that's ikat

Now that it is finally starting to feel like spring, I want to do a mani that brought a little more brightness to my fingertips. One pattern I have been drawn to lately, especially for spring is ikat. I love the texture of it and the endless combinations of colors you can do. For this look I  painted one coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat followed by two coats of the bright yellow Pimms. This cool brings so much joy and nostalgia--too bad you can't find anywhere in the US that can make a decent pitcher of PIMMs. Anyway, to add a little something different I did an overcoat of the shimmery translucent Fizzy Pop to add a little dimension. I wore my nails bright yellow for a few days before I actually decided I wanted to add the ikat pattern. For the pattern I painted some abstract triangular shaped blobs on each nail in Giddy Kipper--a purple/indigo color. Next I added a dash of the white Cotton Buds in the center of each spot. Using a detail brush and Union Jack Black, I painted stroke by stroke the rough border around the edges of the purple and white to complete the pattern. Painting over it with one coat of SV Topcoat for a glossy shine and the ikat nails are all good to go. 

i've got my red dress on tonight

I know for a lot of people Beyonce is synonymous with the word flawless...but let's talk about Lana Del Rey. She has the sultry vocals of another era and looks that could kill...and then there's those nails. Talk about nail envy. Im obsessed. In honor of Lana and her flawless fingers I attempted to replicate her signature look here. 

Because these are my real nails and not acrylic, I thought I had to do a less transparent nude base. Unfortunately this created a bit of a divergence from the exact coloring in Lana's look but it works nonetheless. I started with one coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat and one coat of Shandy. Next I painted the V tip with butter's stunning Pillar Box Red. I traced a thin outline along the edge of the red with a shimmery gold shade--The Full Monty. I finished the design with one coat of P.D. Quick Topcoat. 

To complete the Lana look, I wore it out with butter LONDON's Come To Bed Red Lippy and some lush curls. This is what they call 'beauty queen style."

plaid for the lads

There's nothing better on a gloomy day than a cozy sweater, a cup of earl grey, a captivating book and a good plaid. For this look I started with a coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat and one coat of the rich navy blue, Royal Navy. For the plaid I painted the large white stripes with Cotton Buds, the thin black in Union Jack Black, and added a stripe of the beautiful grey creme Billy No Mates along the tip of the nail. Finished with a coat of SV Topcoat for a beautiful shine and these nails were good to go!

all tatted up

Well it appears cuticle tattoos may be making a comeback this spring. Ciaté recently launched a box set of a variety of different tattoo designs to be applied to the cuticle that sells for $12. This trend however, is not necessarily new. It has been around the blogosphere in DIY form for a while now and is what I attempted to replicate here. 

Because the typical cuticle tattoo patterns involve a variety of triangular patterns, I thought a tribal design on my nails would be a nice complement. To start I painted one coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat and two coats of the stunning neutral Tea With The Queen. Next I Used Snog--one of my all time favorite butter LONDON lacquers--a lush hot pink, and painted a triangle on the thumb, middle finger and pinky. I repeated the triangle design again just below the thumb in a gorgeous coral/orange shimmer and on the pointer and ring finger as well. Then using Union Jack Black, I painted another triangle below the colored one on each nail. Using Cotton Buds, I added the dots and dashes to each nail to complete the tribal affect. For a glossy shine, one coat of P.D. Quick Topcoat was used. 

Once the nails were completely dry I was able to try out the cuticle tattoos. A temporary tattoo can be made using black liquid eyeliner and liquid bandaid. 

1.Make sure the cuticle is clean and dry. 

2. Using a liquid eyeliner with a fine tip, paint your design along the cuticle. 

3. Once you are satisfied with your design, paint over it with liquid bandaid. This will seal the design allowing you to wash your hands and shower for a few days without the tattoos coming off. 

For an added effect I added some finger bands a la Nonie Creme's Vena Cava look for NY fashion week F/W11 using Snog and the black liquid eyeliner, sealing it with the liquid bandaid like I did for the cuticle tattoos. 

Pictured here with butter LONDON's Snog

I think they are fun to try--especially if you are the type of person who likes to doodle on themselves but can't commit to a real tattoo. Particularly in the summer, think festival season, these could be just the ticket. What do you think about cuticle tattoos? 

bada bloom

Once again, Ciaté has come up with an exciting new manicure kit. Their Flower Power manicure set comes in two different color combinations and just in time for spring. The set allows you to adhere real pressed flowers to your manicure for a gorgeous spring look. You can choose from one of two mini paint pot color selections; the one featured here--Ferris Wheel a lovely robins egg blue, or Candy Floss--a bubblegum pink. The Ferris Wheel kit comes with hot pink and bright blue posies and purple babies breath, while the Candy Floss one comes with hello and royal blue posies and white babies breath flowers. Each kit also comes with tweezers to apple the flowers, a full size topcoat, and a file to file off any flowers that could be hanging over the edge of the nail. 

To try out the kit, I decided to just use the purple flowers. I first painted one coat of butter LONDON Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. Instead of using Ferris Wheel, since there is still snow on the ground and I wanted something a little more toned down I opted to use butter LONDON's Billy No Mates--a beautiful dove grey creme. After painting two coats of Billy No Mates and letting it dry fully, I applied one coat of the topcoat. While still wet, I selected the desired flowers and placed them on the nail with the tweezers, gently pressing them into the nail. I painted one more layer of the topcoat to seal the flower to the nail, and repeated the process for the remaining nails. After I was finished placing all the flowers, and the topcoat had dried, I used the file to buff the edges of the nail so none of the dried flowers were hanging off the edge. 

What do you think of this manicure set from Ciaté? 

†††

I was wandering through Sephora the other day and came across their Ciaté mini paint pots selections. I had been looking for some gold stud embellishments for a while now and there they were right in front of me, and for only $8. Of course I couldn't pass it up, so I got the studs and used them as inspiration for this design. 

Per usual, I started with one coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. Next I painted two coats of the neutral, Cuppa, on the pointer and pinky fingers, union jack black on the thumb and ring finger, and the gorgeous golden glitter The 444 on the middle finger. 

Next, I painted some small crosses in pattern on the pointer finger using union jack black. After painting a coat of SV Topcoat on each nail, I laid the studs on the thumb, accent and pinky finger in the desired patterns. I loved the overall look and the black and gold combination. What do you think? 

Pictured with butter LONDON's The 444

outlined

By far one of my favorite looks. While quite simple in appearance, it actually took quite a long time to paint. First I painted one coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. Next I painted two coats of the beautiful neutral apricot creme colored Shandy. Using a detail brush I painted the thin outline around each nail with Union Jack Black. One coat of SV topcoat created the high gloss paten finish. Incredibly simple in affect, but by far the most complimented in person nail design I have ever had. 

Pictured holding butter LONDON's Shandy

pearl of wisdom

One of my favorite discoveries of the winter was scrapbooking pearl embellishments. I ran across them at Michaels and immediately fell in love with the off-white/rose gold colored ones, knowing I could come up with some good nail designs centered around them. I ended up buying a sheet of both the white and off-white pearls. 

For the above look I painted a coat of butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat and two coats of the gorgeous olive green-grey Sloane Ranger. I painted a coat of SV topcoat on each nail, and on the accent finger placed the bright white pearls on the nail while the topcoat was still wet. The pearls lasted a surprisingly long time--I think it took three days and a few showers before one fell off, but they could be easily reapplied with nail glue. 

Next week I tried another design centered around the pearl embellishments. For this design I used the off-white colored pearls. One coat of Nail Foundation to start, then I painted one coat of my absolute favorite butter LONDON shade: Abso-bloody-lutely. Using Teetotal, I painted the half-moon shape on each nail at the nail bed. Next I painted one coat of Seche Vite topcoat on each nail then placed an off-white pearl in the center of each half-moon while the polish was still wet to finish the look.

What do you think about using pearls as an embellishment for nail designs? Do you like one look better than another?