Peacock Tail Feather Nails

Hullo! It's December! And for the first time in my life, I'm experiencing a hot holiday season. It feels so weird to me! But December means I start doing Christmas manis, and if you think I'm going to let some 40C weather stop me from painting snowflakes all over my nails, you should think again! ;)

I'm working on my first Christmas mani as we speak, but first I have to show you one I wore last week using another of my new piCture pOlish shades: Tail Feather!

Mint Apple Blossoms

Hullo! Today's manicure was partially inspired by the names of one of the polishes... but mostly because I really wanted to paint flowers :)

And I just happen to have a tea towel that matches it perfectly--what are the odds?

Luxe Mint & Coral

hullo hullo :)

Here is a pretty mint-and-coral swirled design with a luxurious accent nail!

Indoors with flash

The base for all nails is the gorgeous Sinful Colors Mint Apple. A creamy mint polish with lovely shimmer and a wonderful formula, it's one I recommend any day of the week.

After the first coat was dry, I set to work on the accent nail! I used the flakie polish shown above--China Glaze Luxe And Lush (hence the title of this post). Big chunky iridescent pieces in a clear base--it's awesome! I painted two coats, and then used an orange stick to pick out individual pieces to fill in the gaps, as I wanted the entire nail to be fully covered in opalescent flakes.

Outdoors in sun, kinda. It was rather overcast today but I caught a few rays :)

For the rest of the nails, I placed a few small drops of Mint Apple as well as a drop or two of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet--a orangey-coral creme that picks up the peachy tone in the flakies really well. (They photographed more pink than peach, but they're closer in colour-family in real life.) I used a small striping brush to swirl these drops together gently to create a marbled look without having to do water-marbling. Learned this technique from Robin Moses!

Outdoors in shade

It's all topcoated first with Maya's Smoothing Coat for Glitter, and then Seche Vite on top for quick-drying shine.

I need to use this marbling technique more often! I actually quite enjoy water-marbling, but this is much easier and less messy. I also think I need to do an entire manicure of flakie mint nails like that--how pretty did those come out?!

Hope you enjoyed today's design. Come back soon for more! xoxo

Sweet & Simple Sunday: Braid Your Nails!

...OK, not really. Because that would be weird.

Good day! Welcome to another Sweet & Simple Sunday, where I will show you how to create a unique and fun nail design--no special tools or crazy skills necessary! Just some nail polish and a bit of time. Today, grab three colours and get ready to create a fun braided look!

:)

I originally wore this look with three holo polishes (Color Club Beyond, Kismet, and Miss Bliss), and while it looked really pretty, it's so shiny and rainbowy that it was hard to show the design steps clearly! See?

I love it though :D

So, I have recreated with pastels to show you. Sometimes called a "fishtail" manicure, this braided look just consists of simple strokes with the brush that comes in the bottle. It is MUCH easier if your colours are opaque and cover each other in one coat (although it isn't necessary--only one of mine in this tutorial worked well for coverage... you just have to go over the stroke twice).

So here we go! I'm using Zoya Darcy (yellow), Color Club She's Sooo Glam (pink) and Sinful Colors Mint Apple (mint). Start out by painting one coat of your lightest colour as a base. If you need a second coat, go for it, but you really only have to concentrate at the base 1/4 or so of your nail. That's the only part that will actually be left showing. Allow that to dry, then make one diagonal stroke going in one direction at about 45 degrees with your second colour...

Looks Eastery, doesn't it?

...and once that dries, another going in the opposite direction a little farther down. It should so far look like this bottom image.

Let this dry before moving on. (Honestly, this is the part that takes the longest with this design. Waiting for each layer to dry. Do this manicure while you're sitting around watching your favourite TV program or sports team!) Then take your original colour--in my case, the yellow--and make another stroke parallel to the stroke you made with the second colour, right underneath it and overlapping the third. Continue going through in order...

Ta-da!

Once you get to the end, of course, let everything dry before sealing with a topcoat. This will smooth out the surface and prolong the life of your manicure.

This is definitely a more time-consuming design, so I suggest wearing it as an accent nail, and painting the rest of your nails with one of the shades you used in the braid. Or go crazy and wear all of the other colours on different nails :D Or, you know, go REALLY crazy and do it on all your fingers to really catch folks' eyes!

No matter how you decide to wear it, I hope you'll give this braided/fishtail look a try. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you next time! xoxo

Mint Manis for Talia

Hello. Pardon the break in the Alphabet Challenge, but today I have a very special post. I am a bit late getting this up, but I couldn't not participate in such a special dedication.

On July 16th, the world lost a beautiful girl called Talia Joy Castellano.

Talia was only 13, but had been battling two rare and dangerous forms of cancer for years--neuroblastoma and preleukemia. Despite that, she ran a wonderful YouTube channel dedicated not only to her amazing talent with beauty (makeup, nail art, etc) but to sharing her experiences with cancer, chemotherapy, and the other treatments and how they affected her. She was frank, honest, mature, and thoughtful well beyond her years, and got so much attention that she got to meet one of her idols, Ellen Degeneres, on the show--and was made an honourary Cover Girl. I get all teary every time I watch the video! :')

Talia was a beautiful, sweet, talented, and inspiring girl and has touched millions of hearts the world over as she shared her life with us (and her makeup tips... that girl had more talent for makeup in her pinky than I'll ever have). The last Instagram photo she posted was a photo of her, her mother, and her friend's hands, all wearing matching mint-coloured manicures. So in her honour... #MintManisForTaliaJoy.

Joy is the perfect name for this sweet little soul.

I used one generous coat of Orly Halo (fitting, isn't it?), the bottle shown in the photo. Atop that is one coat of NYC Nail Glossies #241, a shimmery mint/teal colour. It's very sheer and hard to wear alone, but perfect for a "jelly sandwich" look like this. With the fine gold and silver glitters, and the shimmer, the pale blue sparkles.. I think it is a very ethereal and heavenly look.

As for the angel... first I stamped with the wings from Bundle Monster plate BM-310 and Konad white, but the image is too thin and delicate to really show up against the glittery background. So I used it as a guide, and with my white striper, carefully drew in the body, dress, and made the wings fuller. A rhinestone for the head, and the white striper again for the tiny halo. Topcoated with Orly Sec 'N Dry.

Rest in peace, Talia. You may be gone, but you will never be forgotten. xoxo


(please see the other dedications below)