Tribal Nails

My friend Abby Jocson posted a picture on Instagram recently of different nail designs.  One of those photos particularly caught my eye -- the tribal print-inspired nail art. The design looked so loud, colorful and unique that I felt like I just had to try making my own version.  And what I absolutely loved about this nail art is that is leaves a lot of room for individuality, since there is no strict rule on which colors to use, or what patterns to make. I even opted to leave my usual accent fingers, the thumb and ring finger, plain to highlight the contrast of green and orange. This is what I came up with:

Special thanks to Polished in the City for the blue polish I used in this design.  It is "Snowcone" by Orly :)

Materials:

1. Base Coat
2. Top Coat
3. Nail polish in: Orange, Green, White, Black, Purple, Blue (or any colors you want!)
4. Very fine paint brush
5. Toothpick or dotting tool

Procedure:

Apply base coat. Paint thumb nail green, and the rest orange.

Start making fat and thin white stripes on the index, middle, and pinky.  Do not worry about getting polish on the skin around your nails.  Just clean up later on :)

Use your paint brush to make black straight and zig-ziag lines.  

Continue playing with colors, making stripes and dots randomly.  Have fun and be creative!

And as I always say, apply top coat, and you're done!!

I had so much fun doing this nail art that I did another design using pearlescent colors as my base.  Looks pretty, too!

Helpful Tips:

• Use contrasting colors to maximize the impact of this design :)
• The patterns I painted on my nails were fairly uniform, but making each nail look totally different may also work for tribal nails.
• I found that having 2 plain nails actually pulled the look together (having overly printed nails may look "scattered").

Thanks for reading!!

Elephant and Roses

I recently purchased a bag from Designs by Abby Jocson. It was a large and sturdy bag made with water resistant material, which makes it the perfect work bag for this unpredictable weather.  It also came in an absolutely adorable print that inspired this nail design.

My version of Elephant and Flowers

Rainy days are never gloomy with a bag so bright!

Special thanks too to Polished In The City for my beautiful blue base color! It's Snowcone by Orly, and I love the way just one coat creates an even and opaque quality.  They also carry different brands such as Seche, OPI, Zoya, LA Colors, Sally Hansen, Revlon, Essie, Wet n' Wild, and The Face Shop. Please do check out their site for more fab nail finds <3

For this design, I used fimo sticks for the flowers instead of painting them as I usually do.  Fimo sticks look like long erasers.  They are used by slicing them, then sticking them on the nail using clear polish. I purchased my fimo sticks from Amazon a long time back.  I'm sure there is still a lot available now :)

fimo sticks (picture taken online)

So let's get started!!

Materials:

1. Base Coat
2. Top Coat
3. Nail polish in: Medium blue, light blue or light grey, pink, green, black, and white
4. Big dotting tool
5. Small dotting tool
6. Very thin paint brush
7. Rose Fimo stick, sliced very thin

Procedure:

After applying base coat, paint all nails with your medium blue color.

Place a rose on each of the fingers except the thumb.  To do this, dot a bit of top coat on the part of the nail where you want to place the flowers, then gently press the rose on the nail.

Start painting the elephant by first making a silhouette on the thumb using light blue or grey polish (I don't have grey polish so I had to use light blue)

Now use dotting tools to create the eye and pink part of the ear.  I used the big dotting tool to dot the white part of the eye, then the small dotting tool to create a small black dot.

Use a thin paint brush dipped in black polish to outline the elephant.  I also added a mouth last minute to make my elephant look happy :)

Use green polish and a dotting tool to place leaves around the roses.

Outline the leaves the same way as the elephant to make the leaves look more alive.

As always, apply top coat, and you're done!!

Helpful Tips:

• Should you want to buy fimo sticks, try to buy in bulk, then share with friends as this may come out cheaper.  For example, I found a vendor who sells for $2.5/stick, while another sells for $9/100 sticks.  Big difference!
• Fimo sticks are great for nail art because they have detail that would otherwise be almost impossible to paint by hand.  They also provide flexibility, as the user decides how thick or thin they want the design to be.
• On the other hand, I sometimes find it bothersome to have fimo sticks on my nails because they tend to snag on my hair, among other things :s
• To clean your paint brush that has been dipped in polish, dampen a piece of cotton with nail polish remover and gently wipe the brush.

Thanks for reading!!

The Dark Knight Rises

I love doing movie-themed nail art, so I just had to make a design based on the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises!  This is actually a late post, as I made this design last week but waited till the movie came out before writing about it :)

I also used a matte top instead of my regular glossy top coat to mimic Batman's flat black suit.  I think it edgier too than the regular shiny top coat.

Materials:

1. Base Coat
2. Matte Top Coat
3. Nail polish in gold and black
4. Toothpicks
5. Round label stickers

Procedure:

After applying base coat, paint all nails gold.

Once nails are completely dry, place a round sticker at the base of the nails, except for the thumb.  Be sure to press the sticker against the corners of your nails to avoid polish from seeping through.

Paint the exposed part of the nails with stickers black.

Now use a toothpick to draw Batman's logo on the thumb.

When the nails are completely dry, carefully peel off the stickers.  Now you have sexy black and gold Half Moon manicures!

Apply a matte top coat on the nails to copy Batman's flat black suit, and you're done!

Helpful Tips:

• I kept a copy of Batman's logo in front of me while painting the logo on my thumb.  I created the outline first, then filled it in.
• Be sure to use a stifling motion when painting with a toothpick, to avoid damaging the base color.
• I used Orly Matte Top as a top coat, for those who are wondering. I got it for a little more than Php400, although I've heard of other matte top coats for much less. 

Thanks for reading!

Spiderman Nails

The Amazing Spiderman recently came out, and since a few friends suggested the theme, I thought it would be fun to make Spiderman-inspired nail art :)

At the same time, I also wanted to try the Half Moon manicure, which is kind of the opposite of the French tip manicure.  Instead of highlighting the tips, it highlights the bottom white part of the nail, called the "half moon". I think it looks edgier than the more classic French tip, so I incorporated the Half Moon into making this design.

Materials:

1. Base coat
2. Top coat
3. Nail polish in red, blue and black
4. Silver nail art pen or silver polish 
5. Toothpicks
6. Round label stickers (available in bookstores)

Procedure:

After applying base coat, paint all nails red.

Place label stickers on the bottom part of each nail, except for the thumb.  Be sure to place them in the middle, and to press the sides firmly so nail polish doesn't seep under the stickers.

Paint the exposed areas of nails with stickers with blue.

While the blue polish is drying, start creating the spider on the thumb.  Begin by using a toothpick in making a big dot with a teardrop shape under it.

Now draw 2 pairs of legs going up...

.. Then 2 pais of legs going down.  Add pincers if you want :)

By this time the blue polish would probably be dry (took me long to make the spider!). Gently peel off the stickers.  This is the Half Moon manicure.  For those wanting a simpler looking nail design, you may stop here :)

I made the spiderwebs by using a silver nail art pen to draw scalloped lines across my nails.

Then I connected these scalloped lines with straight lines going down. This is much easier than it looks!

Once everything is dry, apply top coat, and you're done!

Helpful Tips:

• As always, allow your nail polish to dry before putting the stickers on your nails.
• Also wait for the top color to dry before removing the stickers.
• Watch the tip of your toothpick when drawing the spider.  Should nail polish accumulate on the tip, wipe it off with cotton dampened with nail polish remover, or use a new stick.  Accumulated nail polish can make the toothpick tip thicker, thus making it more difficult to work with.  

Thanks for reading!

My Melody

My Hello Kitty nails last week reminded me of a request of a friend long ago for My Melody nail art.  I wasn't that good back then so I never got around to doing it. But now that I am more used to playing around with nail polish, here is the design I came up with...

Just like my Hello Kitty nails from last week, I opted to just decorate 1 nail, and keep the others simple with plain French tips.  Hello Kitty and My Melody are both characters that are girly enough on their own, so I prefer them played down to make the design more wearable :)

I also did the French tips this time using French manicure tape so this tutorial would be useful to those wanting to do French tips only.

Materials:

1. Top coat
2. Base coat
3. Nail polish in: hot pink (or any shade you prefer), light blue-green, white, black and yellow
4. Small dotting tool
5. Toothpicks
6. Tape or French manicure tape

Procedure:

After applying base coat, paint all nails pink.

Start making My Melody's face by painting a white oval on the bottom part of the ring finger.

Use a toothpick to create a small yellow nose, two big eyes. and a small mouth.  I created the flower on her head by using a dotting tool to make 5 small dots, then smudging them in with a toothpick while polish was still wet.

Put French manicure stickers or regular tape on your nails like so.  Make sure they are positioned properly so your French tips will not look lopsided.

Paint your tips blue!

Once the tips are completely dry, gently peel off the tape, top coat, and you're done!

Helpful Tips:

1. Time is your friend! Wait longer than usual before putting on the tape.  For this design, I actually went out and had dinner first before continuing with making my French tips.  
2. Also wait extra long before removing the tape because removing them prematurely will smudge the color.  
3. Hello Kitty and My Melody kind of look alike.  The difference is in proportion of features.  Hello Kitty's nose is as big as her eyes, while My Melody's eyes are bigger than her nose.  Be sure to follow the proper proportions so the characters don't look weird. :)

Thanks for reading!!