wild child

If you aren't acquainted with the fabulousness that is Mara Hoffman...get on it. Her designs are so fresh, bright, colorful and her patterns mesmerizing. While obsessing over some of her swimwear and wishing I had a budget that accommodated them...or anything really, I thought those colors and geometric designs would make for some sick nails. 

Inspired mostly by the angles and colors of this suit, I ended up creating a bit of an art deco styled design. I love the pop of the brights against the black so I wanted to outline everything heavily in black in the design, a little more so than in the Mara Hoffman inspo, which is why it ended up looking a little more art deco like in the end. 

To create the look I first painted the usual one coat of butter LONDON Horse Power Nail Fertilizer and another of Flawless Basecoat. Next to help make all the colors pop as much as possible I painted a base color of white using butter's Cotton Buds. To get the effect I wanted, I painted all the colored parts of the design first then outlined everything with the black. So to start I did the big V in the bright blue Keks. Next I painted the smaller purple inverted V in one of my favorite purples, Molly Coddled. I also used the purple starting about halfway down the nail on either side of the blue V and painting down to the tip of the nail. Next I painted another inverted V inside the purple one this time in hot pink using Cake-Hole. Similarly, I used Cake-Hole to paint from the outside top of the blue V to the halfway point to the nail where the purple started (so it was pink from the nail bed halfway down the nail then purple to the tip on the outside edges of the blue V). Next using the neon green, Jaded Jack, I painted from the inside tip of the blue V to about the halfway point of the nail, leaving a small white triangle under the pink inverted V. The last color I added was to fill in the top of the nail between the blue and purple V with the bright yellow PIMMS. 

Once all the colors had set a bit I got my favorite paten black, Union Jack Black, out to paint the outline. First I simply outlined all the lines I made with the different colors then I added some embellishments like diagonals varying in width in the purple half, a vertical stripe in the pink half, horizontal stripes in the green and triangles in the yellow. 

I am obsessed with the overall effect...most people assume they are stickers--don't know if thats good or bad but. I love how bright the colors are and how much they pop against the black. It is definitely a time consuming design but not impossible to do if you have a thin brush and some time on your hands. What do you think?

something borrowed, something blue

I always get so elated when butter LONDON launches a new collection, and their limited edition fashion sized 4 piece Sweet Somethings bridal collection was no exception. I actually was lucky enough to win the collection through their pinterest contest where you had to create a board for your dream wedding--something that given my state of single is pretty laughable, but it was still fun to do, especially since based on my board I'm going to have to marry a Duke or Lord or English celebrity (Ed Sheeran are you reading?). Feel free to check out my board here: bL Sweet Somethings. 

The collection is really clever and contains something old--Doily, a beautiful off white confetti suspended in a near transparent nude giving an beautiful vintage, lacy effect, something new--Alabaster Gaze, a pearly white with a touch of shine, something borrowed--Pink Ribbon, a lovely near transparent pink shade borrowed from the current butter LONDON lacquer collection, and something blue--Petticoat, a stunning sky blue shade was actually brighter than I expected and quite lovely. butter LONDON has recently made these shades available in full sizes, which is exciting because they really are beautiful shades. 

To try out the new colors in the set I decided to replicate the ombre design included in the box set. I started with one coat of Horse Power Nail Fertilizer and one of Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. Next I painted two coats of the off white, pearly Alabaster Gaze. 

Using a make up sponge, I added Petticoat from the tip to about the halfway point of each nail.

 After that had dried I used the sheer confetti overcoat, Doily, over each nail. 

I finished the look with one coat of SV Topcoat. Usually I prefer ombre's with more colors so the overall look wasn't my favorite, but the colors themselves were gorgeous. 

I can see where each of these colors could be just right for the big day. Do you have a favorite? What do you think about this collection? 

results of a rainy day

I was a little bored and the weather outside was terrible so I decided to paint a few nail wheels--a first for me. As you can see, I used my usual butter LONDON polishes for all the designs. The first wheel I did I actually started as a collection of quick and easy design options for a Mani and Merlot event I did with a friend and decided to just keep going from there. The following are some close ups and brief descriptions of each wheel. Enjoy! 

This is the one of easy designs I did for my friend's party. They are mostly just bright, fun patterns. A few are ones I have done in previous posts (the daisies, ikat) and some are inspired by things I found online. I love the way the yellow chevron turned out...subtle and cheery. The paisley and hearts are a few other favorites. I also love how you could wear a collection of them together like the yellow/gold gradient, pink/white/rose glitter dots, and the white/grey/pink/rose glitter pinstripes even though they are a little different.  

This wheel was more themed...hello florals. It actually ended up getting difficult to think up unique floral patterns by the time I got to nail 14 and on. Once again, a few are replicas of previous designs, some pretty old favorites actually (calypso flowers, garden party pop art, roses, sunflower, daisies). I loved the way the groovy 70's inspired daisy turned out..possibly a future design could come out of that. I tried to do as many different flower types as I could think of (that could translate to nails well) and hopefully you can identify the dozens of daisies, roses, cherry blossoms, calla lily, tulips, sunflowers, poppies, hibiscus, and lilacs.  

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a grade A anglophile...this nail wheel and the next pretty much sums it up. The Union Jack il is one I did in my very very early years of nail art...I would like to think I have improved. The black and white profile of my favorite Queen Elizabeth II was inspired by the cover of the script for the play The Audience--I saw it in London and met Dame Helen Mirren after and she signed my copy...I don't think anyone else should be allowed to play HRH--she's brilliant. There's a lot of official HRH ER II styled nails in the set, classic uniform of British foot guards is pretty recognizable on the bottom, as well as England's flag (St. George's Cross--not to be confused with the UK's flag the Union Jack). Some popular English landmarks like Big Ben, the classic red phone booth, Underground sign, and the London Eye are included. English memorabilia like red white and blue patterned jubilee bunting, crown jewels, and the Keep Calm and Carry On war phrase. To fill up the rest of the nails I did various red, white, blue, and gold patterns. 

Based on the last nail wheel...I LOVE the UK...I'm sure you all have got that by now. The Union Jack is such a fun design to paint and relatively easy so I thought it would be fun to do a pop art spin on it and paint it in as many different color combinations as possible. I absolutely loved the result of this one and actually wouldn't mind some wall art like this...perhaps my next project. 

I hope you enjoyed these...a little different from the usual post, but definitely a lot more actually designs to look at. Cheers! 

garden party

It was a beautiful day today and I wanted to do something fresh and floral on my nails to mimic that. I decided to go with something a little more like pop art or a vintage bright floral pattern--a look I hadn't tried before. For this I started with a coat of butter LONDON's Horse Power Nail Fertilizer and a coat of their Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. Next for the soft yellow base I painted two coats of butter's Jasper. To create the floral design I painted some parts in color first then outlined in black and others accented the color over the black. I started with the bright pink Primrose Hill Picnic for the  rose like flowers and the center of the yellow one. Next I painted the bright yellow flower around the pink with my favorite PIMMS. Next I added some leaves with butter's kelly green colored Sozzled on each nail. This next step was probable more difficult, as not only did I use Union Jack Black to outline and add detail to the pink and yellow flowers and leaves, but I also painted additional black flowers in two different styles and added stems and embellishments to each nail. On the black flowers that I just added a few dashes of the bright blue Keks with a dot of PIMMS in the center. On the other styled flower I simply added a cluster of dots with Primrose Hill Picnic. Once the design itself was finished, I painted a coat of SV topcoat for a glossy finish. 

Hope you like this little garden party on my nails! 

all dried up

I have a tendency to get complacent with solid nails every once in a while and this design was the results of about a month of having plain nails and someone telling me my nails were boring and I needed to hurry up and do something different already! I don't know but as much as I love painting crazy designs on my nails, there's something really refreshing and stunning about bright white nails--which happened to be the color I had been rocking for about 2 weeks. When I finally decided to take this person's advice and get out of my "plain nail slump" I wasn't all that interested in taking off the white so I wanted to find a design to paint over it (not the best nail painting etiquette but it hadn't chipped...judge away). Also I had just bought this sick snake ring for about $4 at H&M so I thought maybe I could do something that coordinated with that in color and texture. I ended up deciding to try a new technique called dry brushing. 

Since I already had the white polish on, it made the mani a bit more efficient. However for the sake of a tutorial, I will include the steps for that part as well. Dry brushing actually works well on day old manicures too in order to avoid messing up the base shade with the addition of the other polishes since the brush is mostly dry.

Can you see why I left this color on for two weeks? 

One of the cool things about dry brushing is that you can generate a number of different textures from the same basic technique. I wanted to have a really harsh, defined brush stroke effect, but depending on how you layer it, the colors you choose and how many layers of topcoat you put on, you can create more of a smoke look. 

1. Paint one coat of nail foundation. I used butter LONDON's Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. 
2. Paint two coats of your base color. I used Cotton Buds, the white seen above, to accentuate the colors I was going to use overtop more. Ideally you want to wait a day or so before moving on to the next part to ensure the base is set and dry. 
3. Select 1-5 polishes that you want to use for your dry brushing. I opted for greys, blacks, glitters, and a neon green because I thought it looked a little grunge and reminded me of snakeskin--because working a nail design around a ring makes tons of sense. 
4. Using your first polish, remove as much polish as possible from the brush by wiping it on the neck of the bottle , and even brushing it on a paper towel to get excess polish off. Once it is mostly dry, brush it across your nail in any way you want. I started from the nail bed and worked about halfway up the nail, then added a few more strokes along the edge of the nail. You can paint at different angles all across the nail, but I wanted to create more of a gradient with the tips mostly white so I concentrated the brushstrokes at the nail bed and up. 
5. Repete step 4 using as many polishes as you desire until you have created a look you are happy with. You can always repeat colors if you feel one of your first shades is covered up too much. 
6. Finish with one coat of topcoat. As always I used SV Topcoat. 

Adding Union Jack Black over Cotton Buds

Adding neon green Wellies

Adding Chimney Sweep and Diamond Geezer

Adding the dark glitter, Gobsmacked

I made a pretty mess

The possibilities of the technique are endless from this more distressed, grunge look to a two color "black shatter" effect, a fluid smoke look, or a subtle textural look. Another added benefit is that you can just keep building colors, and each nail doesn't have to look the same so there is little room for mistakes. Do you think you will give dry brushing a try? 

     Wellies                     Diamond Geezer                Chimney Sweep                Gobsmacked           Union Jack Black

Daisy Bell

With the launch of butter LONDON's spring nail lacquer collection, Lolly Brights, comes some much needed spring manicures. I had been searching for ages for the perfect Kelly Green colored varnish (being a Notre Dame girl this was essential for game days) but had never found a suitable shade. Thank goodness for the Lolly Brights collections fabulous green Sozzled--it's the happiest grass green you have every seen. In celebration of this great find and the beautiful weather I decided to paint a delightful daisy design on my nails. 

I started with one coat of butter LONDON's Horse Power Nail Fertilizer followed by one coat of their essential Nail Foundation Flawless Basecoat. Next using my new favorite shade, Sozzled, I painted two coats of the green on each nail. After that set I used one of my new Bundle Monster detail brushes to paint the daisies with butter LONDON's Cotton Buds. 

Using a dotting tool, I painted the yellow centers with butter's PIMMS (another favorite of mine).  

I quite liked the look as is, but decided to add a little sparkle to the center of the daisies. To accomplish this I painted a little of butter LONDON's Frilly Knickers--a gorgeous glitter suspended in clear polish (incredibly transparent but perfect for just a little sparkle)--around the yellow centers of most daisies. Finally I finished it off with a coat of SV topcoat. 

Hope you enjoy this fresh spring mani!