Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Purple and Gold Chevron Manicure

Hello again!

Today I'm posting about my current manicure (amazing, I know). I still have about 12 drafts sitting out there waiting to be posted, but I just had to show you guys this manicure first! I've gotten so many compliments on it and it was super easy!

These nails were inspired by some that I saw on Pinterest, which I have included a screen shot of. I chose to do some springy colors in the hopes that it would get a little warmer here in Michigan (no luck yet).
 
 
Inspiration:

What you need:
  •  Base Coat (Avon Ridge Filling Base Coat)
  • White Polish (OPI Alpine Snow)
  • Purple Polish (Essie Lilacism)
  • Gold Polish (Unnamed one from Ulta)
  • Top Coat (Seche Vite)
  • Gelous (Optional)
  • Single Chevron Nail Vinyls (Purchase here)
Before I start my tutorial I just wanted to point out that I used Gelous, but I used it differently than I usually would. I was just getting sick of doing a regular manicure that I hoped would last a week and having it last about 2 days and the polish would chip. So instead of doing a full on Gelous manicure, I opted for one coat before my top coat and it has actually worked wonders!
 
So, first thing's first, put on a base coat to protect your nails.
 
After your base coat dries, paint on a layer of your white polish. I used OPI Alpine Snow, but I really do not recommend it. It is really streaky and it seems like a super thick formula. Mine is almost gone so I asked the lovely ladies in a Facebook nail polish group and got a lot of suggestions for Sinful Color's white polish (the name has just slipped my mind). I have yet to buy it, but one of the ladies swatched it for me and I'm planning on buying it next time I make a trip to the store!
 
I did end up having to do 2 coats on most of the nails simply because I wasn't happy with how streaky it was with just 1 coat.
 
Once the polish has dried a bit, paint on a layer of your quick dry top coat and once that dries, apply one of the single chevron vinyls. 
 
Now paint one section gold and the other purple. I had to do a pretty thick coat of the purple because it is such a sheer color.

Immediately remove the vinyl. Repeat for all of your nails, alternating which nail has gold on the top and bottom.


Let me know what you think!

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Friday, February 20, 2015

DIY Turban Headband

Hello again!
 
Two posts in one week! I'm on fire! This is currently the oldest draft I have sitting out there and I figured it was finally time to write a tutorial post for you all!
 
I had some old shirts that were starting to fall apart so i turned to Pinterest to see what I could do with them and I found a tutorial on how to make turban headbands and figured I would try it out!
 
To start out, get an old t-shirt. I would suggest using a more stretchy one. One of the ones I used didn't have much give in the fabric and it tends to squeeze my head too much.
 
I then drew lines on the shirt to mark where I was going to cut. It's pictured below but it
's a little hard to see because of the color of the shirt.
 

Now cut out 2 strips.


Make a cross out of the two strips.


Now fold one of those strips in half over the other.


Now this might get a little tricky so I'm really going to suggest relying on the pictures more than what I'm typing, simply because I'm not sure how well I can explain this.
 
Now take the other strip of fabric and fold that in half.


Take one strip and place it inside of the other strip. Do this for both folded sides.


This will give you your headband! Sorry that I didn't take a picture of the finished product! It's been a while since I made these and I clearly wasn't thinking straight when I did this!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know what you think!

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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Winter Inspired Nails

Hello again!
 
Sorry to have been so neglectful of you these past few weeks, but school and work have kept me extremely busy!
 
Today, I'm going to show you how I created these winter inspired nails!
 

What you need:
  •  Base Coat (Avon Ridge Filling Base Coat)
  • Top Coat (Seche Vite)
  • Gray Polish (Maybelline Color Show Audacious Asphalt)
  • Baby Blue Polish (Sinful Colors Cinderella)
  • Silver Polish (I got this one from Meijer)
  • Dotting tool (I got mine from Avon)
  • Single Chevron Vinyls (Buy them here)
  •  


Step 1. After painting on your base coat, paint a layer of your blue polish.


Step 2. Once that layer is dry, add another layer.


Step 3. Now on the finger(s) of your choice, add 2 or 3 dots of silver polish off to one side.


Step 4. On the finger you plan to use as an accent nail, paint a coat of your fast dry top coat.
 
Step 5. Once that is dry, place your single chevron vinyls and paint your choice of colors.


Step 6.  Immediately remove the vinyls.



Clean up and you are finished! This is a quick and easy look that I got many compliments on. I also love Cinderella from Sinful Colors as it has some very pretty iridescent glitters in it!



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Monday, February 2, 2015

Valentine's Day Nails

Hello everyone and happy February!
 
I don't know about you all, but I'm just glad to have made it through January alive! Today, I have a tutorial for you on how to do this simple mix and match Valentine's Day manicure! Which, in part, was also inspired by the water cup my little sister got me for Christmas!
 
Here is the finished product:

What you need:

Instead of doing the design on my middle finger freehand, I decided to make some nail wraps and do it that way instead. The following few steps will show you how I created those.
 
Step 1. Take a piece of paper and draw your design(optional).


Step 2. Take a lunch bag and attach your paper to the inside of it (optional)


Step 3. If you skipped the paper step, start here! Paint your base color approximately the size of your nail, or you can go a little bigger like I did. I just used my Seche Vite top coat for this part.
 
Let that dry.


Step 4. Once your base coat is dry, paint on your design. I just used a toothpick to do this.


Step 5. Once you've finished painting on the design, let it dry for about an hour. You can then peel it off of the bag and use it!


So now, for the manicure!
 
Step 1. After your base coat dries, paint one coat of each of your polishes, on whichever fingers you wish.


Step 2. Paint a coat of Gelous on after the first coat dries.
 
Step 3. While the Gelous is still wet on your middle finger, apply your nail wrap and press down. 


Step 4. Cut around the sides with an orange stick and trim the end off and file.
 
Step 5. Paint a layer of top coat over the nail wrap.


Step 6. Paint a second coat on the nails that need it. (I only used one coat of my glitter)
 
Step 7. Add a coat of fast dry top coat to every finger but the one with your nail wrap.


Step 8. Once the top coat dries, place your vinyls on the nails of your choice and press down on the edges with your orange stick.


Step 9. Paint over with the color of your choice.


Step 10. Immediately remove the vinyls and touch up anything that needs it.
 
Step 11. Paint a layer of top coat over the nails you used your vinyls on.


Step 12. Once all your nails are dry, add one more coat of Gelous and let dry.


Here is a picture of my nails with the water cup that inspired part of the design!


Let me know what you think!

Recreations? #countryclassdiy

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