April Showers

The base colors for this manicure are Zoya Breezi  and Zoya Harley.  I used Rimmel Posh Pink and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme for the umbrella.  I used Essie Pure Pearlfection for the raindrops (they show up better in real life).  I used dotting tools for all the nail art. 

Penguins

Penguins are pretty easy.  On my left hand I liked the penguin on the pinkie and thumb.  On my right hand I liked the ring finger penguin.  I thought the polar bear and the peeking penguin were also sort of cute.  I used the nail polish brushes themselves to do almost all of the black penguins and white belly parts.  I used this Youtube tutorial to do the dancing penguin.  Surprise, it is cuter dancing on youtube. 

Pink Dots

This is Essie Super Bossa Nova, an old white polish, and NYC Matte Me Crazy.  I used a dotting tool to do pink/white, white/pink, matte/shiny, and shiny/matte dots.  Meh.  It's O.K.  I probably wont do it this design again. 

Sunset nails

This is another manicure that everyone who does nail art tries at least once.  I started out with a base of Wet 'n Wild French White cream so the yellow show up better.  I painted on two coats of Spoiled Mind Your Own Beeswax to the bottom half and one coat of Wet 'n Wild Dream Poppy to the top.  Then I sponged Essie Brazilliant onto the center section to blend the two colors together.  Frankly, I could have done a better job with the gradient.  I used the Salon Express stamping kit for the palm trees.  The palm tree stamp worked really well from that kit.  Designs from that kit are hit and miss. The thumb only needed one palm tree.   I used a dotting tool and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme for the "land" at the bottom of the nail.  I liked them, and I'll do this again. 

Mint with Orange Dots

This is Wet 'n Wild Megalast Garden Hose as a base.  I used a dotting tool to add three rows of Essie Brazilliant dots.  I wanted it to look like three off set rows of dots.  Instead it looks like half a nail of dots.  That is good too, but not what I was aiming for. 

Mint Green and Lavender Gradient

This is Essie Nice is Nice as the base (Lavender) with a Wet 'n Wild Megalast Garden Hose (mint green) gradient sponged over the top.  Then I added a layer of Pure Ice Mint Dreams which adds a mint green iridescence and helps blend the gradient.  My manicure looks more green from some angles then in the picture. 

Rimmel Mignight Blue and Essie Trophy Wife Gradient

This is the last manicure in my Rimmel Midnight Blue manicure evolution.  I added shimmer one day and did matte/shiny stamping the next day and then did the one pictured above.  If I were to start from scratch with this manicure, the shimmer would not go all the way to the cuticles, but would also be a gradient.  I used Essie Trophy Wife and Pure Ice Oh Baby (teal glass fleck shimmer that shifts to fuchsia at some angles).  I used a make-up sponge to apply Trophy Wife.  I like this one.  I'll definitely do it again. 

Pure Ice Mint Dream over Essie Nice is Nice

This is a coat of Pure Ice Mint Dream over Essie Nice is Nice which is a lavender cream polish.  Mint Dream adds a green flash/duochrome/pearl look to any pale polish.  Mint Dream is great over pastel polishes, but not great over dark polishes.  In real life, the green flash is more prominent the in the picture.  In fact, it is a bit too prominent to make this the perfect polish.  It would be perfect if it looked like it does in the above pic.  My nails sort of have an icy teal look much of the time with the green and purple combining.  That is good too, but I'd prefer it if my nails always looked like the above pic.  That being said, it is a fantastic polish and I don't know of any other polish like it.  If you are interested, run, don't walk, to Walmart to pick up your own 2$ bottle.  It was discontinued the first of the year, but there is probably still a bottle or two to be found at your Walmart.  Mint Dream is also great over mint green polish.

Essie Shine of the Times Gradient

This is Sinful Colors Let's Talk with an Essie Shine of the Times gradient.  Let's talk is true purple in real life.  In the second pic I added a coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy.  I'm not much of a glitter or flakie glitter person,  but I find I like glitters and flakies if I wear them in a gradient.  Until I saw it done on Pinterest, it never occurred to me to do a flakie gradient. 

Essie Trophy Wife

This is Essie Trophy Wife.  It was a Christmas gift from my preschool age niece.  I think I will love this color in the summer on my toes.  Left is one coat of Essie Trophy Wife on my niece. 

Candy Corn Nails

First I added a layer of Wet 'n Wild French White Creme on the whole nail, two coats.  Then I added two coats of Wet 'n Wild Spoiled Mind Your Own Beeswax just shy of 2/3 of the way up my nails.  Next, I added Essie Brazilliant to the center.  I finished with a coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection followed by a coat of Pro FX Quick Dry Top Coat.  I should have used tape to get straighter lines, but I went with freehand and it isn't too terrible.  I really like the Pure Pearlfection over the top for a subtle shimmer effect.  Happy Halloween! 

Minnesota Vikings Nails

This is my Vikings manicure this week.  I did the striped nails with pieces of scotch tape.  I think at this point I might make better strips just using the brush itself.  I think the stripes read more cheerleader or flag of a purple/white/yellow country then football.  Oh well.  Wet n Wild French White Creme, Wet n Wild Spoiled Mind Your Own Beeswax, Sinful Colors Let's Talk.  Sinful Colors Let's Talk is a dark, bright purple on my nails, but looks blue in the pictures.  The thumb is China Glaze Mahogany Magic and a dotting tool and Wet n Wild French White Creme for the laces.  The ring finger is Essie Smooth Sailing with Finger Paints Go Van Gogh painted in an arch along the bottom.  Wet n Wild French White Creme and a dotting tool was used to make the goal posts. 

Craft Scissors and Scotch Tape Manicure

The blue base of this manicure is Essie Smooth Sailing. I learned something.  Craft scissors will only cut scotch tape if there is a lot of tension on the tape.  You can't rip a piece off the dispenser and then cut it.  I cut the tape between the tape roll and the cutting edge of the dispenser.  Once you have a piece cut, apply it to the back of your hand so it won't be so sticky when you apply it to your nails. My nails curve quite a bit from side to side.  When I tried to apply the tape horizontally, it did not apply smoothly against the curve of the nail.  I had better luck on my thumb when I applied the tape vertically.  I actually liked how that looked better.  Too bad you can't really see how it looked on my thumb it in the picture above.  I applied Zoya Laney (silver) and removed the tape immediately.  Next time, all my tape will be applied vertically like on my thumb. 

Essie Braziliant with a Gold Glitter Gradient

This is Essie Braziliant with a gold glitter gradient on top.  This is the prefect orange for me.  For the gold glitter gradient, add some glitter about 1/8 inch down the nail.  Apply a second coat of glitter about 1/4 inch down the nail.  Wipe your brush off.  Apply what is left on the brush an additional 1/8 inch inch down the nail (3/8).  Apply a little further down the nail (4/8 or 1/2 inch) in the center of the nail .  Apply a top coat.  Glitter gradients are hard to photograph.  It looks better in real life. 

Newspaper Bar Code Manicure

The base of this manicure is three coats of Essie Nice is Nice.  Over the top of that I did a newspaper manicure with the bar codes from the newspaper.  You can find a bar code on the front page of the newspaper.  Unfortunately, this manicure chipped before I had a chance to go to a store and try to scan my nails.  This link has a video that shows how to do a newspaper manicure. 

Essie Braziliant

Essie Braziliant is one of the four pack of clearance Essie minis I found recently.  This orange is much brighter in person then in the picture.  It is another polish that is so bright it glows.  Since it is so bright, I think it is better suited for summer.  I really like this color.  It is the prefect orange for me (if it was less bright).  I was going to pony up for the big bottle.  But, since I only plan to wear this color in the summer and we only have 2 months of summer here, I'll stick with the small bottle.  Sorry, I can't remember how many coats this was.

Hunger Games Manicure, The Girl Who Was on Fire Nails

Why didn't I take this picture with the Hunger Games book?  It is currently out on loan.  Catching Fire is the second book in the series.  If you haven't read The Hunger Games, you should.  In the book they mention a manicure the main character, Katniss, got in her Hunger Games makeover.  It is described in the book as flames carefully painted on her nails.  Here is how I did my version.

This will all sound way more complicated then it is.  I did a yellow/coral/red gradient nail with a make-up sponge.  Then I used a dotting tool to add black over the top to make flames.
Step 1-  Base coat.  I used Essie All in One Base.
Step 2- One coat of white or milky colored ridge filler.  Most yellows take several coats.  Over a white polish, you need less coats of yellow polish.  I used Sally Hansen Whirlwind White.

Step 3-  Do as I say, not as I do.  Add one coat of yellow to the entire nail.  I used Wet n Wild Spoiled Mind Your Own Beeswax.  I only added the yellow halfway on the nail, but the orange/coral polish will cover better over yellow then it will white.
Step 4-  Add a 2nd coat of yellow halfway up the nail.
Step 5- My only polish color that didn't have shimmer was the yellow.  So I added a coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection halfway up the nail over the part that will remain yellow.  If none of your polish colors have shimmer, wait until you are done with the yellow/orange/red gradient, and then add a coat of shimmer.  You will want the entire gradient to have shimmer. This part will eventually become the fire.

Step 6-  Sponge an orange or coral polish beginning half way and ending 3/4 of the way up the nail.  I use a small section of a make-up sponge to do this.  If the orange/coral ends up being sponged on the entire last 1/2 of the nail, that is perfectly fine.  You will go over it with red anyway.  I used Zoya Rica.

Step 7-  Sponge a red polish onto the last 1/4 of the nail.  I used Zoya Jade.

Step 8-  Paint squiggles on the nail with a black polish.  I used Wet n Wild Black Cream.  Ideally you want a cream finish to contrast with the shimmery fire gradient.  You can either use a dotting tool or a nail art brush to paint the squiggles.  I used a dotting tool.  When I was trying this out over an old manicure a few weeks ago, I used a art brush and that worked fine too.
Step 9-  Paint black in a fine line along the edges and cuticle of the nail using either a dotting tool or a nail art brush.  Paint closed any areas at the top (by cuticle) that seem like they should be connected.  I connected a few too many squiggles.  The video shows how to do step 8 and 9 and shows an alternate way to do a fire nail. 
Step 10- Top coat.  I used Seche Vite.

I'm obviously a nail art beginner (see above pictures :)).  But, anything I can do, you can do.  I have the art skills of a second grader.  This looks complicated, but isn't.  It does take a bit of time, but probably less then you think it will take.  You could do this with other colors as a base (blues?) to look like cars or bikes painted with flames.  And remember...

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Essie Smooth Sailing

This is Essie Smooth Sailing.  I found a box of four mini Essie bottles on clearance, which included Smooth Sailing.  :)  Smooth Sailing is a pretty periwinkle blue.  It has subtle sparkles that only show in the sun.  I think the shimmer was pink and turquoise??  I can't remember for sure.  It is a bit too cool toned for my skin, but I think I can still pull it off.  I used Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope to make a glitter gradient.  Then I added some Essie Pure Pearlfection to the gradient.  It was better before the Pearlfection.  I think this mani on the whole was better without the glitter gradient.  The glitter gradient picture isn't the best, but you get the general idea.

Newspaper Mani with QR Codes (for Cell Phones)

 

This manicure looks complicated, but it is so easy to do.  It is another newspaper manicure.  First you cut out the QR codes from the newspaper, they are the things you scan with your cell phone to get coupons, etc.  Then you paint your nails.  Mine are painted with Wet N Wild Megalast in Garden Hose, three coats.  It is a limited edition color from the 2011 spring collection.  You must choose a color that is light enough for the newsprint to show up.  Then you dip the nail in rubbing alcohol, press the QR code from the newspaper against it for a few seconds, and top with a top coat.  You must use a top coat, or the newsprint will wear off.  I topped mine with Essie Pure Pearlfection from the Luxeffects collection.  This is limited edition, but in stores now.  Pure Pearlfection is a glitter overlay with very fine shimmer.  Here is the youtube tutorial from My Simple Little Pleasures that gave me the inspiration for this manicure.

Edit:  I've read that Essie Pure Pearlfection, along with the other Luxeffects finishes have been added to Essie's core line.