Born Pretty Store - Striping Tape - Design & Review

Reviewing another product from the Born Pretty Store. This time it's the Striping Tape you can find here in a pack of 12 different colors for $6.29. I've recently seen a lot of new nail art looks that are featuring striping tape, so I was excited to try it myself. 

I wanted to recreate this look in particular. Her's was much neater and better photographed, but this isn't a contest, right? Enjoy.

I used the gold striping tape from Born Pretty. The polishes I used were Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, China Glaze For Audrey, and Essie Navigate Her.

As far as a review goes.... The tape was very easy to use. Same concept as using Scotch Tape on your nails, but without the pain of having to cut it into tiny strips. I just cut off a small section big enough that it would over lap the edge of my nail. Then I came in close with a pair of cuticle nippers to cut it exactly to the edge. The tape adheres well and lies flat under top coat. I didn't have any trouble until day 2 of my manicure when the topcoat had worn off some and the edges of the tape were exposed and started getting caught on everything.

I also got some Bullion Beads from Born Pretty, that's coming up next!

And you can get 10% off by using my coupon code!

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31 Day Challenge - Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

My mother actually works at the local library in specialized program within the children's department. She told me about this book a while ago, and it's stuck in my memory. My memory was jogged, when a follower suggested any of Mo Willem's books because she's a school teacher and all of her students love his work. She mentioned the characters Gerald and Piggy, but I knew I'd have to focus on the Pigeon!

The book cover is shown below. "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus!" basically, the entire book is the Pigeon just begging to drive the bus. Little kids love it because they catch on quickly and like to participate by telling the Pigeon, "No!"

Description from the website:

"When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place —- a pigeon! But you’ve never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate. In his hilarious picture book debut, popular cartoonist Mo Willems perfectly captures a preschooler’s temper tantrum."   

I just love the muted color palette too, it's really nice! 

Lettering is always a problem with me. I barely managed to squeeze on that "S."

And Pigeon! The background color is China Glaze Sunset Sail. I also used acrylic paint in black, white, and yellow. Pigeon's body is China Glaze Sea Spray.

So remember, don't let the pigeon drive the bus! No matter what he says!

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Ovarian Cancer Awareness Nail Art Tutorial

Today I have something very special to show you! I recently got in touch with Kelly from the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition and it was decided that breast cancer gets enough attention and it's time to show some teal tips! So here is a simple nail art design that you can recreate at home with the help of stuff you might already have lying around the house. We wanted to highlight the colors of the NOCC's logo, teal with touches of lime green.

(And I'm sorry that this looks so blue, and not teal.... that's my camera's problem. I promise in real life this polish is entirely teal!)

Step 1: Paint all of your nails with a base coat. I use Orly Nail Defense which you can buy at Sally Beauty Supply and CVS. This step is very important! It helps your polish last longer, with less chips. It also helps to prevent any yellow/green staining to your natural nail from these highly pigmented polishes.

Step 2: Paint 2 coats of a lime green nail polish. I used SPAritual Eye of the Beholder. Any lime green polish will do.

Step 3: You want to allow it a minute or two to dry. But you want it ENTIRELY dry before the next step. So to help speed things up, use a Quick Dry Top Coat. I applied 1 coat of Orly's Sec 'n Dry. (Seche Vite is also a good option).Within 5-10 minutes your manicure will be completely dry without risk of smudging or denting.

Then you grab these hole reinforcement stickers from your stash of office supplies. Hopefully you already have some lying around.

I pull out one sheet and cut the circles in half. I find this makes them lie down a little easier during the next step.

Pull half of a sticker off the sheet with tweezers. Best to use tweezers because you have more control over placement and it won't mess up any of your already painted nails.

Step 4: Line the sticker up with where your natural half moon falls. (I find it easiest to make the center hole in the sticker line up with my cuticle. Then they are always placed with the same width.)

Step 5: Press the sticker down so that there are no gaps and it lies smoothly with the curve of your nail.

Go ahead and sticker up all of your nails. You will then look silly like this:

Step 6: Paint 1-2 coats of your teal colored polish over the sticker and the exposed portion of your nail. Here I used Sinful Colors Savage.

Step 7:You can wait for the teal polish to dry, or you can do this while it's still wet. Using your tweezers again (so you don't mess up any of your nails) pull the stickers off gently. If your lime green polish is coming off with the sticker, you didn't let that step dry long enough. Pull the sticker off by pulling up and towards your cuticle, this will help you to have the sharpest line.

Next you will need a dotting tool of some sort. This is one I bought from eBay a while back, but you can use something simple that's already lying around the house. Cut a toothpick in half, use the rounded ends of a bobby pin, the pointed end of a pencil, anything...

This one is nice just because it already has 2 different sizes. One side is small:

The other side is slightly larger.

Step 8: Put a blob of nail polish in a darker teal (here I used Barielle A Bouquet for Ava) on a scrap piece of paper. Pick some up with the large side of your dotting tool (or the larger size of whatever you found around the house) to evenly space dots along the teal side of your manicure.

Step 9: Repeat the same process with your lime green polish again, but this time use the smaller end of your dotting tool and place the dots between your existing dots.

Step 10: You can stop here and add another layer of the Quick Dry Topcoat to finish things off. The topcoat helps to protect your art and make your manicure last longer.

Step 11: But of course it would be best to add a simple doodle of the cancer awareness ribbon to one of your nails as an accent. I just used the small side of my dotting tool to drag the dark teal polish into the ribbon shape.

Of course I'm very happy to have been able to share this simple design with you and I hope you have fun recreating it at home! And let us never forget the many women and families that have been affected by ovarian cancer in some way. Something as simple as painting your nails can help bring awareness to the need for more funding and research for a cure to ovarian cancer.

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Live Long & Prosper!

That's right! Star Trek Nail Art featuring Spock!

I'm not a trekkie by any means, but my dad has always liked the series. I liked the most recent movie simply because of the eye candy....

Here, I couldn't resist doing the Vulcan hand salute. ;)

I used Hard Candy Wicked for the black nails. Then Sinful Colors Snow Me White on the accent nails. Black acrylic paint for the emblem and face of Spock.

My research tells me that this symbol was their badge on the uniform. It identified them as members of the Enterprise in the 23rd century (the symbol changed slightly throughout the series). The star burst signifies a command position.

Then Spock's face! I'm so proud of this because it's the first time I've successfully been able to paint a face that's not a cartoon! And you can recognize it! I patted myself on the back for this one. :) I hope you like it too!

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Nailed It's Vintage Flowers

When I saw this design on Nailed It, I knew I had to recreate it myself. I just fell in love with the color combination. And the dotting is so simple! I didn't use any of the same exact polishes, but the same idea is there.

 Enjoy!

I started with a base coat, and then 2 coats of China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

Then large dots using a dotting tool and Barielle Sweet Addiction.

Then small dots using Barielle Coco Bar,

Then medium sized dots using Eyeko Coral Polish,

Then small dots using Sinful Colors Lets Meet

Wait until it's dry and apply topcoat! 

(You don't want to smudge your dots by applying it too early.)

And this is just to show off a cute new ring I got that I love! ;)

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Matte Black

These are inspired by Erika @ Chloe's Nails. This post specifically. All of my local friends that are on Pinterest have all been entranced by the simplicity of Erika's design. I have been asked by several to paint their's like this. So I thought I'd share my own picture of it. Erika used OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Matte and Seche Vite for the tips. I don't have that polish so I just used Sinful Colors Black on Black topped with Essie Matte about You, then Seche Vite tips. Same effect.

Thanks for inspiring us Erika, and I hope you're back to the blogging world soon because we all miss you!

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Pink/Coral/Tan

Inspired by a skirt I wanted to wear and coordinate my manicure.(It's in the background)

I keep finding myself in a funky french design. I don't know if it's a rut or just a fluctuation in the grand scheme of things.

I used:

NYC Love Letters

Revlon Elegant

Barielle Coco Bar

Catrice I Scream Peach

& my own pink franken.

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Peculiar Polish Series - Zoombinis

It's another Dark Thursday and time for an episode of Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art  is helping me out by designing looks that might be on the darker side of the cartoon/comic spectrum. If you have a dark suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Here's Nev's Nails!

An anonymous subscriber requested these Zoombinis nails and I had no idea what that the Zoombinis were! But I'm so happy that I got to do this request because it turns out that The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis is a computer game that teaches kids math! Math nerds pay attention, everyone else zone out: Not only does this game teach kids math, but more specifically it teaches them basic set theory and logic! Set theory is like my favorite part of math ever. 

Anyways, the Zoombinis are these cute little blue guys who get enslaved by the evil Bloats (who promise the Zoombinis a better life, but instead take advantage of them). I am totally ordering a copy of this game and then after I play it, I'm definitely going to force my future children to play!

For my nails, I painted the Zoombinis' adorable faces on my left hand and on my right hand I painted different feet. As you can see, when I put my nails together you get the entire picture!

 Such a cute idea, and Nev did a great job once again! Thanks!

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