Found My Marbles!

Hey Polish Fans!

I've been super stressed lately, and as many of you might agree, I find painting my nails gives me a moment to relax and just do something I enjoy. That feeling has inspired this next design! So after spending all week losing my marbles, this design helped me find them! lol I used a technique called "water marbling" that can be a bit tricky if you don't follow a few simple tricks that I've outlined in the photo tutorial below. I hope you give it a try. Don't give up if it doesn't work just right the first time! I promise you'll get the hang of it! I've included the polish colors after the jump, in case you'd like to achieve the same look as in the photos.

For this look I used my OPI base coat, FingerPaint's Endless Wear in Hue Knew? (lilac), Essie's Chillato (greenish-yellow), Sunset Sneaks (deep coral), Tying the Knottie (light pink), and Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Disco Ball (this was applied after the water marbling, just to add some girly shimmer!), topped by my favorite fast-drying top coat, Seche Vite. I forgot to mention the fast-drying top coat in the photo tutorial (oops!), but it's always a good idea!

Well, I hope you all have great results with this fun technique! Please visit my website at www.nailsbyneenie.com and e-mail me your recreations! I'd love to feature them on my page!

XOXO,
NeenieChick

Got Carded

Hey nail addicts!

Today's design is in honor of my new business cards! I'm so glad they came in and now I can share my nail art obsession with others by doing FREE manicures!! It is also the debut of my website: www.nailsbyneenie.com. I'm so excited to launch it, and I really hope you will "do me a solid" and visit the page! haha ;) So today's design is called "Got Carded," and it's my first real experience with chevron art. What do you think? (Instructions after the jump.)

Ok, so here's how you can make it happen!
Supplies: Base coat, fast-drying top coat, neon pink polish, silver polish, white polish, and a chunky, sparkly glitter polish. (I used, in order, O.P.I. base coat, Seche Vite top coat, Finger Paint's Pink Perspective, Chromatic Creation, Papier Mache, and China Glaze's Nova.) I also used a two-sided dotting tool (although you can use a toothpick for the same results) and a super handy Sally Hansen manicure sticker guide set (can't remember what it's called, but it has four different sticker types in it.

1.) Use the base coat to paint all your nails. This is an important step both Paint your thumbs, middle and ring fingers with the silver polish, just one coat will do. You want enough coverage so that the sparkle has a solid base. Then paint your pinky and index fingers with two coats of the white polish. After 2 minutes, use the sparkly polish to cover the silver ones. You will probably need 2-3 coats, but wait a minute in between each one. Chunky glitter tends to be clumpy, so you want to spread it out as evenly as possible.
2.) While the sparkle coat is drying, put a few drops of pink and silver polish on a piece of paper and use both ends of the dotting tool to make random dots on the white polish. (If you're using a toothpick, swirl the polish around with the tip for a bit and you will notice it collects enough polish to create a larger dot. Then use the other end for the smaller dots.)
3.) Wait 5-10 minutes then put the top coat over all the nails. At this point you will need to wait at least an hour to make sure your ring fingers are completely dry. Mine were dry after an hour, but you might want to wait longer, just to be extra sure!
4.) Once your ring finger is completely dry, grab the nail stickers and place them on your ring fingers the way you like them. I used three stickers, but after it was done, I felt like I should have used 2 and just spaced them wider apart. This part is really up to you. I used one of my other dry nails to push the sticker a little into the cuticle so it was completely hugging the curve of my nail. You may want to do one ring finger at a time.
5.) Take the pink polish and paint 2 coats over the stickers, waiting only 30 seconds between coats. You don't want the polish to dry or even get tacky before you remove the stickers. Once you have put on your second coat, wait a few seconds and then slowly and evenly remove each sticker. Make sure you pull the stickers in the same direction they are laying, otherwise they will smear the polish or leave a jagged edge.
6.) When both ring fingers are done, wait at least 10 minutes and then put another layer of top coat over the nails to secure your brand-new chevron stripes!

I hope you love this design and I really I hope you will share it with me if you try it on your own nails! You can reach me at neenie@nailsbyneenie.com. I may even share your recreation on my new website www.nailsbyneenie.com.

Happy painting!!

*XOXO*
 Neenie

Summer Safari

I am in desperate need of some summer sun here in Indiana. Can you believe it actually snowed yesterday? In APRIL?? These bright, summery nails helped cheer me up, and I hope they do the same for you! Please let me know if you need further instructions or need any help doing these on your own nails. Mix and match your own favorite summer colors for a personalized look! If you do try them for yourself, please send me your recreation and I may feature it on my page! neenie@nailsbyneenie.com

*XOXO*

Neenie

Curious Easter Bunny

Hi Nail Art Fans!

Happy (couple days after) Easter! Today's nail art is a recreation of a photo I found on Pinterest. It was just too cute and festive not to do! (Here's the reference: Curious Easter Bunny & Other Easter Nails.) On the 1-10 easy to hard scale, I would rate this about a 5. You'll basically have 8 easy nails, and 2 moderately easy nails. The tutorial is after the photo:

1.) Apply a base coat to add a smooth surface for your polish and to protect your natural nail. I used OPI's "Natural Nail Base Coat."
2.) Apply two coats of a black polish to your ring fingers. I used FingerPaint "Black Expressionism."
3.) Select four pastel colors to represent Easter eggs. I will update this soon with the colors I used, but they were China Glaze and Avon. Paint your remaining fingers with two coats each of the pastel colors. You can do this in any random order. I chose to match the colors on opposite hands (pinkies had same color, thumbs had same color, etc.).
4.) Next use either a dotting tool or a toothpick to drop some black dots onto all your nails, except the ring fingers. You want them to appear random.
5.) Using a white polish, draw a large half circle across the edge of your ring fingernail tip. Then use a dotting tool or toothpick to draw some white oval shapes coming off the circle toward your cuticles for ears. (See the photo.) Let this dry for a couple of minutes.
6.) Using the pastel pink polish and a dotting tool or toothpick, draw a smaller pink line inside each ear and a tiny dot close to the tip for a nose.
7.) Using the black polish and a dotting tool or toothpick, dot two black circles in the face for eyes. Then dot two smaller white circles inside the black, and then two more, even smaller black circles inside the white. The idea is for the second black dot to cover up most of the white (see photo). Do you see your curious bunny? He's eyeballing your adorable Easter egg nails!
8.) If you smudged your bunny at all or don't have even lines, use a thin black striper around the edges of the bunny to smooth him out. The top coat will cover up the rest!
9.) Wait a bit for the nails to dry before applying a fast dry top coat. If you put it on too soon, it might smear the polish. (See what I did to my pinkie nail? And you don't even want to know what my left hand looked like! I put the top coat on way too soon!) I used my #1 choice for top coat, Seche Vite.

I hope you have fun recreating this curious bunny with his pastel Easter eggs!
 
If you have any questions, or if my directions completely lost you, just drop me a line at nailsbyneenie@gmail.com.

*XOXO*

NeenieChick

Elegant Silver Cheetah French Mani

Hi Nail Fanatics!

So today's nail art is not an original, but I fell in love with it when I saw it on Pinterest! (Here's the reference: Silver Cheetah French Mani.) On the 1-10 easy to hard scale, I would rate this about a 4. It's not really hard, but the french mani part can be tricky for some. The tutorial is after the photo:

1.) Apply a base coat to add a smooth surface for your polish and to protect your natural nail. I used OPI's "Natural Nail Base Coat."
2.) Apply two coats of a white polish to the tip of all your nails, except your ring fingers. Apply two coats of a white polish to the full ring fingers (see photo for reference). I used FingerPaint's "Paper Maiche." You can do this freehand if you are comfortable with it because we will cover up any mistakes or wobbly lines in the next step. (Side note: A french manicure can be tricky. Here is a great video tutorial by Meliney that gives you several ideas on how to achieve this look: 10 Ways to Create French Tips Manicures.)
3.) Take a silver striper polish and draw a line across the bottom of your french tip. This will help cover up any little mistakes or uneven lines. I used  L. A. Color's Art Deco striper polish in "Silver." (Side note: If you don't have a striper, you can make your own! Check out CutePolish's video tutorial: Make Your Own Nail Art Striper!. P.S. CutePolish is the BEST! Follow her!!)
4.) Next use either a dotting tool or a toothpick to drop some silver dots, irregularly shaped is best, onto only the ring fingers. Roughly 3-5 drops per nail, depending on the size of your nail. Refer to the photo to see an example of how to space them apart. (It might be best to put a glob of polish on a paper plate or similar instead of trying to use the brush or a bottle.)
5.) Using a smaller dotting tool or toothpick, use some black polish to ring the silver dots on your ring fingers. I used FingerPaint's "Black Expressionism." You will want to do either C shapes around the dots, or two half-U shapes on either side of the dot.
6.) Then use the black polish to make a few extra dots to fill up any open spaces.
4.) Wait a bit for the nails to dry before applying a fast dry top coat. If you put it on too soon, it might smear the polish. I used my #1 choice for top coat, Seche Vite.

I hope you find this fun, elegant, and easy to achieve!
 
If you have any questions, or if my directions completely lost you, just drop me a line at nailsbyneenie@gmail.com.

Have fun recreating this sparkly Cheetah french mani!

*XOXO*

NeenieChick

Icebreaker Nails

Hi all!

So today's nail art is another NailsByNeenie original, inspired by my desire to see the snow and ice break away and let some sunshine in! As such, I'm calling them my winter "Icebreaker" nails! Not only do they give me hope for warm weather and sunshine, they are also craaaaazy EASY. The super simple steps are after the photo:

1.) Apply a base coat to add a smooth surface for your polish and to protect your natural nail. I used OPI's "Natural Nail Base Coat."
2.) Apply two coats of a light blue polish to all your nails. I used Orly's "Skinny Dip." (Side note: I really like the saturation of color in the Orly polishes, but their brushes are tiny. I have large nail beds, so it takes a few strokes on each nail to get full coverage.)
3.) This step is wear we break up the ice! After your blue polish has had a little time to set, apply one coat of a glittery crackle polish, preferably silver-toned (or white, which is obviously snowy! haha). I used China Glaze Crackle Glitter polish in "Luminous Lavender" because it has a subtle silvery tint to it that I really like. Make sure when you use your crackle polish that you don't put on a thick layer and that you work quickly. It starts to crack right away so you don't want to put a layer over one that is already cracking.
4.) Wait a bit for the nails to dry before applying a fast dry top coat. If you put it on too soon, it might smear the polish. I used my #1 choice for top coat, Seche Vite.

I hope you find this cute, fun and super easy to do, but most importantly, I hope it gives us something to look forward to--like spring! :-)

If you have any questions, or if my directions completely lost you, just drop me a line at nailsbyneenie@gmail.com.

Have fun recreating this ice-breaking design!

*XOXO*

NeenieChick

Christmas Cheetah Nails

Hi everyone!

Today's nail art is a NailsByNeenie original! I'm finally feeling the Christmas spirit, a bit late in the game, but here nonetheless. For my holiday nails I went with safari chic, so here are my Christmas Cheetah nails with step-by-step instructions below the photo.

1.) Apply a base coat. I used OPI's "Natural Nail Base Coat."
2.) Apply red polish to the thumb and middle finger of each hand. I used  "Expressionist Red" by Finger Paints. I gotta say, this is one of the smoothest applications for polish I've ever had. It just glides on and coats the nail beautifully.
3.) Apply green polish to the index and pinkie finger of each hand. I used "Sketch n Etch" by Finger Paints.
4.) Apply a gold shimmer polish to the ring finger of each hand. You want to find one that is an actual polish with shimmer to it, rather than a sparkly one, only so that it will actually coat the nail. I used "Brushed Gold" from Avon's Brushed Metals collection, which I think worked really well. [Shout out to my Avon lady and friend, who is always helping me find nail polish deals! http://kellyweldon.avonrepresentative.com/]
5. Next use either a dotting tool or a toothpick to drop some gold dots, irregularly shaped is best, onto all nails EXCEPT the ring fingers. Roughly 3-5 drops per nail, depending on the size of your nail. Refer to the photo to see an example of how to space them apart. (It might be best to put a glob of polish on a paper plate or similar instead of trying to use the brush or a bottle.)
6.) Using a smaller dotting tool or toothpick, use some of the green polish to ring the gold dots on the nails with red polish, and use red to ring the dots on the nails with green polish. Did I lose you? Just check out the photo, and it should hopefully make sense! lol You will want to do either C shapes around the dots, or two half-U shapes on either side of the dot.
7. Then use whatever color you are using for that nail to make a few extra dots to fill up any open spaces. Basically if you are working on a nail that is painted red, you will use the green to fill up any open spaces.
8.) On the ring fingers painted gold, you won't need to make any dots. Just use both the red and green to make the little C & U shapes (see photo).
9.) Wait a bit for the nails to dry before applying a fast dry top coat. If you put it on too soon, it might smear the polish. I used my trusty Seche Vite top coat.

If you have any questions, or if my directions completely lost you, just drop me a line at nailsbyneenie@gmail.com.

Have fun recreating this colorful and festive design!

*XOXO*

NeenieChick