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Make a Wish Manicure

AS we all know I have become recently obsessed with that website Pinterest. And can we all just share in the frustration of our iPhone’s autocorrecting that to Interest? Because it’s infuriating! But that’s besides the point. Through Pinterest I have discovered wall decals while looking for inspiration for the Baby’s room. I am now obsessed with wall decals and fun wallpaper and I’m trying to decide between the two. One of my favorite decals is a dandelion that looks like it’s blowing in the wind. I love it! But it’s huge and a little too much for the baby’s room I think, so I may have to find another place for it, perhaps the wall behind the couch? I am getting seriously off topic here. Let me get back to the point; this wall decal was the inspiration for my most recent manicure. Take a look!

I think I got way too literal with this manicure, I tried to make them look too much like real little dandelion leaf things. The dandelion itself…. I literally re-did about 15 times. I couldn’t quite get it right and this was the best I could get it. Well, actually, I wasn’t crazy about it but I figured I should just stop trying to perfect it before I drove myself absolutely insane. SO! Here’s whatcha need.

I used Sew Psyched by Essie for the base. I think the darker colors work better for a background if you’re using the Sally Hansen nail art pens. They tend to show up much better on darker hues. I used Sally Hansen and Milani nail art pens/polishes for the details. The Sally Hansen UV Top Coat is a great top coat to use as well because it protects your nails from harsh sunlight and keeps your manicure nice and shiny! It’s perfect.

The steps are super duper easy.

1. Apply two coats of your base color. Let dry completely!

 

 

 

2. When both coats have completely dried draw a little stem with the black nail art pen. 
*(a great test to make sure your nails have fully dried: press them against each other. If they stick together even the tiniest bit they still need time to dry).

3. This step is really easy. Draw a little white plume over the black stem. (this is the part I had the most trouble with because I can be kind of a perfectionist and it just wasn’t coming out right for me).

4. On the rest of your nails, starting with your ring finger and working towards your thumb, draw little leaves of the dandelion as if they’re blowing away in the wind, or someone is blowing on them making a wish.

And that’s that. You’re done! Wait for everything to dry and top it off with a shiny top coat and you’re good to go. Do you guys like my wish inspired nails? I’m enjoying them but I think my next manicure will have to be something super simple. Between my leopard print, Giants manicure, and this… my nails need a creative break!

 

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Coming Soon…

Coming this week: I am going to do a review on some of my favorite beauty products and some recent purchases I’ve made. I”ll be talking everything from hair to skin so check back later in the week for that. :]

On another note… did everyone have a great Super Bowl Sunday? Because I did! My cousins hosted a nice little get together and everyone brought a little food. I made two batches of my buffalo chicken dip because they go fast. I had two choices: mild and spicy! Between the heat of the dip and the anxiety of the game I was a sweaty mess the entire time haha. What a great game though! I’m just glad all that’s over with… now bring on baseball season!

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Nails How To: Leopard Print

Recently I got jungle fever with my nails. And come to find out, the very same manicure was apparently on Lauren Conrad’s blog recently too! Now I got this inspiration from the Sally Hansen nail decals, not from LC. But her manicure looked pretty sweet too, obvi. Nothing that girl does ever looks less than amazing. Here is my fierce manicure.

 

So let’s walk through this shall we? I opted for a light pink for a base color. Fiji by Essie is my absolute favorite color in all the world. As soon as the temperature hit 60 degrees I whipped this bad boy out. It was between Fiji or Sew Psyched but I am so over the fall colors.

 

Here’s all you need: 

A solid color to use as your base.
I used Fiji by Essie.

Nail art pens/polishes in black and white.
I used Sally Hansen nail art pen in white and Milani nail art polish in black.

 

 

 

 

Step one: Paint your nails with your base color, in this case, Fiji.

Step two: Let nails dry completely.

Step three: Apply a second coat of your base color.

Step four: Let nails dry completely.

Step five: With the black nail art pen/polish make little black leopard spots. Leave some of the spots open as if you’re making little curved less than and greater than signs, and close the others to make little black dots basically.
* in this case less is definitely more. The first picture is of my left hand. I got a little carried away with the spots. On my right hand (which you’ll see next) I didn’t do as many spots and I am definitely liking my right hand more.

Step six: Let the black leopard spots dry completely. *Completely, this is very important as they will smudge in the next step if you don’t! 

Step seven: With the white nail art pen fill in some of the open semi-circles, leave some of the other ones open and empty. Draw around the closed in circles to make it almost look like a halo.

Step eight: Let your nails dry completely and cover them with a top coat.

And that’s that! It’s pretty easy but for your other hand you’ll need a pretty steady hand. I’m a righty and oddly enough my right hand came out better than my left. Luckily this manicure is pretty abstract in itself so if you can’t create perfect looking semi-circles and leopard spots you have nothing to worry about. The lines in this mani don’t have to look perfect. So take a stab at it and let me know how they come out! later gators. ;]