Colour Blocking and Holo Tape

Hello!

This look is a bit different for me since I very rarely use anything but actual nail polish in my manis (I don't use acrylic paints, studs, stickers, etc., not that there's anything wrong with any of those!)

I was at my local Shoppers (Drug Mart, for those of you unfamiliar with the Canadian chain), and saw a clearance bin with nail art stickers by Essence. As I said, I don't use stickers much, but I liked the holographic tape. This is a bit thicker and wider than your usual metallic striping tape (and therefore much easier to handle). It comes on a flat sheet (not a roll), so they're shorter strips. I think I got 3 or 4 nails done with each strip.

I started with 2 coats of bondi nyc Lady Liberty (seafoam). I waited a good while for that to dry, taped off the tops and added Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It (purple). Then added the tape across the border. Not only does it look great, but it hides a few of the imperfect lines!

I actually matted (Essie Matte About You) all but my ring finger after top coating (Seche Vite) . This photo is a bit out of focus, but shows off the different finishes better.

Which are you, shiny or matte?

-L

Colour Jungle

Hello!

So this started off as a tape mani - but when that turned into a hot mess I decided to stamp over it - a great solution to hide mani messes!!

On my thumb, middle and ring fingers I started with 2 coats of bondi NYC The Limelight, on my index and pink I used 2 coats of OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana. I then used craft scissors to cut little scalloped strips and painted on OPI Funky Dunkey (purple) and OPI Live.Love.Carnival.

I ended up with this.

Some of the lines did turn out fairly crisp, but when they didn't it looked pretty bad. Then on top of that, when I added topcoat, the purple and the green melted into each other making this weird brown shade. Ugh! It also made the coral turn orange, I'm fairly indifferent on that point.

So as my fix, I grabbed Pueen 56 and Konad Gold Black.

I was feeling lazy at this point, so I wasn't cleaning the plate between stamps and didn't get the nicest lines - but since this is such an abstract look I don't mind at all!

What's your "fix" when your initial ideas go awry?

-L

Rebecca Minkoff Inspired Tape Mani

Hello!

Today I bring you another Rebecca Minkoff inspired mani. (If you missed my previous Ode-to-a-bag, you can find it here)

MAC Daddy bag by Rebecca Minkoff inspired nails

I have been putting off this look for awhile because… I’m afraid of tape manis! Over the last couple months I’ve attempted a few, and they’ve been such a mess that they had to be scrapped right away! I am so proud to be sharing a successful one today.

I started with 3 coats of Misa A Sunny Smile Makes Me Go Wild, a neon highlighter yellow. On my ring finger is 2 coats of Misa Paint My Nails @Work (ha, love that name!) with a coat of Elevation Polish Huangshan. Everything topped with SV.

I waited for a good long while to make sure everything was really dry before adding the tape. I love the results! A Sunny Smile MMGW and Huangshan are such a perfect match aren’t they?

...and another sunny day pic!

Should I be trying more tape manis in the future??

-L

From the vault, iPhone edition

Here we have several manis I did last year that I only ever photographed with my iPhone.

Considering I was quite a novice when I did these I think I fared pretty well! Opinions???

This was/is my only attempt at doing a vertical gradient (per nail), and of course I had to make it more complicated by creating a gradient across all the nails too, then stamped with stars.

I'm still amazed at the variety of looks you can accomplish with dots - I don't take advantage of this simple technique enough.

I'm kinda meh about this look. I don't wear red very often and I was just trying to do something a little different.

Dots again! I've seen a few different stamping images of this look that are much more precise, but I think I did ok with just my dotting tools.

This tape mani didn't come out as crisp as I had hoped, but I remember going to the farmer's market that day and got compliments left and right.

This is my first attempt at the 'waterfall' technique that most bloggers would credit The Nailasaurus for inventing. This was probably attempted almost a year ago and I still don't feel I have a very good handle at using striping brushes, but I still like the results even though it's not as neat as hers.

-L