Dry Watermarble Tutorial

Yes. You read that right. DRY "watermarble" tutorial. What?! Dry? Where's the water? Exactly. Today we are going to learn how to create the marbling effect with out the hassle of water! I'm sure a lot of you have seen gorgeous watermarbles and have always wanted to create them, but they're honestly just a LOT of work and mess and you waste a lot of nail polish trying. At least that's the way when I do it. So let's try a new technique called dry marbling! As always, look below. :) Warning right now -- This is going to be more of a "learning" tutorial more than "Hey look at my pretty nails" because this was the first time I tried this technique out, and the tutorial is the important part haha. For way better photos and the gal I learned this from, check out MakeupMyLack Marble Without Water Tutorial HERE. :)

I am so sorry about my pointer finger nail... It took a hard hit a few days ago. :( Dang it. But hopefully you can tell that the linear marble effect is pretty cool. ;) 

Let's get started! So for marbling without water tutorial, you will need a plastic baggy (I used a sandwich bag, but I think you can use Saran Wrap or any other similar surface as well), a toothpick (I used a mechanical pencil since I was out), 2 nail polishes at least (I used Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze and Silvivor by Wet n Wild), and some scissors or cuticle clippers (which I forgot to picture). MakeupMyLack did use the cuticle clippers but I don't have any. So I used some super tiny emobroidery scissors. You can also use some "child" or any other small sciccors, but it'll be just a bit harder to use, but it works! I tried it out on a couple nails. ;) 

There are just too many pictures that it'd be silly to post them all so I made a collage. :) Basically, once you have gathered your materials, I'd suggest ripping your plastic baggy into halves so you use both sides if you need more space to start with. ;) Now get your polishes ready to paint! As you can see, I just used 2 colors. You can use as many as you'd like, but I prefer just 2. ;) So let's start! Make a THICK line onto your plastic baggy. How long? Just as wide as your nail is. And by THICK line, I mean glob a lot of nail polish on it. When it dries, the polish will thin out. You want it to be thick when you start with so that it doesn't break when it dries or is too see-through. That's why I suggest using thick nail polishes, not watery ones. Next you'll just continue adding lines in the same fashion. Paint them thick! Just continue until your number of lines is as long as your nails. I made 4 lines. :) Now, we are to step 5. Using your pencil (toothpick), gently drag it through the top to the bottom. And go ALL the way through -- Do you see how I stopped? Yeah, that's not good. You want to go all go from tippy top to the very bottom. And you'll notice your first color makes a line. Repeat this process but this next time go from bottom to top and then repeat step 5 again. I did this 4 times to make 4 lines. Step 9 is just saying to let dry. I think the safest thing is to let them dry overnight, but you could check after 3 hours. Now repeat this process to make enough for all your nails plus a few more if you make a mistake. ;)

Here are how mine for my left hand turned out. Yes, even I had to practice a few times. ;) Another good reason why to make extras are to use as "checkers" to see if the other ones are done drying.

Now you want to GENTLY peel these little... dried up nail polish designs off.

I peeled this little guy off and now will use it. :)

Okay, you're going to want to paint your nail a base color to make it nice and sticky so that the design will stick. Yay, I have I need a Re-Freshmint by Wet n Wild on already. I was too lazy to take it off and for my color combo, the black and silver was going to color it so I didn't really care haha. So I am applying just a clear base coat on top.

Stick your nail design on top of your wet nail. (Yeah, do these one at a time ;))

This is the trickiest part and the most work. But if you do it right, it's worth it. So you want to trim the excess design off with your tiny scissors. Don't worry about the bottom (around your cuticle) because I just cleaned up using the q-tip method. :) Didn't feel like dangering my skin by cutting around it!

After clean up, you'll want to apply another clear top coat on top to your beautiful marbled design!

Hehe.. "One of these is not like the other, one of these things just isn't the same." ;) Part of the song from Sesame Street! Anyway! Look how cool that one finger is. ;)

And here is another picture of the final result!

 

I am SOOOOO trying this technique out again! I apologize for the wonkyness of this one, but like I said earlier, this should be more focused on the process. My nails just aren't very long for this design at the moment *cough cough* POINTER FINGER. ;) So I hope this really helped you and you can actually do anything with this "dry" technique. Say you want some pretty flowers but still aren't comfortable with painting them on your nails? (Especially your dominant hand) Well, just paint the design, MAKE SURE IT'S THICKLY APPLIED, let dry, peel and "glue" on with clear nail polish! This "dry" technique can be used for many things. ;) Oh and since this is dry watermarbling with a plastic bag, you can make ANY type of marble. I just liked the linear type, but you can sure throw in some swirls or just random patterns! Let me know if this worked for you, and until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

Valentine's Day Nails & Heart Tutorial

I know, I know... What the heck? Valentine's day in September? Well... You all know I just recently bought white polish (FINALLY, honestly! White, black, and the basic ROYGBIV rainbow colors are essential to nail art!), so I decided to get a little cutesy. :) I don't have a full tutorial on all my nails, but they're pretty basic and I'll try to explain them once you see some adorable pictures! Look below!

Here I have a tic-tac-toe with hearts (my favorite nails), "I <3 U", many hearts and some polka dots, "LOVE" (I originally had a heart as the "O" but then switched later... What ever you prefer though works!) and a large pink heart that I outlined in black! So for the base color, I used Hard to Get by Sally Hansen and then the black, red, and light pink are just acrylic paints. I'm still playing around with them, but they are a lot easier to work with and create some neat designs!  

Here is the easiest way though to create a heart on your nails! VERY, VERY easy and cute nail art for anyone! All you need is a pencil and some paint. (You heard me, I just used a pencil to make these. No special tools).

1. Start with a dot. If you want a big heart, make a big dot, and if you want a small heart, make a small dot.

2. Add the same size dot right next to the original.

3. Now with your pencil (dotting tool, acrylic brush, etc.), draw a downwards line. (Look at box 3, see how I did that?) It doesn't matter which dot you draw the line from because you'll repeat the same process.

4. Woah! Repeat step 3 but in the opposite direction.

Creating perfect and beautiful hearts are just THAT easy. ;) This was my middle finger (hehe...) and I added several more hearts and then polka dots! I'm really sorry about the unseasonal nails, but I just thought these were just too cute and I had to share them! 

Just another look! 

And a close up on my thumb. And Mr. Green Bunny's ear. ;) I felt like it added some character to this photo so I didn't want to use another one. xD

I hope that you've enjoyed today's super simple and short tutorial and I hope I helped with some possible Valentine's Day nails. ;) So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

Best Way to Clean Up Your Cuticles

Hey everyone! I do not have a nail art tutorial for you today, but instead I have written how I personally clean up my cuticles each time I paint my nails (without that special cuticle remover because not many of us have it). Hehe, I make mistakes too and especially if you're first learning how to paint your nails, learning how to remove the excess polish is important too. ;) So let's get started!

So let's first paint our nails! Okay, when I do paint my nails, they usually don't turn out like this... (or at least anymore ;)) They probably did look like this when I first started painting my nails, but the best tip on avoiding this is to obviously paint slowly and take your time. But don't worry, I still mess up a LOT.

To clean up, you will need some nail polish remover (acetone) and an acrylic brush or a q-tip. I actually prefer the q-tip!

Now poor some acetone into the cap. It just makes it easier to dip your tool into.

Go ahead and dip your brush or q-tip into the acetone and let it soak some up. Then go ahead and just scrub off the nail polish! Don't be gentle -- Scrub away!

And now I'm just showing it with a q-tip. I do prefer the q-tip because it's easier to control and can be obtained easier than a brush.. You know?

And ta daaaah! Scrub around all your nails and now they are clean! I do think that having pretty nails is nice, but making sure that they are clean are really important too!

Here is a before and after photo. ;)

 

I hope that you found this tutorial helpful! So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

Earthquake Nail Tutorial

Hey there ladies! I just realized today how it's basically fall... Yeah, sad. The leaves are starting to turn those beautiful shades and it's getting chilly out there! The main reminder that it ain't summer anymore was the lack of sun. So I have a few announcements in this post. Nothing too big of course, just random tidbits. So let's be on our way! Yes, today we are learning how to make earthquake nails! Ha, look below for an example. I don't know who named them, but they do look like those crazy lines that seismographs make, so the name makes some sense. I just think that this design is wonderful if you have 2 favorite colors that you don't know how to use at the same time or want just a little more accent on your nails. Let us get started though!

 

You will need:

• 2 nail polishes (any colors)
• A striper brush (or acrylic paint and a paint brush)

I used Flirt Alert by Pure Ice and Prince Street by NYC. Also, I have realized that I've fallen in love with acrylic paints instead of those silly striper nail art brushes. I will try to explain in another post at another time why my love has changed. So I used just a paint brush and black paint. :p (Yes, it's safe on nails as long as you apply it to a nail polish base. Plus it just comes off with acetone (nail polish remover). :)

 

Let's begin!

1. Start with a base color. You don't have to paint the entire nail if you don't want to because we will be just cutting it in half later but I like to have my all my nails painted before going on. ;)

2. With your second color, paint the other half of you nail. Let me just say something, I am very OCD about some things, but as you can tell, this is totally just free drawing it. This DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT. Need me to stress that point again? The line can be crooked! It'll be covered up with paint later anyway don't worry! But if it REALLY bothers you, go ahead and just use scotch tape (cover up half of your nail, paint, and remove tape) for a PERFECTLY straight line. ;)

3. With your striper (or paint brush with paint), start to add lines down where your 2 colors meet. Make them wacky of course! It's a seismograph for Pete's sake! :D I just drew them with a space in between to make it easier for when I go back and add more.

4. Oh woah, add more! Fill those puppies in! And see? They shouldn't be totally even! EARTHQUAKE!! And I give you, the earthquake nails. :)

Let's see how my nails turned out!

Actually first, here is a shot of Flirt Alert by Pure Ice. It's totally my favorite pink nail polish. It's a very bright, not quite neon hot pink and it's only $2 at Walmart. ;) Oh! Announcement 1! I may start swatching colors.. (showing them off to you). Not just nail tutorials anymore, but hopefully you'll notice I did add some menu tabs above ^^ so it'll hopefully make things easier to find. :) I am so happy my nails are finally growing out!

Now back to the tutorial. My pretty base color. :)

Half purple -- Yup, my lines aren't perfect at all. Who cares?

Starting the lines

Bam! And I am so done. ;) I have noticed with acrylic paints, they aren't shiny like polish (in fact, they're like matte) so you will have to add a clear top coat for sure! It'll make them stay shiny, trust me. ;)

And finally, another shot of these earthquake nails.

 

I probably should not have used these colors to show the tutorial on because you can't really see the lines that well on the purple, but oh well. Go ahead and try this great technique out though and let me know if you've tried them! It's fun and very simple. :) OHHHH! ANNOUNCEMENT #2! If you've noticed a little change in the lighting of the tutorial, then good job! Because there has been a sliiiiiight change. I'm starting to use artificial lighting to take pictures. (No light box for me, try a tall green lamp leaning on it's side over a desk... Thanks to one of my girls on Instagram, I've named that desk and work place my "Polish Palace". And I also hope to explain more about this Palace of mine and who helped me named it soon. ;))  I hope you don't mind the light! Let me know what you think though and if it's bad or not. But until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :) 



Sports Themed Nails & Tutorial

Hey you all! I am so sorry for not posting in a week! I have decided that I will not continue the 31 Day Nail Challenge (as many of you have already guessed). I don’t want to say that I am giving up because it’s not that I can’t do the challenge, I just choose not to. My reasoning was “What’s the point?” Like honestly, it was not making me happy and wasn’t as fun as I thought it’d be. Especially when it makes me create messy nails because I need something quick. And I honestly created this blog to share awesome and easy nail tutorials that ANY of you can create too! So, in conclusion, the new nails every day was boring and not very fun. So? I quit. :) So enough about that junk, I want to do what I feel like. xD The amazing life lessons you learn from nail polish hehe :)

I’ve been asked by a few of you to create some sports nails, and so I just decided to create a few balls. ;) Nothing really specific, but instead of making all my nails the same, I’m going to hit 5 birds with one hand. ;) And of course if you create these, you only have to do your favorite sport(s). ;)

As you can see, I created a tennis ball, football, volleyball, basketball, and a baseball. 

I decided since the tennis ball, baseball, and football are pretty simple, I could just create one college with all 3. These are just simple curves and lines. :) To create these, I'd just use a striper brush or a pencil dipped in polish as usual. I will show you what I used to make these in another "tip" tutorial at a later date.

Here are the basketballs :) Also just curves and lines. You don't have to make them straight like I did, you can have them at an angle like my baseball. ;)

And finally, here is my volleyball :) This looks complicated but isn't really! It's hard to verbalize these so try to copy the picture if possible. More lines and curves, but at an angle! The basketball and the volleyball tutorials have been edited on 8/30/13. :)

Here are my nails before! (Why the silver? Wait a second!)

And after! Yes, the silver was supposed to be a soccer ball but then I had to change them to a white baseball because I needed more practice... ;)

Another shot at my sporty nails! ;) And my tennis ball. xD

And here is a really random college of my tennis gear & nails. I love tennis. ;)

I know most of you won't just create 5 different ball nails on yourself, but just trying to give you all a visual! :) I know that the next time my favorite team is playing though, I can create nails to match and be ready for this game! Or maybe to show some school spirit? ;) I hope that you enjoyed learning how to make some of your favorite sport nails and I can't wait to show you all what else I have up my sleeve. (In this past week, I've figured out this blogging system a little more so when I have the time, I"ll update the look so that it's easier to navigate. Plus! I have a TON of new tips and tricks to teach you all! Hurray!) So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

Day 8 - Metallic Nails & Spectraflair Review

Today is day 8 of our 31 day nail challenge and today I have for you a lovely dark copper color by China Glaze called Harvest Moon from the Hunger Games Collection. Below I have swatched for you some that Harvest Moon shade. It reminds me of a copper penny and this is a perfect shade for fall! I love it a lot and it's very gorgeous.

But the beauty doesn't end there. Have you guys heard of holographic nail polish? If not, you need to google it! Or well... just continue reading. ;) Many brands have holographic glitters or chunks, but not many have actual holographic nail polish. Basically, it's having a rainbow on your nails in the sunlight. If you like shiny or sparkly glitter, I'm sure you'd like the holographic effect. But beauty does pay a price -- I've been researching holographic nail polish for a year now, and the prices range from $7-$50+! And that is just for ONE bottle of holographic nail polish! Well, I've figured out a little secret; there is this little ingredient that gives polishes that holographic effect and it's called "spectraflair" and I was over joyed when I figured out people made this stuff into a top coat polish! And, the best part about it all is that since this is a topcoat, you can put just a couple coats onto ANY nail polish you want and it will turn make it holographic! Okay, enough talk. Look below. It's gorgeous.

Here is what the bottle looks like in the dark. Nothing special -- Just a milky grey polish. I'll explain where I got this later. ;)

In the sun, you can see the rainbow awesome-ness! Trust me when I say it's nearly impossible to capture the true radiance of any holographic item. 

And here you have 2 coats of this topcoat over Harvest Moon.

Just lovely <3

And a closeup on my thumb!

 

And where did I get this jewel and did it really cost me $50? Umm.. No way! I do admit though, this is the most I've ever spent on nail polish but it's totally worth it! (I get my "high quality" nail polishes on sale a lot of the time such as China Glaze, OPI, etc.) No longer do you have to pay $7 for only 1 color of holographic nail polish, just pay $12.50 + shipping & handling for this baby! (This is a full size 15ml bottle of nail polish by the way, it's the same size as most standard bottles).  And thanks to her Labor Day sale, shipping was free, so maybe wait until another sale, but it's worth it either way ;) No more secrets, I swear. ;) I'll let them all out now. There are a lot of amazing indie nail polish makers out there (people who make their own nail polishes, don't ask me how, I don't have the tools) but this is the first one I've bought from. Her nail polish is called Polished by KPT and if you're interested in looking at her gorgeous products, go ahead and click HERE! She currently is on vacation though until September 23rd, 2012. I have spectraflair 35 topcoat and I want her new polish called Shattered Glass that is coming out soon! (I will have to wait until I have more money though, hehe). So if you are interested in this spectraflair topcoat that makes any polish holographic, check out her website or follow her on Instragram. Her account is called @kptran where you can also see her own swatches before they are released in her online store. :) I hope that I haven't bored the death out of you, but I am just so excited about this top coat! I'm done now, so until tomorrow, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

Day 7 - Black & Nails

 Goodness me! Today has been a super busy day! Just to list off a few things that happened are I got a new phone (Pantech Pursuit II - cute little guy, basic, no data plan needed thank goodness!), bought some acrylic brushes and black and white paint, and started my tennis lessons again. Oh, just a fact, I LOVE TENNIS. ;) Back to the nails, I did create you a panda bear nail tutorial but I'll only upload the main picture tutorial for now. Don't really have enough time and I'm super tired. xD So I'll make this brief.

I used a gorgeous light pink is called Hard-Core Party by Sally Hansen. I used to have a pink almost identical to this called Otherwise Engaged by OPI (one of my favorite colors) but it unfortunately spilled everywhere when I left it slightly open. So warning! ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS close your nail polish bottles. :( And the black is Black Heart by Sally Hansen and white is Super Star! by Pure Ice. :)

So here is the basics for making your own panda bear nails. Pretty easy and the results are cute! Just some dots and some lines. The best tip for making the white part is just to use your nail polish brush and make a partial oval like in the Penguin Nail Tutorial. :)

 

And here is just a picture of one of the first time I did panda nails. I made the background gold and just did dots for the nose and eyes instead of trying the more "Panda-like" features. ;)

 

I'm sorry for the lame black and white nails, but I kinda think they're nice. xD Until tomorrow, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

How To Take Glitter Nail Polish Off With Ease (Tutorial)

And here is my promised tutorial on how to take glitter off with ease! No more worries about using the tin foil method or wasting A LOT of time to scrub your manicure off with a cotton ball and acetone. All you need is a little white glue. ;) Sounds weird huh? But it totally makes sense! Think about the times in kindergarten when you made a mess with all that white glue just because you didn’t have a glue stick. And then you just rubbed your hands together to peel off that glue! Well, it’s essentially the same with your nails ;) So just trust me on this and try it yourself! Let's get started! I can't really explain much else. xD

1. Start with your naked nail. ;) Don't have anything on it!
2. Add a drop of glue. Just enough to cover your nail.
3. I just used my other finger to help spread the glue across my entire nail - cover everywhere. :)
4. Wait until the glue dries completely! It'll turn clear and no longer sticky.
5. Paint your design. I just have some chunky glitter that without this method, would take FOREVER to take off. ;) So I dare you, get your hardest glitter nail polish and wear it for once without worrying about the clean up! :D
6. When you are done with your design and want to finally take it off, just scrape off your nail polish. It works. ;) I just used my thumb on my other hand and it came off.
7. Continue to scrap it all off.
8. AND YOUR GLITTER MANI JUST CAME OFF IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. WOAH.
9. Here is the excess nail polish off of my thumb! :D

Here is the glue that I used. :) Just plain old Elmer's glue :)

Before ;) 

After! :D Okay, as you can see, this method doesn't take off EVERYTHING, but it takes off most of the nail polish as you can see. ;) Just use a cotton ball with nail polish remover (acetone) or a q-tip to get rid of everything. ;)

 

I hope that you try this method ASAP because it makes life so much easier! :) Let me know if it works for you! I wouldn't suggest doing a lot of washing or using water with this underneath your nails because the the design may get washed off. :) (NOTE: This problem did NOT happen to me! I had my loose glitter nails on for FOUR days and I used this glue base method and obviously I had to shower, wash dishes, etc. Basically, my hands went through a lot. AND THE LOOSE GLITTER STILL STAYED ON. The tutorial is a different story.. but yes, loose GLITTER stayed on my nails for FOUR days until I decided to take them off. It may have been because I added a topcoat to the glue and THEN did my design or just painted my nails, but for me, even when I get my nails wet or go through wear and tear, my nail polish stayed on perfectly. I've just heard this problem with others but wanted to let you guys know that FOR ME, this glue base stays on until I decided to peel it off. And also, I learned that you have to apply a generous amount of glue, but not TOO much in order to have the entire nail polish come off in one peel! It's pretty awesome! It just takes a lot of practice, so that's why I'd suggest just doing ONE nail first to practice! I should probably create a YouTube tutorial on this.. What do you think? And P.S. My nails look A LOT cleaner than that now.. that was in the beginning when I didn't know a lot about how to take care of my nails. I'll show you all my "care" tips soon! But anyway, do try this method in order to take of that pesky glitter nail polish super fast and easy! Note added: 12/19/2012).

 

Well, this is the best way to remove glitter nail polish for me and this is defiantly what I'll be using from now on. So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)