Poppin Bow

Hello Lovelies!  It has been a long while since I have done any kind of freehand nail art, so I decided to do a little.  I decided to make it a bit retro, because it's been a while since I've done anything retro too.

Materials I used:
Basecoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Bring It On!"
Polishes - Color Club "On Cloud Nine," "Sweet Getaway," "Je T'Aime," "Jitters," & Sinful Colors "Black on Black"
Small brush
Small dotting tool
Topcoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Marvel"

I began with a white base color on my pointer, mid, and ring fingers.  This is two coats of Color Club "On Cloud Nine," which smells like white chocolate.

Using a small brush I filled in the shape of a large bow on my mid finger and a stripe on both my pointer and ring fingers.  I used Color Club "Sweet Getaway," for the bow, it smells like roses.

I used a lighter pink to outline and add details to the bow and the stripes.  I did have to go back over some areas with white because I made some lines too thick.

Using a small dotting tool and black polish, I filled in the areas around the bows and stripes with polka dots.

For my thumb I did a simple black, and add a glitter to my pinky for a little bit of sparkle.  As usual I performed a bit of cuticle clean up with gentle acetone and a brush, and applied a glossy topcoat.

I repeated this on my right hand as well.  Unfortunately, my non-dominant hand is so out of practice, however I feel it turned out reasonably well.

There is something I really like about a black, white, and pink color scheme, and of course, I just love retro designs too.  So, all in all I am pretty pleased with this look.

However, I do feel my freehand needs a bit of work.  I was hoping freehand painting was going to be more like riding a bike.  You know one of those things you can pick up and do with ease, even if you haven't done it for a while.  Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case for me.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this retro-ish nail art design.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 



Retro Cherries and Stripes

Hello Lovelies!  As many of you know I love all things retro, vintage, and/or pinup style, and since its been a while  I thought it was time for me to create a retro nail art design.  I decided to go with a classic cherry pattern because I have never done one (can you believe that)!  I wanted to do a little something more than just cherries so this is what I did...

Materials I used:
Base coat: Seche Vite
White polish: Color Club 'On Cloud Nine' (white chocolate scented)
Red polish: Color Club 'Red-Handed' (cinnamon scented)
Black polish: Sinful Colors 'Black on Black'
Green Art Club stripper (not shown in picture below)
Striping tape
Dotting tools
Silver studs from bornprettystore.com
Top coat: Rica 'Glossy Glam'

I started off with two coats of white on my pointer, mid, and ring fingers, and two coats of red on my pink and thumb.  I applied top coat to my pointer and mid because I will be using tape on these fingers for my stripes.

On my ring finger, I created a cherry pattern on the entire nail.  This is relatively easy because it really is just a series of dots.  Using a medium/small dotting tool I placed two dots together randomly over the nail.  I then used a green nail art striper and drew a v-shaped stem connecting the two dots.  Then with a very small dotting tool I applied a very small white dot on the same side of each cherry.

I finished off this manicure by dotting medium/large dots over the red on my pink and thumb.  On my pointer I used striping tape and applied black over the white.  Lastly for the mid finger I did a half stripe, half cherry pattern using medium sized silver studs over the center.

I really like this nail art design, because I love the retro look.  The classic red, white, and black combo are just the perfect pin up combo, and the little splash of green really livens up the look.  I also like that even though this design looks complicated that it was actually very easy to create.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far, and I hope you enjoyed this nail art design as much as I.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 



Ciate London Flower Mani with a Vintage Twist

Hello Lovelies!  Happy Wednesday, I hope all of you are having a good week so far.  Today, I wanted to share with you a manicure kit from Ciate London, their flower manicure kit.  I originally found this kit at Sephora but passed it up because the price was too steep for my taste.  However, I was recently shopping at a local department store (Burlington Coat Factory) and found the same kit for a fifth of the price so I had to get it.

The kit includes a mini polish, a full size quick dry top coat, two pots of dried flowers, a pair of tweezers (out of place in the picture), and a nail file.  From the browsing I've done on the internet, it appears this kit comes in two color combination 'Bada Bloom' and 'Strike a Posy'.  This kit is the 'Bada Bloom' kit which consists of a pale blue polish 'Ferris Wheel' along with purple, blue, and reddish dried flowers.  The 'Strike a Posy' kit consists of a pink polish and yellow, blue, and white dried flowers.  I, of course, picked the blue kit because it is my favorite color. 

In addition to the kit I used a couple other items for this mani:
Base coat - Yellow Stopper
Secondary polish - purple polish, Ciate London 'Poppet'
Small dotting tool
Striping tape

I started out with three thin coats of the pale blue polish, and applied the quick drying top coat to my thumb and ring fingers.

Using a small dotting tool and the purple polish I dotted my pointer, mid, and pinky fingers.

When my thumb and ring fingers were dry I applied striping tape vertically along the nail and applied the purple polish over top, then immediately removed the tapes.

With the background design complete, I applied a layer of top coat and then placed dried flowers over top in random patterns.  I did pre-trim some of the flower pieces with a small pair of scissors.  Once, I was mostly satisfied with the placement of the flowers I applied two final layers of top coat.

Before, I tried this nail art design I was very keen of the idea of dried flowers on my nails.  However, now that I have tried them I find that I don't care for them as much as I though I would.  I like how they look but the one thing that makes me dislike them is that I could not get them to lay flat on my nails.  My nails are very curved both horizontally and vertically, I spent a great deal of time trying to press the flowers down.  I applied two layers of top coat hoping that it would weigh the flowers down but I still ended up having issues with the flowers sticking up, especially the purple ones.  I dislike this because the flowers will snag on things and the manicure will be ruined quicker because of it.

I really like the look of this manicure, but I'm sad about the finished product.  Sometimes, I really dislike having curved nails.  I am glad that I found this kit for a fraction of the originally price, I think I would have been even more unhappy with this if I had paid full price for the kit.  Considering I purchased the entire kit for far less than I would have spent on the top coat alone makes me more than okay with this purchase.  The kit itself is actually a great product because it includes everything you need for a basic dried flower manicure, it just didn't work out for me in the way I'd like.  I hope you found this review/tutorial useful, thank you for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

 



Vintage Style Nail Art

Hello Darlings!  Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love vintage and retro styles for just about everything from clothing, to décor, and even nail art.  I had a dinner party to attend last night and decided to wear one of my favorite 50 style dresses.  What better way to accessorize my ensemble than with some vintage style nails: polka dot and stripes accented with some roses.

I started off with Color Club 'Look, Don't Tusk' and 'Apple of My Eye.'  Originally, I was going to do three accent nails and then changed my mind, but I forgot to take another starter picture after I changed my pointer to 'Apple of My Eye.'  You'll see the change in all the other pictures though.

I used striping tape over the 'Look Don't Tusk' on my ring finger and used 'Apple of My Eye' as my secondary color.  I also used 'Apple of My Eye' and a small/medium dotting tool to dot my mid finger.

Over top I drew simple roses using three pink shades of Zoya; 'Wendy,' 'Rooney,' and 'Dot.'  I also used Zoya 'Tilda' and Revlon 'Emerald' for the leaves.

I felt my other nails seemed a bit boring so I added a medium and a small dot of Color Club 'Look, Don't Tusk' over 'Apple of My Eye.'  I also dotted a smaller dot of Color Club 'Bright Knights, Big City' in the center of each white dot, unfortunately this is barely visible.

I really like the stripes and polka dots with roses, it is such a classic look.  The burgundy color was a great accent color against my dress too.  If I had been smart, I would have taken a picture of them together, alas I did not.  However, my dress was a similar shade of green to Zoya 'Tilda', maybe a shade darker.  This is a nail art that will be difficult for me to part with, I've worn it all weekend (I applied it Friday evening).  I think the off white shade of 'Look, Don't Tusk' really leant to the vintage style, don't you?

I hope you enjoyed this nail art design, thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,