Spring Flowers

Spring calls for bright, cheery prints, and nails are no exception. Granted, we're not truly into spring yet, but my day lilies are starting to sprout, and my lilac is starting to bud, so can't help feeling close to it. 

And since floral prints are always appropriate for spring, this was my manicure last week. (I'm a slow poster lately!)

Red Team Captain

I am involved with a local group and last night was my first time on stage (with this group). It was nerve-wracking, exciting, sweat-inducing, and loads of fun all at the same time.
I always feel that good nails give a confidence boost, so as I was the captain of our red team fun red nails were in order.

Just please ignore my poor broken little nail. 

Skittles for Nat

My sister's "adopted" 13 yr old daughter informed me last week that I would be painting her nails for her today. And as we typically do for her, the reply was "Okie dokie".
I guess she was in a Skittles mood, because she was hoping I would show up with skittles for her.
I didn't have Skittles, but I said we could do a Skittle manicure. A Skittle manicure is one where the nails all are painted differently.
It took quite a while, but Nat finally picked a cherry based design, and all the colors we'd use.

Tequila Summer Sunset Nails

I decided that I wanted something summery, but different than the polka dots I often do. A fabulous summery drink is a Tequila Sunrise, and I love the colors, but wanted to incorporate purple, so decided why can't I have a Tequila Sunset?

I decided to use this as a great time to test base colors also. Many of us who are "into" the whole nail art thing emphasize base color importance, and I wanted to see if it always makes much of a difference. 

So, on my left hand, each nail is painted a different base color. (1 coat each, except the pinkie which is 2 coats)

Thumb = China Glaze Avalance - a nice gunmetal charcoal color

Pointer = some old, random, obscure brand in Silver - a nice metallic opaque silver

Middle = Sinful Colors Snow Me White - a very opaque white

Ring =  Salley Hansen Insta-Dri In A Flash - a shimmery, white-ish nude

Pinkie = Wet'n'Wild megalast Sugar Coat - a slightly pinkish nude, no shimmer or sparkle

Once my nails are dry, it is time to move onto the coloring!
Take a regular makeup sponge, and dip it into water to get the sponge damp. Dry off the outside of the sponge. This is to help the paint not dry up so quickly on the sponge.
Paint a stripe of each color you want on your nail, onto the sponge.

Dab or roll the sponge onto the nail to apply paint. You can tape off around your nails, or apply Vaseline around your nails to make less of a mess, or to be lazy like me just paint on your fingers and clean it up later.

This is one dab/roll across each nail. I reapply a small amount of paint to the sponge between each nail.
If you like the base paint peeking through, or like the lighter more pastel color scheme, you can stop here, apply some top coat and be done.

I would like my colors more vibrant, so I will do another dab/roll cycle for each nail. This tends to make the colors blend just a little more, and they are much more bright. Wait at least a few minutes between each coat, otherwise the sponge will pick up as much paint as it is laying down.

Once my nails are colored to my liking, I use a Q-Tip dipped in acetone to removed the color from around my nails.

To protect the color, I added a quick dry clear coat.

I thought the nails still needed a little more, so I added some iridescent glitter polish.

I really can't see any difference in the outcomes of each nail. So in this instance, the base color didn't really matter.
On my right hand I didn't use a base color at all, and the results are the same. So if you're going to make your colors dark, and opaque, the base color is optional. The results do look a bit different, and that is because the nails of my right hand are shorter than those on my left, and there wasn't as much room to get as much purple on there.

These are the colors I used for this manicure
Mabelline = Plum Paradise
Sinful Colors = Cream Pink
Salley Hensen Insta-Dri = Lightening
Pure Ice = Don't You Wish

Made for Summer: Yellow Polka Dot Bikinis

Today is to be the start of the hottest week of the year so far. Over the next six days the temp will increase from 98 today, peaking at about 106 on Tuesday.
With such hot weather, minds turn to stereotypical sunny, summery things to keep cool. And what better personifies that than the itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini? Well, I don't have a pool, and I'm not about to prance around at a public pool in that sort of get-up, so what's a girl to do in order to channel that vibe, without inspiring recitations from Moby Dick?
Yellow Polka Dotted nails of course!

To break it up and add a little pop, I painted an accent nail hot pink. I used yellow for the polka dots on the pink, using two different sizes of dots just to keep it different. 

And what is another thing that inspires cool thoughts on a hot day? A Sonic Strawberry Fruit Slush!