Fall Nail Idea

I got this idea initially off of Pinterest. I did a copy cat of it and here is my version. I have always like the idea of dark browns for fall.

I did this in gel polish over acrylic nails. I did the acrylic nails on my own and someday I plan to post a video tutorial on how to do your own acrylics. It is so very easy and cheap! I was not a huge fan of getting acrylic nails because of the cost and damage it does to your nail. When you do it on your own it seems you don't need to drill the natural nail as much and it causes little to no damage.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I did not take pictures during this one, but it's pretty simple I think you can figure it out! Enjoy :)

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?

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!

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!

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!!!

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.

Ombre Tiger Gel Mani Tutorial

I got a little bored the other day and wanted to try the tiger mani with the gel polish. I've done it before with regular polish. You can see those pictures here. That one had white and orange. This time I decided to use neon orange and neon yellow.

What you will need:

• Black polish
• Orange polish
• Yellow polish 
• Glitter accent (I used gold glitter)
• Realllllllly thin nail brush

Step 1: Start by prepping your nails as normal (cut, file cuticles etc). Then put on your base coat (cure base coat if your are doing gel)

Step 2: Now, paint the orange polish 3/4 of the way up your nail starting at the cuticle and going up. **Do not cure yet**

Step 3: Now, using your yellow polish, paint the tip you left uncolored by the yellow, and paint down and just a little over the orange. The gel polish because it doesn't dry by air, will kind of run together. This is why you do not want to cure after you paint the orange on.

Step 4: Now once you have done this to all of your fingers, cure the polish. Repeat step 3. You want two coats to give you that ombre. And again, with the gel, it will blend together mixing, but be careful not to use too much polish.

Step 5: With your nail brush paint black stripes over the nail. Make them thicker on the sides and go outward thinner to look more like tiger stripes. If using the gel, cure the black stripes in the UV lamp.

Step 6: Add glitter over some of the black tiger stripes to accent. Cure if using gel.

Step 7: Top coat (if using gel... you guessed it, cure!) 

Step 8: Go out and show off your cute DIY mani! Go ahead brag that you did it yourself. I give you permission!

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!