Craziness!

Hiya everyone! I have been really busy the past few days and will continue to be until Sunday. I was in a wedding last weekend and had a complete blast! So much fun with family and friends :) I've got a big test this coming Saturday so I've hunkered down a bit until then trying to get some last minute studying/cramming in. After that, though, I'll be free to do whatever again! Yay! 

Despite the madness in my life, I have been continuing with my April Nail Art Challenge! I have two themes to share with you - "swatch" and "braided."

The swatch is the abso-stinkinlutely amazing Across the Universe by Deborah Lippmann. DEAD. This polish is seriously stunning. It's like having mermaids on my fingers!? What? Beautiful in my opinion! This was a Christmas gift from the boyfriend and is something I wouldn't normally splurge on for myself so I love getting to wear it. 

Flower Pictorial

Alright, so I threw together a quick pictorial of the mani I recently was sporting. I'm terrible at explaining things so I apologize for that. I tried to make it as simplified as possible and showed you each step I took.

You'll need dotting tools and preferably a very thin striping brush to create this look, though you might be able to make the thin lines with a toothpick. Steps 1-7 show you how to create the flower, and 8-12 show the leaves. Hope this helps you create a similar look! :) <3 

1. Apply your base color. I always use a top coat between my base color and my nail art. 

2. Create your first petal using a dotting tool or small brush. The location and size of the petal is up to you.

3. Repeat step 2, adding more petals to create your flower shape. I went with 5 petals but play around with a number you like. 

4. Using a dark polish and your dotting tool, add a dot at the center of your flower. 

5. Using the same polish as your base color and a THIN striping brush, create thin lines coming from the very center of your flower out towards the petals. Play around with how many lines you want.

6. Use your smallest dotting tool to add dots to the very end of each of the lines you made in the previous step. 

7. Add a dot of yellow polish at the very center of your flower.

8-9. To create the leaves, draw a thin line away from the flower. This is the stem. The leaves are made up of tiny lines branching off of the original thin line you created. 

10. Add as many leaves in varying colors as you'd like. Mix up the type of leaves and shapes as well if you're feeling up to it. 

11. Using the same base polish color, draw thin lines down the very center of your leaves and stems. 

12. Repeat this proces on every leaf you have drawn. This isn't mandatory, but I think it makes the colors pop a bit more. 

13. Finally, add your favorite top coat AFTER you've waited at least 5-10 minutes for your polish to dry. You don't want to smudge your hard work. 

Here are the tools and brushes that I personally use, but use what works best for you :)

A thin striping brush, a small detail brush, and a dotting tool. I'm looking into new brushes so hopefully soon I'll be able to whip up even more things for you all! 

Let me know if you have any questions, and again, this is merely the way that I chose to create these. Use your imagination and have fun with these. Omit or add any steps you want, and use whatever colors your amazing heart's desire! Have fun :)

Happy polishing! :)

April Nail Art Challenge - Flowers

Apparently it's already April?! When did that happen?? Ever since I've graduated from College, I feel like time is speeding by. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I no longer have quarters keeping track of my life. 

Anyway, April means a brand new nail art challenge! Aren't you all excited? I know I am. I am really excited for the themes this month as well - galaxy, earth day, and braided are particularly exciting since I have yet to do anything like those yet. 

The first theme is flowers and if you've been following me lately, you'll notice that I've had an ever growing obsession with painting flowers. Needless to say, I was stoked to dig into this challenge :) 

I am really loving the look of a light background and then pops of color with my flowers so, while I've done this is the past, I think these are still unique enough from other designs I've done. I'm really digging the color combo and I honestly can't stop staring at them! :D Isn't it great when that happens? 

Gradient and some free hand stripes!

On Sunday I had a friend tell me that they would love to see pink and blue together in nail art so I decided to create a gradient using the two colors! Well, if you'll remember your kindergarden lessons of how colors work, when you blend red (or in my case pink) and blue together, you get purple! Oh Lindsey, sometimes your brain doesn't work, does it? 

Despite my gradient turning more into a pink to purple gradient, I like how these turned out. As a friend put it, they are FIERCE! ;) I added a matte top coat for good measure as well. 

Born Pretty Store - Discount Code!

Hi loves! So I have something exciting to share with you all! I was recently contacted by a great nail art supply company called Born Pretty and they have been kind enough to give me a 10% off discount code to share with you all! 

If you haven't shopped with them before, they have some really great nail art products at a great price AND have free shipping world wide. They are based out of Hong Kong so it will take a little bit longer for the product to reach you, BUT I think that the price and the quality of their products in great and makes the wait time worth it. 

I know I sound like an annoying infomercial, but I wanted to share with you all this opportunity. Whether or you're just getting started with nail art, or you've been at it for awhile, I think the store has something for everyone. I just ordered some stud rhinestones and a phone case (they have everything haha) and I'm contemplating trying out these brushes for my next order. I can't wait to share with you all the studs when I get them! Yee!

Happy Polishing :)