Navy and Glitter Nails

Hello everyone!

 

I want to apologize in advance for the terrible final picture of this manicure! I literally have no clue why I thought it looked good! Terrible clean up on my part!

 

Enough of that, though! Yesterday, I was rear ended on my way to work and things aren't looking good for my beloved Escape, so how appropriate that this post features it's steering wheel as a background?

 

I did this manicure a few months back and it's super simple, but I absolutely love this color from Essie called No More Film!

What You Need:

•  Top coat (I use Seche Vite)
• Base color (Essie No More Film)
• Glitter Topper (Essie Stroke of Brilliance)
• Base coat (Avon Ridge Filling Base coat)
• Gelous Nail Gel

I'm not going to go through and tell you step by step how to paint your nails, since this manicure is so simple, but below, I will tell you my fool proof method of getting your nails to last 12 days or more!

To get your nails to last with Gelous, I have found the best method to be as follows:

 

Step 1. Paint a base coat of your choice. My current favorite is the ridge filling base coat from Avon. You can purchase it here.

 

Step 2. Paint one thin coat of your base color. Let dry.

 

Step 3. Paint a thin layer of Gelous. Let dry.

 

Step 4. Paint another layer of your base polish (if needed). Let dry.

 

Step 5. This step is optional, but if you're doing and designs, do those now. Let dry.

 

Step 6. Paint a layer of your top coat. Let dry. (A fast drying top coat like Seche Vite works best!)

 

Step 7. Paint one last layer of Gelous and let dry.

 

Below is my wear test of this manicure using this process:

 

As you can see, by say 7, there was minimal wear to the tips.

By day 12, I had to take it off because of how much my nails had grown out and I personally can't stand when my nail polish chips, so I started peeling it. Bad habit, I know!

I absolutely love this method and hopefully you all do too! Don't worry, I have plenty of tutorials to come! Hopefully I'll figure my car situation out!

Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Recreations? #countryclassdiy

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DIY Gel Manicure and Breast Cancer Glitter Gradient

Good Morning Everyone!

 

I'm super excited to share this DIY gel manicure/glitter gradient with you all! I actually told all of my Facebook friends/Instagram followers I would post this yesterday, but I decided to make chex mix and ran out of time (oops).

 

Back to the point, this is a super easy manicure and from the research I've done, it can last anywhere from 7-14 days. Yay! Mine has been on for almost 2 days, so I can't tell you if that's true, but I'll be writing another post once I take the manicure off with daily pictures for you all!

 

My inspiration for this manicure cam from Pinterest, of course. Here is the post that inspired me to give this a try. If this actually lives up to the standards I'm holding it to, it's a great option for someone who doesn't have the money or time to sit at a nail salon (like me). The main tool you need is Gelous Nail Gel made by American Classics. It's $5.99, but you can get it for $5.39 with a Sally's card here.

 

When I was researching doing this manicure, I only saw plain colors, nothing of any interest to me. So I decided to do a design and see how it worked, not too hard. Well, it was one of those days where I literally could not decide on a color of nail polish, let alone a design. So, I called on my lovely Facebook friends and one of them suggested doing a solid color base with glitter french tips. This got my brain going and I came up with the design below:

Now, you might ask, why add the breast cancer ribbon? As some of you may know, my grandma and my aunt are both battling breast cancer and I am very close to them. I even went so far as to get a breast cancer ribbon tattooed on my wrist. So I guess you could say that I'm a bit partial to things with breast cancer ribbons on them. Plus, I just purchased this cute glitter nail polish from Maybelline's Color Show line that has some light pink sparkles mixed in with the gold, perfect way to incorporate the breast cancer ribbon!

 

What you need:

•  American Classics Gelous Nail Gel (Link above)
•  A Quick dry top coat (I used Seche Vite, which I also got at Sally's)
• Pink Nail polish (I used LA Colors Pink-A-Boo)
•  Glitter nail polish ( I used Maybelline Color Show Gilded Rose)
•  Pink detailing nail polish or a detailing nail brush

A side note, you don't need a dotting tool. I'm not sure why I put it in the picture. 

 

 

Step 1. Paint 1 coat of Gelous on clean, dry nails. Make sure all the coats you paint are thin.

Step 2. Once this coat is dry, paint a thin coat of your polish on you nails. I did My glitter on my ring finger then painted the rest of the nails pink.

Step 3. Once that coat is dry, paint another coat of gelous on top.

Step 4. Once that coat is dry, paint another coat of your colored polishes.

Step 5. Take your brush from the glitter polish and wipe a good amount of the polish off. Paint about 2/3 down your nail or halfway, whichever you prefer. Leave the glitter nail alone at this point.

Step 6. Once that dries, take the glitter brush again and paint the top portion of your nail with a bit more glitter.

 

Step 7. Take your detailing brush and paint a ribbon on your accent nail. This was a bit tricky for me, but I eventually just did a hook shape for one side then added the line for the other side.

Step 8. Once that coat is dry, paint your top coat on.

 

**Side note, I absolutely love this Seche Vite topcoat and I will probably write a blog post comparing it to Essie's All-in-One**

 

Step 9. Add one last coat of Gelous.

And once that dries, clean your nails up and you're done!

 

Keep an eye out for my blog post about how long this manicure will last!

I am behind on my blogging and still have some pedicures that I have yet to post, as well as DIY Rice Packs, but I had to share this with you all!

I will also be making a canvas for my friend's baby tonight, so that will be up soon as well!

Post recreations to: #countryclassdiy

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If you have any ideas or questions, please feel free to comment or email me!

Pink Gradient Canvas

Hello everyone!

 

I'm super excited to share this tutorial with you all because it's so fun and cute! A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the birthday of one of the girls that works in my office. She's super fun and quirky, so I voolunteered to make some awesome canvases for her! After some recon work and talking with her daughter, we found out that her favorite color is pink, hence the pink gradient! (It looks kind of red in the pictures.) This is a super easy project and probably took me about an hour and a half to two hours to do 2 of them!

 

Here are my finished canvases. You can obviously choose any color and saying you want.

 

 

What you need:

•  Canvas (I always get mine at Walmart because it's the best deal. I used 14x18)
•  Glitter (I also got this at Walmart)
•  Paint brushes (have varying sizes on hand)
•  A large sponge brush
•  Red acryllic paint (Or a color of your choice)
•  White acryllic paint (You need this to create the gradient look)
•  Black acryllic paint (Or whatever color you want your words to be)
•  Mod Podge (I have the matte kind)
•  A plate for mixing paint colors
•  Something to cover your table with (I use newspaper)
 

HEre's a close up of the acryllic paint I used

Step 1. Put a large amount of white paint on your plate. Then place a few small drops of your colored paint in the middle. I would do no more than 2. Mix this up with your sponge brush.

Step 2. After the paint is mixed well, paint a thick line across the top of your canvas. I'd tell you how thick, but I'm terrible with measurements, so just eyeball it. It doesn't have to be perfect because you will be blending with other colors. If you are doing 2 canvases, do all of the gradient painting steps at the same time. So once you're done with the light color on one, go right to the other.

As you can see, I accidentally got paint in the wrong spot.

Something else I want to point out, It's okay to get it on the sides, actually, it's better, because then you don't have to worry about any white edges showing. We'll paint the edges later anyways!

 

 

Step 3. Now add another drop or two of your colored paint to the white. You might have to add more white as well, and in this case, just add extra color.

Step 4. Paint another thick line with this mixture, slightly overlapping your first line. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect!

You don't want the part that's overlapping to be a perfectly solid line, you want it to look like it's fading!

Step 5. Add a few more drops of your colored paint and mix (remember, you can always add more white as well).

Step 6. Paint a third line overlapping the second.

 

Step 7. Add more of your colored paint. (At this point, you should be adding more and more color and less and less white)

Step 8. Paint a fourth line.

Step 9. Add more colored paint.

Step 10. (I guess I don't ahve a picture here) Paint a fifth line

Step 11. Add more colored paint

Step 12. Paint your 6th and final line.

At this point, take 5 minutes or so to let your paint dry slightly.

This is the brush I used to paint my sides and my words. This is the biggest brush in the pack.

Step 13. After waiting 5 minutes, mix up a bit more of your darkest color and carefully paint the edges of the canvas.

At this point, your canvas should be dry, so you can start with your words!

 

If you're doing a glitter canvas, make sure to paint your non glitter words first so they have time to dry.

 

Step 14. Paint your words. I did this on both canvases at oce so that my glitter one had time to dry.

 

I free handed my words, but you could print different fonts out if you want.

Step 15. Once your painted words dry, grab your mod podge and clean your paint brush. Paint one letter at a time. I suggest painting a thin coat at first to use as a guide then put your mod podge on thick.

 

Step 16. Pour glitter over your Mod Podge. I pressed down over the letter with the top to make sure the glitter stuck. (Don't use your finger for this. I made that mistake...you know how glitter is)

Repeat steps 15 and 16 for the rest of the word and you end up with this:

At this point, leave the canvas sitting for a good 10 or 15 minutes. Basically, until you feel that the glue is dry enough.

Step 17. Dump your glitter into the trash can.

This is the finished product!

So there you go, two beautiful canvases!

 

 Let me know what you think and hashtag your recreations to #countryclasdiy for a chance to be featured!

 

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A quick side note, I took my dog to get spayed on Tuesday and I think It's safe to say she hates me now. I think this picture sums up how she feels about this whole situation. Poor Mollie.