Striped Chic

Last week I received a very special academic award. It's called the Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award, and it's a pretty big deal. You have to have at least a 3.85 to even be considered, then faculty recommendations and personal qualities determine whether you get the award. This year, only seventy-five students (my university has just under 15,000 undergraduates) were honored.

Anyway, I was one of those students and I thought that deserved some special nails. I decided to go with a look I've been wanting to do for a while: stripes.

To create this mani all you need is scotch tape. First you paint your base color, which should be the lightest. I used OPI Tutti Fruti Tonga. Let it dry, add a top coat, apply the tape, and paint on another color. My second color was Essie Master Plan, a gray I absolutely adore (thumbs up if you heard that in an Olsen twin's voice).

I am very excited to tell you about the top coat I used. It's called Seche Vite and I've been trying to get my hands on it for months. You know that I've been searching for a good top coat and this is the one that a lot of nail bloggers flock to, and I can see why. I bought two tiny bottles because they were only $2 and the big bottle was $10.

I really like how this mani turned out. It feels young, but sophisticated. I also can't help but think of elephants when I see the pink and gray. I just love elephants (along with cats, of course).

The striping wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. You just have to make sure that you're precise with your tape. Cutting out all of your tape strips ahead of time helps, too. If you want to try this technique, try this tutorial that I used.

Manicure Challenge: Reverse Manicure

I did this a while ago, but I never posted it even though I absolutely love this look. Better late than never!

A lot of people like to use black for their half-moon reverse manicure, which is similar to how the trend started in the 1930s. I decided to use a silver glitter because hey, who doesn’t love glitter? The base is Essie Smokin’Hot. While Essie’s website says the color is a “stone-cold fox gray” I’m pretty sure it’s purple. 

To create the half-moons, I used the thin Kiss Nail Artist brush to draw the half circle and then filled it in. I've seen people use paper reinforcers (you know, those stickers that you place on three-hole punched paper) to make the half moons, but that seemed more difficult for me. Besides, isn’t it more fun to say you did it all by yourself? 

I love this look because the dark color, reminiscent of a jewel tone with sparkles is perfect for winter. Have you done the reverse manicure? What are your favorite color combinations?

Sparkle Rays Challenge (Finally!)

Two weeks ago I presented my next manicure challenge, the sparkle rays. Then my nails broke down to stubs and I had to cancel. They grew back to a sad, but acceptable length and I was finally ready to do this manicure.

For my base color, I used two coats of Essie's Dive Bar. This is an interesting polish to say the least. Essie describes it as "a mysterious blackest blue with shimmer," but in the bottle you can pick up greens and purples so that it almost looks like a holo. It's kind of like a mermaid got caught in an oil spill.

However, I found that once I put it on all I saw was black. Now that it's dry I can see some of the blue-green when it's reflected in the light, but not much. I'll have to try it on it's own again later.

 For the designs, I took my Kiss Nail Artist in the silver glitter and painted easy lines. I started in the middle of the base and pulled out each of the various directions. I did each nail in sections.

To finish, I put on two coats of Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Strengthening Top Coat. Overall, I like this nail art. It's a great way to liven up your winter nails without going bright. The design was also very simple and easy, but the effect is awesome.

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Reader Manicure Challenge

We have another reader response to a manicure challenge! Check out Katie's glitter gradient!

She used Rimmel London French Manicure Pro in French Rose for her base and Essie's A Cut Above for her glitter. I recently purchased A Cut Above myself, and this makes me very excited to use it. You can check out Katie on her blog The Polish Project.

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Manicure Challenge: Sparkle Rays

I've been searching high and low for a nail art to do this week, and I finally found it. Allow me to introduce you to this week's challenge: sparkle rays!

I know they don't look too difficult right now, but I plan on doing more than just the ring finger. I'm also going to use my Kiss Nail Artist brush to make the rays. I'm hoping that I can achieve a similar level of awesome-ness and precision doing it freehand as Chloe of Chloe's Nails did with this mani.

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Reader Manicure Challenge

Check out reader Casey's curtain nails. They look so good! Love the color combo and hand pose (Ima steal that from you girl)!

Have you tried the manicure challenges?

Curtain Nails Challenge

My manicure challenge this week was curtain nails. The result was a cute and graphic mani that I cannot stop looking at.

The picture I reference used a seafoam/mint green, I had considered using a similar color combo, until I picked up Essie's Bachelorette Bash. It's a bright fuchsia, hot pink. The color isn't quite matte, but it doesn't shimmer. I suppose that makes it a standard shine. For the design, I used Kiss Nail Artist in black.

I painted on two coats of Bachelorette Bash and let them completely dry. Then, I took the the black and drew a line from the side of my nail, starting the free edge and curving up like the top of a heart to the middle of the nail. I filled it in, and then did the same on the other side.

I finished with two top coats. The first was Nail Tek Quicken and the second was Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti Chip Top Coat. I have to say though, I'm not liking either one. Nail Tek is good for building strong nails, but it's lacking here. If anyone can recommend a good top coat that doesn't make the color run, please let me know.

I really have fallen in love with this nail art. It was fairly easy (though using my left hand presenting difficulties as always), and it just looks so sharp. The design almost has a mod feel.

Manicure Challenge: Curtain Nails

I saw this nail art for the very first time on Chalkboard Nails, who saw it on Nail Stories. I instantly fell in love and now I'm dying for it to be on my own fingers. So curtain nails will be my next manicure challenge.

I absolutely love the color combination. I will be using Kiss Nail Artist in black for the curtains, but I'm still contemplating the base color. Since this is the middle of January, I'm not sure that I mint green would be the best choice. I have until Thursday (or Friday) to make up my mind.

What color would you use for the base?

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Glitter Gradient Challenge: Success!

 Earlier this week I told you that I would be attempting a glitter gradient manicure. Last night I busted out my polishes, and not only was it was a success, I'm in love!

For my base color I used Royal Flush Blush by OPI. It's a glossy color that goes between pink and peach, depending on the lighting. For the glitter, I used Extra-Va-Vaganza. I was worried that the two wouldn't go together, because in the bottle, the glitter looks like a red-brown with some gold.

 But oh was I wrong. Extra-Va-Vaganza actually has gold, red, and green flecks with a bit of light blue and purple throw in. Surprisingly, I love the green. It looks (ironically) fabulous against the pink.

I applied two coats of Royal Flush Blush and let them completely dry. Then, I made sure that the Extra-Va-Vaganza brush had very little glitter on it. Instead of going from the middle of the nail up towards the tip, I went the opposite way and started at the tip. This ensured that the most glitter was at the end of my nail. Then I just kept adding more glitter and working my way back.

This glitter polish was wonderful for this type of manicure, but if you wanted to use it for your whole nail, you'd have to apply a base color first. It's basically just glitter in clear polish.

To finish, I added two different top coats. It's a bit unorthodox, but lately my OPI Start to Finish Base & Top Coat has been making my colors run, so I applied Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails first.

This is now my favorite nail art.

Manicure Challenge: Glitter Gradient

This is what I will be attempting later this week. It looks easy, so I'm hoping it turns out really well. I'm planning on using Extra-Va-Vaganza from the OPI Burlesque collection as my glitter.

As for underneath the glitter, I'm not too fond of just having my natural nail. I think I'll use a pink instead. I'll post pictures at the end of the week, no matter how bad they may be. Have you ever done a glitter gradient manicure?

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