Nail Art for the Big Game, take 2

This year the Carolina Panthers are set to take on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.  As much as I like the Panthers, (especially Cam Newton, who I feel is incredibly talented and is absolutely deserving to be in the Super Bowl) I'm not ready to commit my fandom to them via nail art.  And as anyone who reads my blog knows, as far as professional football goes I bleed black and silver--so there's no way in hell I would put orange and blue on my nails!  Without having a horse in the race, however, I wasn't sure how to adequately express how excited I am for this year's showdown.  Then I realized that the Super Bowl is celebrating its golden anniversary this year and I decided to simply celebrate the Super Bowl.  Thus, I went with a minimalist golden french manicure.

To get this look, I used Revoln's 830 Golden shade and Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat. 

A few months ago I picked up a box of adhesive bandages from the dollar store specifically for using when doing french manicures and they have been an absolute lifesaver!  I simply cut them in half and use the rounded edge as the guide for painting the tips of my nails.  After painting I peel them off and I have a nice, clean edge.  It's probably the best investment I've ever made.

I couldn't be more pleased with the way my nails turned out and I'm super stoked to have them ready for Super Bowl Sunday!

Nail Art for the Big Game 2015!

As I have made very clear in my nail art posts, I am a big Raider's fan. Unfortunately, with only two wins on the season, they clearly didn't make it to the Big Game.  Right now, though I am living in Oregon, which is pretty darn close to Seattle (well, a lot closer than I was in Utah), and I like the Seahawks, so I decided to don some Seahawk love on my nails for the Super Bowl this weekend.

So I'll start the different tutorials with the pinky finger and work toward the thumb:

What I used:

The pinky finger is actually three different nail polishes.  The green I used isn't quite as bright as the official bright green of the Seahawks, but with a base coat of white paint I got the green to pop a bit more than it would otherwise.  So I laid down a basic white, layered the green on top of that, and when it was dry, I placed a piece of tape across my finger at a diagonal and painted the tip with the Celestial blue.

For the ring finger, I did a simple coat of the Splendid Blue color, then used a toothpick to freehand the number 24 (for Marshawn Lynch) on my right hand, and a number 3 (for Russell Wilson) on my left hand. I used the Superstar! white color to do the numbers.

The middle finger was super simple as well.  I first put on a coat of silver nail polish.  When that had dried fully I took a small rubber band (the kind used for small braids) and wrapped that around the nail to create a definite line.  Once the rubber band was secured, I painted right up to the rubber band and out to the end of the nail.  I cut the rubber band off of my finger so as not to pull it past wet nail polish.  I also didn't want to wait for the polish to dry before removing the rubber band.

The Index finger, I started by putting on one coat of white paint, then following up using the same ombre method that I've described before. This is one of my favorite color combinations so far and definitely one I'll have to remember for Summer!

Finally, the thumb. This was done starting with one coat of the Celestial blue.  Once that dried I took two pieces of tape and positioned them about 1/4" apart.  I didn't measure, I just eyeballed a good distance and good placement.  the non-torn ends (so the sides of the roll of tape) should be facing each other to ensure a clean line. Then I put some silver polish between the pieces of tape.  After removing the tape, I used the end of a paperclip that I had un-bent slightly and dipped that in the white polish to create a line of 5 polka dots under the silver line.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I look forward to seeing your Super Bowl nails!  Go Seahawks!!

Third time's a charm?

So my nail art doesn't seem to be the lucky charm I thought it would be, but I'll keep rocking their colors on my fingernails anyway.  Here's the latest design.

This one is super cute and super easy!  It's just layers of polish placed strategically.

Step one: Paint all nails with silver polish

Step two: Starting at the base of the nail, paint about half-way up with black

Step three: Paint entire nail with small glitter polish

Step four: repeat with small glitter polish, but begin about 1/4 of the way up the nail

Step five: switch to chunkier glitter polish and apply where the black polish meets the silver

Step six: Add one more layer of the chunky glitter polish from 3/4 of the way up the nail.

Nail Art Part Deux

I'm showing my Raider love again this week with more black and silver nail art!

For these nails  I painted a coat of silver paint on each of my nails.  On all but the ring finger I used a black crackle paint over the top.  For the ring finger, I cut a 'v' shape out of masking tape and placed it on my nail.  Then I painted a stripe of black on a postcard and used a makeup sponge to soak up the paint to put on the nail.

Hopefully at some point my nail art will be a good luck charm and my team will start winning a few!

NFL Nail Art

With the NFL season kicking off this week I decided to do my nails honoring my favorite football team; the Raiders.  

The final product:

For my main nails I used the ombre technique shown here.  You may, however, notice that the orientation of the ombre effect is reversed from the directions shown.  I tried it both ways and I like having the top color near the base of the nail rather than the tip.  If you haven't clicked the link, the directions are basically as follows.

Step 1: Paint nail the base color

Step 2: On a piece of wax paper or a shiny surface paint a stripe of the base color and the ombre      color.  Using a toothpick or orange stick swirl the two colors together where they meet.

Step 3: Use a makeup triangle to pick up the the polish colors.

Step 4: Place the triangle with the polish on it onto the nail.

The ring finger was done using the technique found here.

Again, it's really easy but makes a statement.  And if you don't feel like opening this link either, the steps are shown below.

Step 1: Paint nail the base color

Step 2: Paint a stripe in the middle of the nail about half way up

Step 3: Paint another stripe to one side of the middle stripe, but a little farther up

Step 4: Paint another stripe on the empty side of the first stripe, but not as far up.

Step 5: (Not shown) Repeat steps 2-4 with another color, but not as far up as the first color