Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Independence Day!  I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend so far.  Sadly, it is rainy and depressing here in New York, which means no fireworks for us today.  However, I have fireworks on my nails which is almost as good.

Materials I used:

Base coat - INM Ridge Free

Red polish - Formula X 'Atom + Eve'

Black polish - Revlon Top Speed 'Black Star'

White polish - Color Club 'Blank Canvas'

Art Club Striper - blue and silver glitter

Striping brush

Makeup sponge (small pieces)

Topcoat - Beauty Plus Salon

 

I decided to create a primarily red mani with just an accent nails, so I started out with black on my ring finger only.

 



For my accent finger, I created a firework display by layering bursts of color.  I used a very small, and I mean very small amount of white polish and sponged it in a very small area.  Almost like as if I was going to create galaxy nails.  I then sponged over this with a small amount of blue polish.  I then created a burst in blue, and layered this with red, and lastly with a silver glitter bursts.

As usual I performed any necessary clean up with acetone and brush, and topped it all off with a glossy topcoat.

 I created a firework mani last year too, http://ilovemanicures.blogspot.com/2014/07/fireworks-on-display.html.  I love to compare my older works to my newer ones, because it's a great way to see progress.

To say the least, my skills, my photography, even my hand poses have improved.  I really like the way my fireworks turned out this time around, they seem a bit more realistic than last years.  I think the only thing I would change, would be to sponge just a bit more white under my burst to brighten up the colors layered over top.  

 

 

I hope that you get to enjoy some fireworks displays this weekend.  Have a fun and safe holiday weekend!  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

 

 

Your Fellow Plebe,

 



Patriotic Waterfall

Hello Lovelies!  Today, I have a super easy, super quick nail art design that will work on any nail length or shape.  You don't need a lot of skill to create this look so it is perfect for a beginner too.  I've created one of these waterfall manicures once before, my ROYGBIV Waterfall Nail Art design.  I used the same exact technique but used a red, white, and blue patriotic color scheme...

Materials I used:
Base coat - INM Ridge Free
White base - Color Club 'Blank Canvas'
Art Club stripers - red, blue, and silver
Top coat - Beauty Plus Salon

I began with a nice white blank canvas, using 'Blank Canvas' (what a befitting name, for a white polish).

I then used my three nail art stripers in red, blue, and silver to create the waterfall.  A waterfall manicure is simply a series of vertical stripes that run different lengths of the nail (often about halfway) and typically start from the smile line (cuticle area) or the tip of the nail.  Of course, all of these variances are up to you.  I began with red...

I then used blue to stripe in between the red stripes...

I finished up with silver, using it to fill in the slightly wider spaces.

Lastly, perform any clean up if necessary and apply your favorite topcoat, and you're done.  Super simple and super quick.  This took me approximately 30 minutes, including photographing.  If I didn't have take the time to take pictures I probably could have done this in 10-15 minutes. 

This is a perfect patriotic mani for someone who has limited skill, limited time (because your to busy getting ready for that Fourth of July party this weekend), and it's great for any nail length.  You may have noticed in my step-by-step pictures that my mid-finger was significantly shorter than the rest.  I had an epic break yesterday, when I was folding laundry, of all things!  Normally, I would avoid photographing a hand with a broken nail but I decided to use it as a guide to show you that this also works on short nails too.

I really hope you enjoyed this quick, easy, Fourth of July nail art design.  I will be posting one more Fourth of July manicure, so stay tuned.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 

 

Stars and Stripes

Hello Lovelies!  I know today is Canada Day but I didn't create nails for it because I can't draw a maple leaf to save my life.  To all my nail pals to the North, happy Canada Day!  I do, however, have some Independence Day nails, to help you get ready for this coming weekend!

Materials I used (sorry I forgot to photograph the supplies):

Base coat - INM Ridge Free
Blue polish - Sinful Colors 'Endless Blue'
White polish - Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White'
Red Art Club Striper
Star shaped vinyls from nailvinyls.com
Silver Glitter Art Club Duo
Topcoat - Beauty Plus Salon
 

I began with a blue base on my thumb and pointer, and white on the remainder of my fingers.  Sticking with a traditional flag layout.  I did apply a quick drying topcoat over the blue, but not the white.

Using a red nail art striper, I freehand painted three wavy stripes over the white.  In attempt to make it look more like a flying flag.  If you are uncomfortable with freehand, use tape.  If you want wavy lines with tape, try cutting scotch tape with a pair of curved cuticle scissors to create this affect.

Once the blue was set, I used star shaped nail vinyls along with white polish to create my stars.  Of course, if you do not have star vinyls you can freehand stars too.  When doing a light color over a dark or bright color make sure your light color is very opaque to avoid having to do too many layers.  The white I use, Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White' is incredibly opaque in one coat, it easily covers darker colors.

As always, perform a bit of clean up and apply your favorite top coat.  As you can see, I had some dragging occur on my pinky when I applied my topcoat.  This occurred because I didn't float the topcoat like you should.  When applying a topcoat, it is best to start with a fair amount of topcoat on the brush, and apply it somewhat thickly.  The term floating is used because you are essentially floating the applicator brush over the nail.  If you do it correctly the brush will never actually touch your nail or artwork because the topcoat will keep it afloat.  I hope that make sense, if it doesn't please inquire about it more.

I repeated this on both hands, even though I had a bit of trouble creating the stripes with my non-dominant hand.  If you are creating stripes and you find you have made a mistake you can correct it or touch it up by using a striper brush and your base polish to fix it.  I had to do this in a couple of spots.  Also, please excuse the pink cuticles, red stains my fingers terribly.  If I had been smart I would have used a latex mask to help prevent this from happening, which I will be for my future manicures.

 

I hope you enjoyed this simple quick patriotic manicure, and found the tips and tutorial useful.  Get your BBQ's and sparklers out for this weekend's festivities.  Stay tuned for a couple more patriotic inspired manis, I have a super quick and simple manicure and a recreation of a Fourth of July manicure I created last year, coming up.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

 

Your Fellow Plebe,