Holiday Nail Idea

I am getting into the holiday spirit as of lately! And that means... holiday manicures. I did this one for my friend Jaycy. She wanted something 'holidayish" but not too obvious.

This is done with gel nail polish. We went with a hot rod red and a white on the ring finger. We topped the ring finger with a loose white glitter and we got this. I didn't get the lighting for these pictures but they came out really good in person.

Overall I love the way this turned out and I will be trying this one on myself. The white almost looks like snow! It's the closest to snow we will get in Arizona so I will take it!

Halloween Polka Dot Mani

Happy Halloween folks! It's already that time of year. Get your candy ready, your scare on, and out comes the Halloween mani's!

I got this idea off of Instagram. I have created an Instagram account so please follow me here or add me (@fabnfrugalnails).

I like this fun take off of Halloween colors without being too obvious.

What you will need:
- Top and base coats
- Black polish
- Orange polish
- White polish
- Gold glitter polish (optional)
- Dotting Tool
- Small piece of foil




Start by prepping your nails (clip, file, etc) and then paint your base coat and let dry or cure if you are using the gel polish.

Now, paint your thumb and ring finer orange. Paint you pinky and index finger black. Then your middle finger white. Let completely dry or cure if you are using the gel polish. Repeat as needed for as many coats you need.

Now, using a small piece of foil, dab some black and orange polish onto the foil. Grab your dotting tool and place random black and orange dots on your middle finger that is painted white. I used two different sizes dots for effect.

Add polka dots with dotting tool

Using your gold glitter polish paint over the orange nails with glitter to add some accent. Now let dry completely (or cure if using gel).

Add accent glitter (optional)

Lastly, paint your top coat and let dry. I added two top coats because I use the gel polish and I like mine thick. Enjoy your mani! I had help from my kitty Mya afterward. She sure seemed to like the mani!

Kitty Love! <3

I Mustache You a Question

Something silly about it being 118 degrees outside this week. Well played mother nature.

In the spirit of this joke MN is playing on us, I decided to do it silly manicure. I did this with the gel system but you could easily do this with regular polish.

What you will need:

White or light color polish

Black polish

Thin nail brush

Base and Top coat

Start by prepping your nails as normal.

Paint your base coat and let dry (or cure with UV if doing gel).

Paint white polish and let dry (or cure with UV if doing gel). 

With the black polish, paint two small dots right next to each other (you can use a dotting tool). Then paint little "swooshes" going out from the side of each dot to create the mustache effect. Let dry (or cure if gel).

Top coat and you are done!

Polka Dot Fun!

Dust off those dotting tools and lets have some fun with polka dots. I am not a huge fan of the dot manicures but I tried this one and liked it alot. I did this one with regular nail polish but I am sure it can easily be done with the gel polish as well.

For instructions on how to do gel nail polish see blog post here. For list of what you will need to do your own gel nails at home look at this blog posting.

What you will need:

• Dotting tool, like this one
• Dark all over polish. I used purple
• Three lighter colors. I used two different shades of pink and white.
• Base and Top coats.
• Small piece of foil

Step 1: Prep nails like normal (clip, file, etc) then paint your base coat and let completely dry.

Step 2: Paint your all over color. Add a second coat if needed but let dry completely in-between coats. 

Step 3: Start with one color at a time, and use your dotting tool to dot a few medium sized dots in a diagonal direction across your nail. It's easiest if you place the color on a foil piece and dip the dotting tool onto the foil instead of trying to dip the dotting tool into the bottle of polish.

Try dotting a few dots onto the foil before you dot onto your nail. This will ensure you have the right size dot, and you do not have too much polish on the tool.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 for each color. Let dry completely.

Step 5: Finish with top coat and let dry. 

Try different color combinations or try using glitter or other fun accents. Enjoy!

Pink Zebra Bling Mani

So today I have for you a fun mani. I did this with the gel nails. I am pretty sure you can get the same outcome if you use regular polish. Thanks to my little sister Megan for being my model this time!

If you are wondering how to do gel nails at home, see my post here. Also, for a list of what you need to do gel nails at home go here.

What you will need:

• Pink polish (we used Gelish Harmony Gossip Girl)
• Black polish (we used Gelish Harmony Black Shadow)
• Glitter polish (we used silver glitter - Gelish Harmony Waterfield)
• Base and Top coats
• A fine nail brush like this
• Accent gems (small size) we used silver and got ours on amazon

Step 1: Prep your nails as normal. File, clip, etc.

Step 2: Paint your nails with the base coat. If using the gel nail polish, cure your base coat. If regular polish, let completely dry.

Step 3: Paint all of your nails with the pink and let dry completely (if using gel, cure in UV light). Repeat if you feel you need two coats.

Step 4: Now on all of your nails (except your ring finger) paint thin black stripes that look like zebra stripes. Easiest way to do this, is to put your polish on some foil, dip your thin nail brush into the polish on the foil, and starting at the sides of the nail create thin long "V's" to look like stripes. And then add squiggly lines around the "V". Practice on the foil before trying it on your nail.

If using regular polish let dry completely. If using gel polish, cure in the UV light.

Step 5: On your ring finger, we are going to add the gem accents. Start at the nail bed and place gems one by one onto the nail. There is no rhyme or reason to this, just position them so they all fit. If you are using the gel polish, the gems should stick because of the "tacky" layer underneath after curing the last coat. I know it sounds weird, but trust me it works.

If using regular polish you may want to make sure your nail is a bit tacky from the last coat so the gems will stick. If your nail is already dry, try adding a layer of a topcoat so you can have something to stick the gems to.

If you are having a hard time getting the gems out of the case, dip a tooth pick, or an orange stick into a clear polish and then dip into the gems. You can get one out and place it on your nail. (I don't have a picture of this but next time I do it, I will snap a photo to show you.

No need to cure or dry yet, move on to step 6.

Step 6: Clean your nail brush to get out the black polish. Use the same nail brush to add glitter accents to the back stripes. Lightly paint over the black with the glitter. If using regular polish let dry completely. If using gel polish, cure in the UV light.

Step 7: Lastly, make sure you top coat like crazy so those gems will stick. If you are using the UV system, top coat the zebra nails once. Top coat the "bling" nail at least two times. Curing between each coat. 

If using regular polish, do the same, but make sure that each coat is completely dry before you add another coat. 

This mani seems hard, but it's actually quite easy. You just need to have patience and practice. If you are uncomfortable with your zebra stripes, try practicing on foil. 

Enjoy!