Archive for the ‘Manicure Monday’ Category
Manicure Monday: White Hot
White is 2013′s favourite neutral. Come spring/summer black on black is now white on white and that goes for everything, even polish. I initially thought Essie’s stark white polish, Blanc, was too white. But here’s what I’ve learned, at first you will find it tacky and white-out-like, without a doubt. Give it a chance — a day — and soon it will also be your favourite neutral nail colour. Not to mention the fact that it compliments your soon to be tan bod and a boy complimented me on my manicure, which must mean something.
How To: Remove Shellac
Shellac may just be one of the best beauty inventions. There is something about looking down at my nails and seeing them shine back at me, beaming for all the world to see. But I have found just two problems: 1) a girl who lives for polished nails cannot bear to wear the same colour for 2-3 weeks, 2) having to go to the salon to have the shellac removed seems like a waster of time and money. Since I do not Shellac often — I’m much to indecisive to settle on one lacquer colour a week — visiting the salon to have the polish removed just doesn’t seem viable. Here’s an at home solution to removing your Shellac DIY-style:
What You’ll Need:
- nail polish remover
- cotton pad, cut into six
- tin foil
- manicure stick/skewer
Simply cut the cotton pad into pieces large enough to cover your nail. Drench the cotton pad in nail polish remover, place on top of nail, and wrap end of finger in tin foil. Leave for 10+ minutes until removing tin foil and cotton. At this point the polish should be completely separated, you’ll even see that the top coat has separated from the colour. If the polish is not flaking off, leave cotton and tin foil on for a few minutes longer. Use the manicure stick to rub off any remnants of Shellac polish.
Manicure Monday: GoldenEye
My fingertips are having a love affair with OPI in GoldenEye. Who can blame them really, this time of year everyone wants to be wrapped up in gold with a little extra frosting for the holidays. GoldenEye is part of the brand’s Skyfall Collection, and while I still have no plans of ever viewing the film, I will gladly wear this lacquer far into the New Year, even after the celebrations have come to a close.
This polish is the perfect gold, and with two quick coats GoldenEye dries opaque with the perfect glimmer. This sparkle acts more like a gloss that a thick sparkle, lasting about five days.
Manicure Monday: Down by the Bay
There’s no better way to celebrate summer than with a big ol’ slice of melon. I could eat watermelon all day until the seeds I’ve ingested begin to sprout and take over my body and this blog. But really, the best thing about summer is to make use of your brights. Don’t be afraid to mix and match summer hues, and update the classic French manicure.
To create a watermelon design, choose a medium pink for the base, like Essie Secret Story. Once the base colour is completely dry, place on French manicure strips and paint your tip colour on. For best results, with the most straight edges, I find it best to remove the strips immediately after applying the polish. I alternated using Zoya Arizona and Wednesday (used for watermelon rind).
Create the watermelon seeds using a toothpick dipped in black polish — alternate the size of the dots by blotting the toothpick on a piece of paper.
Manicure Monday: Marble
It’s important to me to keep my manicures simple. Since I paint my nails around twice a week the simpler and quicker the nail art design, the better. Efficiency is key in my life — why waste hours on your nails if you’ll just be disappointed when they start to chip 5 to 7 days later (only with Sèche Vite top coat of course!).
The marble mani will take you 10 to 15 minutes, and it’s a great design choice to fix up your week old manicure that has started to chip. This week I’ve been wearing Essie Splash of Grenadine — I have been searching for the perfect purple, and this one looks great and even better with the tan I acquired last weekend. Keep your favourite polish alive for a few days longer with this design.
You’ll need: two complementing lacquers & plastic wrap. Cut the plastic wrap into ten small squares and scrunch them up a little bit. If your nails are not already painted, choose a base colour and let it dry completely. Next, paint your second polish on top (I chose OPI Fly) and quickly blot your nail with plastic wrap a few times to remove the top colour, revealing the original base. You don’t want the top polish to dry so work one finger at a time.
If you think you have removed too much of the top colour, simply paint on your second polish where needed and blot again.
Manicure Monday: 80s Graphic
This week’s Manicure Monday is written by Katherine Abraham. Find her on Google as outloudkat.
We’ve all done it; seen that great nail colour you just can’t live without, followed quickly by seeing the double-digit price. So, you settle. You buy the slightly different shade in the cheaper brand thinking it will be just as good. It never is. But don’t worry, this manicure is a great way to use your lesser quality polishes. In this funky, translucent design, layer different colours on top of each other to get a cool Caboodle-inspired look!
First, choose your base colour and apply it to all your nails. I used Shocking Seas by Maybelline. The next step involves taping your nails, so the first coat must be completely dry otherwise you’ll ruin your base coat.
Next, cut 20 thin strips of masking tape. You can use any kind of tape that you happen to have; I use masking tape because it doesn’t leave gluey residue, plus painters use it so why shouldn’t I? For my second colour, I used Peppermint by Rimmel London Pro. Form the tape into triangles on your nails using either the cuticle base or the tip of the nail to be the third side of the triangle (I alternated, one pointing up, one pointing down, one up, one down, etc.) and paint inside the tape. I like to peel the tape off right after applying the paint; if you wait too long the tape can pull the dry paint off and ruin your lines.
Again, let this coat dry completely. If you want to apply a top coat at this point you can. Sometimes I find it helps to fuse the two layers together but if you find that adding too many coats of paint leaves your polish susceptible to peeling then skip this stage. You’ll need a lot more tape for this last step, 30 thin strips to be exact! We’re still making triangles here, but we’re doing them without the use of the side of your nail. In other words, they are completely free standing triangles. Overlap these triangles over both existing colours to optimize the transparency look. I chose a contrasting colour to my blue/green hues, a rich pink by OPI. Once you’ve taped out your triangles, add a single coat of the highlight colour. It can be hard to resist going over it a few times, but remember you want to see the other colours through this coat.
And voila, there you have a totally righteous nail look fit for a 1980s revival party! Now you can add your favourite top coat to protect your hard work for as long as you can. To ensure your design stays in the best shape possible, limit your manual labour to pulling up your leg warmers, curling your hair, and playing Dream Phone.
Manicure Monday: Ombre Watercolour
I seem to have collected a pile of “must to do manicure” photos, and this one was somewhere near the top of the pile. Found on Lauren Conrad & Co.’s beauty blog, this is an easy ombre style that uses a makeup sponge to apply the polish.
To ensure you have even distribution of the colours, choose polishes with a thicker consistency (one that would typically only need one coat). Because I did not listen to my future self’s advice (see one sentence above), I used China Glaze in Secret Peri-wink-le as a base since the lacquers were inconsistent. Before applying the lacquer to the makeup sponge, soak the sponge in water, and squeeze out about 80% of the water from sponge. Next, apply the colours from darkest to lightest, or vice versa, to the sponge, applying two coats of each colour and then blotting the excess off on a piece of paper. Apply to nail with the end of the sponge meeting the tip of your nail. Unless you put tape around your nail to protect your skin, use a Q-Tip soaked in polish remove to clean up your fingers.
Colours I used (starting at the tips): Essie in Midnight Cami, Crush in Indigo, China Glaze in Secret Peri-wink-le, Saint Germain in Seafoam.
Manicure Monday: Half-Moon
Have you mastered the half-moon manicure yet? Although we’ve c leap and bounds since last year’s obsession with this design, there is something so classic about it that it’s easy to go back.
