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 :)

Day 6 - Violet Nails

Yipee yi ya kiyay! :D Howdy partners, I got you some blingy violet nails today. Oh, and a dandy tutorial that will make the difference of life or death. Can ya all give me a whoop? *WHOOP!!!* Thank ya all kindly. ;) Okay, hope you were reading this in a nice “Western” accent because I’m done. xD So I give you my violet nails for the 31 Day Nail Challenge! My base color is Prince Street by NYC and the top coat is that gorgeous sparkle called Sugar Plum Fairies Gone Wild by Sephora. Okay, I am going to keep this super short and sweet because I’ll be creating my tutorial in another post. Oh yeah, it’s on how to get glitter nail polish off in 5 minutes or less. ;) It’s a life saver! So in about 30 minutes… check in then!Your Polish Pal Jenna signing out! ;) 

Love this glitter polish!

Pretty purple combo ;)

Day 5 - Blue Nails

Woaaaah! Today was a super busy day! And that is my only explanation for my simple nails. :) I finished these in 10 minutes, so if I’m lazy and refuse to make another creative today, I know that you can make cute polka dot nails too. ;) So say hello to day 5 which are blue nails! My base coat is a light baby blue called I Need A Re-Freshmint by Wet n’ Wild and the white dots are Superstar by Pure Ice.

I like this picture ;) 

The classic rocks! I don't know what I'm going to do when it's winter and there is snow... :( Move the snow and melt the ice and STILL get awesome rock pictures maybe? ;) Just kidding!

And I unfortunately will be selling the iPhone in a couple days… Ordered the box to ship it off today. :/ Can’t wait to get the iPad though. ;) I wonder how I will take pictures on that thing though. xD So, I will prepare a few days of this challenge in advance, but I won’t post them of course until I was supposed to. I just don’t know when I’ll have a camera again because I still can’t find that Canon charger. Grrr… Oh well. Tomorrow will have a VERY, VERY useful tip and tutorial. ;) Please check on by if you want to learn a secret that will change your life FOREVER. xD Errrrrr, not your life - your experience with painting your nails. ;) So stay tuned for the purple nails! :D Until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :]

Day 4 - Green Nails & Gradient Dot Tutorial

Hey girls! I was able to create for you another one of those adorable "dotticure" tutorials today! This time I made a gradient dot nails with different colors. Just in case you look at the photos and are like "Woah there Jenna, what are you talking about?!?! This ain't no gradient dot nail," you're probably right. ;) There are many versions of gradient dots, but the one I'm trying to showcase today has many polka dots of different sizes and colors. So go ahead and look below at our finished look. :) I used all green shades in honor of our challenge. ;) So let's get started!

You will need:

• At least 2 different colors
• Dotting tools of various sizes; small, medium, and large (click HERE to see what you can use if you don't have dotting tools - This is my other dotticure tutorial).

These are the colors I used are Gaga Green and Agro by China Glaze. a lime green glow in the dark nail polish by Love & Beauty (from Forever 21, name unknown), SaGreen the Teenage Witch by Wet n' Wild, and MY FAVORITE, Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen.

 

And before we even get started, I LOOOOOOOVE this mint (sea foam if you must) green! I've seen this polish on so many other people, and I finally decided to buy it. One of my favorite colors. :) It's a little bit more green in real life too. ;)

 

Let's get started!

1. Paint your base coat.

2. Start with your largest dotting tool, and make a couple large dots at the tip of your nail.

3. With your medium dotting tool and make a few more dots but don't start at the tip. Look below and see how I started them around the area that my big dots ended.

4. Continue this process essentially with as many colors or as few as you want. You can make them busy like mine or quite subtle.

 

 

Okay, I know you guys are thinking "Those were terrible instructions!" And they were, for a reason. ;) I do believe that you can't make tutorials for dotticures. I mean honestly, dot manis are totally all your work. So just see what looks best and I'm here just to give you some ideas and pictures on how I did mine. But YOU and YOUR nails are a whole other story. ;) Let's see how I did mine. xD 



My gorgeous base color <3

Starting out with a few chunkers ;)

Adding medium sized dots

Added that neon glow-in-the-dark nail polish.

And my friend didn't really like the last metallic green dots... He said they looked funny haha! Well too bad. ;)  

Green grass and green nails ;)

 

As you can see, my gradient dot (dot gradient..? Hmm...) mani has multiple colors. I've seen other that use the same technique of changing the dot sizes but only using 1 color for the dots the entire time. That's why I say you only need 2 colors. ;) Oh, and yes, the glow in the dark nail polish really does work. xD I got it for $2.80 from Forever 21 (a clothes department store) and it's glows really well if it's been in the light. (Just stick it on top of a light bulb or lamp that's on hehe). The formula is sort of gross though - too gunky and peels off really easily... I just wanted glowing nails polish though haha! This concludes our 4th day of our 31 Day Nail Challenge. Hope to catch ya tomorrow! Until then, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :]

Before I go, say hello to Mr. Green Bunny. Yes, that's his name. ;) I've had him since I was born hehe and he's a pretty cute fellow! Do you have a toy that you've had for just about... forever? ;) Just wanted to conclude with him, so I hope you all have a nice day! 

Day 3 - Yellow Nails

Three days down, twenty seven days to go. ;) So as you guess, today is yellow nails! I really don’t like this theme… and you can tell in my choice of nail art today. They’re just plain old cheetah nails. I realized, since I’m not doing as many tutorials (considering I will be blogging everyday hopefully hehe), you’ll probably get to know me a little better! :) This month, it’s going to get a lot more personal. ;) Okay, let’s get back to the nails! And I’ll be trying to add some technique tutorials as well, not just nail art.

I am wearing Lexington Yellow by NYC. It’s one of my 2 yellows in my nail polish collection (Would you believe me if I said I only have about 60 nail polishes? Yup, that’s all.) but it’s a really medium yellow. There is no glitter or metallic-ness in this color unlike my other yellow called Excuse Me by Pure Ice which is more metallic. So I give you yellow nails with gold cheetah print! Just in case you want to learn how to make your own cheetah nails, I made a tutorial about a month ago. So go ahead and click HERE if interested. :)

 

The gold spots are The Gold and The Beautiful by Wet n’ Wild and the black is Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze. :) Oh, and I made this entire design with just a mechanical pencil while dipping it into nail polish. ;) No fancy tools here!

And I just really like this picture :)

 

Okay, get ready for some awesome green nails tomorrow! Catch y’all then! Your Polish Pal, Jenna =)

Day 2 - Orange Nails and Jelly Sandwich Tutorial

Peanut butter jelly time! Peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat! :D Just kidding! ;) You all thought that we I was going to teach you how to make the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Alas, I am not. I will be teaching you how to make the basic “Jelly Sandwich (or Sammich, whatever you prefer ;)) Nails” for Day 2 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. So welcome to orange nails! You might be wondering what the heck “Jelly Sandwich” nails are so take a look below. As you can probably tell, they are just muted glitter nails. This is the first time I’ve created them myself, but they seem like a great background for other designs or just great for accent nails when you don’t want too much glitter! So if interested, let’s get started! (I know, they’re not really the coolest nails EVER… :/ But they do seem to be trending lately :)

You will need:

• 1 nail polish (any color you want)
• Chunky nail polish glitter (the chunkier, the best for jelly sandwiches. I wouldn’t recommend fine glitter like my Spit Fire by Pure Ice because the texture won’t be the same).
• Clear nail polish (may or may not be used, will explain later)

For orange day, I used this gorgeous orange by OPI called Y’all Come Back, Ya Hear. It’s a bright orange but not exactly neon. I had to apply 2 coats to get it this color.  

1.       Start off with your base color.

2.       Apply your chunky glitter on top. Let this glitter dry completely. I used A Party of Five Glitters by Wet n’ Wild and this is more of a clear coat with some chunky glitter inside so I didn’t have to add the clear nail polish on top. If your glitter isn’t “smooth” when it’s applied, then I’d suggest using a quick clear top coat so your jelly sandwich will also be smooth instead of bumpy. Wait until your clear coat is dried before moving on once again.

3.       Finally, use the same color nail polish as your base and apply 1 coat right on top of the sparkles! It’s that easy. :)

I totally understand that this nail design isn’t for everyone and is kind of weird, but I thought that I’d show you how I did it. Here are a couple more pictures.

This orange is the same color as my Nike shoe box! :D (I love my new Nike shoes by the way. They’re black and lime green and SUPER comfy!)

And I added a matte topcoat to my jelly sammich! My topcoat is Matte-ly in Love by Hard Candy. This nail polish is only $4 at Walmart. And what is matte? Matte takes away the shine that nail polish has and makes it completely “dry” looking. A nice effect to nail polish too if you’re tired of all the shiny! ;) Matte top coat is like a clear polish that you can apply onto any nail polish/design and “matte-ify” it.

I hope you all enjoyed learning more about some nail polish techniques today! Until tomorrow, (yellow nails! :O) Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

Uh oh… getting rid of the iPhone this next week. :( I better find my camera charger soon…….! >:( Goodbye to the ease of taking pictures and just uploading them! :’( Tutorials may not be so easy to create for a while… especially if I can’t find the charger!

31 Day Nail Challenge! Day 1 - Red Nails

Hey you all! Happy 1st of September! I am going to try to complete something new this month - I will be part of the 31 Nail Day Challenge which means I will have to have 31 new designs every day according to THIS chart. ;) I unfortunately will not be able to create a tutorial for each day, but don't fret! I will create them at another time. :) So and since it's September (30 days has September, April, June and November, all the rest have 31 except for February which has 28 days clear and 29 in leap year. ;) Hehe!), I will have to do 2 one of the days. :) Hope you guys don't mind! And if you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, feel free to email me or contact me on Instagram. Okay, so let's see what I came up for day 1: red nails.

 

And I give you, Day 1 of the 31 Day Challenge

 

I am wearing Poinsettia by China Glaze :)

Decided on an eye-catching red chevron manicure

Used 2 pieces of scotch tape to create a triangle and filled it in with a Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze

Repeated the last step on top of the black, but this time I used Spit Fire by Pure Ice.

And here is the chevron manicure in the sun! :)

 

Sorry for not having a tutorial. I did attempt to create one, but the lighting just wasn't to my satisfaction. Hmm.. stay tuned to see orange nails tomorrow! :D Your Polish Pal, Jenna :) I challenge you do complete this too with me. ;) Lemme know if you're doing this! I'd love to see your results!