

 

 

Black Lace Nails

Hey guys! So lately I've been seeing a lot of amazing nail art around and I just have to try it for myself! This mani is a recreation of @badgirlnails lace nails and I really love how they came out!

 

The colors I used were OPI 'Bubble Bath' for the sheer pink, and Wet N' Wild 'Black Crème' for the black. To get the sheer black look on my accent nails, I dropped two drops of the Black Crème into a cup of room temperature, filtered water like you would for a watermarble, then dipped my nails to create the sheer black. I did some of the details with black acrylic paint, simply because its just easier to work with than polish. 

Gradient Tape Mani

Hey guys! So I saw this design on IG by @just1nail and I just had to try! I'm pretty sure she was inspired by someone else too, so I'm not entirely sure who to credit for this design. But really, its pretty basic so I don't even know that I need to credit anyone.

 

Anyway, all I did for this mani was paint a white base, then waited for it to dry before placing four pieces of striping tape on each finger. Next I built my gradient on a makeup sponge using two unnamed polishes I got for Christmas (a mint and a teal color), then sponged that over the tape and removed after I was happy with the coverage. This design was simple and I was able to squeeze it in that hour break between school and work (winning!)

Prank vs. Prank Nails!

Hey guys! So today is day 14 of nail art April and the theme is peeps. Although Peeps are one of my favorite candy, I really just didn't feel like painting them on my nails :P So what else comes to mind when I think of peeps? pvpeeps, of course! For those of you who don't know, Prank vs. Prank is a YouTube channel with Jesse Wellens and his girlfriend Jeana where they've been pranking each other since 2007. They also vlog their lives everyday on their other channel, BF vs. GF. My routine when I do my nails consists of listening to music and watching their vlog. So why not bring them to my nails?

I started with a base of Black Crème by Wet'n'Wild and hand painted the lettering with acrylic paint and a small nail art brush. For the triangles, I just taped my nails to make a triangle, painted a white base, let it dry, then taped just below the white to leave an edge, and painted 2 coats of Zoya Chyna.

 

 

 

Whaddddddup, Dope Fresh Nation?!

Mint Chevron Nails

Hey guys! :)

 

So I've been doing nail art for almost two years now, and this is the first time I've ever tried the ever popular chevron nails. These were for day 11 of nail art April, chevrons. They were super easy and fun to do!

 

 

 

To make the chevrons, I bought some office labels, and used some zig-zag craft scissors I already had (you can find them at your local craft store) and just cut out stickers that way. The labels work a lot better than scotch tape, because scotch tape tends to break in the middle when I try to remove it after I polish over it. Also, don't let your polish dry before you remove the stickers, because you will have peeling.

 

 

The colors I used are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet, OPI Alpine Snow, and OPI It's Frosty Outside.

Atlanta Braves Nails

Hey guys! So day 8 of nail art April this year is Favorite. Favorite what may you ask? Well I decided to do my favorite baseball team, obviously the Atlanta Braves!

 

The colors I used were Zoya Sunshine for the base, Zoya Chyna for the red lettering, OPI Alpine Snow for the white outline, and Zoya Solange for the detailing on the tomahawk.

 

Happy baseball season!

Landscape Nails

Hey guys! So day 5 of nail art April was weather, but I didn't wanna do a cloud mani, or a lightning mani, orrrrr a raindrop mani, so I figured I'd do a nice sunset :) Not that loose of an interpretation right?

I got my inspiration from a picture taken by my boyfriend's sister from Lake Chatuge in North Carolina. Look how beautiful!

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results. I started with a white base then I used acrylic paints for the gradient and the detailing. I started from the farthest object, being the mountains and trees, and worked towards the end of my nail from there.

Autism Acceptance Nails

Hey guys! So I'm a day late for National Autism Awareness day, but the whole month of April is dedicated to this cause so instead of awareness, I decided to focus on acceptance. Its easy to be aware of something, but acceptance is a choice. Why should you care about autism acceptance? About 1 in 88 people are autistic- you probably know one yourself.

 

I got these next bits of information from www.firstsigns.org and http://www.autismacceptancemonth.com/ where you can find lots of more information <3

Autism is an umbrella term for a wide spectrum of disorders, sometimes referred to as “Pervasive Developmental Disorders” or “Autism Spectrum Disorders.” The term “spectrum” is crucial to understanding autism, because of the wide range of intensity, symptoms and behaviors, types of disorders, and as always, considerable individual variation. Children with autism spectrum disorders may be non-verbal and asocial, as in the case of many with “classic” autism, or Autistic Disorder. On the other end of the spectrum are children with a high-functioning form of autism characterized by idiosyncratic social skills and play, such as Asperger Syndrome. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), these diagnostic categories are outlined under the heading of “Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs).” In the DSM-IV, these disorders are defined by deficits in three core areas: social skills, communication, and behaviors and/or interests. Types of autism spectrum disorders, or PDDs, include:

• Autistic Disorder
• Asperger Syndrome
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
• Rett Syndrome
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)

So here are my autism acceptance nails for day 1 #nailartapr- autism <3 Its great seeing how many people have gone blue for autism awareness month! I used OPI Liquid Sand Kiss Me at Midnight for the textured polish, Zoya PixieDusts for the umbrella spectrum, and Revlon Dreamer for the blue base under the light bulb design that was handpainted.

 

 

<3 <3 <3