Halloween Glitter Mani Tutorial

This picture is taken with a flash

I wanted to do something a little different for my Halloween Mani this year. I did candy corn last year. I am not sure if I like the outcome of these yet. The orange glitter ended up turning out green after I put the top coat on, but I went ahead and decided to post the tutorial anyway.

What you will need:  
- Base and Top Coat
- Black Polish
- Orange Polish
- Black Glitter
- Orange Glitter
- Brush (to apply the loose glitter)



Start by prepping your nails (clip, file, etc). Then paint your base coat and let dry (if using gel polish cure your base coat).

Now, paint the nails you want black, with the black polish. I did my pinky, middle, and index fingers in the black. Then go back and paint your remaining nails with the orange polish. Let dry (or cure if using gel) Repeat this step if another coat is needed.

Next, we are going to apply the glitter. I did a reverse ombre and added the glitter starting at the tips. Dip your brush into the glitter and carefully apply to the the nail.

Apply the black glitter on the orange nails and the orange glitter on the black coat. Then apply your top coat and let dry (or cure if you are using gel polish). I like to add two top coats when using the loose glitter.

For some reason the orange glitter came out looking green but green is still kind of Halloween. What do you guys think? Ya or Na on this one?

this picture is taken without a flash in natural light

Everybody Loves Glitter, Vol. 3

OK here's another mani done with gel nail polish. (This can be done with regular polish as well)

This one is a little different than my last few glitter ombre posts. Instead of doing an ombre effect, I decided with this one to do a diagonal tip in silver glitter.

What you will need for this one:

- All over color (I used Gelish Harmony Bella's Vampire)
- Base and top coats
- Powder glitter
- Tape
- A brush (for the glitter)


Start by prepping your nails. If this is your first time doing the gel system, read my post here on how to do the gel polish as I won't go into details on that here. This mani can be done with regular polish as well.

After prepping your nails, paint your base coat and let dry. (if you are using gel, cure your base coat).

Now, paint your all over color on all of your nails. You want thick even color. I used two coats, curing each coat with the UV light. If you are using regular polish make sure to let each coat dry completely between each coat.

Now this next part I did not take pictures of, as it was too hard once my hands were taped. Next time I do this I will sucker my husband into taking the pics for me.

**Note if you are using gel polish, you will want to paint a top coat and cure before you go onto the next step. Once you paint a top coat and use your alcohol to get rid of the stick substance on the nail, go onto the step below.

Using some tape (I used clear gift wrapping tape) tape off each of the nails so that only a diagonal area of the tip is showing. The part that is showing is what you will use glitter on. Paint the exposed part of the nail with top coat. Before the top coat dries, use your brush to dab on the powder glitter. (you will do the same thing for gel nails. Paint the top coat on the exposed part, then dab on glitter, once you do this, cure, then repeat adding more glitter).

Now, carefully peel off the tape. Paint another top coat over the entire nail. (If using gel, cure after the top coat).

Enjoy this mani. I received countless compliments on this one!

Who Doesn't Love Glitter #2?

Another simple glitter gel nail idea. I didn't use powder glitter for this one, I just used Gelish Harmony Water Field over IBD Just Gel color Serendipity.

I love the IDB colors. I only have to do two coats and they go on so smoothly and evenly. The top picture is in artificial light and the one below in natural light.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love gel nail polish? :)

Who Doesn't Love Glitter?

I was a bad blogger last month. Not that I think too many people read this, but for those few that do, I apologize. I only had a few posts and shame on me!

I did manage to do a lot of tutorials and nail ideas I just didn't get around to posting them, so I will make up for it this month.

My first October post has nothing to do with fall just a cute glitter mani I did for a friend. I did not post step by step instructions on this one because it's a lot like my post on glitter ombre nails. The only difference was we did less glitter on the bottom and one nail covered in the silver glitter.

Thanks to Amanda for being my hand model on this one!

Gold Leopard Mani

Tired this one on a fried of mine a few days ago. I didn't post tutorial photo's because this one is similar to the one I did a few months ago. Here's the link if you want to reference it.

The main difference on this one is I used a powder glitter instead of a glitter polish on the glitter nails.

Thank you Jaycy for being my hand model this time!

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!

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!

Reverse Ombre Gel Mani

I am back! It's been too long since I've posted. I know, bad me. I do have a few mani's lined up and I think you all will like them.

This one I did on my mom, (Thanks Mom for being my model!) This is a take on the glitter ombre manicure which I have had great feedback on. So we did some darker colors and started the glitter at the nails instead of the nail beds.

Here is what you will need:

• Dark polish (we used black)
• A lighter polish (we used a glittery pink)
• Base and Top coats

We did this using the gel polish,but you can do this using regular nail polish too.

Step 1: Start by prepping your nails as normal (clip, file, etc).

Step 2: Paint your base coat and let dry (or using gel polish cure)

Step 3: Paint your dark color 2/3 the way up starting at the nail bed and stopping 2/3 up. The more nail you leave exposed, the more of your lighter color will show. **if you are doing this with gel nails, do not cure. You want the color to mix, so you don't want to cure before step 4. 

With regular polish, do not let polish dry, go right to step 4.

Leave 1/3 of nail exposed

Step 4: Paint the exposed nail your lighter color. You want a little overlap of the two colors so start painting just before the black stops. If you are doing gel, cure your polish. If using regular polish let dry. 

Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 to get a more predominant ombre effect. 

Step 6: Apply your top coat and cure or dry! Have fun and try some fun color combinations! 

P.S. for those of you wondering what the white tipless glove thing I am using, it's a glove to protect your hand from unnecessary UV exposure from the gel light. Since I do the gel nails a lot, I decided to invest in these. If you don't do the gel nails that often you don't need to worry about the exposure. You can buy them on amazon.

Glitter Ombre Gel Nail Mani

I recently posted a step by step tutorial of a glitter ombre mani. I had some good feedback to it, so I did it on another one of my friends. 

For the tutorial on how to do this (with regular or gel nail polish) go here.

Since I did different colors this time, I wanted to post so you can get ideas of different ways to do this. The only difference with this one and the one in the tutorial is obviously the colors, and then we accented the ring finger with glitter on the entire nail.

Enjoy!

Glitter Ombre Nails

Glitter Ombre Nails

I am digging spring people! The colors, the weather, and the sunshine! I live in Arizona and spring is the best time of year because it's right before it starts to get insanely hot and we have to endure back-to-back 110 days. Guess that's the payoff for 75 degree winters!

Inspired by the Gelish Harmony new spring color line "Love In Bloom", I tried a glitter Ombre nail on my sister in law. I was surprised by how easy this was and had to share.

What you need:
- An all over color
- A medium thickness nail brush
- Accent nail glitter dust (I got mine on amazon.com for $2 and come with 12 colors)

Glitter Dust - $2 for 12 colors from Amazon.com

Start by prepping your nails as normal (clip, file, etc).

Paint your base coat and let dry (or using gel polish cure)

Paint your all over color. I used the Gelish Harmony 'A Mint of Spring'. Let your all over color dry (again if you are doing gel, cure the polish in your UV light). Paint as many coats as needed, but you don't want it too thick. I did two coats (curing each time with my UV light).


Next, before your all over color full dries, you want to put the glitter on. When using regular nail polish, you want the color a little bit tacky to give the glitter a good surface to stick to.

When using the gel polish, do your coats, and cure each time. Since the UV polish naturally has a tacky surface you can just apply the glitter after you cure your second coat.

Apply the glitter by taking your nail brush and dip into the glitter. You do not need to add anything to the brush, just lightly dip into the glitter.

Now, lightly dab the glitter onto your nail from the base (cuticle going upwards). Dust as much as you want to get the glitter effect.

Repeat for all your nails.

Lastly, apply a top coat and let dry. If using the gel nail polish, top coat and then cure top coat. If you feel like you want to add a second top coat feel free.

Try different colors and maybe even doing the ombre effect from the tip of the nail downwards.

Until next time!

Cute Leopard Mani

I'm feeling frisky and ready for another animal print mani!

I used a picture I saw on-line and mocked the idea adding a little of my own touch.

Start by prepping and painting your nails. I used Gelish Harmony Gossip Girl for the pink and use a gold I had for my ring finger and thumb. You want the accent finger to be a little lighter so you will be able to see the leopard design.

Next, using a dotting tool, crate odd shaped circles on your accent nail with the all over color you used on your other nails. So in this cause, use the pink to create the odd shaped dots on the gold.

Now, using the dotting tool again, create little odd shaped "C" shapes around the pink dots. Also, put a random black dot to give it a little accent. It's easier if you put your polish onto a piece of foil and dip the dotting tool onto the foil instead of trying to dip the dotting tool into the bottle of polish.

Now add some accent rhinestones to some of the pink leopard spots by dipping a tooth pick or an orange stick into some clear coat. Open your case of gems, and pick one out with the tip of the stick. Then place the  gem on your nail and top it off with clear coat.

Have fun trying different colors and accents. This is one you can probably do after having a few glasses of wine. My mom and I had a little slumber party and I managed to get a good result after 3 glasses of wine. Mani and wine FTW!

We did this using the gel polish. Please keep in mind if you are trying designs with the gel polish that you need to cure each coat. After we put the all over color on, we cured it in the UV light. Then we did another coat of the all over, cured again. We did the dots with black gel polish, then cured the dots in the UV light. Then we added the gems, and did two coats of the top coat, curing it after every coat.

If you do this with regular polish make sure to let each coat dry in between so you don't have any lumps or bumps.