Using a Nail Stamper

Indoor light

I have had my mash nails stamping plates for quite some time and haven't done anything with them. I pulled them out and tried this neat floral type design.

Start by painting your nails an all over color. I chose purple. Let dry completely before stamping.

Now chose your stamping plate and paint your accent color onto the stamp. I used white. Use your scraper to scrape off the excess polish. Then take your stamper and stamp it onto the polish.

Now take the stamper and make sure you have a good solid design on the rubber part. If you do quickly stamp it onto your nail.

Wipe off the stamper and the scraper and the plate with nail polish remover and repeat each step for every finger.

The stamper kit is something you have to practice with but when you get the hang of it you can come up with some really neat designs! 

In sunlight

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!

Pink Glam Nail Mani

It's been awhile since I posted! I am so sorry! I have been very busy. But I think you will like this one and I hope this makes up for it.

I am going to post most of the steps for this one but not all of them because it's actually quite easy and like a lot of my other tutorials.

What you will need:
- Base and Top coats
- All over color ( I used IBD Funny Bone - a pink gel color)
- Sliver glitter (or lose glitter)
- Rhinestone gems (I used stars and a square one for my pinky)

Start by prepping your nails first (file, clip etc) then paint all of your nails with your base coat. Next paint all of your nails with your all over color.

Next, on your thumb, use a toothpick or orange stick to apply three star rhinestones in a row. Use clear top coat to get it to stick to your nail.

Then apply a single gem to your pinky. Paint your ring finger with silver glitter. On your pointer finger do an ombre effect and just paint the tip of the nail.

Make sure to put a nice thick top coat on the nails that have the gems. I start by putting a small dot of top coat right on top of the gem then use the brush to even it out. This allows to get a good thick coat so the gems do not fall off.

Be creative and have fun!

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!

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!