Guest Post for Nail Wish

The lovely Helena from Nail Wish asked me to do a guest post for her blog, while she is settling in for her year in Sweden. We had a great time doing the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge, so obviously I was very excited to do a guest post for her! If you haven't heard of Helena's blog yet, be sure to check it out now, she does the most amazing nail art! 

Head over to Nail Wish & find out more about this design:

Guest Post for Nail Wish

Cheeky Jumbo Plate 1 - Viva Mexico!

It's been a while! The last few days I was wearing plain black nails on a camping site here in Switzerland and I really started to miss nail art or changing my nail polish for that matter. Good thing something awesome arrived in the mail today! I ordered the Cheeky Jumbo Plate 1 Viva Mexico three weeks ago and I love it so much! I haven't done stamping designs for a while now and I'm actually not that big of a fan of this technique (because I suck at it, ha!), but I just had to have this particular plate. If you are a longtime reader, you might know why ;) Of course I couldn't decide which design to use first, because basically all of the full designs are gorgeous! So I chose four colors and five different full designs. The colors used are: Essie - Maximillian Strasse Her & p2 - Night Out and Anny - Latina & Anny - Soul Sister. On top as always is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer.

Día De Los Muertos / Day Of The Dead - Sugar Skull Nails

I hope you're not bored with Mexican themed nails, because there's more where that came from! I wanted to do Sugar Skull nails since I first saw them. They're so colorful and that's always a good reason for nail art. Sugar Skulls are part of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, which is honoring the deceased. 

I originally planned to go for full Sugar Skull nails but that would have been a lot of work, especially with my weak hand. So I just went for an accent nail with one Sugar Skull while leaving my other nails with a simple, matching design. The accent nail is done with acrylic paint on one coat of Wet 'n' Wild - Black Creme. My other nails are done with two coats of H&M - All Eyes On Me. Then I added striping tape and filled out the triangle with Black Creme. On top of each triangle I placed a single stud. As always on top is one coat of Essie - Good To Go. 

Check out my Mexican tag, if you are interested in more Mexican related nail art! 

Thank you for reading!

Reasons Pusheen Loves Fall: Halloween / Fall Pusheen Nails

I know, I might be a little early for Halloween this year, but I am already in the mood for Christmas so time can't really go fast enough now. ;) 

The newest post on the Pusheen blog really caught my eye and I knew right away I had to do some fall/Halloween inspired Pusheen nail art. Check out my earlier Fancy Pusheen Nails and my Mexican Pusheen Nails as well, if you like that cat as much as I do! 

You can find the post I'm talking about here: Reasons Pusheen loves Fall! Too cute to be true. I used China Glaze - Papaya Punch as my base color, as always when it comes to orange. Everything else is done with acrylic paint and a nail art brush. 

If you're not too sure about my pinky and index finger nails, they're supposed to be leaves, as in the ones that Pusheen is sitting in and eating pie. I left out the pie though, since Pusheen was already sweet enough ;)

Mexican Sarape Blanket Nails

So yesterday was the Mexican Independence Day which inspired me to do some more Mexican nails. Have a look at my Mexican Pusheen Nails and my Mexican Flag Nails as well! 

This one was inspired by the typical traditional blanket called Sarape which is a very colorful and eye-catching piece of clothing. I didn't find a way to paint each nail with all the colors, so I chose one typical color pattern for each one. These are done with acrylic paint on a white base color and one top is one coat of Essie - Good To Go.

I've made the experience that my acrylic paint designs chip very fast and I'm looking for a way to prevent this. Has anyone an idea how to improve? Maybe I just didn't wrap them properly with my top coat, that could be the case...

I actually showed these nails to two Mexicans and they had no idea what it should illustrate... first guess was "Germany?" Haha! So either I did something wrong or it is just not as popular as I thought. I like the colors anyway ;)

Mexican Nails No. 2

I had my first nail art customer today! How awesome is that? 

She asked me to paint my Mexican Design from last week onto her nails and I was very happy to do that. However, it was my first time trying to paint someone else's nails instead of my own and I had no idea if I was able to do that. I tried practicing it on my own hand by holding it with the nails towards me which looked quite awkward. But then it wasn't too difficult actually and I loved doing it. Besides she had very pretty nails which makes it easier to paint them. It's awesome to paint all ten nails with your dominant hand! ;) 

Colors are Essie -Blanc, Catrice - Run Forest Run and O.P.I. - Friday Devil.

Viva México!

Today I have some Mexican flag inspired nails. I haven't been there yet, but I'm sure I will one day. As soon as my Spanish is good enough and I win the lottery! 

I used O.P.I - Friday Devil for the red and Catrice - Run Forest Run for the green. The White is Essie - Blanc which is starting to get thicker now, I sensed this would happen. Anyway it still works for now, so I hope I can use it up completely. On the white stripe of the Mexican flag there is an eagle, catching a snake. I gave my best to recreate it, but there are just too many details to do that sufficiently. I did this on a plastic bag first and then added it onto the wet nail polish, just like described in my recent tutorial. 

I painted a clear base on the plastic and then added the crown first. On top the eagle and then the snake. I used random nail polish for this one, so if you like to know which colors I used, just ask in the comments below. On my thumb I did a simple version of the flag without the eagle using the same colors as on my other nails. 

   

On top is one coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat, two coats on my ring finger nail and no coat on my thumb yet.

¡Gracias por mirar y hasta pronto! :) 

Mexican Pusheen Nails

My previous Fancy Pusheen nails have been quite popular so I decided to do another Pusheen design. If you don't know Pusheen, have a look at this website!

I chose the Mexican Pusheen for today's design and combined it with some Serape inspired nails. Serapes are those colorful Mexican blankets you might have seen before. For the Serapes I used a one stroke brush and acrylic paint and then added the colorful lines on a white base. 

For Pusheen I used acrylic paint as well and my smallest nail art brushes. 

When you're working with acrylic paint it's important to seal your design with top coat. Otherwise it's gonna peel off since acrylic paint is water soluble. I used two coats of Seche Vite to be safe.