Sweet & Simple Sunday: Fall Flowers

Good day, my lovelies! Today is another Sweet & Simple design, and may be the last one for a while. I am moving soon and will not have a computer for most of the month of December while I get everything sorted out here and fly to another part of the world! So, posting will be rather sporadic until January. Please bear with me and my mini-hiatus! I'll have more time to spend on the blog once I get settled in my new home :)

At the moment, though, I have an easy but SO CUTE design for you. All you need are three polishes and something to make dots with. I chose an autumn-inspired colour palette for these cute fall flowers!

Mix up the colours to match any season, or any outfit!

Easy enough, eh? First choose your background colour. Mine is OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest. Such a gorgeous brown/plummy shade :)

Next, choose your flower petal colour, and make dots in a circle of four or five per cluster, like so (mine are done with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow):

Finally, choose a shade for the centres--I used Soulstice Spa's Buenos Aires--and put one dot in the middle of each cluster to finish off your flowers!

Make sure to let it dry for a while before adding your favourite topcoat! I didn't wait long enough on my right hand, and some of the red dots smeared a little :( It's still really cute though, especially at a normal viewing distance!

Please excuse the small finger off in the corner there. I broke that finger when I was a kid and it's been wonky ever since, lol.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you try this design--I'd love to see it.

I'm sure I will post at least a time or two between now and January, but I know I'll be a busy girl getting things wrapped up here and transitioning to the new place. Take care, have a great holiday season, and I'll see you for a glitterier-than-ever 2014! xoxo

Sweet & Simple Sunday: Two-Toned French

Good afternoon! After two weekends away, I am finally back with another Sweet & Simple design for you. You just need two polishes, ideally a creme shade and a shimmer or metallic shade. I chose Wet 'N Wild Black Creme and a polish I want to spotlight today--Darling Diva Bohemian Rhapsody.

The little stars aren't necessary! I just added them because they were cute and went well with the French manicure design :) But how gorgeous is that polish? :D

The two-tone French design is really simple and self-explanatory, but looks really striking and much more interesting to look at than a normal single-coloured one. Just paint a deep french tip with your creme base first. Even if you have short nails, this is still a cute look--paint the tip about halfway down. If your line isn't perfect, don't worry! You can clean it up with a cotton bud dipped into polish remover (this is easier to do before the polish dries). Even if you can't get it perfectly straight, it still looks great from afar. You can see my wibbly lines in this close-up shot, but from a normal viewing distance it seems perfect ;)

Once the base has dried, use your shimmery or metallic polish to paint about 2/3 of the painted tip, leaving 1/3 as an accent stripe of sorts. To clean up this line, remover would obviously mess things up, so instead you can use a bit of your previous colour to fix any mistakes. Grab a toothpick and dip it into your creme shade to get in close if you want to be more precise.

Once that's dry, add your topcoat and you're done! (Or you can add a cute accent of a sticker, rhinestone, or shape if you happen to have some, like I did. Just put a second layer of topcoat over it all if you do this!)

Now let's talk a bit about my second shade. Bohemian Rhapsody is an absolutely stunning polish that has it all. Multichromatic, shimmery, and linear holographic? Be still my heart! Darling Diva has lots of great shades, but I think she's really outdone herself with this one. It primarily looks silvery-sage-green in the bottle, but shifts to a stronger silver and sometimes a lilac. I never would have thought to do a holo-duochrome polish! It's just beautiful.

Here it is looking more silver..

Look at it glow ^_^

Bohemian Rhapsody is still available, along with a few other polishes like it but in different shades. You should check them out! She is based in the US, but does ship internationally.

Well, I hope you liked this design, and that you'll give it a try and spice up a plain French. Here's an idea--if you're already wearing a white tip, try adding a pop of colour over it like this when the tipwear starts to show. It adds some more interest and prolongs the life of your manicure!

Have a great week, and I'll see you next time! xoxo

Sweet & Simple Sunday: Lacy Nails!

Greetings, my friends, and welcome to another Sweet & Simple Sunday! Today I will show you how to create a simple lace-like design!

Not the greatest pic... Will explain later ;) but you get the idea!

These are very delicate and eye-catching, especially at a normal viewing distance. You will need two colours of nail polish and something to make dots with (dotting tool, toothpick with a flat back, hairpin, blunt pencil, ballpoint pen, a twig you found outside... anything works)! I think this looks lovely with any base colour + white for the lace, but you could also go racy with a nude base and black lace! Use your imagination, and let's get this party started.

Whatever you decide, begin by painting your nails with your base colour. I'm using one of those little 99c bottles you can find at chemists/drugstores. It's Petites #129 Rock N Red.

fanciest pic on Glittericity evar

Once that is completely dry, use your lace colour (mine is Orly Pointe Blanche) to paint about half your nail. This doesn't have to be perfect, because we're going to cover up the line in the next step:

So far so good, amirite?

Next, grab your dot-making-thingy and create a row of large-ish dots going down the middle of the line, creating a scalloped edge, like so:

Boom, action shot :D

Allow this to dry, then repeat the steps with your base colour. Make slightly smaller dots in the middle of the ones you just did. I happened to have two different sizes of dotting tool, but you can use the same one as before--just do not press down quite as far each time and the dot will come out a bit smaller:

Fancy, eh? This red and white would be sweet for Christmas or Valentines Day!

And there you have it. Lace nails!

It was about this time that my red polish fell off the table. I freaked out, managed to grab it before it made a mess on the carpet... but totally smudged this design beyond repair. So I did not get to topcoat it and take a "pretty" end photo for you. Topcoating will smooth out any bumpiness and really bring the design out--the last dots you added will not stand out as much and it will look more like a piece of lace--but I didn't get to show you >.< Take my word for it, and try it!

As always, I hope you enjoyed this post, and that you will give this design a try. It is relatively quick and, depending on the colours you use, can be demure and ladylike or totally funky and badass! If you try this one, please show me on the Facebook page :) Have a great week, and I'll see you next time! 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

Sweet & Simple Sunday: Autumn-Inspired "Oil Painting" Brushstroke Nails!

Good day and welcome! Today we have another look that's simple to create, yet looks really cool! I've seen it around the internet (on Chalkboard Nails and Gorgeois that I can recall), called 'abstract brushstroke' or 'dry brush' nails. I think the effect is like an oil painting, so that's what I'm going with!

abstract pile of leaves?

You will need a handful of colours that look good together. I used five, but I think the more the merrier! (Gorgeois used twelve for her neon brushstroke mani!) I wanted an autumn colour palette, so I chose:

Zoya Nidhi (shimmery red)
OPI A Woman's Prague-ative (shimmery burnt orange, bottle shown above)
Color Club Daisy Does It (shimmery yellow)
OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest (shimmery brown/dark purple)
Zoya Ivanka (shimmery green)

First, start by painting your nails fully with the lightest colour. I actually did not do this--I used a nude base--and the result was less warm than I wanted, with bare bits still showing. I don't mind too much, but I think it looks better with Daisy Does It as the base. See where I tested this on a nail wheel:

there IS a difference...

Then, just take your other polishes--start with darkest, wipe off most of the polish from the brush, and make a few quick, small strokes here and there on the nail. Repeat with the other colours, going from dark to the light again, overlapping them in places so you end up with a lot of different shades as they mix together! I took a few "progress pics"...

 

 

Repeat until you are satisfied with the coverage and colour balance. I had to go over the orange a few times, as it was the most sheer (yet I wanted it to be the main one!), but it shouldn't get too thick. Remember, you are only using a very small amount of polish at a time.

Once you are happy with it, time to clean up! As you can see, it gets a bit messy by the end. I used a cotton bud dipped into acetone to clean up around the edges, and then a small stiff brush to get in closer. This is just personal preference--I like a fairly clean cuticle. Seal with topcoat, and you're done! (I chose Seche Vite topcoat.)

Shiny!

I like how this has such a painterly effect. Reminds me of those heavily-textured oil paintings. :)

The thumb.. I like this one best.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that you'll give the design a try! See you next time xoxo

Sweet & Simple Sunday: Tone-on-Tone Dotted Nails

Buenos días, amigos :D  Welcome to another Sweet & Simple Sunday. I'm Amanda, and I'll be your hostess. Today's manicure features some pretty dots!

For today's easy yet eye-catching design, you'll need three things: two polishes (ideally, in the same or similar colour, but different finishes... however, this would look cute with contrasting colours too) and something pointy with which to make dots. This can be anything... a toothpick, a ball-point pen, a blunt pencil, the back of a makeup or paintbrush, the little rounded end of a bobby/hair pin... just look around, I guarantee you'll find something!

Paint on your base colour first. I chose Orly Charged Up, a basic purple creme. Application is a bit tricky and I needed three coats for it to be opaque and not patchy. Allow this to dry.

Then take your second colour (mine is Color Club Eternal Beauty--awesome purple holo!), and either dab a bit onto a piece of scratch paper and dip in your dot-making-tool, or paint it directly onto said tool (first method works better though), and make one dot right above your cuticle, in the middle. So far so good, right? Then paint a few more dots in a row right above it. For my length, a good number was three--one at the cuticle, one in the centre of the nail, and one near the tip. It will depend on the length of your nails and the size of your dots, but when you finish you should have a line of dots going down the middle of your nail.

Then move over beside this line, and make a dot to the right and halfway between two of your middle-row dots. Carry on in this manner to make another row there, and on the left side of the centre row as well, spacing them out roughly the same. The nice thing about this design is that it's fairly easy to get right--and even if it isn't totally perfect, it still looks cute!

Once your nail is covered with dots, allow it to dry really well before sealing with topcoat. (If you don't wait, your topcoat might drag the dots and cause streaks--decidedly less cute!--so make sure it's dry first!) I used Orly Sec 'N Dry.

Indoors, no flash. Skintone looks weird but you can see that the two shades are fairly similar. I probably should have used a lighter base to get the look I was going for, but it still looks pretty!

Another with flash :) pity there was no sun on the days I wore this--it would have been gorgeous!

And last, a super-bright pic I took with my phone. Not the best, but I loved how bright-rainbowy the dots look!

So there you have it, an easy yet cute design that's sure to get some attention from your friends. If you try it out, please show me on my Facebook page!

Thanks for visiting today. See you next time! xoxo

Sweet & Simple Sunday: OPI Textured French

Good day my lovelies! Today I have a couple of quick announcements before I show you the manicure. I'll be quick!

First, as you perhaps noticed by the banner on the right, Glittericity now has a Facebook page! Follow me here to get blog update notifications in your news feed, plus the odd NOTD (Nails of the Day) now and then. It's also where I will share news about giveaways, contests, etc that I come across in the nail blogging community, so you can enter and maybe win too!

Also, today will be the first installment of what I hope will be a weekly feature: Sweet & Simple Sunday. I get a lot of questions about the nail art I do, and quite often the reaction once I explain is, "I could never do that, I don't have all the tools you do" or "I don't have the time/money to invest in something like that". On Sundays I will showcase simple designs that do not need special tools and do not take long to create, but still look great!

Now then, let's get on with it. I picked up a set of 4 mini-bottles from the OPI Bond Girls collection a couple of weeks ago:

As soon as I saw the pink and white ones, I knew what I wanted to do: a textured twist on a classic French!

Pearly and elegant :D Outdoors in sunlight.

Pussy Galore is the lovely pearly pink, and Solitaire is the pearl white with sparse silver glitter. They take a few coats to be opaque (2-3 depending on application) and I didn't want it to be too thick, so I started with a quick base of similar pink and white: Revlon #911 Pink Chiffon and Ulta Snow White. This doesn't have to be fully opaque, nor does the tip line have to be neat--it's just a base for the textured polishes.

Then I carefully painted Pussy Galore onto the pink area, stopping at the line. You want to go slowly with this part, because the trick to the nice smooth line and keeping the same thickness along the whole length of the nail is not to have any overlap of the colours. Once that dried, I added Solitaire over the white. It is quite easy to do this neatly with the polish brush, especially with these OPI Pro-Wide brushes. You can lay the bristles flat and let it create the line for you! The textured polish makes this easier as well: since you aren't going to get a "crisp" line no matter what you do, it's very forgiving.

No topcoat, of course. :)

With their bottles! Inside with flash.

And inside without flash. The texture shows up nicely here.

I couldn't not pose with this pink and white rose-scented sachet! Just too cute.

Annnnd one more, blurry on the thumb and index finger, so you can see the sparkle!

I hope you enjoyed this one, and maybe you'll give it a try! If you do, show me over on the Facebook page :) See you next time! xoxo