Penguin Soiree

Some of you may notice that it has been a while since my last nail art post, and some may even note that this is odd since Christmas is such a great theme for nail art. This is basically because I have been joining nail art contests and couldn't share my creations on my blog before they publish it :)

Nonetheless, I made this Penguin Soiree nail art for tutorial purposes.  It's a perfect nail design for beginners -- it's easy, fun, and would be fantastic for casual Christmas get-togethers.  Inspiration for this design came about as I remembered I am going to an out-of-town Christmas party this weekend with Penguino Motors Corp.  Their company is all about cars, but I am not ready just yet to sport tools on my nails.  So, I thought drawing inspiration from their company name should be just right. I wanted my penguins to look less common, and so decided on having blue and pink penguins.  The gentlemen sport proper bow ties, while the ladies have green scarves to keep them from the cold.

Penguin Soiree nail art

I used three colors from Dazzle Dry to create the design: Blueberry Snocone, Cherry Parfait and White Lightning.  Blueberry Snocone and Cherry Parfait gave me the perfect bright blue and pink shades that I was looking for.  White Lightning, on the other hand, gave me a very pleasant surprise.  It was a very pure and opaque white, that just two moderate layers (or three thin layers) gave me full coverage to get that clean white center for my penguins.  You will understand why an opaque center color is important later as I go through the steps.  Dazzle Dry was also perfect for this as it dried really easily so I had practically no waiting time in between layers :)

Now on with the tutorial!

Materials:

1. Nail Prep
2. Base Coat
3. Top Coat (items 1-3 from the Dazzle Dry Trinity Kit)
4. Blue polish - DD Blueberry Snocone
5. Pink polish - DD Cherry Parfait
6. White polish - DD White Lightning
7. Black polish - The Face Shop (TFS)
8. Orange polish - TFS
9. Acrylic paint
10. Think paint brush

*You may use acrylic paint for numbers 7 and 8

Procedure:

After sanitizing with nail prep and applying base coat, paint nails alternately with blue and pink.  In this picture I have 3 coats of Blueberry Snocone and 2 coats of Cherry Parfait.

Carefully paint the centers of your nails white, leaving a thin margin near the edges.  This is why an opaque center is necessary!

Paint extra thin French tips, matching the borders on each nail.

Use a dotting tool to create penguin details.  I used a small dotting tool for eyes and beak, and a big dotting tool for the feet.

Use acrylic paint to make the bow ties and scarves.  To make the bow tie, i made a wide X mark, then filled in the sides to make triangles.  

Apply top coat, and you're done!!

Let's look at some more pictures of my nails:

With Blueberry Snocone

White Lightning - a nail artist needs a trusty bottle of white polish!

With Cherry Parfait

My penguins are all dressed for the party!!

Helpful Tips:

• When doing border nails, make sure each layer is dry before moving on to keep the colors from bleeding to each other.
• Choose opaque colors for both the centers and the borders.
• If you are not comfortable yet with drawing, you may stick with plain penguins without the bow ties and scarves.  They're still cute anyway!!

I hope I've helped!! Happy Holidays to all, and thank you for reading!!

Girlstuff Nail Lacquer Product Review

Last week, I had the honor of receiving 9 bottles of nail polish as a gift from Girlstuff!! They have been seeing my nail designs and wanted me to try out their lacquers.

Bottom picture shows (from left to right): Defy, Nina, Joanne, Lemon Rocks, Carmen, Sparkling Blue, Judy, Lav and Plink

Once I received the package, my first impression was, "Are they sure these are for grown ups?"  The packaging is so cute, in a kiddie way! But after getting to know the brand more, I then understood the rationale behind cutie kiddie packaging.

Girlstuff nail polish is actually formulated to be especially safe for pregnant women and kids, being 3-Free (Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate, and Toluene-Free).  Being so, they are mainly available in the children's accessory sections of both SM and Rustan's Department Stores, as well as in their Girlstuff kiosk in Mall of Asia and the Girlstuff Nail Polish bar in SM Annex.  They also sell other kid-friendly items such as washable nail polish (for those kids who want to practice applying polish themselves!) and nail stickers. Oh, and they promise these nail lacquers will not turn your nail yellow!

But despite being made for kids, grown ups will also enjoy using their products, as I soon discovered.  For my first trial of their nail polish, I opted to keep my nails plain so I can closely study the texture and quality of the nail lacquers.  Here is a list of my observations:

1. The nail lacquers have a much milder smell than common nail polish brands.  This is probably due to its mild formulation.
2. It dries fairly quick.  First hand was touchable, though not completely dry, after application on the second hand (given that the coats are very thin). 
3. Quality is very smooth.  Application is easy and not streaky.
4. High shine even without top coat.
5. Though it dries fairly quick, it is still advisable to watch your nails a few hours after application as it does not become rock hard instantly (formaldehyde is responsible for that, if I remember right).

Because pink is my favorite, I chose to try out the light pink shade they sent me first.  Here are some photos:

Girlstuff in Plink without top coat

Girlstuff in Plink with top coat

Holding the super cute bottle from Girlstuff 

And I love how it matches with my favorite lip gloss from The Face Shop!

As you can see from my top picture (showing the colors I received), the colors they sent me are mostly brights and pastels.  They asked me beforehand, and I did tell them that pastels and brights are my preference.  Some of you might be under the impression that Girl Stuff, being made with kids in mind, may not have any of the classic colors we love such as taupes and reds.  I asked about this, and I was happy to know that they do have classic shades to fit those who are shy to wear brights on their tips.  There is Macchiato (light beige), Blush (neutral pink - I want to see this!), Scarlet (basic red), Lila, Patine, Chestnut (maroonish-brown), Twilight (black) and Moon (silvery blue).  They currently have about 40 shades, and are releasing 10 new shades this month.  They also carry base and top coats, but because I do not have these I used my Dazzle Dry system with their lacquer (nail prep, base and top coat).  The two brands worked wonderfully together.

It is also interesting to know that their lacquers are only priced at Php 100 for the basic colors, and Php 140 for the glittered ones.  They are also directly imported from France! 

In general, I think Girlstuff is a great option for those who want less harmful nail polish but cannot afford more premium-priced brands (will not mention any brands here!).  It is also a good starter brand for teens or adults who want to explore nail polish but are not ready to splurge just yet.  Overall a good product worth supporting! 

Border Nails... And More

I was walking in a mall one time when the MAC poster in the department store caught my eye.  I loved the look! It was basically black and nude, and the model was sporting a very high-fashion manicure.  I didn't know what it was called then, so I searched "nails with frame manicure" on Google.  I later on found out that this look is called Border Nails, and has been in fashion in the US since August of 2012. Below is a picture of MAC's poster that I fell in love with:

Picture taken from http://www.jamegackie.com/2012/10/simple-nail-trends-101.html

I immediately got intrigued and wanted to try this new manicure, so I searched tutorials on it.  The tutorials I found basically instructed to paint the nails with the central color before drawing on the borders, then cleaning off the excess from outside the nails.  I hate cleaning up though since I find it hard to get a really polished and clean look around the edges, so I tried this other technique that I will share with you. It's so easy you won't even need any tools!!

 Ready? Let's go!

Materials:

1. Nail Prep
2. Base Coat
3. Top Coat (Items 1-3 all from Dazzle Dry's Trinity Set)
4. 2 opaque nail lacquers of choice (I used DD Blueberry Snocone and Cotton Candy)

Procedure:

After sanitizing with nail prep and applying top coat, paint all nails with your color for the borders.

Leaving a thin margin along the edges of the nails, paint on the central color.  You may need 2--3 coats to get a really opaque quality.

Paint on a very fine French tip, about at thin as the margins.

Add top coat, and you're done!!

Let's take a look at more shots of my first attempt on Border Nails:

Holding my 2 color choices: Cotton Candy and Blueberry Snocone, bothe from Dazzle Dry

I was so happy with how my Border Nails turned out that I tried them in nude and black, just like in the MAC poster.  For this look I used Joan's Armor, a very dark pewter grey that almost looks like black, and my favorite, Girlishly Giddy, both from Dazzle Dry too :)

Nude (DD Girlishly Giddy) + Very Dark Pewter Grey (DD Joan's Armor)

While doing it I realized it would look so much more sophisticated if the centers looked like lace, so I stamped them.  Here is how they turned out:

In yellow light:

In sunlight:

This look is really easy.  If you're used to applying polish and have quite a steady hand, this should be no problem.  

Thanks for reading!!

Helpful Tips:

• This look works best with contrasting colors.  Pick lacquers of opaque consistency.
• It may be tempting to apply a thick layer for the center right away - DO NOT do this! Having too much lacquer on the brush will make strokes difficult to control, and would also create a bumpy texture.  Instead, layer on thin coats at a time.  Might take longer, but slow and steady wins the race ;)
• Be creative with this.  You may switch up the colors of the borders and centers for the accent fingers, or have a different color altogether.  :)

Turkey Nails for Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving!! Thanksgiving is not really celebrated in the Philippines, but I thought I'd make a nail art inspired by the holiday anyway.  Besides, with having work that I love (teaching), a hobby that keeps me inspired (nail art), family, and great friends, I feel I have so much to be thankful for.

I am fond of making cute cartoon animals on my nails, so I thought painting a turkey would be great.  Here is what I came up with:

Turkey Nails for Thanksgiving

Cute, isn't it?? It actually turned out better than I hoped it would :)  So let's begin with the tutorial!

Materials:

1. Nail Prep
2. Base Coat
3. Top Coat (Items 1-3 all from Dazzle Dry's Trinity Set)
4. Nail polish in light blue green (DD Casablanca)
5. Acrylic Paint
6. Paint brushes (better if you have nail art brushes)
7. Nail polish in black and white (The Face Shop or you may also use acrylic paint for this)
8. Dotting tools

Procedure:

After sanitizing nails with nail prep and applying base coat, paint all nails with light blue green.

Start making the feathers by making a fan-like outline using peach acrylic paint.

Fill in the fans with peach paint, then add red details like so.

Outline the turkey tails with dark brown paint.

For the turkey, I made a big brown oval first using a fatter brush.  I then added the tails following the same method shown above.  Eyes were dotted on with nail polish and dotting tools, and other details are painted on.
*Sorry I don't have step-by-step pics for this, was rushing to finish! :(

Apply 2 layers of top coat.  See the difference after top coat? Works like magic!

This nail art is so adorable it makes me feel sorry for all the turkeys that are about to be devoured in the coming days!!

Let's take another look at the finished design from a different lighting before proceeding to some helpful tips:

Turkey nails by nailingitdown.blogspot.com

Helpful Tips:

• When painting thin details like outlines, dip only the tip of the brush in the paint.  Thant way, lines go on thinner.
• I used peach  for the tails because I wanted a touch of pink in my art (pink being the most flattering to my skin tone).  I imagine beige would also look nice :)
• If you are using Dazzle Dry like me, it would be better to top coat before painting with acrylic.  Acrylic paint is erasable with alcohol, and without the top coat the lacquer finish gets ruined by the alcohol.  

Thank you for reading!!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Jewels and Lace

I recently attended a friend's wedding, and so my nails had to be dressed accordingly.  And what better theme to have than jewels and lace??

My nails were not literally adorned with jewels and lace though.  I called my art "Jewels and Lace" because I used Emerald Jewel Effects and Silver Lace Texture, both from Dazzle Dry (my current favorite brand).  Their Jewel Effects line features a series of clear lacquer base with jewel-colored glitters, while the Lace Texture line is their version of cracking polish.  Here is my design using Dazzle Dry's Jewel Effects and Lace Texture:

Jewels and Lace nail art

As you can see, the Lace Texture at the bottom part of the nails have very fine cracks.  This is because I chose it to be that way by applying a very thin coat.  Thicker coats produce chunkier and edgier-looking cracks.  Because I was going for a more delicate and formal nail design, I thought a finer texture would look better (and I say it did!).

*If you have texture coats of other brands, I think they also perform the same way.  I've tried a few others like OPI, Nicole by OPI, and The Face Shop, and they all work the same.  I just personally prefer Dazzle Dry because all of their products are vegan :)

So let us now proceed with the tutorial proper!

Materials:

1. Nail Prep
2. Base Coat
3. Top Coat (items 1-3 all from the Dazzle Dry Trinity set)
4. Dark green polish (DD Polar Jade)
5. Green glitter polish (DD Emerald Jewel Effects)
6. Silver or pearly white texture coat (DD Silver Lace Texture)
7. Silver Striping tape
8. Regular sticky tape

Procedure:

After sanitizing nails with nail prep and applying base coat, paint all nails with green polish.  This picture shows 2 coats of DD Polar Jade without top coat yet.

Apply 1-2 coats of glitter polish.  I've applied top coat in this step because the proper way of using DD Lace Texture is to use top coat before and after the application of Lace Texture.

Position regular tape diagonally on the nail and swipe texture coat on the nail.  You may choose to apply it downwards or diagonally to achieve the desired look.  I chose to apply it diagonally.

Gently peel off the tape once the texture coat is dry.

Place silver striping tape to outline the texture coat.  

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

Helpful Tips:

• You may want to apply an extra layer of top coat when using striper tape to reinforce it.
• Be sure that striper tape lays flat on the nail before applying top coat.
• When swiping the texture coat across the nail, keep the hand with the brush steady, and instead turn the nail you're painting slowly.  This helps keep strokes more even.
• Note that I am using Dazzle Dry out of my personal preference, and not because I am endorsing it! Of course, you may use other brands to recreate this look :)

Wreck It Ralph nails

I am a big fan of animated films, and the latest that I have seen is Wreck It Ralph by Disney.  It is the story of Ralph, the villain whose role is to wreck the building in his game.  Feeling unappreciated and shun by the other characters he lives with, Ralph travels to other games in the arcade in search for a golden medal that would prove that he can be a hero too.  In his quest, he meets Vanellope Von Schweetz, an outcast in her own world (Sugar Rush) also seeking acceptance.  For those who have not seen the movie, I thought a trailer might help you understand what I'm talking about.

I enjoyed this movie immensely, and so wanted to make a nail art out of it.  Here is the design I came up with.

Wreck It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz with assorted sweets from Vanellope's game, Sugar Rush

You might be wondering why my version of Ralph and Vanellope do not exactly look like them.  When I was planning this art, I figured it would be difficult to draw them and do them justice, so I searched for easier images of the characters.  I chanced upon this picture of Wreck It Ralph toys, and based my art on these toy figures instead.

Wreck It Ralph toys from theblotsays.com

I also ended up changing my mind last minute on the candy on my middle finger.  I originally painted a peppermint, but seeing that my art lacked color contrast, I erased it and painted a candy corn in its place.  I will explain how to make both just for options :)

Materials

1. Nail Prep
2. Base Coat
3. Top Coat (I use Dazzle Dry for all three items)
4. Nail polish in: white (DD White Lightning), pink (DD Cotton Candy), blue green (DD Casablanca), sheer white pearl (Bobbie Engagement - only if you want a peppermint), green glitter (The Face Shop), orange (DD Tropical Sunset - if you want a candy corn)
5. Acrylic paint
6. Thin paint brush
7. Dotting tool
8. Toothpick
9. Nail decals (optional)

Procedure:

After cleaning nails with nail prep and applying base coat, paint the thumb, middle and ring fingers white, index finger pink, and pinky blue green.  Paint the middle finger orange if you want a candy corn.

Top the pinky with glitter polish.
For those opting to make a peppermint, apply sheer pearl white polish on the middle finger.  

Use a thin paint brush to make diagonal brown stripes on the pinky.  This creates a choco-mint bonbon!

Using the same brush and brown paint, draw an outline of chocolate drizzle on the index finger.

Fill that in and add a chocolate drop underneath if you want :)  I later on added some glittery sprinkles for extra fun!

To make a pinwheel for the peppermint, start with a dot right in the middle of the fingernail.

Starting from the dot, paint 5 to 6 curving lines going out.  Of course, some additional glitter wouldn't hurt :)

I painted Vanellope by first painting her face and her hair using acrylic paint.

I then added her eyes, nose, and hair accessories.

Same goes for Ralph.  Face and hair first.

Then the smaller details.  You may use a dotting tool to make perfect circles for their eyes.

This is the finished look (without cleaning out the edges) with the peppermint nail.  

Because I did not like the peppermint, I erased it.  I then painted my middle finger orange then painted the white and yellow parts with acrylic paint.

Apply top coat, clean out the edges, and you're done!!

Another look at my Wreck It Ralph Nails.  I added some nail decals above Ralph and some orange dots above Vanellope to add color.

Helpful Tips

• When creating stripes, it is easier to hold the painting hand steady and slowly pivot the nail you're painting on.  This method creates straighter lines.
• Acrylic paint might look dull and not too smooth initially.  Do not worry! A good top coat seals it and creates a smooth finish.
• The sweets shone here are just my ideas.  Try out your own favorite sweets!

Thank you so much for reading! 

P.S.  As of this writing, Wreck It Ralph is still showing in Manila.  There's still time to catch it! :)