Matte/Shiny Nails

So I'm going to make a quick disclaimer: I AM SO BUSY! I want to apologize in advance for the lack of posting that will be happening next week. To make up for it, I'm posting a new one today :) This design was pretty simple, but I love it. It may be difficult to see, but there are two layers to this design. The bottom layer is a sort of indigo color that I went over with matte top coat. Both of these products are Julep and are fabulous. I especially love the matte top coat. It works amazingly well! After this, I went back over with the same color and painted a floral design with a nail art brush. These matched the dress I wore for an event for my fraternity. *WARNING: SHAMELESS PLUG TO FOLLOW* I'm in a fraternity called Alpha Phi Omega which is a service fraternity and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the nails! These are some of my favorites :)

Be Mine Nails

So, I'm sorry for going AWOL for a few days. The winter guard had a competition this weekend which took up 99.9% of my time. I will try to post more often! Today I have my first Valentine's Day nails for you. These I did early in February just to get myself ready for the season of love. I used two colors I received from Julep: a cream color and a pink with rose gold shimmer. I also used a light purple for the roses and green for the leaves. I used lots of shades of red/purple for the index fingers. It might be hard to read on here but the index fingers say love many times; the thumbs say Be Mine; the pinkies and middle fingers are stripes and the the ring fingers are roses. I used nail art brushes for basically everything in this design.

Portal Nails

For all you Portal fans out there, these are some Portal inspired nails per request of my girlfriend. The thumbs make the man running through the portals; the index fingers are turret eyes; the middle fingers are companion cubes; the ring fingers are slices of cake (that is, of course, a lie); and the pinkies are the aperture symbol. I did most of it with a nail art brush, though I did the dot in the turret eye with a dotting tool. +1 this if you're a portal fan (or if you just like the nails)!

My Christmas Nails

These are the nails I had for Christmas! Though they aren't quite as extravagent as the last Christmas nails I posted, sometimes simple is better. For these, I used a two kinds of gold, green, red, and white. All the fingers except the ring finger have what's called a fish scale pattern. For this, I used a dotting tool and alternated colors. The ring finger is just stripes for which I used a nail art brush. Simple, yet classy!

Intermission: Kayla :)

I thought it might be time for another mini intermission from nails! Per her request, this one is about my girlfriend, Kayla. She's super awesome in all ways and I love her very much. She also has a blog so if you get a chance you should check it out. We've been together for almost 4 years (crazy, right?) We live together here in Indiana after being long distance for almost 3 years. For anyone who is currently in a long distance relationship, it is hard, but it CAN work! Anyway, check back for more nails!

Christmas Nails

This is a manicure I did for my fellow spinner for Christmas. It was time consuming, but totally worth it! I didn't have the nail polish collection I have now, so the thumbs (Mr. and Mrs. Clause) are a little tan. The ring finger on the top is a Christmas cat and the ring finger on the bottom is a reindeer. The pinkies are both Christmas trees. The index finger on top has snowmen (one of my favorites) and the middle finger has candy canes (another favorite). On the bottom, the index finger has snow flakes and the middle finger is a present. The colors are pretty self-explanatory. As for the tools, I used nail brushes for all the thin lines and dotting tools for all the eyes, noses, and ornaments on the trees. She seemed pretty happy with the end result, as was I!

Cut-Out Nails

These are cut-out geometric nails. They're a little messy in the picture, but after the edges cleared up they looked super cool. For these, I used a nail art brush to put in all the black. I used black, blue, purple, and white polish. The parts with no polish just has base and top coat. I personally really like this style. My favorites are the middle, ring, and pinkie fingers in the top picture. Sorry for the smudge on the thumb!