Art Friendly :)

Hello hello hello,


So today i was awarded this awesome Nail Art Badge by fellow blogger Kimberly from Nail Reflections, for being a Nail Art Friendly Blogger! Thank you Kimberly! i'm very excited because this is my first award! :-) I love love love thinking of fun and new nail art designs as well as admiring and being inspired by the creations of my fellow nail-enthusiasts! I'd like to pass this badge on  to some of my favorite nail art blogs!

Kimberely @ Nail Reflections :)

Linda @ Copy That Copy Cat :)

Tera @ Nails in Nippon :)

Paint that Nail :)

Courtney @GaGa for nails :)

Shannara @ Nails and Stuff :)

Sylvia @ Nail Art Creations :)

Rebecca @ Rebecca Likes Nails :)

Florence @ Everbella Beauty n Nails

check them out!
and thanx for stopping by!!

rock candy

For todays design I was inspired by the diamond shape! i decided to use a clear base which i just got today, and rainbow colors for the stones. I chose to draw them in a loose and pop-art -like style to add to the playfulness of design and color palette.
I  thought the clear base would create a stronger contrast between design and nail, as if it were floating. I also added some differently colored rhinestones to fill in some of the negative space.
Polishes used include 10 professional nail lacquer - perfectly clear (#401)  for my base, and  a variety of Kiss - stripers  in yellow, red, soft purple, soft green, red wine, orange and blue  for the gem stones and Kiss - stripers in white and black to accentuate the facets in the stones  while also adding a "drawn" like effect. :)

24 days of XMAS nails!

hello hello hello!


today i want to share with you this up and coming challenge that is spreading through the blogosphere!
Created by paint that nail to coincide with the days leading up to the christmas holiday! (need not to celebrate to join in!)  nail themes include fun and festive imagery such as gingerbread man, ornaments reindeer and more! topping off with a visit from santa  and your favorite manicure for the eve! so take a look at the list,  and if you would like to participate and include a link to your blog to share your holiday cheer than tell me!

it's almost here! :)

glitter globe

quick polish before bed. inspired by snow globes!

Colors include Sally Hansen complete salon manicure - shell we dance? (#160) for the base color and

Kiss - red striper  for the base of the globe. There are 4 types of glitter including super fine white and small hex white which are used for the snow and globe in the background, and small hex silver and large hex silver glitter for the larger/closer flakes. I also used silver nail art beads to emphasize the half moon which is the base of the snow globe... also because i am just obsessed with these beads!!!

long day!

Just spent all morning driving back from vermont and was in need of a pick me up. I was looking through my stash and realized i still haven't tried my Butter London - Rosie Lee that i picked up weeks ago!!! it's the most amazing pink glitter, seriously delicious looking... thus, the inspiration... cupcakes! this nail design includes pink glittery frosting, multicolor sprinkles all on top of soft spongey cake!

Due to the playful theme, and excessive decoration i thought the layout of the nails should remain on the tamer side. For the base color I used O.P.I. - bubble bath (3 coats), Kiss - white for the dots, Butter London -  Rosie Lee (3-4 coats) and of course, nail art beads (my new obsession!!)  adhered with O.P.I. - top coat.

these nails were super easy to do and other than dry time, which is always longer when using these nail art beads (better safe than sorry) the design does not take a long time to complete.

Now  that i am finished i am going to go look for something sweet to eat!  :)

THANKSGIVING part 2.

feast your eyes on more thanksgiving nail fun!

I went a little crazy with the theme, symbols included are maize, cornucopia (with fimo fruits :-)) and a hand-turkey, and two fingers (pinky and pointer) with random designs.

For the base coat i used O.P.I. -  designer... de better, for the designs i used mixed nail art beads, large glitter circles, and Nail Star pen & brush in yellow, bronze, gold and red to fill the beaded designs.

in case you want to attempt your own just know that doing just one hand took well over an hour, not including dry time!

Hope you all had a happy holiday

:)

THANKSGIVING

Now, i'm really not one for thanksgiving food. turkey makes you sleepy, stuffing is good as long as its meat-less, and potatoes... too starchy... but OMG.. PUMPKIN PIE IS MY JAM! esp. when homemade and fresh out of the oven! I drove up with my boyfriend to my sisters house in VT for this holiday and my sis spent all morning making pie! so until i get to indulge in my favorite turkey day food... i'll just have to settle with PUMPKIN PIE themed nails!!

In order to achieve this dessert design the colors you'll need are Sally Hansen Xtreme - crushed (#20)  for the pumpkin part of the pie (2 coats)

Love and Beauty - gold  for the crust (2 coats), Kiss - bronze striper for the tear drop holes in the crust.

Next you'll need decorative gold bead balls, to embellish the crust, which can be purchased online, and if you haven't used them before (which i hadn't before this) it can be quite tedious. The balls are adhered using top coat and after the design is complete you want to use another layer of top coat to secure the beads.

If you try any thanksgiving designs then SHARE IT!

and I hope you all have a happy holiday!!!

silver and gold leopard print

This is my first time ever doing leopard, and i don't think it's half bad! right?

I think you might see it as a theme for the next week or so because i had so much fun doing it!
After the O.P.I.- base coat, i used O.P.I.- bubble bath  for the base color, O.P.I.- designer...de better for the spots, Kiss-black striper for the outlines, Kiss- gold striper for highlighting the inside of the spots, and a sprinkling of martha stewart brand craft glitter followed by O.P.I.- top coat.

a penny for your thoughts

my day was kind of tricky, filled with little inconveniences that amounted to more. its one of those days where you go... i had all the time in the world. (its called procrastination)  today i FINALLY decided to do what i've been putting off and some freak thing comes along, preventing me from doing whatever I have been putting off.
SOOOO... In hopes of altering my luck i decided lucky penny inspired nail art might help counter my misfortunes.

Love and Beauty- "rust"
black and white striper

copper coated

I don't know what it is about Forever 21 nail polish, Love & Beauty but it just works for me. They come in so many colors, luster's, (did i mention this brand is only$2.80 a bottle!!) and even SCENTED nail polish now? where have i been, because this is news to me!? I must have looked like a weirdo in the mall, eager to try the new scented nail polish i whipped it out and took a big sniff... then realized spectators might find sniffing nail polish questionable. btw straight out of the bottle...it still smells like regular old nail polish.
The image your seeing above however is not the scented nail polish but two new colors that i could not wait to try out! my camera broke a few days ago (several posts ago) so my pictures are pretty crappy, but bear with me!
anyways so the two colors your seeing above are
Love & Beauty- "rust" (so awesome on) and Love and Beauty- "mint" (which if you buy this brand you'll realize they recycle names A LOT!) this particular mint had a metallic green sheen to it.
I call these nails; OXIDIZED COPPER, a sort of ode to jewelry.
to get this effect you; 1. put a few layers of rust (i put 3 down because i wanted it to be extra shiney)
2.a layer of mint 3/4 of the way down.
3. a second layer of mint 1/2 way down
4. final layer of mint 1/4 of the tip of the nail.
the mint nail polish is very sheer so it does not require the sponging technique to achieve the desired effect.

stoned: the many facets of nail art

today i was interested in really challenging myself both skill-wise as well as patience. honestly i almost reached my breaking point with this nail, hence this design only made it on the thumb. I wish that i could have had this on all of my fingers, but i probably would have lost my mind. Anyways one day i will work on a simplified version, but until then here is the cushion cut diamond nail that i attempted.

base coat // cushion cut diamond drawing

close, kinda?

fun with the french

here are four alternatives to the french manicure. i chose black, white and silver for my trials in 4 different styles. I think this revamping of an old favorite can prove to be as appropriate  as the accentuated natural look of the classic french. subtle, elegant, feminine and/or playful except with a  more modern spin on it.

1. top left- classic black.
2. top right. the black and white stripe
3. bottom left black with ribbon of white dots
4. bottom right silver and black with rhinestone cabochon

Garden Party

I've been thinking about what would make for an interesting nail pattern, answer; WALLPAPER.  I checked the internet for a while until i found a few that i liked then interpreted the pattern into my own designs. the first three are examples of the wall paper designs. The index finger is a impressionist garden scene and the pinky well...it was almost 2 in the morning at the point and... accidents happen?!

This is the impressionist garden

1-3 has a base of "all hail to the queen"- butter
followed by mixed colors and glitters. #3 also has a purple flower shaped rhinestone cabochon, just for fun. #4 uses a clear base coat, but a soft creme or pink color would work just as well. Generally for all of the flower vines i used a range of greens blacks and grays to create a little depth. The flowers can be whatever color you want, i stuck to no more than 3 base colors for the flowers so that it maintained that bouquet // wallpaper feeling.  The flower petal accents range from the color of the base flower, to blacks, complimentary colors and whites. These nails are not intended to be worn together, because it tends to look to chaotic with so many different patterns, but are done so just to show some of the flower variations.

victorian daisies // midnight

Midnight daisies was a fun little experiment using 3 colors gradient base, glitter striper, white striper and football shaped white and baby blue rhinestone cabochons.
my gradient consists of
"grey"-love and beauty
"indigo"-love and beauty
"royal" love and beauty
i actually really love this line of nail polishes, their colors aren't too diluted so you never need more than two coats to get a fully opaque coat. They also don't take too long to dry and are under $3.00 a bottle!
The next step involves using a gold glitter striper, drawing a horizontal line that seperates the grey from the blue tones. Next you'll want to place the football shaped cabochons starting on top of the gold stripe. I used white for stones for my index, middle and pointer fingers in a line, and alternated blue and white on my pinkies and thumbs.
For the Final step you will need a white striper. first on the tip of your finger nail make little dashes that point either left or right depending on the curve of your cabochon. next make dashes around the rhinestone that is on top of the gold stripe only (this should be be the one furthest from the tip of you nail). Finally  make 3 dashes in the center along the rim where the cuticle grows,  this should connect but not touch the "flower petals" from the rhinestone daisy, creating a victorian inspired floral pattern.

Monster Mash

Halloween is the best holiday, no questions about it. what's not to like? costumes, candy, plenty of seasonal activities, and so much more. I get pretty obsessed for halloween, like start decorating first day of october kind of obsessed, and one way i like to begin is with seasonal nails.

starting with the top picture on the left we have Chucky from Child's play (after he came back all messed up looking) a a blue eyed vampire, a zombie patch, a jack-o-lantern, and some dripping blood.
The bottom picture starting on the left we have candy corn, a wound with stitches, IT, a bat and frankenstein's monster.
All of these nails were done using only nail polish, no acrylic (although it probably would have made my life easier)
some of these designs are a lot more difficult than others, and if you would like step-by-step instructions regarding any of these fingers please e-mail me!

sequin eyes

i've seen some crazy eye ball nails and i since i don't yet have acrylic gel nor a surplus of fake eyelashes i had to find a way to make this design interesting, appear 3D and new.
one of the easiest designs! first silver striper along the top of your nail, even skinner than the stripe for a french mani.
using what ever color you want for your two iris fingers make two large circles a cm or so above your silver line. neck glue the sequins on over the iris and for the nails without glue them on a few cm from the silver line. the last step is to outline your eye, dot the pupil and draw the eye lashes using a clack striper and go over with top coat.
super simple and fun for those who want quick nail changes

autumn berry

it was SEPTEMBER, 2011 and i look forward to the smell, sight and overall feel that accompanies the change of seasons from summer to fall.  However the extended summer sun started to bum me out and i wasn't yet feeling festive (i also hate when its too hot, and august/september was just that.) This Autumn berry design is a cross between the two seasons and of course a berry and a pumpkin. Using base coat of orange, turquoise for the the leaves i created the general pumpkin motif. i then used a fluorescent powdered glitter,  although it is hard to see in this picture, it looked amazing. On top of the glitter i used a textured paper towel that had a honeycomb patten, using the side in which the center of the honeycomb stuck out i sponged the texture of the berry with that baby pink. finally I added pearl cabochons to accentuate the berry form. (i wish i had a better picture!!) 

fireworks

abstract gradient fireworks.
I had just picked up some new striper nail polishes and was too excited, this became my solution for trying all the new colors but still have some cohesion

what-a-melon

geometric 80's style watermelon!!

super simple!
base coat "A bud for you"- ANISE
watermelon rind "mint"-Love and beauty on top of
"teal"- Love and beauty
black for seeds

represent'n

it was that time of year again.. yep, you guessed it! time for the final installment to Harry Potter.
i couldn't go to the midnight showing without some form of fan-attire and i'm not one to wear the Hogwarts scarf or the full on witch garb, so this was my last minute costume.
Theme: the 4 houses of Hogwarts and Crest

cast away

August 2011, these nails were done in a loose style using only three colors and a black striper lacquer.
first choose your water color for the base. for my nails i chose "mint"- by love & beauty. since this was going to be a playful and summery design i wanted a playful palette that could be both summery and in the cooler tonal range. For the fish i used "Lavender"-by love and beauty, and the bubbles and waves  i used "teal"- by L.A. girl Flare.
//don't try and be too neat, this design is supposed to be loose and semi-childish in nature. //
Finally using a black striper loosely outline all of the fish. the pinky nail that is barely visible here is done using a black striper in a "J" shape for the hook and a purple squiggle for the worm. Using the black striper again go back into the worm and draw lines for the segments. creating a light hearted fishing scene!

images include fish, bubbles, and a worm on a hook (which is hard to see in this picture)...  i was on a boat while my boyfriend and dad were fishing, i didn't feel left out afterward.

clown suit

These nails were done DEC 2010, they use a mix of solid, transparent and glitter lacquers.
theme: a 5 year olds clown themed birthday bash? i was feeling playful and it was one of those days where i couldn't pick JUST ONE design so i decided to just start and see where it would take me. this design is really simple and allows for a lot of personal touches as well as eye catching party themed flare. All you have to do is pick 6 colors MAX too many and they will look too different. Using a black striper create an "X" fill in each quadrant with a color or a transparent and make sure they alternate fingers. Then begin to "doodle" just like the quadrant base coats the designs should vary, but should be used on more than one finger so that the nails still maintain that "look" without looking too random.

base coat // top coat: about me // about this blog

I've always been interested in ACCESSORIES, brooches, necklaces, earrings and the like, but my love of NAIL ART manifested itself into an obsession during my years as a Jewelry and Metal-smithing undergrad. My specialty is COLOR // ENAMEL, having worked with vitreous enamels for several years, and having a background in illustration, it was an easy and exciting transition into miniature works with NAIL POLISH. The question; why can't nails be transitory and at the same time valued as much as your favorite necklace, or that flea market ring you just had to have? well, they can! Some of the most valued and precious of things are those which their appeal is based on temporality, that they can only be yours to treasure and appreciate for a short while. Sure, a diamond last a life time, but how many people have original diamond encrusted nails?? not many! (i hope//think) Ultimately, my goal of this blog is to bring to you some of what i would like to think of as personal nail conquests and fetes, tutorials, templates, wish list, inspirations and noteworthy NAIL POLISH,  NAIL ART designs, people and blogs!

DISCLAIMER: i am not left handed, so sometimes things get a little out of control

feel free to e-mail me any questions // comments at basecoattopcoat.kelly@gmail.com!

ENJOY!!

-Kelly