Winter Nails!

I am in love with the manicure I did on myself this week. It's very simply but I love the colors. They are more winter colors than Christmas themed, which is exactly what I was going for.

I did this in gel polish over acrylic nails. For my acrylic nails I did a simple clear tip with natural powder. Then I proceeded to apple the gel polish.

I didn't do a step by step tutorial on this one because it's very simple. I think next week will be something more challenging for myself!

Happy Holidays All!

Neon Peek-a-Boo Nail Tutorial

Photo in natural light

Happy Holidays! It's been a fun past few weeks. I've been busy but I haven't forgotten about my nails. I did this nail design about a month ago but I love it so much I had to post it even though it's a bit summery. You can try this with so many different colors but I love the neon touch. I am heading to the Dominican Republic in about 6 weeks and I may have to recreate this!

What you will need:
- base and top coat
- 4 different colors
- nail striping tape







Prep your nails (clip, file, etc) then paint your base coat. A base coat is very important because it helps your nails look more even so the polish goes on smoothly. Also, they sometimes have vitamins so it will help hydrate your nails. Lastly, they help so the polish does not stain your nail.

Paint each of your index, middle, and pinky fingers a different color. I chose to use pink, yellow, and orange.

Now on your thumb and ring finger, paint stripes of each of the colors you painted on your other nails.

Using your striping tape, make a triangle design on your thumb and ring fingers

Now paint the exposed area with the last color (in my case, blue). I chose to make an opposite effect where I painted inside the triangle on my ring finger and outside of the triangle on my thumb.

Let polish completely dry before removing the tape. Once dry, apply the top coat. Try different designs and different color combos on this one. Enjoy!

Photo in artificial light

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

Yellow Glitter Ombre Mani

This is a quick easy one. I haven't posted in awhile I know I am a slacker. I have been so busy and that isn't going to change with the up coming weeks.

I have been focusing a lot lately on my weight loss journey. I made the decision it was time for me to start getting healthy instead of talking about it and wishing for it. It's been 4 weeks and I am down 10 pounds and still going strong! In case you are interested I have started a separate blog about my journey. You can find that here.

OK... back to why you are here. This awesome mani was done with gel polish but can be done with regular polish. Instead of posting step by step instructions on how to do this, I am going to point you to a different post that shows it because it's the exact same steps just different colors.

I like the yellow with the silver glitter a lot. It really pops. In case you are curious I used IBD Just Gel Polish, color was called Rocco. I started trying the IBD colors as compared to the Gelish Harmony brand, and I am glad I branched out. These colors are just as great, go on smoothly, and they are about $4 cheaper. And... you all know how much I like saving money! So pop on amazon and take a look!

Pink Tiger Nail Tutorial

I got some new gel polish and I fell in love with the color! I bought some IBD colors which is a new brand for me since I normally use the Gelish Harmony brand. I was surprised by how much I liked this color and it was much cheaper than the gelish.

As with all my tutorials; you can do this with the gel nail polish or regular. I did mine with the gel but if you do it with normal polish make sure you let each coat dry completely before going onto the next step.

What you will need:
- Base and top coat
- Pink Polish (I used IBD Just Gel Parasol)
- White Polish
- Silver glitter polish or loose sliver nail glitter
- Thin nail art brush
**You can get nail art brushes and nail glitter on amazon for only a few dollars.


Step 1: Prep your nails as you normally would by clipping, filing, etc. Then start by painting your base coat. If you are doing the gel, cure your base coat. If you are new to gel polish, read my tutorial on how to do gel nails here.

Step 2: Paint your middle finger, pinky, and thumb with the pink.

Step 3: Paint your ring finger with white polish.
**Note if you are doing the gel polish, cure your nails before going to step 4**

Step 4: Using your nail brush, paint tiger stripes by starting at the edge of the nail and slowly lifting the brush to create a thick to thin line. (Cure in UV light if using gel)

Step 5: Paint your index finger with silver glitter polish. If you are using a loose glitter like I did, you may want to paint your index finger first with a silver glitter then cure the nail in the UV light to get the tacky surface for the loose glitter to stick to. Once cured, dip a dry nail brush into loose glitter and appy to the nail. (If using regular polish paint with a top coat and before the top coat dries dab loose glitter onto the nail).

Step 5: Apply a top coat to all the nails. If you used the loose glitter, you may want to apply two coats of the top coat to that nail.

I really liked the way this turned out. I think it would work with practically any color. Enjoy!

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!

Vegas Bling Nails!

I am headed to Vegas tomorrow so I decided to do some fun bling nails that also looked a little summery. I am calling this the Vegas Bling Mani. Hopefully my nails bring me luck and I hit the Jackpot! If I do, nail polish for all... :)

Here is what you will need:

• Light blue polish
• Grey polish
• Base and Top coats
• Loose nail glitter (I got mine here)
• Small Gel Rhinestones (I got mine here)
• Orange stick or toothpick
• Nail brush

Step 1: Prep your nails as normal (file, clip, etc). Paint your nails with a base coat (if using gel polish, cure the base coat).

Step 2: Then paint light blue on your index, middle, and pinky fingers. Paint the grey on your thumb and ring fingers. Let dry completely (if using the gel, cure in the UV light). Repeat if you feel you need a second coat.

Step 3: On your blue fingers, place 4 or 5 gems (depending on finger size) at the base of your nail bed. To do this, take your orange stick and dip it in clear polish. Then open your gem container and use the orange stick to get one gem. Place the gem onto your nail. 

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.

Step 4: On your grey fingers, you are going to add the glitter dust. I used a silver glitter to match my silver gemstones. Dip your nail brush into the glitter and then coat your entire nail with the glitter. The nail brush should be dry when you dip into the glitter.

Step 5: Lastly, make sure you top coat like crazy so those gems will stick. If you are using the UV system, top coat gem nails and glitter nails at least two times. Cure between each coat. 

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

Wish me luck people!!!