First Leopard Print Mani

I'm back with a new look that I created last Sunday. I wanted to try out the leopard print that everyone has been showcasing lately. I will admit that I really dislike how it turned out but it was definitely a learning process.

Base colour: L.A Colors "Mega Watt" - 3 coats
Spots: OPI "Brisbane Bronze"
Outline: Black Water-Based Acrylic Paint

My mother-in-law said it looked like I had "measles".
Grrrreat ... haha, I do love her, I promise.

Lesson learned? 

1.) Make irregular shapes for the spots instead of using a dotting tool and making perfect circles.

2.) Do NOT use acrylic paint to outline, use black nail polish. 

I found that the acrylic paint wasn't going on opaque enough for my liking and was leaving bald spots. Needless to say this manicure lasted a total of 3 minutes - just long enough for me to snap a couple pictures. I firmly believe in showing both good & not-so-good mani's so that way we all can learn something. :)

I have a lot of different colour combinations and ideas for future leopard print looks in the future. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading.

Mani "Catch Up"

Today I have a few nail looks that I'd like to share that I created during the month hiatus from my blog. I mentioned in a previous post that I had been waiting on some supplies from eBay and during the month that I didn't post I received about 80% of them. These three looks were created using the materials I purchased. Look out for a review of them in the next week or so.

This first look is a french mani outlined in black with detailing on the accent nails (ring fingers) and was done free-hand, with no guides. I consider this to be a "nail-fail". I removed this as soon as I got the picture. I didn't like the difference in my nail lengths. Either way, I posted this to show what you can do to 'spice' up either a new manicure or an old one. (I used rhinestones, my dotting tool and nail art polishes to create this look.)

Please excuse my hideous cuticles in this photo, I promise you I did fix them after this picture was taken. Clearly my priorities were out of whack when I took this photo. (Picture & then make them look good?? Seriously...) Anyway, I painted them a medium blue with no shimmer and then added a silver/white rhinestone and surrounded it with six chrome coloured hexagon glitters. I wasn't completely in love with this look, but I do love this nail polish colour. (Nina Ultra Pro in 'Sailor') I removed this the next day.

This is my favourite look out of the three. Again, I used rhinestones and only on the accent nails. My was a shimmery wine colour, which I love. (Nina Ultra Pro in 'Molten Ruby') I added a coat of SV (Seche Vite) and while it was still wet I applied the rhinestones. Then I topped that nail off with another coat of SV to keep everything in place. I kept this look on my nails for 3 days.

That's it for now! Thanks for reading.