Cute and Easy Tiger Striped Mani

I have been a little lazy lately and haven't felt like doing the gel nails. I love that they last longer but on the same aspect they take a little more work getting off. So I have been exploring with the many bottles of regular polish I have.

I wanted to do something cute but easy and came up with this.

What you will need:
- Base and top coats
- White polish
- Pink polish
- Black polish
- Small piece of foil
- Thin nail art brush

Start by prepping your nails and painting with a base coat. Then follow by painting all your nails except thing ring finger pink. Then paint your ring finger white and repeat as many coats as you desire. Let completely dry.

Then place a small amount of pink and black polish onto your foil. Starting at the edges of your nail, create a small stripe. Practice on the foil first if you need to. Ensure you don't have too much polish on your brush. Repeat with the black polish.

Let dry then finish with a top coat. Enjoy! Oh and don't forget to follow me on Instagram - @fabnfrugalnails

Pink Ombre Mani

This is a fairly easy mani to do. I did this one with regular polish - I didn't try it with the gel polish. I have seen these all over and decided to try and it. To my surprise it was very easy to do!

Oh and for those of you who don't know - I now have a nail instagram account. Follow me @fabnfrugalnails

What you will need:
- Base and top coats
- A few different colors. I used 3 pinks and a white as a base.
- A triangle make up sponge

Start by painting your nails with the base color. In my case it was white. Once completely dry, use your make up sponge to layer the different colors onto starting with the darkest and going to the lightest colors.

You will likely need to do multiple coats so repeat the step on each nail until you get the desired color effect.

Finish off with a top coat!

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!

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

Striped Nail Tutorial

This is a fun easy one that you can do if you have nail striping tape or you can use regular tape. The great thing about this mani is that the possibilities are endless and there are so many color combinations.

Here is what you will need:
- Base coat and top coat
- Two nail colors (I used white and purple)
- Nail striping tape (or scotch tape)
- A glass of wine (ok not necessary but important nonetheless!)




Start by prepping your nails (clip, file, etc). Then paint your base coat and let dry. Then paint your nail with your all over color. You want to make sure you accent color can cover the all over cover well. I chose to use the purple on the bottom because I knew the white would cover the purple.

Now, place your nail striping tape (or regular tape) in your design manner. I chose to do different designs.

Now, paint your accent color on the side of the nail you want. If you are using the nail striping tape, be careful not to paint onto the other side of the nail. If you want and have a steady hand, feel free to leave the striping tape on the nail and just paint the top coat over the tape. Make sure to trim the excess edges.

Let dry completely before removing the tape. Then apply your topcoat. Enjoy!

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!

Leopard Tri-Color Mani

This week I decided on a fun multi colored leopard print mani. I used a Pinterest picture as inspiration but the link was dead so I can't give the person credit. I also added my own spin on it to make it a little different.

The leopard spots are extremely easy to do and I love how they turn out. This is a fun mani for those who are just starting out!

What you will need:
- Top and Base coats
- Black polish
- Teal (or light blue) polish
- Light Pink polish
- Dotting tool (or bobby pin but dotting tool works best)
- Foil or something similar (I use the top of a vitamin bottle so I can reuse it)


Start by prepping your nails as you normally would do (cut, file, etc) Next, paint your pinky and index finger with the black polish. Paint your ring and middle finger with the teal polish. Paint your thumb with the pink polish.

Next, we are going to create the spots. Dab some of the pink polish onto your foil. Use the larger end of your dotting tool, dip the ball into the pink polish so that we can create large non-perfect dots onto the ring and middle fingers.

Repeat the same steps for your thumb but instead of using pink, use the teal color. What we are doing is creating an offset effect with the colors.

Now we are going to finish the spots by adding black accents to the nails. Using the smaller end of the dotting tool, create small "C" shapes around the circles. Add a few small random dots in between the pattern. Repeat the steps for the thumb nail and the teal colored nails (ring and middle finger).

Last step is to paint with a top coat and you are all done! Rock that awesome mani :) Try playing with different colors to see what you like best.

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!