(N)ail (A)rt (I)n (L)ife

I first saw this nail striping tape mani through The Manicured Monkey and thought it was super cute! Since purple is my favorite color, I decided to make a purple mani using nail striping tape~

I began with a completely dry striped purple mani similar to my Shades of Purple. 

Using nail striping tape, I created designs with the tape and pressed it into my nails. If you don’t have nail striping tape, you can use plastic tape as long as you cut the strips evenly. 

Then, using a glittery charcoal polish, I painted over the nails with the striping tape and peeled off the tape after a few seconds. 

The end result was charcoal/black nails with just hints of purple peeking through~

Materials:

• white nail polish
• newspaper
• a shot of vodka
• essie~cocktail bling
• black nail polish
• dotting tool

1. I started by painting two coats of white
2. As I waited for my nails to dry, I carefully cut out pieces of the newspaper, making sure to get different sizes and fonts
3. To get an all-over print on my nail, I dipped my entire nail into the vodka just until it was all wet
4. Right after removing my finger from the vodka, I placed a strip of newspaper onto my nail and pressed down. I made sure not to move the strip so that the imprint would be solid. After a few seconds, I peeled off the newspaper and my nails were imprinted!

**In order to get different prints on each nail, I cut smaller strips and soaked the strips in the vodka and then pressed the newspaper into my nails.

After repeating the steps on each finger, this is what my nails looked like. 

At this point, I could have painted a top coat and been done, but I decided to do a further step.

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Ciaté Caviar Manicure sets came out a few weeks ago and I’ve been excited to try them out! This weekend, I had brunch with a few friends and then went to the mall afterwards. As a result, I walked out with the kit from Sephora! It costs $25 and comes with a bottle of polish, caviar pearls, a funnel, a tray, and detailed instructions.

It’s pretty easy to apply but the pearls don’t stay very well. I learned the hard way not to eat finger food with the caviar pearls on my fingers. 

I’m going to experiment doing a few different things with them before posting a detailed tutorial but here’s what I have on right now.

Until then, get yourself a set and have some fun! (Just don’t eat anything with your fingers and nearly split a tooth >.<)

Materials:

• Essie~Status Symbol
• L’oreal~Penthouse Pink
• Orly~White Out
• silver glitter polish
• crystal gemstones, various sizes

      

Materials: 

• Orly~Take Him to the Cleaners
• Orly~You’re Blushing
• plastic tape

                   

     

1. I painted a base coat and 2 coats of You’re Blushing
2. As I waited for it to dry, I carefully painted the tape with Take Him to the Cleaners
3. After the tape was dry, I cut two sizes of strips of the painted tape and applied it to my nails

Materials: 

• Orly~White Out
• Sally Hansen Hard as Nails~Black Out
• Nail art brush
• dotting tools

1. I started by painting 2 coats of white nail polish and letting it dry.
2. On my left thumb, I drew a heart-shaped treble clef.
3. On my other nails, I drew partial staves and different types of notes in black. ♪♫♪♫
4. And since I am right-handed, I knew I couldn’t draw a treble clef on my right hand with my non-dominant hand, so I used a piano key plate & stamp!

Materials:

• essie~lovie dovie
• essie~status symbol
• white striping tape
• pearls & gemstones

1. I started with 2 coats of essie’s lovie dovie and let it dry.
2. Then I painted half my nail, trying to make the line in the middle as straight as possible. (Doesn’t have to be perfect though)
3. Once the polish was dry, I applied white 1mm nail striping tape along each nail.
4. I finished with a topcoat and then applied pearls and gemstones on my nails.