Okay, believe it or not, I used to be completely useless when it came to nail art (and still kind of am. Really, I only do the easy stuff). For anyone who says they can never do nail art, I always tell them about the first time I tried to do a leopard print. I was determined to learn it, so I bought some Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens (which I still use today; I did this design with them) and got right to it. In hindsight, it was a disaster; a train wreck. But at the time I though my first attempt at leopard print was the most beautiful thing I’d ever laid my eyes on (it so wasn’t -if you really want to see what it looked like, feel free to raid my Instagram feed; it’s sadly still up there). But, I improved, big time. And I learned by keeping a photo of leopard print nails thats I really liked right next to me on my phone while doing my nails and trying my best to copy it. Today, I’d say I’m not so bad, and I came a long, long, way from my first attempt. So trust me, please, when I say you can do it, because if I can, you so can. Obviously, above is my tutorial. It’s pretty simple and straightforward. As for the dots, I literally just used the polish brush to dab them on. You don’t need a dotting tool or anything fancy. If you give it a try, please let me know! Post a photo here in the comments or on my Facebook page; I’d love to see. And promise me you won’t get discouraged, this is one of those things where practice really does make perfect. x
P.S. I’m starting this little thing called Get Glossy; basically a little black book of nail tutorials. You can now find any tutorials I do under the heading Get Glossy here, or under the category of The Glossary on my blog, or hash tagged #getglossy/#theglossary on Pinterest or Twitter (if it fits!). Feel free to send your requests my way.
When it comes to breaking a nail, I’m a complete and total girl, for obvious reasons. So I was sort of annoyed when the nail on my ring finger broke the other day (taking off nail polish; when does that ever happen?). I feel like I’m one of the only people that doesn’t immediately shorten all nine other fingers once one breaks… I mean, all that growing effort down the drain?! I don’t think so… So it’ll stay a little shorter than the rest for a while; try and ignore it. Anyway, I swear, if ever I opened a nail salon, leopard print would be called The Classic (it really helps that I’m pretty much a cat at heart, so this is right at home). It’s just so awesome, I want it on my nails 24/7. I did this colour combo a few months back and it’s since remained my favourite. Pink and nude has my heart, and I love it this time around just as much as the first.
Dare I say it? This might just be my favourite pink ever. It’s what I imagine Barbie would wear 24/7, including the pearls. Boom Boom Room is pretty much the most perfect shade of pink; creamy and bright, without being insanely flashy. It’s like a baby pink on steroids, and I LOVE it. The formula was a little bit thick and hard to manage, but I honestly didn’t care because it looks so good, and with a nice coat of Essie’s Good to Go (my fav top coat ever) everything evened out nice and smooth, including the bubbles from my one coat of white underneath, which was not Essie. For the pink, I applied three coats. It’s safe to say I think I’d be making Barbie proud with this one, and although my doll playing days are over, there’s still a little Barbie in me somewhere, just now successfully channeled onto my fingertips.
Let me just start by saying I have a new found respect for people who make these awesome pictorials online… this one took me FOREVER and I don’t even know if it’s effective, or cute, for that matter. Anyway, I tried to make a super simple tutorial for these opal nails. I posted the bottom photo a few weeks ago to my Instagram and people seemed to really like it, so I figured I’d make a bigger, nicer one for the web. The main points are really all right there; you start with a white base then you literally blob the polish onto your nail, randomly and overlapping the colours. Then, using a square (pre!) cut from a sandwich baggie, you lightly place it on the nail then literally just tap down on it, sort of swirling the colours together, moving the plastic a bit. Lift it off, clean up, and add topcoat. For more photos on this mani or to see the polishes I used, click here. If you try this out, let me know how it goes!
Sally Hansen White Out, Essie Where’s My Chauffeur?, and O.P.I Ski Teal We Drop.
Start with a white base. Add small lines in a light blue colour of your choice (my colour choices are a few photos above). Then, go over that with a darker teal blue colour. Wait a few seconds (literally) and apply top coat while polish is still wet so that it smears a little, dragging the colour up to give that blended, tie-dye effect.
I always find myself on this blog for nail inspiration; Miss Lady Finger, AKA Taryn Multak, just does everything so, so well + I ‘m obsessed with the fact that all her nail art is all fashion related… what more could I ask for? When I saw her Beyonce x H&M tie-dye bathing suit pattern look (I tried on the bathing suit BTW, it came absolutely nowhere close to looking as amaze as it does on B, sigh), it had to be on my nails stat. Comparing the two, I kinda did my lines a little too thick, but I still really like the overall look. So pretty, tie-dye-ish, and reminds me of the ocean. And best of all, it’s so, so easy to do, I even took a stab at my own little tutorial for it, but feel free to check out the original version, too. If you don’t already, I seriously suggest you follow Miss Lady Finger pretty much everywhere; you won’t regret it, I promise.
So we never have to be apart
