So although I absolutely loved my last manicure (can't wait to do different variations of the design) I decided to change things up. I recently received a massive stamping plate in ze mail with different "reptilian" stamps. I don't know what I was thinking with the color combination. Initially I wanted a subtle design so I started with (my fav) OPI Stranger Tides, and Stamped Essie Mint Candy Apple on top. Then I decided it was waaaay to subtle, so then I stamped another texture of Barry M Silver Foil, and then for some reason I took it further (just cause I could) and stamped another texture of American Apparel Neon on top. So yeah not sure I really like this mani, but it's so subtle that I can get away with wearing it for a while. And although it has yet to be discovered, I'm sure a pale green, mint green, silver, and neon yellow snake or gator exists.....
anywaysss enjoy!
Close up....
So for this manicure I am going to start at the very beginning. This past weekend I went to the Tate Modern to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibit. She is a japanese artist known for her repeated patterns, sculptures and performance art. The exhibit was absolutely crazy, probably one of the weirdest exhibits I have seen in a while (not surprising since she spent the later part of her life in a Mental Hospital) and I would definitely recommend it. Anyways I remember I was in this particular room which was filled from floor to ceiling with some of her later work; vibrant canvases with really cool illustrations. And the first thing that came to my mind was Wow these would make awesome nail designs. Okay so fast forward to yesterday, I read an article about how Boom Nails (http://boomnails.blogspot.co.uk/) artist Emma Zetner was doing nails inspired by Kusama at the Tate Modern for free on the 24th of March. So anyways I was like holy crapp how did I miss this! So I was looking through some of her amazing designs and basically my inspiration for these was from some of the monochromatic tribal designs. I used No. 7 Totally Teal from my buy yesterday which is an amazing color. I wish I had taken a picture before I put the gold on because the Teal is so smooth and is super shiny without a topcoat. It's also pretty thick color so I only needed two coats and could maybe even have done one. I used Barry M Gold Foil to freehand the tribal designs, the good thing about this polish is that it is also pretty thick so you don't have to go over the design more
Here is close up of the index finger. Since I loved this manicure so much I just couldn't resist taking more pictures.
Enjoy!
I bought three new polishes at boots yesterday (3 for 2, how could you not?) and was determined to come up with a design. At first I was just going to do a half moon mani. I know not everyone is a fan of this style but I love it. Usually I have a color underneath but this time I decided to do it against the natural nail. I used No7 Cheeky Chops for the background. Of course I couldn't leave the manicure as it was so I painted leopard using gold sequins and Barry M Gold Foil for the center and No 7 Damson Dream. Damson Dream is suuuuch a pretty color. I think i'm gonna have to paint my nails this color soon because it's amazing, and this picture doesn't do it justice. It is a maroon-y/dark purple color with a kind of gold iridescent coloring mixed in.
Anyways enjoy!
So this manicure is a couple of days late but is probably one of my favorite. It's a shame that I have a really crappy picture of it, and I can't believe I didn't take some better ones, because this manicure took me agessss!.
So I used my favorite nude color once again (Nail Pop- petticoat) and, using tape, I created bare rectangles in the middle of my nails. Now that I think about it I maybe should have used a darker color so you could see the rectangles a little better. But I'm drawn to this color and sometimes I just can't stop myself.
Anyways, once I got the rectangles sorted, I used clear nail polish and some loose silver glitter to experiment with the empty space and to fill a whole nail.
Anyways, this is one of my favorite nails, but what do you guys think?
So i've decided that i LOVE taping. Simple designs are so easy and they come out amazing (most of the time) I just love that feeling of pulling of the messy tape and revealing a really neat design. So today I decided to challenge my taping abilities. I made different shapes with the tape and used three colors to fill them in (OPI Stranger Tides, which is becoming one of my go to colors, American Apparel Neon Yellow, and Essie Mint Candy Apple)
The trick with the taping is when the polish is too dry it can pull up on the edges when you pull the tape off. But it's hard to avoid this problem when you are using three colors and multiple coats on each. So I haven't exactly figured out how to avoid this problem. Although I did notice that the OPI didn't pull up nearly as much as the Essie and American Apparel. I think because I put them on thicker. Who knows. Anyways, Enjoy!
so since I got my OPI nail envy today (and I did the neon manicure yesterday), I thought I'd strip it and do something new.
Since easter is coming up I thought i'd try something out that I usually don't go for....lot's of pastels.
Not my favorite manicure, think I could've chosen some better colors, but it's my first serious freestyle nail painting.
okay so I finally got my American Apparel order! After waiting what seems like months (only 3 weeks) I got my American Apparel neons; yellow and violet. Although the idiot that I am, I already have a bright violet from urban outfitters called Binge that looks EXACTLY the same. Can't even count how many times i've bought similar colors to the ones I already have.
Anyways about the manicure......I started with a neon yellow based and used my nail tape to create shapes on my nail, and then painted OPI stranger tides on top. Ended up with a pretty cool manicure if I do say so myself. Enjoy!
Also on another note I got OPI original nail envy in the mail today so I'll let you guys know how that goes.
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