Mani Monday: The Cheerfully Chevron Mani

 

G’day you beauties!

Today I wanted to showcase a mani I have been coveting for a while now, the chevron mani! This mani put me into a semi-festive mood as the jagged edges of the chevron design reminded me of an Elf outfit :)

I added a fun twist with a full chevron design on accent nails and chevron french tips! I used Revlon Nail Care Calcium Gel Nail Hardener x1 coat as a base coat, Essence in Viva La Green on the ring fingers as accent nails (x2 coats for nail art), Essence in Wake Up! x2 coats on the rest of the nails (x2 coats for nail art) and Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat.

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish x 2 (I chose orange and dark mint)
• White stickers
• Zig-Zag Craft scissors
• Normal scissors
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely 

2) Apply x2 coats of dark mint nail polish to ring nails and x2 coats of orange nail polish to the remaining nails, wait for it to dry completely 

3) Using the zig-zag craft scissors, carefully cut thin strips from the white stickers…you will be left with thin zig-zag stripes of white stickers (you will be using this on the ring finger nails as the accent nails design)

4) Now take 4 pieces of the zig-zag white sticker stripes and stick it onto the back of the backing paper of the stickers (it will help keep the stickiness of the stickers). Once you have done this, paint x2 coats of orange nail polish onto the strips and wait for it to dry completely. Once dried, carefully remove the now ‘orange’ stickers from the backing paper…there may be some residue orange nail polish attached to the edges…carefully push/pull it off the sticker or trim it with a pair of scissors

5) Now take 2 of these orange zig-zag stripes and carefully stick it horizontally onto your ring finger, repeat on other hand. Gently press down on the sticker to ensure it is stuck down firmly. If the sticker is not sticking properly, you can apply another coat of dark mint nail polish and while the nail polish is still wet you can place the stickers onto the nail and gently but firmly press down, the wet nail polish will act as an adhesive and ensure that the stickers will stick and stay in place

6) Now to work on the nail art for the remaining nails, you will cut thicker zig-zag strips from the white stickers. I stuck with only using the end bits of the stickers…so I had one straight edge and one zig-zag edge

7) I carefully applied these stickers to my nails as if it was a french tip guide. Apply these stickers just above the tip of the nail, leaving the desired amount of nail which will be painted as the chevron french tips

8) Once applied, apply x2 coats of the dark mint nail polish ensuring that when the nail polish is applied you start painting on top of the white sticker and then onto the tip of the nail. This will ensure even distribution of the nail polish and will leave a neat finish when removing the stickers as the excess nail polish will be left on the white chevron french tip guide which you will discard

9) Wait for nail art to dry completely and apply top coat

10) You are done with your chevron mani! These bright, bold colours also work great for summer! 

What is on your summer must have/to do list ?

 

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files. 

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :) 

Mani Monday: The Razzle Dazzle Mani

Hi you amazingly wonderful beings :)

Since the festive season is upon us I decided to be a bit fancy and do a shiny, sparkly, fun and full of life mani today! Also, it was the perfect excuse to test out one of the gorgeous nail polishes & some nail care protect nail polishes I received from Revlon in an amazing hamper I won (more on that later!). Here is the ‘Razzle Dazzle Mani’!

I tested out a few of the polishes from a gorgeous Revlon hamper I received for winning a recent weekly Twitter Manicure Mondays competition which was hosted by Cosmopolitan Magazine (South Africa) and Revlon (South Africa). This is the amazing hamper I was spoilt with! What a treat!

For this mani I used the Revlon Nail Care  Calcium Gel Nail Hardener as a base coat x1 coat, Revlon in Red Hot Tamale x3 coats, Essence in Make it Golden x1 coat and gold striping tape for the nail art and Revlon Nail Care ColorStay Gold Standard Top Coat x1 coat. I also used the Revlon Nail Care 60 Seconds Quick Dry Spray on a few nails which worked a charm! Red Hot Tamale is my new ALL TIME favourite summer colour, I may be biased...I am partial to coral/red colours...it may or may not be my fav colours of all time!!! :)

Read on to get your holiday ready razzle dazzle mani!

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish (I chose a lovely bright coral-red colour)
  
• Gold striping tape for nail art
  
• A pair of scissors
  
• Gold glitter nail polish for nail art
  
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Paint base coat onto nails, wait for it to dry completely 

2) Apply base colour nail polish (coral-red) x3 coats, wait for it to dry completely 

4) Apply gold striping tape to each nail in whatever design or direction as you please. I placed the striping tape in a different design/direction on each nail. Once you have stuck down the striping tape you will now carefully using a pair of scissors cut the striping tape to fit the nail and then gently smooth the striping tape onto the nail and make sure it is stuck down properly

5) Now apply the gold glitter nail polish to each nail on one side of the nail so that one side of the nail has gold glitter polish and the other half of the nail is separated from the glitter by the gold striping tape. You want the nails to have the contrast of the plain, bright pop of colour against the glittery, sparkly nail polish. I find the best way to apply glittery nail polish is to dab and pat the nail polish onto the nail, do not paint it on as normal as the glitter doesn’t seem to disperse very well using that method

6) Complete step 4-5 on all nails

7) Wait for nail art to dry, then apply top coat

8) Be totally chuffed that you have created a stunning, sparkly number ready to get your razzle on for the festive season! 

I won’t suggest let’s all go sing-a-long to a Christmas carol as yet…I’ll hold off till December at least! :P The festive cheer will definitely be extended into Mani Mondays, look out for holiday/fesive/Christmas themed manis during the entire month of December!

What are you doing to get into the holiday/festive/Christmas spirit of things ?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files. 

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)

Mani Monday: The Blues Mani

Hello all :)

This Mani Monday I decided to make use of this gorgeous electric blue nail polish and used some caviar beads and dotting  designs for the nail art detailing.

I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a basecoat, x2 coats Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Blue it (I love this colour, kicking myself as to why I haven’t used it sooner as it’s totally gorge! This is the first time I’ve used it for a mani since I purchased it a few months ago!), silver tiny craft beads to achieve the caviar bead effect, x1 coat Essence Nail Art Stampy Polish in Stamp me! Silver for the silver dotting design and Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat. I love the contrast of the deep, electric, shiny blue against the sparkly silver…it’s a welcome departure from all the bright colours trending at the moment! If we had White Christmas's in South Africa, then this is the sort of mani I would sport for the holidays for sure! 

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish (I chose electric blue)
• Nail polish for the dotting design (I chose silver)
• Clear nail polish
• Tiny craft beads or caviar nail art beads
• Orangewood stick/dotting tool
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Paint base coat onto nails, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply base colour nail polish (electric blue) x2 coats, wait for it to dry completely

3) Work on ring finger caviar beading now, apply clear nail polish to ring finger nails and while the nail polish is still wet hold your finger over a small bowl and pour the tiny silver craft beads onto the ring finger…the tiny craft beads will start sticking to the nail due to the wet nail polish (you want this to happen!)…there may be spots where beads haven’t stuck to…if that is the case just pour more onto it or gently press a few into the gaps. You will then gently press down on the beading so that the beads are spread across the entire nail and are not sitting on top of one another in clumps, you want a smooth layer of beads. Make sure you collect all the left over caviar beads to keep for your next caviar mani! Caviar beading technique also discussed here with photos.

4) Now, start working on the dotting nail art on the other nails. Pour a small pool of silver nail polish onto a scrap piece of paper…then dip the sharp end of the orangewood stick/dotting tool into the pool of nail polish and dot on the silver nail polish onto your nail in a single line along the tip of your nail, as if creating a french tip out of dots. Complete this on all nails

5) Wait about half an hour for the beads to set properly before attempting to do anything, however be warned the beads do start falling off due to the wear and tear of everyday life. I can only wear a caviar bead mani for a maximum of 1 day. Even after a couple of hours of drying time the beads do still fall off when my fingers/nails rub/knock against things, so I don’t find caviar manis to be practical for long wear. However it works well for a party/event for a wow factor mani…just try not to touch anything or do anything haha! Just be still, chat and be pretty showing off your stunning caviar mani :)

6) Wait for all silver dotting nail art to dry

7) Apply top coat to all nails except the ring fingers which has the caviar beads on it. I know others have recommended lightly applying or patting on a top coat onto caviar bead manis. However I don’t do this as when I have tried this, the colour of the beads are stripped and you are left with silver beads (which is fine for this mani since you want silver beads)…however when it’s red or lilac caviar beads you are using…it spoils the entire mani. Furthermore I find with a top coat the caviar beads lose the bumpy, caviar effect and the top coat leaves an untidy, clumpy, messy finish as it can’t be painted on smoothly due to the beads.

8) Go rock your blues mani at a party these holidays or to get into the festive mood of a White Christmas or just because…who needs a reason for pretty nails!

*(I would totally say let's all go listen to a blues jam but hey let's not lie to each other...I'm not really huge into the blues scene, well more like...not into it at all and couldn't name a single blues song even if you paid me!)*

Don’t judge me, it’s definitely not too early to be thinking about Christmas and the holidays especially since it’s already November! :) I have been known to start a Christmas countdown in July trying to persuade friends and family into the festive spirit haha! My love for the holidays extends year long! December is officially my favourite time of year, my birthday, Christmas, quality time with friends and family. What can beat that! :)

What are your plans for the holidays and Christmas ?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files.

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)

Mani Monday: Colour Blocking Mani

Hi you gorgeous peeps!

I decided to embrace the colour blocking trend and let it splash out all over my nails! I also used fabulously, fun summer colours for this colour blocking mani and utilised the dotting technique.

I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength, x2 coats Essence Ulitmate Pink on ring and index finger nails, x2 coats Essence Wake up! on the remaining nails, Rimmel Heart on Fire for nail art and Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat. You too can be sporting this trending mani, read on!

You will need:

Base coat nail polish

Two different base colour nail polishes (I used orange and pink…on point colour blocking picks!)

 Red nail polish for additional dotting nail art

An orangewood stick / dotting tool

Scrap piece of paper

Toothpick

Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Apply base coat nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply x2 coats of pink nail polish to ring and index nails and x2 coats of orange nail polish to the remaining nails, wait for it to dry completely

3) You are now ready to start with the nail art on your nails! Pour a small bit of orange nail polish (if working on ring & index nails) onto a piece of paper, using the orangewood stick dip the sharp end into the orange pool of nail polish and then carefully apply a small dot onto your nail. I found the easiest way to get the dotting design is to first dot on a big “L” shape on outter edge of half of your nail

 

4) Once you have done this, go and add in some extra dots to then create a triangle shape in the corner of your nail. I did the triangle at the bottom left corner of my nails on the accent nails (ring and index finger) and the triangle on the opposite side for all the other nails (the triangle was then on the upper right hand side). Just remember that when you are dotting on your base design colour!

 

5) Continue with steps 3-4 on all nails, remembering to alternate the base dotting colour (for the pink nails use the orange nail polish to make the dots and on the orange nails use the pink nail polish to make the dots). Once you have completed the base colour dots, wait for the dots to dry completely

Step 1 (remember to complete the triangle though!)

6) Once the previous set of dots are dry, you can now pour a small pool of red nail polish and using a toothpick (it creates small enough dots that will fit into the bigger dots), dip the toothpick into the red nail polish and carefully place a small red dot inside the all the pink and orange bigger dots. Continue with this until all nails have red dots within the bigger orange and pink dots. You should have 2 dots now within each other in the pattern (a base dot in pink or  orange with a smaller red dot in it)

Step 2 (remember to complete the triangle though!)

 
 7)  To create the dotting technique, remember it's a 2 stage process. Dot on the orange/pink big dots, wait for it to dry, then dot the smaller red dots with a toothpick

 

8) Wait for nail art to dry completely and then apply top coat

 

9) Be totally stoked you are sporting the latest colour blocking trend in a unique way, on your nails! :)

Have you been rocking the colour blocking trend, if so, how and in which colours ?

 

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather! I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files.

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)