Essie Girls: Pink & Lilac Leopard Nails

It's been a while since my latest Essie Girls design, but finally it is here. You might have already spotted it on the Essie Girls Facebook Page. If not, here's the full posting! I used two coats of Essie - Nice Is Nice as my base color and then added the leopard spots with Lovie Dovie and Bahama Mama. The spots are outlined with black acrylic paint. On top is one coat of Good To Go. 

Stay tuned on Facebook or here on my blog for my next Essie Girls contribution, it's going to be a little surprise! ;) Also I've added a special page just for Essie Girls stuff, so you can find all in one place.

Inspired by Fashion: H&M Fall/Winter 2012 Dots & Leopard

Once again my nails today are inspired by fashion. This time it is a dress by H&M which I found on this Blog. I really love it and the crossing of color and leopard pattern! As always I probably wouldn't wear this dress but for my nails it's perfect. I'm  not that happy with how it turned out though, especially the dotted part should look different. But I wasn't sure how to achieve this look, maybe splatter nails would have been better. Anyway I used a lot of colors on this, I started with Catrice - Raspberry Fields Forever as a base color and then added dots with a dotting tool and Catrice - Run Forest Run, Essence - Passion For Fashion, Essence - Walk On Air, Essence - Sundancer and Essence - Naughty Pink. The leopard (or giraffe) print is done with a gradient of Essence - Iced Latte and Essie - Master Plan. Then I added the spots with Wet 'n' Wild - Black Creme. On top is one coat of BTGN Top Sealer. 

By the way, I finally found the time to create a new header because I didn't like the old one for quite some time now. You can find the links for the font and brushes used in my Copyright section. I really like the clean and simple look of it but I didn't want to leave out the typical Regina Spektor hearts. The next step on my design to-do list will be the watermarks. I really need to improve on these ;) How do you like the new header?

Golden Leopard

Today's nails are once again Pinterest inspired. I found this Pin and I think this has to be an advertisement for nail stickers since I wouldn't know how to create such perfect golden nails otherwise. So I really dislike nail stickers because they never fit and always peel off very quickly. But I do love that Leopard look! So I decided to do it with nail polish. I used two coats of Lancome - 012 which is my best golden nail polish concerning the color. Application is not that great, it doesn't really dry and it leaves ugly brush strokes on the nail. But where are those strokes now? I found a very useful tip on Polish Art Addiction on how to avoid brush strokes with metallic colors. You just sponge the last coat of color with a simple kitchen sponge. It won't be perfect but it looks way better than without the sponging. And in addition it gave a very pretty pattern to my gold so I decided to wear this as it is for a day. On top is one coat of Essie - Good To Go.

But then I wanted to do the Leopard nonetheless. I added spots with China Glaze - Cheers To You and the lines with Wet 'n' Wild - Black Creme. First I did it just like in the picture with my ring finger and thumb nail in pure gold. But I didn't like that as much as I liked it in the picture so I painted all my nails with the Leopard pattern. On top is another coat of Good To Go. 

Have a nice weekend! 

Leopard Ruffian meets Denim Jacket / Nail Art inspired by Fashion

Usually I don't care much about fashion and I mostly wear black clothes anyway. I run free in my nail art and I think that is enough ;) But recently I stumbled upon this pretty jacket on Pinterest and it inspired me to do my nails. Sadly I don't know the original source and I couldn't find it with Google so if you know the owner, please let me know! I decided to wear the jacket as Ruffian Nails because it is the easy way. So I did a base color resembling the light denim cloth with China Glaze - Sea Spray, China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint and Essie Blanc, using the sponging technique. On top I created the ruffian with two coats of Essence - Iced Latte and then started to do the leopard design with China Glaze - Foie Gras and Wet 'n' Wild - Black Creme. On top is once coat of Essie - Good To Go, as well as between the denim base and the leopard design.

Don't forget to vote for my Essie Girls design, you can vote every day until Friday and I'm delighted about every single vote! I promise I will go easy on the begging after this contest, but this time it is really important and I know I can count on my readers ;) Thank you so much!

http://www.facebook.com/essieSwitzerland/app_260985374013280

Leopard Skittle Nails & Tiny Tutorial

I had these colors selected for some nail art but then my first idea didn't really work out. So when nothing else works, I go for Leopard! But I didn't want to make it too boring, so I did some Skittle nails first and then added the Leopard pattern. I have included a very short "tutorial" at the end of this post.

The colors I chose as a base are from left to right: Essie - Mesmerized, Essie - Mint Candy Apple, Essence - Got A Secret and China Glaze - Something Sweet. On my thumb is simple white (Blanc). Then I added the color on the right side of each nail to do the leopard spots. I did them with the brush of each bottle, which works best for me and the leopard. Because those spots don't need to be perfect, in fact they should not be perfect at all. 

It's different with the black surroundings of the spots, they take a little bit more effort to create a real leopard look. But even with that effort it's a fast design which has a great effect.

So here's my tiny 3-step tutorial, I hope you like it!

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I was wondering for which kind of design you would like a tutorial? I know tutorials are quite popular and I like doing them, but I'm not sure which design you would like to see. The leopard one is more of an exercise for me, since I guess leopard nails tutorials are all over the web now. So please leave me a comment if you're looking for a tutorial on something I did in the past or even something new you would like me to try. Thanks!

NOTD: Blue Leopard

Today's design contains three of my favorite spring/summer colors, all in one. I haven't done a leopard design since my first try and I thought it was time to do another one. 

Base color is H&M - U Must Have This, a bright turquoise blue which is opaque with two coats. For the spots I used H&M - Blue My Mind and Essie - Mint Candy Apple.

With a nail art brush and OPI Black Onyx I encircled the spots. You will find thousands of tutorials on how to achieve the leopard look on YouTube, so I'm not gonna explain this technique here. 

One coat of BTGN Top Sealer and the blue leopard is done!