Watercolor Nail Art

I call this watercolor because that's kind of what it looks like, but there isn't any actual water involved in this manicure!  It's actually the dry brush technique, wherein you wipe off as much polish as possible and dab what's left on the brush onto the nail.  The end effect, especially once you put top coat on, really looks like an abstract watercolor painting!

I'm super, super excited about this design. It was the perfect way to use every color from Zoya's Delight collection!  I ordered the whole collection in mini bottles on April Fool's Day, when they let you pick out any 6 mini polishes for free with purchase of three full size bottles.  (I also snagged two of the cremes from Tickled, last year's spring collection, and one older polish.)  On the one hand, I love the Delights collection so much that I feel like I'll want them in full sized bottles, but on the other hand, I have so much freaking nail polish that I would never ever use up full sized bottles, so the minis are just fine. :)

Anyway, since there are 3 cremes and 3 metallics in this collection, and I have ten fingers, I decided to pair the matching finishes on each hand and paint each color on one nail, using all three colors in nail art twice!  For the first time in a while, I'm really really happy with the way this turned out.  I've been feeling kind of down on my nail art skills lately, which is why I've been posting so many swatches and so little art for so long.  But this technique is super easy for me and, since it's so abstract, it's pretty hard to mess it up!

You'll have to forgive the smudge of paint on my thumb.  I was too excited to share this nail art to bother cleaning that off! :)

The blue is called Rayne; purple is Leslie; and the yellow is Daisy.  The white polish on all four art fingers is Salon Perfect Sugar Cube.

The blue creme is called Lillian; the pink is Eden; and the green is Tiana.

While I definitely love both looks, and every polish in this collection, I think I like the art made with the cremes a little bit better.  The pink just stands out so much and looks like flowers in a pond or something!

Please also forgive all of the scars on my knuckles.  My hands have been getting a lot of boo boos lately :(

I really wish I could have captured the turquoise shimmer in the yellow polish better!  It shows up nicely in the blue and purple polishes, but it's really pretty in the yellow one, too.  Maybe I'll just have to do a swatch post in the near future!

I made a photo tutorial for this look, as well!  I'd love to do another video tutorial, but my setup is really awkward and I just don't have the film technology that my film-degree-having self can sign off on.  

Step one: paint your nails with a base color (white is almost always going to work the best).

Steps two-three: wipe off as much of the polish as you can.  Your brush should look like the one in step 3 before you continue!

Step four: dab or smear the brush onto your nail.  It won't look neat, and it shouldn't!  Repeat steps 2-4 as many times as you'd like with a few different colors.  

Step five: add your top coat, and you're done!

I love how abstract this design is.  You could probably do this over a darker color for a different type of galaxy mani! (Adding that to my list of ideas.)

What's your favorite color from this collection?  Have you ever used the dry brush technique before?  Let me know (or show me!) in the comments!

PS: my reader survey is still active, and I'm still looking for more responses!  If you have about five minutes to spare, please click here to take the survey.  I really, really appreciate your feedback, and who knows - your feedback could lead to more of your favorite type of posts on the blog!

Easter Nails - then and now!

Hoppy Easter, every bunny! :D

I have some quick nail art for you tonight!  I've been a bit lazy with painting my nails lately - long story short, I'm apartment hunting and learning to crochet, so my nails are taking the back seat right now.  I'm still trying really hard to post something once a week, though!

Anyway, since I didn't spend a whole afternoon painting special Easter egg nails like I did last year, I did something a bit more quick this year.  I've had this half sheet of Jamberry nail wraps sitting around for ages, and every time I look at them I just think "These look too Easter-y for today."  So bam! I finally used them in an Easter mani! 

I have TONS of awesome springy polishes from my Bunny Box, and it took a while to narrow it down to only three to match the wraps!  I finally settled on He Doesn't Carrot All by Digital Nails (the pink), Purple Peep-le Eaters by Firecracker Lacquer (the purple), and Eggstra Special by Smokey Mountain Lacquers (the blue).  (All of these polishes were made specially for the Bunny Box collaboration, so I don't have a link to each polish for you!  The Jamberry wraps are also no longer available in the shop.)

 

I definitely put a lot more effort into my Easter nails last year - take a look!

My nails are actually pretty close to the length that they were one year ago!  I had two nails break REALLY badly a few weeks ago, so I chopped them all off, and decided that I liked them a bit shorter.  I'm not so sure now, I think I want to keep them longer again!

Did any of you do a special Easter mani this year?  What are your favorite Easter traditions?  Let me know in the comments!

PS - if you have a few minutes, I would really appreciate it if you took my survey!  I want to know what you think of the blog, how you interact with it on social media, and some other various details.  It should only take about 5-8 minutes!