Reciprocal Gradient

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog... we've had a lot going on.

The challenge on the REAL Nail Addicts group For the week of July 5th through the 11th was 'Reciprocal Gradient'. I've always like the look but had never done one, so it was time to try!

Reciprocal Gradient

Two of my favorite colors are silver and turquoise, so I decided to go with those colors... Sally Hanson's Xtreme Wear in 'Celeb City' and Finger Paints in 'Tails of Love'. You can't tell by looking at the bottle, but the turquoise has some glitter chunks in it... I didn't know this until I was sponging it on my nails! It made for a very textured finish that I wasn't fond of...

The first step was to paint my nails silver and make a gradient on the top of my nails with the turquoise... because in the finished manicure I wanted the turquoise on the tips of my nails.

Once the gradient was cured I put strips of striping tape on them...

Then you sponge the same gradient over the top, but in reverse...

When you remove the tape, there are stripes showing through of the other color! Pretty cool huh?

I will definitely be using this technique again, but with different, more high contrast colors and NO glitter chunks!

Celebrate Freedom!

Well, it's the 3rd of July...
I'm sitting here on this quiet morning, listening to my Husband snore in the other room... LOL... He has the day off for the 4th and we have plans to be with our friends at the Lake this weekend... I'm excited!

I can't believe we're over halfway through the year already... time is moving so quickly! Seems like we just got warmed up for Summer and Fall/Winter is already right around the corner!

Sunday is the day the new challenges are released on The REAL Nail Addicts group... I can't wait to see what they are. I've thoroughly enjoyed my Independence Day manicure, but I'm ready to change it up!! (I get to do a manicure for my youngest daughter today, so that will help me with my need to play in the nail polish!)

Until then I'll leave you with a collage of my June manicures!! Be Blessed!

Independence Day Manicure!!

Independence Day means a lot to me this year... seems we're losing our rights as Americans more and more every day... it really is time to turn that around!!

With that being said... it's my opinion, and in this grand country I have my right to say it... that's one of the things that is great about America!

On to the manicure!!
My daughter showed me an awesome manicure she found on Pinterest and I wanted to try to replicate it but I absolutely stink at freehand stars! I decided just to use the basic idea and do what I could... it's all my own and I love it!

These are the products I used... I love each one! They work very well ....

Basic Manicure products

For the Basic manicure I used 3 coats of Finger Paints in "Where Art Renoir?" on my thumbs. I used 3 coats of  Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear in 'Pucker Up'  on my index and middle fingers & I used 3 coats of 'Royal Rage' on my ring fingers and pinkies, I coated everything with Jet Dry by Kiss (one of my absolute favorite quick dry top coats!) and after that was cured I put a layer of Wet-n-Wild Matte top coat on every nail.

Artwork Products

For the artwork I started out with Sally Hanson Hard as Nails in 'Hard to Get' and a fan brush for the stripes on my red... then used a tiny bit on a sponge to 'distress' the blue.... and dug stars out of this for the my blue field too...

Sinful Colors
'Star Blast-Off'

I layered everything in Jet dry again. Then I used a buffing block to knock the edges off my stars and Jet Dried those again. I used thick coats to make sure the stars stayed.

For the Fireworks on my thumbs I stamped an image from BundleMonsters plate BM-H14 using Wet-n-Wild in 'Metallica' ... My nails are long enough I had to stamp half of them at a time to get good coverage. I coated this with Jet Dry to make the image pop.... I did not matte coat these.

I hope you enjoy my Independence Day Mani as much as I am!! I hope you and yours have a tremendously blessed day celebrating your Freedom!!

Pointillism Paisleys?

The color challenge on The REAL Nail Addicts group was 'Pastel Yellow'... since I moderate the challenges, I put my entry to the group to let them decide if my choice was 'pastel' enough.... they didn't think so, said it's too bright.
It is a very nice yellow though and I love the way it went on... It's a nice swatch picture too....

 

Sally Hanson's Xtreme Wear in 'Mellow Yellow'

So, since I couldn't enter the color challenge I decided to enter the technique challenge instead. The choice for this week is 'Pointillism'. I tried my hand at making paisleys... not exactly what I had envisioned, but not too bad!

Patriotic Pointillism Paisleys

Here's all the products I used to achieve this look...
Sally Hanson's X-treme Wear in 'Pucker Up', Broadway Nails GelStrong in French White and Sally Hanson's X-treme Wear in 'Royal Rage' and ALL of my different sized dotting tools...

I don't think I'll be keeping this long... may not even finish my right hand. It was good to try a new technique though!

Manicure/Pedicure Day!!

I was waiting for the challenges to be chosen and decided to go ahead and change out my toes! I don't always have a matching manicure/pedicure and this is one of those times... LOL... I was itching to play in the nail polish!

I chose another solar polish by Ruby Wing called 'Cinnamon Bun'. It really has a nice, obvious change in the sunshine. I like it... It's fun!


Inside

Outside

Now I'm off to do my manicure... the color challenge is pastel yellow... The technique challenge is 'Pointillism', something I've never done before! I look forward to showing you the completed look...

 

 

 





Eye Candy!!

Since I'm just getting started, I thought I'd give you a couple of collages of my past work. I like to make collages on my favorite manicures from the month. It's kind of nice to see them all together in one place...

April's Collage ~

May's Collage ~

Looking forward to changing out my manicure this weekend... who knows what I'll come up with! I'll be making a collage June's favorites soon too!

First Nail Art Post!

 

Good morning!
Thought I'd start off by showing you my favorite nail care product!

It's an all natural cuticle oil and nail growth treatment. It has made a dramatic difference in the strength and overall health of my natural nails! I use it 2-3 times a day, along with taking 5,000 mcgs of Biotin twice daily.
If you are interested in trying this product for yourself you can purchase it here Gorgeous Natural Nails 

Now I'll show you some of my nail art. I'm not a professional by any means, but I'm learning and having a blast while doing it!
This is my current manicure....

 

 My second time trying freehand Leopard spots! I wasn't sure how I felt about them at first, but they grew on me... enough so that I did my toes to match!
These are the products I used to achieve this look...

Funky Fingers solar polish in 'Space Cadet' ... it changes from turquoise inside to a minty green in the sunshine. I love it, one of my very favorites!
The silver is Broadway Nail Art Paint in '36G Silver Glitter'... I poured a small amount at a time out on a plastic lid and used the larger end of the dotting tool to make the centers of the spots.
The black is Sally Hanson's Hard as Nails in 'Black Heart'... Again, I poured a small amount at a time out and used the smallest end of the dotting tool to outline the silver and create the fill-in spots.
I really love how it turned out over all... but I could use some practice. I'll be changing out my manicure this weekend, usually on Sundays when new challenges come out on a FaceBook group I help moderate called The REAL Nail Addicts... it's a fun group with a lot of really nice women (and some men!)

I hope you enjoy my first nail art post! I look forward to sharing more with you as time goes on... Be Blessed!!