Day 267 - Barbie

As promised, todays post was a fun challenge. I love Barbie, as a kid I was a little bit of a tom boy and wasnt really into Barbie Dolls. I did not appreiate the fabulousness that is Barbie until I was older. Lately I have seen tons of barbie nail designs, I think its beause it's the 50th anniversary?? But either way I felt inspired to jump on the band wagon.

 

I started with a barbie pink polish Dance Baby from China Glaze's Electropop collection. Ever since I picked this up it has reminded me of barbie nails. On the ring finger I pressed loose salmon glitter from young nails into the polish and added some star and glitter embellishments to the other fingers. The design was painted using Instant artist Beige, Crisp White, Pastel Pink, Rose, Sky Blue, Jet Black, Sunshine and Chocolate

 

These nails definitely make up for the years I thought I was a boy!

 

Day 266 - Simple Swirl Flowers

This post is very simple, if you have a some what steady hand and a black striping paint you can definitely do this! The base color is a custom mix of China Glaze Fly and Bridezilla.Then using by Instant Artist Jet Black paint I painted random swirls across the nails. to finish the design I painted stems and leaves. super easy!! I promise something a little more exciting tomorrow

 

Day 265 - Makeup

I wasn't sure what to paint today, so I dumped out my makeup bag and started painting, it reminded me of high school art class with the random object sitting in the middle of the table as a model.

 

I'm not too sure what the base color is. Its a random no name I found in my house. It worked good for the design though, a nice neutral shade. The design was painted with a combo of polish, acrylic paint and Instant artist paints. Even though you haven't seen my makeup kit I wanted to make sure the colors were accurate. I'm  all about the minor details.

 

Day 264 - Baby Giraffe

I had a follower request a giraffe, she was having a baby shower and her theme was blue and baby giraffes. I loved the theme so I took it for my nails.

 

I started with my favorite pastel turquoise polish China Glaze Aquadellic. For the design I used Instant Artist paints Beige, chocolate, Crisp White, Jet Black and 24K glitter.

 

I am really happy with this design, it combines two things I love, animal print and baby animals :)

 

Day 263 - Nailed Daily Grafitti

I've been wanting to try grafitti nail for ever. Today I gave it a go and I ould not be happier!

 

This design was all about the colors! I started with China Glaze's Purple Panic, its an awesome neon shade. For the design I used acrylic paints. I started with purple painting out the words Nailed Daily, next I outlined it with white. using a neon pink paint I added in the fade at the top of each letter. I felt like it still needed more color, so I outlined it again with bright blue, ton finish the design I painted in some shine marks and highlights on the letters. I wasnt sure what to do on the thumb, so I went with a matching drip design.

 

If it was up to me, I would never take of this design, breaks my heart!

 

Day 261 - Tinkerbell French

Today I was so excited when one of my cousins came in and wanted Tinkerbell on her nails. A while back I did a full Tinkerbell design that spread over 5 full nails, I have fun painting these designs but they are not practical for everyday wear since they look silly when you separate your fingers. So of course I loved the idea of doing a modified version that my clients could wear, plus Tink is my absolute fave and I would gladly paint her on a 100 different designs.

I started with a gel polish french using a light purple shade, next I pressed the loose glitter into the tip completely covering the french. Using a green acrylic paint I painted a thin stripe along the smile line to give it that Tinkerbell look, then to top it off I painted in some random pixie dust.  On the ring finger I painted the partial Tinkerbell face using Orly Instant Artist in Beige, Hot Yellow, Chocolate, Sky Blue, Fiery Red, Crisp White and Jet Black

I am really happy I got to do this one and turns out, I like it way more than the original. It's really fun but also very wearable.

Day 260 - Virgo

I am sure it comes as no surprise that I am doing Virgo nails, I usually do the zodiac signs within the first few days of that sign. To be honest I was hoping to put it off, but I decided to just bite the bullet. If you read my blog you know there is nothing I hate more than painting people, this was one of a few signs I was absolutely dreading.

 

Virgo is an earth sign so I went with earthy tones for the design, I painted the nails with this amazing golden olive green metallic polish (another one from my new bohemian collection)  Virgo was painted using my Green Grass So Easy Stripe Rite paint and then the symbol was painted with Instant artist Beige with a coat of solid gold on top. Next I outline it all in black then white like I usually do for all the signs. Finally the dreaded thumb where I had to paint the virgin maiden...surprisingly it was not as horrible as I had built it up in my head. I pulled up some Virgo images on google and kinda combined a few of them sticking with the same color scheme. I noticed in a lot of the images she was holding some sort of plant, unfortunately the pictures were black and white so I really have no idea what it was supposed to be. But since I did the Virgo in green I decided to go with a green plant, which kinda turned out like a beam sprout. I am almost 100% sure that's not what its supposed to be but what can you do? After all my stress about this design I can't really say much if that is my only complaint.

 

 

Polish: China Glaze Rare & Radient

Day 259 - Monkey Around

Tonight I decided to check another one off my never ending list of requests. A Instagram follower of mine asked for monkey nails and I decided to do it today to go with my new metallic green polish.

 

The color is one from the new Bohemian Collection from China Glaze. I just could not resist and had to buy them all. they were far to pretty to leave one behind. I usually despise green polish but I would even wear this color. I searched google for some monkey inspiration and fount all sorts of cute cartoon monkeys, these ones were my favorite.  The design was painted Using Orly instant Artist Paints in Hot Green, Chocolate, Beige, Hot Yellow, Crisp White and then outlined with Jet Black.

 

 I had tons of painting this one, I love painting animals and I think monkeys in paticular are super cute!

 

 

Polish: China Glaze Unpredictable

Day 258 - Tropical Abstract and Flowers

I think I celebrated my birthday a little too much,  I have been slacking big time on my blog ...again! To be honest it was not all about me, this weekend I had a wedding to attend and my grandmother's 80th birthday. To top it all off I am moving next weekend so that has made everything a little bit crazier.

 

This design I did on one of my coworkers a few days ago, it's a combo of a couple designs I have done in the past. I started off with a new set of acylics, where I applied a purple glitter fade. Next I painted the abstract print using Orly Instant Artist in Jet Black and Hot Pink. On the ring finger and thumb I wanted to go with a 3D flower. these were made using my favorite mold and some neon pink acryic. Once the flowers were almost dry I removed them and glued them to the nails. In the centre of each nail I added a little black line to give it some definition.

 

These nails are definitely something I would wear, it has the three elements I like in my nails; glitter, 3D and super bright. I actually really struggled to get a decent photo because there was so much glitter and they are so neon.

 

 

Day 257 - 28 Birthday Candles

For my birthday I decided to treat myself to a really cute but very simple design. I love painting my nails, but really did not want to spend the entire evening painting an elaborate design. so I decided to go with 28 candles since it is my 28th birthday.

 

I'll start off by saying thank god I am not a year or two older, I snuck in that last candle just by a hair and there is no way I could have fit a 29th. For this design I wanted to go with a shade that was almost black, you can barely tell since the color is so dark but it is Lincoln Park After Dark, it is so close to black that I thought why bother, but at this point I was committed so I continued on. I painted the candles using 5 shades of Instant Artist paint, in order I used Hot Pink, Grape, Hot Blue, Hot Orange and Hot Green. Next using platinum I painted a wick on each candle and added in  horizontal stripes going down each one.Using Hot yellow and Solid Gold I painted in the flame and then outlined everything in black to clean up my lines.

 

These were fun but honestly I dont love them as much as I thought I would, but thats ok, they were cute enough for the day. 

 

 

A

Day 256 - Map of the World

 

This is another request from one of my fabulous Instagram followers, she asked me to do a map of the world. For this design I wanted to go with an old world map look.

 

This one is really easy to explain. I started with this plain beigey grey tone, then using my Chocolate Instant Artist paint I painted in the continents. I went from a picture on google and I really struggled with the proportions. Obviously a lot is missing, especially the further east I go but you get the idea. Even though this looks pretty simple, I found it really challenging. Once the map was painted I wanted to give it a slightly aged look so i added some color around the outside. I used a metallic olive green and applied it a little section at a time, then using my finger I disbursed the color giving it a rough sponged look.

 

As mentioned before I am very critical on the proportions, but overall I think it looks pretty good at first glance.

 

 

 

Polish: OPI Skull and Glossbones and China Glaze Rare and Radient

Day 255 - Acrylic Inlay

On the weekend we had a photoshoot at the salon where I work and I did the nails and makeup. This specific set as one of my favorites so I decided to use it for today's post. The theme we were going for was a peacock theme. I have painted a couple peacock designs already so I decided to go in a completely different direction with it.

I started with four custom blended shades of colored acrylic, a royal blue, teal, purple and gold. I started with a diagonal strip of purple then while the acrylic was still wet I added the purple hexagon glitters (aka glequins) Next I applied a gold stripe going across the centre of the design, keeping it heavier at the tip fading downward. In the remaining corner I faded the royal blue into the teal and applied the color coordinating glequins. I then capped everything in clear acrylic to seal in the inlay. To finish of the design I painted the black lines.

I think these turned out great for the shoot, I added a picture below.

Day 254 - Domo-Kun

This was another request I received last week...people keep sending them so I might be doing requests until the end of the year. But dont get me wrong, I love it! my life has not been easier, I dont have to struggle to come up with and idea anymore, I just pop over to the list and pick one that seems fun. So the winner for today is my follower that requested Domo nails, he's super cute and better yet he is really easy to paint.

I'm obsessed with the color combo of brown and turquoise, it's the color scheme of pretty much every room in my house. So when I was trying to pick a base color, naturally I went with this light turquoise polish. I have seen tons of Domo nails done with a brown polish over the entire nail and the just the face painted on like I did with the middle finger. I wanted to be a little bit different so I painted Domo in various poses and sizes to mix it up a bit. The colors I used were Instant Artist Chocolate, Fiery Red, Crisp White and Jet Black.

I am not overly familiar with this character but I think he looks really cute on my nails!

Polish:  China GlazeAquadelic

Day 253- Unicorn

What a crazy couple days...Even though I have done 253 blog posts I still am very new to blogging, a few days ago I discovered through some of my amazing followers that my photos were being used by other people in contests and all over Instagram without giving me any credit. It is 100% my fault, I am completely naive and believed people didn't do those kinds of things, so I never bothered to watermark my photos...well long story short for the last three days I have been going the pictures from my blog and watermarking them, I'm not close to done but hopefully get everything switched over by the end of the week. It's a huge pain in the butt, but I definitely learnt my lesson.

Now on to what you came here for, today's blog post.  This without a doubt is my favorite request to date. One of my Instagram followers asked if I would paint a unicorn design and I could not wait to do this.

I started with a nice purple glitter french. It's from the Prismatic Chroma collection, China Glaze makes the best glitter polishes, in one coat they are almost completely opaque but the problem is they get crazy thick very quickly. Every time I see a client shaking the bottle filling it with air  I am crying inside. This purple I have had for a little while but have only used it a couple times, I've been saving it for a special design. Well today's was that day. I  knew this design  needed a fun sparkly background and this polish was perfect. The unicorn was painted using Instant Artist paints, I used Beige for the horse, Solid Gold and 24k Glitter for the horn and for the mane I used Hot Pink, Hot Yellow, Hot Blue and Grape. Everything was outlined with Jet Black and I finished off with some tiny flowers.

This design will break my heart to remove, I love it!

Polish: China Glaze Full Spectrum

Day 253 - The Smurfs

The other day I got a request for Smurfs and I was really pumped to jump into this design, I loved smurfs growing up and when I do these designs it totally takes me back to my childhood.

 

For the polish I used a neon sparkly blue, China Glazes Blue Sparrow. I think its from last years summer neon's collection.  For the Smurfs I had to custom blend the perfect shade, to do this I used three different acrylic paints. The rest of the design was painted using Instant Artist Crisp White, Sunshine, Fiery Red and Jet Black

 

I think these are one of my favorites this month! I love them!!

 

Day 252 - Bridal Nails

I have not posted any bridal nails on my blog, so today's post is my most recent set. Usually brides like a nice clean French but I think this is a lot more fun. Definitely makes me wish I had gone a little crazier with my nails on my wedding day.

The french was done with Gelish. Over the white tip I painted a coat of Champagne to make the white a little softer and add some sparkle. Next I painted a silver glittery line along the smile line of each nail. For this design I was going for major bling, so I used three sizes of Swarovski crystals and these awesome 3D embellishments I picked up at a nail booth at the Richmond Night Market. I placed the stones in different arrangements each nail. For the ring finger I glued the piece down and then secured it to the nail with a little bit of acrylic.

I love these nails!!! They are slightly blinding between the crystal and glitter, but in my opinion nails can never be too glitzy!

Day 251- One Direction

I have had a few followers request One Direction nails over the last few months. I am not going to lie, I have been putting it off for ever because I am not a fan...please don't leave angry comments or stop following!! Lol! I do not dislike one direction, I'm just not crazy about them. But there is still hope for me, it took about 2 years before I jumped on the Justin Beiber band wagon, so who knows it could still happen...

My nails are super short right now so I was a little bit limited on my design. I decided to paint the names of the guys over three of the five fingers. On the middle finger I painted the two flags and on the thumb I painted I heart 1D. With the exception of the blue, all the paints I used were Instant Artist, the colors are Crisp White, Jet Black, Fiery Red, Hot Orange, Hot Green, Grape, Pink Pastel and Dark Purple. I think these turned out pretty cute, I personally wouldn't wear them after today, but I'm sure lots would.

Day 250 - Alice in Wonderland

Still on my mission to complete all the requests, I thought I would tackle one of the more challenging ones, Alice in Wonderland.

I though I was keeping it simple by not actually painting each character, instead I just painted enough so you could tell which character I was portraying but not have to go into full detail. Either way this one was definitely difficult.I hope it Is not too busy and you can tell what everything is, if not here's a quick rundown...On the thumb I painted a tea set and the "eat me" cookies that make her grow. On the index finger I painted the pocket watch with the ears of the rabbit. The middle finger is a shrunken Alice holding the bottle labelled "drink me". I painted the Chesire Cat, a mushroom and a butterfly on the ring finger. Finally the pinky finger is the Mad Hatter's Hat. I think I pretty much used every color in my nail art kit, I really cannot begin to list off every thing I used, i can tell you it was a combo of nail art paints, instant artist and acrylic craft paint. These did take a little longer than expected but it was well worth it, I am very happy with the outcome!

Day 249 - Nike Jordans

Today's design was another of many great requests I have received over the last couple days, a follower of mine asked me to do sone Nike nails. I just happen to have a crazy obsession over bright colored Nike high tops so of course I had to match my nails to my newest pair.

To get a base color that matched the shoes was definitely a challenge,but  after numerous failed attempts I think I finally got it close. The part I enjoyed matching was the printed material under the swoosh, for this I painted the shapes in black and gave the whole thing a coat of pearl nail polish. The paints I used for this design were Instant Artist Jet Black, Crisp White and Grape. The glittery polish usded for the shoe laces is Stripe Rite Purple Glitter. Overall I think the turned out really good.
 

Day 248 - Rainbows

Today is a double post day since I am trying to catch up from the last couple weeks. This design was another request from one of my followers, at first I was unsure if I should do it so close to pride since I painted rainbow nails only a week ago. But these are actual rainbows and very different from the striped nails I had done before, so I decided to forward and do it.

For this design I wanted to go with the combination of matte and glossy, I thought it would make the rainbows really pop against the blue. I started by painting my rainbows, the paints used in order are; Fiery Red, Hot Orange, Hot Yellow, Hot Green, Hot Blue and Grape (all Instant Artist) next I painted in the little white clouds in the corner of each nail. To finish it off I went over just the rainbow and cloud with China Glaze Patent Leather Top Coat, I really like how this effect turned out! These are super cute and another great suggestion!

Day 247 - Tribal Tattoo

I have been kinda stuck for ideas lately so I decided to post on instagram that I was in need of some inspiration, right away all sorts of great ideas popped up. I am trying to do them all, and tribal is the first request.

This is really quite easy, I started with a really neutral bronze, I wanted to find a color that was similar to skin tone but also had a metallic. This polish was perfect! So I had something to reference, I pulled up images of tribal tattoos on google. Then using my Jet Black Instant Artist I painted in the design. I finished the whole thing off with a matte top coat to give it a tattoo look. I am really happy with these nails and cannot wait to try some of the other requests.

Day 246 - Hair Salon

Today's post is inspired by the salon that I work at Trendz Hair Studio, It's where I started my nail career. I did leave for a few years but I have been back for a little while now renting a table and I have never been happier. And to top it all off I am working along side my sister-in-law who is my hair stylist. Today when I was completely stumped for an idea, she suggested the idea of painting random hair stuff such as scissors, combs, etc. I thought it was a pretty cool idea, so I gladly gave it a go.

I decided to go with the color that matched the business cards so I painted the nails in this bright green matte polish. The rest of the design was painted using my Instant Artist Jet Black,. To get inspiration for the design I just went off some images I found on google for salon clip art. once the design was fully painted I was totally feeling the matte look so I finished it off with my Orly matte top coat.

  

No difference between the first and second shot, just decided to add in a shameless plug for my sister-in-law, she's an awesome stylist and I promote her wherever I can

Polish: Zoya Mitzi

Day 245 - Leopard Print, Chains and Crystals

Today's post is my nails from Vegas. A lot of the clothes I was packing were blues and purples, so I wanted  to go with a design that would work with this color scheme. I also wanted some embellishments, so I went with some crystals and chains

I started with a gold polish, and yes it is I am not a lion (again)  I know I have used it a lot lately but I love it. When the polish was semi dry, I pressed leopard print foil into the nail polish. I covered the ring and thumb with the print and on the other fingers just applied it more towards the tip. Next I applied some blue, purple and black swarovski crystals on the ring and thumb. On the remaining fingers I painted a diagonal french in base coat and dipped the nail in blue glitter. To finish these nails, I outlined the tip with black and applied the gold chain using some nail glue. I really enjoyed these nails, They were perfect for my trip and i was impressed that I didn't lose a single chain or Crystal.

Polish: China Glaze I'm Not Lion

Day 244 - Emoji Nails

I'm back from vacation and I'm ready to devote myself to my blog I promise! Here is a fun design I did just before I left, it's kind of silly but I enjoyed painting it...here is my Emoji design. As an iPhone user I love using the Emoji's, either while texting or commenting on instagram I use them on a daily basis. Its such an easy way to express a feeling with these cute little pictures. For this post I went with some of my favorite faces

To do this design I started by painting the yellow dots spread out in a staggered pattern on the nails, next I outlined them in a orange. Then using a brown striping paint I added in the details, instead of outlining each thing I painted it first entirely in brown and then filled in the main color. For example when painting an eye I painted a brown dot then filled it in with white. I did this procedure for the entire design, trying to get it as close to the actual Emoji as possible. I think this design turned out really cute my only complaint is that the Seche Vite top coat was a little reflective in the photo

Day 243 - Vancouver Pride

I am away on vacation right now, but if I was in town I definitely would have attended the pride parade today. It is just too much fun and such a great event. So since I could not go I had to at least do a rainbow pride design to make up for it.

This design really has no explanation , I simply painted lines of different colors to create a rainbow. The hard part was getting them straight, I could have taped it off but I am far too impatient for that. Colors used are all Orly Instant Artist Fiery Red. Hot Orange, Hot Yellow, Hot Green, Hot Blue and Grape. Pretty much a whole lot of hot colors.

Day 242 - More Olympic Nails

This is another Olympic design, this one I painted on one of my clients. Like yesterday's post this was also inspired by the little logos for each event, but instead of the white figure she wanted some added detail and colors.

I started this design with my new favorite gold polish from the safari collection I'm not lion, I just can't get enough of this color! The design I painted using a variety of nail art paints and acrylic craft paints. The people specifically were painted with instant artist beige and the outline and detail in chocolate. On the one ring finger I painted the three medals and on the other go Canada. But my favorite nail is definitely the weight lifter, I think his facial expression turned out pretty cute.

Day 241 - Olmpics Events

While watching the summer games I had this idea for another Olympic design. For each individual event there is a logo of a white figure playing that sport. When I saw these, I knew they I wanted to paint them on my nails.

This post is going to be super quick as there is not much to explain. I mixed two colors together to get this shade of blue, I started with a solid turquoise and then applied a coat of shimmery blue to cut the green. Then for the little characters, I painted them in using my Crisp White Instant Artist. I think these turned out really cute! I like how simple they are.

Polish: China Glaze Custom Kicks and Avon Lagoon

Day 240 - Olympic Mascots

As I try desperately try to catch up with my posting, I am so happy that the Olympics are on giving me all sorts of inspiration. Tonight's first post is the mascots, I have no idea what these things are suppose to be but I think they are kinda cute

I started by painting Wenlock and Mendeville using a variety of nail art and acrylic paint. I wasn't completely sure what to do next so I painted London 2012 on the thumb with the ribbons if color wrapping around the nails. I think it worked out pretty good, and as weird as these guys are, I think they look kinda cute on the nails

Day 239 - Victorian Roses

I am going to try and post at least two posts a day until I am caught up. While I was on hiatus from my blog my girlfriend came in to get her nails redone. She had a picture on her phone of a design she liked, and this is our collaborated version of that design.

I started by painting a diagonal french on the nails using a nice peachy nude gel nail polish. Once the base color was completely cured, I painted in the roses. The technique for these flowers is so easy, first I paint two dots of pink, then a dot of white on either side. While the paint is still wet I use an orange wood stick and in a circular motion marbleized the small flowers. Next using the pink shade I paint the thinnest outline adding some detail of petals as I go. For this design I wanted to add a lace like pattern along the french, so I dug through my nail art kit and found these nail decals which worked perfectly for the design. On the pinkie finger we wanted to go with something a little different, so instead of painting flowers on the french I painted a coat of glitter polish and added some rhinestones to match the color scheme of the flowers. Lately a lot of clients have been asking for the one random sparkly finger, I love this look and I think it definitely  made this design a little bit more fun

Polish: Nail Harmony Gelish Forever Beauty

Day 238 - Energy Drinks

As mentioned yesterday, last week was super crazy. With all the extra hours I was working I was in desperate need of some energy. I did get through it with the help of some Red Bull and 5Hour Energy shots. I do not drink them often but when needed I do enjoy an energy drink or two, they can  be a real life saver. So for today's design I felt inspired by these beverages.

I started by painting the nails in the colors of the cans. The Rock Star and Monster logos were the easiest, they were only one color and a have a pretty easy logo. On the 5 Hour nail I sponged a yellow fade on the tip of the nail and painted in the blue on the background, next I painted the mountain and the words in black. The amp nail was fun, I started with one brush of sheer green polish over the black, then using two shades of green nail paints I painted in the vertical lines, the logo was done in silver finished with a black outline. Last was the Red Bull nail, this is my favorite brand of energy drink but definitely the design I enjoyed painting the least. I started by painting in the blue diagonal shapes in the background, then using a yellow paint I painted the circle and words. Using red I painted the bulls (which was very difficult) and went over the yellow words with a thinner brush to create an outline look. I had so much fun painting these nails and I loved the challenge!

Polish: China Glaze Millennium, Liquid Leather and Salsa

Day 237 - Cars

I am still alive I promise... but I have failed miserably on my daily blog posts. It has been the craziest week of my life and I have not had a minute of extra time to paint my nails. Just to give you all a little insight of what has been going on with me...on to of my regular nail clients, I have been painting a full wall mural and helping out my husband who is short staffed at his distribution warehouse, working into the late hours of the night. most days I have been functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep. But enough complaining, life is back on track and I jumping in full force. I am hoping to be completely caught up by Friday.

For today's post my inspiration came from the Cars 2 mural that I have been painting, It's all I could think about for days so naturally that is what popped into my head when I thought about my nails. For this design I went with a Lightning McQueen theme, I painted the eyes on the thumb, the Rust-eze logo on the index and the 95 with the lightning bolt over the remaining three fingers. The colors I used are Instant Artist Jet Black, Crisp White, Hot Blue, True Blue, Hot Orange and Hot Yellow. I am going to attach an Instagram pic of the mural I painted to the bottom of the post, it was mostly hand painted with some airbrushing. I am pretty excited with how it turned out!

Polish: China Glaze Salsa