Manis of the Week: Flakies Two Ways

Flakies keep coming in and out of style as a nail polish finish. My theory is that we hate wearing them because they lay bumpy and are notoriously poorly behaved, but then you see them and... "ooooh, pretty!" Iridescent sparkle bits are irresistible. I don't have a ton of flakies (see "lays bumpy, poorly behaved"), but I do have a favorite, a simple iridescent Avon topcoat that I found at a flea market. This week, I pulled it out twice, and got two completely different looks. Excuse my less than ideal photos this round- this topper proved to be tough to photograph, and I was ready to get this out to you!

First up, a look you might recognize: I did opal. Remember when I did that before? I don't blame you if you don't, it's been a long time. The process was similar though, I've just improved some of my fundamentals. For my base, I used Julep Janie, a milky white, instead of a stark white. I think going with something softer gave my recreation a more realistic look and let my highlight colors shine. Then I sponged a little Francine (green foil shimmer), Juliana (sheerish pink-orange shimmer), and Yiyi (soft purple holo jelly; all Julep), then topped with the flakie topper and one coat of Julep Desiree (gentle scattered holo topcoat). My other nails and the gold "frame" at the bottom are Sinful Colors Gold n' Roses.


For the second look, I went bright, layering the flakie topper and Desiree over Broadway Nails Matte Shine in Glamorous. Glamorous is a matte teal, and while it's not extraordinary, it's pretty enough, especially after you put some shine on it. But then I didn't stop. I added flakies, then holo glitter, then more flakies...pretty soon I had a super pretty, very poorly behaved mani with tons of depth. Even though the flakies on my opal mani are louder IRL, they're still much more subtle on the softer base than they are on the loud blue-green of Glamorous. This was not a subtle mani!

I've got to say, an iridescent flakie topper is worth the hunt. Sinful Colors Digital Dreams is one out now that's easy enough to find, but I passed on that one in favor of the more jagged look of the one I already have. I love this topper for more organic looks. Do you have a favorite flakie?

Bottle shot from my first opal mani post. I think the recreation is an improvement!

Recreation: PGS Glitter Ruffian

I was a huge fan of now-defunct blog Pretty Girl Science, and I'd saved one of Nichole's posts on my Bloglovin' Nail Ideas folder, where all the really cool nail art posts go to languish, waiting fruitlessly for me to recreate them. (Never fear, PGS's Nichole still posts at Bedlam Beauty, while Amanda can be found at Some Weird Sin.) This time, though, I actually did one!

I had held off on recreating Nichole's black and glitter ruffian (original here) because the glitter she had used was so unique. She packed Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's Glow for the Gold and The Royal Tannenbaums for a multicolored glitter extravaganza. I didn't have anything similar, and it was the color combination that had won me over, so it sat. I had almost written it off as one of those manis that was built around a random indie polish I'd likely never own.

Then the wheels started turning again when I bought Sinful Colors Pride, a multicolored, multisized round and hex glitter topper that layers to full coverage relatively easily. To get the color effect I wanted, I started with my black base, then used a short striping brush to polish on a thin layer of NYC Fashion Queen into my ruffian shape to give the extra pop of gold that glammed up Nichole's mani. The pre-shaped design made layering in Pride super easy. It took about 2 coats with a little spot dabbing to get the glitter saturation I wanted, but boy was it sparkly!

I think that Pride is a little chunkier than the OPNL glitters Nichole used, but the overall look that prompted me to hit Save on that post is definitely there. I love how this mani turned out-a really classy take on a very, very high sparkle look that was, as she promised, quite easy to achieve. I was especially excited to have recreated it with easy to find, inexpensive shades. Both Pride and Fashion Queen are drugstore polishes (and you could actually use any gold glitter as your ruffian base for a similar effect), and my base is a basic black- Julep Cleopatra this time. I topped it with Sinful Shine Top Coat.

As a PGS devotee, I was sad to see it end, but two blogs are better than one, right? I was glad to finally recreate this throwback to their starter blog. What other glitter combos could be fun for this look? Have you ever recreated an indie look with mainstream polishes?

My Christmas Nails: Pink and Grey Sweater Nails

I finally picked my Christmas nail design, and I'm really happy with how my mini-series of Christmas/holiday themed nail art wrapped up (haha, that's a pun!). This design was inspired by this look from Nailstorming. I've always liked pink and grey together, so I chose that color scheme for a soft, pretty winter design with just enough glitter that reminded me of a cozy winter sweater.

For this design, I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Hard-core Party as my baby pink base, then Julep Devon as my grey. The glitter is Zoya Lux (word on the street is that Zoya PixieDusts are going away in 2015, so if you like this one, you'll want to pick it up soon). Lux has pretty good opacity, but carefully dabbed over the baby pink of Hard-core Party gave it a lighter, more subtle sparkling pink snow effect. One warning about Hard-core Party: the color is lovely, but like many pale pastels, it's very streaky. Here I used a coat of matte topcoat in between layers to limit the number of coats of polish needed for decent coverage.

I've seen several different methods of doing the fair isle snowflake, so I sort of cobbled them together for mine. First, I carefully striped Devon once horizontally and once vertically over the pink base, meeting in the center of the nail. Then I made another set of diagonal stripes from top right to bottom left and vice versa. Next I pulled out my detail brush and made a triangular tip between the lines at the top of each wedge. Finally, I used a small brush to fill in outside the tips and dotted a daub of Lux in the center.

I loved this design, and as I get more practiced on my detail work, I'd love to recreate or do a similar design again. One holiday design I drooled over but didn't do myself this year was a full fair isle mani, so that may be on the docket for next season. If you're interested in a pictorial on the snowflake, let me know as well-it will be great practice. I hope you've had a great holiday season, whether you celebrate yourself or not. Now to start plotting my New Year's Eve mani!

Let the Christmas Nails Begin! Boughs of Holly Nail Art

I have a hard and fast rule that in my house we don't start discussing any holiday more than one month before that holiday actually falls. I am the resident Ruiner of Fun. Don't let that fool you, though-I am a fan of holiday nail art, and Christmas is one of my favorites. Since we are less than a week out from Christmas, last week I kicked off the season's nail art with this holly design inspired by Nails by Josse.

I skipped the matte for glittered tips, and added in bronzed curls underneath for a touch of class. I also went for a slightly more blendy, less sharp design than the original. This red is Sinful Colors GoGo Girl with NYC Ruby Queen on the tips, OPI for Sephora I Only Shop Vintage for the curls, and Revlon Jaded Night for my foliage. You may also notice I've gone a little shorter. Not by choice unfortunately, but hopefully my nails will grow out quickly. In the meantime, I softened up the shape and reduced my length to even it out across my entire hand.

I hope to fit in at least two more holiday themed designs before Christmas- not a lot of time, so wish me luck! What are your nails wearing this holiday season?

Quickie Recreation: Side Ruffian

So Spektor's Nails did a side ruffian, and about 3.5 seconds after seeing it, I had started plotting on how to get it for myself. Here's what I came up with:

My photo is much rougher (thanks, Indiana!), but the color combination is actually quite close. My nails are pretty much the discount version of the original post. I used Sinful Colors Rise and Shine in place of OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pumping Iron in place of OPI Unfrost My Heart. She used Insta-Dri topcoat, I used HK Girl, I'd say they're equally shiny. She mentioned using french nail stickers to get the shape; I tried hole reenforcers, but that approach wasn't a good fit for this design with my nail shape, so I just freehanded with a striper. I also threw in a little glitter with a streak of Julep Joelle. It was fine without it, but I was in the mood for a little sparkle.

Usually when I try to recreate a mani I really like I end up frustrated, but this time I was very happy with the result. Honestly, I'm kind of annoyed that my pictures didn't come out very well, because this mani is so gorgeous. I love the color combination-isn't it great when you see a color combination or design that makes you want to polish right now? Definitely pop over to the original post to see photos that do it justice, and to enter the fantastic OPI polish giveaway running at Spektor's Nails through November 30th!

November 2014 Julep Maven Review and Nail Art

My Julep Maven box was a home run this month! I ended up with three polishes, and I have to say that all three are likely to end up in regular rotation. November was a great month to be a Maven.

A closer look using the flash (blech!)

This month I ended up with three polishes. The first was Devon, this month's must-have when I was choosing my box. I looove greys. Devon is a "slate grey with fuchsia microshimmer" according to Julep, and I'd say that's pretty accurate. I expected the microshimmer to be a little more prominent, maybe giving a slight duochrome effect. That didn't happen, but it did add something extra that makes this polish different from the other greys in my collection and kept it from leaning metallic. The subtle shimmer reminded me of an indie polish-a very good thing. It's most definitely a baby elephant grey rather than a silver, and it makes a nice alternative to neutrals. It felt warm and fuzzy to me, so I accented it with a quilty pattern. While it doesn't bear much resemblance now, this design was inspired by this one at Amateur Manicure. To intensify the bling, I accented with A England Her Rose Adagio for the quilt lines and Sleeping Palace for my "buttons." The holo arc and dusty pink base of Her Rose Adagio was a perfect pair up with Devon's more subtle shimmer; I can't wait to pair them up in a gradient.





My next pick was harder. After much deliberation, I swapped out my other Classic With a Twist option for Kiki, an "oceanic silver shimmer." I'm not sure why they implied this color was silver, it is straight up blue. "Oceanic with silver shimmer" would have been quite appropriate, though. Look how pretty!

I spotted a mini-tutorial from www.rijah.dk (the caption where I found the video isn't in English and I had trouble figuring out who to attribute it to, but you can check it out on Facebook) and was inspired to use Kiki as the base for a sugar spun design. I loved the black/metallic look in the video, so I flipped it and put Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out on top rather than the bright contrasting colors I usually see with sugar spun nail art. Mine came out less messy than hers, but I think the same feel is there.










Finally, I just couldn't resist-I cashed in some Jules (basically reward points that you spend to add on to the monthly boxes, for those non-Mavens among us) for Joanne, a "smoky plum creme." I am SO glad I did! Joanne is beautiful. It was a good match to the swatches on the website, and has a ton of shine. It's a little thin, but not so much that I had trouble working with it. I kept it simple with this polish, starting with a thick coat of Devon (the swatches above were two thinner coats), then carefully adding a ruffian of Joanne over the top. Since Devon's slightly darker than Joanne, one coat worked well for a neat, clean ruffian, but I would use two if wearing it alone.




This month's polishes seem to have hit the mark for a set of distinctly fall colors that skew away from traditional autumn fare in favor of a fabulous cozy sweaters vibe. I wasn't very interested in the new mascara that debuted with this month's box (their makeup is hit and miss, and I'm currently in love with Rimmel Scandaleyes, so no rush to try out new mascara), so I traded it in for another bottle of Oxygen base coat. In other news, winter is coming in Indiana, and my photos are suffering for it big time. It might be time to construct a light box. Anyone built one for your nail art photos? Tips?

If you decide to try Julep Maven yourself, feel free to use my affiliate link here or in the cute little "Classic With A Twist" button on your right. I get a Julep credit, and you get your intro box for only the $3.99 shipping cost with code FREEBOX.

Wildflowers on Watercolors

Not sure what came over me, but I woke up the other day knowing I wanted wildflowers. After Googling using multiple search terms, I found inspiration on Pinterest. While I don't pin myself, I always find interesting things when Google takes me to a nail art lover's pinboard. This time the design was a pastel watercolor floral from Celine Does Nails. (You can view the original pinned photo here.)

I'm not partial to pastels, so when I want to emulate a pastel based design, it usually comes out a little brighter than the original. This was no exception. My design ended up more summer than spring, but I think it came out well. I tried a few different types of flowers; some were good, some not so much, but for someone who loves florals as much as I do, practice is good. For this look, I polished each nail a different shade, then sponged the others on top. I topcoated to blend before painting on my floral pattern with toothpicks, a small brush, and dotting tools. Finally, I laid down two more layers of topcoat to seal in the design.

Now's also a good time to mention that I have a new topcoat, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Fast Drying+Super Shiny Topcoat. While I don't feel like I've given it enough time for a full review, after two manis (I also used it on my KISS tribute design), I'm ready to share first impressions.

I've heard a lot about HK Girl as a beauty blogger favorite and had to try it. I was happy to see that the price tag is nice compared to other boutique topcoats. I paid less than $10 for it after shipping, whereas my other current favorite quick drying topcoats, Julep Freedom Polymer Topcoat (which I wasn't wowed by at first, and now I panic when I start to run out) and Oxygen Performance Topcoat, are almost $15 with Maven pricing and free shipping. If you're not a member of the Julep Maven subscription service, they're $18...plus shipping. Yikes! I'm pretty fond of Sally Hansen Mega Shine as well, which retails about the same as HK Girl and is available in drugstores, but takes longer to get completely hard than my Julep toppers do. HK Girl delivers on its promise to dry hard in a matter of minutes and it has a wet shine when dry. Lasting power seems to be pretty good as well. Downsides-it's a little thinner than I expected, and it smells dreadful. It's also only a 2-free formula (according to the website, it does contain dibutyl phthalate). While a 3, 4, or 5-free formula is a bonus rather than a must for me, it's important enough to some people that it's worth mentioning. All in all I like it so far, and it will be nice not to have to wait for a sale to get a topcoat with the qualities I want at a reasonable price, so I'll give it a few weeks to see if it has go-to potential. I'm especially interested in the claim that it maintains the same consistency without thickening for the whole bottle. If that's true (or if it thickens, but not past the thickness of a new bottle of Freedom) they'll have me hooked.

Colors Used

Base Nails:

Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lively Lilac (purple)

Sinful Colors Nice Stems (mint)

Julep Lilou (yellow)

Sinful Colors Cream Soda (pale orange)

Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Sweet Sunrise (pink)

Flowers:

Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Sugar Plum (dark pink)

Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle Kiss of Pink (medium pink)

Sinful Colors Boogie Nights (medium orange)

Sinful Colors Cream Soda (pale orange)

Sinful Colors Rainstorm (dark blue; 

mixed with Sally Hansen french tip white for light blue accent) 

Revlon Jaded Night (dark green)

Sinful Colors Happy Ending (light green)

Lacquer Legion: Trekker Galaxy

When the Lacquer Legion declared Fandom as July's prompt, I may have squealed out loud. As you may have read on the Story of This Blog, my first serious nail art undertaking was Star Trek fan art. At the time I wasn't taking photos of my nails, but it was fairly simple-red nails with one yellow and one blue accent nail featuring the Starfleet insignia. For this month's Lacquer Legion mani, I decided to recreate that vibe using one of my very favorite techniques: galaxy nails.

Galaxy nails never get old for me, and are another technique that I tried very early in my nail art adventures. They come in endless variations, always look spectacular, and are ridiculously easy. I'm also fascinated by space (I'm obsessed with the "The Planets" manis that Nichole at Pretty Girl Science has been posting-but I'm obsessed with PGS anyway), so I end up staring at them all day. For this set, I went outside of my norm and used a deep purple, Julep Padma, instead of black as my base. Then I went crazy with colors, infusing a little turquoise this time with my usual array of white, pinks, yellow, and barrage of multi-sized glitter "stars." I used bits of sponge held precariously with tweezers, but a friend recently sent me a tutorial that used an eyeshadow sponge and looked even easier, so I think I may pick up some cheap ones to try that next time. Then I used a striper to shape out my Starfleet insignia in Sally Hansen Color Foil Sterling Silver and outlined in black (which, incidentally, is why the purple background instead of my usual black-to ensure my outline would stand out). Unfortunately, the gloomy Indiana weather made it really difficult to get a decent shot of the colors in this mani, so I was stuck with one that had a big, ugly shadow across the bottom as my best photo of the color scheme. Figures.

While I was tempted to do something more dramatic, like my Wonder Woman themed ComicCon nails, for this awesome prompt, a recreation that pays homage to my nerdy nail art roots just felt right. Plus...galaxy nails!

Mini-Me Nail Art- Watercolors and Wraps

Today I have a couple of techniques and products to show you with the help of my lovely hand model, Baby Love (AKA Mini-Me). Every now and then we have mommy-daughter time by doing nails. She usually asks for variations on designs I've already done, and it's always interesting to see my already teensy nail art designs further miniaturized. Today I have my first foray into nail wraps and a watercolor design.

For her birthday, Baby Love wanted to sample some of the Sally Hansen nail wraps I recently got as a gift, and we selected this adorable skully print called Heart Breaker. For her accent nail, we did Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear in Twisted Pink with an overlay of Julep Joelle, and a little heart on top, also with Twisted Pink. I haven't tried nail wraps before, so it took me a little time to get used to them, but once I got a few nails in, they were very easy! The hardest part was cutting them down to the right shape to conform to her tiny, childhood-damaged cuticles, but since they give you a range of sizes, we were able to find a match for each nail. She has short nails, so instead of using a different strip for each nail, I just flipped the strips and used each one for two nails. What surprised me most was the lasting power. Even with as active as Baby Love is, we had no chipping almost a week later when she was ready to take them off. I did seal them in with a brush of Mega Shine, but I don't think it was completely necessary. They seemed to be solidly sealed even without it.


For the other design, I used a technique from the Nailasaurus "nimbus" tutorial. Baby Love asked for "watercolors." Since she's ten, I'm not sure exactly what she meant, but she seemed happy with the result!

As usual, no cleanup on Mini-Me (don't like to use acetone on her)

Isn't she precious? Have you tried either of these techniques? Tips and tricks welcome!

Weekend Nails: Water Decal Skittles

This weekend I played with a classic red, white, and black color scheme inspired by my simple, cute, and ridiculously cheap Marilyn Monroe t-shirt. While I haven't been brave enough to try the Marilyn themed tutorial-in-which-she-makes-it-look-easy from Robin Moses, I crave Marilyn nail art, and this is a step in the right direction. For this design, I used Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in White On and Black Out, Julep Catherine, Pure Ice Dazzle Me, and water decals from the Born Pretty Store (sheet BLE1770 at the link).

The polka dotted heart design on my middle finger is a direct ripoff from Kim_Ciil at Smioss.com. The rest of the designs I kind of played by ear.

This is also my second attempt at painting the back of my nails, a la this Louboutin inspired nail look from The Manicure Addict, for a little extra glam. The first time was a quiet flop. This time I made a huge mess with epic levels of smearing- my hands looked like a crime scene- but it worked out much better. It occurs to me that "wing it" is not really a strategy for success with this particular look, especially on short nails, but trial and error is the best way to figure this stuff out. If I can get comfortable doing this, think of all the fun we can have with color combos! I started with a dotting tool for the first layer and used a short pointed brush to touch up. The hardest part is the feeling that there's something under my nails; I have to fight the urge to "clean" the polish out.

I think next time a more deliberate approach is in order, possibly with some kind of tape contraption to make the cleanup easier. While far from perfect, I had fun playing with some new techniques. What do you think?

Nails By ChiChi Houndstooth

Houndstooth is a made-for-Weekend-Nails pattern. I've been avoiding it because it seemed a little too difficult to get right. In fact, that has been a theme for me with this pattern. I think it's adorable, but it just doesn't seem to be something I can pull off. Last night though, in the middle of the week, no less, I got brave and decided to give it a shot. When I want to do something difficult, a pictorial is my preferred how-to guide for step-by-step instructions. After examining multiple houndstooth pictorials, I chose one from Nails By Chi Chi, a site I hadn't seen before, and I'm definitely planning to go back there the next time I need inspiration.

For this design, I used Julep Mona, a deep, moody grey, with Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in White On, with the Salon Perfect striper in White Out to create the pattern. I used my regular Mega Shine on top, and tried my new Bridge the Ridge basecoat. I didn't notice any major differences from my normal bases, but I can say my mani is very smooth, even with an unforgiving creme finish. It was surprisingly easy! I was completely overthinking it.

Much like real houndstooth, it's not much to look at close up, but the overall result is both classy and fabulous. Maybe this will give me the courage to try a houndstooth scarf or pair of heels. Have you ever been nail-spired by Nails By Chi Chi? I think the One Stroke Roses might be my next project.

Weekend Nails: Stripes and Rainbows

It's been a while since I've done a black nail, mostly because of the sorry state of my cuticles (dry, busted cuticles sop black polish up). Now that my cuticles are starting to look semi-presentable, I couldn't wait to get back on the black polish horse. It's a nice change up from the pastels and brights that are on everyone's minds right now.

First of all, this design is stolen. The rainbow/polka dot/sparkly bow tips are from a photo that I mindlessly saved to the 'nail ideas' folder on my phone before I started blogging and can't find now, so if you know who it "belongs" to originally, give them a shout out in the comments.

Beyond the accent nail, it was all trial and error. I wasn't in love with my usual rainbow color combination after completing my thumb, but the green and purple alone was quite lovely on my black creme base, so I stopped there. Then I added a thin stripe of glitter to tie it together with the rainbow design's accent bow.

The colors I used were Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Black Out, Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Jade Jump and Lively Lilac (two of my very favorite colors), Julep Octavia, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Tough Love, Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, Pure Ice in Drive Me Crazy, and Julep Joelle, topped with MegaShine.

Opal Nail Pictorial

As I mentioned on the Story of This Blog, my mom has gorgeous nails that she always tries to keep beautifully polished. While I choose natural over acrylic (she started out natural and switched to acrylic over time to maintain consistent length, where I wear mine shorter) and do my own nail art rather than having it done by a professional, I still consider her my nail muse. She's always loved opals, and when I saw the opal nails tutorial on xoVain, I knew I'd have to try it in her honor, especially after I picked up a bottle of the now unavailable Avon Opal Top Coat at a flea market. My technique was slightly different than xoVain's, as I wanted a more milky, white opal look. I'm pretty happy with the finished result:

The colors I used for this design were Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in White On (base), Pure Ice in Strip Tease, Wet n' Wild Mega Last in Retro Mint, Glitter Gal in Turbulence, and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Black and Blue (marble), Avon Opal Top Coat, and Julep in Dakota (gold edge). I chose polishes that have different types of shimmer (superfine glitter, holo, and duochrome topped with a flakie) to make my look shine from every possible angle.

I started with a white creme, with one coat of color, then a layer of matte topcoat and another coat of white.

I waited for that to dry, then sponged on Turbulence, which looked slightly grey and shimmery on the white, and Retro Mint.












I used my oh-so-professional baggie/postcard palette to soften the accent polishes, dipping a cotton swab in acetone and swirling it with a drop of polish, then applying the polish with a sponge or occasionally directly with the cotton swab. I really like Pure Ice polishes for sponging- they're very inexpensive and sparkle subtly, and I love their glitters.









Once I had all of the colors sponged on, I added a bottom frame of Julep Dakota.













After the frame, I added the Avon opal polish to finish the look and make my nails look as close as possible to an actual opal. I finished it all off with two coats of Julep Freedom Polymer topcoat.











And that's it. Gemstone manis have been very popular over the last few years, and I think they're gorgeous. What gemstone inspires you?

Weekend Nails: Robin Moses Lovebirds Re-creation

This weekend I tackled a look by Robin Moses featuring a cute pair of lovebirds. I've seen so many amazing bird-themed nail designs, but I haven't had much luck with getting a recognizable silhouette on my nails, and that makes me sad. Robin's birds were super simple and sweet. Since I don't have the 20+ years of experience and raw artistic talent that she does, I was a little intimidated by her video at first, and almost decided this design was over my head. However, with a few modifications, this technique is doable, even for the artistically challenged amateur.

I started with a basecoat, then applied a rainbow gradient using small pieces of a makeup sponge and tweezers. Try not to overthink this part-just line up your colors in a configuration that looks good to you and blot them on loosely with two or three colors per nail. I shot for formulas that were creme or had very subtle shimmer in a creme base. You can pick any colors you like, but I recommend something in the same family so no one color looks out of place.

For a rainbow look with a smudgy, watercolor style gradation, I used a whopping fifteen colors, plus base and topcoat, on this design! You by no means have to use such an expansive palette, but that was part of the fun for me. The colors I used, shown left to right below, were: Pretty in Plum (Nicole by OPI, Selena Gomez collection), Lively Lilac (Sally Hansen Insta Dri), Lacey (Julep), Blue Me Away (hiding in the back, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear), Octavia (Julep) Fashionista (Revlon), Jaded Night (Revlon), Retro Mint (Wet n Wild Megalast), Mellow Yellow (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear), Die Hard Fan (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails), Nan (Julep), Tough Love (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails), Black Mark (Jordana Pop Art Striping Polish), Turbulence (Glitter Gal), and Black Out (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear) with Mega Shine topcoat and NutraNail Green Tea Strengthener basecoat. Whew!

After sponging on the rainbow gradient tips, I dabbed Turbulence, a sheer linear holo, along the line where the bare nail met the polish. This was a calculated risk, but it came out very subtle, and I just adore the tiny bit of sparkle it added.

Then I formed the branches with the Jordana striping polish. In the tutorial, Robin Moses references the little dots around the ends to make it look "like lace," so that's what I thought about when placing them with a toothpick, going for a more decorative than literal look. Be sure to leave a "perch" for your lovebirds on your accent nails.

The lovebirds were fairly simple, just a small and large dot with a dotting tool and two lines with a toothpick below the branch for the tail. My daughter, who's usually pretty quick to decipher my nail art, had trouble figuring out they were birds, so I'll probably make them a little bigger next time, but overall, I think it came out really nicely!

I'm excited about this pretty and surprisingly simple at-home recreation of a professional look. Which nail artists inspire you?

Update: The popularity of this post has pushed my "secret" blog to over 200 page views! That's so exciting! I'd love to get to know the people reading, so I've started a Facebook page for the Super Secret Nail Blog. Check me out on Facebook. 

Owl Love Re-creation

When I was looking for a Valentine's Day nail design, I absolutely fell in love with an adorable owl design from last year's Valentine's Day post at The Polish Well. While my recreation didn't come out super Valentiney, I think it's pretty cute. I'm really feeling owls right now, they're versatile and fun, but not too girlish. One of the nice things about Valentine nail themes is that they still look natural after the holiday, so I think I'll save the pink and hearts for another day.

 

For this design, I used Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Tough Taupe for the base, Revlon Foxy and Jaded Night for my branches and leaves, and Julep Claudette, Florence, and Misti for my tiny owls, with Foxy beaks and pupils. It's all topped off with Mega Shine.