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Snowcapped mountains. The weather was the inspiration for today’s nail art look. It is wintery, stormy and we even have snowcapped mountains.
This is a very easy look to do and you can use it in any colour variation that pleases your taste. I was looking for a neutral nail art look and reverted back to my favour neutral nail colour. Caramel Cupcake. With an ombre effect you can use multiple colours, but I decided to only use two. The base colour and the white paint for the tip.

I applied my base coat followed by my base colour. Once completely dry I started the ombre process. For the ombre look you will need a make-up sponge. You will paint the colour onto the sponge and then dab it onto the nail to create the desired look. I painted the brown base colour and then the white tip colour onto my sponge. I made sure the two colours blend together in the middle to avoid a harsh line. Take the make-up sponge with the wet nail polish and now dab it onto the nail. Dab, dab, dab. You can keep on layering until you have the look you like. Luckily with this look the nail polish will dry quite quickly. The nail colour will now look quite ruff in appearance, but don’t worry your top coat will smooth everything out again. Once the ombre paint is dry, apply your favourite top coat for a fabulous look.

Enjoy!.

Easter is almost upon us and for the remainder of the month of March I will be posting Easter inspired nail art. Today’s look was sent to me by a very close friend as a challenge.
Challenge accepted Raymond!

Today’s Easter look was created by doing a Water Colour accent nail. Therefore this look is true to the name. Nail ART! I chose to create this look by using Acrylic paint. The reason for my choice is because it is easier to work with than nail polish. Nail polish gets gloopy rather quickly and by doing this type of nail art you tend to waste a lot of polish. You can buy good quality, non-toxic acrylic paint at any arts shop. I bought mine at our local art supply shop called The Framed Feather in Boston, next to Bright’s Hardware. I like to support local businesses in my community. You should too.
For this look it is better if you are not OCD as you will never get it perfect. Remember it is art…just relax paint and enjoy.

I started by painting my base coat followed by my base colour. I chose a white base colour to act as my canvas. On my ring finger I immediately applied a top coat onto the white base colour. Through trial and error I found it worked better, because if you make a mistake with the acrylic paint, it is easier to wipe the error away, without having to reapply your base colour. After the top coat dried completely on my ring finger accent nail, I started playing around with the acrylic paint. What you will need is to thin your acrylic paint with water. What I chose to do is to put a blotch of paint, of all three the colours (pink, blue and green) on a piece of cardboard and I thinned it down with water. Keep a small container with clean water close by as you will need it. I started with the blue colour and with the waterdown paint, I made a few random blotches with the brush on the nail. Dipping my brush into the water, I thinned out the paint blotches to soften the look. There is no exact way of approaching this one. Go wild and play around. If it looks good to you, then you have achieved your objective. I then followed the same process using the green and pink paint. I wanted the colours to bleed into each other and using a clean wet brush (water only) I moved the applied colours around on the nail to create the look I wanted.

I am right handed so applying the look on my left hand was obviously easier than my right hand. Don’t even attempt to get the accent nails perfectly matched to each other. As they say in the movie Frozen…Let it go, Let it go and enjoy the colours & the process.
Now time for the little white bunny. I first painted the bunny on a piece of paper to achieve the look I wanted. After my paper attempt, I painted my left hand’s bunny, then followed by my right hand. I added a small blue eye using my paint brush and pink accents to the ears. I immediately applied my top coat over the nail art to seal the look. After the top coat was touch dry on the accent nail, I applied the colour to my other fingers. I of course applied my trusty Big Shiny top coat to complete the look.

I enjoyed doing this look. It was fun and colourful. I have to say, I found the process quite relaxing.
Try it yourself!

Today’s nail art look is a continuation of my previous Nail Art post where I experimented with the Nail Art Stamping technique. Please feel free to read that post called ‘Mellow Yellow’ for reference.
Well I have to say there is absolutely nothing mellow about today’s look, matter of fact, I am sure if you switch of the lights my nails might even glow. (Giggle) I do however love the Rimmel Instyle Coral colour for a fun summer look. It makes me feel like I am on holiday, at the beach, soaking up the sun & enjoying a cool cocktail. Sigh. For an instant holiday feeling, try this look.

I started today by painting my Sally Hansen base coat on all my finger nails. I then decided to only paint my base colour on my accent nails. I chose to use white polish. I painted both my left hand ring finger and right hand ring finger nail. I decided to first finish off the ring finger paint and art, before applying the base nail polish to the rest of my nails.

See when you remove the nail art overflow from you finger you have to use acetone. You also use acetone to clean the nail stamping plate and nail stamper. In the process you could damage your nail colour and that is why I decided to paint it after my accent nails.

After the white paint was touch dry I started the stamping colour. The coral colour was used as the nail art colour. I find that the Rimmel nail polish consistency works well for stamping. As mentioned previously you need to complete the nail stamping process quickly. If you take too long, the nail polish will dry and will not transfer neatly to your nail. (Or won’t transfer at all) Please feel free to read the Mellow Yellow post to see the stamping plate, scrapper and stamp I use and my description of how to use it. I won’t bore you by reposting the same details in this post.
I painted the Instyle Coral on all the other nails. I decided to apply two coats as I wanted a deep colour. After it was completely dry, I applied my top coat. I applied it to all the nails, including a second layer on the ring finger nail. I love this look, bright, holiday, happy nails! Hope you love it too

Nail Art Stamping is a technique many a nail artist use to do intricate nail art designs.
You use a stamping plate (metal plate with a design engraved into it), cover it with nail polish, scrape away the excess polish with a scrapper and then use a rubber stamper to pick up the design and transfer the design to your nail.

Well in essence it should be easy right? Nope. My first few attempts were not successful, I must sadly confess. I was however determined. What I found through trial and error is that you must use a good quality stamping plate, the correct nail polish and a gentle scraping motion. If your stamping plate is not deeply engraved in order for the design to be loaded with nail polish, you will struggle to pick up the design and transfer it to your nail. You will also need a good coverage nail polish. Therefore a polish that will cover your nail in just one coat . The third thing I have learnt is that you must not apply too much pressure when you scrape the design. Initially I applied so much pressure, that I actually removed the polish from the engraved area as well. Woops. Hold the scraper in a 45 degree angle and scrape lightly. Test your designs on a piece of paper first, before attempting to apply it to your nail. Practice and speed is definitely required for this one.

I decided to work with a neutral colour for my base with a light colour for the stamping. I did not want the colour contrast to be too big for this particular look. I applied one coat of my base coat and then applied one coat of the base Caramel Cupcake base coat. I applied the accent colour to my ring finger for a bit of a variation. I waited for the base colour to be touch dry before moving on to the stamping.
I painted the accent colour over the nail design I chose on the stamper plate, use my scrapper to clear away any excess. I moved the scraper from top to bottom and bottom to top. I then immediately pressed the rubber stamper onto the design. I moved the stamper left to right and back and forth to ensure the full design was transfer onto the stamper. I applied the design onto my nail and again moving the rubber stamper left to right and back and forth to ensure the full design transfer onto my nail. You have to do these three steps extremely quickly, as the nail polish dries extremely fast.
I repeated this step until I had all 8 of my nails covered. (I left the ring finger in the solid accent colour)
I took a cleaning brush dipped into acetone and removed all the polish from my finger and nail bed. (Remember to apply cuticle oil afterwards) After the polished dried I applied my top coat. I added a diamante to my ring finger. I placed the diamante close to my nail bed and set it into the wet topcoat.
I applied a second coat of topcoat to my ring finger to ensure the diamante is set in place. Voila! I decided to keep it quite mellow with regards to my colour selection, but next time I will do a look with great contrast for you to see. Try it yourself!

My two favourite colours are used to adorn this week's nail art look. Pink and blue. This is an easy look to do and you can use any colour combination based on your preference.

I started by applying my base coat, followed by my base colour. I love the Whatever! colour from Essence. You can't really see it on the attached picture, but it has a bit of a metallic shimmer when the light catches it in a certain way. Love It. I decided to only apply one coat of the base colour. I found it covered perfectly and I did not need a second coat. I waited one hour before attempting to apply the striping tape. When it comes to applying the striping tape you can decide how broad/narrow you would like the accent colour to be on the nail. I decided to go with 3mm. The idea is however to achieve the optical illusion that your nails are actually painted the blue (accent colour) when you look at the hand from the one side and the pink colour when you look at the hand from the other side. Therefore when you turn your hand to the side you should only see the accent colour. Let this help you determine the width you paint the accent colour.

I pre-cut my striping tape. I applied all the tape to my left hand first. I purposely let the striping tape run over my nail bed and over the tip. Therefore I was able to remove the tape in any direction. (Up or down) I painted the accent colour, but it turned out to be trickier than what I initially thought, seeing as you have such a small space to work with. I found it difficult to cover the nail to the nail bed and the side perfectly, without accidently painting over the striping tape or missing spots therefore exposing the pink base colour. You almost need to use a smaller brush than the standard polish brush. I will definitely do it differently next time and use my smallest art brush.

After painting the accent colour I immediately removed the striping tape. I pulled it from nail bed to nail tip. Remember, don't wait for the paint to dry before removing the tape. It will actually lift the nail polish and mess up the look. After waiting 10 minutes I applied my top coat. This looks definitely needs a top coat. The top coat will smooth the ridge of the accent colour and make it blend optically. Easy!

I have been sent this look by so many people via Facebook & email that I decided to do it for you today!
This sexy grey and black manicure I lovingly named: Racing Stripes Baby! Grrrrr. I like this look as it is an easy way to look polished, without having to be a nail art pro of any sort. All you need is striping tape, a steady hand and lots of patience. Yes, a lot of patience is required, seeing as you have to wait a considerable amount of time for the base colour to dry, before attempting to apply the striping tape. Trust me on this one. This nail art look is better for people with shorter nails.

I had to trim my nails to a more suitable length to pull off this look. How to get this look: Firstly apply your base coat and once completely dry, apply two coats of the base colour. I enjoy the Mavala brand. They have a wide range of colours to choose from, great polish consistency and a nice brush. It is however pricey when compared to the other nail polish brands. It does however last longer. Just to give you an idea. I waited almost two hours before applying the striping tape. With the hot humid weather conditions we are experiencing in Cape Town at the moment, polish takes longer to dry completely. Remember to pre-cut your striping strips for both hands. Determine the width of tip you wish to create and be sure to tape all the nails at the same with. (Or close enough at least ;) I applied all the tape to my left hand first. Remember when applying your accent tip colour, don't apply a thick layer of polish. Keep it to one stroke with the nail polish brush. Immediately after applying the polish, remove the stripping tape with a pair of tweezers, before continuing to the next nail. Yes, you want the polish to be wet when you remove the stripping tape. If the polish it dry when you remove the strip it will actually lift the applied colour. Wait for the left hand to be touch dry and then repeat the process on the right hand. See patience my dear friends, you must have patience. Once completely dry apply the brilliant shine top coat.

This look will also look great in a matt finish with the shine tip. Try it yourself or send me a mail and I can create the look for you!

This week I decided to do a nude nail with subtle nail art. Nail art does not always entail crazy nails that's over the top & just too bling for the average person to wear to work. No, nail art can also be delicate and understated. Here is a little something for the modest nail art lover. First start off with a good base coat. Remember to paint the edges of your nail tip for extra protection.

I chose a nude colour from the Rimmel range called Caramel Cupcake. I love the name and I love the colour. I applied two coats of the colour as I found that one coat did not cover my nail to my liking. I only applied one coat to my ring finger. Once completely dry I added an accent colour to my ring finger. I wanted a colour with shimmer that will blend nicely with the nude base colour. I chose a subtle shimmer polish. Holo Shimmer added just enough shimmer, but it's not over the top.I decided to do a small hart on the ring finger as well just to add something extra. I again chose a muted colour to go with the overall nude look. Essence has a full range of Nude colours under their 'The Nudes' range. I selected the Hope for Love colour. To do the heart is really easy. All you will need is a dotting tool. You can buy a dotting tool from Planet Nails, they are really inexpensive and you can create fun looks with it. You could even use the head of a sewing pin. Drop your nail polish on a piece of plastic (or even a piece of paper). You are looking for a good blob of polish. Now take your dotting tool and gently 'dot' it into the polish. Quickly dot it onto your nail. Two dot's next to each other. The two dots form the top of your heart. Now placing your dotting in the middle of the first two dots, drag the polish down in a direct line to form the bottom of the heart. If you find it hard to do, use a toothpick to shape the bottom edge of the heart. As with all things practice makes perfect. Try it out on a piece of paper first until you are comfortable. Once completely dry add a glossy top coat to round it off. Voila! Classic nude nail, with a subtle twist. I am ready for my meeting! Try it yourself!.