Nail Art: Grey Animal Print

Nail Art: Endearing Smearing

Welllllllllllllll I accidentally forgot to topcoat the thumb of my last design and the acrylic paint flaked off. Sure I could have just redone that one nail, but I decided to scrap it all and start again!
For this look I did my usual basecoat followed by two coats of OPI "My Address is Hollywood". I used my dotting tool to add random colors from the OPI Touring America collection and a few white dots here and there.

Nail Art: Still with the DOTZ!

Wellllll I'm trying to let the acrylic grow off my nails so I filed them down and squared 'em off! I achieved this look by putting on my base coat, two coats of OPI "Sparrow me the Drama" from the Pirates collection and a top coat. Then I used my dotting tool and some white acrylic paint to make the dots. I used a small nail art brush and some white acrlic to do the swirls on the thumb and ring finger. Finish it all off with a light pink 2mm Mash stone on each thumb and ring finger and another top coat.

Nail Art: I Heart Mom!

I decided to do some nail art in honor of my awesome mother!  Since we live so far apart, I wanted a little something to remind me of her.   I decided to print a tiny picture of her and attach it to my ring finger.  I didn't keep this on very long because I used regular paper and even with a lot of top coat it just didn't work.  I'm going to try having it printed on photo paper and see if that helps.

To get this look I applied my OPI basecoat then I applied two coats of OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle to all fingers except the ring fingers.  I then applied OPI Black Onxy on the tips in a chevron type french manicure.  I follwed that with a swipe of white from my Sinful Colors striper "bad chick" and a few dots of OPI Alpine Snow (dotting tool used).  I then put a MASH 2mm clear rhinestone on each center white dot.  For the ring finger I applied OPI basecoat and let it dry.  I then applied a thicker coat of basecoat and while it was still tacky I applied the picture of my mother which I had cut in a shape to fit my fingernail.  I used an orangewood stick to keep pressing down on the picture as it dried.  I covered with a top coat and then applied the 2mm clear MASH rhinestones along the tip.  Finished everything off with top coat.

Nail Art: Grey Dots

I did this look for the Georgia/South Carolina game on Sept 10th, 2011.  Since my uniform as a ticket taker (not a bad weekend gig) is a grey polo - I thought this would be perfect!  To achieve this look I started with my OPI basecoat then applied two coats of OPI French Quarter for your Thoughts.  I used my Osaka dotting tools to apply dots of OPI Alpine Snow and OPI Black Onyx in various sizes.  On the thumbs I added black and crystal 2mm MASH rhinestones and finished it all off with my fave Sally Hanson Anti-Chip fast drying top coat.  GO DAWGZ~~~~

Nail Art: My First Fimo

After reading nail art blogs and watching countless hours of youtube tutorials I thought it was time to try my first Fimo! I found a package of assorted flowers, leaves and butterflies at a local beauty supply store for around $5.

For this look I used an OPI basecoat followed by two coats of OPI Malaga Wine.  I then added white stripes with the white striper by Sinful Colors called "Bad Chick".  Finally I applied my fimo butterfly on each ring finger using the technique shown here .

Nail Art: Breaking out the Fall Colors - Labor Day 2011

The weather has turned a bit cooler and as I watch the leaves fall all over campus I'm beginning to get that "autumn" feeling.  I wanted to try this look because I had just purchased the OPI Sampler of the "Touring America" collection and I was dying to try the "French Quarter for Your Thoughts". Its a great grey color and I thought it would complement the wine color on my pedicure!

For this look I started out with the OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts as a base on each nail.  I then did a side swipe with OPI Malaga Wine on every nail except the ring fingers and thumbs.  On the ring fingers and thumbs I created random organic dots with the Malaga Wine as a base for my leopardish type spots.  Using a black nail art striper by Sinful Colors called "Time Off", I traced the border between the two colors and then outlined the spots.  I also added some random black spots between the Malaga wine spots for interest.  I had previously been using an OPI topcoat but I noticed that it tended to smear my designs so I switched to the Sally Hansen Insta Dry (in the red bottle) and I have no more issues with smearing.

Nail Art: Cherry Blossoms TAKE TWO

I decided to try the Cherry Blossom  design again with some changes.  I was in severe need of a fill on my acrylics, but it is still much better than the first try.  This design was inspired by one of my fave youtubers LOVE4NAILS.  Check out her channel!

This time I used OPI Happy Anniversary as my base then I layered side swipes of OPI Stranger Tides and OPI Mermaids Tears.  This time I used a black striper by Sinful Colors called "Time Off"  to create my branches.  I finished by dotting on tiny flowers of pink (Apple Barrel GLOSS 20631 "Pink Blush") and white (Apple Barrel  20503 "White") acrylic craft paint with a liner brush.