Galaxy Nails

It's been long since I last posted (I really suck at blogging), but last week I finally tried something I had been wanting to do for some time, ever since seeing it for the first time on the internet: galaxy nails!

They seem really tricky, but after actually watching a couple of tutorials on YouTube, I realized they really aren't!

This is the tutorial I watched (that helped the most):

And here's how my nails turned out:

Halloween Nails - Part II

Next weekend is Halloween, so what better time to have the matching nails?

This time I used the decals I ordered from the Born Pretty Store the other time, so the result was pretty easy to get.

When I was planning what color(s) to use as the base, I had thought about using orange and/or black, because for me, those are the most Halloween-y colors, but green is right behind them, and I ended up having to use it, because there would be no contrast between the decals and the other colors.

I really like how they turned out though!

Halloween Nails - Part I

So, apparently Halloween lasts for all of October, and to get in the spirit, I decided to finally try to make bloody nails.

I have seen loads of photos of this type of design over time, and even when it wasn't Halloween, since I'm a fan of the show Dexter, I've always thought this was a perfect way to show it.

The best thing about painting this is that no nail has to look like the next, so it's perfect for unsteady hands (like my left one). Also, if you think you might have messed up a little, just throw in a little more nail polish to make a bigger blood drop and there you go!

I had first thought of having a white base color, but decided against it, because I wanted it to be a little different from what I have seen. The base coat was just my typical clear one and that was also the base color (or lack of it) for the blood.

I really love the way it turned out!

Using Nail Decals

It's a little late after I got them, but I finally got to experiment with the nail decals I ordered from the Born Pretty Store.

It's one of those things you don't even need instructions for, since everyone as a kid had at least one temporary tattoo on their skin.

The nails decals are almost the same. You cut around the design you wish to put on your nail. Remove the plastic film that covers it. Place the decal on water, and the design will dettach from the paper underneath. After that, you just need to grab it, preferably with tweezers, because if you do so with your fingers, you'll remove the moisture from it, and you won't be able to move it around on the nail as much.

This is where I failed a little bit on the first decals I tried on. As soon as the water leaves the decal, and it's on your nail, it will stick to the nail and you can't move it anymore so the placement is better.

Here are my nails, all with decals.

I chose random designs that somewhat matched the base color I chose. Each little design is one decal.

I must say I love using these. They are super easy to apply to your nails, and they last, you just need a top coat of nail polish to finish off the manicure!

First Born Pretty Store order is in!

Last month I made my first order from the Born Pretty Store. I first found out about this awesome website on instagram, while browsing through some nail hashtags, so I went to check it out, and it has so many stuff for nail art, you kind of get lost in it, which is great! There's so much to choose from, you almost can't close it without first ordering something.

But anyway, I had thought about doing my nails for both Halloween and Christmas this year, and because nail water decals are very in right now (and they're easy to use), I went looking for some.

I ended up ordering these

 Here they are in some more detail

 And these are four of the 10 sheets of the Christmas ones

Nail Art September Challenge - Day 22

Today's challenge was asters.

Before the challenge I didn't know this was a type of flower, but after googling it, and seeing a bunch of photos, I went ahead and tried my luck.

The flowers are lilac and purple, as I gathered from the interweb, so I chose to do a nude background, so they could have more contrast with it.

 

The middle of the flowers were done with a dotting tool, pressing down repeatedly throughout their shape, so as to mimic their characteristic texture.

Nail Art September Challenge - Day 19

Today the theme for the challenge is 'negative space'.

I wanted to do something simple and with high contrast, so I chose to use black nail polish, and because I love the combination, I chose my matte top coat to finish it off.

For the actual negative space, I used reinforcement labels. Here they are

This is how I placed them on my nails, after applying my base coat.

And this is the result! I always love matte black nails, so I think it turned out quite okay.