Mani Monday: Jailhouse Rock Mani

Good day you lovely beings! Today I was inspired by the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley! I had his classic song, Jailhouse Rock stuck in my head and thought it best to let it inspire this weeks Mani Monday! I added in some girly detail with cute ‘lil red hearts dancing all over my nails :)

This was quite a tricky mani to get done, as the white stripes were more than just a ‘little’ tricky to achieve! I’ll fill you in on my first two tried but failed attempts below, third time was the charm!

I used x1 Sally Hansen Instant Strength for the base coat, x2 coats of Essence in Black is Back, x1 coat of Tipp-ex on striping tape, x1 coat of Rimmel in Red Carpet for the heart details, x1 coat of Essence in Gel look Topcoat. Read on to find out how to get this Jailhouse Rock mani!

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base coloured nail polish (I chose black)
• Tipp-ex (Correction fluid) or a white nail polish with good opacity…I tried two different brands and it didn’t work as well as Tipp-ex
• Scissors
• Red nail polish for the heart details
• Orangewood stick / Toothpick / Dotting tool
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

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

2) Apply coloured base nail polish to nails, wait for it to dry completely

3) I experimented with trying to achieve white stripes on my nails, my first two tries were unsuccessful. I initially used Yardley French Tip Whitener and tried to paint stripes directly onto my nail…I do not have the steadiest hands…this is very apparent from the pic below! Secondly, I tried cutting a white sticker into thin strips…however I couldn’t cut the strips thin enough and they all ended up being different widths…I didn’t have the patience to measure the width with a ruler etc ….however if you have the patience…go for it…let me know how it goes!

Two failed attempts!

4) On my third try, I struck it lucky and was pretty stoked with the end result! The striping tape I have is the perfect width for the white stripes on my nail, however all I had was gold striping tape…initially a small problem but this was solved when I decided to paint the gold striping tape white!

5) I initially tried painting the striping tape with white nail polish, I tried both Yardley French Tip Whitener and Revlon White on White…however I found that these nail polishes were not opaque enough when painted on top of the striping tape. I then thought about using Tipp-ex (correction fluid) and it is a very stark bright white and would definitely deliver the opaqueness I was after! All in the name of Mani Monday! :)

6) Cut a long piece of striping tape (if you don’t have striping tape…you could try cutting thin pieces of sticky tape) and stick the striping tape to a piece of paper

7) Now apply the Tipp-ex to the striping tape evenly so that the Tipp-ex covers all of the striping tape

8) Wait a few minutes till the Tipp-Ex has dried enough that you can touch it (do not leave it to dry for too long as the Tipp-ex may then start to crack when you lift the striping tape off the paper)

9) Now carefully lift a little bit of the striping tape off the paper, and cut a small piece of the now white striping tape

10) Carefully place the striping tape on your nail and carefully press down so that it sticks to your nail...the striping tape was still fairly sticky and was easily able to stick to my nail and the top coat which I applied after further helped in keepings the striping stuck to my nails

11) Keep cutting small pieces of ‘white’ striping tape and place it on your nail creating a striped design

 

Success at last!

12) Continue with step 9 – 11 until the ‘white’ striping tape has been placed on all nails in a striped design

13) Now get ready to apply the red heard details to your nails, grab a piece of scrap white paper and practice the heart details first until you are confident to do it on your nails (you really don’t want to mess your mani up now with a wonky ‘lil heart detail!)

14) I have showed you how to do the heart detail before over here, but here’s a ‘lil refresher

15) Tip a small amount of nail polish out onto a scrap piece of paper, make sure to work fairly quickly now. Dip the orangewood stick (toothpick or dotting tool if you prefer) in the small pool of nail polish and place three dots of nail polish in an upside down triangle shape.

16) Now take the orangewood stick and carefully pull each dot into each other so that it joins in the middle…the dots once all joined will now resemble a heart shape

17) Once you are confident that you are comfortable with the heart design technique…you can then go ahead and go wild and apply as much or as little heart design detail to your nails…I went ahead and added one cute little heart per nail in different positions

18) Totally be jazzed that you aced such an awesome mani and remember the King of Rock of Roll put on some Jailhouse Rock on your iPod and don’t be afraid to sing along, I know you want too….and totally rock out some jazz knees ala Evlis …Lets rock, everybody, lets rock, Everybody in the whole cell block, Was dancin to the jailhouse rock….la la la :)

Has a song inspired a mani or outfit choice for you before?

 

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: Pastel Waves

Hi pretties!

This Mani Monday I was inspired by a cute top I recently purchased from Mr. Price (clothing store in SA), the colours compliment each other so well and I am loving me some pastels at the moment. This mani is so fun and with the sparkly top which inspired it, I can’t help but associate this mani with the beach and cocktails! Yes please, I’ll take summer right about now! :)

I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x2 coats of Yardley French Tip Whitener as a colour base coat, x1 coat of Essence in Stamp me! Silver, x1 coat of Colours Nail Enamel in Creammoss, x1 coat Essence Nude Glam in Iced Strawberry Cream for the wave designs and x1 coat of Essence in Gel Look topcoat.

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish, I used white
• Three colour nail polishes for the waves, I used silver, turquoise and pale pink
• Top coat
• Orangewood stick
• Scrap piece of paper

Method:

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

2) Apply two coats of base colour nail polish, wait for it to dry completely

3) Pour a small amount of the silver nail polish on a scrap piece of paper, and dip the sharp end of an orangewood stick into the pool of polish then quickly and carefully start dotting the silver nail polish in a wave design onto the nail (start the silver dotting wave design closest to your nail bed), continue the dotting pattern in wave design on all nails (I tried using a dotting tool and a toothpick but found the dots created were too small for my liking, you may prefer that look so give it a go!)

 4) Now you will repeat step 3, but with the turquoise nail polish and you will begin likewise by using the dotting technique and you will dip the orangewood stick into the pool of turquoise nail polish and dot it onto the nail. Make sure you start the design a little below the silver, so that there is a space of white nail polish peeking through in between both colours, continue until all nails are complete with the turquoise wave design

 

5) Repeat step 3-4, but now use the pale pink nail polish, wait for all three sets of wave designs to dry completely

 6) Apply top coat of nail polish, and totally be chuffed silly with this gorge mani! Whip out some pastel threads to match your mani…Oh and not forgetting to play Kokomo by The Beach Boys…jamming vintage style today, ‘Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go’…I know you couldn’t help but sing along…everyone secretly loves The Beach Boys!

Have any of your clothes inspired a mani ?

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: Touch the Sky Mani

Good day you beautiful beings!

Today I decided to tackle a mani I’ve seen around that really packs a cute punch! The cloud mani, which I like to call the Touch the Sky Mani. Totally got me jamming to some Kanye West right there! 

I used x1 coat Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x2 coats of Essence Nude Glam in Hazelnut Cream Pie (I love this muted nude colour, so chic!) as a base colour and x1 coat as a cloud detail on the accent finger, x1 coat of Warm Heart Nail Polish in Colour 2112 (I’m not sure on the stockist details, it was gifted to me…thanks bestie! ), x1 coat of Rimmel 60 Seconds in Coralicious for the cloud detail and x2 coats as a base colour coat on the accent finger, x1 coat of Colours Nail Enamel in Creammoss and x1 coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a top coat.To get this gorge mani, just read on!

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Base colour nail polish (I used nude and coral pink for the accent nail)
• Two coloured nail polishes for the cloud detail, I chose neon yellow and a coral pink and turquoise for the accent nail…the second cloud detail looks orange however it is coral pink nail polish. The colour looks distorted somewhat because it’s been painted on a neon yellow base haha and we all know what happens when you start mixing colours…you might just end up with purple unintentionally :P
• Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Paint nails with base coat nail polish, wait for nails to dry completely

2) Apply base colour nail polish to nails as well as painting the accent finger in your chosen base colour, wait for it to dry completely, apply second coat if need be

3) Now get ready to apply your chosen cloud colours of nail polish to your nails, you can practise on a nearby piece of paper, you apply the cloud on your nails in 3 stripes/strokes of nail polish. In order to get the rounded tip of the clouds on your nails you will simply take the brush of your nail polish and hold it against your nail just 1/3 of the way on your nail…and let the brush sit on your nail for a few seconds allowing the nail polish to pool a little bit on your nail then drag the brush off your nail as if painting your nails normally…and you should be left with a rounded tip of your cloud. 

4) Now you will paint on the second stripe for your cloud…place the nail polish brush a little bit higher than the last time…so you are creating the different heights of the cloud…if you find your brush tip too thick and difficult to get the rounded tip of the cloud…try turning your brush on its side and using the skinnier side of the nail polish brush…I found this helped me with my application. You’ve just completed the second stripe for your cloud now

 

5) You will now have only one more stripe left to apply for the cloud to be completed, you now place the nail polish brush a little higher than where you started the second stripe so now you see the tips of the cloud are in ascending order of height. Apply the third stripe as described above…and make sure there is no gaping spots where the coloured base nail polish is peeping through fill in any gaps

6) Repeat steps 3-5 on all nails, and alternate the colours for the accent nail

7) Now, once you have the first cloud design done on all your nails, and once that nail polish has dried completely, you are now at a stage where you can apply the second cloud design over the first one. This will allow the first colour to peek through a little in between

8) To achieve this, you will repeat steps 3-5, however this time when you are starting the tip of the cloud and figuring out where to place your brush, you need to start the tips of the cloud a little below where the first cloud design is…so that in effect you are leaving a little bit of the first cloud colour peeking through and then you see the second cloud colour. Repeat steps 3-5 until all nails are completed. You can even add more cloud layers if you like…you just keep repeating steps 3-5 ensuring to leave the little space of colour peeking through before you start the next cloud design

9) Once nails are completely dry, apply top coat

10) Be totally stoked with this Touch the Sky mani, this is quite a good beginner nail art mani to do as its easy to do with a little practice on paper and it looks like a whole lot of work went into these awesome nails!

11) Totally jam to some Kanye West, Touch the Sky on your iPod, 'Gotta testify, come up in the spot lookin' extra fly 'Fore the day I die, I'ma touch the sky...Now let's take 'em high...Top of the world baby, on top of the world'...la...la...la! That music video just kills me everytime, I love it! I giggle everytime at Tracee Ellis Ross’s role!

What’s your favourite music video ?

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: Iced Strawberry Cream Mani

Hello, hi and how are you ? Welcome to another instalment of Mani Monday. Sheesh, just can’t believe that this year is flying by so fast…soon it will be time for festive holiday themed manis! 

This week I was feeling the nude, pale icy pinks and am totally in love with the fairly new released colour from Essence '’Iced Strawberry Cream’. It is a gorgeous, pale icy nude pink…perfect to compliment this icy weather that we are experiencing at the moment on the east coast of SA. I went for simple elegance this week and just added some darling detail with a heart stamp on an accent nail.

I used x1 base coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength, x3 coats of Essence Nude Glam Nail polish in Iced Strawberry Cream, x1 coat of Essence Nail Art Stampy Polish in Stamp me! Silver and x1 top coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength polish. I used Sally Hansen Instant Strength this week as a top coat as well instead of my favourite Essence Gel Look Top Coat as I felt my nails needed some extra TLC and strengthening.

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Coloured base colour, I chose a baby icy pink colour nail polish
• Accent nail colour nail polish for the stampy nail art, I chose silver
• Top coat nail polish
• Stampy stamping set, mine is by Essence (you can buy these online, I haven’t seen them retailing in SA stores as yet, I got mine when I was abroad recently in Rome)
• Nail polish remover
• Cotton wool pads

Method

1) Apply base coat, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply x3 coats of Essence Nude Glam nail polish in Iced Strawberry Cream, wait for it to dry completely

3) Get your stampy kit at the ready…you will need to work fast

4) Apply stampy nail polish in a thin application to the stamping plate

5) Swipe the excess nail polish off with either the stampy scraper provided in the pack (I don’t like using it as it leaves scratch marks on the stampy plate) or use an old credit card which works like a charm

6) Then take the stampy stamper and press the soft side of the stamper into the plate in a rolling motion from left to right…some people advise to do this gently…but I have tried that countless times and it just doesn’t work for me as when I press the stamper onto the plate gently I inevitably every single time am not able for whatever reason to pick up the entire stampy design onto the stamper to then transfer to my nail. Thus when I apply the stamper to the stampy plate…I press the stamper onto the design with a fair bit of pressure

7) I then work quickly to transfer the design onto my nail. I position the stamper just above my nail in a manner which will allow me to apply pressure from left to right while rolling the stamper across my nail simultaneosly. I’ve found perfecting this technique is key to being to able to stamp correctly. Yet again, a fair number of people will say apply pressure from left to right which I likewise do, however some people apply gentle pressure…the same problem presents itself again in that a lot of the design then remains left behind on the stamper and not on my nail. I have found best results when applying a great deal of pressure to the stamper and rolling the stamper from left to right and making sure to press the stamper with the design on it upwards and downwards as well to ensure that the design is evenly distributed onto the nail

8) I then clean the stampy plate, the stamper and the credit card using some nail polish remover and cotton wool pad. It is important to clean these tools after each application of stampy, as it will lend to best results

9) I then repeated steps 3-7 and stamped the heart design onto my nail again, I stamped the heart design onto my nail twice…with the design overlapping itself

10) Look down at your simply darling mani and totally love the fact that less truly is more especially with this mani…nothing fancy, nothing fussy but gorgeous nonetheless!

11) Totally be reminded of what a girl you are and it’s ok if you want to break into song while jamming on your iPod to Pink by Aerosmith…’Pink it´s my new obsession, Pink it´s not even a question’…la la la…totally pink crazy for this mani this week!

What's your favourite mani colour at the moment ?

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 :)