tribal nails

Day sixteen of the 31 Day Challenge, tribal nails!

Rimmel 60 second dry "Sky High" 2 coats

Yellow: Kiss Nail art
Black: Sally Hansen Xtreme Nails "Black Out"
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Nails "White On"

flower nails

Day fourteen of the 31 Day Challenge, flower nails!
I love flowers, I'm just not very good at doing them for nail art!
I can paint em, draw em, grow em, arrange em, not nail art em. ;)

Base: Wet n Wild "Bite the Bullet" 3 coats

Daisies: KISS Nail art in Yellow & Sally Hansen Xtreme nails "White On" 1 coat each

animal print nails.

Day thirteen of the 31 Day Challenge, animal print nails!
Now, I considered doing a full leopard print mani, because i've never done a full one, but I absolutely love zebra print so I couldn't resist.

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme nails "White on" 2 coats

Black: Sally Hansen Xtreme nails "Black Out" 1 coat

♥

black & white nails.

Day seven of the 31 Day Challenge, black and white nails!

Now, I was shockingly out of ideas and didn't want to do another zebra print manicure because I find that i'm wearing those quite a bit lately. I also sort of knew that I wanted french tips today, but since it's black and white, I needed a little twist!
I did this really quickly and the pictures are to be desired as they were taken later last night than I would have liked.

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Nails "White On" 2 coats

Black: Sally Hansen Xtreme nails "Black Out" 1 coat

I've never taken pictures of my right hand for my blog before, simply because my left hand typically turns out better as i'm right handed. However, lately, all my left hand nails have been breaking and they haven't grown back and the nails on my right hand simply look better! They're quite a bit longer and the cuticles look just about the same.

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails with Nylon "Lavender Lace Sheer" 1 coat

Tips: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "White On" 2 coats

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails with Nylon "Nude" 2 coats

I got a new base coat (Revlon Multi Care Base + Top Coat). It's a clear coat, depite the frosted glass bottle it comes in. However, it's not too great as a base coat, I can't put my sheer white on top for a french manicure because it's incredibly streaky. It seems as if the base coat kinda grabs the polish and absorbs it, making it hard to get nice even coats. I tried it as a top coat as well and it's REALLY slow drying, I waited abuot 3 hours and still dented my manicure because of this. I'll definitely stick to my usual top coat but I may try this again as a base coat when I intend to wear a solid color polish.

texture tips

Base: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails with Nylon "Lavender Lace Sheer" 1 coat

Tips: Sally Hansen Xtreme Nails "White On" 2 coats and Nicole by OPI "Red Texture" 1 coat, painted horizontally

Top coat: Sally Hansen Xtreme Nails "Nude" 2 coats

I kinda like these new texture coats! They're much like OPI shatter, however, you absolutely need a base coat. The shatters it is possible to do on a bare nail, these you can't. I usually test my polishes on paper to see if i'm gonna like it on the nail, when I tested this one, it was magenta on paper, and didn't crackle!
I was a little scared to try it on my nail, but it turned out a success after all!

Newspaper comic book nails! (REALLY picture heavy)

I'm beyond excited that this worked. I accidentally got newsprint all over my hands this morning while reading the paper and then I thought, hey, what if I could get this on to my nails? So, I googled a little and found that several people had already done it.  However, where I used water (explanation later on) they used alcohol. I didn't have any rubbing alcohol on hand so I figured i'd have to try water instead. All of the manicures I saw used words from the newspaper and I was curious to see if the comics would work instead, they did! Scroll down for instructions. :)

First, a base coat : Sally Hansen Xtreme Nails "White On" 2 coats

It was still streaky but since I intended on covering it up, I let it slide. Let this dry COMPLETELY.

Then, you need a bowl of room temperature water and some pieces of newsprint, or the comics if you like, slightly larger than your nail. Dip the newspaper in the water until it's wet and then place it on your nail. Press down pretty hard and hold for 20-30 seconds. Try very hard not to move or lift the paper because if you do, the words will smear. The longer you hold down the newspaper, the darker the image/words will be on your nails. Then, lift the newspaper off. Unfortunately, you can't use the same piece of newspaper twice because there isn't enough ink left to do more than one nail. After you're finished, apply a clear top coat of your choosing. This is extremely necessary because without the top coat, the image just wipes off. You may end up with some newspaper ink on your hands, that's absolutely fine, it comes off with water! If you try this, let me know and i'd love to see pictures!

This is my favorite one! I love his face adourning my nail. :)

sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

Base Coat - Sally Hansen XTreme Nails "White On" 2 coats

Top: KleanColor Crack Nail Polish "Green Crackle" 1 coat.

Clearcoat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails with Nylon "Nude" 2 coats

I really like this crackle, it's much more subtle than OPI. However, it's application process is slightly different. You MUST put this on on top of slightly wet nail polish, and you MUST apply a top coat while it is still wet. It needs to mix with the other wet polishes to achieve the crackle effect. It's much better with two top coats because with just one the crackle falls apart and just peels off without even trying. Hence, the tip damage to the index and pinky nails because I originally put on one top coat only.

zebra stripes.

Phew, I had my last exam today (Pure Math 30) and I am SO relieved to be done. Now to wait with fingers crossed until mid-July for results!
Inspired by my love of zebras, I did a zebra manicure!
First, White On by Sally Hansen - Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear.

Then, black nail art by Kiss for the zebra stripes. I don't use any plates or anything so all of this is done free hand. I really like this nail polish, however, it's typically better to wait a while before applying a top coat to the stripes.

Followed by a touch of Silver art by Kiss, slightly hard to see in the photograph, much more noticeable in person!

Enjoy! : )