Spring-y Nail Art inspired by...

**I wrote this post way back in the spring, thus the spring-y colors and title!**

Today's post probably has the least interesting object to take inspiration from: a box of Kleenex!  I don't mean to say that the pattern isn't interesting; it's a very pretty box of tissues, and I'm quite happy with the way my design turned out, but... it's a box of tissues.  Not exactly something that usually springs to mind when I think of "artistic inspiration," y'know?

For some silly reason, I didn't take any pictures of this manicure in my standard poses, so this is the only one I have of all of my nails.  Oops!

The colors that I used for this design are: 6 Harts Polish "Blue Eyed Bunny" (pinkie), Above the Curve Nail Lacquer "Rockin' Robin" (middle finger), Zoya "Prim" (pointer finger), and Zoya "Zuza" (on my thumb, which I didn't even get a shot of!).  The white background on my ring finger is Salon Perfect "Sugar Cube."  (I don't have links for either of the first two polishes, because they were designed for a limited-edition indie polish collaboration box and those two colors aren't available individually.)

 

I really wanted to do another video tutorial for this design, seeing as it's been a long time since the last video I did, but I simply couldn't find an angle that I was happy with, so I settled for a photo tutorial!

1. I started with a white background, then waited an absurdly long time for the white to dry.  When using striping tape, you always want to make sure that the background color is completely dry, or else the tape will peel off your nail polish!  (Placing the tape was kind of a pain - I'm really regretting not having any nail vinyls!)

2-4. Once I got the tape lined up, I took a small nail art brush and gently dabbed on each color.  The lightest blue, the one right at the cuticle, is very sheer so I had to use two coats.

5. After painting on each color, I took the tape off, starting with the last piece of tape that I'd placed.  Unfortunately the tape pulled up a tiiiiny bit of the white, and at the base of my nail the tape actually broke, leaving some behind on the nail!  So I did my best to paint over the wibbly lines with my smallest nail art brush.

6. Add a coat of top coat after it's all dried thoroughly (to avoid streaks), and ta-da!  Always snap a close-up photo of your nail next to the inspiration. :)

What do you think of this design?  What's the weirdest thing you've ever taken inspiration from for nail art?  Want to see more photo tutorials, or want me to try harder to find a good angle for a video tutorial?  Let me know in the comments!  And if you're really aching for some different types of posts, be sure to give me your feedback here.

Finally, don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway, which you can find here!

Fall-colored Retro Dots

Before I started this blog, I always posted my nail art designs to a Facebook photo album to share them with my family and friends.  One design that was a HUGE hit turned out to me one of my favorites to paint, a rather retro-looking lines-and-dots design.  I originally did it in neon-lime green with the design in black and white:

This is five months ago - my nails were so much shorter and less nicely shaped!!

That green is Zoya "Mitzi."

My friends were really excited about this pattern, and I said back then that I might make a tutorial video for it some time.  I tried once, but was disappointed in my camera's video capabilities.  You see, as a filmmaker, I'm rather committed to producing high-quality audio and video.  While my camera creates great photos, it's really not very good for video.  The largest possible size that I can record at is only 640x480 pixels.  (I think my cell phone takes higher quality video than that!)

But, as a nail blogger and a nail art enthusiast, I really wanted to make at least this one tutorial video.  So I gritted my teeth and bared with the low quality video and the mostly-decent audio.

So without further ado, I present to you my very first nail art tutorial video!  Watch it embedded here or view it on YouTube here.

This time, I decided to use some fall colors for the design.  I used OPI "How Great Is Your Dane?" for the background, Nina Ultra Pro "Gladiator" for the gold, and Sally Hansen CSM "Hi Ho Silver" for the silver.  The song in the background is called "Learn to Fly," and it's by a good internet-friend of mine, Josh Woodward.

Because I'm not crazy about my matte top coat - it chips and cracks within 24 hours - I only used it on my middle finger for the sake of photos.  But I really like how this design looks in matte, no matter the color scheme.  I think it makes it look like wallpaper from the 70s!

 

In general, this design looks best when the textures of the accent colors match - whether they're both cremes or both metallics.

 

I had a lot of fun creating this design - you'll likely see it on this blog again, perhaps in next season's colors!  I also had fun making the video.  You just might see me making more tutorial videos.  Maybe.  Keep reading my posts and my Facebook page to find out if I make more! ;)