Monday, September 29, 2014

Fall is Coming...!

   Like last year, Fall has taken me over! I'm super excited for it and still convince that it is the best season ever. I feel really sorry for you guys that don't really get this season. You're missing out!
   I haven't really painted any fall designs on my own fingers yet, but I have made up a few sets for my Etsy store!

   This first one is a design you might have seen before; I painted it on my fingers not quite two years ago.


  I bought a new brown a couple weeks ago - Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out - and, despite not liking it at first, it has become one of my favorite bases. For the leaves I drew them out with a white striper first (so the colors would be bright) and then used orange, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed, red, L'Oreal He Red My Mind, and green, L'Oreal New Money. I used a small brush to add in the brown veins, and then topped it with a matte coat.
   You can find this here in my shop.

   This next design was inspired by some cute Halloween fabric I found at work (JoAnn Fabrics). You can see it here.


   It didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but I think it's still cute! I'll probably tweak it at some point. I started with a base of Revlon Colorstay Indigo Night. Then I drew on the pumpkin shapes with my white striper and then went over them in yellow, Revlon Colorstay Buttercup, red, L'Oreal He Red My Mind, or orange, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed. I painted the crows and the designs in the pumpkins with some black polish and a small brush, then I gave the crows their eyes and beaks. I finished this one with a matte topcoat as well.
   You can find this here in my shop.

   This last one was inspired by a cute Halloween pin I found.


   It's really simple and easy to make, and has the added bonus of being cute! I started this one with a very thin nail-toned base (the base is optional, I just use it because I like to). I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed to make the orange tip. Then I used my black striper to creating the stitching/Frankenstein look.
   You can find this here in my shop.

   You can find all of my Fall and Halloween designs in this section of my shop!

   That's all for now. Last week was busy so I didn't really paint a design on my fingers. My roommate and I had matching brown glittered fingers. I meant to take a picture for you guys (it was a really pretty brown!), but I forgot to take it before I went home over the weekend, and then I didn't have my camera, and then it started peeling.... But I should have something new soon!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Bouquet

   This week I had 100% planned to start painting Fall designs. I'm so excited for it! ...But then I found a really cute pin. And you know how that goes! So I'll start fall next week. This week is based of this pin:


   Isn't that pretty? I gave it a brown background on my nails. I'm not a huge fan of lots of black, so I don't use it as a base unless it really is best.


   I've never really done anything like this, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I started with a brown base, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Branch Out. You can't really see it here, but it has a very slight sheen that looks really pretty.


   To make the leaves and flowers I started with white so that all of the colors would show up on top of the brown. I made just the basic stem (a slight s curve), the two roses, and some leaves to start with. I found that if I tried much more than that I lost track of what was what. Once I painted over the white I added in more leaves and flowers, starting with white again.


The colors I used are:
   Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch (yellow flowers)
   A mix of L'Oreal Orange You Jealous and Finger Paints Paper Mache (roses)
   L'Oreal Orange You Jealous (flower highlights)
   Revlon Colorstay Buttercup (light puffball flowers)
   Revlon Colorstay Spanish Moss (leaves)


 I hope you guys have a great weekend!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Blue Triangles

   This week was inspired by a pin on Pinterest. I deviated slightly, but I think it works better for how I used the design.



   I started with my favorite base, Orly French Manicure Softest White. I love that color!


  To make the triangles, I started with the furthest out color, grey, so I could see the size of the triangle. I used China Glaze Pelican Grey. Then I continued down from the top with blue, Revlon Colorstay Indigo Night, and then turquoise, Flower Good Bud-dy. Next I mixed L'Oreal New Money and Flower Good Bud-dy to get a more inbetween color. For the second to last color I mixed L'Oreal New Money and Revlon Colorstay Buttercup to get a yellow-y green. Then for the innermost triangle I used Buttercup.


   To make the dots I used Finger Paints Paper Mache and a small dotter. Then I sealed it all with my Seche Vite top coat.


   I'm not sure whether or not I want to put it in Etsy. We'll see. Right now I'm focusing on making some new fall sets. Speaking of which, I think I've made some cute ones! I'm super excited to show them to you guys.

   I hope you all have a great week!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Watercolor Flowers

   This is a remake of sorts of a design I painted on my toes back in July. I absolutely loved it and knew I wanted to paint it on my fingers once I finished with Disney Princesses. It's been in my Etsy shop for a while (you can find it here). It was based off this pin.


   I started with my favorite base! I used up my Revlon version (which is sadly no longer made!), so this is an almost exact match, Orly French Manicure Softest White.  It's just such a great color. It goes with everything, but it isn't as stark and glaring as white; it's... softer.


   To make the flowers I used orange (L'Oreal He Red My Mind), yellow (Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch), and brown (Finger Paints Sketchy Character). To make the watercolor effect I used my polish thinner (two drops for the orange and brown , one for the yellow).


   To make the leaves, I used Revlon Colorstay Spanish Moss. I used the same thinning method for the leaves as for the flowers. I used two drops of the thinner. It goes on really thin at first, but then I go over select spots a second time to give it more texture.


   We're finally up to date! I just repainted my fingers two days ago, so I ought to have a post up soon. I also have made several new fall sets for my shop! I'm excited to show you guys everything!

   Have a great week!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Disney Princess Challenge #12: Snow White


   This week is Snow White! My design isn’t much different from most of the Snow White designs. I couldn’t think of any design that looked any better than those already out there, so I just combined the ones that I thought were best.


   For the accent I painted her red headband. I started with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out to look like her hair. For the bow I used my red Stripe Rite striper because it shows up really well on top of anything and doesn’t really need a white layer underneath to it make it pop.


   For the rest of my fingers I combined her sleeves with her yellow skirt. I started with a yellow base, Revlon Colorstay Buttercup. I really like the lightness of this yellow, I think it’s so pretty! For Snow White’s sleeves I started with a blue base of Revlon Colorstay Indigo Night. Then I used my red Stripe Rite striper for the slits and the sleeve hem.


   I have this set available in my Etsy shop! You can find it here.

   Next post is on to non-Disney designs! I really liked painting the Princesses, but I'm ready for something new. I have some other Disney characters I want to paint – Alice (Alice in Wonderland), Giselle (Enchanted), and a few others – but I’ve come across some other designs I really want to paint as well. So eventually I'll get back to Disney, but for now it's on to something new!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Disney Princess Challenge #11: Cinderella

  Did I mention that I've been a little swamped lately? The street fair was this past weekend and it went pretty good! I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything like this, so I was fully prepared to sell nothing. But I had 3 sales and managed to pay for the booth, so that's good! I also handed out lots of business cards and had several people seem really interested in purchasing something at a later date.

  Anyways, now that that's over and school is the only thing taking up my time, I should be more consistent again with my painting and blogging!

   This week's post is Cinderella! I based this design off of her ball skirt and the pumpkin coach.


   I made her skirt using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Barracuda as the base and a white striper to make the white poufs/gathers/whater-you-call-thems. Then I went over it all with a fine glitter coat - Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat.


   For the pumpkin carriage I used the same base of Barracuda and the Sparkle Top Coat. I used my white striper again for her carriage. Then I painted her window using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch and a red striper. The wheels and 'stem' were also made with Butterscotch.

   As usual, this is available in my Etsy store! You can find it here.

   Next up is Snow White! She's the last for now in my Disney series. I might do some villains and other characters at some point, but for now I'm Disney-ed out and am anxious to do something different!

   I hope you all have a fantastic week!