Funky French: Chevron Nude/Black

This look may be a new favorite! It's simple, elegant and easy--but with a LITTLE bit of an edge.

Funky French Chevron

The technique is simple enough. One could even skip the base nude coat if one's nails didn't look neon yellow without polish on (eww). As you can see by the photo, I just winged the black chevron tips but that's okay.  I grabbed the sally Hansen' Insta-dri at CVS yesterday for only $1.37 (75% off!). I've heard it's pretty good for stamping with so I forsee that in my future!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Beige Blast and Pure Ice Black Rage

Fun With Dots: Rainbow

This manicure was fast and easy. I LOVE these dotting tools my brother got me for Christmas. THESE are the ones I have.  My husband works all over the place and he happened upon a Sally's beauty supply shop. He called me to ask if I "needed" anything--um, yes! Finger Paints just came out with this amazing Special Effects collection that are flaky bits of pretty in a top coat. Apparently that sneaky husband of mine bought the whole collection for me, but he only gave me Asylum for now.  My birthday is just around the bend so I only have to wait a bit longer! But look how lovely:

Fun with Dots: rainbow

I'm not so crazy with how the yellow and green turned out, but eh. I'll just have to find the time to try again, right? Here's the line up of polishes I used:

Art Deco Pink, Yellow, Green, china glaze Purple Panic (I added this to my thumb nail), Pure Ice Black rage, Finger Paints Asylum, Dotting Tool.

And yes, somehow I didn't get the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away in this photo. that was a lot of polish for one nail "didding"!

Inspired By: Monarch Butterflies: Pink

This is so much fun. HERE is the tutorial.  Remarkably easy for the non-artist that I am.

Monarch Butterfly nails

 I SHOULD have done orange, but I really wanted to try out this pink. It went on really well!

Pure Ice Black Rage, Super Star, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Hot Magenta, Art Deco Black

Inspired By: converse Shoes

This manicure was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy with nail art pens. It would have been better if my nails had rounder tips, but it's all good.

Inspired by Converse Shoes

Cute, huh? It took a lot of different nail polish but it was fast and easy. Just take it step by step.

Wet N Wild Everybody Loves Redmond, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Crushed, Pure Ice Excuse Me, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away, Wet N Wild Wild Shine Eggplant Frost, Pure Ice Super Star, Sally Hansen art pens

Scotch Tape: Checkered Manicure: black and duo-chrome

Here's another fun one! This is called a checkered manicure. It looks hard, but it's more or less just labor intensive. HERE's a great tutorial for it.

The checkered manicure. Never mind the horrible pain smudge on my pinky

I started with two coats of Pure Ice Black Rage and then I got to taping! Be sure you put the tape on the palm of your hand a few times so it's not too sticky. I used Wet N' Wild Fast Dry in Gray's Anatomy--a beautiful duo-chrome (meaning it's purple, or green depending on how you look at it.). Alone it's pretty sheer, so it use it over something and you can really see the color change. This pretty was only $2 at CVS.

Tape, Wet N Wild Fast Dry in Gray's Anatomy and Pure Ice in Black Rage

Fun With Dots: White/Black/Grey

This was my first manicure with so. many. dots. It was kind of gutsy for not having a real dotting tool (like THESE).  Like most things in my life, I had to improvise to get what I wanted. In this case--it was bamboo skewer cut in half. Here are the colors I used:

 Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, L.A. Colors Art Deco and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.

The first step was 2 layers of Pure Ice Kiss Me Here. Part of me is so torn with grey nail polish. I love some tones of grey and others just make me feel like I have "morg fingers" or I look kind of...dead. I like this shade though. Next, I randomly dotted flowers on my fingers using a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen. This stinkers are EXPENSIVE, but worth it for dots. It sort of just looks like a glorified white-out pen to me though. Then I took my rigged-up bamboo skewer and dipped it in my Art Deco black for the centers. Not too shabby!

Crackle Manicure: Black and pink

This was my first time using a crackle polish. I just happened to be lucky enough to grab it for free from Savemore. It's a no name crackle from FabulousNails.com and may contain chemicals that will slowly kill me--but I like it! I painted my nails with two coats Wet n' Wild Wild Shine in Lavender Creme (?)...a very bright pink. Then I applied a very thin layer of the black crackle polish. It dried in a matte black in about 2 seconds!

Wet N' Wild Wild Shine Lavender Creme and no name crackle

Overall I've been happy with it! Here's the finished product. And today I was able to get Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle remover to help my nappy, dry cuticles.

Scotch Tape: Funky French Mani: Red and Black

This looks is referred to the Funky French. It's a French manicure...almost! I love doing Funky French manicures to cover up any chipped tips a few days after I give myself a manicure. It's a whole new look plus it stretches your old mani a little bit longer. On to the stars of this manicure:

Left: Pure Ice Black rage, Wet & Wild Wild Shine Red Red, cheap tape

I used Wet & Wild Wild Shine in Red Red as my base coat. I'm not crazy for red--but the application of this one is beautiful! No brush strokes, 2 coats and full coverage. Lovely for .69 on sale at CVS. I added the tips in Pure Ice Black Rage. LOVE this black. Full coverage in one swipe most of the time! In case you are new to Scotch Tape manicures, it's very simple--but there are two rules you must follow: ALWAYS put the piece of tape on the palm of your hand a few times to make it less sticky (or else it will totally rip your base coat of polish to shreds) and number two: only work on one finger at at time. It's very tempting to want to tape off all your fingers at once--don't do it! Paint your base coat and let it dry. Add a top coat and make sure it is GOOD and dry. Do not rush this step. In fact, I've been known to do my base polish at night and the next day add my other layers. It's all good. Next, use the tape that you've "de-stickified" and tape off where you want to add your other color. Paint quickly and use a polish that will coat in one coat. Take the tape off as soon as you're done painting...do not wait for it to dry! Voila--the Funky French!

The Funky French. I have the diagonals going the other way on my right hand.